Newsletter – Week 4, Term 1, 2022

Kia ora koutou BDS whānau,                                                                Week 4, Term 1, 2022

Thank you BDS community for your continued support and kindness.  We certainly are using all our BDS values as we navigate the challenges that COVID 19 is now presenting with Omicron.

BDS has such a wonderful environment for your children at school.  Listening to the play and seeing the learning in classrooms is heartwarming. 

As there are continual changes being made by both the Ministry of Health and MInistry of Education, please do check your emails regularly, not just on Tuesday for the BDS newsletter.  If there are any changes we will send these to you as soon as possible via email.  

For our bilingual community, please do view our newsletter on our website using the google translate option.

Communication is always important but even more so at times like this, so please do not hesitate to contact your class teacher or the senior leadership team.  Our email adresses are below.

Ngā mihi nui,

Vicki Parkins Principal vickip@botanydowns.school.nz
Mark Insley marki@botanydowns.school.nz
Joanne Hughson joanneh@botanydowns.school.nz 

Coming up @ BDS…

Wed 23 Mar – Parent/teacher interviews
Thurs 24 Mar – Parent/teacher interviews
Thurs 14 Apr – Teacher Only Day
Thurs 14 Apr – Last day of Term 1
Fri 15 Apr – Good Friday (public holiday)
Mon 2 May – First day of Term 2

SCHOOL NEWS

Botany Best & Values Awards

Well done to the following children who will receive their awards on Friday:

Botany Best: Ethan Liu, Gus McCrindle, Lucas Pope, Kate Henry, Xavier Marck, Charlotte Walsh, Naoki Yamagata, Violet Liu, Emma Lee, Emma Sun, Levi Perry, Selena Wu, Ken Hoang, Mighael Nel, Ini Olajide, Jamie Bruwer, Rebecca Houston, JD La Grange, Gabriel Divinagracia & Ayla Richards.

Values Award: Hazel Singh, Vito Feng, Whitney Chan, Ella Blake, Sarah Shawani, Chaz Grisselle, Louis Hunter, Amelia Berkett, Rosie Chin, Flynn Hodgson, Charlie Carson, Rebecca Xie, Simon Huang, Amarah Hoosen, Blake Manson, Kensie Tate, Dion Choi, Annieke Steyn, Benjamin Wynyard & Chanelle Tuhakaraina-Hemopo.

COVID 19 Reminders Update

We have created a comprehensive list to help support you during this time. Please read the following information carefully:

• All staff, volunteers, contractors on site are vaccinated.
• All the staff are wearing masks.
• We ensure excellent ventilation of all our rooms and use the Ministry of Health CO2 monitor to monitor our ventilation levels.  
• Students in Year 4 and above are wearing masks.
• Mask wearing in Year 0-3 is encouraged.
• Mask wearing is optional when outside or walking to school.
• Students are using hand sanitiser as they enter and exit classrooms.
• We are reinforcing good coughing and sneezing etiquette.
• If a student becomes sick at school we will ring the parent to come and collect them.
• Students who are sick must not be sent to school.
• During break times our students only play with their year group outside in specified areas to assist with contact tracing and minimising contact between large groups of students.
• We have year level gates to stagger entry and exit into school to prevent large numbers gathering.
• We are not participating in our large, mixed year level gatherings e.g. assembly, choir etc.
• Staff are not having face to face meetings e.g. staff meetings, we are using google meet.
• Staff are not eating together inside with masks removed.
• School is still open for all students and we encourage you to send them to school. Our teachers are teaching at school, and as per the Ministry guidelines, we cannot provide online learning for students who are not at school.
• Students will come to school after 8.30 am and remain in the classroom to avoid year level mixing before school in the playground.
• Parents, the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education will notify us if there is a positive COVID case at school.
• Parents will be notified by email and a phone call if there is a positive COVID case in the classroom and you will be asked to come and collect your child.
• Our whole community will be notified if we have a positive case at school but we will respect their privacy and not identify who this is.
• We have formal letters from the MInistry of Education to email to our community should there be a positive case at school. 
• If your child’s class does go into self-isolation as there is a COVID case in the class, online learning and hard packs will be available.  Also, if your child is self isolating you may contact your class teacher for learning support.
• Swimming, Library and ESOL lessons are continuing but there is no overlap of year levels in the space.
• Visitors must be limited and only come on site if necessary.
• All visitors must report to the office.
• All visitors to our school site must wear a mask unless you have a mask exemption.
• All visitors must  scan in using the COVID tracer app.
• If you are picking up your child during the school day please email the teacher and notify the office. We will ring the class teacher and your child will be brought to you at the front of the school.

Staffing During COVID:

We have worked together to create a staffing plan for when a staff member is sick or self isolating.  This is our plan: 

• When staff are sick, or self isolating at home, we will employ a relieving teacher. If this is not possible we will use our teaching staff who are not teaching a classroom (specialist teachers, senior leadership).
• When teaching staff are identified as COVID positive, then children in their class will become close contacts and will be asked to isolate at home.  In this case home learning packs will be available and we will offer online programmes as much as possible, remembering that the teacher is sick and cannot teach.
• If we are unable to guarantee staffing levels for our tamariki under health and safety guidelines, the School Board in consultation with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health, will make the decision to close the school for face to face tuition. Online learning and hard packs would then be available.  This would be a very last resort.

Farewell 

On Thursday we farewell our Teacher Aide, Ms Julie Goodmon. Thank you Julie for the dedication and support you have given to our tamariki for the past five years.  We wish you all the very best in your future endeavors.

Maths Buddy

Year 5s have started using Maths Buddy as part of our Maths program. It compliments our Maths lessons and the students are really enjoying it.

Please ask your Year 5 child to show you what it looks like.

Sharmila Raj, sharmilar@botanydowns.school.nz

2021 ICAS Science Results

Congratulations to all of the students who took part in the 2021 Science Assessment!

We are happy to let you know that we have received our 2021 ICAS Science certificates. We had some excellent results for this assessment, please see below. Certificates will be handed to students in class. If you had a child who was Year 6 in 2021, you can collect their certificate from our school office. 

Year 5 Merit (top 45% of the country): Levi Xue, Selena Wu, Dhyan Patel, Sonny Clements-Goh, Aiden Cha

Year 5 Credit (top 35% of the country): Anthony Xu, Elias Simpkin, Aaron Qiao, Daqi Mao, Sandy Huang

Year 5 Distinction (top 10% of the country): Dorothy Wu, Skylar Li, Sean Davey

Year 6 Merit (top 45% of the country): Tracy Tang 

Year 6 Credit (top 35% of the country): Jessica Huang, Kristy Lau, Crystal Macwan, Austin Zhou

Mark Insley marki@botanydowns.school.nz

LIBRARY NEWS

Class Library Visits

It is lovely to welcome our students back to the library! Each class at BDS has a weekly scheduled library time. These sessions allow students to choose books they would like to take home to read, and learn how to use a library to find the books and information they need.

Please support your child’s learning by:

• ensuring they have their book bag (Yrs1-3) – Year 1-3 need their book bag to take library books home
• sharing the books they bring home – read them together
• ensuring they return their books on time – so they can choose another one, and so others can have a turn
• helping them learn responsibility by taking good care of the book and remembering to return it on time

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Howick Netball Club

Year 5 & 6 students – come and join the fun! No experience needed…

Botany Taekwon-Do

Botany Taekwon-Do has been training the ITF style of Taekwon-Do at Botany Downs Primary School for over 18 years. Come and have some fun with us. get fit and learn a skill with qualifications that are recognised around the world. We operate a two week free trial.

Want to know more? Visit our web site at botanytaekwondo.co.nz or just turn up at 6pm on Monday or Thursday nights and say hi. All ages and abilities are welcome.

Pay the kindo way: https://botanydowns.school.nz/kindo/