Absences/Illness

If your child falls ill at school we will contact you or your nominated caregiver and ask that you come and collect them. In the case of a serious accident you will be informed immediately and briefed about our first-aid care and action plan. If your child is going to be absent from school we ask that you phone the School Office (choose Absences) before 8.45am each day to let us know. If leaving a message on our 24-hour Absences answer phone, please clearly state your child’s name, class and the reason for their absence. You can also use the Skool Loop app to advise us of your child’s absence. Unexplained absences will be followed up by a phone call following the roll call at 9.00am. If your child is not in class by 9.00am, they must come into the office to sign in on our VisTab. If you need to pick your child up before 3.00pm, you need to go to the school office to sign your child out via the VisTab. The office team will send for your child to meet you in the office.

Assemblies

School assemblies are held in the school hall on alternate weeks. Everyone is very welcome.

Book Club

Order forms for Scholastic Book Club products are generally issued to children twice a term. These can be ordered online https://www.scholastic.co.nz/parents/lucky-book-club/

Before and After School Care Programme

Busy Bumbles After School Care runs each morning in the hall from 7.30 am - 8.30 am and from 3.00 pm - 6.00pm in our school hall. Bookings are made by going to https://enrolmy.com/busy-bumbles It is WINZ approved for OSCAR subsidies.

Communicating with School / Home

Sign up to https://www.skoolloop.com/. This is an instant way to know what is happening in our school with messages, a newsletter and an up to date calendar. Teachers and students also use https://app.seesaw.me/#/login to share their work and class notices.

Concerns and Complaints

The school has a formal complaints policy and procedure. This is available on our schooldocs website. Please see the link under Board of Trustees- policies and procedures.

Counselling Service

The school employs a counsellor to work with children experiencing emotional or social difficulties, or who simply need some additional support or a ‘listening ear’. Further information about this service is available from the Principal, or the school office.

Donations

Mornington is part of the government donation scheme therefore no donations are required for school activities. A contribution towards School Camp in Year Six is requested. This is available for payment on our Kindo app https://kindo.co.nz/

Health Nurse

Our school has regular visits from a Public Health Nurse who, in addition to her input into regular education programmes, is available to advise or assist with family health concerns. If you would like to see the Health Nurse, please contact the school office to make an appointment. Alternatively, the Health Nurse service can be contacted directly on (03) 476 9800.

Library

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

Lunches

Lunches can be purchased using lunchonline . Orders are available on Thursdays for  Sushi, and on Fridays for Subway. Children are also encouraged to bring a water bottle to school. We do have a water fountain available. Children may not bring fizzy drinks to school. Sweets/lollies are also not to be consumed at school. The PTA have regular lunch days for students (pies, BBQ, pizza) twice a term. Orders and payments are made through our Kindo app https://kindo.co.nz/

Music

The students in Years 4-6 have the option to learn an instrument from a tutor on a Thursday. There is a small charge for this. We offer guitar, singing, ukelele and keyboard lessons.

Parent Help

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. There are various other opportunities for parents to help around the school, e.g. working with small groups of children under the guidance of a teacher, covering/ repairing books, library work, artwork etc. We appreciate this help.

School Day

Children are welcome and supervised from 8.30 am and lessons commence at 9 am. Playtime is from 11.00 am -11.20 am and lunchtime is from 12.30 pm -1.15 pm. The children play first and then eat their lunch at 1.15. Afternoon classes are from 1.30 pm -3.00 pm. All breaks are fully supervised with rostered teachers on duty. Children are expected to go straight home after school at 3.00 pm unless they are enrolled in After School Care.

Sports

The students at Mornington School have the option to play many after-school sports. These include Flippaball, Miniball, Futsal, Netball, TBall and Touch. We appreciate parent help to assist teaching staff with managing teams. Registrations and fees can be made on our Kindo app https://kindo.co.nz/ Fees must be paid prior to the commencement of the season.

Stationery

Stationery packs are available online at the beginning of the year through Office Max. Your child’s end of year report will include information on ordering stationery for the following year. The school has some stationery items which are available to children during the year. Stationery packs for new entrants are available from the school office.

Swimming

We are fortunate to have our own pool which is open in Terms 1 and 4 for swimming at lunchtimes. Students in Years 1-4 have 10 lessons from qualified instructors in our school pool. Students in Years 5 and 6 go to Moana Pool for a deep water experience with instruction provided by Just Swim.

Whānau Groups

The Year 6 pupils are leaders of our Whānau Groups. Each group has children from every level of the school and enjoy the Friday whānau group time immensely. The whānau group leaders organise collaborative and inclusive activities.