Newsletter – Week 3, Term 2 2023 – Botany Downs Primary School

Kia ora koutou BDS whānau, Week 3, Term 2, 2023

Thank you for your amazing support during Book Week, including the final day on Friday which showcased your book characters.

A big thankyou to our staff and our Book Week Committee: Mrs Ryan, Miss Chand, Miss Hill, Miss Searle, Mrs Holmes, and Miss Smith who were brilliantly led by Mrs Hatley-Owen and Ms Raj. Thank you also to the people who helped out at the Book Fair: Mrs Marston, Mrs Hartnoll, Mrs Ferguson, Mrs Childs, Mrs Keenan, and our wonderful PTA helpers – Chantelle, Natasha, and Karen.

Thank you very much indeed to our PTA for organising and distributing our chocolate fund raiser to help provide funds for our playgrounds so our tamriaki and can have as much fun as possible at lunchtime and morning tea.

Please read further down into our newsletter as there is a great deal of important information for you and your tamariki; from bake sales to police helicopters.

Have a great week.

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

Coming up @ BDS…

Wed 10 May – PTA Jester’s Pie Day
Wed 10 May – Photolife Class & Individual photos
Wed 10 May – HPPA Girls Soccer tournament
Thurs 11 May – Photolife Sibling photos
Fri 12 May – Garden to Table Bake Sale
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

SCHOOL NEWS

Botany Best and Values Award

Value – Respect: Bree Clark, Lily Hodgson, Natalie-Mae Tokai, Ayeza Zahidani, Yugo Tsuchiya, Baraa Almayah, Sakura Erskine, Minji Kim, Aliya Christian, Leanna Xu, Yasser El Chami, Oliver De Bruin, Emily Su’a, Ken Hoang, Matias Guillen, Katelyn Ma, Harley Key, Lisa Huang, Wynand Bloem, Jon Wu, Zean Wang, Ashley Cajayon, Khrish Ranchhod & Siale Palalagi-Waru.

Botany Best Awards: Jessie Stirling, Leo Tong, Wianru Botha, Eason Dong, Poppy Walker, Leo Minto, Maci Lund-Finn, Gabe Jacobs, Zachary Bradbury, Kourtney Chan, Joy-Ellen Tokai, Adam Hamayun, Jonathan Huang, Darya Shahamiri, Rishi Biju, Plawan Cowarin, Sergio Guillen, Claire Zhou, Cameron Ellis, Mila Ritchie, Skylah Hubbard, Rowena Luo, Kayla Fegen & Ian Lopez Woo.

These certificates will be presented at Friday’s assembly.
Assembly begins at 9:10am; please be inside and seated by 9:05am.
This week’s item – Year 5 camp

Our Focus Value for Term 2 Weeks 1-5….

At Botany Downs School … we show manaakitanga for ourselves and others. We work together positively to feel accepted, included and valued.

Book Week!

What a wonderful Book Week we have had this year! From competitions to Character Parade, our tamariki were fully invested. Thank you to all the staff for supporting this and thank you to the families for helping your children with amazing costumes, the joy on their faces said it all. It gets better every year, I wonder what it will be next year!

Sharmila Raj, Book Week Coordinator

Students enjoying the Story Walk. This year’s story was
‘The Eight Gifts of te Wheke’, by Steph Matuku

Special guest, author James Russell

Whānau reading to Room 2

Howick College Drama students performing stories for the Juniors

Create a Character craft activity in the library

Book Character Dress-up winners

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.

Keep Our Children Safe

Please remember to use the zebra crossing when dropping your children to the main gate. It is very dangerous to see many parents crossing their children just 50m down from the zebra crossing. In this wet weather, visibility is more difficult and drivers are not expecting to see people crossing the road – especially when there is a zebra crossing. Please teach your children the right place to cross the road! Thank you for keeping us all safe.

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

Reminder: Bake Sale Fundraiser on Friday

There will be a Bake Sale to fundraise for our school gardens and the Garden to Table program pilot on Friday 12th May. The cakes are generously provided by the caregivers of the Year 4 children.

Please bring money to buy a baked item for morning tea. Each item of baking costs $1.00. The money will be collected by the classroom teacher in the morning between the 8.30am and 8.55am bell.

Thank you for your wonderful support!
Year 4 Team

Reminder – Year 0/1/2 Structured Literacy
Information Session with Mrs Shirley Johnston

Whānau are warmly invited

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

Year 0/1/2 Maths
Information Session

Whānau are warmly invited

Wednesday 17 May from 9:15 -10:15 am (in the staffroom)

Mrs Joanne Hughson(D.P/SENCo Year 0-3), will be presenting this session to provide our whānau with information about the teaching and learning of Maths in our Year 0, 1 & 2 classes. The session will also cover ways that parents can support their tamariki with their learning at home too.

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 any of the above sessions.

Joanne Hughson, Deputy Principal

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.

Art Project

We will be completing an art project for our school using milk bottle tops in all colours. Please could you send your milk bottle tops to school over the coming weeks. Thank you!

Police Helicopter

We are very fortunate to have been provided with the opportunity for the police helicopter to land in our field over the coming days or weeks. They are unable to give us a confirmed time due to the nature of what they do. The police will talk to our tamariki and let us know about all the wonderful things they do to keep us safe. This is a very exciting opportunity to showcase our police to our school.

Photo Source: NZ Herald

Learning and Fun @ BDS

Year 4, Room 23 – In Room 23 we have been learning about the Māori Koru; their significance and the different meanings they have. We then looked at pictures of Koru, and their different stages – how they turn from a koru to a silver fern. After practising drawing Koru we picked a design we liked the most. We finalised our design and then drew this onto a piece of paper with chalk, making sure to have two lines around the koru to ensure a bold and bright design. We also put some patterns in the back to add effect. Then we coloured in our Koru and the patterns in the background, and finally painted some black ink dye over the pastel to create a contrast. We hope you enjoy our artwork!

Celebrating Our Students…

Congratulations to former student, Vincent Peng, who along with his team, represented New Zealand at the Vex Robotics international competition recently. The team successfully progressed to the finals of the Technology Division Qualifiers with an impressive fifth placing. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals by just two points. An amazing achievement and an exciting experience – well done Vincent!

Vincent has created a fabulous video to show how the team prepared and competed: Vincent’s Vlog 56 – VEX VRC 2022-2023 World Championship