From the Office

Messages for students - Messages received at the office for students will be passed on to their teachers via email. Whilst we do our best to ensure each message gets delivered we cannot always guarantee they will be passed on straight away.

Absences, late arrival and going home early - please don't forget to let us know if your child is not attending school. You can do this via the absence line 03 693 0017 or via the absence quicklink on the 4whanau hub on the website preferably before 9.30am. If your child is going to be late to school they must stop by the office to sign in and provide a note (or you can call ahead to alert the office). If your child feels ill during the day we request that they come to sickbay so that we can call home rather than messaging parents directly. This helps us ensure students are signed out before they leave.

If your child is going to be away for an extended period of time please let the office know in the same way you do for all other absences. We often find that the class teacher has been emailed but not the office and this causes confusion with the attendance. 

Leaving for an appointment - no students can leave school at any time without a note from home or a phone call from home to the office prior to leaving. Students MUST sign out at the office so that we know where they are.

Visitors to school - If you are visiting the school please make sure you are signing in and out at the office. This is so that we know you are onsite and in event of an emergency know to look for you.

Parent portal - you will have received an email with your Kamar parent portal log in information at the beginning of the school year. The parent portal allows you to track your child's attendance, see their grades and their timetable as well as daily notices.

Check your details - please check that the details contained on your parent portal are correct and either update what you can or email the office with anything that needs altering ie phone numbers, addresses.

Medical Details - please fill out this form if you would like to update your child's medical details.

How do we contact you? We use our newsletters, website and facebook to communicate a lot. Please make sure you like us on facebook @geraldinehigh. For anything more urgent or focused we will send an email and sometimes we send a text if it is a really urgent message. It is important that the information we have on Kamar is correct so that you receive all communication from us.

Kindo is our school payments system which we use to load charges against your child's account. This year we will not be requesting school donations because we have opted into the school donations scheme. There will still be charges for anything optional, such as sports teams and we will be asking for contributions towards camps so that we can offer the same level of experience that we have been offering in previous years. Information about camps will be provided by the teacher in charge closer to the time for those year groups. All payments are to be made through your Kindo account and not to the school directly.

How to get set up with Kindo:

https://geraldinehs.school.nz/mykindo/create-account/

If you have any problems at all, please phone the Kindo Helpdesk on 0508 4KINDO (0508 454 636) in the first instance or phone the School Office on (03) 693 0017 if you’re still having problems. 

School website - our website (geraldinehs.school.nz) has a 4whanau hub which you can access by clicking on the red button at the top right of the home page. This lets you access extra information and resources as well as quicklinks to some of the things we have mentioned in this newsletter. If you have any suggestions for things you would like to see on there please let us know.

Stationery - School stationery is available via the link.

Uniform is available for purchase from Mainland Uniforms and Peter Young Apparel.

Hauora Team - your student's year level Dean is the first port of call if you are concerned about your child's wellbeing at school. You can see who your child's Dean is on our website. Your child can make contact with their Dean via the Wellbeing Help Form on the 4akonga quicklink on the website. They can also make an appointment with our Counsellor or Whanau Support Worker via the Hauora Hub icon on the 4akonga quicklink. Caregivers can also access this by clicking on the Hauora Hub icon on the 4whanau quicklink.

Has your child been involved in something awesome? Let us know so that we can brag about them too. You can email sports@geraldinehs.school.nz for any sports related success and office@geraldinehs.school.nz for any other extra curricular prowess. Photos are also welcome but please make sure that you (and anyone else in the pic that isn't your child) are happy with their image being used in newsletters and on Facebook.

Buses - Our buses drop off between 8.20 and 9.00am and leave school by 3.10pm. Please don't park in the bus zones during the times specified on the signage. We would also appreciate students being dropped off or picked up further down the road so as to avoid the bus zones. Parents dropping off or picking up students are encouraged to use the entrance to Kennedy park. This is to avoid anyone needing to cross the road near the buses. Bus students are required to wear a hi-viz vest when travelling on or waiting for their bus. Hi-viz makes students much more visible for drivers.

Students using their own car should use Kennedy park for parking. Please see your Dean to arrange a car permit so that you can bring your car to school.

Students on foot should cross the road at the crossing near the East Gate.