St Joseph's School (Hastings)

ENROLMENTS AT ST JOSEPH'S

Students can enrol at St Joseph’s as:

Preference students: those who can establish a connection with the Catholic Church (95% of enrolments). A meeting will need to be arranged with the Catholic Parish of Hastings Office (06 878 7774). A Preference certificate will need to be signed by a Priest.

Non-preference students: those who are not able to establish a Catholic connection (5% of enrolments equating to 17 places on our non-preference roll). Please note, currently our non-preference roll is at 100% of its maximum (17 places) with no non-preference places available. If you would like to discuss this, please contact the School Office.

If you are interested in enrolling at St Joseph's then please feel free to call us to arrange a school visit which will provide an opportunity to chat with with Principal, ask any questions you may have, and allow for a walk around the school.

Cohort Entry

Cohort entry means children will start school in groups at the beginning or middle of the term, rather than individually on their fifth birthday. This change supports the successful implementation of our structured literacy and numeracy programmes, which follow a carefully sequenced approach. Children who begin at set entry points receive the full benefit of each learning cycle, setting them up for success from the outset. In addition to learning benefits, starting school alongside peers helps tamariki form friendships, feel a stronger sense of belonging, and transition more confidently.

At schools using cohort entry, children can start on one of eight set dates throughout the year.

Once your child turns five you can choose any of the dates below. They can’t start before they turn five but must start by the time they turn six.

There are start dates at the beginning and middle of each school term.

2026 cohort start dates:

Term 1 – 9 February or 9 March.
Term 2 – 20 April or 1 June.
Term 3 – 20 July or 24 August.
Term 4 – 12 October or 16 November.

Students starting school for the first time – 5 year olds:

Please contact the school office and make a time to see our Principal. You can also make direct contact with Mrs Alison Clarke, our Junior Team Leader. Alison will discuss with you the options for pre-enrolment visits. These currently take place on Tuesdays (8.50 – 11.00am) We like to be flexible so that the needs of the child and the family can be taken into consideration.

If required, office staff will help you complete the enrolment forms. Please allow half an hour for the enrolment process

You will need to bring :

Birth certificate or proof of date of birth.

For children not born in New Zealand, the passports for the child and both parents are required, including current Visa’s for all.

For children who are born in New Zealand, but both parents are not New Zealand residents, relevant visa’s need to be provided.

For children born in Australia, a passport is required.

Immunisation record from birth to 5, available from the practice nurse at your Doctor’s Medical Centre. This record is a Health Department requirement.

Students enrolling from another school:

Please bring details of the last school attended, workbooks, etc.

Your child’s last school report would be a help.

We will contact your child’s previous school to arrange for records to be forwarded to St Joseph’s.

Students enrolling from another country:

Please contact the school and make an appointment to see the Principal.

Bring both parents’ and child’s passports, and visas so that we can determine if we can enrol your child as a regular student.

ATTENDANCE DUES 2026

Attendance Dues are an annual payment per child who attends St Joseph's School Hastings (in 2026 this is $566 per child, plus $30 donation for each child) and goes towards the upkeep of our buildings. Payment is made directly to the Palmerston North Diocese, from whom you will receive an account. For those students who start during the year, you will receive an invoice once your child has started school. Please wait until you receive the invoice before organising for payments to be made.

Parents sign a legal obligation on enrolment to pay the Attendance Dues and we encourage families to set up an automatic payment to enable easy payment of Attendance Dues.

The Attendence Dues Agreement and Form, linked above, needs to be read, signed and included with the enrolment forms.

If you have any questions please contact the Diocese directly on: Phone 06 350 3825 or 0800 200 208 or Email dues@pndiocese.org.nz

PRIVACY ACT 2020: The information collected by St Joseph’s Catholic School Hastings is necessary for the safe and effective education, care, wellbeing, and administration of students attending the school. Personal information may be collected directly from parents/caregivers, and students, or indirectly from other individuals, agencies, organisations, or education providers where this is necessary to support a student’s learning, wellbeing, safety, enrolment, or educational progress.

This may include information provided by the Ministry of Education, early childhood centres previously attended by the child, Early Learning Intervention services, RTLB (Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour), health professionals, specialist services, or other agencies involved in supporting the student.

Information collected may be used for educational purposes, pastoral care, health and safety, attendance, learning support, communication, school administration, and to meet legislative and Ministry of Education requirements. Personal information may be shared with the Ministry of Education and other agencies where permitted or required by law.

St Joseph’s Catholic School will take reasonable steps to ensure individuals are aware of the collection of their information, the purpose for which it is collected, who will hold the information, who it may be shared with, and their right to access and request correction of their personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.

Parents/caregivers are welcome to review, correct, or update enrolment information at any time.

To view our Privacy Policy and any related policies please click the following link:

ST JOSEPH'S SCHOOL HASTINGS PRIVACY POLICY