Information for Parents

 

Karakia

This begins at 8.50am with the ringing of the bell. Children assemble and enter the school hall. The kura prides itself on offering a number of different denominations including Katorika, Mihingare, and with a particular focus on Te Haahi Ringatū. Our middle and senior students take the morning karakia, and classes take turns weekly.

Reporting to Parents & Caregivers

This happens regularly and occurs in a formal and informal manner. There is normally one parent interview per year (beginning of the year), and two formal reports are published (Term 2 and 4). However parents and whanau are always welcome to call at the kura if they would like to see teaching staff with regard to their child/ren. Parents are encouraged to make and keep contact with teachers throughout the year. Feel free to contact our administration and arrange an appointment with your classroom teacher for a time that suits you both. Given the nature of 2022 - with the pandemic disrupting many things in our student and community lives, and the newly introduced traffic light system, we've continued to introduce our new digital reporting system to parents and whanau. Parents and caregivers will be able to access their tamariki reports from our online student management system, LincEd Hero. It's as simple as giving a personal email address to the kura, which is used to login to our SMS - Hero.

School Buses & Transport

As a rural school, we rely on bus transport for some of our students. This service is provided by the Ministry of Education for children who reside further than 2.2km from the school, through our local secondary school. In 2022 we also renewed a bus that transports students living in Kawerau and the surrounding areas to and from kura. We continue to operate local van transport for those who live in Te Mahoe, Brights Road, Te Mapou and the Otakiri/Manawahē area, and Whakatane. This service can be organised with our administration staff on enrolment, should you require pick up. The van drivers phone numbers can also be accessed via our Skool Loop app. Download it and take a look around.

Student Stationery

Class Stationery has become an area that is provided to students through their classroom kaiako, upon student enrolment. If students require further stationery throughout the year, their kaiako will contact whanau to provide these as necessary.

School Organisation

Although we are committed to a whole school approach to many school activities, our kura consists of both Rumaki - Mainstream Māori (80-100% Te Reo Māori), and Auraki - Level 3 (31-50% Te Reo Māori) Mainstream English. All classes are kept as small as possible to enable students and teacher quality time and one to one teaching. Most of our classrooms also have kaiāwhina or teacher aides, to assist with individual/group learning needs and student acceleration.
 
Technicraft - Year 7 & 8

Technicraft consists of Metal, Food, Wood and Electronic Technologies, where the senior students participate in rotating classes to gain experience in these types of technology. It is offered at Edgecumbe College and our students travel by bus in Terms 1 and 3 every Wednesday (Rumaki Y7/8) and Thursday (Auraki Y7/8) weekly. The students love going to "Tech" and have completed lots of different projects throughout the year.

There is a small fee for all Year 7 and 8 students who attend Technicraft as part of their Technology training. These are held Term 1 and 3 on Wednesday or Thursday (depending on whether the student is enrolled in Auraki or Rumaki), where the students attend classes at Edgecumbe College and are taught a variety of skills in metal, wood, biology, food and fabric technologies. The cost for each students is subsidised by our Board of Trustees, which leaves a total amount to parents of $80 per child. These should be paid as soon as possible in the first term of each year to allow your child admission to these studies.

Texas Rangers

Texas Rangers is a Year 8 programme sponsored by Omataroa Rangitaiki No.2 Trust, which allows our students to participate in learning within the ngahere - Omataroa. The programme was developed in 2018 in conjunction with Rayonier that would allow our students to learn about kaitiakitanga within our ngahere and the ongoing restoration and care of kiwi. The kaupapa has been running successfully for the past four years and continues to flourish in the provision and knowledge around kiwi restoration in the Omataroa forest.

Our Uniform

At Te Kura o Te Teko we have a uniform dress code that we are very proud of, and these items may be purchased from NZ Uniforms located in Whakatāne.