Kelburn Normal School
Ngā Tātarakihi o Ahumairangi
If a student is going to be absent from school please check out details on our contact us page and follow the instructions.
For extended periods of leave, please email a letter of explanation to admin@kelburnnormal.school.nz and copy in your child’s teacher and/or the principal.
Our school app etap @school mobile can be downloaded from the usual app stores
or access via a browser:
Detailed information / how to can be found here - scroll to @school App
Any school events etc can usually found in out community calendar.
Kelburn Normal School does not have a uniform. We expect tamariki to wear sensible clothing and shoes appropriate for school activities and the time of year. Please remember to name all items.
We do have a school t-shirt, which we ask tamariki to wear while representing the school at sport events . This can be purchased or borrowed from the school office.
Up-to-date product and price lists for all Kelburn Normal School clothign are available from the office.
We do appreciate donations of t-shirts once your tamariki have outgrown them or left school, for lending.
Lost property can be found in two wooden benches in our Link area / main school entrance.
A typical day at Kelburn Normal School
Drop off and Pickup
Please note the following for where it is appropriate to park around our school. Read me.
8:30 am
The bell rings, when school is open for students to enter the main building from the Link or via the outside stairs.
All children have to supervised by their parent or caregiver until that time.
Staff are often in meetings prior to 8:30 am.
8:50 am
The bell signals the start of school. Students arriving after 8:50am, MUST sign in at the office.
11:00 am
Morning Tea
11:10 am
Break / Play time.
11:40 am
Students return to their team's area for learning time.
1:00 pm
Eating lunch. Lunch options
1:10 pm
Break / Play time.
1:40 pm
Students return to their team's area for learning time.
2:50 pm
Pack up/road patrol – pack up time, notices, reflection, reminders – Road patrollers make their way to the office for their duty.
3:00 pm
End of school – students should leave the school grounds by 3:15pm unless they are supervised by their parent or caregiver or are officially attending After School Care.
The Bee Healthy Regional Dental Service provides free dental care to all tamariki from birth to Year 8 across the Wellington Region. Tamariki receive dental treatment when the dental van is stationed at our school. If your tamariki is in pain or if there are any concerns please ring 0800 TALK TEETH (0800 825 583).
Kelburn has four school houses:
Rata, Ngaio, Rimu and Kowhai.
All children are allocated into a house on enrolment and represent their house at sports days. The houses gives us a vertical grouping from year 1 to 8, and enable our children to be in a ‘different team than their usual groups. They show a lovely unity as they display a pastoral care element for the younger children.
We use our houses for our in-school sport events - swimming, athletics and cross country and other school wide events/ activities. The overall champion house is announced at the end of each year.
Te Kāhui Ako O Te Whanganui-a-Tara consists of a group of local schools who welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively across our community to support the wellbeing of all students and optimise their achievement outcomes at all stages of education. This group consists of both local primary and secondary schools.
You can find further information here.
Children usually borrow books for two weeks. Each team has slightly different ways to engage their students reading library books.
Tupu
Tupu Y0&Y1 tamariki usually take one book/ Tupu Y2 tamariki up to two books home each week and return their book the next week to their teacher or a designated box in their classroom.
Whanake
Whanake children can take up to 3 books home each week and are asked to return them after two weeks by giving the book(s) to their teacher.
Both for Tupu and Whanake the expectation is that library books are transported from and to school in their book bags to keep them safe from e.g. drink bottle leakage.
Whānui and Māia
Our year 5 to 8 students mainly manage their own library books.
Students are expected to issue any book that goes home and return the book in our library system via a library chromebook themselves. Help is available from our dedicated librarians.
Whānui students can take up to 4 books home for 2 weeks.
Māia students can take up to 5 books home for 2-3 weeks.
Our collections are sorted by age especially our fiction sections.
All details about our library can also be found here
📚If you know your child has lost a book or a book got damaged please email library@kelburnnormal.school.nz with details. Thank you.📖
Lost property is placed in the wooden bins in the Link area - main entrance area of our school. Once a term lost property will be put on display. Unclaimed clothing will be disposed off/donated to a charity usually at the end of each year.
Any Board of Trustee (BOT) or Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting minutes can be found on our Important information page
Please refer to our page on all things music lessons
Our Newsletters are accessible via our @school app (see above), on our News page. We have our weekly Kelburn Comms (updates) and a more detailed monthly newsletter - Voice of Ngā Tātarakihi. Team Newsletters are published each term and can be accessed via the app, News page or Team pages (Tupu, Whanake, Whānui, Māia).
Adult whānau are invited to help. This could be assisting with class programmes like Christmas crafts, helping durasealing new books for our library, providing adult help for school trips or transport for sport/music events.
Our Parent Teacher Association (PTA) always welcomes whanau to participate including for Road Patrol.
Let your child’s teacher know if you are able to assist or reply to one of our teacher's request for help.
All details about where and how to park at our school can be found here.
Please be community-minded and consider other people.
Please -
do not park in front of private garages, including on Boundary Road,
do not block the Kowhai Road turning zone (next to the school patrol crossing) by parking in it,
do not block the entrance to Kowhai Road by stopping there to drop off or pick up tamariki:
avoid crossing the road at the top of Kowhai Road - use the school patrol crossing points.
KNS policies and procedures are maintained via SchoolDocs. You can access using the credentials below:
Username: kelburn Password: normal
Each classroom has a paper recycling bin which children are taught to use when disposing of used paper. Our school believes in teaching children to be environmentally aware.
The pedestrian crossings near the school are patrolled from 8:25am – 8:50am and 3:00pm – 3:20pm. This is run by parent volunteers to decrease the cost of paying staff to supervise the students who man the road patrol. Without the volunteers this service is a costly exercise for the school. If you can go on the roster during the year, please contact our PTA.
Our Year 6-8 students provide road patrol service – training is usually given at the end of each year for the following year and it operates on a roster basis.
Term 1 & Term 4 Fashion
Hats are very ‘in’ during these terms, so much so in fact they are a requirement.
A broad-brimmed hat or legionnaire hat is just the thing!
Hats can be bought at our office - but as long as your child's hat is broad-rimmed or protects your child's face ears and neck - the choice is yours. No caps please. Wellington wind can be tricky and many children prefer some kind of strap to keep their hat on their head.
In term 1 and term 4, we try to maximise the use of our plentiful outdoor learning spaces. As well as hats, we strongly recommend that students arrive at school wearing sunscreen and bring some sunscreen in their bag - roll-on sunscreens seem easily managed by all tamariki.
Here is an overview of all our Teachers and their email addresses and on each Team's own page Tupu, Whanake, Whānui, Māia
Please note:
During school time (8:50am – 3:00pm) staff members will be focused on teaching and learning and will not be responding to emails or telephone calls. If you have an urgent message, or a message about end-of-day pick-ups, please contact the office to deliver this message. If it is not urgent, send an email. Please be aware teachers attend meetings after 3pm and often do not get the opportunity to check emails until after 5pm or early in the morning.
Term Dates 2025
Term 3 2025
Monday 14 July - Friday 19 September
Teacher Only Days:
Friday 22 August - PLD Maths Curriculum
Friday 29 August - 3 Way Learning Conversations
Term 4 2025
Monday 6 October - Wednesday 17 December - 2 pm finish
Public Holiday:
Monday 27 October - Labour Day
Term Dates 2026
Term 1
Monday 2 February - Thursday 2 April 2026
Public Holiday:
Friday 6 February - Waitangi Day
Teacher Only Day:
Friday 27 March - 3 Way Learning Conversations
Term 2
Monday 20 April- Friday 3 July 2026
Public Holiday:
Monday 27 April - ANZAC Day observed Monday 1 June - Kings Birthday
Teacher Only Day:
Friday 27 March - PLD Maths Curriculum
Term 3
Monday 20 July - Friday 25 September 2026
Teacher Only Days:
Friday 14 August - 3 Way Learning Conversations
Friday 28 August - PLD Maths Curriculum
Term 4
Monday 12 October - Wednesday 16 December 2026 - 2 pm finish
Public Holiday:
Monday 26 October - Labour Day
Please remind your children to walk their scooters or bikes when on school grounds and at busy times before and after school in the area around our school gate.
Scooters & Bikes can be parked on the "bridge" behind our admin building where stands are provided.
