New Zealand law requires that children must attend school whenever the school is open, unless there are special circumstances such as illness.  A notification using the HERO app advising the school of a reason for a child’s absence is required, preferably before 9.30am on the first day of absence.  The school will make telephone contact if there is unexplained absence.

It is sometimes necessary for parents to take children from school during school hours.  Please advise the class teacher when the child is leaving as this will save confusion or worry as to the child’s whereabouts.

If special circumstances relating to pupils, or custody rulings apply to your child, please advise the Principal.  Copies of appropriate court orders, etc should be made available to the school.

Community wide assemblies are every second Friday at 2.30pm. These assemblies celebrate the diversity of learning experiences and achievements throughout the school and bring the community together.  Classes and individuals regularly share their learning.  Parents and members of the community are encouraged and welcome to attend. On alternative weeks we host PB4L (Positive Behaviour 4 Learning) assemblies,  these are dedicated to exploring and learning about our school values and celebrating those students who have exhibited these values.

These are held monthly, usually on the third Thursday, at 3.15pm, either via zoom or in the school staffroom. All parents and community members are welcome to attend. To find out about dates and times please refer to the school newsletter.

The school belongs to the Scholastic New Zealand Book Club which provides a range of graded reading material to schools at reasonable prices.  There are two issues per term.  Children are provided with an illustrated order form to take home.  Books usually arrive about two weeks after orders are placed through the office.  There is no obligation to buy. The school earns points for all books that are bought and this enables us to buy Library books or Teacher resources for the school.

We have a school bus run from Schollum Road, Whangateau to Leigh School (and return).

Children will be eligible if they live at least 3.2 km from the school.

We currently do not have a bus run from the Pakiri direction, however, your child may be eligible for a conveyance financial allowance if they are at primary school and live at least 3.2kms from school (and are in our school catchment area). Please speak to Principal about this if you think it may apply to your family.

If you would like to view information about our bus network, the route our school bus route travels, the stops it makes, and approx times, please visit EasyBus

Bus operator Contact Numbers 

Go Bus Transport: 09 275 8811 ext 682

The School has a set of procedures on Outdoor Education.

From time to time teachers will want to use the local physical environment as part of their planned educational activities.  Parents are needed at such times for supervisory, safety purposes but also to be involved with the children and class programmes.

As a general rule of thumb Outdoor Education Camps or major trips involving overnight stays are confined to the Senior Classes and are usually undertaken each alternate year. The BOT checks over and approves the RAMS (Risk Analysis Management Systems) forms for all camps or outdoor education trips.

View Policy.

Class trips are sometimes undertaken to support classroom learning.  A permission/consent slip signed by a parent/caregiver is required before any child is able to take part in a class trip.

Buses are used wherever practicable and economically viable. 

A parent pupil ratio of 1 adult per 6 children is required for most trips.  Near water or in the bush the ratio is 1:4. Parents are needed and encouraged to come on school or class trips and support this valuable form of extension learning.

The school has a policy on trips and it can be requested from the Principal.

The school has a written policy on complaints. We have an open door policy and encourage open lines of communication.  Any concerns should be directed to the person it directly concerns as complaints are best settled informally.

If a complaint remains unresolved, it should then be referred to the Principal for further investigation. From there, if no resolution is met, then the complaint can be put into writing to be addressed by the Board of Trustees.

If the person complaining does not feel that justice has been done please follow the guidelines in the Policy. Any complaints that relate to the dealings that children have with each other are to be referred to the Principal.

The policy can be found on our SchoolDocs site. See Policy and Procedures section below.

All children are required to sign a Cybersafety Agreement outlining the expected behaviours when using any computer or internet device.  The school has an Internet Safety Policy that is reviewed annually by the Principal and as part of a schedule of policy review by the Board of Trustees.

The Dental Clinic visits us once a year and they set up in our school driveway.

If parents have any dental concerns or emergency work needing attention for their children, they can ring the Warkworth Primary School Clinic during work hours and make an appointment.

The Boards of Trustees opt in to the Governments Donations Scheme. This means the Boards does not ask students’ families and whānau for donations, except for overnight camps.  The Board may still require payment for items or services that are extra-curricula.

A standard enrolment form prepared by the New Zealand Principal’s Federation is used when new pupils enrol at the school.  Parents of 5 year olds enrolling for the first time are asked to bring the child’s birth certificate when enrolling.

The school welcomes parents who would like to come and speak with teachers and the Principal about school programmes before enrolment. We will make a time to show you around the school and can usually introduce you to other parents with similar aged children if you wanted to chat informally about the school.

Children attending Leigh Preschool visit us every week from the age of four. This programme has proven pivotal in the confidence in which our students commence their primary schooling. They are also invited to do a number of individual school visits prior to their personal start date to help make the transition easy for them.

In collaboration with Leigh Community Preschool we have created an information brochure which provides insightful information about ensuring your child is well prepared for school. You can find that HERE.

It is also important to note the we have Cohort Entry at Leigh School. What this means is that children don’t necessarily start on their birthday.

Reasonable supplies of first aid equipment are kept in the Sick Bay.  Please advise the school of any allergies your children may have when you enrol, or as they develop them, and send any medication to the school to the class teacher with clear instructions for its use. Members of the staff have NZQA approved First Aid Certificates.  Parents will be advised of any injury or illness that occurs at school.Item description

To protect the children from the harmful effects of the sun during the summer months, the Leigh School PTA will give each child a free sunhat.  This hat remains the child’s property and is kept at school.  If this hat is lost or damaged, parents are required to purchase another hat for their child at their own cost.

Homework consists of reading each night, a maths game/ basic facts practice and a small spelling list.  Please begin to set time aside for reading every night, especially if your child has not been reading in the holidays (10 to 15 minutes is ideal). You may like to revisit the high frequency spelling word lists as well. Please help your children to remember to do their tasks.

• Start: 8.30am - 9am (no later)

• Interval: 11 - 11:30am

• Lunch: 12:40 - 1:30pm

• Home: 3pm

We have an up to date library and purchase new books throughout the year.

A major renovation of the library was completed in 2022. In addition to the large collection of new books we were able to recently purchase (thanks to our wonderful local philanthropists), ‘Access-It’ software has been installed which is an integrated whole-of-school information management system for staff and students. It also provides a great resource for the older children to be able to do research online.

The school strongly encourages children to take home library books to increase their recreational reading. Each class has a weekly timetabled library time in which to choose and return books.  The children may take a maximum of three books out of the Library at a time.

Parents may also take books out of the school library for home reading with their children. 

We encourage children to look after their clothing and take it home at night.  We endeavour to return misplaced articles of clothing as they are found. However, we still end up with a huge amount of lost property that does not get claimed. Unclaimed articles are kept in a lost property bin. Lost Property is regularly during assemblies. Named clothing ensures prompt return. Lost Property not claimed goes to the Hospice at the end of each term.

Parents are welcome to check lost property at any time and this is kept in the administration foyer.

We fazed out newsletters at the end of 2021. Regular and short notifications are now sent out via HERO, Facebook and email.  In addition, school news is printed in the local ‘Leigh Rag’ community newsletter monthly. Item description

The school values parent help in classroom programmes.

Parent helpers most usually assist during our regular Friday morning Garden to Table programme. Anyone interested in participating in these programmes is invited to contact the Principal or a classroom teacher.

Our School uses Schooldocs for all its policies and procedures. You will need our School login and password:

Login: leigh

Password: kaitiaki

Visit Schooldocs.

A Public Health Nurse can visit the school to support the school with Teacher referred problems.  The Public Health Nurse is available to see parents who may have concerns about their children’s health.

For our two yearly reporting to parents we use HERO which is a powerful and secure online sharing platform. This platform reflects our curriculum, vision and school values. Parents receive regular and timely updates on their child’s achievements and these can be accessed at any time.

In addition to this, parents are welcome and encouraged to discuss their child’s progress with teachers at any time during the year, and an appointment need only be requested, or call in after school for an informal chat.

There are a variety of inter school sports events on the school calendar for each year.  These events are regarded as official school days and children are expected to attend (usually Year 4 upwards).   The events give the children the opportunity to interact with other children who may come from different social, economic and ethnic backgrounds.  Schools in the district which usually take part are:  Ahuroa, Kaipara Flats, Matakana, Horizon, Snells Beach and Warkworth.  Fixed calendar events are: 

• Swimming

• Netball

• Soccer

• Cross Country

• Hockey,

• Athletics

• Tabloid Sports

All stationery is purchased online with Qizzle during the summer holiday period so that students are ready with all of their stationery requirements on day one of the term. To find your child’s stationery list select Leigh School and your child’s year level.

Every child is expected to swim everyday, during Term 4 and Term 1 when our swimming programmes is running.

Keys to the pool can be hired at $80 for the summer for recreational use outside of school hours.

Please view and sign our Leigh School Pool User’s Code prior to using the pool. 

The Teacher Aide provides learning support within the classroom for children with needs in specific areas. 

The School’s facilities are available to all members of the Leigh Community.  The House of Learning, kitchen space, and Library are available for meetings by contacting the Principal.  We ask that everyone respect our outdoor equipment and take responsibility for their children outside school hours. Dogs are permitted on the school grounds, however must be on a lead at all times.

As teachers cannot be responsible for the safety and security of valuable articles and/or toys, therefore children are asked not to bring anything of value or personal items, including toys, to school.

From time to time the BOT Property Officer will call for a working bee around the school. By having these we are able to save money for the school and get a lot of the odd jobs done during the year. The money that we are able to save enables us to provide extra resources for the children. These are usually held once a term.

This programme provides for one to one oral reading practise with parents or members of the community.  Helpers give 1 hour per week and each child receives 15 minutes reading time, each day that a helper is available. Contact Kerrin Jamieson if you are interested in volunteering for this worthwhile programme.

We highly value EOTC Education Outside the Classroom. We love to explore our local beaches, reserves and natural resources. Each year the school organises at least one major whole school outing. The trip is usually related to a school wide topic of work.