Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about attending Mina Lopato, you’ll find right here.
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No you do not need to be Jewish to enroll. We welcome families of all backgrounds, religions and cultures. 

As Mina Lopato is a Jewish nursery school, you need to be open to learning about Jewish culture and tradition, as well as celebrating Jewish holidays.

We recommend parents dress children suitably for school. Comfortable clothes should be worn so that they can climb on the jungle gyms, have fun painting, and enjoy themselves without worrying that their clothing will be spoilt. Each child needs to keep a spare set of clothing in their bag, should it be necessary to change during the day.

All items of clothing likely to be removed, especially socks, shoes, hats and jerseys, should be clearly marked with each child’s name. In conjunction with parents we encourage children to be responsible for their belongings. We do have a ‘lost property’ box, which is often quite full, and can assist with emergency clothing when required. We discourage the wearing of action hero clothing e.g. Superman, Batman as these seem to initiate and encourage boisterous and sometimes anxious behaviour.

Although we have wonderful rains, our summer days can be extremely hot. The Mina Lopato policy is for children to wear hats and sunblock daily.

School bags should be packed with the following items:

• Change of clothing (t-shirt, jersey, shorts/pants, skirt, socks, underwear).

• Mid-morning snack of fruit or vegetables only

• Hat and sunscreen

• Water bottle (or juice for the playgroup)

• Extra-mural clothing where applicable e.g. ballet outfit and shoes

• Canvas library bag and book (on library day)

• Nappies/diapers and nappy cream (for the playgroup)

We have so many wonderful toys at school that allow the children to learn the art of sharing and playing together. Should a child bring a toy from home, this inhibits their growth in this area as they tend to keep their own toy (rightly so) and protect it from being broken or lost. This also affects them socially and they could, at times, be left out by their own choice, of a team game as their focus is on their own toy. Lost toys often result in tears.

We celebrate each child’s birthday with a birthday ring at school. This is a special moment to be shared by lots of people including family, friends and the entire class.

Parents are encouraged to book the time for, and discuss their birthday ring, with the class teacher to ensure that each child has their special birthday ring event, as close to their birthday as possible. For religious reasons, we prefer birthday parties at home to not take place on a Saturday which is the Jewish Sabbath.

For the birthday a 2-litre ice-cream (kosher) should be provided by the parent. Kosher ice cream cones are available at the school office.

Recycling encourages children of all ages to learn about and support an eco-friendly environment. We are always on the look-out for interesting anti-waste. These include a number of items such as baby food containers, newspapers, toilet paper rolls, cottage and cream cheese containers, wrapping paper, ribbons, buttons and sweet wrappers. We always need cardboard, any donations of or contacts for cardboard off-cuts are much appreciated. Please donate these to help interesting items for our art projects. Your throwaway, our treasure! Please chat to your child’s teacher.

Fresh fruit in season or carrots/cucumber are served daily

Rooibos tea and/or water is available daily

Monday
Pasta with homemade sauce and hardboiled eggs

Tuesday
Potatoes with grated Tussers cheese and vegetables (peppers, carrots, onions, tomatoes)

Wednesday
Brown rice with lentils, coleslaw or baked bean salad

Thursday
Pap with homemade sauce, cooked cabbage OR potato with spinach

Friday
Challah with cream cheese, fresh veggies, and raisins