School leaders today are navigating an increasingly complex landscape of legal, governance and student wellbeing challenges. Join leading education and legal experts and be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to address the key issues facing schools including privacy obligations, upcoming reform to health and safety requirements and EOTC risks, navigating the family law matters of your student families and managing adolescent mental health concerns. You'll gain valuable practical insights into building effective Principal–Board relationships, correctly managing investigations within your school environment and be informed of the essential updates from the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. Packed with practical guidance and real-world examples, this conference will provide tools and strategies you can immediately apply in your school community.

Presenters

Rebecca Laney, Associate, Anderson Lloyd
Rebecca is an Associate in Anderson Lloyd’s employment team, specialising in employment, health and safety, and education law. She has particular expertise in conducting employment and health and safety investigations. She regularly advises and represents both respondents and complainants, including in matters involving school boards and principals.


Madeleine Hawkesby, Employed Barrister, Amy Keir Barrister
Madeleine Hawkesby is a Barrister and Solicitor who specialises in Employment Law and Education Law. Before that she worked as Special Counsel at Duncan Cotterill, a national law firm. She has acted and currently acts for a number of schools and has been appointed as a Limited Statutory Manager and / or Commissioner by the Ministry of Education in 8 different schools across the South Island (covering primary, secondary and area schools). Consequently, Madeleine has significant depth and breadth of experience in the education sector. She draws on that legal knowledge and practical experience to present engaging and insightful presentations which empower school leaders.


Simon Kenny, Principal, Fergusson Intermediate School
Simon has taught in a number of schools in Wellington and was the Principal of a small contributing School (Birchville School) before winning the Principal position at Fergusson Intermediate where he has been for the past 9 years. Leading the school community has been a huge privilege and opportunity to learn and grow. Simon’s wife is also a Principal and they have a 19 year old son who went to both of their schools as a young student before escaping to college and who is now at Massey University. Simon is passionate about equitable education and empowering all of our amazing young people. He works in a high energy environment and absolutely loves his school, his team and his community.


Fi McMillan, Special Counsel, Anderson Lloyd
Fi specialises in employment and education law.   She is the legal advisor to the NZPF "Principals' Advice and Support Scheme."  Prior to becoming a lawyer Fi worked as a primary school teacher in New Zealand and in the UK, and completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Child Advocacy. She has also worked on several Boards. This experience puts her in a strong position to advise on legal issues affecting schools. Fi is committed to working with her clients to find the best possible outcome, whether that can be achieved by constructive discussions and resolution of issues or through more formal processes.


Louisa Jackson, Barrister, Kate Sheppard Chambers
Louisa Jackson is a specialist family law barrister. She advises and represents clients in all areas of family law, with a special interest in relationship property, estate claims, incapacity issues, relocation, and matters relating to children. Louisa regularly appears in the Family Court and High Court and receives appointments as Counsel to Assist and Lawyer to Assist the Court. Prior to becoming a barrister, Louisa was an associate at a specialist family law firm in Wellington, and Crown Counsel at the Crown Law Office. She has a first-class Honours degree in Law, a bachelor’s degree in social policy, and has published articles relating to relationship property, child protection, and mental health.


Hanna Tevita, Senior Associate, Buddle Findlay
Hanna is a member of the Wellington employment, health and litigation teams. She specialises in employment law and regularly advises on matters relating to personal grievances, disciplinary processes, health and safety, organisational change and restructure processes, parental law, privacy and education law. Hanna has a particular interest in medical incapacity and mental health in the workplace. Hanna has extensive experience in both the private and public sectors and has acted for some of New Zealand's largest private sector organisations. Hanna has experience in dispute resolution and mediation and has appeared before the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court.


Bruce Hart MNZM, NZSTA Advisory Support Centre Lead, New Zealand School Boards Association – GovHub
Bruce have had a career in education as a teacher, senior leader and latterly as a long-serving high school principal. During this time, he served on many school boards, as a staff representative, elected parent rep and for six years as a presiding member. He also represented secondary principals on a diverse range of advisory and reference groups including NZQA, The NZ Police and Education Partnership and various Ministry of Education reference and consultation groups including special education. His current role is to lead the NZSTA Advisory Support Centre providing governance and employment advice to schools through out the country. He is a passionate believer in self-managing schools and community-based board members.

Tim Fox, Deputy Principal, Hutt Valley High School
Tim Fox is the Deputy Principal of Operations & Community Relationships at Hutt Valley High School in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. He also serves on the Hutt Valley High School Board and frequently leads community-focused initiatives, including outreach programs for migrant and refugee families.

Catherine Schuler, Head of Counselling, Te Aroha College

Leigh Gilbert, Lead Investigator, Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand
Leigh has been with the Teaching Council for four and half years and currently serves as Lead Investigator. In this role, Leigh provides leadership and oversight to a multidisciplinary team of ten investigators and two professional practice evaluators, supporting the management of conduct and competence complaints.

Amy Taylor, Senior Investigator, Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand
Amy has been with the Teaching Council for six years and currently holds the role of Senior Investigator. During her time with the Teaching Council, she has developed extensive expertise in managing complex investigations, including some of the organisation’s most sensitive and high-profile cases.

Morgan Reynolds, Senior Advisor Competence, Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand
Morgan is a registered teacher with a primary teaching background and has been with the Teaching Council for two and a half years. As a Senior Advisor Competence, she provides advice and guidance on competence matters. In her role as a Professional Practice Evaluator, she supports the Competence Authority by preparing reports that evaluate matters relating to a teacher's competence.

Jocelyn Pollock, Senior Advisor Competence, Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand
Jocelyn is a primary-trained teacher who has been with the Teaching Council for five years. She has more than 40 years’ teaching experience in New Zealand, London, and China. As a Senior Advisor Competence, Jocelyn works with the profession to provide advice on meeting the Standards for the Teaching Profession. In her role as a Professional Practice Evaluator, she prepares recommendations to the Competence Authority when evaluating competence concerns.