We hope that you got to have a good break over the Christmas period. The school year is about to kick into action, and this email is to provide you with information for the start of the 2025 year.

As we begin the new year, Kaiapoi High School is proud to celebrate another year of outstanding NCEA achievement. Among many impressive results, our 2024 Level 1 students have set a new benchmark, achieving an exceptional 24% above the national average.

This announcement provides important information to help sustain this positive momentum, ensuring that each student’s time at school is as positive and productive as possible.  

Uniform

This year, we have a much-expanded range of uniform items available. To see the range and the uniform requirements, see the uniform page of our website.

Shoes are the most common uniform issue. Any fully black, closed toe shoe is fine; but note that this means no white logos or stripes, no white soles, no boots.  Another common issue is hoodies.  No hoodies, even sports ones, are allowed.  

Uniform must be sourced from the U-Shop in Rangiora. This means that all uniforms are standard colours and the allowed style.  Please do not invest money in Dickies shorts, black jeans or draw-string pants, as these will not be acceptable.

We understand there are sometimes issues, so if there is a uniform problem, please let us know.  Where possible, we can lend uniform items for a short period of time until you can source them yourself.

Cellphones

Like all schools in New Zealand, we are required to have ‘phones away for the day’. Ensuring that students are fully aware of the rules will help prevent students from having their phones confiscated.

Confiscation of a phone can be a distressing situation for a young person, so we need to avoid this possible scenario.  We appreciate parents discussing these requirements with your students prior to their first day back at school.

As a summary:

  • Phones are not to be seen at school from the first bell to after the students are released from class at the end of the day.
  • If a phone is brought to school, it should be turned off and stored in their school bag.
  • Phones will be confiscated if seen, with a range of escalating consequences to encourage them not to be used during school hours. As this is the second year of this programme, there is no grace period.  No verbal warnings will be given as a first step like we did last year; it is straight to confiscation.
  • Parents and caregivers can apply for exemptions for learning needs or medical situations (see the link above for details).

Stationery and Gear

The first full timetabled day of school for all is Monday 3rd February, and so all students will need the correct stationery from this day.  

The 2025 stationery lists can be found on the financial page of our website.

Laptops need to be charged and ready to go. If you have any questions, the laptop specifications are listed on The BYOD page of our website.

Key Events

  • The office is officially open for business this week.
  • Thursday 23rd January – Year 10-13 course confirmation day in Karetu Iwa (K9). This is especially important if your student has an incomplete timetable. The meeting times for each year level are:
    • Year 13 = 9am – 10:30 am
    • Year 12 = 11am – 12:30 pm
    • Year 11 = 1pm– 1:45 pm
    • Year 10 = 2pm – 2:45 pm
  • Thursday 30th January – Peer Support student training. Peer support leaders have access to additional information via their Google Classroom page.
  • Friday 31st January – Year 9 orientation day with Peer Support Students, including a Mihi Whakatau (a welcome ceremony) for new staff and new students. Whānau are welcome to attend and should be seated in Hiwa i te Rangi (the new gym) at 9:15am. Note: no laptops or stationery required for orientation day!
  • Monday 3rd February – First full day of school – all year levels attend. This day starts with Tutor Time at 9am. Students need to bring their laptops and stationery for their classes. Year 9 students will be given their timetable during Tutor Time. All other year levels have access to their timetable on SchoolBridge (Sign in from the student page of the school website).  Please check this before Monday to ensure correct stationery.  
  • Thursday 6th February – Waitangi Day.
  • Friday 7th February – House Challenge Day. Students should come to school in House colours. 
  • Wednesday 26th February – ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening for whānau of year 9 students. More information will follow.

Road Safety

We encourage students who live in the township to bring their bikes to school, but please check they have a helmet and a bike lock.

Staff will be present at the Ohoka Road pedestrian crossing during peak times to ensure safety for students. To help us, please let your student know:

  • Only stand at the crossing if they are intending to cross. This will assist with traffic flow.  When crossing, acknowledge waiting cars with a cheery wave!
  • Don’t step out onto the crossing without looking. Never assume cars will stop.
  • On Ohoka Road, cross only at the pedestrian crossing. This means not taking a shortcut across the road to the dairy.

Student Cars

There is no parking on site for student cars, however they are welcome to park their cars on Robert Coup Road. School parks are reserved for staff, visitors, and buses only.  Students are not permitted to transport other students to or from school regardless of the status of their licence. If you wish to request an exemption to this rule, please contact the school office.

Bus Services

Our school buses will be back in action starting Friday 31st January. If you are registered for a bus route, you will receive an email from our Bus Controller shortly. If you don’t hear from us, please let us know by emailing bus.controller@kaiapoi.school.nz.

Newsletter

We have moved from monthly newsletters to this fresh and frequent newsfeed, on the home page of our website.

https://www.kaiapoi.school.nz/news/

SchoolBridge

For quick access to record absences, access parent-teacher interviews, complete course selection, timetables, view academic results, calendar, notices and more… please install the new SchoolBridge app, or you can access it simply as a webpage by following the ‘parent login’ prompts from the Parent page of the school website.

Lastly…

We are very excited to welcome our awesome students back to school next week and look forward to the exciting opportunities that the year ahead holds. For those new to our school community, we believe in fostering open communication from the start.

Your child’s tutor teacher will be your primary contact and will be in touch soon, but if you have any questions or would like to reach out earlier, please feel free to email or call the school office (reception@kaiapoi.school.nz or 03 375 5004).

Ngā mihi mahana, warm regards,

Jason Reid
Principal