Absence / Attendance

Parents are required to contact the school office explaining their child’s absence via our website www.stbrendans.school.nz, by telephone or email to office@stbrendans.school.nz. Where an absence is planned in advance, parents must seek permission from the Principal in writing. Students arriving late or leaving early must sign in or out at the office.

Assemblies

Whole School Assemblies are held on Fridays at 9am in our school hall.  Classes take turns hosting assemblies, these are advertised in our school newsletter.

Before and After School Care

Aboutkidz Oscar operates daily Monday to Friday, from 7am–8.30am and 3pm–6.30pm on school premises from the school hall. All enquiries should be directed to Sarah Thomson 0276160235.  Aboutkidz Oscar also operates holiday programmes.

Scholastic Book Club

A volunteer runs the Scholastic Book Club for our families.  Students receive leaflets and are given a closing date. Orders can be made directly on the Scholastic Website or dropped at the office.

Bus Transport

The bus service, Tranzit transports students to/from Whiteman’s Valley and the local area of Silverstream and Pinehaven. Buses depart school at 3pm daily from the Sutherland Avenue bus stop. Children are recorded as they use the service after school. Please notify school if normal routines change.  To confirm bus routes please contact Tranzit on (04)3872018.

Civil Defence Emergency Kits

In the event of a natural disaster in the region, it is possible that children would need to be cared for at school for some time. Parents are asked to provide a Civil Defence Kit at the beginning of each year for this purpose, details of what is required in each student’s kit is found on the school stationery list.

Communications

Newsletters are sent home fortnightly on Tuesdays via email and other administrative information and important reminders are posted on Seesaw, our Facebook Noticeboard and website www.stbrendans.school.nz. Team newsletters are sent home during the first week of each term. Our Lady of the Valley’s Parish Bulletin is emailed weekly to families, on Fridays.  Seesaw is also used to connect families to student learning and to provide an opportunity for families to give their child/ren feedback.

Early Explorers Programme – Pre-School Programme

The Early Explorers Programme is an induction process for new entrant children and their parents to Brendan’s School. The programme runs over three consecutive weeks and is organised by our Explorers Team Leader, Lindsey Dailly. Further information is found on your letter of acceptance.

Emergency Contact and Permission Profile Form

This important information is collected on enrolment. Families are responsible for keeping the office up to date with any changes to this information, especially when there is a change of contact details or a change to emergency caregivers (who can collect your son/daughter should we be unable to contact you).

Food and Drinks

Children are not allowed lollies or fizzy drinks as part of their lunch. We encourage parents to provide only water to drink, in reusable bottles and food, in reusable containers to help avoid glad wrap use.  Our Healthy Food Policy is available on SchoolDocs.

Health

If your child has any medical condition, please inform the school by completing a Medical Condition form so we can manage the condition. Students who require medication to be taken at school, are required to complete a Medication Agreement annually. Medications will be sent home at the end of each year for replenishing if necessary. It is the parent’s responsibility to ensure supply is replenished.  No medication is to be kept in a students’ school bag, it must be secured in the school’s medical room. Administering of medications is recorded.

Sick / Injured and Medication for Students

Every reasonable effort will be made by staff to contact a parent/caregiver or support people if a child is injured, becomes ill at school or requires medical help. Details are recorded. If the injury is minor a note is given to children to inform parents of details. For any head injury a parent/caregiver will be contacted by phone. Unwell children will wait in the Medical Room until collection is arranged. No child will leave the school unless accompanied by an adult. Staff training occurs regularly in First Aid so that we always have current certified staff available.

Smoking

The School is a smoke-free area.

Library

Our Library is open daily, and Monday through Thursday lunchtimes for students to use. Parents will be notified when books are three weeks overdue and parents are required to pay for lost books. Children can issue from one to three books at a time (depending on their year level), for a two-week period.  There are also fortnightly visits from Pūrehurehu Upper Hutt Mobile Library Service.

Lunch Orders

Two school lunch suppliers provide an online service.

Lunchonline.co.nz is available for Wednesday delivery (Sushi) & Friday delivery (Pita Pit). Please visit www.onlinelunches.co.nz to place your order. For further information contact 0800 565 565 or info@lunchonline.co.nz. 

Lost Property

This is located within each classroom. Please return items accidently taken and encourage respect for own property and that of others. To avoid lost property, please ensure all pieces of school uniform are clearly labelled.

Parents, Teachers and Friends Association (PTF)

The Parents, Teachers & Friends is a group of dedicated parents whose primary role is to fundraise for the school to assist the Board of Trustees and Principal in achieving strategic goals.  We welcome you to join our St Brendan’s PTF, the group meets regularly on Tuesdays at 7pm.  Meetings are advertised in our school bulletin.

Volunteers

Family members and Parishioners are very welcome at school and their assistance is appreciated.  If you are willing and available to help, please email the office or approach your child/ren’s class teacher/s.  A current police vet may be required.

We offer a Give Me 5 Programme where family members can volunteer 5 hours a year to an area of choice.  Refer to the Contact Profile form to indicate your preferences of support.

Cycling and Scooter Policy

Safety helmets must be worn.  Bicycles and scooters can be securely locked into the bicycle stands.  Bicycles and scooters are not to be ridden in the school grounds (unless part of a planned programme).  It is recommended students under Year 5 be accompanied by an adult cyclist.

Cars

No vehicle entry is permitted onto school grounds during school hours while children are at school, unless with the permission of the Principal.

Stationery

Stationery lists outlining requirements are posted on our website and emailed home at the end of the school year.  Families are asked to purchase their child’s requirements before the commencement of school.

Health Contacts

Dental Clinic                                                      Phone  0800 TALK TEETH

Ear Clinic/Upper Hutt Health Centre                Phone  (04) 920 1800

Public Health Nurse                                           Phone  (04) 570 9196

Public Health Line                                              Phone  0800 611 116

School Donations

Each year our Board of Trustees requests donations to support and enhance the delivery of our school curriculum at St Brendan’s School. The current national Decile system remains in place for 2020/2021 and schools will be funded accordingly. As a decile 8 school we are not eligible to opt into the Government’s donations scheme. The Government is apparently open to extending the scheme further in the future subject to Budget decisions. In the meantime, without being able to consider this as a possibility, we continue to rely on the generosity and support of our community.

Years 1 to 6, $200; Years 7 and 8, $280 (includes Technicraft) to the maximum of $500 per family. Payments can be made directly to the school bank account 12-3140-0356504-00 (using your child’s name as a reference), or by cash or cheque at the school office. Donations are voluntary, please give careful consideration to paying all or part of the donations as your circumstances allow. Donations to our school are tax deductible, you can keep receipts to claim a rebate of 33.3% from the IRD. This is now a quick and easy online process.

At St Brendan’s donations are used for:

• Swimming programme – transport, pool entry and instruction
• Mathletics and Reading Eggs
• Education Outside the Classrooms, curriculum based trips – transport, entry, facilitation
• Religious Education Resource Levy
• Other school-wide programmes and teaching or learning resourcing.
• And, Technicraft for Year 7 and 8 students

Extra-Curricular Activities

Payments will also be requested for voluntary activities that students may elect to take part in that are not part of the core curriculum (e.g. Flippaball, Dancesplash, Basketball). Families will have to give students permission and pay associated costs before students take place in these activities. As these are optional activities, if you do not agree to pay, the student will not be able to take part. These payments are not tax deductible.

Archdiocese of Wellington (ADW) Attendance Dues

Attendance Dues are the compulsory property and insurance fee which parents and caregivers legally commit to pay when they enrol their child/ren in a Catholic school. The dues are used to pay for the costs of new school buildings, pay off existing mortgages and pay for the insurance on all school property. ADW collects attendance dues on behalf of the proprietors of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese, these are not tax deductible, and our school is not able to accept these payments. The 2020 Attendance Dues are $545 per child. You are welcome to meet with me in confidence to discuss Attendance Dues assistance.

Money, Direct Credit and Account Numbers

Money brought to school must be enclosed in a sealed, clearly named envelope, stating room number, amount and purpose.  Money must never be left in school bags.  Direct credit payments can be made as follows:

• For school payment to the BOT Account number
• For fundraising payments to the PTF Account

School Policies and Procedures

St Brendan’s has been working with SchoolDocs to create a website for our policies and procedures. The site is live and available to our school community.  The school works on a subscription basis with SchoolDocs to maintain, update, and review our policies. SchoolDocs provides us with a comprehensive core set of policies, which have been well researched and follow the Ministry of Education National Administration Guidelines. The policies and procedures are tailored to our school, and the school supplies specific information such as our charter, and procedures for behaviour management, reporting to parents, etc.  SchoolDocs updates, modifies, or creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools, and regular reviewing from the SchoolDocs team. Our board of trustees has the opportunity to view changes/additions and comment on them before they are implemented. We will advise you when policies are up for review and how you can take part in the review.  We invite you to visit the site at https://stbrendans.schooldocs.co.nz (note that there’s no “www.”). Our username is “stbrendans” and password “navigators”.

Resolving Concerns and Complaints

Our Concerns and Complaints policy is available on SchoolDocs. Most concerns can be resolved informally through discussion with the people concerned. The policy provides staff members, parents/caregivers, and the wider school community with clear guidelines for raising and resolving concerns and complaints.  We encourage open communication and prefer that you come to us to talk through any issues rather than discussing them in the community.  We have procedures in place to ensure that complaints and concerns are handled appropriately. We will be able to manage your concerns and complaints more effectively if you raise them with us promptly.  Our procedures enable us to:

• maintain a safe environment for our students and staff
• treat all people fairly, transparently, and with dignity and respect
• resolve matters of concern early, if possible
• respond to feedback and concerns constructively
• deal with complaints fairly, effectively, and in a timely manner
• take into account individual circumstances
• maintain confidentiality
• preserve and enhance school and community relationships
• monitor and record complaints and concerns about student safety and wellbeing.

He waka eke noa, we are privileged to be sailing together.

Please know that our gate is always open and you are always very welcome.

We encourage you to be generous with your time and talents.

We will row together, through the calm, the storms and the uncertainty.

Together we are called to show love and kindness, draw strength from our faith and hold onto hope.

 

Annual Report

2019 Annual Report & Financial Statements and Unqualified Audit Report