Starting School
Nau mai, Haere mai and welcome to Edendale Primary School.
Our day is split into three learning blocks:
1st block: 8:50 am to 10:35 am
Morning tea: 10:35 am to 11:15 am
2nd block: 11:15 am to 12:45 pm
Lunch: 12:45 pm to 1:25 pm
3rd block: 1:25 pm to 3:00 pm
Morning tea and lunch eating: The first 15 minutes of the break times are for the children to eat their morning tea and lunch. Both eating times are supervised by a teacher. Children sit in a designated area outside when the weather is fine, otherwise they eat inside.
Collecting your child early: If you take your child out of school for an appointment or any other reason, you need to sign them out at the school office.
Please notify the school in writing or email office@edendale.school.nz if you know in advance if your child will be absent for a period of time.
Late start: If your child is late to school, please sign in at the office.
Library: Once a fortnight your child’s classroom will get to visit our school library. They can browse books and can borrow a book for two weeks to read in the classroom or at home.
Music: Your child will get to explore music with our specialist music teacher in a well-resourced music room.
Visual arts: Your child will get to experience some rich visual arts learning with our visual arts specialist in a nurturing, positive and fun environment.
Swimming: We have two heated swimming pools on-site and they operate in the first and fourth terms. All swimmers must wear swimming caps. These are available for purchase from the office. See the office for more details around swimming programmes.
School houses: We have four houses – Whero (Red), Kākāriki (Green), Kōwhai (Yellow) and Kikorangi (Blue) for students and staff. When children start school, they are placed in one of the houses. If they have siblings studying at Edendale, we ensure siblings stay in the same school house. Please inquire at the office if you are interested in buying a house colour t-shirt for your child.
Marking children’s property: Please label all clothing items including shoes, school bag, swimming togs and towel, water bottle, lunch box with your child’s name. Lost property is placed in the lost property locker which is situated by the school office.
Edendale Eats: You can order morning tea and/or lunch from our onsite tuck shop. Our preference is to order online using Kindo. Visit the Kindo page here.
How long do they stay in nest/kohanga classroom?
The minimum period for your child to spend in nest/kohanga classroom is five to 10 weeks. After this period, our nest/kohanga teachers will determine based on their observations, formative and summative assessments whether your child is ready to transition to Year 1 to 3 classrooms in their team or not.
What about the social aspect of moving from the nest/kohanga classroom to year 1-3 classrooms?
Your child will move in a group of at least two to three children to a year 1-3 classroom in the same team to maintain the friendship formed in the nest/kohanga classroom.
Our year 1-3 classrooms are collaborative spaces where teachers plan to cater to the learning needs of children in the classroom. Children develop key competencies identified by the New Zealand Curriculum statement by working collaboratively with their peers.
Key competencies are the capabilities people have and need to develop, to live and learn today and in the future.
The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies:
- Thinking
- Relating to others
- Using language, symbols, and texts
- Managing self
- Participating and contributing
The independent child
One of our goals across the school is to foster a child’s independence. You can help with this. Here are a few suggestions:
- Give your child food they can manage themselves – if there are packets in their lunch box, can they open them? Put a small slit in the package when you pack their food so they can just rip the packets open.
- Can they peel their fruit? You might want to put already peeled and chopped fruit in a small container for them to eat or put a slit in the top of a banana. In general, children do not want to spend any more time eating than necessary, so as soon as the bell goes they are off to play.
- Footwear – encourage them to wear footwear that they can manage, velcro shoes and sandals are much quicker and easier than laces and buckles. During wintertime in the classroom, the children are sometimes required to remove their shoes. You can provide slippers.
- School bags – the children are encouraged to pack their own bags and take care of possessions. Is their bag big enough? The bigger the better to fit their lunch boxes and book bags.
