Newsletter – Week 3, Term 3 2024

                                         Week 3, Term 3, 2024

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,   

Thank you to all our BDS whānau who contact our school office if your child is going to be absent from school.  

This can be through our website, school app, by email or phone.  

This is important – if you do not contact the school we need to send reminder texts or phone to follow up on your child’s absence which all takes time. Every absence needs a special code showing why your child is away and we then need to send this through to the Ministry of Education. We appreciate your support with this.

Have a great week everyone.

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

Coming up @ BDS…

Wed 7 Aug – PTA Jesters Pie Day
Fri 9 Aug – House Competition Day
Tues 13 Aug – HPPA Cross-country
Wed 14 Aug – School Board meeting
Thurs 15 Aug – ICAS English
Tues 20 Aug – ICAS Science
Mon 26 Aug – ICAS Maths
Fri 30 Aug – HPPA Lit Quiz

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

SCHOOL NEWS

House Competition Day – Olympics Edition

To celebrate the Paris Olympics, our school will be running the House Competition Day with an Olympic flair! This will be a whole day event this Friday, 9th August. Our ‘opening ceremony’ will begin at 9:10 am on the basketball courts. We hope to see you there!

For this special event, students are to come to school in their PE gear. Please refrain from face/body paint or coloured hair, otherwise colourful socks and ribbons are allowed as usual. 

There will be no assembly this week but we look forward to seeing all students demonstrating our school values while competing.

Sunflower Competition!

As part of our Enviro Specialist Class, Years 4, 5 and 6 are growing sunflowers. They will be started at school and brought home to look after. The tallest flower by Monday 9th December will win a prize!

Here are some care instructions:

• Water well each morning until the sunflower shoots appear.
• Keep on a sunny window ledge INSIDE until the plant is 2 inches tall.
• When the plant is 2 inches tall, repot into a larger pot (6-8 inches deep with drainage holes in multi-purpose compost) and move to a sunny spot outside.
• Then water well once per week.
• Once the plant starts to grow taller, use a cane and string to keep it straight.
• Only put into the ground once the plant is 30cm tall (you can repot again if needed).
• You may add fertiliser such as seaweed or sheep pellets to help it grow.

Good Luck! 

Gymnastics Festival 

Shana Chen, Tanya Kumar, Ofa Fifita, Siale Palalagi-Waru, Arvi Ahir, Mila Ritchie, Theia Saunders, Mika Nel, Elani Venter, Whitney Chan, Eleanor Booth, Mene’ Nel, Lily Hodgson, Charlotte Walsh, Willow Cox, and Charlotte Pitcaithly recently attended a gymnastics festival to prepare for the HPPA competition. This event helped them perfect their routines and gain confidence.

Charlotte – I liked going on the floor because there was a cushion where we could do handstands and land in a bridge. We also got to do cartwheels, backbends, and handstands. I also enjoyed the fun course because we slid down the rope and bounced on the trampoline. 

Lily – I loved going on the play course! There was a bouncy trampoline and some bars that we got to do flips on. I also loved it when we went on the rings because while we were swinging we had to do a flip. 

Eleanor – My favourite part was the floor because we got to do cartwheels and backbends on the mats. There was also this cool trampoline cushion that I got to bounce on. I also ran and then did a one-handed cartwheel on a mat.

PTA Notices

Whittakers Chocolate Fundraiser: Thank you to everyone who has already returned payment for selling their box of chocolates.  We have had a huge request from people wanting to sell extra boxes; if you are unable to sell all of your chocolates please return the unsold bars with any money collected as soon as possible so they can be redistributed.  

Everyone who sells a full box of chocolates goes in the draw to win 1 of 10 $20 Time Zone vouchers, pay online and receive 2 entries into the draw. 

All money and/or unsold chocolates must be returned by Friday 16th August.

This fundraiser is managed by the PTA, if you have any queries please email:  pta@botanydowns.school.nz

Fun & Learning @ BDS

Room 7, Year 1: Inquiry “Together we Succeed”
In Room 7, our teacher Mrs Johnston brought in the French and New Zealand flags so we decided to look at what life is like in France where the Summer Olympic Games are taking place. We watched a clip about what French people like and “together” we made a list to use in our writing.

In France they eat bread, cheese and snails. In New Zealand we eat bbq, strawberries and burgers and chips. In July it is Summer in France. In New Zealand it is Winter. In France, they love football. In New Zealand we love Rugby and Netball. Jane Bong

Room 20, Year 4: Poetry
There are many different kinds of poems. Poems sometimes rhyme.  Poems can have different shapes.  They can be silly or serious, have patterns and rhythm.

Grass and nature

Grass and nature glow so bright

Trees don’t have a maximum height

Plants with flowers that scent in night

Always have light

By Henil Tailor

A

drop

of rain

is like the

inside of a diamond,

When it falls down, 

it will look like the 

diamond is broken.

It’s sparkly and you

can see the colours

that are inside it.

That reminds

me of a

marble.

By Jia Zhang

 

A

Drop of

Rain is like

A melody playing

Or cymbals clashing

And drums bashing

Relaxing or annoying, 

Calm or angry, it always gets 

attention, just like shining diamonds.

A raindrop contains many

melodies from heavy rock concepts

to light melodies. 

By Ethan Liu

 

A drop

of rain is 

like a harmony 

of different bells.

Inside it holds a world 

of wonder and mystery.

A raindrop can feel like a punch from a 

boxer, or a touch from butterfly‘s wings.  It can

sound like banging drums or the drop, drip, of a tap,

but it always lets you know it’s there.

A raindrop is a bubble of wisdom and adventure.

No matter how clear or jewel-like it is,

it will be like a droplet

of confidence,

not hesitating

to rain

down.

By Sophie Klee

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

Kia Orana! Cook Islands Language Week

Scholastic Lucky Book Club

A reminder that orders for Issue 5 close tomorrow (Wed 7th) at 3pm. Orders and payment is preferred online – instructions can be found on the back page of the brochure.

All purchases help the school to purchase valuable resources for the library and classrooms PLUS you help to grow your child’s reading skills, and reading enjoyment – thank you so much for your support!

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Registration for our Term 3 After School Soccer is now open! To register: click here 

Pay the kindo way: https://botanydowns.school.nz/kindo/