Welcome back to school and a warm welcome to new students
Marsden 2025 – Starting School Information
A warm welcome to our new students and their families. Please find information regarding starting school below.
For specific information pertaining to Preschool, Primary or Years 7-13, please see:
Important dates
Please take note of the important dates, including term dates, parent events, performing arts and sports registration deadlines.
See the School Calendar for all school event and activity dates throughout the year.
Term dates
Please see our 2025 term dates here. Note the attendance requirements for Year 7 students, all students new to Marsden in Years 8-13 and our Head Students’ Committee on Friday 24 January 2025.
All students (Preschool, Primary and Secondary) are back to school on Monday 27 January 2025.
Māori and Pacific Fiafia Day
Marsden's annual Māori and Pacific Fiafia Day will be held at the beginning of the year. The date for 2025 is to be confirmed. This initiative is a partnership between the school and our Māori and Pacific parent community.
Drawing from the process of whakawhanaungatanga, the day offers new and current Māori and Pacific students the opportunity to create strong bonds and relationships ahead of the new academic year.
For more information and to register, click here.
Whole School Pōwhiri
Parents/caregivers of new students joining us in 2025 are warmly invited to our whole school Pōwhiri followed by kai in the Marsden Auditorium. The date for this is to be confirmed.
Staff
We are very proud of the exceptional team of teaching and support staff we have at Marsden.
If you have specific queries throughout the year, please contact your daughter's teacher (class teacher in Primary or Form/Tutor Teacher in the Upper School), or your year group Dean. Preschool families can contact Head of Preschool, Helen McConnell.
| Senior Management Team 2024 | Deans 2024 | |
| Paula Wells - Principal
Jennifer Caldwell - Deputy Principal, Head of Senior School, Curriculum Lead |
Charlotte McCarthy - Year 13 Dean |
Staff email addresses are in the format: firstname.lastname@marsden.school.nz
You can find our Staff Directory here
The Hauora Team
At Marsden, we actively nurture and develop student hauora/wellbeing.
Alongside our teachers, Deans, Heads of Middle and Senior School, our Head of Primary and Head of Preschool, the Marsden Hauora Team is committed to helping students live their lives positively.
Amelia Volkerling (our educational psychologist and registered counsellor) and Sarah Richards (registered counsellor) are available for confidential student support services. For more information contact Sarah at sarah.richards@marsden.school.nz or Amelia at amelia.volkerling@marsden.school.nz
If students become unwell during the day or require first aid treatment, our onsite nurse is available from 9.30am – 2.30pm daily (term time).
Chaplain Sarah King provides spiritual guidance and faith-based discussions. For more information contact Sarah at sarah.king@marsden.school.nz
Parents/caregivers are welcome to contact our Hauora Team any time.
Uniform
Marsden students wear their uniform with pride. Please find details of uniform for Preschool, Primary, Years 7-11 and Years 12-13 here.
The Marsden School uniform is available from NZ Uniforms, 168 Thorndon Quay, Wellington, phone (04)238 4727. NZ Uniform's business hours are:
- Monday – Friday 9am – 5.30pm
- Saturday 9am – 4pm.
The sales staff in the store have our uniform guidelines and are happy to do fittings. For first fittings we recommend making an appointment. Appointments can be made online. Uniform can also be viewed and ordered online.
There is a Facebook group, called ‘Marsden Uniform Resale’, for families to buy, sell and swap uniforms outside of the framework of the school. This is only open to Marsden parents/caregivers and you need a Facebook login to access it.
Sun smart policy and hats
We take sun safety very seriously. Bucket hats are a compulsory uniform item for Preschool and Primary School students and must be worn when students are outdoors in Terms 1 and 4. The Marsden straw hat for Primary School students is optional. We recommend that:
- Preschool and Primary School students wear a sun hat on their way to and from school
- students in other Years 7-13 wear a Marsden hat/cap when outside during breaks, sport, excursions and other outdoor activities during Terms 1 and 4.
Hats and caps are available from the Uniform Shop.
Transport
Please refer to this nearer to starting school as information and routes may change.
Please find information about buses/transport to Marsden here. We run a shuttle service from Eastbourne, with various pick up points. Demand for this service is high and, at present, we have a waitlist. For further information please contact Jo Sherlock jo.sherlock@marsden.school.nz or call 476 8707 Ext 832.
Student ID cards with snapper
Year 7-13 students new to Marsden will have their photo taken when they start school and will be issued a few weeks later with a Snapper enabled Student ID card. The card costs $20.50. If your daughter loses her ID card or is experiencing problems with her card please contact the school office on 476 8707. Please register the Snapper online by creating a Snapper account so that you can view the transaction summary and type of concession. Registering the Snapper also makes it possible for the card to be returned to your daughter should she mislay it. The card can be topped up at dairies and other Snapper providers and through the Snapper App.
Note: Users must remember to tag on entering the bus AND tag off when leaving the bus to avoid penalty charges.
Cafeteria
Cafeteria services are provided by Fine Cuisine. The Cafeteria will be open from Wednesday 7 February 2024 and runs from 8.00am - 1.30pm during term time. The Cafeteria operates on a cash or EFTPOS system. Preschool and Primary families will be provided with a list of food available and ordering details.
Absences
Please notify the school by 8.25am of your child's absence or lateness. The best way to notify us is via the Marsden App or the Marsden Portal. Alternatively, you can email absences@marsden.school.nz.
Parents are asked not to request leave or time out of school for students during the term unless absolutely necessary. If an absence is required the request should be made well in advance, in writing, to the Principal. Where possible dental and medical appointments and driving lessons should be made outside of school hours.
Staying up to date
We have a number of ways of keeping you up-to-date with what is happening at Marsden.
Quicklinks on this website – This is where parents/caregivers and students will find housekeeping information about the school. Please scroll through the menu to familiarise yourself with the school information available to help with life at Marsden e.g. the school calendar, uniform details, stationery/digital device details. Most of this information is also available in the handbooks for Preschool, Primary and Years 7-13.
Marsden Portal – This (login) portal gives you access to your child’s timetable, subject list, attendance records and reports. Your accounts – invoices and receipts are also available here. Each parent/caregiver who has indicated to the school that they wish to receive student/school information, will have their own login. New families to the school will receive login details via an email when they have enrolled. You can access the Marsden Portal from the blue menu bar across the top of this website (desktop) or via the hamburger menu (3 lines) on the mobile site.
School Calendar - Term dates, a link to the school calendar and the Year 7-13 timetable can be found here.
Marsden App - The Marsden App allows for efficient and timely communications of school information. It is compatible with Apple and Android devices. Just search for 'Marsden' in the App Store or Google Play and allow notifications. By using the Login button, sign into the Marsden Portal to give you full functionality. Current parents please note we are no longer using the SchoolApp and you will need to download the new Marsden App.
Marsden Newsletter – We send out a weekly e-newsletter on Saturdays, with a message from the Principal, school news, student achievements, and links to the Year group notices, the School Calendar and community notices. The Marsden Newsletter is the best way to keep up-to-date with information and events at school. The Marsden Newsletter is sent via email and via the Marsden App. Note: if you cannot open links from the school newsletter on your mobile device please check whether you have the latest operating system, or try opening in another browser e.g. Google Chrome. If you don't receive the weekly newsletter please check your spam or promotions folders, or contact us on 476 8707. Other ways we share Marsden news include our website and Facebook/Instagram pages. You can access Marsden’s social media links from the blue menu bar across the top of this website (desktop) or via the hamburger menu (3 lines) on the mobile site.
If your contact details change, please update us by calling 476 8707 or emailing reception@marsden.school.nz. You can also update your details using the Quicklink (Update Personal Information) in the Marsden Portal.
Operoo
Operoo is the parent-driven system that we use to collect medical and emergency information, trip permission slips and forms for dissemination.
The system provides parents with a secure way to share necessary medical information required by the school in the care of their child. If you are a new parent to Marsden you will have received an email from Operoo to register your details, as part of your enrolment process.
Please update Operoo if your child’s medical details change. If you have any login queries please contact us on 476 8707.
We'd love to hear from you
Questions
If you have any questions for Preschool, please contact Helen McConnell, Head of Preschool. For Years 1-6, please contact your daughter’s teacher. For Years 7–13 please contact your daughter’s Form/Tutor Teacher or Dean. Staff email addresses are in the format:
firstname.lastname@marsden.school.nz
Recognising achievements
It is really important to us to recognise and celebrate the success of our students, so we'd love to hear of students’ achievements in school and external sporting and performing arts activities Please send an email to news@marsden.school.nz with details.
If you send images, please email them in the highest resolution (largest size) option - we then have the option to publish the photos in our annual Word from Marsden magazine or use it in other print media in addition to sharing on our website and social media.
Your child's safety
Police Vetting
The school endeavours to provide the safest possible environment for students. All Marsden staff are police checked and the school requires any adults (including volunteers and contractors) with responsibility for, or contact with, students to agree to a police check.
Volunteers include parents/caregivers who volunteer to coach or manage a sports team or cultural group, who accompany a school field trip, accompany camps etc. The staff member involved with the activity will provide the appropriate forms to volunteers or these can be obtained directly from Alecia Dunn ea@marsden.school.nz.
The names of accompanying adult volunteers will be made available by email or letter to the parents/caregivers of all students participating in any trip, excursion, sports, cultural activity or camp. If a parent/caregiver has concerns from a student safety perspective about the suitability of any volunteer they should raise this in the first instance with the staff member arranging the activity.
Safety around cars
The safety of our students and staff is paramount.
Please do not drive onto the school grounds when delivering or collecting children. Students must be dropped outside the school grounds at all times unless exceptional arrangements have been made in advance and agreed with the Principal, Head of Primary or Chief Operating Officer. Our roadways are used throughout the day by pedestrians, including our younger students. If you are driving onto the school grounds during the school day for a legitimate reason, please use the Marsden Avenue entrance only and observe the speed limit (walking speed only).
To maintain safe walking routes for students at the beginning and end of the school day:
- the Vera Street entrance is closed between 3pm and 4pm
- the Donald Street entrance is closed between 8am and 4pm
- the Marsden Ave entrance is closed between 8am and 4pm.
Please also respect our neighbours and their rights to quiet enjoyment of their properties. Turning in, or driving onto, their driveways or garden areas should be avoided. Many roads adjacent to the school feature broken yellow lines - which means stopping or parking is illegal – doing so causes obstruction or danger to other road users, whether these are drivers, cyclists, pedestrians or buses. Please observe all such traffic signs at all times. Note this is particularly applicable to our entrance onto Karori Road, where parking on the broken yellow lines obscures visibility of the pedestrian crossing.
Civil Defence and Emergency
In an emergency the school will look after all students until they can be collected by an authorised individual. Please note that in a civil defence situation, only caregivers or those people specifically named as emergency contacts can collect a student from school. This applies to all students from Preschool to Year 13. It would be particularly helpful if one of your emergency contacts is someone who lives locally.
Each year you are asked to check and confirm your contact details, the emergency contacts you have provided, and relevant medical details relating to students. Please take this annual opportunity to update the information held by the school and advise us of any changes during the year so that it is accurate in case of a civil defence emergency.
Emergency Procedure and Communication
In case of an emergency we will endeavour to contact parents/caregivers via email and provide updates on our website. See our Emergency Page for Emergency information and other ways we may communicate in an emergency. Please ensure that the school is informed should you contact details (email/mobile phone number) change during the year
Emergency Food Supplies
The school makes provision for emergency situations but relies on parental assistance for food supplies. Food is needed to support the entire school population for a minimum of three days.
At the beginning of the school year, students are asked to bring two items of food, as well as a box of tissues, which then form the year’s emergency supply. We ask that items be delivered to the school by Wednesday 21 February 2024. If food is not received by this date, there will be a small charge to your account to cover the purchase of such items by the school.
Each year group is asked to bring something different to ensure there is a variety of food available.
The expiry date on the food should show a date later than December 2024, except for food bars, cereals and long-life milk, where this is often not possible, but please try for a best before date of a minimum of at least 4 months from the time of donation to school.
Students are asked to take the food to their class teacher (Preschool and Primary) or Form/Tutor Teacher (Years 7–13). Each student should bring at least two items of food (but any extra supplies will be gratefully received) and one box of tissues, which are used as multi-purpose hygiene products.
Cans that are brought in for emergency supplies must have no dents or puckering and no signs of rust.
Year group specific supplies are requested as follows:
- Preschool Ready-to-eat meal (does not require water)
- Year 1 Ready-to-eat meal (does not require water)
- Year 2 Canned spaghetti
- Year 3 Unsweetened canned fruit/ fruit in juice
- Year 4 Canned vegetables e.g. corn, beetroot, carrots
- Year 5 Canned meat or fish
- Year 6 Baked beans
- Year 7 Breakfast cereal
- Year 8 Canned vegetables e.g. corn, beetroot, carrots
- Year 9 Canned bean or potato salad
- Year 10 Canned meat or fish
- Year 11 Long-life milk (not milk powder)
- Year 12 Unsweetened canned fruit/ fruit in juice
- Year 13 Muesli/snack bars, cracker packs
Any unused food or supplies is donated to the City Mission at the end of the school year.
