Kia ora koutou BDS whānau, Week 4, Term 3, 2023
Our wonderful weather last week meant we could have our senior playground completed and the fences were removed between 7.30 am and 8.30 am Friday morning. The year four, five, and six students, staff, and our kapa haka all gathered together for the opening of the playground. A special thank you to Hemi for performing the blessing. This sensational playground is a wonderful addition to our kura. Our addition of the climbing net for our junior playground can now also be used. Photos can be seen below.
As you may have seen in the media the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Education Review Office are working closely with all schools in NZ to improve attendance.
Attendance at school is incredibly important for your child. Attendance has been identified as one of the greatest influences on students’ achievement, engagement, and well-being. Overall, we do have comparatively high attendance rates when compared to other schools in NZ. This shows that as our BDS whānau, you do understand the value of regular school attendance and the impact that it has on learning outcomes and well-being.
At our kura, we continually track, monitor and support attendance. The Ministry of Education has now defined regular attendance as students who attend school 90% of the time or more and has requested that we remind parents that family holidays should be taken during the school holidays, not during term time.
During Term 1 we exceeded the Ministry target and had 93% overall attendance when averaged across the term. Our overall attendance during Term 2 was lower, at 87%. We have noted that the main reason given for our unjustified absences in Term 2 was families taking holidays during term time. We will continue to monitor this closely as this information is collected by the Ministry of Education.
A thank you to all our BDS whānau who do contact our school office either through our website, school app, by email or phone if your child is going to be absent from school. This is important and very much appreciated. If you do not contact the school we send reminder texts or phone to follow up on your child’s absence which all takes time. We are required by the Ministry of Education to correctly code the reason for every absence from school.
This table from the MoE represents the impact of non-attendance during your child’s time at school.
Our key message is: Unless your child is unwell, they should be at school every day.
Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Parkins, Principal – Tumuaki (vickip@botanydowns.school.nz)
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Coming up @ BDS…
Wed 9 Aug – No Uniform Day – Fancy Dress theme
Mon 14 Aug – ICAS English
Tues 15 Aug – Senior Speech Final
Wed 16 Aug – HPPA Gymnastics
Tues 22 Aug – ICAS Science
Wed 23 Aug – Junior (Yr 0-3) Cross-country / BOT meeting
Thurs 24 Aug – HPPA Speech Final
Fri 25 Aug – HPPA Lit Quiz
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New Playground Fun
We are thrilled to see our tamariki having fun playing on the new playgrounds!
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School Assembly Friday 9.10am
We invite you to attend our school assembly on Friday at 9.10 am.
We will be presenting our Botany Best Certificates and Values Bookmarks.
This week our item will be presented by Room 23.
Our Capabilities
 Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown their Botany Best by displaying our Capabilities: Miles Maceachen, Eli Adams, Mila Biddick, Layla Gallagher, Hareni Pirapakaran, Nina Phanwa, Blake Coxen, Athena-Lyn Parkin, Hunter Collins-Preiss, Eric Lu, William Pirie, Isher Singh, Mene’ Nel, Uriel Su’a, Amarah Hoosen, Ken Hoang, Cindy Zhang, Anru Stoltz, Simran Mahabir, Lucas Chen, David-Lee Bezuidenhout, Khliegh Velasco, Gabriella Venter, Jaspreet Kaur, Damian Odendaal, Adam Shawani, Tyler Sanders & Avril An.
Our Values
Congratulations to the following tamariki who have displayed our value of Responsibility-Kaitiakitanga: Anton Birchler, Eleanor Booth, Daisy Wu, Ava Tang, Kelvin Gu, Leo Minto, Tavis Lee, MJ Cronje, Konnor Oti, Cindy Zhou, Ruby Buckley, Abdullah Muhammad, Ethan Liu, Angela Wang, Lia Biddick, William Goosen, Reece Parkin, Summer Chai, Mia Jack, Nora Khong, Jacy Ablos, Mariam Alwaidh, Logan Baker, Nikita Winterstein, Luke Buckley, Kai Du Plessis, Lukas Stoltz & Wiandre Nel.
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Year 0-2 Curriculum Information Sessions
On Wednesday 9 August (tomorrow) we will be holding a Junior Maths session taken by Mrs Joanne Hughson. Our Year 0-2 whānau are warmly invited to come along.
This session runs alongside our current Bright Sparks session and is from 9:15 am – 10:15 am. The session will be held in the staffroom.
Please RSVP to Joanne at joanneh@botanydowns.school.nz if you are interested in attending this Junior Maths information session.
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ICAS Assessment Exams
A reminder that the ICAS Assessment Exams are coming up very soon. Please see the dates below. Also, if your child has borrowed any practice tests can they please be returned to Mr Insley in the school office by Friday 12th August.
 English: Monday 14th August
Science: Tuesday 22nd August
Maths: Wednesday 30th August
Mark Insley, Deputy Principal (marki@botanydowns.school.nz)
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Student Success – Piano Competition
Congratulations to the following students who competed in the Modern School of Music’s annual music competition, held in Remuera. Well done on their first time competing and wonderful results!
Tutor: Glenda.
 Emily Su’a: Gold-Test piece 10yrs piano, Silver-Latin American piano
 Annabella Zhang: Highly Commended-Test piece (New beginners) piano
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International Students
We are enjoying having international students visit our school and were very pleased to formally welcome them and their families at a special Pōwhiri last week. Thanks to our wonderful kapa haka group and also to our amazing orchestra who performed after the Pōwhiri. Our international students have been enjoying learning about Māori culture and things that are special to New Zealand.
Kate Keenan, International Coordinator (katek@botanydowns.school.nz)
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PTA Notices…
No Uniform Day – Fancy Dress
Wednesday 9th August (tomorrow)
Help raise money for the school and have fun dressing up in fancy dress of your choice. Dust off the dress-ups and dress up as whatever you like!
Donate $2 via Kindo, or cash can be given to class teachers on the day.
Kitchen Essentials
We have a number of kitchen essentials available for purchase through an online store. Every order helps raise funds for a new junior playground.
Orders close Friday 11th August so get your order in today!
Please enter your child’s name and room number on the order page.
Kitchen Essentials Fundraiser – Click Here to Order
Monday 14th August – PTA Bake sale
As part of our ongoing efforts to support our amazing school and the upgrades needed for our playgrounds, the Junior School is hosting a Bake Sale. If you have a child in Year 1 or 2, we would be grateful if you could please provide a small plate of home baking on Monday 14th August to sell to students at morning tea time.
Contributions can be dropped off at the hall between 8.30am – 9.30am.
$1 per item, payment via kindo or cash on the day.
More information will come home with your child this week.
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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)
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Learning and Fun @ BDS
Year 1, Room 7: ‘What’s the time Greedy Cat?’ This term, Room 7 has been learning about telling the time on an analogue clock. After reading a book about ‘Greedy Cat’, we decided to make our own clocks as the mischievous cat.
Can you guess what time it is?
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We are celebrating our school library this week; we are so very lucky to have our big, beautiful space that is filled with awesome books to read, and at lunchtime is filled with tamariki reading, and having fun together.
Did you know that only approximately a third of schools in NZ are as lucky as we are?
A school library is a vital part of student academic success. International research shows that schools with a well-resourced library and specialist library staff positively impact learning outcomes across all year levels.
School Libraries Transform – information and petition
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