New Enrolments

We welcome you and your child to Invercargill Middle School. We like to work in partnership with Whānau to make your child's transition to school as smooth as possible. Below are some steps which will help you make some plans.

  • Enrol your child well before his/her birthday by contacting the school office.

  • Visit the school with your child to familiarise yourselves with our environment. You are most welcome to use our playground after school hours.

Cohort Entry

At IMS we run cohort entry. This means that your child will start on a date that is after their 5th birthday but close to it. They will also start with a group of other children. The dates for this year (2023) are:

Term 1 - 2nd Feb and 6th March
Term 2 - 24th April and 29th May
Term 3 - 17th July and 21st August
Term 4 - 9th October and 13th November

School Visits (Transition)

We work in conjunction with Whānau to make a transition to school plan for their tamariki. Usually we have a graduated time, ranging from 9.00am - 10.00am for the first visit, to 9.00 - 3.00pm for the final visit. This gives children time to settle in at school and become familiar with the environment before starting full time. If your child has extra needs, please let us know so we can accommodate these.


Preparing for School

It is advantageous if your child can:
*
Recognise and write his/her name (correct use of capital and lower case letters and pencil grip).
* Recognise some/all alphabet letters.
* Fine Motor Skills: Use pencils, crayons, scissors etc
* Enjoy being read to (it is also good to have some experience holding the book and turning the pages).
* Count out loud to 10 or beyond.
* Count a group of objects up to 10.
* Match objects to a number to 10.
* Have experience playing board games/taking turns/using language such as before, after, next, first, last etc.
* Recognise colours
* Catching and throwing
* Running and jumping
* Balancing
* Hold a short conversation