Parents and/or caregivers are required to let the office know by phone, text or email if their child is going to be away from school. Parents of children who cannot be accounted for will be phoned to confirm they are safe. Your co-operation is important. It is really important that you contact the school each morning of absence unless the absence length is initially stated.

If your child is late to school, they must check in at the office before going to class.

03 218 6444

027 3724548

office@middle.school.nz 

Any child who is injured or feeling unwell is attended to immediately. All head injuries are reported to parents and all accidents, beyond minor discomfort and abrasion, are recorded in the school's medical register.

If a child is to be sent home or requires medical treatement:

• Parents/Caregivers are contacted by phone and arrangements are made regarding further action.

• If the parents are unable to be contacted, the school will contact the family emergency number or doctor/ambulance in the case of an accident or emergency.

• In the case of a serious accident or incident, the school will ring for an ambulance.

We are very excited to be able to offer after school care right here on site from the beginning of 2022. If you would like to opt into this paid after school care, please contact sKids directly on

www.sKids.co.nz/invercargill_middle 

0800 274 172

On Fridays, at 10.00am, the whole school meets in the school hall for an assembly. This is a time for classroom sharing, achievements, singing and Duffy awards. Each class has a turn at running assembly. Parents are more than welcome to join us.

We are a PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) School. We set school wide positive expectations for behaviour, and we teach these behaviours explicitly to the children. We have a tiered rewards system for children who are able to show the expected behaviours.

9.00am - Start of School

10.30 - 10.50am - Morning Tea Break

10.50 - 11.00am - Eating morning tea in class

12.40 - 12.55 - Connection Time

12.55 - 1.20pm - Lunchtime Break

1.20 - 1.35pm - Eating lunch in class

3.00pm - School Finishes

Bible in schools takes place on Thursdays, 2.30pm for Years 1 - 3 students. Students can opt to go to this programme. If you would like to have your child opt out of all Bible in Schools programmes then please let the office know, otherwise, it will be the children’s choice.

The Board of Trustees are elected to govern the school and they meet once a month on a Monday evening. You are welcome to attend any board meeting, advertised in the newsletter. Elections for the board of trustees occur every three years.

Classes break in the morning for a 10-12 minute brain break snack. Brain food needs to be unprocessed foods such as fruit, raw nuts or vegetables.  There are also regular, scheduled brain breaks purposely throughout the day.

We run a Breakfast Club out of our school hall every morning from 8.00 - 8.30am. Anyone is welcome to attend. We offer Weet-Bix, Toast and Milo. This is a great time for children to socialise and enjoy a warm drink with friends.

We recognise that car parking is an issue around our school area and we ask for your co-operation and consideration. Please be patient and respectful of designated areas and follow the signage. Parking is available at the Working Mens Club. The school car park by the hall is for staff parking only. Please ensure your children know where you will park for pick up, or alternatively meet them in the school grounds and walk them to the car.

Students are not permitted to have cell phones at school. If cell phones are brought to school, they must be handed into the office during the day and can be picked up by the student at 3.00pm.

If parents need to get a message to their child, this can be passed on through the office.

The Skool Loop app is used to communicate all school wide messages. We also use Facebook, Seesaw and parent emails.

Email or seesaw is the easiest way to contact teachers. All email addresses are located on the 'Our Staff' page of this website.

We have an open door policy and if you would like to discuss any issues then please follow our concerns and complaints procedure.

When situations arise it is important that all the information is collected and that all the people involved are given time to respond effectively. If you do have an issue then please consider what outcome you want so that we know what the expectations are.

Our Dental Service is based between Fernworth School Dental Clinic and Waihopai School. You will be sent an appointment time that will include all members of your family at the school and your preschoolers. You are able to change appointment times such as to the holiday periods, after school, or at a time to fit in with your schedule. Should you have any concerns over your child's teeth please contact one of the clinics.

Fernworth Dental Clinic - 216 9706

Waihopai Dental Clinic - 218 7744

Our school is part of the Ministry of Education's Donation Scheme. This means that we opted into the government's scheme so that parents don't have to pay donations to attend IMS. You will be asked to pay for your child to attend the year 6 camp - fundraising options and payment plans will also be available for this.

Invercargill Middle School is part of the Duffy Books in Homes Programme. This means children will receive books each year, at no cost. As well as that children have the opportunity to be in a weekly draw to receive another free book in recognition of their efforts in literacy.

In Term 4 parents are given the opportunity to purchase a range of books at the reduced price of $5 an item.

Pre-Schoolers whose dates of birth are given to the school will receive an age appropriate Duffy Book for their birthday. We are proud to be a Duffy Books school but we also need business sponsorship to continue the programme, if you have any leads for sponsorship then please let us know.

The school has an emergency plan to guide staff and students in the event of an emergency. The assembly area is on the basketball court by the flag pole.

The school conducts fire drills and earthquake drills termly to ensure all staff and students are clear about the process of what to do in an emergency.

We ask parents to please respect learning time and wait outside classrooms to allow teachers to conclude the day as this is an important time for discussion and reflection.

At the end of the year we have a final prize giving. This is held in the evening at the Working Mens Club. We award trophies and certificates and farewell our year 6 leavers.

The Year 6 Leavers have an end of year dinner with the staff at a convenient time during Term 4.

At various times throughout the year groups within the school will run fundraising ventures. Permission will be requested before children can take part in these. There will also be fundraising efforts for the school, to benefit the whole school. Information about these will be in the newsletter, on facebook and on seesaw.

Students identified as gifted and/or talented may be referred to the Invercargill One Day Gifted School; Enrich as well as provisions developed within the classroom programme.

For safety reasons and to reduce the likelihood of catching or spreading head lice, we recommend that shoulder length hair or longer be tied back. Head lice are an ongoing social issue for schools. If you become aware that your child has lice, please inform the school.

A 'hazard' is defined as any activity, arrangement, circumstance, event, occurrence, phenomenon, situation or substance 'that is an actual or potential cause or source of harm'.

We take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of students, employees and visitors by providing and maintaining a safe environment. We work to systematically identify existing and new hazards and regularly assess them, taking all practicable steps to eliminate, isolate or minimise and monitor exposure to hazards.

Any identified hazards are to be immediately reported to our school office.

Middle School is a “Health Promoting School”. As part of this we are a “Fruit in School” School. This programme provides every child in the school with a piece of fresh fruit everyday which is to be eaten at fruit break time. We also encourage the children to have healthy options in their lunch boxes. We are a water only school, so this means only water in drink bottles please!

All students in the school will have a reading book home each night, and a reading log to fill out with what they have read.

Junior Students (Rooms 1, 2, 3 and 4) will also have some sight/spelling words and basic facts.

Senior Students (Rooms 5, 6 and 7) will also have some spelling words and basic facts.

Some classes may also send home a homework sheet to be completed or assign an online task.

We ask parents and students to sign a responsible use agreement in order for students to use the internet and school provided devices while at Middle School. 

Additional teacher and teacher aide hours are used to assist children with special learning requirements. Parents are contacted if their child is receiving additional support. Some specialist services are also available for children with special educational or behavioural needs. Please discuss any learning or behaviour concerns you have with the classroom teacher or the Principal.

We have a well-stocked, computerised library. All classes visit the library each week and the library is open to the students during lunch time on Mondays and Tuesdays. Students are able to borrow two books for us to two weeks. Reminders will be sent home for any overdue books, and an account for any damaged books or books held for more than six weeks.

Sadly we do end up with a collection of lost property. Lost property is stored at the office in the uniform room and parents can look for lost items there. All unclaimed items are donated to charity at the end of each term. Please name lost property to help us return it to the rightful owner.

We offer a variety of different lunch options throughout the week. At the moment these options include:

Monday - Friday - Koha Kai $2 per day. Options are updated on our facebook page weekly

Friday - Subway - order online or at the office after 8.30am

We are unable to heat up student lunches.

If a child is to be given medication during school time, parents must complete a consent form. The medication is kept by the secretary and is distributed by a staff member, at the appropriate time of the day.

Please do not ring or leave messages on the school cellphone as it is only for text absence notifications. Messages may be left with the secretary or on the school answerphone. If you need to leave a message for your child, feel free to ring through to the office at any time. Please keep messages to urgent only

All money sent to school should be sent in a named, sealed envelope and given to the appropriate staff member – please check the note requesting the money. Children should not bring money/valuables/toys unless they are required for some aspect of the school programme. Teachers will not be responsible for looking after any of these items bought to school.

Newsletters are posted online (facebook, seesaw, school loop app, school website) once a fortnight on Thursdays. You can request a hard copy to be sent home by emailing the office - office@middle.school.nz 

Newsletters have all the information about what is happening at school, we try hard to make sure we do not send a lot of different notes home, if possible. If you have any notices or events you would like in the newsletter then please submit the details before the end of school on Wednesdays.

We send out important notices using skool loop, so make sure you are connected via our free school app so that you don't miss out on important information.

Parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child's learning. We invite parent helpers in classrooms, on trips, for sport and our outdoor education programmes. Once a term we have a Whānau Catch Up at 9.00am over a cuppa to welcome new families and chat about whānau aspirations.

When sending any payments to the school, please place in a sealed envelope with the student's name and room number written on it, along with what the payment is for. Alternatively you can transfer the funds via internet banking, our account number is:

12-3154-0108405 -00 remember to put your name as a reference.

Students are discouraged from bringing valuable possessions to school. The school supplies games, activities and sports equipment for the students to play with. We find that when students bring along toys, issues may emerge with sharing and on occasions possessions disappear as they are tempting to others.

Students are not to have weapons of any kind at school, including toys.

We have two teachers rostered on at a time for playground supervision and a teacher who backs this person up if help is required, eg first aiding. After school staff supervise road patrol and children waiting for pick up from after school care facilities. 

Students are not to play contact games including "play fighting".

Throughout the year there are chances for parents to meet teachers to discuss their child’s achievement and progress. 

Samples of the children’s work and achievement are posted to Seesaw weekly, and parents are able to comment on these posts. 

Goal Setting meetings are held in Term 1. This is a time for students to set their goals with their teachers and then share them with you. In Term 3, we have student led conferences where the students will share their learning progress with you and talk about their next learning steps.

If you wish to discuss your child’s progress at any other time please do not hesitate to make a time to talk to the class teacher.

Don Street crossing is patrolled by a pair of Year 6 wardens each day and a staff member or a parent. All students are expected to respect the instructions of patrol wardens.

In the afternoons Jed Street in controlled by the secretary and/or the Principal to ensure children are crossing safely.

At the end of each year we approach parents to volunteer to run the road crossing in the morning. Please consider volunteering for this very important task.

Our Year 6 class attend school camp once a year. Other classes may also go on “camps” at various times throughout the years. Permission and medical forms are sent home and need to be returned before any children can take part in these activities. Fundraising will happen during the year prior to your child attending camp. We will require parents to run this fundraising venture.

As part of our school uniform, students must purchase a safety vest. We ask that students wear their vest when on the road, cycling, walking or on school excursions. Students can donate their vests to the uniform shop when they have outgrown it.

The following school and Southland sports events are part of our school programme

Term 1 - Year 6 camp, Athletics

Term 2 - Student led conferences, Cross Country

Term 3 - Polyfest

Term 4 - Swimming, End of Year Prize Giving

Our school buildings and grounds are smoke free and vape free. Please support our students by following these rules.

We are an active school and encourage students to be involved in school and community sports. Sports typically offered are - water polo, tough rugby, miniball, futsal, hockey, netball, cricket and table tennis. Rugby and T-Ball are organised by local sports clubs in Invercargill. 

A staff member takes responsibility to oversee the organisation of sport but parents are required to coach and manage the teams to meet the demand. If you would like to be involved please contact the school.

Students not participating within school sport activities are expected to have a note or have had a parent contact the school. Please note, this includes swimming.

All stationery is sourced for the best price and stationery packs are available for each student at the start of the school year. These are paid for by families before they get the stationery. We endeavour to let families know the price of the stationery packs  by mid-January.

We are a sun smart accredited school. This means during Terms 1 and 4 all children and staff wear sun hats for outdoor activities and at intervals and lunchtimes. Students who do not have their sunhat at school are required to remain in a shaded area during these outdoor times.

SWIS (Social Worker in Schools). We have a social worker onsite on Thursdays to work with the children. If you would like your child to work with the social worker, you need to contact your child's teacher or the Principal to fill out a referral form. Teachers may refer students who they think require support. Parents will be informed about this.

Teachers' professional learning meetings are held on Monday from 3.15 - 5.00pm weekly. If you need to meet with teachers please try to make it outside of this time.

Term 1 - 2nd Feb - 6th April

Term 2 - 24th April - 30th June

Term 3 - 17th July - 22nd September

Term 4 - 9th October - 14th December

We are part of the DHB's toothbrushing programme. This means that all children who have parental consent get provided with a toothbrush and toothpaste to brush their teeth daily at school after lunch. If you would like your child to join this programme, please contact the office.

The school has a compulsory uniform. Items for boys are navy blue track pants or shorts and a red polo t-shirt with the school logo. For the girls, the same is available as well as a tartan pinafore or skort. For all students hoodies are available on order from the office. Polar fleeces with the school logo are also available. 

Please ensure all uniform items are clearly named.

Uniform items are available from The Warehouse, and the hoodies from the school office.

Our School Values are:

I am and IMS Learner

I am Inquisitive

I do great Mahi

I Support Others

By doing these things I show Integrity

All visitors to the school are required to report to the office to sign in on our app on arrival and return to sign out on departure. On arrival they are informed of any hazards.