Newsletter – Week 8, Term 1 2024 – Botany Downs Primary School

Week 8, Term 1, 2024

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,

Thank you to the many families who have already paid the School and Activity Donation for 2024. Our school donation and activity donation can be paid in full or installments by using KINDO, our bank account number, or EFTPOS at the school. This donation makes such a difference to enrich the teaching and learning that are not covered by the Ministry of Education Funding. Thank you.

Our Year 5 camp returned on Tuesday and everyone had a wonderful time. Thank you to Ms Raj, Mrs Takaiti, Mr Yoon, Ms Young, and camp parents for such a successful camp. Providing EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) opportunities is a very special part of our kura.

Our new specialist PE (Physical Education) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Music) teachers, Mrs Marck and Mrs Jacobs, are providing additional quality learning opportunities to enhance the engagement and learning of our tamariki.

Thank you to Wayne Johnson our Specialist Swimming Instructor, and his assistant Taylor Holmes, for your engaging and educational lessons in our school pool over the past seven weeks. We value having specialist swimming teachers at our kura and this has made a huge difference to our tamariki and their swimming.

Thank you also to the whānau members who came along to our Mix and Mingle on Wednesday morning. It was lovely to see so many of you there.

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

Coming up @ BDS…

Wed 20 Mar – Whānau Learning Conversations, 3.20-7.40pm
Thurs 21 Mar – Senior Swimming Sports Day
Thurs 21 Mar – Whānau Learning Conversations, 3.20-5.10pm
Wed 27 Mar – Jesters Pie Day / School Board meeting
Fri 29 Mar – Good Friday (public holiday)
Mon 1 Apr – Easter Monday (public holiday)
Tues 2 Apr – Easter Tuesday (school holiday)
Fri 5 Apr – HPPA Swimming
Mon 8 Apr – PTA meeting
Wed 10 Apr – No Uniform Day
Thurs 11 Apr – ANZAC Assembly
Fri 12 Apr – Last Day of Term 1
Mon 29 Apr – First Day of Term 2
Week 2 – Book Week
** click here to view more of the school calendar **

SCHOOL NEWS

Botany Best & Values

We invite you to attend our school assembly on Friday at 9.10 am. We will be presenting our Botany Best Certificates and Values Bookmarks. This week our item will be from Year 3, Room 20.

Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown their Botany Best by displaying our Capabilities: Aaron Qu, Mili Li, Austin Broodryk, William Faletau, Grace Zhao, Hareni Pirapakaran, Remi Atrushi, Kelvin Gu, Emma Lee, Sui Gu, Jaaveis Iese, Zean Wang, Ansh Patel, Julius Ming Peterson, Fedya Chibel, Naoki Yamagata, Sophia Cheah, Lexi Tsai, Le Zhi Liu, Goushen Ma, Gabriel Divinagracia, Gloria Wang & Zainab Ali.

Congratulations to the following tamariki who have displayed our value of Respect/ Manaakitanga: Rosie Roberts, Athena-Lyn Parkin, Hannah Biddick, Olivia Chen, Grayson Visser, Fraser Shadbolt, Lynda Li, Luna Lopez Woo, Logan Baker, Anya Fang, Magda Snyman, Rex Zhao, Angela Chen, Julian Kim, Odette Apperley, Ilaisaane Faletau, Curtis Li, Jasmine Yip, Anna Yu, Mary Yu, Sonny Palalagi-Waru, Lisa Huang & Raewyn Bua.

Whānau Learning Conversations Next Week:
Wednesday 20th March and Thursday 21st March

At BDS we value honest, open, positive communication about learning. We know that the best learning comes from a strong partnership between teacher, student and whānau. We also know that our learners are at the centre of all that we do.

At BDS our Whānau Learning Conversations encourage our students to take responsibility for their learning and also help to increase whānau understanding of their child’s learning. These Whānau Learning Conversations give our tamariki the opportunity to share their learning, show what they are doing well and what they need to learn next.

Next week our tamariki will share their reading, writing and maths learning and next steps with you. It is a time for a positive discussion about learning. It is also a time for setting learning goals together. If you do need to speak to the teacher about any other concerns please make another time.

Our teachers are currently supporting their learners, according to individual needs, to prepare for these learning conversations.

What you can expect to see and hear….

Your child being supported appropriately by the teacher to lead the Learning Conversation
Your child talking about what they are learning and why they are learning it
Your child proudly showing evidence of their learning
Discussion and questions between teacher, whānau and student about learning and next steps
Learning goals being discussed and developed together

Please make sure you make a booking for either
Wednesday 20th March or Thursday 21st March.

Any questions or queries please speak to your child’s teacher. E waka eke noa – we are all in this together.

How to book your Whānau Learning Conversation time:

Howick Coast Kāhui Ako –
Supporting New Teachers

As our Across School Lead (ASL), Mrs Ryan is part of the group that meets regularly with local provisionally certified teachers to help support and mentor them on their journey to becoming fully qualified.

You can read more about this collaborative programme here: How Howick Coast Kāhui Ako is nurturing new teachers

Safety Around the School Gates

Thank you to our community for being safe when dropping off and collecting your tamariki from school.

BDS Senior Swimming Sports

On Thursday this week students between the ages of 8 and 11 years have been selected by their teachers and the swimming instructor to compete in our school’s swimming sports. We will use this competition to choose the swimmers that we will take to Lloyd Elsmore in week 10 to compete against other schools in the HPPA (Howick and Pakuranga Principals Association) swimming sports competition.

Cricket Team

Congratulations to the senior cricket team who represented our school at a two-day tournament against other local schools. We did our “Best Always” against seven other schools and worked hard to bowl straight, score lots of runs, and field the ball carefully.

Swimming At BDS

Fun & Learning @ BDS

Year 3, Room 21: Room 21 has been looking back into their holiday and weekends for Recount Writing.

‘In the summer holidays, I stayed at home and made crafts by making it with scissors and paper. My mum saw me and helped me. Then in the afternoon, my family took me to the beach.’ – Sophia.

‘On the summer holidays, I went to Miranda Hot Pools with my family. In my family, I have my mum, dad, brother, cousins, aunties, uncles and grandparents. It took a long time to get there. On the drive, we saw some farm animals. When we got to Miranda Hot Pools, we met up with my family and stayed with them for three nights. It was so so much fun!’ – Skyla

‘In the holiday, me and my family went to Taupo, camping, it was fun. On the second day, we went to the swimming pool, it was warm.’ – Mac

Children Turning Five – Enrolment

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)

LIBRARY NEWS

Scholastic Lucky Book Club

The Scholastic Lucky Book Club brochure will be coming home today and it offers a wide range of books for all ages and interests. This is a great opportunity to support your child’s growing literacy skills, and develop their love of reading.

Each purchase also helps the school to provide valuable resources for the library and classrooms – thank you for your support!

Orders will close on Friday 22 March.
Online ordering and payment is preferred – please see the brochure for details.
Scholastic Book Club – parent login