We have some children at Matipo who have serious food allergies. We take the health and safety of these students very seriously and follow Allergy New Zealand’s recommendations and guidelines when developing policies and procedures within the school. Our focus is on educating the staff and students around the management.

Please get in touch with our office with any change of contact details for parents/guardians and emergency contacts. From time to time we need to get in touch with parents/guardians urgently when children get sick or have accidents. Without up to date details this can be difficult.

Please also notify us of any changes to your child’s medical conditions by contacting our office – office@matipo.school.nz

In the interest of safety, it is also important for the office to hold copies of legal documentation such as custody or protection orders pertaining to children at our school. Such documentation is treated with absolute confidentiality.

Covid-19: We are very mindful of the need for extreme measures regarding health and hygiene here at Matipo School. Teachers are continuously working with the children on correct procedures regarding coughing and sneezing as well as correct hand washing. If your child is unwell, please keep him or her at home until health is restored.

All state schools operate on grants received from the government. The major portion of this funding is allocated to general operating costs, wages and maintenance. The Board of Trustees  offers all families a voluntary option to donate to go towards classroom equipment and additional resources.

This donation is optional and voluntary. A tax-deductible receipt will be provided.

At Matipo School we encourage healthy eating. Please be conscious of the food you are packing in your child’s lunch box. Each day children will need a brainfood snack – fruit or vegetables.

Our School houses are:

Kererū

Pīwakawaka

Tīeke

Tūī

All students are placed in a house when they begin at Matipo School (siblings are placed in the same house) to foster their sense of pride and belonging in the school.  All staff belong to houses also.

Objectives

To provide a quality house system that promotes healthy competition, whanaungatanga and tuakana teina.

To increase student leadership across the school

To increase student autonomy and ownership of learning

To develop increased student responsibility for, and ownership of a safe and inclusive school culture

House Captains

Four House Captains per house are voted in for the year by their peers. 

House Captain’s jobs include: organising and supporting their house at school events, helping with lunchtime sports, leading at assemblies.

House Points

House points are awarded to those displaying the Matipo values: whanaungatanga, ako, kaitiakitanga, aroha. Staff will award house points in the playground. 

Each value certificate awarded earns one token for their house.

Each excellence certificate awarded earns one token for their house.

The winning house is awarded the House Cup each week.

Special Events

House points are awarded at sports days and other special events, such as cross country, athletics day etc.

1 House point is awarded for every participating student

Extra house points are awarded for top place getters. 

Bonus points are awarded for wearing house colours, showing house spirit and demonstrating the school values.. 

Our houses help to develop a sense of belonging and community with the school. Students have many opportunities to earn house points, including sports events, daily rewards in class and other events.

We request that students wear minimum jewellery to school. Watches are welcome, earrings should be studs, to ensure they are play safe. We accept no responsibility for lost or damaged jewellery.

Lost property is stored in room opposite the office area. All items are in labelled tubs. All named items are returned to the owner’s classroom. Please check the lost property regularly even if you do not think your child has lost anything. We encourage our whanau to ensure all items of clothing is labelled (first and last name).

We run a largely cash-free office and prefer payments to be made online. We use Kindo as our main form of collection of payment. Please sign up to Kindo to stay up to date with payments. 

Alternatively our account details are:

• Matipo Primary School – ASB – 12-3038-0271694-01
• When processing your payment please use the following format:
• Particulars: Child’s name Code: Classroom number

Students with mobile phones need to hand them in to the office before school begins in the morning and pick them up at the end of the school day.

Qizzle is the supplier for our student stationery. Parents can go online to order their child’s stationery with the option of having the stationery packs delivered to home or school.

Go to www.schoolpacks.co.nz to order stationery.

All items on the list are to be purchased and sent to school. Classroom teachers will look after stationery and issue as required.

Staff absences from time to time are unavoidable. Our aim is to always cover absences and release with high quality teachers and, where absences will be more than one or two days, attempting to have a consistent teacher in the classroom. With current teacher shortages in Auckland, relieving teachers available for sustained days at a time are proving very difficult to come by. In the unfortunate situation where we cannot find a suitable reliever your child’s classroom will be split across the same year level classes.

All New Zealand teachers receive a mandatory component of ‘Classroom Release Time’ each term.  Teachers in leadership positions also receive regular release from the classroom to support their role. Teachers use this valuable time for a range of tasks such as spending time with individual children doing in-depth testing and assessment, small group work, observation of other teachers, professional reading and research, updating records etc.

Sushi can be ordered for lunch on Fridays.

Orders come through the office in cash, or can be made at Sushi Ami on Gunner Drive. Orders need to be received by 3pm Thursdays for delivery the next day.

It is important to have the exact change for Sushi as the office does not hand cash onsite. It is $6.00 per sushi pack.

At Matipo School our learning areas are structured into four teams:

• Kākano: Year 0/1, situated in Rooms 6, 7, 8 and 9
• Tupu: Year 2, situated in Rooms 3, 4, 5
• Māhuri: Year 3 & 4, situated in Rooms 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25
• Rakau: Year 5 & 6, situated in Rooms 14, 15, 16, 18, and 19.
• Te Puawaitanga o te Wairua (Maori Unit) Rooms 12 and 13.

We do not encourage items of value to be brought to school and do not accept responsibilty for damage or loss. Personal items such as toys and collectables are not to be brought to school. They can get broken, become lost and cause disruption.

A Walking School Bus is like a normal bus except children walk the bus route to school.  Our bus routes are ‘driven’ by a roster of parent volunteers and safety checked by Auckland Transport,  Children on the bus earn bag tags, rewards and certificates for their walks as well as taking part in events and celebrations.

Our children love the bus because it means they go to school chatting with their friends.  For many, it has made the transition to school much much easier having a friend to go with.  They get to know the children and adults who live nearby and learn their route, gaining confidence to get to school on their own once they’re Year 4 or older.

Our parents love the bus as it means on the days they choose not to drive, they can wave their children off at the gate and get off to work or on with their day.  It’s an awesome way to get to know the neighbours and a great way to see when your child is ready to make their own way to school.

We have Walking School Buses running from Neil Ave and its offshoots, Taikata Rd and attachments, and Taipari Rd/Taioma Crescent.  We welcome new families on all routes and any new routes to be started! It is as simple as walking one extra child one morning or afternoon.  

Any queries on joining or starting a walking school bus at Matipo, please contact Hollie@staff.matipo.school.nz.

More general info on walking school buses can be found here.