Waiau Area School
Waiau Area School
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Inclusion
We celebrate the inclusion of all key stakeholders: students, staff, community, local iwi, board of trustees, to create the new and exciting future for Waiau Area School. We acknowledge benefits of forming a positive working relationship with local iwi and the commitment we need to make to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Waiau Area School is a Year 1 to 13 co-educational, composite Area School located in Western Southland; 81km west of Invercargill. It is the only Area School in the Southland Region.
Andrew Pardoe-Burnett is the Principal.
Counselling Service for Students
At Waiau Area School we work hard to ensure that learning happens for all students, that learning is accurately measured, that evidence is gathered, and most importantly that students and their parents know where they are going next in their learning. Students relish the chance to experience success. It helps establish a desire to learn and builds important learning skills like persistence.
The staff of Waiau Area School have developed curriculum schemes from Year 1-13 that reflect the diverse needs of our students.
1 Dec 2025 - 3 Dec 2025
8 Dec 2025
9 Dec 2025 - 10 Dec 2025
10 Dec 2025
10 Dec 2025
12 Dec 2025
Kia ora WAS Parents and Caregivers,
Further Update: 25 Nov. Negative test results! Room 3 students are now back in their own classroom! Thanks for everyone's support.
Here is an update from our previous notice re kinetic sand containing traces of asbestos (tremolite).
Southern Insulation (Kane) and Asbestos Surveys & Monitoring NZ (Kate) have visited WAS today. They have sampled areas from Room Three and a few other places for precautionary measures. These samples have been taken to an accredited lab for analysis. Kane will let me know what the test results are once he hears from the lab. Hopefully these results are to us by the end of the week.
In the meantime, Room Three students will be working in the school library until further notice. Thank you again for your patience here.
It has come to our attention that during the first half of this year, Room 3 had kinetic sand in the classroom as a sensory activity. With the latest announcement of many brands of kinetic sand containing traces of asbestos (tremolite) we are following our duty of care and relocating Room 3 to our school library. While the risk is low (stated by Health NZ - ‘the health risk from single, low-level exposures is considered low’) we would rather err on the side of caution and take all possible precautions with this. Furthermore, the two coloured sand containers were removed at the beginning of Term Three from Room 3. WAS has Southern Insulation (Kane) and Asbestos Surveys & Monitoring NZ (Kate) coming in tomorrow to do some precautionary testing. It is business as per usual for WAS. The team (Kate and Kane) will advise us accordingly after their testing procedures. Thanks for your understanding here.
We will provide you with an update once we receive advice and guidance from tomorrow's findings.
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