We will be focusing on our KORAU Values again this year and how these can be demonstrated through words and actions around the school.  These are the basis on how we build relationships and work together.  Our KORAU values are 

K - Kind We show Kindness to people and the environment.
O - Own We Own our own behaviour.
R - Respect We Respect the rules, people, and the school.
A - Aspire We do quality work and strive for excellence.
U - Unite We work as a team / whanau. We are inclusive.

We use the work of Dr William Glasser, Choice Theory, which underpins all we do at Kōraunui School. Choice Theory explains how and why we as humans choose behaviours to effectively meet our needs. It identifies that successful people are self-managing and internally motivated mainly because they have learnt to get along with others in effective, meaningful ways.

There are four main components:

• Basic Needs — We all have 5 basic needs: Love and belonging, Power, Safety and survival, Fun and Freedom

• Quality World — We are unique and value different things. Our actions are the attempts to attain this quality world

• Perceptual System — Our experiences in life colour our perceptions and how we view and value the world

• Total Behaviour — Comprised of actions, thoughts, feelings and physiology. We have direct control over only the first two

As a school we choose negotiation over punishment. We choose recognition and spontaneous celebrations over rewards. We accept responsibility rather than blaming. We believe in building stable, trusting relationships to enhance children's learning of internal control.

Mana Potential is a framework that is strength-based that helps to build and strengthen positive relationships and culture within our school community. The framework creates a shared language that supports learning and enhances well-being by growing, strengthening and sustaining great relationships. It focuses on what can be done, not what can’t.

This approach fits within how we already work with tamariki and each other and incorporates our KORAU values and other work we have done around building positive relationships and responding to behaviours safely.

To build positive relationships and understanding, we all need to share a bit about ourselves and about where we come from.

Kōraunui School opened in January 2005 as a newly merged school and is a state, co-educational contributing primary school located in Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.

We have classes for students in Years 0 to 6 who are aged between 5 and 11 years. Our whanau classes cater to all year levels throughout the school.

The roll currently ranges between 160 to 200 students and is not currently subject to zoning.

Kōraunui School was established in 2005 after the merger of Kamahi and Stokes Valley Schools and resides on the original Stokes Valley School site.

Stokes Valley School was opened in Kairimu Street in 1929 and Kamahi School opened in 1964.

We run a before (from 7am) and after school (to 5:45pm) programme. This is run by school staff on-site. We also run holiday programmes during the term breaks. For more information contact the Coordinator at the school office and view our KCC page

Every Wednesday and Friday we run 2pm Club between 2.00-3.00pm for children whose parents book them in for this service.  The cost of 2pm Club is $2.00/session.  This is to cover the cost of supervision during these times.

This is an oportunity for your children to play with others at school for up to one hour. This club is supervised by school staff.

All children will need to be booked into 2PM Club by clicking here Even if they attended last year.

We encourage you to visit our school before enrolling your child. Please phone the office and make an appointment.

Enrolments forms can be collected at the school office or alternatively you are able to complete the enrollment form for your children online.

For New Entrants, before your child starts school, we have found it beneficial for him/her to have at least five visits to the classroom. We are flexible about length of visits and parents staying for part or all of the visits. We follow the needs of the child. By visit four, it is appropriate for you to leave your child at school alone for their visit, to encourage their independence.

Times for visits will be organised between you and the New Entrant teachers.

We are never too busy to talk to parents so please approach us at school, or phone if you wish to chat about something concerning your child.

Our Principal, David Lamont, is more than happy to meet with you.

This booklet is designed to help you and your family settle into our school.

When your child is just about to start school, we will contact you to confirm visit dates. These will be planned with the teachers involved and yourself.

We are flexible about length of visits and parents staying for part or all of the visits. We follow the needs of the child. By visit four, it is appropriate for you to leave your child at school alone for their visit, to encourage their independence. Times for visits will be organised between you and the New Entrant teachers.

We have a Pasifika performance group which practises one lunch break a week (more often when preparing for a concert) and is involved in performances during the year. Please let your child's teacher know if your child wishes to be involved in this group. This is generally Year 2 and above.

All children are welcome to attend Kapahaka on a Thursday afternoon. All whānau are warmly welcome. At the start of the year some classes take all their children as introductory sessions, to enable the children to make an informed choice.

We are in need of some people to help take Community Tutor Reading again this year.  If you can spare an hour and a quarter a week to listen to children read, you will read with five individuals for 15 minutes each, please leave a message for Denise Silk-Martelli and she will get back to you. It is so exciting to see how successful the programme can be.

We need people on the school crossing to see children over the busy roads safely each morning between 8.00-8.30am.

The mornings before school starts are really busy for staff. We have a Kids Kitchen, breakfast will be available to children from 8.00-8.30am each day.  Help is needed to run this.

If your child is to be absent, please phone (04) 939-9707, text 027 3710 947 or use the @school parent app or school absence form before 8:30am to notify us. After this time school will endeavour to contact you to check that you are aware your child is not at school. This is a safety measure.

We keep records of times children arrive at school, as continual lateness impacts on learning.

Should there be any change to your contact details please notify the school office immediately, so we can update our records.

Our Kōraunui School Attendance Strategy shows the systems we have in place to support regular attendance.

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR 2026  

Every school must record attendance data and provide it to the Ministry of Education daily in 2026.

We will be contacting parents as attendance moves through the categories (it doesn’t take long to get to the WORRYING stage) to help support whānau to achieve the attendance target. 

The Government’s target is for 80% of students to attend school regularly, that is to attend school more than 90% of the time.  The graphic below shows the attendance categories.

We take part in the Ministry of Education Free Lunches in School Programme each year.  Each child is provided lunch every day of the school year. With the changes the Government has made to how lunches are funded, only the main meal will be provided this year.  Snacks will need to be provided by parents.  All children, whether they are having a school lunch or bringing their own will again be eating lunch in the hall as the lunches will be served on a plate.

If it is not possible for your children to walk to school (most should be able to do this) consider dropping them off in either Kennedy Grove (red post) or Stokes Valley Road (green post) allowing them to learn independence and resilience by walking the last part of the journey. Not only will children be fitter, this will help with traffic congestion.

In the mornings the blue-lined area directly outside the school entrance is drop off only. The driver cannot leave the car. If you need to come into school, you must park elsewhere.

Please drive slowly when you are anywhere near the school. There is school-zone signage in place which advises speeds. In Kairimu St, please drive to the top of the street to turn. Turning into driveways and backing and doing U-turns is unsafe for our children.

Please be a role-model to the children. If you cross the road anywhere, so will the children. There are patrolled crossings on both Kairimu St and Stokes Valley Road every afternoon.

We have bike racks near the bottom field and suggest only senior school children should be biking to school unaccompanied.

If you are sending money to school, please put it in an envelope with your child's name, room number and purpose of the money, and put it in the cream post box, just inside the office foyer on the back wall.

To save you the hassle of finding change, there is the option to pay money into your child's account for incidentals. Talk to the office staff for more information. We are also able to offer EFTPOS on site.

Friday 50c Stalls

Our Year Six students fundraise for camp by running a 50c stall at morning tea time on Fridays. Children are welcome to bring money to spend at the 50c stalls on the weeks the Year 6 students are operating this. Timing will be advertised in the weekly newsletter.

Please send the money to school in a named envelope and ask your child to give it to their teacher when they first arrive at school. A maximum of $2 is allowed for each child to spend.

In general there should not be any toys brought from home unless there is a special reason that your child's teacher has informed you of.

Cell phones can only be brought to school if they are necessary for parent/child communication. Cell phones must be handed in to the office for safe-keeping on your child's arrival to school. Devices are to be left at home.

Kōraunui is not a BYOD (bring your own device) school, although some teachers may invite this in writing to you. If this is the case, BYODs are brought to school at the risk of the owner and only with parental permission for this specific notified purpose.

School staff will take no responsibility for broken or lost property. Should children bring items that have not been requested and/or are disturbing the learning process, staff will look after them until a parent/caregiver collects them. Scooters used unsafely will be put in the office area until home time.

If your child requires medication at school, please notify the office. This includes asthma inhalers, courses of medication, epi-pens etc. No medications should remain in your child's schoolbag at school.

You will be asked to fill in a permission form for us to administer the medication involved. Any medication, including inhalers, will be kept at the office. We can refrigerate medicines that require this.

If your child is taking medication at home that could affect their behaviour or abilities at school or be affected by activities at school (e.g. swimming or sun etc).

It is a good idea for your child to have a change of clothes in their bag in case of accidents or muddy/wet play.

Please name your child's clothes; it helps us re-unite your child with their belongings. Lost property will be kept in the clothes bin outside the school office.

This year the Board of Trustees has again opted into the Government Donation Scheme.  This has been done in an effort to minimize the cost to parents/caregivers/whanau for their children attending school. 

This year we have again been able to allocate some of the Ministry of Education donation scheme funding to school stationery.  This will pay for stationery the children require to begin the school year. 

We will not be asking for parents to contribute financially for school trips that are part of the curriculum programme.  There will be occasions where a cost will be required to be paid by parents/whanau (i.e. summer and winter sports teams that are outside the core school curriculum).

There will be no cost to parents/whanau for start of year stationery.

All we are asking is that parents/caregivers/whānau make a $5 per child contribution that will be used for classroom tissues and paper resources.  By keeping on top of hygiene, we anticipate we will go through a lot of tissues and products this year as we continue working to keep everyone safe.

We DO have eftpos at school! Our preference is to make a direct deposit into our bank account.  The school account number is 12-3478-0015483-00.  If this is not possible for you, eftpos and cash will be fine.

We will not be asking for parents to contribute financially for school trips that are part of the curriculum programme.  There will be occasions where a cost will be required to be paid by parents/whanau (i.e. summer and winter sports teams that are outside the core school curriculum).

Your child's learning progress is carefully monitored. Information is gathered throughout the year and is reported on twice a year.

All families are invited to a goal-setting conference early in Term One. You and your child will then be invited to a 3-Way conference to look at progress to date and the next learning steps early in Term 3.

For any questions, worries or concerns parents have about their children’s behaviours, learning, social interactions or engagement in school, these need to be directed to the classroom teacher in the first instance.  Our teachers are all very approachable and are happy to discuss children with their parents/caregivers/whanau.  We have a very clear process that can be viewed below.   This is also available to view in the school office.

Your child may have some form of homework depending on the year level they are in. The teacher will advise you of this.

We are very fortunate to have our own swimming pool. Your child's classroom teacher will advise you when their class has swimming. We also have opportunities to take part in the Hutt City Council swimming programme at a very modest cost.

Swimming is a compulsory part of our curriculum. We live on an island with lots of sea, rivers, streams and backyard swimming pools. It is vital our children learn how to survive in water.

We alternate between a singing assembly and a sharing assembly held fortnightly. You will be notified in the newsletter when they are happening. All visiting children and families/whānau are welcome to attend.

We encourage tamariki to bring a drink bottle of water and nutritious food to last the day. Please let the office and your child's teacher know about any known allergies or intolerances to food and drink that we need to be aware of.

We discourage sweets or lollies. We also discourage any food that is made using food colouring, particularly orange or red. Your child will be asked not to eat these and to take them home (for example: Twisties, Strings, Rashuns).

We are a water-only school. Please refrain from sending cordials, fizzy drinks and energy drinks as they will be sent home.

As we are an Enviroschool, we encourage the use of less packaging.

Children are required to wear sun hats in the playground during Terms One and Four. Terms Two and Three are hat-free to encourage Vitamin D absorption from the sun during the winter months.

Please make sure your child has a sunhat to keep at school, clearly named, on the hat, so any lost property or ownership disputes can be quickly resolved. Be aware that we will name hats with a marker pen if there is no name evident, so please, no expensive designer hats!

Parents need to sunblock their children before they come to school in the summer months.