Newsletter – Week 5, Term 1, 2022 – Botany Downs Primary School

Kia ora koutou BDS whānau, Week 5, Term 1, 2022

Thank you for your support last week as we moved from Phase 2 into Phase 3. Today is a beautiful sunny day and outside my window we have children happy and busy with their fitness activities. It is so good to see.

Now that we are in Phase 3 we are no longer required to identify close contacts and send classes home. However, please be confident that at BDS we are continuing to keep our students and staff as safe as possible with all our protocols and procedures as mentioned in previous newsletters. Please help us by keeping sick children at home and diligently monitor for COVID-19 symptoms.

To help support our students that are needing to self isolate at home, or those that are at home with COVID but well enough to work, Mr Yoon and Mrs Hatley-Owen have worked together to update our website to provide more opportunities for home learning. Please also contact your class teacher and we can provide a hard pack.

It is very important that if your child tests positive for COVID-19 that you email or phone the office (office@botanydowns.school.nz) and provide the information below so that we can follow the requirements for reporting to the Ministry of Education. Thank you.

Students with positive COVID-19 results please email us:

Last day at school
Date of Positive Covid Test
Type of COVID test

Please do not hesitate to contact us or the class teacher.

Ngā mihi nui,

Vicki Parkins Principal vickip@botanydowns.school.nz
Mark Insley marki@botanydowns.school.nz
Joanne Hughson joanneh@botanydowns.school.nz

Coming up @ BDS…

Fri 4 Mar – Non Uniform Day: Feeling Fabulous
Wed 23 Mar – Parent/teacher interviews (online)
Thurs 24 Mar – Parent/teacher interviews (online)
Thurs 14 Apr – Teacher Only Day
Thurs 14 Apr – Last day of Term 1
Fri 15 Apr – Good Friday (public holiday)
Mon 2 May – First day of Term 2

SCHOOL NEWS

Botany Best & Values Awards

Well done to the following children who will receive their awards on Friday:

Botany Best: Skylah Hubbard, Henil Tailor, Lillias Fisher, Kai Du Plessis, Sion Nell, Ayden Sharp, Jacob Dai, Miles Maceachen, Sophia Cheah, Joshua Chuah, Jaspreet Kaur, Mia Jack, Ella Hartnoll, Yiyi Sun, Matakeu Marsters, Cartyr Clifton, Joynoor Singh, Lene Venter, Aydan Boparai, Christopher Le, Khrish Ranchhod, Jaaveis Iese and Deijahnah Matyas.

Values Award: Vion Lee, Lily Hodgson, Beau Scott, Ariyan Atrushi, Varya Govender, Venuja Nanayakkara, Zean Wang, Oliver de Bruin, Fedya Chibel, Mariam Alwaidh, Ezra Boyter, Shane Hwang, Angelia Qiao, Maanvi Patel, Jay Kim, Rishaan, Kumar, April Clements-Goh, Liam Forrest, Liam Manson, Peri Petelo-Vili, Joseph Nong, Mia El Chami, Sean Hwang, Belle Carson and Averie Chin.

PTA – Non Uniform Day: Friday 4 March

Support our ‘Feeling Fabulous’ Friday fundraiser on the 4th of March 2022. Celebrate your individuality, choices, and style; it is all about being yourself and feeling fabulous!

We encourage all family members to get involved and to dress to impress!

No uniform $2 per child, payments to be made via Kindo where possible.
(If needed, ‘No uniform’ cash will be accepted in the classroom on the day )

Botany Downs School ‘Wheels’ Policy

Besides walking, active transport to and from school includes bicycles and scooters. Students must wear suitable footwear, a Standards-approved helmet, and any necessary safety gear.

Students using scooters must be considerate, give way to other pedestrians and be aware of sneaky driveways. A sneaky driveway is a driveway that has hedges, trees, or a fence at the end of it that prevents anyone reversing out of the driveway from seeing the footpath.
Students may not use wheels in the school grounds during school hours, unless it is an organised school event.
Students must place their cycles and scooters in the cycle stands in front of Room 3.
Cyclists are expected to observe the road rules – hand signals, looking behind, mounting/dismounting, keeping well left, etc. Cyclists may not “double” other students to school.
Each cyclist must wear a Standards-approved cycle safety helmet and have a roadworthy bicycle.

The police recommend that no child under the age of 10 should cycle to school unless accompanied by an adult.

MoT cycling

MoT scooter safety tips

If you have any questions in regards to our school wheels policy, please contact Mark Insley (Deputy Principal) marki@botanydowns.school.nz

LIBRARY NEWS

Beautiful artwork by Room 3, inspired by the popular picture book The Rainbow Fish.

Class Library Visits

It is lovely to welcome our students back to the library! Each class at BDS has a weekly scheduled library time. These sessions allow students to choose books they would like to take home to read, and learn how to use a library to find the books and information they need.

Please support your child’s learning by:

ensuring they have their book bag (Yrs1-3) – Year 1-3 need their book bag to take library books home
sharing the books they bring home – read them together
ensuring they return their books on time – so they can choose another one, and so others can have a turn
helping them learn responsibility by taking good care of the book and remembering to return it on time

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Botany Taekwon-Do

Botany Taekwon-Do has been training the ITF style of Taekwon-Do at Botany Downs Primary School for over 18 years. Come and have some fun with us. get fit and learn a skill with qualifications that are recognised around the world. We operate a two week free trial.

Want to know more? Visit our web site at botanytaekwondo.co.nz or just turn up at 6pm on Monday or Thursday nights and say hi. All ages and abilities are welcome.