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ENROLLING
YOUR CHILD:
The office is open for enrolments for Term One from Tuesday 24 January 2012.
Enrolments can be made with the Office Manager or Deputy
Principal at our main office. If your child is starting school
for the first time, we require a birth certificate to confirm
your child’s birth date and name, and immunisation records/details.
We also invite you to meet the Principal or Deputy Principal
to discuss, confidentially, the needs of your child. Please phone the school office to make an appointment. The office is open from 8.00am to 4.15pm daily.
ATTENDANCE
It is important that we keep track of the children enrolled at
our school for several reasons. One is to prevent truancy and
another is to protect your child from danger, If your child is
away for any reason, please telephone the school or send a note
to the classroom by 9.00am. An early call also prevents the waste
of valuable time searching for your child. Please remember a note
or phone call from you is required each time your child is away.
If we have an unexplained absence, and we have not been able to
contact you, the Feilding Truancy service will be contacted.
SCHOOL FEES
Lytton Street School operates a reasonable fee structure, currently
$60.00 per child per year ($15 per term) reducing to $50 if paid
at enrolment or by the end of term one, or $100 per family per
year reducing to $85 if paid at enrolment or by the
end of term one. School fees are used to help provide many of
the extra programmes for our students. We have a number of additional
learning activities and seek to provide a range of good, challenging,
enrichment programmes, along with extra reading and maths material.
School fees are voluntary donations, and receipts may be used
in your next tax claim.
WHEN YOU PREPARE FOR SCHOOL
Please look after your property: All personal property
brought on to the school grounds is at the owner’s risk. We make
every effort to provide a secure environment but this cannot be
guaranteed. We accept no responsibility for lost, damaged or stolen
property. We do have a lost property area where items can be reclaimed.
Please ensure that all clothing, footwear, drink bottles, lunch
boxes, school bags and property is clearly named so we can return
these items to you if they are lost. We usually have a large amount
of unnamed lost property at school, each term.
Homework may be needed We give homework to our children,
but the amount will vary from class to class.
Sensible Clothing: We do not have a set uniform but we
encourage children to be sensibly dressed so they can participate
fully and safely in school activities. Please avoid jewellery
Jewellery is not part of the required school attire. We suggest
children do not wear jewellery to school because: * it may get
lost * it may cause accidents or injuries, eg, torn ears.
Please leave sweets at home: Please do not give your child
lollies or confectionery to bring to school.
Children using the School Phone: The school telephone is
not for use by children, except in urgent situations or emergency.
These do not include homework, swimming togs or reply slips left
at home.
WHEN CHILDREN TRAVEL TO SCHOOL
Bus Transport: We expect the behaviour of children on the
bus to be faultless. We keep a roll of children travelling on
the bus and check this each morning and afternoon. Please notify
us if your child is not travelling on the bus for any reason as
this helps to monitor the buses more efficiently.
Bicycles: If you live close to school, for example, within
a kilometre, we suggest your child should walk. For further distances,
your child may need to bike to school. We would like to remind
you that, by law, all cyclists must wear a cycle helmet, and that
children under 9 years should not ride their bicycles to school
because of risks to their safety.
School times: Please make sure your child does not arrive
at school before the supervised time of 8.30am. Children who arrive
early will have to wait on the tennis courts near the Dental Clinic
and this may be unpleasant in winter. Also, children must leave
the school grounds immediately after dismissed at 2.55pm.
HOW
TO WITHDRAW YOUR CHILD
If you are moving and need to withdraw your child from the school,
here are the steps to take to make the process easy for both you
and your child.
1. Send a note to the class teacher showing last day of attendance
so that all school materials can be returned.
2. We will prepare a brief “change of school” report for you to
take to your next school.
Please return school books, library books, special readers, sports
uniforms and equipment to the school. If you have any questions
on this process, please contact the school office.
PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US
Let us know your address: For emergency use, the school maintains
files of all pupil’s addresses and telephone numbers and a person
for contact in an emergency. Please let us know if you change
any of these details so our information is up-to-date. Tell
us about medication: Please inform us if your child is on
medication. You can ask teachers to administer medication, but
we accept no responsibility for this task. If it is essential
for your child to have medication at school, a form must be completed
and arrangements made with the school office or Senior Teacher
Aide.
Call us: Please call us at any time with any queries you
may have concerning your child. The office is open from 8.00am to
4.30pm, and outside these hours we have an answer-phone. It may be
difficult to directly contact a staff member, so if you wish to
do this, please leave
your name and contact number and message with the office. Regular
meetings with your child’s teacher are important. Contact the
office to arrange an appointment.
EXPLAINING OUR CLASS STRUCTURE: From some of the questions we receive, it might be helpful to explain the way we organise the school into classes and teams. Here are some pointers:
• Except for the New Entrant group, we have a deliberate policy of making composite classes wherever possible. These are usually Year 1-2 (Junior Jets), Year 3-4 (Team B) and Year 5-6 (Team A), collectively known as Senior Stars.
• For the 5-year-olds, we try to give them a really good start in a "reception class" before they enter the Year 1-2 class.
• Most children are enrolled on their 5th birthday, and once enrolled, then attendance is compulsory. The law requires all New Zealand children to be enrolled by their 6th birthday.
• Lytton Street School provides education for the first six years of their compulsory schooling. After successful completion of the Year Six programme, pupils move on to Intermediate School .
• We move children each year to the next class level, usually with their age group. However, some difficulties arise for those children born between April and July, and sometimes parents wonder whether they should be "going up" or not. Our consistent practice has been that children must have at least seven terms (ie 1 year and 3 terms) before being promoted to Year 3. This means that a child born in March will probably go up, but a child born in June will not. For those in the March-April group, we look at each child's progress (academic and social) before making the decision.
• It is really important that children are not pushed / pressured unreasonably beyond their capability. Early undue pressure to perform can lead to major problems later in their teens.
• Of course, we all want our children to do well, and sometimes this means staying in a class level to broaden learning and/or mature socially.
• When we come to classing children for the following year, we often keep them with the same teacher. This is not a sign of failure - the child might be a Year 3 becoming a Year 4, but still with the same teacher. That teacher will plan and present a programme of work based on each child's needs, and there is no disadvantage in having a second year at the new level.
• In the end, the numbers dictate our class arrangements. At present I see next year's class structure being very similar to those of previous years.
• We take a lot of care, and time, in making our decisions on this. Class placements are not a "Lucky Dip" or a "Raffle". If we claim that every child at Lytton Street is special, then we must consider each child's needs really carefully.
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