School Information

10 Key Facts

• 1. School starts at 8.55am and finishes at 3pm.
     Please Note: If children are playing on school grounds after school finishes, parents are responsible for their supervision and management.

  2. Children can arrive from 8.30am. (The school cannot take any responsibility for students in the school facilities before 8.30am or after 3.00pm.) 

  3. Morning break is at 11.00am - 11.40am and Lunch from 1.00pm - 1.40pm. 

  4. Student-led Assemblies are usually held at 9.10am approximately every second Friday - come along. Dates are in the Newsletter and on the Calendar. Similarly, please join with us at Karakia every Monday and every other Friday morning just after 9.00am. 

  5. Worser Bay School does not have a uniform. 

  6. No child is permitted to leave the school grounds during the school day unless this has been arranged between the school and a parent/caregiver. 

  7. Children must not bring money, valuable or ’attractive‘ items to school. 

  8. Terms 1 and 4, children must wear a hat that shades the face, ears and neck. We also have sunblock in every classroom. 

  9. Wheels Day is every Wednesday.  

  10. Students are invited to bring scooters and helmets. No helmet, no scoot!

Whetūkairangi - Star Gazer

The school was established in 1897, on a historically significant pā site.;  Whetūkairangi (star gazer), named by Ngai Tara iwi , to convey the idea it was located on high ground, from which only the stars and sea might be seen.

A Rich and Varied School Curriculum

Click on the link to read:

the Worser Bay School Curriculum Document - updated 2018

our Positive Education Strategy  updated 2023

the Strategic Plan 2024-2026   

and our Annual Plan 2025 and  Targets for 2025  

our Annual Report for 2023 (published May 2024)

Absences

A phone call (04-939 7281) or email is required explaining when and why your child/ren is/are absent from school. 

If children arrive after 8.55am they must come to the office, sign in and get a Late Pass to give to their base group teacher. We will ring/text parents shortly after 9.15am if we have not been notified. 

If your child needs to be collected early from school for any reason, please come to the office and sign them out of school.

Rolls are taken shortly after the bell rings at 8.55am and also after lunch.

After School Care

Some of our families choose Kids Community Hub.  Children meet the Kids Community Hub staff member by Autahi and are taken by shuttle van just after 3pm. Parents collect their children from the Hub.

Digital Technology at School 

At Worser Bay School we have a considered approach towards the use of digital technologies. Our thinking is aligned with our whole person well-being philosophy which includes strong messaging around the importance of physical and emotional health. We know a lot more now than we ever did about brain science and this lays the foundation for our decision making.

On the other hand, we also have a responsibility to support our children to be digitally literate and responsible users by the time they leave us in Year 6, as per the New Zealand Curriculum. Therefore, in our junior school you will not see children actively using  technology until nearing the end of Year 3 unless there is a need to provide additional support to a learner with assistive technology or engaged in an activity like forming a beat with garageband for a wider musical performance. As children progress through the senior area of the school they increasingly use digital technology as an additional learning tool to enhance learning opportunities, to collaborate, to research and to connect with a wider audience both information sharing and gathering.

Digital Portfolio - Seesaw

We use Seesaw - a digital portfolio. Seesaw gives your child creative tools to capture and reflect on their learning - in real time. Then this work is shared with you. Seesaw will give you a window into each of our classrooms and into your student’s learning process. Our students are excited to use this tool in partnership with the great things our teachers do in their classrooms.

You can download Seesaw’s Parent App for iOS, Android, or use the web to view your student’s learning artefacts. When your child adds new work, you will receive a notification to see, hear and respond to your child’s learning item. You only have access to your own child’s work and all of the content is stored securely.

Healthy Eating, Accidents and Sickness

Stationery

We’ve teamed up with OfficeMax again to make your back to school shop super easy. And, if you order in December, you’ll go in the draw to WIN $1000 cash prizes. 

Your child’s class list will be loaded. Just go to https://www.myschool.co.nz/worserbay. Simply add your details, check that you want everything on the list, then click and confirm — and OfficeMax will get your delivery underway with free delivery on orders over $70*.

Plus, you’ll be helping our school earn school rewards* that we use to purchase much needed extra resources for Worser Bay School.

We encourage you to order early to ensure your child has all their stationery requirements ready to go in plenty of time for the start of Term 1. All items are carefully chosen for a particular function and purpose. 

So, go ahead and beat the back to school rush, order today.

Please name all books, coloured pencils and felt pens. The other items go towards class sets for the year. 

Stationery Drop Off at school will be on Friday 31 January 2025, 9.00 - 10.30 am.  

* Terms & Conditions apply, see myschool.co.nz for details.

Term Dates

Term Dates for 2025

Term 1        Term ends:  Friday 11 April 

Term 2        Monday 28 April – Friday 27 June 

                       (Monday 2 June - King's Birthday and school closed Tuesday 3 June; Friday 20 June - Matariki Day)

Term 3        Monday 14 July – Friday 19 September

                        (School closed Friday 8 August – Curriculum Day)

Term 4        Monday 6 October – Thursday 18 December

                       (Monday 27 October - Labour Day and school closed Tuesday 28 October)

Voluntary Contributions 2025

At Worser Bay School, we enjoy an active school community and depend heavily on the families and whānau who contribute to the school in many different ways.  

The Ministry of Education provides all schools with an equity-index-based Operational Grant, which funds basic administration, teaching and property running costs of schools. The Government considers our students come from the highest socio-economic area, so we receive a smaller operational grant per student than some other schools. As a school with a smaller roll, our funding base is more modest than other larger schools.

To enable us to provide a quality educational environment and additional resources to enhance the learning we strive for at Worser Bay School, we particularly rely on the Voluntary Contributions made by our families and whānau. This makes up half of the fundraising we undertake each year. Follow the link for more information about Fundraising. 

The Voluntary Contribution for 2025 is $390 per student. We appreciate that family incomes may be stretched and payments can continue to be made by instalments during the year. If you wish to pay in instalments, these can be actioned via our Online Payments software Kindo.  If your child starts part way through the year this is calculated on a pro-rata basis. 

These funds will go towards extra staffing and support in the classroom, for creating a new library/creative space, purchasing new library books and upgrading outdoor learning areas.

For further information, see Balancing the School’s Books and Drivers for the Annual Budget.

What does Success looks like for our Worser Bay Children?

The aim of collecting community voice was for a number of purposes.

It was timely for us to check in -

•  Are we heading in the right direction?

•  Are we attuned to our whānau and their aspirations for their child as we think we are?

•  What is our collective picture of success at Worser Bay School?

•  What assumptions may we be making?

•  What else do we need to be thinking about and actively planning towards?

During Term 3, 2023, teachers checked in with a good sample size of children and parents asking the big question -

“What does success look like for your child/ for you?”

We wanted to deliberately keep it a big open question so we didn’t limit options by narrowing responses.