Newsletter – Week 9, Term 2 2024 – Botany Downs Primary School

Week 9, Term 2, 2024

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,

We look forward to celebrating with you this week:

A reminder to book your Whānau Learning Conversations:

Wednesday 3 July Learning Conversations 3.20-7.40pm
Wednesday 4 July Learning Conversations 3.20-5.10pm

During the last week of term, Week 10, 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.

A reminder that if you have a child who attends ESOL, you can book two appointments, one to meet with your child’s classroom teacher and one with Mrs Keenan, our ESOL teacher.

We all look forward to seeing you.

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

Coming up @ BDS…

Wed 26 June – No Uniform Day: Crazy Hair/Hat / PTA Jester’s Pie Day
Thurs 27 June – Whānau Matariki Visit
Friday 28 June Matariki Public Holiday
Mon 1 July – PTA meeting
Wed 3 July – Learning Conversations: 3.20-7.40pm
Thurs 4 July – Learning Conversations: 3.20-5.10pm
Fri 5 July – Last Day of Term 2
Mon 22 July – First Day of Term 3

** click here to view more of the school calendar **

Holiday School Hours

School will close on Friday 5^th July and will
reopen Monday 22^nd July 2024.

During the holidays the office will be open for new enrolments from 9.00am until 01.00 pm on the following days, or email office@botanydowns.school.nz for an appointment or enrolment pack.

Thursday 18^th July 2024
Friday 19^th July 2024

SCHOOL NEWS

School Activity Donation

The School Activities Donation is a per annum contribution related to each year level. We have emailed an explanation of what this donation would be used for and the corresponding amount.

Payments can be made in a lump sum or spread out over the year. These payments can be made:

By EFTPOS at the school office
Using our school bank account 12-3089-0059300-00 Through the Kindo shop https://shop.tgcl.co.nz/

Please contact trisht@botanydowns.school.nz if you have any questions or wish to discuss the payment options in confidence. Donations in excess of the recommended amount are always very welcome.

Thank you,
Botany Downs School Board

Road Patrol Supervisors Needed

Road Patrol is a valuable asset to our school community and we appreciate the Year 6 students and supervisors who currently help us.

However, we need more adult volunteers! If you are available from 8.15-9.00am in the mornings and/or 2.50-3.15pm in the afternoons we would love your help. You don’t have to be a parent of a Road Patroller (we currently have two adults who don’t have Year 6 children, and a grandparent of a Road Patroller).

Please consider helping our school community by emailing kyleeh@botanydowns.school.nz with your availability. We have spaces needing to be filled on Tuesday and Friday mornings and Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Thank you.

Learning Conversations

PTA Reminder…

Wednesday 26th June – No Uniform Crazy Hair or Hat Day

Join us for Crazy Hair or Hat Day! For a $2 donation, you can wear your own clothes and show off your wildest hair or hat styles. Don’t miss out on the fun!

Please donate $2 via Kindo or give the cash to your class teacher.

Storylines Story Tour

The Storylines Story Tour was visiting schools in the Auckland region last week, and on Wednesday we welcomed illustrator Aki Fukuoka to our school. Aki spoke to our Year 4 team, as well as the Lit Quiz group, and keen illustrator Jacob. Best known for her work illustrating the bestselling Billy B Brown junior fiction books, Aki has illustrated over 80 books. She shared the process of illustrating which involves a lot of re-working of ideas and taking feedback from the publisher; it is a lot of work and she keeps in mind that it is important to keep going to get to the perfect illustration. Thank you Aki, we really enjoyed meeting you and watching you work!

Each year the Storylines Story Tours visits regions around Aotearoa, bringing children’s authors and illustrators into schools to connect with tamariki. Storylines is a charitable trust that works hard to “inspire young New Zealanders and their whānau to enjoy the magic of reading, especially reading books created for them by New Zealand writers and illustrators.” Thank you to Storylines for this wonderful opportunity to meet our book creators!

“I really liked how Aki could draw quickly. She was clever!” Helaina, Rm 18

“I like how she could keep drawing and show resilience as she drew.” Logan and Muhammad, Rm 18

Hockey Fun Day

Last Tuesday, some Year 5 and 6 students participated in the HPPA Hockey Fun Day at Lloyd Elsmore. We were extremely lucky with the weather and the sun even made an appearance. The Year 5s played in the morning and demonstrated fantastic sportsmanship and determination. The two Year 6 teams played in the afternoon. Some amazing goals were scored and everyone had lots of fun!

The Year 6 students even got to meet a Black Stick, Luke Holmes who is Mrs Holmes’ son!

Fun & Learning @ BDS

Room 8, Year 1: The Year 0-1 Team have been learning about planet Earth as part of our Inquiry. We have been focusing on how to protect our planet. Here is the Year 0-1 promise tree which includes all students’ promises on how they will protect the Earth.

“I promise to protect the Earth by picking up rubbish. I promise to not cut trees down.” – Uriel Su’a
“I promise to protect the Earth by taking care of nature. I promise to put rubbish in the bin. I promise to not waste water.” – Renee Li
“I promise to protect the Earth by putting rubbish in the right bin. I promise to not step on flowers and not cut trees down.” – Avery Ip
“I promise to protect the Earth by not cutting trees down. I promise to switch the lights off.” – Baghel Singh

Room 18, Year 4: Room 18 has been learning all about renewable and non-renewable resources as part of our Inquiry: Be Earth Friendly, Be Earth Wise! We researched, designed and created our own solar ovens with the intention of making delicious smores! We considered different ways we could attract and absorb solar energy and adapted our designs to show our learning.

However…we learnt that our solar ovens really need some consistent sunlight and this was probably not the best time of year to utilise our ovens. We decided to pack them away for now and used a different type of energy to make our smores! We look forward to trying again in Term Four!

How to Make a Solar Oven, by Quintus Wang

Have you ever wondered how to make a solar oven? Well, you’re in luck!

What you need: a low box (shoe box), foil, stick or ruler, black paper, glad wrap, tape.

First, take out the black paper, put it on the box and press hard. Then flatten out the surface and mark the edges with a pencil.

After that, tape the side of the paper. When you`ve done all of that, stick on your foil with the tape.

Then use the stick and tape it on both sides of the cover. Finally, make your food and cover it with glad wrap and there you go! Put it under the sun and enjoy your food.

For Visual Arts, we have been working hard on some beautiful watercolour paintings that link to our Inquiry topic. We are very pleased with the way they look and all the bright colours!

Student Success…

Congratulations to Vito Feng on his sporting achievements:

Auckland Athlete of the Year 2023/2024 award (1st in boys 7 years for the Auckland Region) and in March, breaking the 800m Auckland record in his age group. After some tough fights, Vito also won a Gold medal in the Jiu-jitsu Championships Oceania region.

NZMSM Competitions :

Congratulations and well done to Louis Hunter and Wynand Bloem who took part in the NZ Modern School of Music Competitions held in Remuera recently.

Special congratulations to Louis who won a Silver Medal and two Very Highly Commended Certificates for his classes of Own Choices & Test Pieces.

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.