Mercury Bay Area School is guided by a wide range of policies and procedures which cover all aspects of the organisation.
Attendance and Absence
All students are expected to be at school by 8.40am every school day.
Students who are late need to sign in at the office and bring a note to explain their lateness. On all occasions students leaving school early or arriving late must sign in or out at the main office.
The school has a legal requirement to know exactly which students are at school at any time. Absences should be for illness or in an emergency. If your child is absent please contact the school office as early in the day as possible.
It is school policy to ring or email parents as soon as possible after an unexplained absence is noted.
To report an absence:
Text: 021 0255 6802
Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: (07) 866 5916
School Policy Documents
The polices are reviewed and ratified by the Board of Trustees on a rotational triennial basis.
These policies conform to the National Administrative Guidelines (NAGs) as published by the New Zealand Ministry of Education. These Guidelines for school administration set out statements of desirable principles of conduct or administration for specified personnel or bodies.
The Mercury Bay Area School has agreed to observe and be bound by the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students published by the Ministry of Education. Copies of the Code are available on request from the New Zealand Ministry of Education website.
Emergency Procedures
Information about emergency procedures for Mercury Bay Area School.
Notices displaying escape routes, fire exits and classroom procedures are displayed beside the designated fire exit door of each classroom
A trial evacuation will be conducted each term, except any term in which an emergency evacuation has already taken place
There are six evacuation points on the school site, detailed on the below map, except in the case of a tsunami, where our evacuation point is the Moewai sports fields
For further information on Fire, Storm, Lockdown, Earthquakes and Tsunami procedures, please download a copy of our Emergency procedures booklet.
Off site procedures for lunch passes and temporary out of ground passes.
Lunch Passes - Permanent ie For the Current Year
If parents or caregivers wish their child to go home for lunch on a regular basis, the student can obtain a lunchpass. The pass entitles the student to go from school to home and back again. It does NOT entitle the student to go to the shops or anywhere else. A letter should be given to the Deputy Principal early in the year for a pass to be issued.
Temporary Out-Of-Ground Passes
Apart from going home for lunch, school policy is against allowing students out of the school grounds, as we encourage students to enter into school life at lunchtime. Permission to leave the school grounds will only be granted if a signed note is received from parents or caregivers. Only the Principal, Deputy Principal and Assistant Principal can issue a pass.
NB - Temporary out-of-ground passes may be obtained each day during morning interval. Students must go to the Teacher in Charge of the Passes.
Leaving Procedures
All students from Year 7-13 are expected to go through the process of officially clearing themselves from the school, when they leave our school.
In the first instance, students must collect a Leaver's Clearance Form from their Dean or school office, have it signed by all those indicated on the form, once all school property has been returned.
Leaving Certificates
All students are eligible to receive a Leaving Certificate which is an official record of the length of secondary education a student has received. Secondary education starts in Year 9 for the certificate.
Parents/caregivers and students should note that almost all apprenticeships and many other occupations require a minimum of two years' secondary education before an application will be considered. Students are required to be at school until they reach their sixteenth birthday.