Transition to School

Our transition process begins approximately 3 -6 months before the children start at Huirangi School, encouraging relationships to build over time and giving children a comfortable, confident more seamless start to school.

Transitioning children and their whanau visit the new entrant classroom, He Puāwai, for sessions with other four-year-old children. These sessions are a chance for the children to become familiar with the classroom that they will begin school life in and start developing friendships with other transitioning children.

As part of our tuakana/teina ethos, new children to school are paired with an older student. The transitioning children meet their school buddy during the transition sessions, allowing these important relationships to develop early.

Closer to a transitioning child’s start date at school, they are given the opportunity to join in sessions with the new entrant class. This again develops and in many cases reunites friendships, further builds the relationship with the teacher and gives the transitioning child some insights and understandings into the routines and structures of the classroom and Huirangi school as a whole.