Please let the office know before 9am if your child is not going to be at school that day. There are a range of ways you can let us know, see Absences for more information.

Towards the beginning of the school year your child will receive an activity donation  slip. The activity donation covers extra-curricular activities such as performers and trips. It also includes swimming lessons in term 1.

The Y provides before and after school care programmes for children enrolled at Ngaio School.

They aim to provide a safe and stimulating programme, which caters for the children’s needs and interests. The Y operates out of McLeod Hall. You can find more information on our Out of School Care with The Y page.

Ngaio School use the @school App. This is a simple, easy to use communication tool between schools and caregivers.

On enrolment you will be emailed instructions for downloading the App.

Contact the office if you need your @school login details to be resent.

info@ngaio.school.nz

Each syndicate advises of planned assemblies and special events on their  syndicate page. As other events come up these will be advised through the school newsletter, school App or special e-mail and included in the school calendar.

Athletics day is one of three annual sports events at the school. It is usually held in term 4 and separated into the junior (years 0-3) and senior school (years 4-6). The event is held at Nairnville Park. There is an opportunity for students in years 4 to 6 to qualify to represent the school at further events such as Northern Zone, Wellington and regional competitions. Everyone is welcome to come along and support the students in these events.

The school bank account number for all internet banking payments is 12-3140-0210759-00. When making a payment please use the appropriate reference code from the list below:

• Family Donation – 0205
• Activity Donation:
  Kōwhai – 4919
  Pōhutukawa – 4918
  Kākāpō – 4907
  Tūī – 4906

• Camp – 4967
• Netball – 4904
• Hockey – 4935
• Miniball – 4930
• Calendar Art – 4974
• Year 6 Library Book Donation – 4970
• Kiwi Competitions – 4998
• Math licences – 4910

Y Kids Out of School Care is the before and after school care programme for children enrolled at Ngaio School.

Y Kids Out of School Care is much more than a child-minding service. They are recreation based, and the aim is to meet the needs of children in their out of school hours in a fun, safe and learning environment. The Y operates out of McLeod Hall. You can find more information on our Y Kids Out of School Care page.

8.55am – First bell – get ready for school to start

9.00am – School day starts

11.00am – Morning tea (no bell)

11.25am – Class starts

12.30pm – Lunch (no bell)

1.25pm – Class starts

3.00pm – School day ends

Children are encouraged to walk as well as ride bikes and scooters to school. Bikes and scooters should be stored in one of the allocated scooter or bike racks and are not to be used before or after school in the school grounds, or during morning tea and lunch times.

The Ngaio School Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of Ngaio School. It is made up of 5 elected parent representatives, the school Principal and a staff representative. Current board members are:

Presiding member – Craig Fairhall

Principal – Raewyn Watson
Parent Representatives – Joe Winton, Emma Andrews, Rachael Manttan, Daniel Mumford
Staff Representative – Dan Byrne
Board Administrator – Helen Shields

You can read more about the Board and its role on the Our Board page .

Children in year 6 attend camp at Forest Lakes in Otaki. It is held in term 1 (usually late March or early April) and is a fun action packed four days away. For more information see the camp page.

The Clinic is a community-led learning centre which is independent of the school programme, run by parents. It is based on the principle of child-led learning and focuses on child inclusion and engagement. The Clinic celebrates the wealth of knowledge and passion for culture, science, design and much more that is abundant in our community. The Clinic runs two to three drop-in sessions per week focusing on hands on fun, giving kids the opportunity to share new experiences with adults from the community.

Your children will be told about upcoming Clinic sessions in the daily notices.

For more information please see the Clinic page.

If you have any questions or would like to get involved please contact the Clinic team.

We use a range of methods to communicate general information with parents and our school community including the school newsletter (every second Friday), syndicate pages (updated at the beginning of each term), Facebook, Seesaw, school website, and the school app.

If the school has concerns about a student’s welfare or behaviour, we will contact parents.

Parents are asked to contact the school if their child will be absent or late that day.

Parent and caregiver contact information is updated by the school at the beginning of each year. Parents are responsible for letting the school know about any changes to their contact details, including details of parents who don’t live with the child but who wish to receive school information and notices.

Emergency communication

In the event of an emergency (national or local), the school contacts parents and caregivers when it can, using the available communication options.

Reporting to parents

Communicating with parents about their child’s progress and achievement is an important part of school life. Reporting methods include parent interviews, written reports, and informal conversations.

The school also celebrates the success of students and shares these to the school community.

In 2023 Ngaio School will once again be operating with composite classes.

Composite Classes FAQ

We encourage open communication and prefer that you come to us to talk through any concerns rather than discussing them in the community.

Our full concerns and complaints policy as well as guidelines for raising concerns can be found on SchoolDocs.
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It is important that you discuss the issue with the right person.

• If you have a general concern about the school or its programmes, discuss it with the person involved or with a member of the management team or the principal.
• If you have a particular concern about a staff member or a school activity, contact the person involved to discuss the matter privately.
• If you do not wish to approach the person involved, contact a member of the management team or the principal to discuss your concern. The principal or management team member may communicate with the person involved.
• If you have a concern about your own child or one of our other students, contact the student’s class teacher or the principal to discuss the matter.

  If your concern relates to another student, you must not approach that student directly.

• If you have a concern about another parent, caregiver, or member of the school community on a school related matter, raise this with the principal.
• If the matter concerns the principal and you have not first resolved it by discussion, or you feel uncomfortable directly approaching the principal, contact the board chair.
• If the matter concerns a board member, contact the board chair, or deputy chair if it concerns the board chair.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of your initial meeting, contact the principal, a member of the management team, or the board chair to discuss further resolution.

In most cases, constructive discussion will resolve your concerns.

If this process does not resolve your concern, you can make a formal complaint.

Cross country running is one of three annual sports events that take place at school. Cross country usually takes place towards the beginning of term 2. Years 0-3 run a course completely within the school grounds while the course for years 4-6 includes a loop along some of Ngaio’s streets (it does not involve crossing the road). Year 3-6 children can qualify to represent the school at competitions against schools from the northern suburbs, Wellington and regional events. Parents, caregivers, grandparents etc are welcome to come along and watch the event.

We believe in a Digital Citizenship model for supporting safe and responsible use of the internet in teaching and learning. An important part of this is that we are able to show others what responsible use looks like while we are using technology in our learning.

We ask all staff, students and volunteers to commit to using the internet and associated technologies in a safe and responsible manner by reading and accepting the Ngaio School Teacher Cyber Safety and Device User Agreement.

Read our Cyber Safety and Device Procedures

Student Cyber Safety Agreement (Years 0-3)

Student Cyber Safety Agreement (Years 4-6)

All children in Year 4-6 can apply to be apart of a digital learning group. These groups are small and are refreshed at the start of each year to ensure many children get a chance to experience this learning. 

MacAttack

Children in Year 4-6 can apply to be a MacAttack leader.

At MacAttack they learn to be experts in Google Apps for Education, apps on the iPads, blogging and cyber-safety. They share their knowledge with their class, teachers and a buddy class. MacAttack is run once a week at lunchtime. This is a leadership opportunity for many children at Ngaio School.

Junior Journalists

We currently have an external teacher who comes in to work with our Junior Journalists. Children work with Adobe Spark to learn filming and editing skills. They then are sent throughout classrooms and school events to film, interview and document our Ngaio School Learning. These videos are posted on the website.

Coding Club

Coding Club is our newest digital learning opportunity. This is held by a lovely parent Nataleigh Elston during Monday lunchtimes. Children use Scratch to program their own interactive stories, games, and animations. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for life in the 21st century.

Dogs may only be brought onto school grounds by prior arrangement during the hours of 8.30am and 3.30pm. 

Parents who bring dogs on to school grounds (by prior arrangement in school hours, or after hours) do so on the understanding that their dog has no issues around children, has never displayed any aggression towards children, and that the owner believes the dog is fully trustworthy in a school environment.

All dogs must be on a leash that keeps the dog reasonably close to the adult. The leash must be held by an adult. Specific “in-school dogs” may be exempted from being on lead with approval from the principal. Only dogs with special permission from the principal or board are allowed inside school buildings.

Full details of our dogs at school policy can be found on SchoolDocs.
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While the Government provides funding for education at Ngaio School, schools may also ask parents or caregivers for voluntary donations. These donations fund priority areas identified by the school to enrich children’s learning, where these are not funded/fully funded by the Ministry of Education.

We appreciate the tremendous support that parents and caregivers provide to the school in many different ways and that this request is in addition to those contributions. Ngaio School is reliant upon donations to be able to sustain the breadth and quality of education that our children receive. The donation helps to fund measures aimed at improving the learning environment and educational standards for our children

A letter is sent out from the Board at the beginning of each school year to request the donation. The donation for 2023 is yet to be confirmed.  Donations are tax deductible and your receipt will be emailed to you.

We encourage and role model healthy eating. As part of this water and unflavoured milk are the only drinks children may bring to school.

Emergency contacts for each student are collected on enrolment and updated from time to time. Please ensure you advise the school office of any contact changes.
In an emergency it is important we are able to contact you or an alternative, allocated person.

The school has policies and procedures in place to manage in the event of an emergency which can be found on SchoolDocs. [Login: Ngaio, Password: Abbott]

You will be contacted via the school office if there is a major event requiring further action, including evacuation or lockdown.

When an emergency or school lockdown lasts for an extended period of time or extends beyond normal school hours, the principal or designated serious incident coordinator will ensure up to date communication with parents.

All children who live within the Ngaio School enrolment zone are able to enrol at Ngaio School. Ngaio School is unable to accept any children from homes outside this zone. From time to time the school may hold a ballot for places for out of zone students.

Please refer to our Enrolment page for more information about enrolling your child.

Ngaio School is fundraising with Entertainment Books.

Click here to support Ngaio School and get your Entertainment Book.

The Enviro Club meets during lunchtimes and sometimes special sessions within the school day. Teachers and parent volunteers support the club to champion kaitiakitanga in our school. Initiatives include:

• School gardens – plant, weed, mulch and design
• Composting our food scraps
• Recycling
• Waste
• Advocating for wrapper free lunch boxes

The EPro8 Challenge is an inter-school science and engineering competition for year 5-10 students. Every year over 10,000 students from 800 schools from throughout New Zealand take part in this series of competitions and events designed to promote science and engineering.

Ngaio School has sets of equipment which the EPro8 Club uses during their lunchtime practices.   The club explores using the equipment, designs, problem solves and innovates.  Part of the process involves communicating and sharing their thinking with others.  Closer to the competition teams are selected to attend the event.

An Education Review Office (ERO)  review looks at how an early learning service or school reaches positive learning outcomes – knowledge, skills, attitude and habits – for all children and young people. They’re interested in what’s working well and where improvements can be made. The review process works with an early learning service or school’s own evaluation processes. It also supports a culture of ongoing improvement.

You can find the most recent Ngaio School ERO review report here Ngaio School ERO Report March 2019

The Ngaio School Gala is the PTA’s main annual fundraiser. Traditionally this has been held in March of each year . However, the annual gala has been on hold awaiting a new coordinator. If you are able to help with this please contact the PTA.

From time-to-time we receive information from Regional Public Health when someone at school or in the community has been diagnosed with a communicable disease such as whooping cough or measles. This information will be emailed to parents and caregivers.

We promote a healthy food and drink environment

A healthy food and drink environment helps support wellbeing, including a child’s immediate physical and mental growth and development. It also helps establish positive behaviours for the future.

We ensure that any food or drink provided by/through school (e.g. in class or sold at school aligns with any national food and nutrition guidelines, such as the Ministry of Health’s Healthy Food and Drink Guidance – Schools)

Nutrition education is included across the curriculum and we encourage staff members to model healthy food and drink choices.

We consider our nutrition messages when deciding on class rewards and celebrations, student prizes, special events, fundraising activities, and school camp menus

For more information see our food and nutrition policy on SchoolDocs.
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In 2020 Houses were established to provide an additional sense of belonging for students and teachers. Siblings are placed in the same house to create a family tradition over time. The House system provides authentic opportunities for student leadership and for students to uphold the ROCKET values outside of their classrooms. Our House system supports the tuakana-teina relationship which is an integral part of traditional Māori society where students are supported by buddy systems. An older or more expert tuakana (brother, sister or cousin) helps and guides a younger or less expert teina (originally a younger sibling or cousin of the same gender).

Houses meet throughout the year for informal and formal gatherings. Students are encouraged to wear their house colour to whole school events like cross country or athletics day.

The six Houses are named after a planet to link in with our ROCKET and Soar to New Heights theme.
Matawhero (Mars) Green
Whiro (Mercury) Yellow
Kōpū (Venus) Purple
Hineitīweka (Jupiter) Red
Tangaroa (Neptune) Blue
Pareārau (Saturn) Orange

A range of internal and external interventions are available to support learning and wellbeing at Ngaio School. See the Learning Support section for more information.

Contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions about your child’s learning at school.

If your child needs to leave the school grounds during school hours they must be signed out at the school office by an adult. If your child is late to school or leaves and then returns during school hours they must also be signed in at the office. Please use the iPad in the office to sign your child out/in during school hours.

The school library is open every day from 9am to 2.30pm.  Children will usually come once a week with their class to the library and can borrow and return books. They are also welcome to use the library during lunchtime. For more information see the library page.

Any items found that are not claimed are placed in lost property bins located in one of two areas – Kākāpō corridor and in Tūī at the bottom of the stairwell to the library. Please ensure all clothing is named to enable easy identification.

We encourage and role model healthy food and drink choices. As part of this water and unflavoured milk are the only drinks children may bring to school. However, we recognise that the food children bring to school is a matter for parents and caregivers and there are no restrictions on the food children may have in their lunchbox.

We have a range of healthy lunch options that can be purchased in advance for lunches Monday through Thursday. You can find full details on the Lunches page.

Wrapper Free Initiative

Ngaio School are mindful of environmentally friendly ways of packaging lunches. We encourage families to avoid single use packaging where possible.

School newsletters are emailed home each fortnight on Friday.  You can find copies on the Newsletters page.

Each syndicate page is also updated once a term, sharing the main learning areas and events for the term.

The school office is open from 8.15am to 4.30pm on school days.

We provide a variety of out of school activities (some are held within school time). Outside of school activities are user pays.

See details on the Out of School Activities page.

Parent involvement contributes to a strong school community and has benefits for everyone involved. Many events would simply not take place without the involvement of parent volunteers.

Parents may wish to support the school by volunteering their time and skills. This may include helping with class programmes, sports coaching, fundraising, school productions, trips, and camps. Parents may also take part in school policy reviews, or become members of the board of trustees or parent group.

For more information on becoming a volunteer please see our parent involvement policy [Login: Ngaio, Password: Abbott]

You can read about the policies that guide the Board and staff on the Policies page.

You can find all school policies at SchoolDocs. [Login: Ngaio, Password: Abbott]

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) plays a very important role supporting the Board and the Principal through fundraising, organising social events and funding the extras needed for our school. For more information see the Our PTA page.

Parents receive written reports mid and end of year. The mid year report shows how the child is progressing toward meeting the curriculum expectations for their year level. The end of year report shows how the child has achieved against the curriculum for their year level. The written content provides a summary of learning highlights and where appropriate, next steps for learning.

For more information on assessment see the Curriculum page.

Year 6 children provide road patrol services at the crossing outside the school gate on Abbott Street and at the traffic lights on Ottawa Road between 8.30am and 8.55am and 3.00pm and 3.15pm each school day. The children are supported by a parent or caregiver at each location. We rely on volunteers from the school community to help with this, so if you are able to help please contact Chantal McKee – c.mckee@ngaio.school.nz

We provide an optional ROCKET Challenge as our home learning programme. Linked to our school ROCKET values, this programme has been designed to recognise the learning children already do outside of school, and to encourage them to extend themselves, try new things, discover their talents and contribute to their family, school and community. You can find out more on the ROCKET Challenge page.

A range of school branded apparel is available for purchase from the school office. Hats are available year round, while hoodies and T-shirts are available at advertised times during the year.

School sun hats are $20 and come in a variety of colours.

Sports uniforms can be purchased from NZ Uniforms either via their website or shop in Thorndon. If there are circumstances that make it difficult for families to meet the cost of sports uniform, please contact the principal as support can be provided.

The Ngaio School logo includes our Ngaio School plait, a whiri, showing the strength and beauty of our school community.  

The three strands are the pupils, staff and parents, bound together to form a strong entity.  

In the shapes and flow of the whiri we see the even wider community of Ngaio itself with the hills, valleys and waterway in which Ngaio and the school is nestled.

Ngaio School Haka

At Ngaio School we use Seesaw, an online classroom platform for meaningful student engagement. Seesaw gives an opportunity for families to gain a window into their student’s learning and engage in home-school connections. Students use built-in multimodal tools to capture what they know in Seesaw’s digital portfolio to share with their family. Your child’s teacher will contact you to provide access to this.

Players may purchase uniforms from NZ Uniforms either via their website or shop in Thorndon. If there are circumstances that make it difficult for families to meet the cost of a sports uniform, please contact the principal as support can be provided.

For sporting events such as Northern Zone where a child is requiring a uniform for one day only, they will be issued one a few days before the event. This must be washed, dried and returned to the office. Children who already have a Ngaio School Sports Uniform from their after-school team should wear their own uniform instead.

We have a great team at the school who are dedicated to your children’s education and well-being. You can find out more on the Our Team page.

Stationery lists for the following year come home with children in December. Lists are also available online at OfficeMax MySchool.

Stationery can be purchased online from OfficeMax at www.myschool.co.nz or instore at OfficeMax in Victoria Street. The school receives credit on its stationery account when you shop at OfficeMax as part of the school rewards programme.

You are not required to purchase from OfficeMax and can purchase from your choice of stationery provider. We also encourage reuse of left-over stationery and equipment from previous years.

For children starting school for the first time stationery packs can be purchased from the school office.

There are ample student leadership opportunities at Ngaio School. Students can volunteer to be part of these groups or are nominated by class teachers. We encourage students to get involved and be open-minded to these leadership initiatives.

Ngā Rangatahi o Ngaio
In Year 6 students can become part of the very important Ngā Rangatahi o Ngaio leaders. This group of students help to organise and run school events like Movin’ March, Pink Shirt and Gumboot Day.

Peer Mediator
Year 6 students nominate themselves to support our happy playground. Peer Mediator’s are trained to help students if they need help to find friends or sort out minor disagreements.

Road Patrol
Senior students are trained for Road Patrol on Abbott Street and Ottawa Road before and after school. They are supervised on road patrol duty by parent volunteers.

Enviro Club
The Enviro Club has a range of roles available for students to contribute to these include: recycling, compost, planting and weeding our gardens.

Librarians
Student librarians help run the library at lunchtimes by issuing and returning books. They help to shelve books and recommend books to other students.

Macattack
Children in Year 4-6 can apply to be a MacAttack leader. At MacAttack they learn to be experts in Google Apps for Education, apps on the iPads, blogging and cyber-safety. They share their knowledge with their class, teachers and a buddy class. MacAttack is run once a week at lunchtime.

Mobile Journalists
We have a team of year 5 and 6 mobile journalists who cover school events such as class trips and sporting and cultural events. 

All children must wear a SunSmart hat when outside during terms one and four. The hat must be:

• Brimmed (or have a long side and back flaps) to shade the face, nose, neck and ears
• Made from a tightly woven fabric

Ngaio School hats are available to purchase from the office for $20 each and come in a variety of colours. Ngaio School branded hats are not compulsory, your child is welcome to wear any hat that meets the requirements.

“Mō tātou te taiao ko te atawhai, mō tātou te taiao ko te oranga”

“It is for us to care for and look after the environment to ensure its wellbeing, in doing so we ensure our own wellbeing and that of our future generations”
NZ Curriculum Education for sustainability

The following are sustainable practices instigated by students and staff to make a more resilient community for the future:

• Composting (worm farms and compost bins)
• Recycling
• Gardening

If you would like to help out in any way please contact our school enviro leader Sam Jenkins s.jenkins@ngaio.school.nz

Families are encouraged to provide ‘wrapper free’ lunches whenever possible and periodically this is emphasised via the Wrapper Free Wednesdays initiative.

Our PTA hold an annual fundraiser selling environmentally friendly products that are good for your home and make great gifts.

We are very fortunate to have the support of the Board, the PTA and our community to continue to maintain a swimming pool at the school. All children take part in swimming lessons provided by EasySwim instructors once a week in term one.

Families of school children have the opportunity to hire a swimming pool key for out of school use over the summer holidays and term 1. This service relies on volunteers to carry out pool testing as per regulations. Training is provided.  To be eligible your youngest child at school must be in Year 0-5.  An email is sent out in late November with a link to a form to register, keys are limited and we operate on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. The cost of a key is $90.

The school is divided into two syndicates:

Kākāpō – Years 1,2 and 3

Tūī – Years 4, 5 and 6

More information can be found on the Syndicates and Classes pages.

CRT (Classroom Release Time NZEI) for all teachers occurs on Wednesdays across the school. Teachers are released on rotation for a part of the day for meetings, to observe other teachers in action, complete assessment and for planning purposes. Where possible, the same release teacher is used in each classroom to ensure continuity.

Team Leaders Bronwyn O’Halloran, Michelle Pontifex and Chantal McKee are released for a day every second week on a Thursday.

Teachers with curriculum or organisational responsibilities are given some release to complete responsibilities and projects and teachers.

When professional development is undertaken during class time relief teachers take over the class. Whenever possible we utilise our regular part time teachers and known relievers who are familiar with the school.

At Ngaio School we recognise the importance of incorporating digital technology into our learning in order to give our children the skills and strategies to achieve success in the modern digital world.

In the junior school we use iPads and computers to support our learning and in the senior school children use a range of tools such as laptops, chrome books and iPads.

Ngaio School does not have a bring your own device policy, all digital tools are provided by the school. For more information see our digital technology page.

Toys may only be brought to school for special news sharing or specific class events. Toys must remain in school bags or be left with the teacher.

ROCKET VALUES

We support our students to be 

Resilient, Open minded, Curious, Kind, Empathetic and Trustworthy. 

Teachers, parents and the wider school community aspire to these shared values in order to support the development of these values in our students. 

The ROCKET values emerged following community consultation in 2019. During this process a large emphasis was placed on the survey results and comments – including taking the following factors into consideration:

• Blending together the thoughts and ideas of the whole school community
• Focusing on the future yet honouring the history of Ngaio School
• Child-friendly focus – values need to be easily understandable, relevant, achievable
• Choosing a set of values that can be successfully embedded into school curriculum and culture