Concerns and Complaints:

We would like to share what to do and how to do it if you have a concern or a complaint to do with our school.

Our school's Policies and Procedures can all be found on our SchoolDocs site - at https://westernheights.schooldocs.co.nz/

User Name  is   -  westernheights

Password is       -  lead

Most concerns relate to issues between children at school. In those instances, the first step is always to approach your child's teacher and raise the concern with them.

If this does not achieve the desired result, or if you feel it has not been handled appropriately, your next step is to contact the Team Leader for that area of our school:

Annette Pram                      Year One team                          annettep@westernheights.school.nz

Dana Taylor                          Year Two team                          danat@westernheights.school.nz

Jenna Ramadan                  Year Three and Four team     jennar@westernheights.school.nz

Alannah Lupe-Houben     Year Five and Six team           alannah@westernheights.school.nz

If you still are not happy with the way your concern or complaint has been addressed, you can approach a member of our Senior Management team

Teresa Hannard                     Second Deputy Principal     teresah@westernheights.school.nz

Adele Nummy                         First Deputy Principal           adelen@westernheights.school.nz

Ash Maindonald                     Principal                                   macash@mac.com

It may be that after all this, you still feel things have not been dealt with satisfactorily or appropriately. In that instance, you would send an email to the Presiding Member of our school Board of Trustees     

Nic Yelash                                Presiding Member                 nicolayelash@gmail.com

Our SchoolDocs site has a search box at the top left of each page - type in "Concerns" and you will see a list of all the policies and information that relates to that word, as per the image below.

Important Clarification re Responsibility:

When children are in the care of Western Heights School, my job is to do everything I can to ensure their physical and emotional safety and well-being. If a parent approaches a child who is not their own during school hours and frightens them, it is my responsibility to address that matter, and such cases are treated very seriously.

If parents have a disagreement after school hours and have taken over the care of their children from us as a school, we do not have legal jurisdiction. We are not the police. If that disagreement becomes serious, it becomes a matter for the New Zealand Police. 

If you have been threatened or intimidated physically or verbally in such circumstances, you must approach the Police and lay a complaint with them. 

Thank you for your understanding and support. We do everything we can to teach our children to be kind, caring bucket-fillers. As parents we have to do our best to set a good example for our children by remaining calm, not losing our temper and using appropriate words. It's not always easy but our children are always watching and learning from what they see us do, so we have got to make a really big effort to set the right example for them to follow