Toka Primary School Prospectus

Our Vision:
To develop students who are confident, curious, and active problem solvers who are able to articulate
their learning (Ministry of Education, 2007). To provide teaching and learning experiences that are
culturally responsive, interesting and accelerate learning (ERO, 2016, p. 13).

Our Transition Processes:

We understand that transitioning from one place to another can be difficult, scary and damaging to
student wellbeing. As a result, we have the following processes in place to help your child have the
smoothest possible transition into their new learning community. With a smooth transition, student
wellbeing is nurtured and encouraged to grow as the child will feel safe and comfortable faster in their
new learning environments.

New Entrants:
Toka School's transition policy for new entrant children is setup to ensure that each child feels welcomed,
safe and included. We strongly encourage parents to enrol their child at least 1 month before their child
turns 5 to ensure the enrolment process goes smoothly. To enrol, please visit the school office and fill out
a form. When you enrol, you will receive a pack that has the finer details of our school such as timetables,
uniform details, and the stationery list. Once your child is enrolled, there will be the opportunity for your
child to participate in half days leading up to their 5th birthday. This will help them begin to LEARN to
push through and pursue their learning journey; this journey being a new environment. We strongly
encourage that your child begins school on the closest Monday to their 5th birthday. This means that your
child may begin the week with other new students. This also means that your child will be able to settle
into the routine of the classroom easier. Once they begin school, for the next month, Whanau time is
available every Thursday afternoon from 3pm-4pm. This is a chance for you to come in and discuss with
your childs teacher their progress in settling in and see what they are learning.

New Students:
For new students, we have a policy that no new student older than 5 starts on their first day. This policy is
to ensure that your child is allocated into the classroom that best suits their needs and supports their
wellbeing. We desire for all students to LEARN together to overcome their learning obstacles together. By
providing time to allocate your student into the classroom that best suits and supports their learning
needs, we place a high priority on their learning success. Students will have an opportunity to meet the
principal,and familiarise themselves with the school environment before starting at Toka Primary School
full time. When your child is more familiar with their new learning context, and they have started to build
relationships with others, they are able to focus better as the ERO (2016) document states relationships
of care and connectedness are fundamental. The principal will meet with each new child and their
whanau during the transitioning process to ensure that they are settling in and that their needs are being
met.

Special Needs Children:

For students who have been identified as special needs, or require extra assistance transitioning into
classrooms, this is what we have in place. We recognise that transitioning children with special needs can
be challenging. To smoothen the process, we like to organise a meeting between our SENCO and the
whanau to set up an appropriate transition. Students may come and visit their new school/classroom a
month before moving into it and spend two hours in their new classroom. This time would be spent
becoming familiar with their classroom, their peers and their teacher. In the event of your child needing to

LEARN together - overcome together

ako tahi - te wikitoria tahi
 Toka Primary School Prospectus

transition quickly, it may be beneficial for them to spend a maximum of half a day for the first few weeks to
a month to help them settle in. By allowing this time to settle in, your child can best adapt to the new
learning environment and begin to LEARN with others. If necessary, an IEP will be arranged early in the
transitioning processes involving the SENCO, your childs teacher, teacher aide and a representative of
the other agencies involved with your students learning success.

Intermediate:
In Term 4, students will visit their middle school, meet their teacher and get familiar with the school
grounds. This helps to prevent students from feeling anxious about having a new teacher who they have
not met, and being anxious about being at a new school.

Our Communication:
We believe in open, clear, reciprocal and consistent communication. This means that we encourage
whanau and staff to communicate regularly. By having regular communication between whanau and
teacher, Toka Primary School places a high priority on student wellbeing; when a child begins to act
differently than normal, whanau and teachers can work together to best support the child in the
circumstance. By maintaining constant communication, teachers can learn about and may craft their
lessons to suit the passions of your child.

School Newsletter:
A School newsletter will come home with each child every Thursday. The newsletter will contain
information about school programmes, policies, upcoming events, and other general information. A digital
copy of the most recent school newsletter will also be available on our school website.

Reports:
Reports will be given twice during the school year. A mid year report will be given at the end of the
second term and an end of year report will be given at the end of the fourth term. Each report will give a
brief overview of the childs progress, their strengths, areas that need to be further developed and other
observations made by their teacher.

Learning conferences:
Two types of learning conferences will be undertaken throughout the school year. The first is a student
led conference that involves the student taking the lead, explaining their learning, strengths and areas of
further development to their parents with aide from the teacher where required. This conference will
happen once in term two and once in term four. This helps students take more ownership of their own
learning by sharing the reporting process, which ERO(2016) supports by stating that in a responsive
classroom power is shared and learners have the right to equity and self-determination (p. 13).
The second conference is a parent/caregiver teacher conference that involves the parent/caregiver and
the teacher discussing the students achievement, strengths and areas to further develop as well as
external and internal(classroom) circumstances that may affect/be affecting their child. This is also a time
for both the parent and the teacher to raise any concerns they might have. This conference will take place
once in term one and once in term three.

LEARN together - overcome together

ako tahi - te wikitoria tahi
 Toka Primary School Prospectus

If you have an issue with your childs teacher and you have tried to resolve it to no avail, contact their
Syndicate Coordinator. If the Syndicate Coordinator is also of no help, please contact Matua Noah
Zarque to resolve the issue.

Our Philosophy of Discipline and Behaviour

Management
Here at Toka Primary School, we value every child and believe they all have something to offer which
means we are a no exclusion school. Regardless of the behaviour, we believe that every child has
something to offer, that each child is valuable, and that each child is a gift.We aim to have a safe,
nurturing environment (ERO, 2016, p. 14) where each student is valued, their voice is heard and their
wellbeing is nurtured. This is summed up in our LEARN values (for more on this, please visit our website).
We are a Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) school, which means that we discipline and disciple
children through positive reinforcement, restorative practice and rewards. Our focus is on students
LEARNing together, and when students arent LEARNing together, restorative practice is used.
We strongly believe in children taking responsibility for their contribution to everything. Our restorative
practice statement sums this up in eight words: Stuff Up, Own Up, Fix Up, Move On.

Our Rewards:
Each student receives a business-card-sized card that has LEARN on it, and any child showing the
aspects of LEARN will receive a signature from the teacher or teacher aide who catches the student
doing so. There are 10 spaces available for signature, and when the named card is full of signatures, the
card gets put into the box kept specifically for this in their classroom. At the end of each week during
assembly, along with the presentation of class certificates, there will be a draw from the LEARN cards,
and the students whose name is drawn will receive a small prize. There will also be end of term draws for
bigger prizes.

Disruptions to Learning:
When a student is not displaying how they LEARN, and cause disruption to student learning arises in the
classroom, their behaviour will be designated either Minor Disruption or Major Disruption. Behaviours
listed under Minor Disruption are things like minor disobedience (initially not obeying, then becoming
compliant) and foul language. Major Disruption are behaviours like children who are physically abusive,
inappropriate touching, major disobedience (deliberately and consistently being non-compliant), and
racism. In the event of a Minor Disruption to learning, the teacher will manage this, and if there is a rise in
these disruptions, the teacher will contact the whanau. When there is a Major Disruption, parents are
contacted straight away.

As part of the above guidelines, we strongly encourage our staff to be in constant

communication with whanau, so that with any change in behaviour, both whanau and
staff are aware and can take the appropriate action.

LEARN together - overcome together

ako tahi - te wikitoria tahi
 Toka Primary School Prospectus

Health Promotion
Here at Toka Primary School, we are a huge supporter of healthy living which builds student wellbeing.
We firmly believe that student wellbeing is not only an ethical and moral obligation for teachers, leaders
and trustees but also a legal responsibility (ERO, 2016, p. 4). Healthy living also promotes equity and
excellence as ERO (2016, p. 17) states that students who are socially and emotionally competent,
resilient and optimistic about the future are physically active and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Part of this healthy living is a daily fitness programme that each Syndicate leader puts together for their
cohort. Included in this schedule, every Friday a group of students from the senior classrooms run Jump
Jam with the rest of the school. Throughout the week, each class is expected to do some form of fitness;
Jump Jam or Go Noodle are encouraged as aerobics. However, each class may do interactive physical
games such as stuck-in-the-mud. This daily fitness is separate to Physical Education.
As part of healthy living, we also have a school-wide focus on Physical Education, encouraging classes to
have at least 2 teaching blocks a week devoted to this. We also devote Term 3 of every year to delve into
healthy living deeper. By having such a strong focus on this, it will become part of students routine. By
being part of students routine, it is hoped that they will continue the consistent fitness individually after
they have left Toka Primary School.

In conjunction with the strong fitness focus, to improve student wellbeing, we also promote healthy eating.
To do this, we offer free fruit during break times for all students, encouraging them to have natural sugars.
We are also a water only school - any drink that the children bring in must be water. Anything else that
the child brings will be confiscated. We believe that water and milk are the most beneficial liquids that
promote and build healthy living and sustain hydration. As a result, we provide milk in schools every
morning tea.

We know that having three meals a day helps children's brains function to their best ability. To help with
this, we have a Breakfast Club that is run by volunteers every morning (for more on this, please look at our
Food in Schools Policy under the Curriculum/Policies tab). Breakfast Club has Weetbix, bananas, milk, milo
and toast available for those needing it.

We have these processes in place because we are committed to the wellbeing of all of our students.
Having these processes will mean that children will be able to grow to their fullest potential and overcome
their individual learning obstacles.

LEARN together - overcome together

ako tahi - te wikitoria tahi
 Toka Primary School Prospectus

Special Programmes Available

Due to potentially inequitable backgrounds, we provide opportunities for children to grow in equity and
excellence that they may not get anywhere else. All of our special programmes are free. Due to our
multicultural learning community, we have two Te Reo full immersion classrooms. In these classrooms,
the teacher speaks only Te Reo with the students. We want our students to be confident in their identity,
language and culture (ERO, 2016, p. 11). To help with this, we encourage students with a strong Maori
heritage, or whose parents want them to learn Te Reo fluently to enrol in these classrooms. We also offer
the following special programmes:
An Accelerant Class
This is for the children who are operating far above their year level to ensure that they are engaged
and given learning opportunities suited to their needs.
A wide range of sports
There are inter-school and local competitions including sports such as soccer, rugby, hockey,
basketball, netball and tennis.
Kapa Haka
There is a weekly practice organised by Matua Reweti Kani which includes learning the customs,
dances and cultural beliefs of Maori. Kapa Haka helps our students to feel comfortable in their
culture, which influences the classroom where they can be comfortable enough to be themselves.
Pasifika
There is a weekly practice organised by Matua Reweti Kani, which includes learning the customs,
dances and cultural beliefs of Pacific Islanders. Pasifika helps our students to feel comfortable in
their culture, which influences the classroom where they can be comfortable enough to be
themselves
Cultural Inquiry
There is a term focus organised by Matua Reweti Kani which teachers adapt to meet their students
own cultural needs. This is so that students individual cultures are acknowledged, and each
student can be confident in their identity.
ESOL
English for Speakers of Other Languages is run by Matua Wyatt Hertz throughout the day. For all
students who have another language as their first language, this helps to develop the finer points of
the English language. This in turn helps students build their confidence as their understanding and
fluency increases which then encourages students to step outside of their comfort zone and
LEARN together.
Reading Recovery
This helps students who struggle to grasp the concepts of reading,or are reading well below their
year level. Students who attend our Reading Recovery programme build and develop their
confidence which helps to accelerate their learning.
Choir
This is for all students who wish to sing, where they can develop their singing voice.
Music
We have free Music Lessons run by Whaea Josie Taiaha every Tuesday and Wednesday
afternoon.

LEARN together - overcome together

ako tahi - te wikitoria tahi