Information+for+New+Families

= = = = = = Rongotea School // “Developing confident, self-motivated learners” // Tyne Street   Rongotea Telephone 06 324 8614 Fax 06 324 8613 Email rongotea@rongotea.schoolzone.net.nz  Welcome to Rongotea School. Thank-you for taking the time to find out more about our learning community.

We are a full primary school (Years 1-8) located in a rural village community, 20mins out of Palmerston North. Currently, we have four classrooms to accommodate our roll of 89 students. Our community are actively supportive of our school, participating in many learning and social activities throughout the year.

Our children enjoy the benefits of a large playground, junior and senior adventure play areas, a 50m swimming pool, library and art room. The school has a team of teachers dedicated to the achievement of allstudents. We work to provide not only the best academic opportunities but also a safe and supportive environment which allows our children to grow into confident self-motivated learners.

· Focussed classroom programmes that provide firm foundations for literacy and numeracy. · Our school’s core values of respect, responsibility, leadership, honesty, integrity and tolerance – learning by doing we develop these by breaking them down into daily doable actions for the children. · Our special rural character – Agricultural Day, Waitangi Day Lions Gala and a range of sporting events are important aspects of our annual calendar. · Leadership opportunities for our year 7&8 students · People – we enjoy effective working relationships between home and school · Participation in regional events like NIE, Lit Quiz, Science Fair and Agrikids
 * What is Important to us **

Behaviour that reflects our school’s core values ** – we have caught being good playground awards and our Citizens Award (sponsored by W Amey & Co). Children are noticed by the adults in the school and put forward into the awards as appropriate.
 * What we celebrate ** [[image:business_women_high_five_md_wht.gif width="100" height="125"]]
 * Any success or achievement no matter how small ** – we believe success builds success. We celebrate these at our school assemblies, which are held every Wednesday at 2.30pm.

Rongotea School is a Kiwican school. The programme is based around our school's core values. Kiwican leaders provide high-energy and interactive lessons that contain a range of physcial, mental and creative challenges. Kiwican is a school-wide programme from years 1 - 8.
 * Kiwi Can**

Our end of the Year assembly is a special time where we publicly acknowledge our **high achieving students** with the presentation of sporting and cultural cups and trophies. At this assembly we also take the time to personally farewell each of our Year 8 students as they leave us to go onto High School.

We try to have something just for fun each term. This might be a school picnic, dress up day, bad hair day or whatever we can come up with. These special days help to keep school a fun and magical place for the children.

We are very proud of the children at our school and generally unacceptable behaviour is not a huge issue for us.
 * How we manage inappropriate behaviour **

When things do go wrong we believe it is important for children to learn from mistakes or wrong choices they have made.

Our first response is to talk about the problem in the light of our expectations around the school’s core values. A child is expected to put right things with people and/or property as appropriate.

If a time-out is necessary, the child is expected to write a letter to their parents, explaining why they are in time-out. The letter is taken home, parents are asked to talk about the incident with their child, sign the letter and the letter is then returned to school. The child does not go back onto the playground until the letter is returned to school. Sometimes a child is monitored for a period of time when they return to the playground.

We have zero tolerance of physical aggression. Any child who lashes out in this way is immediately removed from the playground or classroom, parents are contacted and the issue is dealt with by the principal.


 * Homework **

We  have introduced the Rongotea School Young Achiever Awards. The Awards are available to all Year 4-8 children. They are totally optional and will provide children with the opportunity to excel in Physical Activity and the Outdoors, Academic Excellence, Excellence in the Arts, Service to School and Giving.

We have spent a great deal of time thinking, planning and tailoring the concept to our children at Rongotea. We believe the concept fits well with our Mission Statement, “To develop confident, self-motivated learners” because it gives students a real opportunity to be in charge of their learning. The Awards programme replaces “traditional” homework. The only compulsory homework from class teachers at this level will be reading, spelling (if still working on essential list words) and basic facts. Reading, spelling and basic facts homework is an established routine in our junior classes. A little practise every day makes a real difference to the children’s progress.

Like most schools our levies are used to subsidise a range of school activities. Our levies are set at $80.00 per child for the year or $20.00 per child, per term. Payment is made at the school office, cash or cheques are accepted; we do not have eftpos.
 * School Levies **

**Keeping you informed of your child’s progress**

It is important to us that we have healthy relationships with the parents of the children we teach. You are welcome to contact your child’s teacher by phone or in person before or after school for informal feedback or to arrange a specific time to discuss aspects of your child’s development.

Our parent conferences, held at the end of term one and at the beginning of term three, give parents/caregivers a more in depth look at their child’s learning. We provide a written report at the end of the year; this report summarizes progress made over the year and gives an indication of the next learning steps for your child.

We do have a bus service for those children who live outside the village area. The bus service is provided by the Ministry and they have very tight guidelines regarding where the bus will travel. If you want to know if your child/children are eligible for the bus please contact the school office.
 * School Bus [[image:school_bus_girl_waving_md_clr.gif align="right"]] **

Religious Instruction ** We have a long standing tradition of interdenominational religious education in the school. The people who deliver this are well known in the local community and often go the extra mile for our children. RI takes place every Friday morning from 9-9.30am. Parents who do not wish their child to participate must indicate this in writing to the Principal. Our Year 7/8 students travel by bus into Monrad Intermediate in Palmerston North every Wednesday morning for Technology. There is a cost of $48 per student which goes towards covering the cost of materials.
 * Year 7/8 Technology **

Coming to our school ** As an interested parent you are very welcome to come along a have a look around the school; we understand how important it is choosing a school for your child/children. For parents of new entrant children, the school is required to sight your child’s birth certificate and immunization record; you are also encouraged to introduce your child to the class environment prior to starting school. These visits can be arranged through the school office.

We believe our school already provides exceptional educational opportunities for local children, however, that does not stop us from consistently evaluating, improving and adapting the way we do things so we remain up to date and relevant. In the words of our parents who coined the our vision statement, “**Rongotea** **School****, the very best choice for our children”**

If you do choose to join our learning community, please phone or call the school. Debbie Kelland, our principal, is responsible for the enrolment and admission of new children and will be happy to hear from you.