Following consultation with our community, including whānau, staff, our Board of Trustees, Early Childhood Educators, prospective parents and neighbouring schools, we can confirm that from Term 3, we will be moving to a system of cohort entry for new entrants.

In the past the Education Act 1989 has only provided one way for State and State-integrated schools to manage the flow of new entrants into school, known as continuous entry. From 1 January 2020, changes made under the Education Amendment Act 2019 took effect, allowing schools to adopt cohort entry. Helping students to have a great start at school is important for their early success. We believe cohort entry for our new entrants will allow us and our feeder preschools to plan more effectively for a successful transition to school.

Results of our consultation

87.3% of respondents agreed that changing to cohort entry at Te Raekura-Redcliffs would be an advantage to New Entrants. Thank you to everyone that took the time to complete this. We really appreciated your comments and feedback and have taken all of these into account with our decision to adopt cohort entry.

What are the benefits of cohort entry for children?

Cohort entry is about helping children to settle better in school. Starting school alongside other children helps children build relationships and supports a smoother entry to school life. Our tamariki will have the support of a peer group as they transition to school.We believe it offers our children the best start to their school life. It can mean less disruption for new entrant teachers who can prepare for groups of children arriving on a specific date rather than on an individual and fragmented basis through the year.

What does this mean?

• children will now start school in small groups after they have turned five

• there will be two entry points each term, one on the first day of term and one at a mid-point during a term.

Term 3 Cohort Entry Dates - Monday 20/7/20 and Monday 24/8/20.

Term 4 Cohort Entry Dates - Monday 12/10/20 and Monday 16/11/20

There is no option for children to start school before they turn 5.

Once adopted, cohort start dates must be adhered to.

For example:

If your child turns five on July 10th 2020 they would enter school as a New Entrant on 20/7/2020. If they turn five on August 3rd 2020 their start date would be 24/8/20.

Thank you to all parties that contributed their feedback during the consultation phase. We look forward to continuing to ensure each new entrant has the very best start to Te Reakura-Redcliffs.