Hence this reminder about the behaviour expected of parents and students. It is unfortunate that staff time may once again have to be taken up policing the 3pm pick up.

There have been complaints of a young child running out onto the road in front of cars to get a ball, with a parent close by but not watching. In another near miss, a student on a bike rode directly out in front of a car. The parent was walking in front of the child not watching what the child was doing. And people have once again got into the habit of leaving their parked cars at the pick up zone while walking into a hub to pick up a child. We can do better than this.

We are very fortunate to have the sized carpark that we do. Many schools do not have any carparks for parents at all. A lot of thought went into the design of the carpark. The intent of the design was to enable cars to flow slowly around the carpark, quickly pick up kids at the Drop Off Zone and then move out of the carpark. For the carpark to work well, the line of cars must be able to divide into two lanes when you get towards the Drop Off Zone. Parents who want to go to the Drop Off Zone should move to the left, thus allowing other drivers who have pulled out of a carpark with their children to move to the right and continue flowing through and out onto Amesbury Drive.

The important point is that for this to work, it is essential for all people to only park in clearly designated carparks. Parking on the left hand side of the road beyond the raised crossing is also allowed. All other spaces must be kept free to allow the space for this flow to work. Secondly, people cannot be waiting at the Drop Off Zone for more than a few seconds. This means that if your child is not waiting for you, please keep moving back into the flow and go around again. The Drop Off Zone is not a place to wait, even if you are in your car, because this stops others from being able to drive in and pick up their children.

There are a couple of practices and thoughtful protocols that will help the pick up situation. Firstly, new entrant children need to be picked up from the hub. It would be great if carparks were left for the parents of our youngest students as they do have to get out of their cars to get their children. Secondly, it would be helpful for parents of Harakeke children to come a little bit after 3pm (say 3.05 - 3.10pm) to pick their children up. By this stage, Te Rito children will be on their way out. Finally, particularly on wet days, patience is required because the traffic will move slowly. But if we follow these guidelines, it will move and keep moving.

Also, could people at the Drop Off Zone please not park right up against the raised crossing. Staying back a car length will enable the cars driving out of the carpark to clearly see children who are ready to cross the road.

Failure to follow these basic protocols has put children at risk from time-to-time and near accidents have occurred. It would be great to see everyone caring for all our children by being patient and following these protocols at pick up time.

Thank you.

Lesley

Sausage or Bacon Buttie for Lunch this Saturday?