Welcome to Southbridge School
We are committed to working in partnership with parents and caregivers to provide quality education for the children of Southbridge. Our underpinning beliefs and values have been developed following feedback from our community and will help children to become:

· Independent and self-motivated learners

· Effective communicators

· Responsible citizens

· Competent users of modern technologies

· Reflective learners

· Partners in the learning process

· Confident risk takers

We believe that children learn best in an environment where they feel happy and secure and we work hard at building positive learning communities within our classrooms.

As committed life-long learners ourselves we are always looking for ways to improve the quality of education at our school. Ideas and suggestions are always appreciated.

We believe that your child will enjoy Southbridge School and we are delighted to welcome your family into our community of learners.

Ian Quilter

Principal - Tumuaki

New Entrants (5 year olds)

Pre-entry School Visits

Southbridge School operates a cohort entry. This means our new 5 year old students will start school at either the beginning or at the halfway point within each term.

The cohort entry points for 2025 are:

Term 1: Wednesday 28th January and Monday 3rd March

Term 2: Monday 28th April and Tuesday 3rd June

Term 3: Monday 14th July and Monday 18th August

Term 4: Monday 6th October and Monday 10th November

Children must have had their 5th birthday before starting school at one of the entry dates, e.g. if your child turns five on 31 July, they would start school at the second cohort entry point of Term 3.

Cohort entry is about helping children to settle better in school. There is evidence that starting school alongside other children helps them build relationships and supports a smoother entry to school life. It also helps teachers to prepare for groups of children arriving on a specific date rather than on an individual and ad hoc basis throughout the year.

Pre-entry school visits are usually arranged for the two weeks prior to your child starting school. The class teacher will make contact to arrange visiting dates approximately six weeks before your child starts school.

The children will have three pre-entry visits and these are usually scheduled on Tuesday and Friday mornings (the first one accompanied by a parent or caregiver, the second and third unaccompanied). Uniforms are optional for these visits. Full details will be given prior to visits.