At the last Board of Trustees meeting, the board approved the proposal for Merrin School to move to Cohort Entry in 2021.

As you may be aware, we have undertaken a community-wide consultation and the result of this was that the community found a policy of cohort entry generally acceptable. 85% of whānau were in agreement. The 15% that were not, or were unsure are not directly impacted by the move to cohort entry. We will begin cohort entry in Term 2, but will also run informal cohort entry during Term 1.

Informal Cohort Entry in Term 1 means that we will be encouraging five year olds to start school at the start of the term, or at the midpoint of Term 1.

From Term 2 cohort entry will become policy.

As part of the consultation, we had some questions about children’s year level classification. This will still be based on their birth date - this is particularly important to note if your child has a April/May birthday. Having said this, at the end of each year the teachers of those children always make contact with parents to discuss classification.

Should you have any further questions or clarifications, please either contact Andrea Boon or the school office.

Thank you to those who participated in the consultation process.