Stonefields School A-Z

Please contact the school via the Edge App if your child is going to be absent. 

Please detail the reason for your child’s absence. If your child is away for multiple days, please notify the school each day they are away.  

If your child is absent for any reason other than illness, inform the school by email in advance, where possible, of the dates they will be away. 

If your child is absent due to illness for three days or more, please provide a doctor’s certificate.

We use a text system to contact parents that we don’t hear from when their child is absent. We aim for this to go out by 9.30 in the morning. To reply you can hit ‘reply’ and text why your child is away. Alternatively phone the office on 09 527 7721.

In the event that your child has a minor accident at school, your child will be administered basic first aid by a duty teacher or in our Health Room (at the front office). In the case of a more serious accident, parents/caregivers will be contacted. If it is an emergency the student will be taken to A&E, doctor or dentist.

A before and after school care programme operates in the school.  It is held in the hall and is run by a private company called Kelly Club.

To contact Kelly Club please phone Celia on 021 466 763 or email stonefields@kellyclub.co.nz.

We encourage children to cycle to school!  

Police guidelines recommend that children be at least 10 years of age (Year 5 and up) before they can cycle to school independently, however you know your child best and the decision as to whether or not your child may cycle to school unaccompanied is yours. As a school, we require you to take responsibility by signing a Cycle Safety Agreement.

It is a requirement that all learners who cycle to school wear a helmet. It is also recommended that those with scooters use a helmet, and that a hi-vis vest is worn if available.

It is your child’s responsibility to ensure that bikes are securely locked at school and scooters stowed safely. 

The Stonefields School Board is the governing body of the school.  It is made up of a Presiding Member, an elected Staff Representative and a number of Parent Elected Representatives. 

Board meeting dates are published on the school calendar and on our website.  

Meetings are open to the public and you are welcome to attend, please note, however, that members of the public do not have speaking rights at meetings unless invited to do so by the Presiding Member.  

Please contact comms@stonefields.school.nz to advise if you wish to attend and confirm that the date/time has not changed.  

Please help our school to promote child safety by encouraging your children to:

• go to and from school in groups.  We encourage an informal buddy system.

• have and know strategies to deal with approaches by strangers eg.

  • saying ‘no’ confidently

  • noting car registration numbers and colour etc

  • reporting any incidents

• ensure children know the arrangements for going home, especially if changed from the usual

 We all have a responsibility for child safety in our community!

Stonefields School operates on a cohort entry system. There are two entry points per term, one on the first day of term, and one at a mid-point during a term.

Children can start in the next cohort after their 5th birthday. 

Parents continue to have the option of not starting their child in school until their 6th birthday. It is a legal requirement that a child enrols at a registered school from age 6. Therefore, if not already enrolled, a child can start school on their 6th birthday regardless of a school’s cohort entry policy, but must start school no later than their 6th birthday.

For more details on enrolment, please see our enrolment page

We have a culture of open communication at Stonefields School.

We aim to make information readily available to you, and to inform parents/caregivers of all upcoming events and school projects through our website, regular communication updates, app alerts and our School Facebook page. 

Key Dates

Visit the Stonefields School website to keep up-to-date on key events and dates throughout the school year.  Make sure that you also check your emails, app alerts and our School Facebook page for any updates to the school calendar.

Stonefields School is fortunate to be a member of two communities of learning, those being:

• Manaiakalani (Incorporating Tamaki feeder Schools)

• Te Roopu Pourewa (Incorporating Selwyn College feeder schools)

Communities of Learning are part of the Government’s programme of Investing in Education Success. More than $359 million has been set aside to support the initiative. 

Research shows that within schools, the quality of teaching has the biggest influence on whether students succeed. IES has been designed with this in mind and is intended to help raise achievement by:

• Improving teaching practice across New Zealand

• Enabling teachers to work together, and benefit from each other’s knowledge and experience

• Helping all children benefit from the skills and knowledge of great teachers from across a group of schools

• Helping schools work together so it’s easier for children to move through the education system.

We'd love to hear from you! There are a number of ways you can get in touch: 

• Phone: (09) 527 7721

• email: office@stonefields.school.nz

  • to email your child's hub you can email hubX(insert your child's hub number)teachers@stonefields.school.nz

  • or email a staff member directly:  first name.last name@stonefields.school.nz 

• Street Address:  81 Tihi Street, Stonefields, Auckland 1072 

• Through our website www.stonefields.school.nz 

• Via our school app.  

A cyber smart learning programme is taught from Year 0 - 8 to support all learners with being self-aware when learning online.

Our school operates on a high-speed secure network.  There are security and access filters in place that are controlled to ensure student safety. 

Procedure for student use of the Internet:

• On enrolment, students and parents/caregivers are to sign the Internet Permission Form before using the Internet at school. This document is kept on file upon enrolment. Refer to details in the cyber safety agreement. 

• When your child has a 1:1 device they will be required to complete the online Kawa of Care agreement before they can access the device. Parents of learners in Years 4 - 8 are expected to attend a device orientation session

Digital tools are an integral part of teaching and learning at Stonefields School.  

Chromebooks are available to order for our learners in Year 4 and up. If you are wanting to purchase a Chromebook for your child please click here. 

Each year the School Board asks for a donation to supplement the school’s budget. These donations help to support and enhance many aspects of the school curriculum and activities.  

Donations for 2023 are:

1 learner - $450
2 learners - $850
3 or more learners - $1200

All donations are tax deductible and a receipt will be issued.  

This is where caregivers receive notifications and communications and where you can keep us informed of your child/ren's absences. 

To download the Edge app, simply click on the links below

Google Play (Android) download link

Apple Store download link

You can find more information on downloading and setting up the Edge App here.

If you are in the school in the event of an emergency please follow the staff's instructions and procedures below.

Signal: Continuous ringing of the school bell or announcement for fire, earthquake, chemical spill, volcanic eruption or lockdown.

Action: Children and visitors follow teacher direction in a quick & orderly manner. The evacuation point is on the Turf.

A member of the Leadership team will give the command to re-enter the building when it is safe to do so.

The assembly area for all students and staff during a drill is the Turf.  

If you are a visitor on the day of a fire drill or evacuation please make your way to the turf in an orderly manner and assemble with your child’s Learning Hub.  

Drills will be conducted each term to cover fire, natural disaster and intruder evacuation procedures.  

An evacuation map is displayed in all Learning Hubs and additional buildings for your reference.

As a parent, you are encouraged to take part in our “Friends of Stonefields School’. This is a group of parent volunteers who participate in and support school activities and fundraising events.

This is an excellent opportunity to meet other parents and become involved in the school community. Please email if you are keen to be part of this team.

Head lice like healthy hair.  This school is no different from any other in that head lice can be a problem from time to time.  The spread of head lice in a classroom can be controlled and prevented by checking your child’s hair regularly (eggs take about 9 days to hatch).

If lice or eggs are found consult your chemist and notify the child’s guardian teacher. All parents of the Learning Hub concerned will be notified and asked to check their child’s hair. A document detailing how to do this is emailed to parents. Click here to view the document.

We believe that a safe, hygienic, attractive and healthy school environment is essential.  From time to time the school is audited for Health and Safety.

Please report any hazards to the office so appropriate interim action can be taken.

In light of the Covid-19 situation, additional health & safety measures have been put in place, including mask-wearing, sanitising and additional cleaning, and social distancing.

You will have completed a form on enrolment with all the necessary details. 

At age 5 children have Tympanometry, audiometry and vision tested. 

At age 11 boys have a vision and colour vision test, and all children have their vision tested again at age 14 through the School Health Service.

For more in-depth testing please see your medical practitioner. 

Throughout the year, each Learning Hub will have home learning activities and experiences that complement the learning programmes.

You will see specific home learning that may include reading, spelling, basic facts to research on breakthrough projects.

You can view your child’s learning progress through the SchoolTalk app. This is a useful tool which showcases what your child is currently working on and their next steps. A resource button is available to provide ideas of how you can support at home.

Home learning acknowledges the many worthwhile activities and experiences that children are involved in at and beyond home.  It recognises that learning happens in all situations. This includes making meals, exploring the outdoors, dance, representative sport, visiting the elderly, being creative in the arts and taking on additional academic challenges.

The Learning Hubs (Innovative Learning Environments) have been specifically designed to support the school’s vision of teaching and learning. They offer a range of learning settings that teachers and learners can move between, according to the learning they are doing. Hubs generally are home to three teachers and up to 85 learners. The team of teachers work together to design learning for all learners. An individual learner's learning may be caused by any of the teachers within the learning hub.  A key to the learner's success is the teacher's ability to empower learners to take ownership of their learning.

Hubs are generally made up of two year levels, providing learners with the opportunity to work alongside those who are both older, and younger than they are. This is very much in line with the concept of tuakana–teina, and is a key feature of learning at Stonefields. 

Each learner has a guardian who is their advocate, strength nurturer, talent finder, motivator and learning activator.  This adult acts as the individual's guardian while situated in the Learning Hub, and is often the first port of call for parents.  The hub teachers are collectively responsible for learning and communicating with parents. 

The school encourages the involvement of parents, whānau and volunteers through helping in the learning hubs and is very appreciative of their valuable time and contributions. 

Please let your child’s guardian teacher know if you are available to help the school’s programme in any way.

From time to time, you will need to take your child out of school during the day, perhaps for an appointment or an out of school commitment. 

When collecting your child, you must sign them out on the tablet in the office, and sign them back in on your return. 

If you are not collecting your child personally please let the hub and office know who will be.

The school library has a great collection of books - fiction, non-fiction, digital, picture and reference books.  Learners are encouraged to maximize the use of the library, and it is used as an integral part of our learning environment. It is also open each lunchtime and before school most days. 

From time to time books go missing, or are not returned on time. In this case, parents will be notified and in the unfortunate occasion that a book is lost will be invoiced.

Learners can take books out for up to three weeks and parents are invited to check these in and out with their children if they would like to.  The library is generally open before school starts and until around 3:15/3: 30 pm most afternoons.

We encourage you to clearly name all your child’s uniform items, in particular hats and fleeces.

If a child cannot find an article of clothing in the Learning Hub, they will be encouraged to look in the school lost property. This is situated outside Te Pātaka Ako, the Community Hub.

Any unnamed items found will be placed in here for children to check.

Students have a supervised, seated morning tea and lunch eating time. If students are bringing a drink to school, water is the preferred option. Please make sure that the drink container is named, reusable and plastic.

As part of our Greenstar status, Stonefields School is an environment School. This means all lunch wrappings will come home in the student's lunch box as we have a ‘walk it in, walk it out’ principle.  

Recyclable waste, such as yoghurt pots, and organics (fruit skins etc) will go into the containers provided.

We also offer lunch orders. Orders can be placed via your Kindo account (please see more information under Kindo)

The car park directly outside the front of the school and behind Hub 4 (Sommerville Satellite Hub) is for staff and visitor parking only.  

It is not intended as a drop off and pick up zone for children.  School gates can be very busy just before and after school, and we encourage you to collect your child from any of the parking bays surrounding the school.  

If you are within walking distance of the school, we recommend our children to be travelwise and walk, run or ride to school.   

Parents are encouraged to drive in an anti-clockwise direction around the school during peak times to help ease congestion.

Please also be considerate to the neighbours of the school.  Some of these properties have private parking and through-road areas.  These are not to be utilised by parents at any time.

It is important that your and your children's personal details are accurate and up-to-date.
These include:
- Home Address
- Contact number(s)
- Doctor's details
- Health information (allergies, medication etc)
If any of these details should change, please inform the office via admin@stonefields.school.nz as soon as possible

These are important facets at Stonefields School and all students are encouraged to take an active part.  We consider that all students should be given the opportunity to experience a wide range of physical activities, with the emphasis on attitude, sportsmanship and perseverance in both team and individual sports.

All students are involved in a daily fitness programme and organised sports activities each week.

 The Year 3-8 students have the opportunity to enter appropriate year level inter-school competitions, such as cross country, athletics, touch and softball. 

Please click here to visit our sports website.

Please click here to go to our Policy and Procedure Website.

Photolife

Hub and individual photographs are taken every year by PhotoLife. You will be informed of the dates via the Fortnightly Communication Updates.

Use of Learner Images

During enrolment, you are asked to give permission for photos of your child(ren) to be used in our Communications, website, Facebook page etc.
If you no longer wish for your child(ren)s images to be used, please contact the office via admin@stonefields.school.nz

SchoolTalk is an innovative web app, that makes learning and progress visible for teachers, children and their parents. There are four key purposes that have been intentionally designed into SchoolTalks functionality:

• Building learner agency - Learners know how they are going and what their next steps are

• Automating realtime progress and achievement reporting

• Building parent partnerships

• Developing teacher effectiveness and efficiency

You can be as involved with your child's learning as you choose.  Logging into SchoolTalk with your child is a great way to stay connected with what they are learning and how they are going.  Your child's progressions can be viewed anytime by logging into SchoolTalk and will give you up to date information on what they have achieved (highlighted in green) and what their next learning steps are (highlighted in yellow)

The Stonefields Collaborative is a charitable trust set up ‘to provoke thought & action about learning and leading that matters’. 

To learn more, please head to their website

2nd Hand Uniform is available to purchase via our Pre-Loved Uniform Shop. Please keep an eye on our communication updates for dates & times. 

Stationery is available to purchase through our school online shop - Kindo.

Please have your child's Hub number and year level ready for your stationery orders as this will be required.