Merry Christmas

The 2024 school year has ended and all is silent at school.

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in the life of our school this year supporting the children and their learning. It has been a wonderful year that has seen a whole range of successful learning experiences for the children.

This year following the introduction of the Government ‘One Hour Reading, One Hour Writing, One Hour Maths’ policy at the end of 2023, we introduced a new school day timetable. Throughout the year we reviewed the timetable and how it was being received by the children and the teachers. As part of the Annual Implementation plan we looked at the impact of this policy on the school’s annual reading, writing and math’s data. As Kristen Waters, Board Presiding Member shared

In our core subject areas and across years 1 – 6, the percentage of students who are achieving at or above the expected curriculum level is:

 Reading: 87%
 Writing: 78%
 Maths: 87%

This year the school trialled a varied timetable to apply the Government’s new initiative of a consolidated hour of each of reading, writing, maths. The data suggests that it did not have a material impact on academic results, and in fact, the achievement data for the last 8 years
has been reasonably consistent.

What the teachers did note was that the new timetable gave very little time to cover other areas of the NZ Curriculum as the afternoon period was limited. 

Consequently the 2025 school day timetable will see three ninety minute blocks for children to carry out their programme of learning in. The Government policy will continue to be implemented along with covering all other curriculum areas throughout the year. 

2025 sees the introduction of the new NZ English Curriculum and, Mathematics and Statistics Curriculum. The Government requires schools to be closed for two curriculum days during term time. For primary schools, these two days are to be used for Maths Professional Development. Our school will be closed on Friday 7 February and Monday 28 April.

The school office is closed and will re-open Tuesday 28 January. If you have any questions please email me at Principal@sj.school.nz

I wish you and your whanau a happy and Holy Christmas.

Ka Manaakitia e te Atua

Alister Bridgman

Tumuaki

Term 1

Monday 3 February – Friday 11 April

• Waitangi Day – Thursday 6 February (School Closed)
• Curriculum Day – Friday 7 February (School Closed)

Term 2

Monday 28 April – Friday 27 June

• Curriculum Day – Monday 28 April
• King’s Birthday –  Monday 2 June (School Closed)
• Matariki – Friday 20 June (School Closed)

Term 3

Monday 14 July – Friday 19 September

Term 4

Monday 6 October – Tuesday 16 December

• Labour Day –  Monday 27 October (School Closed)

  8:50 am – 10:20 am      Learning Session    

10:20 am – 10:30 am      Read and Feed

10:30 am – 10:55 am      Break

10:55 am – 12:25 pm      Learning Session 2

12:25 pm – 12:35 pm      Read and Feed

12:35 pm –  1:15 pm       Break

   1:15 pm – 2:45 pm       Learning Session 3

                    2:50 pm       End of Day

On Friday 31 January we provide parents the opportunity to meet their child’s 2025 teacher. This is an opportunity for parents to share about their child. Who their child is, what their talents are and what they see as important for their child’s learning journey. Parents are welcome to bring their child.

Parents can book a 10 minute interview meeting. If you have more than one child please leave at least a 10 minute gap between interviews. This will give you time to move between interviews.

Booking Link

Please use this link to make your booking

https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/code/3v6xw

The stationery lists are on the school website. You can either purchase through OfficeMax or through your preferred stationery supplier. Please read the website carefully in regards to the naming of certain items at Years 1 – 4.

Our school Uniform requirements are on the school website. Please ensure your child has the full correct uniform, including the school hat, for their first day at school on Monday 3 February. 

You can purchase the uniform items through Janbell’s There are some secondhand uniform items available through the school office. The office opens Tuesday 28 January, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm