Information

9:00- School begins
11:10- Play time after 10 minutes of eating.
13:10- Lunch time after 10 minutes of eating.
15:00- End of the school day.

Gates open at 8:30.

Subway as a lunch option for the children. On Thursday & Friday each week we offer Subway for lunch.  This consists of a choice of 4 different 6" subs and a cookie for $5.50. The children come and order their Subway at the office in the morning before 9.15am. Parents are welcome to pay online and email us their child's Subway order.

At Vardon School we have 2 play and eating breaks

1. Morning Tea is 11:00am - 11:30am. Children are encouraged to eat a substantial snack (not just a cookie or a box of raisins) at this break.
2. Lunch Break is from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.  Lunch eating time is at 1:00pm each day and children have 15 minutes to eat their lunch before they can go and play. Children eat inside in the Winter terms and under shaded areas in the summer terms.

Our school is a Sun Safe Accredited School which means that everyone (including adults) must wear a school approved, wide-brimmed hat at school in Terms 1 and 4.

Not hat = shade play!

Our BOT generously subsidises the cost of these hats for you.

Ask at the office

It is our belief that learning is ubiquitous - it can occur anytime, anyway, anywhere!

At Vardon School, homework is termed 'Home Learning'. We believe that learning complete outside school hours is as important, and we should never refer to this as extra 'work'

We value children and families involvement in a range of recreational and community orientated learning activities.

Therefore as a school we refer to this learning as 'home learning' - not homework.

Home learning looks different for each year level.  Please see your child's teacher if you have any questions.

We have a well resourced library on the school grounds that all children are able to visit and borrow books from.

Each class visits the library once a week to encourage children to browse and choose relevant books. Children are able to take these books home in a "Book bag" to share with their families.

Books are expected to be returned the following week when a new book will also be issued.

More information at this link.

Uniform Information

Sick Bay:

All children can access help from the sick bay at any time of the day.

Medication:

If your child requires medication of any kind to be administered, parents will need to fill in a medical consent form at the office. We have strict procedures for how this is monitored and given.

Forms are signed and dated & medication goes in a locked cupboard or the fridge as necessary.

We ask that whenever you need to send money to school with your child that it be in a sealed envelope with the child's name, the amount and the reason for the payment.

Automatic Payments

Many families se tup automatic payments to help spread out the costs of items like stationery, school trips, sprots teams or groups and any expenses that crop up from time to time.  Please ask at the office - we will give you our bank account number so that you can set up an A/P through your online banking.

(managing behaviour at Vardon)

The following information will explain a bit more about Restorative Practices, what it is and how we use it.  Behaviour at our school is usually good, but there are inevitable times when children may face conflict with other children. We want to help you understand some of the things your child might come home and talk to you about.

Here at Vardon School we use restorative approaches when dealing with conflict and problems.  This means that we look at how we interact and talk to each other repspectfully.

Punishment versus Restorative Practices.

Your child may be asked to be involved in a Restorative Conversation, or Chat (using Restorative Language) if they are having a conflict or problem in school. This is a meeting (with everyone involved) to:

• Find out what is happening
• Look at who has been affected or upset
• Decide how it can be put right
• Find a way forward, in a way that is fair for everyone.

How this works:

Children who have demonstrated inappropriate behaviour, and encouraged to take responsibility for their actions and consider how their actions have affected others.

This allows the school to:

• Help children who have been upset by ensuring wrong doers have the opportunity to put right the upset they have caused.
• Help pupils displaying inappropriate behaviour to reflect, make amends and take responsibility for the way they have behaved.

The PTA run a disco each term. Dates for this year are:
Term 2: Thursday 14th May
Term 3: Thursday 13th August
Term 4: Thursday 5th November

Teachers at Vardon School implement a range of effective teaching strategies to engage students in learning.

They take deliberate actions to support students to accelerate progress and sustain achievement through teaching as inquiry, the use of moderation and regular Open to Learning Conversations.

We use a variety of authentic contexts for learning, peer tutoring, students leading learning or tuakana/teina approaches to learning.

Students actively engage in self-assessment and peer assessment. Evidence is gathered and presented in many ways and shared with whanau during Student Led Conferences.

Student voice is captured widely through written or visual media forms and shared with parents and whanau on a regular basis.

We provide a range of Sports options for your child to take part in each year.  

Usually these include:

• Basketball
• Netball
• Touch
• Hocky

When we can, we also take part in:

• Interschool Athletics
• Tough Guy Tough Girl
• The Weetbix Tryathlon

Information on Sports options changes from year to year, please keep an eye on notices or check with the office or your child's teacher for more information.

Open in Term One for instructional teaching.
Open in Term Four- weather dependent.

School Gates

• The school gates open at 8:30 am
• Please ensure your child arrives from 8:30 am onwards and not earlier.
• Please use the Pedestrian and Back Gate to drop off and pick up students.
• The main gate is open from 9 - 3 pm.
• We will lock the main gate at 3 pm so that allstudents and whanau use the pedestrian gate and back gate to exit the school.

Before School and After School

Please ensure your child arrives from 8:30 am onwards and not earlier.
We do not want to see a large group standing outside the gate at 8:15 am as they areunsupervised and still in your care. If you need supervision before school, SKIDS are running abefore-school care programme on-site.
sKids

sKids Vardon 

www.skids.co.nz

For more information about our programmes please contact us. For Booking and Account Enquires: To find out more about the programmes we offer and our opening hours please call or email us.

Safety After School

We expect all students to go home after school unless they are supervised by an adult. There have been occasions where students have gone home with their friends and we have had worried parents looking for them. Please ensure your children know and understand how they are getting home each day. If plans change during the day, please contact the office before2:30 pm and we will pass the message on to your child.

Vardon School is Soft Plastic Free

We have been having an ongoing issue with students dropping plastic everywhere around the school, plastic blowing out of our rubbish bins, and our wheelie bins filling up with plastic. Vardon School has excellent paper and composting options, but unfortunately, plastic recycling trucks don't come to schools. If food is wrapped in soft plastic such as chip packets, plastic wrap, etc., we encourage students to take these home in their lunch boxes. Children can still put certain types of plastic in the bin, such as yoghurt pots, because we don't want their lunch boxes smeared with yoghurt. We encourage students and parents to try some wrap-free options such as reusable containers or paper wrap in the lunches. Thank you for your support.

Safety

Yellow Card - students arriving after the 9 am bell need to be signed in by their whanau. They will be given a Yellow card to hand to their classroom teacher. This informs the teacher that the child has been to the office.

Green Card - All whanau signing out their child before 3 pm need to do so at the office. You will be given a Green Card if you are authorised to the child which must be handed to the classroom teacher. This informs them that the child has been properly signed out.

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