Newsletter – Week 2, Term 2 2023 – Botany Downs Primary School

Kia ora koutou BDS whānau, Week 2, Term 2, 2023

This week is Book Week and our Librarian, Vanessa Hatley-Owen, and Sharmila Raj our Inquiry Leader, and their team of teachers, have organised many interesting events and activities. We encourage you to visit school to purchase books and stationery from our Scholastic Book Fair; the days and times are mentioned below. We are looking forward to the creative book character costumes that our tamariki proudly showcase in our Book Week Parade on Friday at 9.30 am on our netball courts if it is fine or in our school hall if it is wet. Whānau are welcome to attend.

Our teacher only day last week was very valuable as our teachers explored aspects of the NZ Curriculum refresh –Te Mataiaho | the Curriculum Framework, with a focus on what it means to honour the Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to truly be a school of Aotearoa.

The Vision for Young People (written by our young people) for the NZ Curriculum refresh is “We are connected to community, curious about learning, and confident in ourselves.”

During the day’s programme our teachers were able to connect our BDS vision and values, our programmes and planning with this Vision for Education and identify how we are using the elements of the new curriculum within our own BDS Local Curriculum.

We also spent time looking at our environments both inside and outside the classroom and making connections in our teaching and learning vertically through our year groups. A very worthwhile day indeed.

Have a great week.

Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Parkins, Principal – Tumuaki (vickip@botanydowns.school.nz)

Coming up @ BDS…

Week 2 – Book Week
Fri 5 May – Book Character Dress-up Day & Parade
Wed 10 May – PTA Jester’s Pie Day / Photolife Class & Individual photos
Thurs 11 May – Photolife Sibling photos
Wed 10 May – HPPA Girls Soccer tournament
Tues 16 May – Yr 3 MOTAT trip
Wed 17 May – Non-uniform day / School Board meeting
Tues 23 May – Yr 2 MOTAT trip
Wed 31 May – HPPA Girls Soccer tournament
Thurs 1 June – Yr 4&5 MOTAT trip
Mon 5 June – King’s Birthday (public holiday)
Tues 6 June – PTA meeting

Policies and Procedures –
SchoolDocs 2023 Term 2 Review

SchoolDocs provides a comprehensive core set of policies and procedures that are tailored to the needs of Botany Downs School. SchoolDocs updates, modifies and creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools and regular reviews.

Our SchoolDocs policies and procedures can be found via our school website on the link below:
Policies and Procedures – School Documents

For Term 2 the following policies relate to Education Outside The Classroom (EOTC) and are up for review:

EOTC Planning and Review
EOTC Risk Management
EOTC Coordinator
EOTC External Providers
EOTC Staff Competence
EOTC Event Categories
EOTC Communicating with Parents

If you would like to participate in reviewing the policies, please click on the link above and follow the instructions.

If you have any questions or queries please contact:

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

SCHOOL NEWS

PhotoLife Class/Individual & Sibling Photos

Wednesday 10 May class and individual photos will be taken. On Thursday 11 May sibling photos will be taken. Please could you ensure that your child is wearing the correct winter uniform for both days.

PTA Whittaker’s Chocolates Fundraiser

Next week sees the start of the PTA’s annual Whittaker’s chocolates fundraiser. Keep a look out for your eldest (or only) child bringing home a box of chocolates to sell on behalf of the school. See the PTA newsletter for more information.

Year 0/1/2 Structured Literacy Information Session
Whānau warmly invited

Wednesday 10 May from 9:15 -10:15 am (in the staffroom)

Mrs Shirley Johnston, our Year 0-1 Team Leader and Within School Leader of junior literacy programmes, will be presenting this session to provide our whānau with information about the teaching and learning of literacy in our Year 0, 1 & 2 classes. The session will also cover ways that parents can support their tamariki with their learning at home. The focus will be a structured literacy approach to learning.

Structured literacy underpins our Year 0-2 literacy programmes.

This is also a time to mix and mingle with other Year 0, 1 & 2 parents over a cup of tea/coffee and will be held alongside our existing Bright Sparks sessions.

Please reply to joanneh@botanydowns.school.nz if you will be attending this session.

Joanne Hughson, Deputy Principal

Book Week is Here!

Find your taonga – books are the treasure!

Book Fair Store in the library:
Monday-Friday morning: 8.30-9.00am
Monday-Thursday afternoon: 2.30-3.30pm
** Cash or EFTPOS/Credit Card
** Every purchase goes into a LUCKY PRIZE DRAW!

Bring a soft toy to read to – Wednesday 3 May
Your tamariki is welcome to bring their soft toy friend to school to read to.

Competitions…
X-Marks the Spot – guess where the treasure is hidden on the map.
Who is behind the book? – guess the teacher reading.

Special Book Week Exhibition…
Create your very own Potato Book Character! Make it at home and bring it to the library next week to go on display. Remember to include a note saying who your character is. Here are some characters who have arrived:

Character Dress-up Day – Friday 5 May, 9.30am…
Whanau are welcome to come along to watch the parade.
Who will you be? Check out these websites for some inspiration:
30 Last Minute Costumes
109 Easy Last Minute Costume Ideas
32 Best Book Character Costumes
75 Simple Book Costume Ideas

Students enjoying the Story Walk / Te Hikoi Korero

Wanted! Parent helpers!

Are you free during the week to support our busy teachers with jobs such as cutting out, sharpening pencils, backing artwork, returning reading books, and much more? This help would be very appreciated!

If you do have a block or part of the day every week that would be suitable to come and do a variety of fun school jobs to help out, then please just email Joanne Hughson joanneh@botanydowns.school.nz with your availability.

Learning and Fun @ BDS

Year 1, Room 10 – We looked at different ways to create poppy art to honour the ANZAC Soldiers. One way of doing this was to make clay poppies and paint them. The other way was to draw a poppy by hand and use pastel to colour.

Year 6, Room 19 – We integrated our pepeha with our self-portraits and enjoyed exploring tone and contrasting. We also practised our blending techniques using paint and dye as our media.

LIBRARY NEWS

School Libraries in NZ

BDS is extremely lucky to have a school library that is well-resourced and open each day for our tamariki and teachers, to use to find books and information, and a space to enjoy. Unfortunately, this is not the case in too many New Zealand schools – it is estimated that of the 2,500 schools in New Zealand, only 900 have a library.

Studies have proven that access to a school library is vital for building literacy, and they also make a positive difference in students’ well-being, hauora, learning outcomes, their ability to critically analyse, and their growth in empathy. The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA) is campaigning to ensure that all school students in New Zealand, at every level of their education, have access to effective school library services that will support their reading and learning.

Please follow this link for more information about their campaign, and to sign your support: SLANZA Save Our School Libraries