Starting School

For any child, not to mention parents, the transition to any new environment is a huge process of change and adjustment. This is especially the case for any five year old transitioning to school. At Riwaka School, we take this transition to your child’s next stage of learning very seriously. We have a lot of experience in looking at what makes an effective transition for all students with the aim of making it as seamless as possible from the early childhood environment.

We encourage parents to contact the school 3-6 months prior to starting as a new entrant to arrange school visits. In addition to arranged individual visits, our new entrant teacher makes contact with preschools that feed into the Riwaka School zone to inform them of dates for monthly Discovery Time open sessions.

The usual steps for transitioning to school are:

  • meeting with Principal for tour of school and to discuss your child’s education
  • filling out a pre-enrolment form for the office which informs us of your intention and contact details
  • arranging discovery visits for your child
  • completing a full enrolment form (we also require a copy of birth certificate as well as immunisation records)

To express interest in enrolling your child at Riwaka School, please contact office@riwaka.school.nz or download our form and email to us.

If you can’t print documents please complete your pre-enrolment form here.