Enrolments

Rongotea School

"Developing confident, self-motivated learners"

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 eight classrooms to accommodate our roll of 155 students. 

Junior School - Team Kea, Team Ruru, Team Kaki. 

Middle School – Team Huia, Team Tui, Team Moa. 

Senior School – Team Weka, Team Kiwi. 

Our community is actively supportive of our school, participating in many learning and social activities throughout the year.

Our children enjoy the benefits of a large play space, junior and senior adventure play areas, log playground, mud kitchen, sand pit, bike tracks, tennis courts, basketball court, a 25m 4 lane heated swimming pool, library, and computers/tablets in all classrooms. Children can bring their bikes or anything with wheels on any school day. However, they need a helmet. We try and discourage toys from being brought to school, this helps with any disagreements around ownership. 

The school has a team of teachers dedicated to the achievement of all students. We work to provide not only the best academic opportunities but also a safe and supportive environment which fosters the growth of our school vision; children who are confident self-motivated learners.

We communicate with parents/caregivers in a variety of ways. This is usually done through email, Skool Loop app, Seesaw and our Facebook page. On the app under the calendar tab, you will find all termly events, we do endeavor to get the next terms dates out at the end of the previous term. 

Every year we hope to send a team of Year 7/8 students to the Zespri AIMs Games held in Tauranga. There are many teams and individual sports played. This gives our seniors an opportunity to compete on the national stage amongst approx. 14,000 other year 7/8 students.

What is Important to us

·      Focused classroom programs that provide firm foundations for literacy and numeracy.

·      Our school's core values of respect, responsibility, honesty, integrity, resilience and striving for personal excellence provide the framework for expectations of behaviour within the school environment. 

·      Our special rural character, Agricultural Day, Waitangi Day Lions Gala, ANZAC Day, Te Pae Tamariki for our Kapa Haka rōpū, Haka competition and a range of school sporting events, along with TK Cluster events are important aspects of our annual calendar.

·      Leadership opportunities for our year 7&8 students through House Captains and Head Students.

·      People - we enjoy effective working relationships between home and school, with clear communication channels.

·      Providing opportunities for children to explore and develop areas of personal interest.

·      Rongotea School PTA provides many opportunities for fundraising (Friday lunches are most popular) and are a fantastic source of helping us achieve our financial goals.

·      Life Education Trust arrives every year with Harold the giraffe. This is always an exciting time for us at Rongotea School. Life Education Trust provides many extra teacher/learning opportunities especially around the curriculum area of health.

·      Every 2nd year we run a Keeping Ourselves Safe program. This is run alongside NZ Police.

·      Weeklong camp for years 7/8 tamariki. With other year levels going on class trips.

·      Full school production every 2nd year.

·      Gymnastics coaching and teaching for Junior School.

·      Swimming lessons taught by teachers terms 1 and 4.

What we celebrate

Any success or achievement, no matter how small - we believe success builds success. We celebrate these at our school assemblies, which are held every third Wednesday in the Rec Centre @ 9am. At our assemblies we celebrate success through three classes sharing their learning, Caught Being Good certificates along with books, classroom certificates and Principal awards.

Behaviour that reflect our school's core values - We believe that a positive playground begins with everyone being clear about what is expected in terms of how we talk and treat one another. Students are allowed to play tackling games if they have a change of clothes and a mouth guard. Only year 7/8 students are allowed to climb trees, and this tree is the big oak tree by the log playground.

Our end of the year Prizegiving 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 say farewell to 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 is in the form of a House Day. If there are other charity events on that term we try and bring that enjoyment into the school i.e Wig Wednesday, Book Week dress up character, Easter dress up day.

 How we manage inappropriate behaviour

We are very proud of the children at our school and generally unacceptable behaviour is not a huge issue for us. During wet lunchtimes our tamariki must stay inside as we don’t have an area for them to all run around in. This means that our year 7/8 students who are our role models of the school will go and mind our junior classes. During these wet break times teachers may have a movie on or other quiet manageable activities for their class to do. We have one teacher on duty at morning tea and two teachers on duty at lunchtimes. 

When things do go wrong, we believe it is important for children to learn from mistakes or wrong choices they have made. There are clear expectations of behaviour when in class, these are created through a class treaty. For classroom behaviour there is a warning that is given first, then a reminder with name on board, then a reflection sheet is given, and the child is removed from the classroom and sent to a member of the Senior Management. On occasions your child could be sent straight to the Principal, this is determined by the severity of the behaviour. Your child is then sent back to class after the reflection sheet has been completed. If a child gets a reflection sheet this will mean a lunchtime detention will be given.

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.  We do have policies and procedures around behavior management. These are found on School Docs. https://rongotea.schooldocs.co.nz/Logon.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f 

Username - rongotea

Password - rongoteadocs 

We have a strong stance regarding 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 Staff, Team Leaders and/or the Principal. The consequences for this kind of behaviour could range from the child missing their lunchtime where they would sit outside the staffroom through to being stood down.

Homework

Homework differs from classroom to classroom. Reading, spelling and basic facts may be the required homework for your child. A little practice every day makes a real difference to the children's progress. Please ask your child’s classroom teacher around their expectations for homework.

School Donations

We have no school donations.  

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, in person or email 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 in term 1 and term 3, give parents/caregivers a more in-depth look at their child's learning. We provide two written reports throughout the year. These reports summarize progress made and will give you an indication of the next learning steps for your child.

School Bus

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.

Year 7/8 Technology

Our Year 7 /8 students travel by bus to Longburn Adventist College in Longburn every Thursday morning for Technology. There is a cost of $20 per student which goes towards covering the cost of materials.

School Uniform

We have a compulsory school uniform; items can be purchased from the school office. New students at school have five days to get into uniform

SunSmart

We are a SunSmart school; this means that during terms 1 and 4 children must wear the regulation school hat (bucket hat) for all outdoor activities, including lunch and play breaks. It is the responsibility of whānau to provide the hat.

Absence

If your child is going to be absent from school for any reason, it is critical that you let the office know. This is done through the Skool Loop app, phoning or emailing the office. If your child is late or leaving early, it is important that they are signed in or out of the office using the vistab. 

Coming to our school

As an interested parent you are very welcome to come along and 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 with Becky Rasmussen, our NE/Year 1 teacher.

We believe our school already provides exceptional educational opportunities for our children; we are constantly evaluating, improving and adapting the way we do things, so we remain up to date and relevant. Our mission statement of "Quality Learning - every child, every chance, every day" is our measuring stick to ensuring we provide the very best for the tamariki at our school.

If you do choose to join our learning community, please phone or email the school to arrange a school tour with the Principal. You can email Mr Anderson @ principal@rongotea.school.nz or phone/txt 0275181987. 

Ngā Mihi

Rongotea School