Kia ora koutou BDS whānau, Wiki Waru, Kaupeka Toru, 2022
Spring is here and it is so wonderful to see our tamariki playing on our field and enjoying the spring weather. Our field can now be open even if there has been some evening rain which really does help spread out our play areas at school.
We are very excited to be able to open our school for our Art’s Evenning. This is going to be a very special event and we are all very much looking forward to seeing you there next week on Thursday.
You’ll be aware that New Zealand has moved to a new, long-term approach to COVID-19. These changes have been made based on public health advice and reflect high levels of immunity and declining case numbers across New Zealand.
There are two main changes for us at BDS:
- Household contacts of a person with COVID-19 do not need to isolate, but instead are asked to complete a RAT test each day, for five days. Therefore, ākonga who are household contacts but test negative and do not have COVID-19 symptoms, should continue to attend. It is the best place for them to be so they can be engaged in their learning, and connected with their teachers, classmates and friends. Information on how to get RAT kits can be found here: Request a RAT– Ministry of Health
- Mask wearing is no longer required in schools for students, staff and whānau. However, should you or your tamariki wish to continue to wear a mask you are certainly able to do so.
All the other recommended public health measures will stay in place as we know they reduce the spread of infectious illnesses including COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene, encouraging everyone to cough or sneeze into elbows and, most importantly, staying home and getting tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms.
Thank you for your ongoing support in protecting our community.
Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Parkins, Principal (vickip@botanydowns.school.nz)
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Coming up @ BDS…
Week 8 – te wiki o te reo Māori
Wed 14 Sept – Yr 1 Stardome trip: Rms 5, 5a, 8 & 9
Thurs 15 Sept – Yr 1 Stardome trip: Rms 7 & 10
Fri 16 Sept – Yr 4 Stardome trip
Wed 21 Sept – Junior cross-country / BOT meeting, 6.30pm
Thurs 22 Sept – Whānau Hui, Rm 16, 4.00pm
Thurs 22 Sept – Arts Evening, 5.00-7.30pm
Mon 26 Sept – Yr 5 camp departs (postponed)
Fri 30 Sept – Last day of Term 3
Mon 17 Oct – First day of Term 4
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Parking in Our Neighbourhood
Our school neighbours are really having a tough time with our parents parking across their driveways. A neighbour in Kalaroo Place has been unable to leave her home after school on multiple days due to inconsiderate parking across her driveway. Please think of the safety of our students and consideration for the residents in the houses of our local streets.
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Collecting Your Child From School
During the School Day
We would also like to send an important reminder to all our BDS whānau on the process for collecting your tamariki during the school day.
Collecting Your Child From School During the School Day:
- Email both the office and the class teacher the day and time that your child will be collected from school. We will then be able to ensure your child is waiting for you at the office.
- Please come to the school office to collect your child.
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Botany BEST and Values Awards
Botany BEST:
Juniors Yrs 0-3 (Given out at next week’s assembly)
Hanro Stoltz, Paris Cormack, Chloe du Plessis, Lucas Pope, Inaeanui Moeauri, Willow Cox, Zara Watson, Lucas Chen, Jessie Stirling, Noah Ellis, Mac He, Eric Li, Yongha Kim, Harley Key & Cameron Ellis.
Seniors Yrs 4-6 (Given out at this week’s assembly)
Ethan Brown, Stella McHardy, Nathan Tan, Yi Sen Qi, Koki Yamagata, Elias Simpkin, Zach Shamuel, Kevin Wu, Owen Huang & Joy Turner.
Values – Consideration:
Juniors Yrs 0-3 (Given out at next week’s assembly)
Sarah Shawani, Roxas Eason, Jeremiah John, Fedya Chibel, Kacey Wang, Mia Cajayon, Jayden Coetzee, Archie Barson, Finn O’Neill, Anton Birchler, Selina Mulipola, Joshua Chuah, Skylar Yip, Isla Jones & Sidney Chai.
Seniors Yrs 4-6 (Given out at this week’s assembly)
Mele Fifita, Katelyn Ma, Vera Zuo, Nicholas Luo, Oliver Rayson, Jesse Meng, Liam Ontong, Matthew Zhou, Abby Simonson & Harkirat Gill.
Week 8 Senior School Assembly (Years 4-6)
The orchestra and the choir will be performing. Please be seated by 9:05am in the Hall.
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2021 Prizegiving Cups to Return
It is now the time of the year when we require cups that were awarded at last year’s prizegiving to be returned to the school for this year’s names to be engraved.
If your child received a cup or trophy at last year’s prizegiving, please return it to the school office as soon as possible – thank you.
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Te Wiki o te Reo Māori
Kia Ora Whānau,
As we celebrate Te Wiki o te reo Māori this week (12-16th September), we would like to invite our Māori community into our classrooms. We are open to any sharing of expertise including te reo Māori, waiata, celebrations, experiences, tikanga Māori, and history.
We appreciate life is busy, however we are open and flexible with what this might look like, whether it is joining us in our classrooms, joining us virtually, sending in a video or email, or sharing a waiata, we will gladly welcome your kōrero!
Please email your child’s classroom teacher if you would like to visit your child’s class.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Ngā mihi nui, BDS Staff
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Cantonese/Mandarin Speech Competition
Botany Downs School held its first Cantonese and Mandarin speech competition on Monday 5th September 2022 in our school hall. We are very proud of the students who volunteered to be part of this competition and our presenters – Rafa Zhao, Mason Huang, Emma Lee, and Nora Khong. Thank you to our talented musicians who entertained us during the competition – Vicky Gong and Annabel Duan. Thank you also to Miss Liu and the parents who supported the contestants to write and practise their speeches.
Congratulations to the following students who participated – Aria Lee, Gemma Yee, Qiqi Zhao, Avril An, Alicia Wang, Chloe He, Leo Xie, Luise Peng, Emma Li, and Lancy Han.
Congratulations to our winners and best of luck to Chloe who will be representing our school in the HPPA Mandarin Speech Competition:
1st place = Chloe He
2nd place = Lancy Han
3rd place = Gemma Yee
Kate Keenan, ESOL Teacher (katek@botanydowns.school.nz)
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Whānau Hui
Nau Mai Haere Mai. Botany Downs School will be holding a Whānau Hui on Thursday 22nd of September at 4pm in Room 16 (before the Arts Evening).
This is an invitation for our Māori community to share your views on how we can best meet the needs of our Māori tamariki; assist in Māori related activities; contribute to and promote student awareness and pride of their cultural identity of themselves or their peers and their surroundings.
We will provide light refreshments, please RSVP to: Mark Insley, Deputy Principal – marki@botanydowns.school.nz
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BDS Learning and Fun
Year 1, Room 8 – We have been reading the book “I am the Universe” by Vasanti Unka, learning about all the wonderful things that we share. Please enjoy this special piece of writing by Chloe.
I am the Universe! We live in Auckland City.
I travel from Earth in a rocket ship to the solar system. I see planets and shooting whetu. When I get back to Earth I see a whole mishmash of people and I even see some people with dogs. The universe has lots and lots of animals at the zoos. In the ocean there are fish, sharks and whales. There are also starfish and coral. There are sharks like tiger sharks and blue whales and all types of fish like clown fish and gold fish. When I dig under ground I see dinosaur bones, fossils and diamonds. In the farms there are cows, sheep, goats and donkeys. When I go back home I have some food. I have burgers and chips. At bedtime I look out my window and look at the marama, shooting whetu and whetu.
Chloe Jack
Year 1, Room 9 – Why do we have day and night? Room 9 has been exploring the answer to this question. We used a torch and a globe in the darkness to help us understand how this works. Look at some of our diagrams and explanations to show what we know.
Year 3, Room 13 – Visit to Stardome… In Room 13 there has been lots of learning about our amazing planet Earth, the moon and the sun. The Year 3 team were so excited to learn even more on their visit to the Stardome last Tuesday.
Yesterday, Rooms 12 and 13 went to Stardome for a treat. We met our guide Nicky. At first, Nicky wasn’t quite ready for us, so we could play for about ten minutes in the nearby park. Then, we came in. We entered a dark room and Nicky showed us galaxy pictures. We talked about the famous space images. Then we did a quiz. In my opinion, they were very hard.
Next we entered a darker room. We watched the movie ‘Accidental Astronauts’. It was amazing! After the movie, Nicky taught us all about famous constellations. We saw which constellations were going to be there that night. We also sat in bouncy chairs that could let you look up because the screen was up above you. Then, we left and went home.
Overall, it was a fantastic time at Stardome!
By Lisa Huang
Year 5, Room 16 – We made it rain in Room 16! On Thursday 1st of September, Room 16 learned about the 4 key stages of the water cycle and their importance. We began our lesson with a Science experiment to help us understand how rain is formed. We used plastic jars, shaving cream and blue colouring. Some of us looked like blue smurfs in the end.
Room 16 learned how extremely important the water cycle is to our planet and thought about ways we can play our part to save water in our homes and at school.
It was such a cool and informative learning experience.
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Children Turning Five
If your child is turning 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 DP/SENCo – Year 0-3 (joanneh@botanydowns.school.nz)
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Arts Evening Helpers – We Need You!
Our Arts Evening is getting closer and we need some extra hands to help it run smoothly please. If you can lend some time, please contact us – we would love to have you on board! Email to: pta@botanydowns.school.nz.
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Lit Quiz 2022
Well done to the team of students who have been working hard reading lots of books in preparation for the upcoming HPPA Lit Quiz. We held our own quiz at school yesterday to determine who amongst them will represent the school next week. As well as the chance to compete at the intershool quiz, the students have enjoyed reading a variety of books by top New Zealand authors.
Congratulations to: Elias Simpkin, Rebecca Houston, Selena Wu, Dorothy Wu, Skylar Li and Arya Lawn who will be representing BDS – good luck and keep reading!
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Eastern Busway Update –
Pakuranga Town Centre to Ti Rakau Drive Bridge
We would like to let you know that work will take place around Pakuranga from mid-September 2022 to prepare for the Eastern Busway to be built. Construction is scheduled to start in the William Roberts Road area in early 2023. This message is to update you on the work and to let you know how we are informing neighbours and the broader community.
The preparation stage will include deconstruction and removal of houses, buildings and trees in Auckland Council owned properties on Ti Rakau Drive between the South-Eastern Highway and Ti Rakau Drive Bridge, on Seven Oaks Drive and on William Roberts Road.
Removing vacant properties will create space for dedicated bus lanes, cycle lanes, new footpaths and planting, and the Reeves Road Flyover. We have been working with tenants to support them into new accommodation, and many properties are now becoming vacant.
What to expect:
• Work will take place from Monday to Friday between 7am and 6pm, and on Saturdays if required
• Security fencing will be installed around vacant properties before removal
• Trucks, diggers, and similar machinery will be used
• Experienced, specialist removal and deconstruction crews will ensure the work is carried out safely and efficiently
• Hazardous materials including asbestos will be disposed of safely
• Workers will be wearing personal protective clothing and equipment and will follow all safety
procedures required for the safe handling of hazardous materials
• Noise and dust will be managed with care to ensure that disruption is minimised
• Security teams will monitor the vacant properties
• Neighbours will continue to have access to their properties at all times, and will be given further details of what they can expect to see before we remove properties near them.
• When we relocate properties there will be some temporary road closures at night to avoid disruption to daily commuters. Electronic signboards will be visible along Ti Rakau Drive, William Roberts Road and Pakuranga Road to provide advanced notification of closures.
Reuse, repurpose and salvage
We are aware that our actions and the choices we make affect the environment, so we are taking steps to ensure we reuse, repurpose and salvage what we can including:
• Relocating a number of suitable properties so they can be used again elsewhere
• Deconstructing properties carefully to recycle materials like kitchen and bathroom units, doors,
windows, floors, timber, metals and concrete
• Removing materials for recycling offsite, and reusable items may be made available to community groups
• Diverting at least 80% of non-contaminated materials from going to landfill.
Site establishment – September 2022
• We will begin establishing a secure site laydown area at 169 Pakuranga Road, to store and handle construction materials and vehicles
• Security fencing will be installed and will remain for the duration of the project
• Our crews will access the site from Monday to Friday between 7am and 7pm, with multiple truck movements during the day and occasionally on Saturdays from 7am to 5pm
• We will keep within the permitted noise limits and carefully manage dust at the laydown site to
minimise disruption to neighbours.
Further information is available on 0800 BUSWAY (0800 827 929) or emailing info@easternbusway.nz. The project website is www.easternbusway.nz where you can also sign up to receive our monthly updates.
Yours sincerely,
Ben Parsons
Customer and Community Lead
Eastern Busway Alliance
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