Week 5 Term 4, 2024
Tēnā koutou te whānau,
Thank you for your support and sponsorship of our 2025 Fun Run and Colour Fun. We are truly grateful for the amazing support from our BDS whānau. The event will take place this Friday before students head home.
To participate in the Fun Run and Colour Fun at the end of the day, students will need to change into an old t-shirt and shorts. Sunglasses or goggles can be worn to protect their eyes during the event. So much fun, we certainly will have some colourful tamariki going home on Friday. Please note our Save Day for this event is Monday 25 November.
Wow, thank you so much Rikki Lee for our fabulous Gaga Pit. Rikki is a father at our school and he has spent his spare time building the Gaga Pit for our tamariki. A Gaga Pit is an enclosed area used to play Gaga Ball, a fast-paced and high-energy game that’s similar to dodgeball but is played with a softer ball. Thank you Rikki. We cannot wait to see our tamariki using this to promote physical activity, teamwork, and sportsmanship.
Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Parkins, Principal – Tumuaki (vickip@botanydowns.school.nz)
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Coming up @ BDS…
Fri 15 Nov – BDS Fun Run / Colour Fun
Wed 20 Nov – PTA Jester’s Pie Day
Mon 25 Nov – Fun Run / Colour Fun Saving Day
Wed 27 Nov – BYOD Information meeting for parents of Yr 3s
Thurs 28 Nov – Junior Athletics Day
Fri 29 Nov – No Uniform Day
Thurs 5 Dec – Yr 0-1 Prizegiving, 9.15am
Mon 9 Dec – Yr 3&4 Big Day In
Tues 10 Dec – Yr 2&3 Prizegiving, 9.15am
Wed 11 Dec – Yr 4&5 Prizegiving, 9.15am
Thurs 12 Dec – Yr 6 Prizegiving & Graduation, 9.15am
Fri 13 Dec – Junior Big Day In
Mon 16 Dec – Yr 5&6 Big Day In
Tues 17 Dec – Last Day of 2024
** click here to view more of the school calendar **
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End of 2024 Dates
Thurs 5 Dec – Yr 0-1 Prizegiving, 9.15am
Mon 9 Dec – Yr 3&4 Big Day In
Tues 10 Dec – Yr 2&3 Prizegiving, 9.15am
Wed 11 Dec – Yr 4&5 Prizegiving, 9.15am
Thurs 12 Dec – Yr 6 Prizegiving & Graduation, 9.15am
Fri 13 Dec – Junior Big Day In
Mon 16 Dec – Yr 5&6 Big Day In
Tues 17 Dec – Last Day of 2024
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Botany Downs School Board
Casual vacancy for a parent representative
12 November 2024
A casual vacancy has occurred on the school board for an elected parent representative.
The board has decided to fill the vacancy by selection, this will be filled by Tom Pritchard.
If 10% or more of eligible voters on the school roll ask the board, within 28 days of this notice
being published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then a by-election will be held.
Request for a by-election should be sent to:
Presiding member: Kerry Budd
Botany Downs School Board
Address: 35 Mirrabooka Ave
Botany Downs
Auckland 2010
by: 10th December 2024
Kerry Budd
Presiding Board Member
Botany Downs School Board
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Class Placement Requests
for the Next School Year
Each year, parents are invited to submit requests regarding their child’s class placement for the upcoming school year. The aim is to inform the school of any factors that may impact your child’s learning experience. This information helps us create a learning environment that best supports your child’s success.
While we strive to accommodate all requests, please understand that we may not be able to meet everyone. Rest assured, we will carefully consider all the details you provide, alongside feedback from teachers and students, to make the best placement decisions for your child.
Please note that some staff members will be moving to different year levels next year, so we kindly ask that you do not request specific teachers.
All requests should be submitted by this Friday 15 November to the following Deputy Principals:
Thank you for your cooperation and support.
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2024 Term 4 BYOD Meeting
With the end of the year fast approaching, this is an update on BYOD for Year 3-6 students and whānau.
Year 3 parents – next year, Year 4 students can bring in their own devices! I’ll be presenting and answering questions from parents and the community on 27th November (Week 7 Wednesday) at 3.15 – 4.15 pm in our new build, Room 22.
Year 4 and Year 5 parents – there’s not much you need to do. Your child’s school account will be rolled over to the next school year. If you did not ‘bring your own device’ in 2024, and are considering it in 2025, you are more than welcome to attend the BYOD presentation afternoon mentioned above.
Year 6 parents – as the Year 6 students graduate, their accounts will be suspended and deleted. The Year 6 teachers will guide students through the Google Takeout process to transfer files to their personal accounts.
Sojung Yoon, BYOD coordinator sojungy@botanydowns.school.nz
School Page about BYOD – https://www.botanydowns.school.nz/digital-technologies/
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Fun Run / Colour Fun
Please note that if we can’t hold this event on Friday due to bad weather, we will postpone the Fun Run / Colour Fun until Monday 25 November. At this stage we are still going ahead with plans for this Friday 15 November, we will let you know on the day if that changes.
There is still time to sign up and collect donations to be in with a
chance to win our fabulous prizes: bdsfunrun.raiseit.co.nz
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School Board Notice
We’re delighted to share a new addition to our school uniform for 2025. Following requests from our community, the school board is pleased to advise from the beginning of 2025, both long and short plain black socks will be available for all our tamariki as part of our BDS uniform. Our green striped sock can also be worn but will no longer be for sale.
We hope this adjustment provides added comfort and convenience for all our students.
The Botany Downs School Board would like to extend our deepest gratitude for the contributions we have received towards our pool refurbishment project. Thanks to these incredible donations, we have been able to move forward with the resurfacing of our pool and the addition of a new pool cover — ensuring it remains a safe and enjoyable space for our students for years to come.
Thank you to the following organisations, your generous contributions are greatly appreciated.
Pub Charity, thank you for your donation of $7,500.
Four Winds, thank you for your donation of $4,000.
Lion Foundation, thank you for your donation of $7,500.
Your commitment to supporting education and community initiatives like ours is invaluable, and we are truly grateful. Thank you once again for helping us make this project a reality.
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Yummy Stickers
Thank you for participating in the Yummy sticker promotion this year. We collected an impressive number of stickers, and we are thrilled to share the results with you.
Botany Downs School has earned $194 to spend on sports gear. Thank you.
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PTA Notice
Come and cool off every Friday until the end of term, pay via Kindo or bring your gold coins. Come and see us by the staff room after school.
Frujus: $2 / Ice Pops: $1. Kindo payments must be received by midnight Thursday.
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School Assembly
There will be no school assembly this week due to our Fun Run / Colour Fun.
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2024 School Magazine –
 Limited numbers – order now!
At BDS we celebrate the year at our kura with photos and stories in our school magazine. This is a wonderful summary of the school year and we know many of our whānau treasure this magazine.
School Magazine – $20
Purchase your 2024 Botany Downs School Magazine NOW!
Deadline November 29 (Week 7 Friday).
Order now: pay via Kindo
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Fun & Learning @ BDS
PE/MUSIC/STEAM:
We have had an Athletics focus so far in Term 4 for our specialist PE lessons. Year 2 and 3 students have been learning how to participate in long jump. We have learned the technique and practiced in our long jump pit! We have worked hard on having a fast run up, pushing off from one foot and landing on two feet. We have also continued to develop our balance and
co-ordination skills and our throwing technique.
Year 4 – 6 students have had a focus on high jump. We have watched and discussed videos to help with learning the technique and have put it into practice. The students enjoyed finding their own challenge to conquer, whether it was jumping onto the high jump mat without a bar, jumping over the foam rope or jumping over the bar and increasing the height of the jumps!
In MUSIC we are focusing on playing along with a beat and listening to each other so we can play together. In Term 3, the Year 2 and 3 students had a focus on using Rakau sticks and playing along with the song E Papa Waiari, with the intention of learning how to play with a partner. The Year 4, 5 and 6 students have learned how to use drumsticks and learned some basic rhythms that are used within drumming. They then used those to play along with some songs.
This term the Year 2 and 3, students are learning how to use the amazing Boomwhackers in the C scale. It has been a lot of fun learning to play together and how to keep a beat with the Boomwhackers. The 4, 5 and 6 students have been lucky enough to play on some of our brand new 25 key xylophones, learning and understanding the Chromatic C scale that includes flats and sharps.
In STEAM we have been looking at animal classifications. We have identified the characteristics of mammals and made our own animals out of clay. Year 2 and 3 students have focussed on farm animals and Year 4-6 students have explored a wider variety of mammals such as safari animals. We are working towards designing and making our own habitats for our chosen animal!
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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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Summer Reading 2024
After a successful Summer Reading programme last year, we are excited to offer this opportunity once again for our students.
Why sign up for Summer Reading? The best way to improve literacy skills is to keep practising. This is particularly important over the long summer holidays, and it helps to keep students reading levels up. Plus, it is a fun thing to do!
 Registrations will open next week for students in Years 1-5
who are returning to BDS in 2025.
An online registration form will be in next week’s newsletter.
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