Week 2, Term 4, 2025
Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,
It has been a great first week back at school, with everyone showing their Botany Best.
Next week on Thursday we have our Teacher Only Day on Friday, and please make sure you have seen the School Board email in your inbox about the strike on Thursday 23 October and the school closure.
2025 School Yearbook:
This year’s yearbook planning is well underway and we are super excited to announce it will be even bigger and better than previous years. Full colour memories! It’s a FABULOUS memory of the year and your child will love reading it and looking at pictures in years to come.
Purchase TODAY via Kindo or eftpos at the office. Only $20 for a new and improved 2025 yearbook! Please pay by Wednesday 26th November.
School Communication:
- Newsletters are emailed out each Tuesday and uploaded to our school app
- Specific emails sent to your inbox
- Newsletters are uploaded to our website for use with Google Translate
- School website: https://www.botanydowns.school.nz/
- Year group (Team) newsletters are emailed to you in the first week of each term
- Reminders will be sent out on our school app Kiwi Schools App (KS Connect). Download the KiwiSchools app from your app store.
- The School Calendar is on our website and is continually updated
- WeChat is available for our Mandarin speakers, the QR code to join this group is outside Room 1- Rimu Team
- BDS Facebook page for celebrating success
Our Teams:
- Koru Kids = Our Five Year Olds Starting School
- Year 1 = Rimu Team
- Year 2= Kōwhai Team
- Year 3 =Pōhutukawa Team
- Year 4 = Tītoki Team
- Year 5= Tōtara Team
- Year 6 = Kauri Team
Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Parkins, Principal – Tumuaki (vickip@botanydowns.school.nz)
|
Coming Up @ BDS
Fri 17 Oct – No Uniform Day
Wed 22 Oct – PTA Jester’s Pie Day / School Board Meeting, 6.00pm
Thurs 23 Oct – Teacher Strike Day – school closed
Fri 24 Oct – Teacher Only Day
Mon 27 Oct – Labour Day (public holiday)
Thurs 30 Oct – 50th Jubilee Mix n’ Mingle, 5.30pm – 8.30pm*
*RSVP Required *18+ years only
Fri 31 Oct – 50th Jubilee Open Day School Tours, 9.30am – 2.00pm*
*RSVP Required
Wed 5 Nov – Kauri Team: Orientation Visit to
Howick Intermediate (morning)
Thurs 6 Nov – Kauri Team: Orientation Visit to
Somerville Intermediate (afternoon)
Fri 7 Nov – Senior Athletics Day
Wed 19 Nov – School Board Meeting, 6:00 pm
|
|
|
Key Dates to Note:
Thursday 23 October – Teacher Strike Day.
School will be closed, please check your emails for information
from the School Board.
Friday 24 October – Ministry of Education Teacher Only Day.
School will be closed for students while staff attend professional learning.
|
Policies and Procedures – SchoolDocs 2025
Term 4 Review
SchoolDocs provides a comprehensive core set of policies and procedures that are tailored to the needs of Botany Downs School. SchoolDocs updates, modifies and creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools and regular reviews.
Our SchoolDocs policies and procedures can be found via our school website on the link below:
Policies and Procedures – School Documents
If you would like to participate in reviewing the policies, please follow the instructions below.
- Visit the website https://botanydowns.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm
- Enter the username (botanydowns) and password (best).
- Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.
- Read the policy.
- Click the Start your review button at the top right-hand corner of the page.
- Select the reviewer type.
- Enter your name (optional).
- Follow the prompts to show that you’ve read the topic and enter your feedback if you’d like to comment.
- Agree to the privacy statement and click “Submit review”.
For Term 4 the following policies relate to Learning Support and are up for review:
- Bullying and Harassment
- Behaviour Management
- Searches, Surrender and Retention of Property
- Minimising Physical Restraint
- Stand-down, Suspension and Exclusion
- Staff Wellbeing and Safety
Mark Insley, Deputy Principal, (marki@botanydowns.school.nz)
|
|
|
** Remember to RSVP to let us know if you are joining us **
** Please note: Mix n’ Mingle is for 18+ years only **
|
|
|
Important Information From Howick Intermediate
If your child is Year 6 and will be attending Howick Intermediate, please ensure that you have enrolled them through the Howick Intermediate website: Enrolment – Howick Intermediate
Also, please check the date and time for their Parent Information Evening below:
Orientation Visit: Wed 5 November, 9.30am-10.30am
New Parent Information Evening: Wed 5 November, 7.00pm
Howick Intermediate school hall
|
|
|
Somerville Intermediate –
Enrolments for In Zone Students
In Zone enrolments for 2026 are OPEN. If you are residing within our school’s home zone and you have not yet submitted an enrolment application for 2026 for your child, please do so as soon as possible.
All enrolment applications must be made online. Please visit the Somerville Intermediate website for more details: Enrolment – Somerville Intermediate
** Important date: Orientation visit for Year 6 Kauri students attending Somerville in 2026: Thursday 6 November, 1.30pm-2.30 pm
|
|
|
PTA Notice…
No Uniform Day – Friday 17 October
Pay $2 and students can come dresssed in their own clothes. Please remember to pay either through Kindo or in cash to your class teacher on the day.
Fruju Friday’s are Back!
We’re excited to have Fruju Fridays running every week this term! Frujus will be available for $2 each and ice pops for $1. Payments can be made through Kindo by midnight on the Thursday before each Fruju Friday, or you can bring cash on the day. Sales start at 3pm outside the staffroom—perfect for a cool treat to end the week while supporting our school!
Join the fun!
Remember to join us on the BDS PTA Facebook page to keep up to date with all our events: BDS PTA Facebook
|
|
|
School Assembly
We invite you to attend our school assembly on Friday at 9:10am. This week our item will be from Pōhutukawa Team Year 3, Room 30.
Our Capabilities
Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown their Botany Best by displaying our Capabilities: Luna Arthur, Zoe Neemia, Nav Kaur, Coco Hussey, Siva Ramachandran, Ivy Chen, Corbyn Grainger, Thea Smith, Ananya Dhinesh Babu, Zach Claasen, Bhevin Verma, Amisha Clarke, Kai Du Plessis, Ryker McCallister-Lee, Teagan Andrew, Tristin Van Rooyen, Nathan Zhu, Lucy McIntosh, Ayeza Zahidani, Emily Green, Marcus Ismail, Farah Almayah, Odette Apperley, Mae Yumul, Muhammad Abdullah, Lisa Huang, Jiyu Kim, Huntr Bishton, Elliot Cheng, Ahaha Ahana, Lauren Hayes & Finn Roosenbrand.
Our Values
Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown our focus value Kaitiakitanga / Responsibility. Ahaan Harridass, Jayson Holmes, Yeray Limones Navarro, Titus Parsons, Daniel Hollins, Charlotte Else, Jenuki, Perera, Haya Rana, Mila Blake, Ayla Cameron, Petr Bertyaev, Isher Singh, Wynand Bloem, Enoch Liu, Lanthe Fourie, Anashe Mlilo, Charlotte Pitcaithly, Daisy Wu, Hannah Jung, Naoki Yamagata, Nicholas Botha, Joy-Ellen Tokai, Angela Chen, Ansh Patel, Aaryan Verma, Dylan Davies, Ezra Boyter, Rosy Xu, Karen Yang, Nelson Wang, Max Han & Datis Bassam.
|
|
|
Fun & Learning @ BDS
Pōhutukawa Team, Year 3, Room 29: This term, Room 29 has been learning all about graphs! We began by choosing a focus topic and collecting data from the students in our class. We recorded our results in a tally chart before turning them into different types of graphs to display our findings. Some of the graphs we created included bar graphs and pie graphs.
We worked carefully to make sure our graphs had all of the correct features. Take a look at our amazing work!
 My graph is about Room 29’s favourite food.
– Sujin.
My graph is about Room 29’s favourite sport.
– Jasgun.
 My graph is about Room 29’s favourite colour.
– Navya.
 My graph is about Room 29’s favourite animal.
– JB.
|
|
|
Enrol Now if Your Child Turns 5 Before April 2026
We are currently planning classes and staffing for 2026, and having accurate numbers of new entrants — even those starting mid-year — greatly helps us with this process. Thank you for your support.
Enrolment packs are available from the school office, or you can request one via email: office@botanydowns.school.nz
Rachel Ryan, DP/SENCo – Year 0-3 (rachelr@botanydowns.school.nz)
|
|
|
Scholastic Book Club – Last Issue for 2025!
Brochures for the latest Scholastic Book Club have been sent home. This will be the last Book Club offering for this year: a great chance to get ahead of Christmas gifts! Books are always a great gift idea!
Every order helps the school provide awesome books and resources
for our tamariki – thank you!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thrive at Botany Downs:
Term 4 Enrolments Open!
Give your child the gift of confidence and communication skills that will last a lifetime!
Thrive classes are fun and interactive speech and drama sessions designed to help children grow in confidence, creativity and communication. Each week, students take part in activities such as drama games, storytelling, improvisation, public speaking and performance work.
Classes are small, with only 4–6 students in each 30-minute session, so every child has the chance to shine. The focus is on building vital life skills like clear communication, teamwork, courtesy, creative thinking and self-expression, all in a supportive and encouraging environment.
When: Tuesdays after school
Starts: Week 1, Term 4
Ages: All welcome
Lesson Length: 30 minutes
Group Size: 4–6 students per class
Cost: $220 per 8-week term
Where: Room 11 Botany Downs School
Spaces are limited – we’d love to see your child in class!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Maori
Portuguese
Russian
Samoan
Spanish
