​A child’s first transition to school is one of the biggest milestones of their life and needs to be approached with thought and compassion. Currently across New Zealand, new entrants to our school start their first day as decided by their parents, normally shortly after their 5th birthday. This can mean that a new entrant teacher can potentially have a new child every day. While this has certainly become the cultural norm, we believe we are doing our new entrants a disservice by not having a more structured transition for them, their parents and for our new entrant teachers.

At the end of 2015, we consulted with our Early Childhood Education partners and developed a protocol for preferred entry points at Weeks 1 and 5 of each term. This has been well supported and affirmed by our Early Childhood Education colleagues, and parents have respected these preferences which has allowed us to plan more effectively for our new arrivals. With the recent changes in the Education Act, we now have the ability to formalise these preferred entry points and wish to consult with our community once again.

We would like to formalise entry points at Weeks 1 and 5 of each term. This means if your child's birthday is in Week 6 of the term, they would need begin school Week 1 of the following term (or any week 1 or 5 of the following terms prior to your child turning 6)