General Information

School begins at 9.00 am and finishes at 3.00 pm Staff are available to assist children from 8.30 am and until 3.15 pm.

Children need to be at school at least ten minutes before school starts so they can organise themselves for the day.

Morning break is 11.00 am to 11:30 am and Playtime is 12.45 pm to 1.15 pm and then the children eat their lunch at 1.15.

As required by the Education and Training Act 2020 (s 35), students between six and sixteen years old must be enrolled at school. Once enrolled, it is compulsory to attend school regularly, unless a specific exemption has been approved by the school and the Ministry of Education. 

Children who attend school every day are more likely to have friends, to achieve success, to develop good social behaviours and learning skills, and to be ready for secondary school.

The Ministry of Education have a target for 80% of students to be attending 90% of the time each term. 90% is defined as regular attendance. 

Please see our Attendnace Management Plan under our Board documents.

At home parents can support school attendance by:

• Talking about why school is important.

• Being positive about school and setting good habits from day one.

• Preparing your children the night before school – encouraging them to pack their bag.

• Ensuring they get enough sleep (8-9 hours per night).

• Setting a good morning routine to get them to school on time and relaxed, with everything they need.

• Asking what they did at school and praise them for their efforts.

• Ensuring that family holidays are taken during school holidays.

At school we can support parents with school attendance and punctuality by:

• Arranging for your child to be picked up and brought to school.

• Supplying a lunch or uniform.

• Working with you to develop strategies to support your child, or eliminate any other barriers that may prevent school attendance.

• Seeking external support for you or your child, such as access to the school counsellor, referral to RTLB etc.

School absence procedures:

• Our student management system (EDGE) is used to record absences. 

• Daily rolls are also extracted at 5 p.m each day to compile a record and report of student attendance across the country.

• Class rolls will be taken by 9:15 and 1:40 at the latest.

• Every absence must be coded correctly.

• The office administrator will follow up on any unexplained absences by text or phone call.

• If there is no response the absence will be reported to the principal to follow up.

• Follow-up actions may include:

  • contacting parents/caregivers to outline attendance expectations.

  • meeting with students and their parents/caregivers to discuss strategies for improving attendance.

  • working with relevant staff to better meet the needs of students at risk of disengagement.

  • analysing attendance data for patterns of absence.

  • seeking support from the attendance service.

• The Principal and staff will work to provide support for families around regular school attendance.

• School-wide attendance information is regularly reported to the Board of Trustees.

Sign up to https://www.skoolloop.com/ . This is an instant way to know what is happening in our school with messages, newsletter and an up to date calendar.

Seesaw is in all classrooms. Teachers will invite you to join Seesaw and there you can see clas notices and daily updates.

Sandra is in the office from 8.30 am – 3pm and is happy to answer any queries and pass on any phone messages for children and teachers when necessary.

When your child is enrolled, any health matters which may affect her/his learning or attendance will be discussed and recorded. Parents are advised to inform the class teacher of any incidental health matters. If a child is unwell and needs to go home, his or her parent (or emergency contact) will be contacted. The child will be cared for in the medical room or classroom until they are collected.

Each Monday, we begin the week together with a whole school prayer at 9 a.m. Our senior class proudly leads the prayer, showing leadership and confidence as they welcome the school to a new week. Our principal also presents value awards to students who have been demonstrating our school values. It's a meaningful way to connect as a school community and celebrate the efforts and achievements of our learners.

Twice a term the school meets in the Church at 2.15 p.m. for Assembly.

The senior pupils run the programme and give opportunities for children and classes to share their learning and celebrate their successes with the school community. Students also receive principal awards for outstanding effort.

The Year 6 pupils are leaders of our Whānau Groups. Each group has children from each level of the school and enjoy the Friday family group time immensely. Activities the family groups organise include picnics, treasure hunts, craft sessions and talent quests.

Our Library is very well resourced. All classes enjoy using the library and children able to take out 2 books a week.

The P.T.A often offers a lunch option once a week which will be detailed in the newsletter. In the winter terms (Terms 2 & 3), children may bring food wrapped in foil for heating.

At times we require payments for sports or swimming. We ask for payment via a internet bank. The account is St Francis Xavier. And the number is 123150 0160900 00. Please state clearly your child’s name and what your payment is for.

Stationery packs are available at the beginning of the year through the school. The school has some stationery items which are available to children during the year. However, payment must be made to purchase the item. At the beginning of each year, all children are charged an Activity Donation. This donation contributes to the cost of photocopying, school/class trips, buses and payment for performances at school. This cost is $60 per child. Accounts are sent home each term.

These are set by the diocese and these are used to meet the ownership of Catholic schools. There is a legal obligation to pay these. The fee is set at $530 for this year or $15 weekly or $29 fortnightly.

Class teachers set tasks and give parents guidelines for their class levels. Teachers are always available to discuss homework requirements.

Throughout the year there are opportunities scheduled for teachers and parents to meet and discuss children’s progress. Early in the year, there are Whānau Connection times to meet the teacher. Parent/Teacher interviews are held beginning of Term 3. Children receive written reports at mid-year and at the end of the year, and parents are given opportunities to discuss these if they wish to.
If a teacher has a concern about a child, parents will be contacted. Teachers are very happy to discuss children’s progress outside these scheduled times. We ask parents to arrange suitable times with teachers out of school hours.

Many of our activities involve trips away from school. These require extra supervision and we are grateful for parent help with this. Notification of these trips is given in plenty of time and we enjoy having parents to help. There are various other opportunities for parents to help around the school. We appreciate this help.