North Loburn School
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Pupil Absence
Children must attend school unless they are ill. If your child is going to be away from school then please phone the school office to leave a message before 8:55am. As part of our duty of care, we will telephone families of those students who are not present at school by 9.15 and have not phoned in an absence. You will appreciate the time this takes so please do not forget to let us know if your child is going to be away. If your child is late to school, please check in at the school office to let Mrs Lintott know to save her a phone call.

North Loburn School Uniform
We have a school uniform at North Loburn School. This can be purchased from the Warehouse in Rangiora.

Winter guidelines:(Terms Two and Three)
Girls & Boys
  • Plain Navy Track pants or shorts.
  • Red polo shirt or skivvy
  • Navy sweatshirt, Jersey or Polar Fleece (with School Monogram desirable).
If thermal clothing is visible, it must be either plain navy or red, in line with our uniform colours.

Girls only:
  • Dress or pinafore in school winter tartan.
  • Culottes in school winter tartan.
  • Navy tights.

Summer guidelines: (Terms One and Four)
Girls & Boys:
  • Plain navy rugby knit shorts or bike shorts
  • Red short sleeved polo
Girls only:
  • Dress or pinafore in school summer tartan
  • Culottes in school summer tartan

Footwear guidelines:
  • Children must arrive at, and leave school wearing footwear at all times. In terms 2 and 3 footwear must be worn outside at all times.
  • Gumboots may be worn to school in wet weather but shoes suitable for sport are required on a daily basis . Indoor shoes or slippers must be brought to school in terms 2 and 3.
  • Appropriate footwear for school activities is required every day. Recommended footwear is trainers or brown, navy or black shoes. Jandals, beach sandals and shoes with high heels are inappropriate.
  • Socks must be plain white, red, blue or black. Rugby socks are not permitted.

General Uniform Rules
  • Makeup is not to be worn. Nail varnish is not to be worn, however a coating for nail biters is acceptable but a note must be sent to the school.
  • The only permissible jewellery is a watch. The only permissible piercing is in ears, with plain studs only. Only one stud per ear is to be worn.
  • Hair longer than shoulder length must be tied up, or a head band used, and must be kept out of the eyes. The colouring of hair is strongly discouraged.
  • In changeable weather children should bring a jacket. These are not to be worn inside.
  • All clothing including footwear should be named. Lost property will then be able to be returned to the student. The school may wash and donate to charity any unnamed items that remain unclaimed.
  • The wearing of sun hats is required outside during terms 1 and 4. The style of hat must be wide brimmed or bucket (in navy), and meet the standards of the Cancer Society’s Sunsmart Schools Accreditation programme. Children not wearing sunhats will be directed to eat and play in a designated shaded area.
  • For religious or cultural reasons, there may be approved exceptions to this policy. The Principal must be advised in writing should a student wish to be exempt from any part of the school uniform policy.
  • The uniform may be complimented, on occasions, with special school awarded clothing. This is not to include items of clothing from local sporting teams, and must be specific to North Loburn School.
  • Second hand uniform clothing can be purchased from the school hall (cupboards at rear of hall). Gold coin donation per item of clothing
​Footwear
  • No shoes inside in term 2 and 3, can have bare feet in term 1 and 4.
    It is advisable that footwear is to be worn all year round, and the use of alternative footwear (slippers) is encouraged in winter months. (The Junior classes generally require these indoor substitutes.) The uniform sunhat is compulsory in Terms 1 & 4.

GENERAL INFORMATION (Items listed in alphabetical order)
Absence / Change of Travel Routine
It is essential that both the school and the family know exactly where your child is at all times. In the interest of safety and to avoid confusion please observe the following  procedures:
  • Verbal or written (dated) notice from a parent must be given to the office when a child is
  • not attending school for the day
  • is to be collected from school by
  • is to visit another family
  • will not be riding home on the bus as usual

Behaviour  - PB4L
We are a PB4L school meaning that we place a great deal of emphasis on the explicit teaching of our school values and our students demonstrating these at all times.  We ask that our parents support us by having conversations at home about our values as well. Be have a Behaviour Management plan which has been put in place to ensure we are managing behaviour consistently. Again we ask for the support of our families when working through behavioural issues. As I am sure you will appreciate this can be difficult given the fact that there are always two sides to a story. 
Any behaviour incidents are recorded on our SMS system. Positive behaviours are acknowledged through the use of our PRIDE cups, certificates, Principal Awards and our Cool Kids caravan.

Change Of Address Or Telephone Number or Emergency Contacts
Please contact the school office if your address or telephone number changes. This information is vital in case of emergency. On enrolment you will be asked if your phone number can be published on our phone list. This list serves as an efficient communication system for parents and school groups.

CoL (Community of Learning)
North Loburn School is one of 17 schools in the Puketeraki CoL. This is a group of schools from across the North Canterbury region who are working closely together.  The CoL is lead by Sharon Marsh (Leithfield School). Anne Hughes is our current Within School Leader.
We have achievement targets across the CoL which we are working on. 
As a CoL we are expected to have a teacher only day. For 2021 this is set down for the 5ht November
For further information on the CoL you can visit this website http://www.puketeraki.school.nz/www.puketeraki.school.nz/


Communication
From time to time you may have questions or concerns which you would like to discuss with us at school. The best course of action, in almost every case, is to discuss your concern (personally rather than email) with your child’s teacher as a first step. Teachers are always happy to meet with parents however it is prefered that an appointment is made for a time that suits both parties. Your concern will be documented and you can follow up with the class teacher to check on developments. Your next point of contact is our principal. Please contact the school to make an appointment.
The school has a Respectful Communication Policy at North Loburn School policy which can be viewed on our SchoolDocs site. Should you wish to read this then please contact the school for login details to the SchoolDocs website.  Click here to go to the site - Schooldocs 

Computers
We are very fortunate in having a fully networked computer system in every classroom. Each class has a pod of iPads. These are constantly being updated in line with the Technology Curriculum and Safety requirements. We have an intricate Internet protection system, and parental permission is required for students to have access to the computer network.
We continue to update school equipment as budgets and time allows. We use technology as a tool to support and enhance good teaching practices and programmes. They are only as good as the programme of which they are part. Therefore the use of these technologies varies across the school and across the curriculum.

Dental Health
The Dental Nurses visit the school during the year and all the children are checked. Parents are informed when the Dental Nurses are present. If work is required or you need to make an appointment at any time please contact the community dental service on 0800 846 983

Donation (School)
Each year the school requests from families a school donation. This is a voluntary donation that goes towards the development of school resources. North Loburn School has made every effort to keep the donation reasonably priced so all families can contribute. As a high Decile school, we rely on this donation to meet the needs of our students. Please do your part, and pay as soon as you can.
The school donation is Individual student $17.50 or Family $25.00 per term. You can choose to pay the donations in one lump sum at the start of the year or each term.  Please note that many of the activities that we run could not take place if it was not for these donations.

Emergency Contact/Health Care
In case of emergency (illness or accident) we will telephone you or the emergency telephone number you have given us. If your child has an allergy, asthma, diabetes or another medical condition , please inform the principal, teachers and office staff. If medication needs to be administered at school, ensure the child’s teacher and/or the secretary has the specific instructions.
In the event of a school emergency, (e.g earthquake, flood or snow closure), information will be sent to families via the school website, the grapevine tree, or via the school Facebook site.
If at any stage during the year your emergency contact details change, we would ask that you please notify the school so that these can be updated.

Enrolment
We welcome new students of all ages. We operate an ‘enrolment scheme’ which governs eligibility for enrolment on the basis of your home address. In New Zealand it is usual for children to start school when they turn five. Children can start school at any time during the year they turn five as long as they are attending school by aged six. Contact our Principal, Darryn Ward to make an appointment to come and see our neat little school and to enrol.

Extra Opportunities
Many opportunities are offered to the older children. We believe that it is important for our students to have a wide range of learning opportunities. Some of the activities that we offer are Jump Jam, Enviro leaders, Young Leaders, Canta maths, Spelling quiz, Chess teams, Kapa Haka, Band, miniball , Friday night basketball team, Current Events quiz, Twilight football etc.
These opportunities run both during school and after school. We are extremely grateful to all the parents who continue to volunteer and assist with these activities in some way, whether it is transporting the children or helping to run practices, or simply coming along and supporting them.

Health
All children must attend school unless they are ill. Please ensure that when your child has contagious illnesses such as, school sores, chicken pox and flu, that they are kept safe at home until the doctor clears them to return to school. This ensures we are doing everything we can to maintain our children’s and teachers health and attendance.
With regards to head lice which is a never recurring problem within schools, please ensure your child’s hair is properly treated and tied back accordingly. We do have an electronic head lice comb for families to borrow.

Hearing and Vision
This is carried out by the Canterbury Health Board. All five-year-olds, Y7’s and new children are tested.Other children are tested at the parent’s/ teacher’s request.

Home and School

Tihiraki North Loburn School is extremely fortunate to have a very supportive Parent/Teacher association, involved primarily with fundraising for school projects and organizing special activities. There is an elected Chairperson, treasurer and secretary along with a committee which meets monthly in the staffroom at school.  Parents are notified of the meetings via the school newsletter. These meetings are open to anyone within the community and welcome those who cannot commit to monthly meetings as well. Home and school also organize social events for the students and the larger community.

New members are always welcome to this group. If you would like to know more or would be keen to be involved please contact the school office for details. From time to time our Home and School group will run a Friday morning coffee group on the school hall from 9am to 10:30. This group welcomes new parents with preschoolers, existing parents and parents who have future enrolments.

Homework
It is school policy to have homework regularly. The Year 0-3 children will bring home a reading book to share with you. The year 2-3 students in Manuka are also asked to work on basic facts.
For the Year 4-8 children homework includes basic facts, reading and Summit Challenge. (see more info on this elsewhere on the site)

ICT
North Loburn is a digital school. We currently have Mac Books, Chromebooks and iPads for use in the school. 
We have an updated ICT plan which can be viewed here. ICT plan

In Term 2 of 2017 a letter was sent out to all Year 4-8 students and their families outlining our new plans for ICT and how we are going to fund these changes. A copy of that letter can be found here. ICT letter

Learning Support
We are proud of the fact that we employ a number of teacher aides at school to assist with the whole learning programme. They work with groups and individuals catering for their specific learning needs. We asses the programmes each term.

Library
We are proud of our library. Please encourage your child to use it fully. Their class visits the library at least once a week.
Our library is also available to our students at morning tea and lunchtime as a quiet space

Lost Property
All named articles are returned to the children. After a period of time unnamed articles are given to local clothing shops or put with the school second hand uniforms.

Lunches
We do not provide a lunch service at North Loburn so your child will need to bring a packed lunch. Remember we have litter-free lunches at North Loburn School. Children need healthy lunches that are easy to eat.
All of our children eat their lunch together on the front court. The first 15 minutes of our lunch hour is for eating. At the end of this 15 minutes a bell is rung. The Year 5-8 students are free to leave the lunch area once the bell is rung. The Year 0-4 children must wait until the teacher releases them. This allows the duty teacher to check that our younger students are eating the food they have brought from home.
If the weather is too cold or wet then our students will eat their lunch inside the classroom.

The home and school team offer a winter lunch treat to order every year (e.g.Subway or sushi ) Times and dates for this are notified in the school newsletter.

Medications
Students bringing medications of any kind to school must hand them to their class teacher. Apart from those students with “standing instructions” for regular use, such as asthma treatments, no child is to retain and self administer medicines. Please send a covering note to school that states dosage and frequency. Staff use a log to record all medications that are administered to children.

Money
All money for lunches, stationery and fees should be sent to school in a sealed envelope with the child's name and the money’s purpose. We do encourage bank transfers with references. Our bank details are available from the office.

Newsletters
The School Newsletter, which includes school notices, is emailed out fortnightly on a Monday. Please make sure the school has your current email address and that you check it regularly.
The newsletter does have section for local sponsors and for adverts. There is a small charge for placing advertisements in the newsletter. 
The newsletter can also be found on the website under the news tab

No Smoking Policy
North Loburn School is a Smoke-Free School. There is no smoking within the school grounds at any time, inside or outside school hours.

Outdoor Education
The school has an active outdoor education programme. This involves both day trips and camping experiences outside the school. The camping applies to Year 4-8 students and is planned for every year.  Camps include such places as Living Springs, Hanmer, Woodend, Dunedin, Greymouth etc.  An optional outdoor education programme is also provided for Y7/8 students. They complete 8 activities during the year, two per term. e.g. tramping, skiing, mountain biking. Day trips occur throughout the school. Parents will be notified of these through the school newsletter or a classroom email.

Parent Help
There are a variety of opportunities for parents to help in the school or with classroom activities, particularly in the Junior classes.
School trips are well supported by parents. Our children make regular visits into their local community and to various educational venues in Christchurch. They attend performances by professional entertainers to the school. It is a requirement that parents who provide transport for school trips comply with ALL N.Z. Road Safety laws. We insist that all children wear a seatbelt and any child under 7 years is also required to have a booster seat. We also ask that parents who wish to assist with transport send a copy of their drivers licence to the office and details of registration and warrant. This helps us with ensuring the safety of all students who travel by car.

Parking At School
The school has an enclosed car park for school and hall users. There is only one entrance so all parents need to be cautious when entering and exiting. Please leave the area in front of the school just beside the little gate free for our school bus.
The parking areas at the front of the school are clearly defined with white lines. The inner lane is for parents who wish to leave their car and collect their children. The outside lane is for pick up and drop off only where parents must remain in their vehicle.
The health and safety of our students and community members is extremely important so please help us by adhering to these requirements.

Personal Possessions
Children who bring items to share, do so at their own risk. While we encourage student sharing about things that are important to them, valuable and fragile property is almost impossible to care for in a classroom situation. The possibility of things being broken or lost is very high, and we would discourage students from bringing such items.

Policies
We have a number of school policies that have been developed to ensure that the school is both Governed and managed effectively, and that we are providing the very best education for your child that we can.
Our school policies are now administered by SchoolDocs. These are reviewed on a 3 year cycle and updated as needed. Parents are able to view these policies online. Please contact the school office for details on how you can login to the SchoolDocs site to read these. The link can be found under the policies tab in the BOT section of the website.

Scholastic Book Club
Scholastic books are sold through the school each term. Order forms are sent home with each child. These are quality books and are reasonably priced. Orders need to be in at designated times. Proceeds from book sales are donated back to the school library. Once a year we have a Scholastic Book Fair for you to purchase books. The school gets a percentage of the purchase total to spend on books for the library.

School Grounds
We welcome the grounds being used under adult supervision, after school and on weekends, when care and consideration is shown to school amenities. Please ensure facilities are treated well and report any acts of vandalism or safety concerns to the Principal or BOT Chairperson immediately. If you wish to use the grounds for an organised event, then please check through the school office.

We do ask that if bringing dogs onto the school grounds at anytime that they are kept on a lead. Please do not let them roam free.  We would appreciate your help in ensuring that your furry friends are well looked after. Unsupervised pets can ingest poisonous bulbs and plants, as well as cause damage to our own gardens.

School Hours
8.55 -10.30
Class time
10.30 -10.55
Morning tea
10.55 - 12.30
Class time
12.30 - 1.25
Lunch time
1.25 - 3.00
Class time
 School Terms
The school operates on the Ministry of Education’s four-term year. Any queries about dates can be checked with the school office, through the school newsletter or our website. The dates for each year and set by the BoT in term 3 and will be shared with the community late term 3 or early term 4. 

School Trips
As part of class programmes school trips will be organised when appropriate: sport, music, local events, and camps. Parents are requested to assist in transport where possible. An email with the details will be sent out in advance.

Special Needs
Students vary in their ability across class levels and within individual classrooms. Our school receives a Special Education Grant(S.E.G) to implement programmes to support students with individual or group needs. This grant is relatively small as North Loburn School is classified by the Ministry of Education as a socio-economically advantaged school and therefore receives the lowest level of extra support funding.
As a result, the North Loburn School Board also commits its own money to employ extra teacher aides, who work in the mornings with groups and individuals catering for their specific needs. Programmes are assessed term-by-term.
As well as students with special needs, we also cater for those students who have specific talents or abilities (Gifted and Talented). We have a school process for identifying these students. Strategies and programmes are then implemented to ensure we are meeting the needs of these individuals or groups.

Sport
All students participate in school sporting events, including swimming, athletics, cross country, gymnastics and winter sports.
Students in Y5-8 may qualify for further competitions in swimming, cross country and athletics.
All children representing the school in sports teams need to be wearing
appropriate sports uniform. They will be issued a tracksuit jacket upon
qualifying for the event. This needs to be returned to the office the day after the event.
In Terms 2 and 3 we spend the last 15 minutes of the day doing Jump Jam in the hall. Parents are welcome to join in.

Stationery
The school office stocks stationery which can be brought before school. i.e. glue sticks, pencils, rubbers, rulers, library folders, and some exercise books. Any purchases will be added to the parent’s account.

Sun Protection
In view of the risks to health from overexposure to the sun, the school requires the use of sunhats during Terms 1 & 4. We also urge the use of sunscreen. The sunhats, which are described in the official Uniform Policy, must be worn on all school trips and outings

Swimming
We have a 12-metre heated swimming pool, which we share with the North Loburn Community. The school uses it in Terms 1 and 4 on a daily basis, weather permitting. The pool is available outside of school hours for use by the community. Pool keys may be purchased from the school, each season, at a modest cost. (You will be advised of the price and dates of key availability in the school newsletter.) Swimmers are required to follow the pool rules.



If you have any questions about any of this information, please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher or the office. 
  • Welcome
    • Principalʻs Welcome
    • Giga - our mascot
    • About our School
    • Vision_Values
    • Mission Statement
    • School supporters
  • News
    • Newsletters >
      • 2019 Newsletters
      • 2020 Newsletters
      • 2021
  • Parent Info
    • General Info
    • New Entrants
    • Summit Challenge
    • Reporting and Assessment
    • School Bus Service
    • Puketeraki Kahui Ako
    • Stationery Lists
  • Our Team
    • Teaching Staff
    • Support Staff
  • B.O.T.
    • Intro
    • Members
    • Charter
    • Annual Reports
    • Policies
    • Meeting Dates
    • Minutes
    • Latest ERO report
  • Home and School
    • Intro and guidelines
    • Members
    • Events
  • Whatʻs On
    • Calendar
    • Term Dates
    • Event Info
  • Classes / groups
    • REACH
    • Sport
  • Contact
  • Garden To Table
    • GTT
    • Gardent to Table newsletter
  • Enviro Schools
    • Enviro Blog
  • PB4L
  • Distance Learning - Info and ideas
    • Parent Info
    • Websites for children
    • Info on internet connections