Newsletter – Week 8, Term 2, 2022

Kia ora koutou BDS whānau,                                                                Week 8, Term 2, 2022

We are very happy to be able to invite our BDS whānau to our kura for our Matariki celebration this week on Thursday from 10 am until 11 am.  Please see below for further information and a huge thank you to Mrs Takaiti for all her effort into making this possible.

Our property developments certainly have all come together at the same time.  Our Turf is being laid this week, starting in the junior courtyard and following on with our senior courtyard next week.  The rapid fencing will be in place again, similar to the layout we had when our canopies were installed.

During the weekend Astley Construction began building the road to support the trucks and the crane for the moving of Rooms 20-23 into their new location on the field, so our new six classroom block can be built.  This will continue being built next weekend and then our four classrooms will be moved and renovated. Please do read the emails sent by us from the MoE as they have valuable updates in them.

We are experiencing some damage during this time to our field, netball courts and cobbled driveways but this will be fixed by the Ministry in the future.

Last week was the annual voting in of the PTA Executive.  Thank you so much to our retiring treasurer Jess Storey.  We really do appreciate your time and expertise. Jess is now on our School Board.  We welcome our new PTA Exectuitve Committee: Chairperson – Lauren Berkett (until Dec, then Chantelle), Vice Chairperson – Chantelle Ruijune, Treasurer – Alan Liang, Secretary – Bhavna Prentice (with support from Sonia Tate).

Thank you for taking the time to complete our second survey.  This information will be used to inform the Development of our Local Curriclum on our final teacher only day next week on Monday.  

Enjoy the long weekend and we will look forward to seeing back at school on Tuesady 28 June.

 Ngā mihi nui,

Vicki Parkins Principal vickip@botanydowns.school.nz

Coming up @ BDS…

Fri 24 June – Matariki Holiday (public holiday)
 Mon 27 June – Teacher Only Day 
Thurs 30 June – Yr4-6 Cross-country
Fri 1 July – Non-uniform day
Week 10 – BOOK WEEK
Wed 6 July – Parent/teacher interviews, 3.20-5.10pm
Thurs 7 July – Parent/teacher interviews, 3.20-7.40pm
Fri 8 July – Book Character Parade / Last Day of Term 2
Mon 25 July – First Day of Term 3
Wed 27 Jul – Howick Int visiting Yr 6 / BoT meeting
Thurs 28 July – Somerville Int visiting Yr 6
Mon 8 Aug – Stardome trip Yr 6
Thurs 11 Aug – Howick Int open day / Stardome trip Yr 5

Important Reminders for the
safety of our Tamariki 

If your child is sick and not coming to school:

• Email absences@botanydowns.school.nz or
• Ring the office 534 9848 or
• Notify us through the school app (kiwischools).

Please let us know if your child will not be at school.  If you have not let us know then Mrs Bishop will need to contact you and this can be very time consuming.  Thank you.

Parent Teacher Interviews

SCHOOL NEWS

 Botany BEST & Values

Botany BEST: Chevy Davis, Jia Zhang, Ansh Patel, Bruno Hussey, Luca Takaiti, Amelia Berkett, Vion Lee, Paige Monsanto, Whitney Chan, Nathan Zhu,  Raewyn Bua, Huntr Bishton, Oscar Wong, Harmony Hemi, Katelyn Ma, Kensie Tate, Belle Carson, Anson Leung, Ashley Feild, Mia Swartz, Justin Qiao & Liam Forrest.

Values: Ashley Cajayon, Zean Wang, Aaryan Verma, Alofa Vaolele, Mengxi Lu, Mila Ritchie, Jessie Stirling, Andrew Liang, Gabriel Jin, Jaspreet Kaur, Emma Sun, Joedeci Brierley Tagatoatama, Eric Guo, Riley Johnston, Cartyr Clifton, Livia Ramos, Holly Reddish, Magda Snyman, Leanna Xu & Deijahnah Matyas.

Please note: there is no assembly this week due to the Matariki public holiday on Friday.

SchooI Board Parent Election 2022

Nomination round

Our school will be undertaking a parent election for 3 School Board vacancies. This process will start with the issuing of nomination papers to our caregiver community by Friday 15th July 2022.

We have employed CES to undertake the election process on our behalf. This year with legislative change, our nomination form and full instruction on how to place your nomination into our own School’s Election website will be emailed to you if we have your email address in our database or you will receive it by post if we don’t have your email in our database.

Nomination papers will also be available at the school office. The school will send those on to CES for processing upon receipt from candidates. 

Nominations close on Wednesday 3 August at 12 noon. Election day is Wednesday 7 September.

We look forward to your participation in this process.

Wayne Jamieson, Returning Officer, CES
89 Nazareth Avenue | Middleton | Christchurch | PO Box 414 | Christchurch 8140
P (03) 338 4444 | Cell 021 399 744   www.cessl.org.nz

Matariki Celebration 

Tēnā koutou e te whānau,

We are excited to announce that our school will be having a Matariki celebration on the 23rd of June starting at 10:00 am and concluding at 11:00 am. All whānau are welcome to join us and enjoy a performance by our Kapa Haka at 10:00am, outside the ILE (Rooms 19 – 16). Following this, you are invited to view art created by your tamariki in their classrooms followed by a shared morning tea.

Matariki (the Māori new year) is a time of celebration, growth and renewal. It’s a chance to get together and remember all whānau, share kai (food), tell stories and sing waiata.

As we prepare for this special occasion, we have asked our tamariki to help support the shared morning tea by bringing either a packet of store-bought biscuits or whole fruit before the 23rd of June. 

We look forward to celebrating with you. 

Ngā Mihi,
Michelle Takaiti, Māori Curriculum Teacher (michellet@botanydowns.school.nz)

A huge congratulations to Austin Hei and Liam Rameka from Room 19 and Lisa Huang from Room 13 for winning our Matariki Invitation competition. Tino pai tō mahi!

Road Safety Week

Our Travelwise Leaders were busy last week promoting road safety around our school.  They read to the Year 0-3 classes, had two “Slow Down Around School” promotions (we will let you know our findings from the speed gun recordings) and a Zebra Crossing promotion with a special visit from Zara the Zebra (Auckland Transport).

We were pleased to see so many families walking to school, or walking from their car they had parked further away from the gate.  This keeps the road safer for us all.  

Please remember, do not do U-turns near our road patrol or where there is busy school traffic, it is dangerous and does not show consideration for others. We appreciate the respect being shown for our neighbours driveways and not stopping on yellow lines.  

Thank you to everyone for keeping our children safe.  Great job Road Patrol students and parents, and Travelwise Team!

Kylee Holmes, Road Patrol and Travelwise Coordinator (kyleeh@botanydowns.school.nz)

Chess Club

Last Wednesday, a team of nine boys represented our school in the East Auckland Primary Chess Championship.

Daqi, Sean D, Sean H, Levi, Gabriel, Victor, Anthony, Young and Owen came away with some personal bests and wins. The team learnt a lot from the experience of playing against chess players from other schools at different skill levels. 

There were 48 teams competing and the competition was fierce, but the boys thoroughly enjoyed the day. 

Big thank you to Miss Chen, Miss Qi, and our DP,  Mark Insley for helping with transport and making this day possible.

Ms Lala & Miss Chand, Chess Club Coordinators (rital@botanydowns.school.nz, pravitac@botanydowns.school.nz)

BDS Learning and Fun

Year 2, Room 2 – Room 2 have worked hard on their Poupou art. We used pencil and pastels, and backed our art on black paper to make it stand out! We hope you like it!

2022 ICAS Assessments

Your child has the opportunity to participate in the 2022 International Competitions and Assessment for Schools (ICAS). This year we are offering Year 5 and 6 students the opportunity to participate in English, Science and Maths assessments. 

ICAS assessments are designed to recognise academic excellence. Students are assessed on their ability to apply classroom learning to new contexts, using higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills.

It is important to note that these assessments are not related to our New Zealand Curriculum. This means that ICAS results are not taken into consideration when determining progress, when reporting to parents or when selecting academic award recipients for our prize givings.

All assessments are completed online and students receive a certificate and a result report. Top performers will be eligible for medals and special ceremonies to recognise their academic excellence from ICAS assessments.

Last week, Year 5 and 6 students took home a permission form for this years ICAS assessments. If you would like your child to participate in one or more of the ICAS assessments please fill out the permission and return to the school office by Friday 1st July. If you require a form please ask your child’s class teacher.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mark Insley, Deputy Principal, (marki@botanydowns.school.nz)

Children Turning Five 

If your child is turnng five in the next six (6) months please ensure you enrol them as soon as possible.  Our roll is steadily growing and we need to plan for classes and teachers during the year. Please collect your enrolment pack from the office, or email office@botanydowns.school.nz 

Joanne Hughson Deputy Principal Years 0-3 (joanneh@botanydowns.school.nz)

LIBRARY NEWS

Visit the Botany Downs eLibrary!

Remember to check out the great range of books available in the eLibrary, for all ages. They can be read on any device. Instructions and login information can be found on the school website library page here – BDS Library page

Visit the eLibrary here – BDS eLibrary

Overdue Library Books

Please support your child to return their library books on time. Overdue books often mean other students are kept waiting for books they wish to read. If students are away from school due to sickness or isolation, books can be returned when they are back to school.

Please help your children to keep track of their books and ensure they are returned to the library (through the returns slot at the front desk, not on to the library shelves).

The library is open at lunchtimes for reading, and students can return their books then and also borrow new ones to read at home. 

Thank you for your support.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

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