School Information A – Z

Absence

Our school has a digital attendance register. Class teachers check the roll each morning and after lunch. We are required to record the reason for absenteeism and details such as lateness. If you know that your child is going to be away please let the classroom teacher know prior in writing. Students who are late need to go to the office to sign in.

If your child is absent, ring the school on (03) 329 6796 by 9am and leave details. This can also be done through our school app. The Ministry of Education check all schools on a random basis through the National ‘Enrol’ Computer system.

Address

Tai Tapu School

Main Akaroa Highway

Tai Tapu

C/O the Postal Centre

Tai Tapu

Phone: (03) 3296796

Fax:(03) 3296193

Email: general@taitapu.school.nz

Website: www.taitapu.school.nz

Office Hours: 8.30am to 3.15pm

After School care:

The after school care provider is MASH (My After School Headquarters) which is Oscar approved, CYF’s approved and Winz approved www.mashkids.co.nz 0800 420 520

Assembly

Whole School Assemblies are held in the school hall every second Monday at 2.00pm.

Children get opportunities to share their learning with other classes and celebrate achievements.

Class teachers give out certificates based on the school learning qualities and acknowledging outstanding work.

Bikes and Scooters

Some children who live in the community bike or scoot to school. It is recommended by NZ Police that children should be 10 years or older before biking alone to school. Children must adhere to safe practices such as basic road rules and wearing a helmet and safety vest. The bike stand is under the trees beside the swimming pool. Scooters should be left against the fence in the tennis court area.

Buses

There are three bus runs in the community. One is local and heads around the Otahuna Loop (North Bus). The second bus run heads to Gebbies Valley (East Bus) and the third bus run travels around the Greenpark area(South bus)..

Please contact Helen Schulte with any inquiries

Communication

When beginning school there are new routines, procedures and rules for families to learn. If you are unsure please ask staff, or refer to:

Website: www.taitapu.school.nz

Our website contains:

School information, Bus routes, Zone, Uniform, Learning Programmes.

PTA information, BOT information, Environment Education and a Calendar of events on the school website.

Fortnightly newsletters:
Every second Friday

We prefer to send these digitally, but the oldest in the family may also receive a hard copy if access is difficult.

Class Trips and Visits

Classes sometimes go on trips related to curriculum programmes. On most occasions, we require parent help for both transport and supervision. As you are in a supervisory role, we ask that you try to make other arrangements for preschoolers.

Teachers send notices home to you as soon as a trip is confirmed.

At the beginning of the school year, you will be asked to sign a transportation notice which gives your child permission to attend school trips and travel in cars. The year 1 and 2 classes will travel by bus as car seats are required at this age and therefore makes large groups of children difficult to transport in cars.

Teachers will give parents notification that an event is happening. Children must attend all of these out-of-school events. If there is a reason for not attending, please see your child’s teacher.

Dental Clinic

The mobile dental clinic visits periodically. When further dental treatment is required children are referred to the District Health Clinic based in Lincoln. Parents are responsible for taking their child to these appointments.

Devices

Students are able to bring devices to school to use for learning purposes. Most students have an iPad, tablet or laptop. Students use a wireless network which is set up just for students and has restrictions in place to ensure safe use. All students who use the network are required to sign a cyber safety agreement. It is important for devices to come to school fully charged. BYOD is optional from Year 3 up. Classes from Years 3-8 are enrolled in Hapara Dashboard which allows them to use Google Docs in a managed class so that teachers can view student files in real time. Students also collaborate with each other in many different curriculum areas.

Donations

Tai Tapu School has a school fee donation system. This is on a term by term basis for each child attending Tai Tapu School. This donation helps to cover extra costs needed to run the school. As a decile 10 school we receive limited funding from the Ministry of Education. It is possible to pay by instalments. The school donation is able to be claimed in your annual tax return.

Drop Off and Pick up

You may drop your children off at School Road, but please walk your children across the road.

Road Patrol operates between 8.30am and 8.55am on Main Akaroa Highway.

These zones are very busy before and after school.

The Staff car park is out of bounds at all times for drop off and pick up. Pedestrians are not to come through the staff carpark.

This is a safety issue.

Eco Warriors

We are an Enviroschool and have a well established group of students who are involved in environmental projects both in and out of school. Any student from Year 4 up is welcome to join. Our projects include Litter Free campaigns, School Vege gardens, Worm farming, Poultry keeping and Native area. We also regularly participate in Native tree planting at Tai Tapu Bush and other riverside areas. We welcome parents, grandparents or community members who are interested in helping us in our endeavours.

Enrolment

We ask that you fill in a pre-enrolment form before your child begins school. This can be picked up from the school Office or from our website. You will then receive a letter of confirmation.

For planning purposes we encourage you to enrol siblings that will be attending Tai Tapu in the future. Tai Tapu is zoned and therefore a placement is not guaranteed if you are out of zone. The school is accepting out of zone enrolments at present.

Gifted and Talented Programmes

Children can be put forward to the ‘Mind Plus’ One Day school run by the NZGS (New Zealand Gifted School) on behalf of our wider school’s learning cluster. Children who meet the criteria meet at Tai Tapu for one day each week for this. Parents pay a fee for their child to attend one day school.

Gifted and Talented programmes are inclusive in classroom programmes for curriculum areas. The school programmes are offered during the year such as literacy workshops, ICAS exams, robotics and other enrichment programmes .

Home Learning

As a learning community we have surveyed parents and discussed with the staff our policy on homework. Research has shown that large amounts of homework do not add much value to children’s learning. Children work hard at school so homework should be limited to simple, easily managed tasks.

Immunisation

The Ministry of Education require that schools request a copy of the immunisation history when they enrol as a five year old. This information remains confidential to the school.

Kapa Haka

The school has a Kapa Haka group taken weekly by two experienced Kapa Haka tutors.

Languages Mandarin is offered to our Year 7/8 in school on a Friday morning.

Library Information Centre

We have an open door policy in our Library Information Centre. The school library is open all morning tea and lunch times. We have trained student librarians working in the library during these breaks. Our Library manager works three days a week and is responsible for collections, book cataloguing and assisting children to select books and find information. Junior children must take books home in their library bag to protect books. Our Library Centre has internet access and is used by a variety of groups for many different purposes.

Hero

This is the school’s Student Management system which parents can access for some of their child’s activities. The student accounts can also be accessed on this and payments made.

Lady Rhodes Sewing Competition

This is a tradition started by Sir Heaton Rhodes, founder of the school in the name of his wife. The Year 8s all participate in making a sampler which is judged and the results are announced at Pet Show Day Awards. There is a prize of a sewing basket to the lucky winner

Lunchonline

Order lunches through www.lunchonline.co.nz. Wednesday is Sushi and Friday is Subway.

Lost Property

Please name all clothing. we encourage children to be responsible for their belongings but we often find items left in the playground so naming allows us to return property or it can be located in the Lost Property box at the side of the hall. Parents and children are welcome to search for articles during school hours.

Money at School

We discourage children from bringing money to school unless it is money for events or stationery. If your child does bring money for either of these purposes, please put these into a named envelope before handing to teachers.

Music

Teams have a fortnightly singing and music session together. This is run by the Year 3 and 4 team leader. We teach new songs, sing old favourites, learn musical techniques.

Children then get opportunities to sing these songs at important events and to the whole school.

Senior choir: The senior choir prepares for the Christchurch Music Festival which usually takes place in Terms 3 or 4. It alternates with the year of our production.

Junior Choir: This is taken by our Years 3 and 4 team leader.

Instruments: We offer opportunities for your child to learn musical instruments in school time; guitar, keyboard, piano, clarinet, violin, drums, and trumpet with private tutors.

Private tutors work on site with children. Each tutor will have a recommended age for beginning lessons. A notice comes home at the start of the year with these details or is available from the notice board in the administration block.

Parent Help

It is up to the individual team to decide when they need parent helps in the classroom. Parent help is asked for in all Junior School classes and many parents continue to help in middle and upper classes. In the junior area of the school we have a timetable asking for parent help in the core curriculum areas. i.e. reading, writing and maths. Teams will advise you of how they wish parent help to work and an information letter will follow. Having parents in the classroom is beneficial to children and the teacher. Parents are encouraged to participate; this contributes towards greater community co-operation and understanding of life at school.

Police Check

It is now practice at all schools that Police checks are required for any person working in the school or in a supervisory role. Please pick up a form from the office.

PTA

The PTA adds huge value to our learning community through their support and fundraising activities which allow us to improve and enhance the opportunities we can offer our students.

The PTA is a valued and integral part of Tai Tapu School and parents are strongly encouraged to participate. The more involvement from parents the more successful the fundraising events will be. It is hoped that all parents will feel the importance of being part of the PTA at some time in their child’s education at the school.

There are added benefits, as strong friendships and lots of fun evolve from belonging to the PTA, adding value to the school at the same time.

Pets Day

Pets day is an annual event held early in November at Tai Tapu. It is a major social day for the school which is unique to rural schools. At Tai Tapu there are many long standing traditions associated with Pets Day. The day is set up so that children from rural and town families can participate in many of the options offered. Junior classes decorate eggs, arranged sand saucers and displays in class for judging.

There are many sections for children to enter such as baking, box construction, lego and many more. These are created independently at home.

Of course the main focus is on the great variety of pets that turn up for judging on the day. Teachers are involved with judging for the first part of the day and then rooms are open for viewing. There is no formal teaching this day and children are not in class. There is a duty teacher roster throughout the day to supervise children as they participate in the activities of the day. Many notices come home leading up to Pets Day.

Please ask your child’s teacher for further information if needed.

Pets day is an amazing community day for children, parents and staff alike.

Pie Orders Thursday

Pie orders on a Thursday come from the Challenge Garage. Place your money in an envelope along with your order and child name and class.

Pie Warmer

This is available on Mondays and Fridays in Terms 1 and 4, and every day during terms 2 and 3. Food items must be wrapped in tin foil or microwave wrappers and clearly named. These are put in the labelled baskets outside the main entrance. Please no plastic containers as these go into a pie warmer.

Playground

There are two playground areas in the school. The Junior School adventure playground is beside the New Entrant classroom and is to be used by Year 1 & 2 children. The Senior School adventure playground is used by the middle and senior area of the school.

Reporting to Parents

On-going and regular reporting happens in all classrooms relating to national standards and other curriculum areas. When children turn 6, 7 and 8 they receive a report in relation to the National Standards. This is delivered in an interview. An interim report comes in between each birthday. From year 4 onwards the National Standards are then reported at the end of each year. Goal setting interviews are held in the first term. An interim report and Student lead learning conferences happen in the middle of the year for Year 4 up.

Road Patrol

The Road Patrol is manned on the Main Akaroa Highway from 8.30am and 8.55pm. Senior students are trained by the police education officer to ensure the safety of our community. We also need parent volunteers to support our students.

School App

We have a school app available for absences, messages, school newsletter and calendar etc. See attached

School Hours

School is open from 8.15am until 3.15pm when the last bus leaves.

School begins at 8.55am and finishes at 2.55pm.

Morning break is from 11.10am until 11.30am.

Lunchtime is 12.30 pm until 1.25 pm.

Sick Children

Please keep your child home if they have been unwell during the night or early morning. We need to ensure that infections are not spread in the school community.There is a sick bay at school for children who become unwell or have had minor accidents at school. Parents are immediately informed of any serious injury and are always notified of any injury related to the head. The sick bay is well equipped and all staff qualified in first aid. If parents are unable to be contacted the emergency contact will be called immediately.

Smoking Policy

Tai Tapu School is a smoke free zone at all times. This applies to all on site events.

Stationery

Class packs are available from Quizzle from mid January. Information is available from the class teacher.

New entrants packs are also available from Quizzle which your teacher will talk to you about.

Student Accounts

Student accounts will be emailed every month. All camps, trips, activities, stationery, school donations etc will be added onto these accounts. Accounts can be paid via the Hero system. Contact the school office for alternatives.

Sweets

Children are not allowed to bring sweets and soft drinks to school. We encourage healthy and litter free options in lunch boxes.

Swimming Pool

The Pool is heated to 20 degrees and is open for students in the 1st and 2nd term for class swimming practice.

Technology

Children in Years 7 and 8 travel to the Lincoln Technology Centre every Thursday for the morning.

All children experience home craft (cooking and sewing), Lego technics, computer design, metal and woodwork, and Mandarin over the two year period.

Use of School Grounds

At Tai Tapu we are an Enviro School and we take pride in our school environment. The community is welcome to enjoy our grounds respectfully. We would be grateful if our community could help us ensure it remains a safe and happy place after hours for our children, by keeping an eye out for any inappropriate use.

Uniforms

Uniform is compulsory and we love to see it being worn the correct way. Please see our website for information on this. This can be purchased at Mainland Uniforms at Wairakei Road or via our second hand shop run by the PTA. Contact the office for details.