WAINUI SCHOOL INFORMATION PAGE
Welcome To Wainui School
We are a rural school right on the edge of Silverdale, Auckland we think we have the best of both worlds! The peace of the country and the city on our doorstep.
Our motto is:
“Small enough to nurture dreams, big enough to realise them.”
School Values to be encouraged, modelled and explored: The Wainui 5 “Rs”
RESPECTFUL – WHAKAUTE
RESOURCEFUL – AUAHATANGA
RESILIENT – MANAWANUITANGA
RELATIONAL – WHANAUNGATANGA
REFLECTIVE – WHAIWHAKAARO
School Hours:
| 9:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m | Monday to Friday |
| First break | 10:10 a.m. – 10:35 a.m 25 mins |
| Second break | 11:45 a.m – 12 :15 p.m 30 mins |
| Third break | 1 :25 p.m. – 1:50 p.m 25 mins |
The school cannot accept responsibility for children who arrive at school before 8.15 a.m. or who remain at school after 3.30 p.m. The cooperation of parents would be appreciated on these points.
Term Dates 2024
Term 1 Thursday 1st February – Friday 12th April
Term 2 Monday 29th April – Friday 5th July
Term 3 Monday 22nd July – Friday 27th September
Term 4 Monday 14th October – Tuesday 17th December
Term Dates 2025
Term 1 Monday 3rd February – Friday 11th April
Term 2 Monday 28th April – Friday 27th June
Term 3 Monday 14th July – Friday 19th September
Term 4 Monday 6th October – Date TBC
SCHOOL ORGANISATION
We have a well-organised school with sound management structures in place. We know that children learn best in a supportive, caring environment where learning objectives are clearly set. Each child is valued as an individual and specific learning needs are catered for. Individual progress is monitored regularly and realistic expectations established for each child. Children with special abilities are catered for within the classroom programme and offered extension opportunities. At Wainui School we have both composite and single level classes depending on numbers in the year levels.
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We endeavour to hold whole school assemblies every 2 weeks on Fridays at 9.15am. to celebrate achievements and share learning.
Parents are welcome to attend. The newsletter has more details if there are changes to this format.
We believe very strongly in every child having the right to a quality education. We have a no tolerance policy toward bullying throughout the school. We insist on good manners from the children to all staff members, visitors to the school and to other children. We do not tolerate rudeness or lack of respect from any child in the school and hope parents appreciate these values. Parents will be called in at an early stage if misbehaviour continues.
We expect respect for school property and resources, and do not like to see children writing on furniture or walls, or mistreating school equipment.
We do not have a school uniform but if children are representing the school in cultural, sporting, class trips etc we expect the children to wear the school t-shirt. It is amazing the amount of lost property that amasses each term. It would certainly help us if you could name your children’s clothing and footwear wherever possible. Named clothes are returned, but unnamed clothes are left out for a week and if not claimed within that time they are washed and donated to a local Op Shop.
2020
1 Child $200
2+ Children $200 + $175
Through the efforts of the FOWS, BOT, parents, children and staff of Wainui School, we now have a well equipped and successful school. We can only achieve everything we do with everyone’s school donation and fundraising. A high decile school such as Wainui receives the lowest amount of Operational Funding from the Ministry of Education. By contributing your donation, we can achieve our goals.
In the event of an accident or sickness children are attended to in the sickbay. If staff are in doubt or the situation is serious, parents will be contacted immediately. If we are unable to contact your family we will notify your listed emergency contact, or if appropriate, a doctor. We keep an up-to-date list of children with medical problems and courses of action necessary, in the sickbay and office.
In accordance with our Sun Protection Policy, the wearing of hats is compulsory during Terms 1 and 4 when students are outside. There is a Wainui School hat for sale ($18) but any wide brimmed hat is permissible.
The Hellyer Cup is the most coveted award to be given at our regular Friday ”celebratory” assembly. The cups were given by members of the Hellyer family, one of the first European farming families in the area. Teachers have two Hellyer Cups to award each term per class.
Teacher’s base their award on the achievement, the student’s attitude and effort tied into the school “5Rs” value system. Teachers present the Hellyer Cup at the whole school assembly usually this is at the same time as the Team assembly performance.
Each child is put in a “House” on commencement at the school. Families are all in the same house. We have four houses and these are named after early settlers in the area (Hutson, Lloyd, Lamont and Jacob). Each house has a colour to identify them. Points are awarded to individuals throughout the year through academic exploits, sporting achievements, class points and on various other occasions. At the end of the year the Straka Shield is awarded to the winning house.
Our school library is bright and attractive with a wide selection of new books. The library is open every school day for borrowing or returning books. Books are a very costly item of school expenditure and it would be appreciated if parents do all they can to see that books borrowed are not lost or damaged. All junior children must have a book bag when they borrow books, as this will help minimise damage while the books are out of the library. Book bags can be purchased from the school office. Children are also asked to remove their shoes while in the library.
Wainui School lunches are provided by Munchbox. Please go to their website (www.munchbox.nz) for further information.
We encourage ‘nude food’ with your child’s food being sent to school in reusable containers or in recyclable materials.
The Office hours are from 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. The Principal is usually close at hand, except when she is visiting classrooms or at various meetings. The telephone has the ‘Call Minder’ facility. Please leave a message on the answer phone, which is checked regularly, or ring several times if no-one answers and it is an emergency.
Please respect all designated parking areas and do not park or stop in the bus pick-up zone from 8.15 – 9.00a.m. and 2.45 – 3.30p.m. Please also do not park on the school roundabout at any time.
It is very important that we have an up-to-date list of postal and email addresses and telephone numbers. Please inform the school of any changes.
Asian Language Learning in Schools enabled by the Asian foundation began in 2017 and will continue in 2018 at Wainui school. Five schools, Orewa College, Orewa North, Silverdale School, Dairy Flat School collaborated to employ a Japanese and Chinese teacher to have these languages taught once a week in our school to year 5, 6 ,7 and 8 children.
The students attended a day at Orewa College to promote further the awareness of Asian languages in schools.
Alongside our traditional teaching, computers, iPads and laptops are part of the learning tools the we use at Wainui School. Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) is compulsory for Years 7 & 8.
| Years 1 & 2 | Wainui School will provide devices |
| Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 | BYOD is optional. Wainui School will provide some devices. |
| Year 7 & 8 | BYOD is compulsory. |
The subject areas taught at Wainui School are defined by the Ministry of Education.
These subjects are:
The Arts
English
Social Studies including Inquiry Learning
Mathematics
Languages
Health and Physical Education
Science
Technology
While each of these subjects has a defined content area for each year your child is at school, children learn at different rates. Subjects are not taught in defined periods, but rather are combined throughout classroom time to achieve the curriculum objectives.
Digital technology has an increasing role in teaching and learning, in running our workplaces, and in our daily lives. We value our internet facilities and ICT digital technology equipment and the benefits they bring us in learning outcomes and the effective operation of the school.
We actively encourage our students to be competent and confident in the use of digital technology; and aware of and able to manage the challenges and issues that go with it. These issues include safety of themselves and others, privacy, copyright, and protection of digital devices and equipment. In short, to be digital citizens.
As defined by NetSafe, a digital citizen:
- is a confident and capable user of ICT
- uses technologies to participate in educational, cultural, and economic activities
- uses and develops critical thinking skills in cyberspace
- is literate in the language, symbols, and texts of digital technologies
- is aware of ICT challenges and can manage them effectively
- uses ICT to relate to others in positive, meaningful ways
- demonstrates honesty and integrity and ethical behaviour in their use of digital technology
- respects the concepts of privacy and freedom of speech in a digital world
- contributes and actively promotes the values of digital citizenship.
Wainui School is part of the national Enviroschools programme which supports children and young people to plan, design and implement sustainability actions that are important to them and their communities.Through exploration, discovery and connections with the environment students experience how to make decisions and take action to improve the physical and social environment of our places, our community and our world.
Every week a group of enthusiastic environmentalists meet with teachers to look into ways of enhancing our school environment.
While children are at Primary School they are introduced to many extra-curricula activities which help them now and later, to live full lives – cubs, brownies, learning to play a musical instrument, sports, clubs, etc. It is important that homework should not prevent children from taking part in these social, cultural and physical pursuits. At the same time the habit of regular work at home is a worthwhile one – it requires self-organisation by the child, provides opportunities for practice with and reinforcement of work undertaken at school and affords parents opportunities of finding out something of their child’s work, and work habits in various fields.
In the Junior School (Y1 & Y2) this will mainly take the form of reading. Children will be given books or poetry (at their own reading level) to take home to be read to/and with parents. The importance of taking an interest in your child’s reading cannot be overstressed, and your co-operation in this matter is eagerly looked forward to. As mentioned elsewhere these books are costly, receive a great deal of wear, and we ask that the parents see that the books are returned to school in good order. Please do not mend books, especially with ..
In the Middle & Senior School (Y3-Y8) a wider variety of home activities will likely be carried out. Work set will be work that the child should be able to do him/herself with material brought from school or known to be readily available at home. Here again parental interest in homework is not only welcome but also desirable. Many children become especially interested in some classroom topics and wish to follow up with research at home. This should be encouraged and parents can help by showing an interest and asking about current projects.
The importance of reading as a valuable homework activity cannot be over emphasised. If parents could constantly be on their alert to their children’s reading habits and interests, could encourage them to join and borrow from libraries and then read the books borrowed, they would be reinforcing the work done at school and doing much to ensure that their children will be able to take a normal place in this modern technological age where the various reading skills are of such importance.
Friendly interest in discussion about books read, and thus encouragement to read more can be most helpful. Discussions on comprehension, spelling, grammar and so on should be avoided as they may dampen interest in reading.
By regulation, children are required, by law, to attend school unless prevented by illness or some special home circumstances. If your child is absent please either phone or email to let the school office know (09 420 5127) before 9am.
Parents are warmly invited to visit the school to discuss matters relating to the progress and development of their children, for it is only when there is close co-operation and understanding between parents and teachers that children benefit to the maximum from their schooling. When you wish to meet a teacher, please phone or send an email, so that a convenient time can be arranged. If the phone is unattended, a message can be left on the answer phone and will be answered as soon as possible.
During the year there will be parents evenings held to explain aspects of the curriculum, and to consult and inform parents on issues facing the school.
Every Tuesday a school newsletter is sent home via email through our website. Sign up for the weekly newsletter on our website CLICK HERE. Please let us know if you do not have internet access at home and we will arrange to send a hard copy home with your child. The newsletter is our main source of communication between the school and parents so please make sure you read it.
We are most grateful for the support and assistance many parents give in our classrooms. The help in our reading and language programmes, trips, art intensives and other areas is much appreciated. Children benefit greatly from this lowering of the adult/child ratio in the classroom. Please contact your child’s teacher if you wish to help.
A child’s progress through school is a legal requirement of education, one which concerns both teachers and parents. Each term, parents are invited to come to school to update themselves on the progress of their child with the teacher.
Normally a report will be issued for each child half way through the year and at the end of the year.
Every now and then your child may feel unwell while at school. If your child is not well, they will be taken to the sick bay, and we will attempt to contact the parents to ask that the child be collected from school.
Bike Track – link to youtube video of bike track
Visit Wainui School and you will be struck by how enthusiastic everyone is about cycling.Much of this enthusiasm can be explained by the incredible bike track that the school has around its field and surrounding bush area.
The bike track is the result of three years of fundraising and planning. Phase two of the project was to buy 37 bicycles and helmets. Bikeon Trust worked in partnership with the school and supported the school financially, with accessing further trust support to enable a full bike track around the field and through our beautiful bush. The track has also received support from the Lion Foundation, Auckland Transport, Hiway Stabilisers, Constellation Communities, Trust Dragon Community Trust, Harcourts Foundation and Simone du Bernard. Thanks to Euro Builders a modified storage shed was built with materials supplied by The Shed Company and Simone du Bernard, Harcourts Cooper & Co to keep the bikes secure.
The Bike Team of students have organised the space,rosters and maintenance area.
As Wainui School is rural, it’s not necessarily easy for the students to bring their bikes to school or to bike on the local roads, says principal Gillian Bray. “This is a great community facility. Our fields are closed for parts of the winter, but the bike track will be ready for use all year. It’s so wonderful to see how much fun the children are having.”
The following sports are usually available at Wainui School – Touch Rugby, Rugby, Rippa, Hockey, Basketball, Netball, Tennis, Cross Country, Athletics, Soccer, Swimming, Cricket, Cycling, Softball and Volleyball.
Parents are encouraged to help in coaching sports and supervising school teams away for inter-school matches.
School Sports Uniforms must be worn when representing the school. These can be ordered through the school office.
Swimming instruction is given to all pupils during the first and sometimes fourth terms each year, in our pool. We expect all children to participate and expect parents to co-operate in making sure their children bring their swimming togs and towels to school each day.
A pool key is available, at a small charge, from the school office for out of school hours use.
We have three bus runs solely for Wainui students that live in the Transport entitlement zone. The Ministry provides free bus transport for children who live more than 3.2kms distance from school if they live on the Ministry bus route to their nearest school.
Children will not be allowed to alter their usual bus arrangements unless a written note or phone call is received at school from their parent/caregiver. It must be stressed that children will be sent home as per usual unless we are notified by you the parent/caregiver, not by word of mouth from the children.
Starting at 539 Weranui Road to Wainui School – Bus Route D020203 AM & PM
Searting at 850 Haruru Road to Wainui School – Bus Route D020213 AM & PM
Starting at 851 Werani Road to Wainui School – Bus Route D020219 AM & PM
The bus routes in the afternoon are the reverse of the morning bus runs. Children must be waiting for the bus in the morning 5-10 minutes beforehand. Children must be met off the bus in the afternoon, this is a safety requirement.
All children catching the bus go to the hall at 2.55p.m. The bus duty teacher checks the bus list each afternoon and ensures every child is accounted for on the bus.
Wainui School celebrates an annual tradition of Ag Day with a Country Fair traditionally on the Friday prior to Labour Weekend. This day has always attracted our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and past pupils to this important community event. It is the biggest day for families!
Since the early 1950s, Ag Day, or more commonly known then as Calf Club Day, has been held annually at Wainui School. This day has various activities, both indoor and outdoor. Children raise a pet calf, lamb or kid goat to present in various categories. Ribbons are distributed at the conclusion of judging for each category.
It is part of the school curriculum and an official school day – probably the most fun day of the whole year for the kids! After all, a school day where you get to hang out with friends, eat, play and talk mum and dad into buying all kinds of cool stuff… what can be better than that?
For more information click HERE
Each year students from Years 5-8 experience a School Camp off-site.
The Year 5-6 students traditionally spend three days and two nights away at camp and the Year 7-8 students spend four days and three nights away on Motutapu Island.
Each of the year groups may engage in fundraising activities to subsidise the cost of these camps.
Camps are still a highlight for our children and are well supported by parents.
The objectives of our school camps are: to develop confidence, courage, tolerance, cooperation, resourcefulness, and an ability to cope with new experiences. To develop awareness and acceptance of our own and others capabilities but also to have fun!
During the year performers or groups may visit the school. There is usually a small charge.
It is widely recognised that first hand contact greatly helps learning and understanding. For this reason your child may have the opportunity to take part in educational trips, which will be aimed at developing further understanding and insight into some aspect of school studies. Such visits often require extra adult supervision and parents are encouraged to offer their assistance for these trips. There is usually a charge for these trips.
SKIDS (Safe Kids in Daily Supervision) is now based at Wainui School fromMonday to Friday until 3:00 p.m 6.00p.m.
Franchisee Ph. 027 846 1725
A Parent Handbook for information and enrolment forms is available at the school office.
SKIDS provides a fun, safe, out of school care programme. It is New Zealand’s #1 provider of out of school care, offering quality care since 1996. CYFS approved.
Work and Income OSCAR subsidies available. Visit their website https://www.skids.co.nz/locations/wainui/ for more information and enrolment.
Children from our school have their dental health cared for by the Waitemata Health Board Dental Therapists. Once a year the mobile dental clinic is at the school with therapists doing work on-site. For emergency work contact the Stanmore Bay School Dental Clinic 09 424 6046.
We are very proud of our school hall which we built in 2004. This is used for many school events. The Board of Trustees will hire it out for special events but this is closely monitored.
Here are some helpful websites to support you as parents and caregivers:
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Kidslink https://kidslink.co.nz/ KidsLink is an online website and an up-to-date resource tool of services that families and schools can connect with to help with educational, physical and emotional needs for their kids and teenagers.
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The Parenting Place www.theparentingplace.com Parenting Place have a range of programmes, courses, camps and resources, tailored for you and your whānau underpinned by Christian faith values.
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Triple P Parenting www.triplep-parenting.net.nz Triple P is an internationally acclaimed parenting programme. Triple P gives parents a choice of simple strategies you can adapt to suit your own family’s needs – to build better relationships and manage behaviour. There are a range of courses including online courses.
A pre-school playgroup meets each Wednesday & Friday morning from 9.30a.m. at the Wainui Hall. Parents with preschoolers are very welcome to go along and meet other parents on this day.
Our Public Health Nurse, visits the school regularly. Also the Hearing and Vision Nurses test the children each term. Staff or parents can refer any concerns to the nurses, either through the school office or their class teacher.
Specialist Education Services are available to parents through the school. They are a School Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapist, Hearing and Vision Tester, and Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour. Should you need assistance from any of these people, please talk to your child’s teacher.
