Board of Trustees



Message from the Board of Trustees 

2024 Board of Trustees 

The Board of Trustees wish to extend a warm welcome to all new pupils and their families to Mt Roskill Primary School. We offer a secure, stimulating, safe and happy learning environment for our children. Mt Roskill Primary School produces successful young achievers every year, which we are very proud of, and we owe a lot to our dedicated staff. We endeavour to create a stimulating learning environment and the strategic plan that is developed in consultation with the staff directs us in developing Active, Engaged, Successful Learners.


The Board, Principal and Staff want to work together with you collaboratively in the development of our children and our school. Mt Roskill Primary School offers a wide range of extracurricular activities along with the core subjects to produce well rounded successful children. You are very welcome to attend our monthly Board meetings which are advertised in the fortnightly school newsletter and we want to know your hopes and aspirations for your children so we can help achieve these goals collectively.


Our Board of Trustees currently consists of six members;

I would like to extend our best wishes to you and trust that by all working together we achieve the best for our children.


Chairperson 

Hi, my name is Nerys Major and I am a mother of six  children.  I have one at Mt Roskill Intermediate, and two at Mt Roskill Primary.

I work on campus as the Manager of the Mt Roskill Early Childhood Centre and have been in this position for ten years.  Through my position I have formed strong relationships with children and families within our school community with many children starting their learning journey at our centre before moving into the primary school.  Many families still attend our after school and holiday programme. 

I am an invested and passionate member of the Mt Roskill Community and am a strong advocate for children and parents in my day to day work and can bring this to the school board. Education is a strong passion of mine and ensuring children are empowered to view themselves as competent learners is the foundation of both my career and home life. 

I have experience in governance through my time on the board for the past six years.  I also attend the trust meetings for the Mt Roskill Early Childhood Centre.  I have strong communication skills and am experienced with negotiation and will always ask questions that will challenge thinking and encourage provocation, and will raise issues as required. 

I hope to continue to put my skills and experience to good use to continue to contribute to the development and progress of Mt Roskill Primary School.

Nerys Major

 Chairperson

My wife Debbie and I have three children who have all attended Mt Roskill Primary School. Our son and elder daughter have now left school and younger daughter is at Mt Roskill Grammar School.

Our family has been part of the Mt Roskill community for the past 29 years.

The Board has supported the school management through the challenges  of the past two years and together we have achieved a better learning environment for both students and staff.

I have served three terms as a board member and wish to continue to support the school leadership to deliver the best learning outcomes for our children.  Mt Roskill Primary School is a wonderful school for developing our children into positive, rounded individuals who are eager to learn.

I consider that it is essential that our children be given every opportunity to learn and achieve in a safe environment with the best teachers and resources possible.

Professionally I am a transport logistics manager with significant management, finance, procurement and governance experience across the retail and transport industries.

I believe Mt Roskill Primary School is a valuable and central part of our diverse community and I am pleased to offer my time and experience to the benefit of the school and the community. 

Paul Booth

Parent Representative 

I was a past pupil of Mt Roskill Primary School and have attended all three schools in the Roskill campus.

I am of Chinese descent and can speak Cantonese and Mandarin.  I have migrated to New Zealand at a very young age with my family and we have always been living in Mt Roskill and are part of this community.  Now, I have a family of my own and I am happily married to Carlos and we have a beautiful toddler daughter.

Professionally, I am a Senior Pharmacist at Auckland City Hospital and I am currently a member of the Puketāpapa Local Board and the Auckland District Health Board.  I am also a member of Institute of Directors New Zealand and a member of Pharmaceutical Society NZ.

It is my privilege to be able to serve on this Board and I hope to bring cultural diversity, my governance skills and be a voice for our children and parents.  I hope to contribute and be of benefit to the children, parents, the school and the whole community.

I believe all children should have education and they are to be learned in a safe and supportive environment.  I believe in our school’s core values and I hope that our children are equipped to achieve further and be respectful, confident and have the skills of perseverance in life.

Every child is special and unique, and my desire is to have each child to be able to find their unique gift and reach their full potential. 

Fiona Lai Co-op Community Member

Fiona Lai

Parent Representative

Kia ora koutou 

I'm Ru, a proud dad of four girls. My two oldest are currently attending MRPS. I'm also the husband of high school math teacher, and am a lecturer at the University of Auckland in the Faculty of Engineering. In terms of wider community involvement, I've enjoyed tutoring at the Mount Roskill Tongan Homework Centre for the last 11 years, have run extra math classes at MRGS, and have also coached the under 9s and under 11s girls ripper rugby at Mount Roskill Junior Rugby Club. My girls have thoroughly enjoyed their time at MRPS, and I'd like to acknowledge the good work done by all the teachers and previous board members, especially in these challenging times. I've put my hand up for this opportunity for several reasons, the three main ones being: - Firstly, I'm passionate about education and am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to make a career of this. I'd love to help our kids get the most out of their education and enjoy school. - Secondly, I've noticed quite a number of new initiatives being implemented over the last few years. I'd like to do my part to make sure these initiatives are well thought out and do in fact benefit our kids before they are adopted. - Thirdly, I'd like to help ensure that our parents have plenty of opportunities for their thoughts, opinions, and concerns to be heard.

Thank you for your consideration for this important role.

Dr. Ruanui (Ru) Nicholson

Parent Representative

Kia ora. I am Charissa Towers.  I have been at Mt Roskill Primary 10 years and am currently teaching in the Year 3 team.  I live in Mt Roskill with my husband and many pets.   

With an HR background prior to teaching, I spent many years working in the travel and banking industries before I decided to retrain as a teacher about 18 years ago.  This proved to be a good decision and I am privileged to be a part of the school community here at Mt Roskill.  As the staff representative for the Board of Trustees I look forward to contributing to discussions and decision making in order to provide opportunities and positive outcomes for all our students. 

Charissa Towers

 Staff Trustee 

School Charter and strategic plan

Charter and Strategic Plan.pdf