Week 3 Term 4, 2024
Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,
Our tamariki are having amazing experiences with trips to both the Auckland Museum and Butterfly Creek. These trips were not only fun-filled but also offer fantastic learning opportunities. At the museum, students are exploring fascinating exhibits that connect to our classroom learning, deepening their curiosity about science. Butterfly Creek is giving our tamariki a closer look at the natural world, with its amazing wildlife encounters.
These trips build on our School Capabilities of I am curious, I am a communicator, I am confident and I am connected. We are proud of how our tamariki embrace these opportunities.
Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Parkins, Principal – Tumuaki (vickip@botanydowns.school.nz)
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Coming up @ BDS…
Wed 30 Oct – Yr 4 trip to Museum (Rm 17 & Rm 18)
Wed 30 Oct – PTA Jester’s Pie Day
Thurs 31 Oct – Yr 0/1 trip to Butterfly Creek
Fri 1 Nov – Yr 4-6 Athletics Day / Gumboot Friday
Mon 4 Nov – PTA meeting
Tues 5 Nov – Yr 3 trip to Museum (Rm 29 & Rm 30)
Wed 6 Nov – Yr 6 Howick Intermediate orientation visit
Thurs 7 Nov – Yr 3 trip to Museum (Rm 27 & Rm 28)
Thurs 7 Nov – Yr 6 Somerville Intermediate orientation visit
** click here to view more of the school calendar **
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 Enrolment Information
Parents and caregivers of in-zone students enrolling at Howick Intermediate School in 2025 should submit their application forms as soon as possible.
All applications are done online on their school website: https://www.howickintermediate.school.nz/enrolment
They will only be accepting applications for in-zone enrolments for 2025.
You can confirm if you are living in-zone on this link: https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/find-school
Howick Intermediate New Parent Information Evening
Wednesday 6 November – 7:00pm
in the Howick Intermediate school hall
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Fun Run / Colour Fun
Thank you to the families who have already signed up and started collecting donations for this exciting fundraiser. We are off to a great start and would like to see the whole school sign up and collect at least one donation.
Please see below for the amazing prizes that we will be giving away and click on this link to find out more about the event that we have planned! bdsfunrun.raiseit.co.nz
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Donation from Goodman Fielder
Thank you to Goodman Fielder who recently launched a new UHT milk in partnership with Steven Adams and donated UHT mild to our school. Thank you Vania for organising this.
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2023 Prizegiving Cups to Return
It is now the time of the year when we require cups that were awarded at last year’s prizegiving to be returned to the school for this year’s names to be engraved.
If your child received a cup or trophy at last year’s prizegiving, please return it to the school office as soon as possible – thank you.
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Gumboot Friday 1st November
Gumboot Friday is an annual event that raises money for free youth counselling. The event also serves as a platform to raise awareness about mental health and provide support to those who may be struggling with their mental well-being.
To support Gumboot Friday, our Botany Downs School Councillors will be collecting gold coin donations on the hall deck from 8.30-9am on Friday 1st November. It would be awesome to see as many children wearing their gumboots as possible to support this worthy cause.
Our councillors are also running a colouring competition with a prize for the best colouring for each year level. Hand your colouring-in competition entries to the office by Thursday 31st October.
Gumboot Friday 1st November, gold coin donation, wear your gumboots!
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ICAS Results – MATHS
Congratulations to all the Year 5 and 6 students who took part in the ICAS Maths Assessment exam. We now have the results and certificates. These certificates will be handed out at the Year 5 and 6 team assemblies. Please see below for students who achieved excellent results.
Year 5:
Merit (top 45% of participants): David-Lee Bezuidenhout, Dylan Davies, Mason Huang, Nora Khong, Emma Lee
Credit (top 35% of participants): Ron Du, Shane Hwang, Memphis Kwok, Oscar Wong
Distinction (top 10% of participants): Charlie Gao, Lisa Huang
High Distinction (top 1% of participants): Rafa Zhao
Year 6:
Merit (top 45% of participants): Ziyu Qi
Credit (top 35% of participants): Reuben Apperly, Shana Chen, Sana Shikoda
Distinction (top 10% of participants): Jay Kim, Khrish Ranchhod, Young Xu
High Distinction (top 1% of participants): Justin Qiao
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School Assembly
Please note: there is no assembly this week due to our
senior school athletics day being held on Friday.
Cross Country Cups for 2024 Presented at School Assembly in Week 4.
We will be presenting our Cross Country Cups for Year 3 -6 to our talented long distance runners. We invite you to attend our school assembly on Friday at 9.10 am on 8 November.
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Fun & Learning @ BDS
Year 3, Room 29: Room 29 has been having so much fun learning about different types of poems this term. So far, we have learnt about rhyming, acrostic and haiku poems and how each of them are designed differently. Take a look at some of the amazing poems that the Room 29 students developed based on their own interests:
Year 6 classes: The Year 6 students have been busy painting a new mural on our pool changing room wall. We are still in the process of completing it but you can go and have a look. The students chose a Kiwiana space theme. See if you can spot our four school Capability birds!
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Children Turning Five – Enrolment
If your child is turning five before June 2025 please ensure you
enrol them as soon as possible.
We are planning for classes and teachers into 2025 and this is made much easier if we have accurate numbers of new entrants even as far ahead as the middle of next year! Thank you.
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)
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Scholastic Lucky Book Club
A reminder: orders for the last issue of the Scholastic Lucky Book Club close tomorrow – Wednesday 30 October, 3pm. Online orders and payments are preferred – see the brochure for details and info.
 Remember: every purchase made helps build your child’s literacy skills, and helps the school to purchase valuable literacy resources – thank you!
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Want to learn new skills, get outdoors, and have fun? The skills you learn in athletics are the perfect foundation for almost any sport.
Every student can give athletics a go. Our local athletics club is Pakuranga Athletic Club: they are welcoming new members now, and we encourage students to get involved and get active.
Contact details for all athletics clubs nationwide are available here and become a member.
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