Newsletter – Start of School 2022 – Botany Downs Primary School

We hope that you have enjoyed the summer holidays and our wonderful weather. We are so happy to be able to welcome all our students back to school. A special welcome to our new students and their families as you join our BDS community.

School opens on Thursday 3 February at 8.30 am under the Red Traffic light system. This means school is open for ALL students to attend face to face, onsite learning. We have been working to put together the best process in place to ensure a safe and secure return to school.

Please read the information below carefully and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or questions.

We are all looking forward to seeing our tamariki back at school.

Ngā mihi,
Vicki Parkins
Principal
vickip@botanydowns.school.nz

School During Red Traffic Light
Arrival at School/Home Time

Complying with Ministry of Health guidelines, we need to mitigate as much risk as possible for our students and staff. Therefore, we need to avoid congestion and minimise numbers on site. We are very fortunate at BDS to have so many gates so we can use this to our advantage and this means we do not need to stagger arrival or home times. Please arrange a meeting point away from the school gate where possible.

Parents and caregivers are strongly encouraged to do drop offs and pick-ups from outside the school grounds. Parents please use the QR Code.

Gates will open at 8.30 am and teachers will be waiting ready to welcome their class at their year level gate until 8.50 am. We will begin the year like this and then as students become familiar with their rooms students will walk straight into school using their gate and go to class. Students will not be able to be in the playground to play before school. See your child’s year level gate below. (If it is raining students will enter and go straight to their classrooms.)

Gates at 3 pm – teachers will walk their classes to their year level gate.

Year 1 whanau and new 5 year olds will receive an email from Mrs Joanne Hughson (Deputy Principal). Please look for this as it will have all the information you need on where to go and what to do for you and your whanau.

New students please enter our front gate on Mirrabooka Ave and wait with Mr Insley and his team and you and your child will be taken to your child’s new classroom.

If it is not possible for you to go through the designated gate please send your child to your closest gate from 8.30 and they will walk to meet their teacher.

Siblings may use the youngest sibling’s gate. Older siblings can then walk through the school grounds to meet their year level teachers. At 3pm the oldest sibling will go back to the youngest sibling’s gate.

Gates for Each Year Level:

Year 1 – Gate C Mirrabooka Ave
Year 2 – Front Gate B Mirrabooka Ave
Year 3 – Front Gate A Mirrabooka Ave
Year 4 – Yarra Place Gate
Year 5 – Kadina Place Gate
Year 6 – Booralee Ave Gate

Staff and children in Years 4 – 6 must wear masks when inside at school.

The school buses will run as normal and the bus bay will remain closed.

School Day

There will be staggered break times and separated play areas for each year level.
Water fountains will be closed so please bring a drink bottle.
Library books and homework can go between school and home.
BYOD will still go ahead and year 5 and 6 parents will be emailed the details.
We will be able to continue with swimming lessons in our school pool and class teachers will be emailing each class which are their swimming days, this will be starting in week 2.
Due to the numbers we cannot have school assemblies in Red but we will be continuing with our Botany Best Award and Values Bookmark each week, these will be presented in the classrooms.
Separate toilets for each year level.
During term 1 there will be no HPPA sports days or competitions.
We will be unable to have a choir or kapa haka.
ESOL classes will be in year levels not mixed groups.
Library classes will be taken with no mixing of classes.
If your child needs to leave during the school day please phone the office and we will arrange for your child to meet you outside the office.
Summer uniform with hat (see below).
Teachers will be emailing class information next week.

Visitors to Our School Site

Visitors must be limited and report to the office.

All visitors to our school site must wear a mask.

All visitors must scan in using the COVID tracer app.

Staffing Update for 2022

Since our last newsletter in 2021 we have had two changes to our staffing.

Today we farewell Sarah Beach. Sarah has been a dedicated and passionate teacher who has always shown her creative side to her tamariki and staff for the past eight years. We wish her all the very best in her future endeavours.

We are very pleased to be able to welcome Mrs Robyn Fromont to our BDS team and Mrs Fromont will be in Room 6 teaching year 3.

All students class teachers for 2022 were emailed to you at the end of the year. Staff email addresses can be found on our website.

Teachers and Classes for 2022

Principal – Vicki Parkins

Deputy Principal/SENCO Year 4-6 – Mark Insley

Deputy Principal/SENCO Years 0-3 – Joanne Hughson

Learning Support Coordinator (LSC) – Susan Heath

Executive Officer – Trish Toussaint

Office Administrator and Enrolment – Aroha Bishop

Property Manager – Paul Laloli

Groundsman – Colin Maisey

Back to School Stationery

We’ve teamed up with OfficeMax to make getting school ready faster! Your child’s class list is available now on the OfficeMax MySchool website – myschool.co.nz.

Summer Uniform for Term 1

Information about our summer school uniform can be found on our website. Please follow this link: Botany Downs uniform information. Please remember to send your child with our school hat.

Further COVID-19 Information

Getting ready to return to school

The Ministry of Education has some helpful information on their Parents and Whānau website to support your tamariki to get back to school. There is also a very important reminder about how you can take care of yourself.

Good hygiene and cleaning

Continue using and encouraging good hygiene practices including:

regular hand washing/sanitising
cough and sneeze etiquette
regular cleaning of high touch surfaces
open doors and windows.

Ventilation

We have used the Ministry of Education self-assessment tool to review all our ventilation in readiness for the start of the year. Providing good old fashioned fresh air remains the most important thing we can do in our learning spaces to minimise risk for ākonga and kaiako (and the same goes for you at home). We will also be receiving a CO2 monitor in the coming weeks to further support our ventilation plan.

Managing Cases in our School

We have a good contact tracing system in place so that if there is a confirmed case who has been at school while infectious, we can quickly identify who was a close contact of that person. We will then quickly advise those contacts of what they need to do.

Only if the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education advises to do so, would we consider closing a physical onsite school and moving to distance learning for everyone. At Red we will keep everyone learning onsite for as long as we can.

Please make sure your contact details we have on file are up to date, so we can get in touch with you if needed.

Preparing for COVID-19

You can also prepare for COVID-19, making sure you and your household have a plan and know what to do. This will mean your whānau and community can help each other if needed. Find out more here:

Self-isolating at home because of COVID-19

Many people will be able to manage self-isolation with help from friends and whānau, but there is help available if you need it – both with health support and access to food and other essentials.

If you know anyone in your community affected by COVID-19 and who may need help, such as food and other financial assistance, Work and Income has a range of supports available for individuals, families, employers and self-employed people affected by COVID-19.

Work and Income support

The beginning of the year can be a tough time for parents who are faced with many costs and it is important you are aware of what assistance you may be able to get from Work and Income. These are available to people on a low income as well as those on a benefit.

Check what you might get here