Parent Information

General Information

Absence Notification
Accidents/Sick Children
Cell Phones
Clothing
Collection of Chldren
Dental Clinic
Lost Property
Playing With Friends After School
Book Club
Cluster School Groupings
Foreign Fee Paying Students
Playground
PTA
Removal From School
School Assemblies
School Emergencies
School Library
School Office
Sun Safety
Vandalism

Absence Notification
All absences from school should be notified before 8.30am or a message left on the office phone. Please notify the school each day your child/children is absent. Parents will be contacted if absences are unexplained or persist. Children are to be at school on time to begin the school day. If your child/children is absent for longer than three days, please send a letter of explanation to the school.

Accidents/Sick Children
In the case of a serious accident at school, parents will be contacted as soon as possible. If parents are unable to be located the “emergency contact” person will be consulted and/or family doctor if necessary. If a child becomes sick at school, parents will be phoned by the school office in order for the child to be cared for at home. We advise that children remain at home while unwell to prevent the spread of infection.

Cell Phones
Cell phones may be brought to school if a parent wants a child to carry a cell phone for safety reasons e.g. for after school activity pick ups. Any cell phone at school will be at the child and parent’s own risk. All cell phones will be switched off and handed to the classroom teacher for the duration of the day.

Clothing
Children should be dressed to suit weather conditions. PLEASE LABEL ALL CLOTHING CLEARLY. Children should be taught to recognise their garments, footwear, towels and lunch boxes. Please also refer to Sun Safety and Uniform sections.

Collection of Children
All children are kept inside the school gate for safety reasons until a parent or designated person comes into the assembly area to collect them. We do not allow children to wait on the roadside. The school day finishes at 2.30pm. Children will be supervised until 2.45pm. They will at this stage be sent to After School Care, and charged accordingly.

Dental Clinic
Each year the mobile dental caravan will come to our school and examine all children enrolled, along with preschoolers in the area. This service is free. If a dental issue arises at another time during the year, parents may call the Hamilton East School Dental Clinic on 834 3618 or mobile 021 347 866 for assistance.

Lost Property
Lost Property left lying around the school is collected and held in the Room beside Kauri 2 for a term period only. At the end of each term all clothing is given to charity. NAMED ARTICLES ARE RETURNED. Please name all items of clothing.

Playing With Friends After School
Children who wish to go and play with their friends after school must have arranged this activity with their parents the day before. They may not ring their parents from school for this purpose.

Book Club
Children have the opportunity to buy good paperback books at a reasonable price through the Ashton Scholastic Book Club. This is available once or twice a term and brochures showing names and prices will be sent home with each child. A percentage of sales are donated back to the school by Ashton Scholastic to add to our school resources. There is no obligation to buy.

Cluster School Grouping
Our school is lucky to be involved and linked with a number of other schools – for learning and teaching, cultural and sporting opportunities.

• Normal and Model Country Schools
This is a national cohort of schools linked to teaching training universities. There are 26 schools in this group from Auckland to Dunedin. We are involved with this group mainly for staff professional development opportunities and raising student achievement in specific areas.

• Hillcrest Cluster
Schools who contribute to Hillcrest High School.
 Usually Principal linking – professional issues affecting us all and strengthening transitions between primary / middle and secondary education. Tamahere Model Country School, Hillcrest Normal School, Silverdale Normal School, Knighton Normal School, Newstead Model Country School, Matangi School, Berkely Normal Middle School and Tauwhare School.

• South East Hamilton Country Cluster
This group is generally our initial sporting and cultural inter-school competition group.
Cluster Schools – Newstead Model Country School, Tauwhare School, 7th Day Adventist School, and Tamahere Model Country School. As well as the sporting activities we also get together for speeches and choir practices.

• South East Hamilton Cluster
This larger cluster provides a higher level of inter-school competition to extend our students in such areas as cross country and swimming sports.

Foreign Fee Paying Students
Tamahere Model Country School will follow the code of practice in relation to foreign fee paying students. We, at times, are able to cater for a small number of foreign fee paying students.

Playground
Children are not to play on playground equipment before or after school for safety reasons.

PTA
The school has an active PTA who support the school and are keen to welcome new members. Monthly meetings are held. More>>>

Removal From School
If parents are contemplating overseas trips, they are required to seek permission from the Principal. Children are legally required to attend school in school term times. A note must be given to the school stating the reasons for absence and the time concerned. This is necessary to prevent the child from being deleted from the school roll. Wherever possible please arrange overseas travel in holiday times.

School Assemblies
All children and staff attend a weekly school assembly on Mondays at 1.05pm. This is a sharing time to celebrate successes and achievements, both academic sporting and cultural. It is also an opportunity for classes to share an item, welcome new children and announce the week’s happenings. School singing is also part of this time together. Parents and supporters are very welcome to join us for this special time together.

School Emergencies
All children will become familiar with emergency procedures, by participating in practices conducted at regular intervals throughout the year. When evacuation is required we meet as a school on the back field by the cricket pitch.

School Library
The library has a wide selection of both fiction and non-fiction books available for borrowing, using our computerised system, by all children in the school. Books are issued for a two week period and children are responsible for returning them by the due date, as well as handling the books with care. Our wonderful librarian Trish Houchen plays an important part in helping the library to function effectively, keeping a high quality selection of literature available and hooking children onto books and reading. We ask that all books taken from the library are kept in a book bag (available form the office) or plastic bag to protect them. In the case of lost library books parents will be asked to reimburse the school.

School Office
The school office hours are 8.00am to 3.30 pm each day. Our office is accessed from two sides – the adult entrance and student entrance on the east side. We have Eftpos available. We have our school uniform available for sale along with a limited selection of stationery supplies. Urgent messages for children and teachers are also received and relayed. NB interuptions to the classrooms during teaching times is kept to a minimum.

Sun Safety
It is important to keep our children as safe as possible from the harmful effects of the sun. We have a wide brimmed school hat that is compulsory to be worn whenever going outside during Terms 1 & 4. We encourage all students to wear clothing that keeps them sun safe, with covered shoulders and backs. Children without our school hat or appropriate sun safe clothing will be able to play in designated shade areas. During summer terms there is SPF30+ sunscreen available in all classes. We encourage parents to cover their children with sunscreen before school and to have a personal sunscreen in their bag for use during the day. We use our wonderful mature trees to provide shade for eating lunches and cover at sports times. We have shade cloth erected above the sand pit and by the swimming pool. We also encourage rash shirts to be worn during swimming times. Sporting events, where possible, will be timetabled earlier in the day during the heat of the summer.

Vandalism
The cost of vandalism impacts directly on the amount of money we have available for other learning and teaching programmes. Where school property is damaged and a cost is incurred to the school due to a child’s silly or inappropriate behaviour, the parents of the child/children concerned will be invoiced for the cost of repairs. If any vandalism is noted please report the incident and any offenders to the Principal or Board of Trustees.