School Info

Absences

If your child is away from school at any time we require a note, website absence, telephone call or message from you explaining your child’s absence. Legally all enrolled children must be at school unless there is a justified reason for an absence.

Board of Trustees Meetings

The Board usually meets at school during Week 3 and Week 8 of each school term. The exact date, time and venue is advertised in the school newsletter in the term calendar.  A meeting summary is also provided in the next possible newsletter following a meeting. Parents are most welcome to attend these meetings. Full minutes of any meeting are also available on request.

Bullying

Awahou School has a zero tolerance for bullying. All verbal or physical bullying is dealt with seriously according to our behavioural management procedure.  There should never be any hesitation to make contact with staff should any students be experiencing any type of bullying. Research shows that victims of bullying who stay silent are more likely to be re-bullied. Please make contact with staff at the earliest indication there is a problem.

Buses

Under Ministry of Education rules, only children who live 3.2 km from school are entitled to travel to and from school by bus. The Ministry only funds travel to your nearest school.

We have two bus routes serving Awahou School. The “North” bus and the “South” bus runs. The North run travels north of the school up Pohangina Valley East Road and the South route travels to Pohangina village via Raumai.

Class Trips and Visits

As part of the class programme, day visits (or in some cases, overnight camps) are undertaken by classes. These are a valuable enrichment of the class programme and involve a large amount of work and organisation but the immense value they provide is often unmeasurable!

Parent help on such trips is essential and any offers of transport and supervision at these is greatly appreciated.

Parents providing transport must provide seatbelts for all passengers in a car with a current warrant of fitness and is registration. Drivers must also hold a full licence.

Classroom Help

From time to time we ask parent/caregivers to help in school activities (e.g Library book maintenance, sports days, transport etc). Offers of assistance with in class programmes (such as reading, writing or art and craft) are also appreciated. If you feel that you have expertise and / or time to make a regular commitment to classroom help please contact the staff. These offers are always most appreciated.

Classroom Organisation

Wharite               Years 0-3

Ruahine               Years 4-5

Maharahara        Years 6-8

This may alter year to year depending on the numbers in each year group. Every effort is made to keep year groups together but cannot be guaranteed!  School management will attempt to ensure equity of numbers across the school.

Cluster Involvement

Awahou School is part of the Kainui group of schools. This cluster is made up of Awahou, Bunnythorpe, Colyton, Hiwinui, Mount Biggs, Newbury and Taonui Schools.  We work together to “Provide additional learning opportunities for the cluster community”.  The Cluster values are: Respect, Acceptance and Tolerance of Diversity and having a Positive attitude in all circumstances.

The Cluster undertakes two main objectives:

Student Focus:	Staff Focus:
Opportunities to be challenged and extended (Year 4-8)Opportunity to develop skills through participation (Year 0-3) Opportunities to socialise and develop relationships.	Develop collegial support and professional development opportunities. Establish and foster a shared learning community.

Cluster Event Calender:

Term 1	Term 2	Term 3	Term 4
Swimming SportsYr 4-8 Junior Tabloids Yr 0-3	Cross CountryYr1-8	Winter Sports Yr 4-8 (Various events) Music & Movement Yr 0-3	Athletics Yr 4-8

Common Diseases

Period of exclusion from school:

Measles               For at least 7 days from the appearance of rash until recovery.

Chicken pox       For 1 week from the appearance of rash until all scabs are gone.

Diptheria            For at least 2 weeks from onset.

Mumps                Until all swelling has subsided and child has normal health.

Ringworm           Nil, if under treatment.

Headlice              Nil, if under treatment.

Scabies                Nil, if under treatment.

School Sores      Nil, if under treatment. (No Swimming until completely healed)

Doctor’s advice should be sought in all these matters, where information is unavailable from the school or the Public Health Nurse. (Except headlice)

Complaints / Concerns

If you ever have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at any time. We have a formal complaints policy which is available from the school office on request.

Computers / Internet

We are very proud of our outstanding computer to student ratios. We firmly believe that computer and internet use are an integral part of all learning experiences across all levels of the school.  We are able to provide our students with use of Chromebooks, iPads, and LCD televisions equipped with Chromecast to aid their learning experiences.

Dental Clinic

We do not have a dental clinic on site. Our students generally travel to the Feilding Dental Unit.  Any queries regarding teeth can be directed to Mid Central Health.

Emergencies

Regular emergency drills are held at school to ensure that the children know what to do should a real emergency occur.

In the event of an emergency children will remain at school until they are collected by their parent or nominated caregiver. Children will not be released to any person other than their parent / caregiver unless a signed note from the parent / caregiver, requesting their release, is produced. An acceptable alternative would be the parent personally speaking to a staff member requesting their child be handed over to a nominated caregiver.

Emergencies: Pohangina River Procedures

At times, usually not more than once a year, the Pohangina River floods. If the river floods, school is closed to ensure that all children return to their homes and do not get trapped at school. The Office Manager maintains an Emergency contact list to be able to evacuate school as fast as possible. All parents are contacted via a phone tree to ensure they can make appropriate arrangements for their children.

Horizons Regional Council provide the data from their river monitoring site. The trigger to close school is when the river level reaches 2.8 metres at Mais Reach and is rising. This information can be found on the Horizons Regional Council website under “River Information”. Awahou School and the Principal at home receive automatic phone messages if this level is being approached.

Events

During the school year children will participate in a variety of events; swimming, cross country, athletics, sports, cultural presentations etc. You will be informed, by newsletter or notice, when these events are to be held.

As a school we welcome all parents / caregivers, family and friends of the children to come along and join us on these occasions.

Friends of Awahou

This organisation (the traditional P.T.A) plays a vital role in providing support for the children of our school. This association involves itself in supporting curriculum evenings, organisation of social occasions, involvement of special projects and fund raising. Meeting venues and times will be advised via the school newsletter. Your involvement is most welcome!

Health Nurse

The Health Nurse visits the school regularly to provide specialist assistance to the children. At various times during primary school, the children’s hearing and vision are checked by the specialist technicians.

Homework

We very strongly advise daily reading for all our students as this is critical in their reading acquisition skills. Please discuss your individual requirements with your classroom teacher.

Illness at school

Children who become ill during school time are cared for in the sick bay, which is located next to the administration office. Parents / Caregivers will be advised by phone that their child is unwell and will need picking up. Please ensure we have your current phone numbers.

Pain killing medicines such as paracetamol will not be administered to pupils unless the school has written permission to do so.

Children with medication at school should hand it into the classroom teacher rather than leave it in their bags (this excludes asthma inhalers).

Please keep us fully informed if your child is on any form of medication at any time.

Lost Property

Please ensure all clothing items are clearly labelled as this will reduce the chance of clothing not being returned to the right owner. We hold all lost property in the blue tube outside the Lounge. Any items still left at the end of the year will be given to the clothing bank.

Lunches

We would encourage children to have healthy lunches and advise that sugary foods are to be left at home. We also promote water only.

New Enrolments

Arrangements can be made for school visits before the child’s fifth birthday. To place a child on our “Pre-enrolment” list, contact the office before the child’s fifth birthday. The child’s birth certificate must also accompany a new enrolment.

Newsletters

Newsletters are sent home each week. They are designed to inform parents and caregivers of coming events, changes or developments in the school.  The oldest child in each family is responsible for the delivery of the Newsletter. The newsletter can also be emailed to you if you prefer.

Office Hours

Our school office administrator (Victoria Sage) works 9.00 a.m to 3 p.m. Mondays & Wednesdays and Tuesdays 2-3pm

‘Phones away for the day’ at Awahou School

Our approach is “away for the day”, meaning the device should be turned off, and kept in bags or handed to the teacher. We recommend students do not bring these devices to school with them. However, a student can bring their cell phone for emergency contact, health reasons or for communication purposes after school. If a parent or caregiver needs to contact their child urgently during the day, they should call the front office.

It is important to note that if students do make the decision to bring a cellphone to the school grounds, they do so at their own risk. The school is not responsible for any loss or damage caused to any cell phone. 

Appropriate usage: There may be times when students will be able to access and use their cellphones. However, this is the exception and will always be monitored by teaching staff. 

Learning activities: If cellphones are used for a learning activity, this will be at the teacher’s discretion and the phone’s use will be supervised by a staff member. Guidelines on appropriate usage still apply. 

Health and emergency situations: Students with additional learning needs who use cellphones in class to increase or improve their ability to participate and learn will be granted an exemption. In matters related to a student’s immediate health and safety concerns, a parent or caregiver can apply at any time to the principal for a period of exemption (e.g., medical conditions or protection issues). 

Policies

The Board of Trustees has overall responsibility for setting the school policies and procedures.  Policies are the guiding documents for the governance of our school (e.g: Financial Planning, Curriculum Delivery). Procedures relate to the day to day running of the school (e.g internet use, emergency evacuations, pupil assessment etc).

Our policies are stored online via the ‘SchoolDocs’ website.  A copy of the link to our policies and procedures is available from the Principal.

Reporting to Parents

There are regular learning chats scheduled throughout the year with parents, teachers and students. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to contact the school at any time during the year if they have any concerns regarding the progress of their children. We use online reporting in real time via our Linc-Ed Hero app, which we will provide you with details when your child starts school.

School Hours

Students can arrive on site from 8:15am 

9:00 a.m School Starts

10:30 a.m Morning Tea

1:00 p.m Lunch Time

1.45 p.m Afternoon Session

3:00 p.m School finishes

Sun Sense

Our health teaching programmes make constant reference to the need for sun sense and the children are frequently reminded to wear hats, shirts and sun block creams when playing outdoors. Sun block is available in all classrooms. School hats are provided for children to wear outside during Term One and Term Four after Labour Weekend each year.

Swimming Pool

As part of the school’s aquatic programme children are expected to bring named togs and towel to school each day from the beginning  of term one and four.

Key codes for the pool are available from the office for outside hours use for a small fee.

Uniforms

Awahou School does provide a school uniform to our students.  The uniform remains the property of the school, and parents are required to pay a hireage fee ($20 per student) each year for its use.

We will ask for all the uniforms to be returned at the end of Term 4 and it will be re-issued at the start of the new school year.  This way we can adjust to any size requirements for returning students.

Year 7 & 8 students receive their own unique ‘Senior Leaders’ hoodie, which is theirs to keep and remember their time here at Awahou School.