ST JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC
SCHOOL
TAKAPUNA

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Tena Kotou Whanau

Welcome to the 2026 school year.

It has been wonderful to see all the children and their families today, coming in today to meet their teacher for the year. If you didn’t get to take up this opportunity you could always pop in after school next week and introduce yourself to your child’s teacher.

We trust you have all had a wonderful break which included the Christmas and New Year celebrations. No doubt the children will have many stories to share with the teachers and friends on their return next week.

Our focus this year is strengthening our Mercy values and School Motto through the framework Te Whare Tapu O Te Ngākau Māori along with introducing the 2026 NZ Curriculum. In addition, as you will have seen through the media, the Government has just announced a new reporting system so this will also be introduced this year.

We welcome to our staff Mrs Bell-Booth, Mrs Veran and Mr Heath. We also welcome all the new children and new families. Our school welcome prayers will be at 9 am on Friday 20 February in the school hall.

Our first School Mass is next Friday, 13th February. We will be celebrating our opening school Mass at the 9:15 am Parish Mass on this day. All whanau are welcome to join us and it will be followed by morning tea in the staffroom.

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the Whanau Picnic on Friday, 20th February.

Ka manaakitia koutou e te Atua

Alister Bridgman

Tumuaki

ATTENDANCE

This year the Government is asking Boards of Trustees to implement a School Attendance Programme. Ours will be put up on the school website next week. We will also continue to send daily attendance data to the Ministry of Education. Please note the following times:

8:15 am – School Opens
8:45 am – Children go to class
8:50 am – Morning Attendance Register marked
1:15 pm – Afternoon Attendance Register marked
2:50 pm – School closes

***If a child arrives after 8:50 am they will be recorded as late

***If a child is signed out at the office by a parent before 2:50 pm they will be recorded as absent for the afternoon

***Note: We will no longer have early finishes on ‘wet’ days.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL PICNIC

PICK-UP and DROP-OFF

Drop-Off Morning Routine

The school opens at 8:15 am. Children stay in their cars, with their parents, until they see the duty teacher walking across the carpark to the back of the church. Parents can then either walk their children to the back of the church or to the front of the office. Children do not enter the school until the duty teacher has told all children they can. This happens once the children meeting at the back of the church have been escorted across the car park.

It is at this point the school gate is opened for parents to drive through and drop off their children. If the gate is closed please park your car and walk your child into school. Please do not park in front of the gate waiting for it to be opened. There is no parking on the yellow lines.

Afternoon Routine

The school day ends at 2:50 pm. Parents can park in the Parish car park and on the courts in the afternoon when collecting their children. Parents wishing to drive through and collect their children need to plan their arrival for after 3:00 pm.

It takes 10-15 minutes for the parents and children to safely exit to their cars and to the pick-up area. The gate is only opened once the duty teachers feel is safe to do so. If the gate is closed please park your car and walk in to collect your child. Please do not park in front of the gate waiting for it to be opened. There is no parking on the yellow lines

The painted yellow lines are not to be stopped on. They are there to allow traffic to flow in and out of the courts and the staff car park. Please be courteous and ensure you do not end up having to stop on the yellow lines blocking the way for other parents. Please take turns, zip. This will allow you all to get in and out of the school/parish car park in a timely fashion. Patience is key.

Fred Thomas Entrance – Summit School

The driveway St Joseph’s School community uses for drop-off and pick-up is 10 Dominion St.

Please do not use the Fred Thomas Drive. This drive is only for the Summit School community.

There is limited access, space and parking for the Summit School parents. Please do not use their driveway.

We are fortunate to have easy entry and exit, plenty of parking, and the drive-through available, via our school’s Dominion St entrance. Please use this entrance at all times.

Funerals

We are fortunate that we have the parish car park available to our parent community to use when parents are dropping off and collecting their children. On occasions there are afternoons, funerals and mourners fill the parish carparks. In addition the exit to Taharoto Rd is not available due to the hearse being parked at the front door of the church.

When this happens we ensure the children are ready for collecting earlier than normal in order to assist the flow of the pick-up traffic. We appreciate parents showing understanding and patience on these occasions.

We are certainly blessed as a school to have so much off road parking available to our school community. The majority of schools on the north shore have no off street parking available.

Please be considerate of other parents and parishioners during drop-off and pick-up.