Week 1, Term 2, 2025

Tēnā koutou te whānau,

Welcome back to school for Term 2, and a very warm welcome to the new families who have joined our Botany Downs School community.  We hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday. 

We have a busy and exciting term ahead, starting with our much-anticipated Book Week. Please keep an eye out for all communications from us; everything you need to know will be in our weekly newsletter, sent out every Tuesday.

A key date to note: Friday 30 May is a Ministry of Education Teacher Only Day, leading into the King’s Birthday weekend. Please mark your calendars.

This term, our Winter Uniform is in place. Please see the guidelines below to ensure all tamariki are dressed appropriately for the season. 

We are very pleased to welcome back Tineke Oed to BDS.  Tineke will be teaching in Room 10 with our newest five-year-olds. She is an experienced and capable teacher who knows BDS inside and out. We’re so pleased to have her back, what a fantastic start for our tamariki.

Attendance:
Attendance has been identified as one of the greatest influences on students’ achievement, engagement and well-being. During Term 1, we met the Ministry target and had 90% overall attendance at BDS. Well done to our community for valuing attendance and education so highly.

Please continue to let us know if your child will be absent by:

• emailing absences@botanydowns.school.nz
• phoning (09) 534 9848 and leaving a message
• using the school app 

Please state your name, your child’s name, their room number and the reason for their absence.

This table from the MoE represents the impact of non-attendance during your child’s time at school.

1 or 2 Days a week doesn’t seem like much but…

I look forward to connecting with you all at the various events that we are planning this term.

 Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Parkins, Principal – Tumuaki (vickip@botanydowns.school.nz)

More information about our school uniform can be found on the school website: Botany Downs School Uniform

Uniforms are purchased from:

9 Moore St, Howick. Ph: 534-9373 / www.johnrussellmenswear.co.nz

School Communication

• Newsletters are emailed out each Tuesday and uploaded to our website for use with Google Translate
• Newsletters are uploaded to our school app (little icon)
• Year group (Team) newsletters are emailed to you in the first week of each term
• Reminders will be sent out on our school app
• The School Calendar is on our website and is continually updated
• WeChat is available for our Mandarin speakers
• BDS Facebook page for celebrating success

Coming Up @BDS

Week 1 Term 2 – BOOK WEEK
Thurs 1 May – PJ & Teddy Day
Fri 2 May – Book Character Dress-up Day & Parade: 9.30 a.m
Wed 7 May – School Board meeting, 6.00 p.m
Fri 9 May – PTA Mothers’ Day Morning; 8.00 – 9.00 a.m
Mon 12 May – PTA meeting, 7.00 p.m
Wed 14 May – PTA Jester’s Pie day
Wed 21 May – PhotoLife school photos
Thurs 22 May – PhotoLife school photos
Fri 23 May – Interschool Rugby
Fri 30 May – Teacher Only Day
Mon 2 June – King’s Birthday (public holiday)

SCHOOL NEWS

Book Week is Here!

Award-winning authors coming to visit…

Wednesday 30 April: Elena de Roo (Year 1, 2, 3 students)

Thursday 1 May: Leonie Agnew (Year 4, 5, 6 students)

PJ & Teddy Day! Thursday 1 MAY
Wear your cosy pyjamas to school and bring your teddy (or soft toy) to read to!

Book Character Dress-up Day & Parade!
Friday 2 MAY – Parade at 9.30 a.m

The last day of Book Week is a celebration of our favourite book characters. Get your thinking hats on – who will you dress up as this year?
Please remember that a costume doesn’t have to be expensive or bought from the store – get creative! The following links might give you just the inspiration you are looking for:

Last Minute World Book day costumes: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/30-last-minute-world-book-10976213

Last minute easy World Book costumes: https://www.madeformums.com/toddler-and-preschool/last-minute-easy-world-book-day-costumes/ 

Fun Book Character Costumes: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/halloween-ideas/g22127013/book-character-costumes/

Scholastic Book Fair! All week!

A ‘pop-up book store’ in the library with a wide range of exciting books and stationery for all ages and interests.

The Book Fair will be open:
Mon-Fri morning 8.30-9.00 a.m
Mon-Thurs afternoon 2.30-3.30 p.m

Payment by EFTPOS, Credit Card, or cash. Every purchase made helps to provide the school with books and resources for the library and classrooms – thank you for your support!

Lego ‘Mini Figure’ Donations

Miss Heath, our Learning Support Coordinator, is requesting that if there are whānau with Lego 
‘mini-figures’ that are no longer needed at home, we would be very grateful for any donations. 

Please send them to the school office or directly to the LSC office. Thank you.
Susan Heath, Learning Support Coordinator (susanh@botanydowns.school.nz)

PTA Notices

PTA Mother’s Day Morning – Friday 9 May 
Join us for a morning of connection and appreciation as we celebrate not only mums — but all the wonderful people who fill a mother-like role in the lives of our tamariki.  Come and get a bite to eat and a cup of tea or coffee:  8am until 9am, on the courts outside the hall.

Dollar for Schools Lunch Orders start this week.  Thanks to this fantastic service, you’ll be able to order St Pierre’s sushi (Wednesdays) and Domino’s pizza (Fridays) for your children every week, with lunches delivered directly to them at school.  Orders close 9am on the day of delivery. $1 from every order goes to our school!

Register and order at www.dollarforschools.co.nz

** Please note: Our Whittaker’s Chocolates fundraiser has been delayed to the start of week 3, more details to come.

Our BDS Values

At Botany Downs School we “live” by these four Values:

Our focus value for the first half of Term 2 is Responsibility – Kaitiakitanga

Our Capabilities

These capabilities represent the skills and knowledge for our ākonga to achieve success as they grow. These capabilities weave through all our learning areas. 

Fun & Learning @ BDS

Year Six learning: At the end of last term, Rooms 26 and 16 looked at the importance of ANZAC Day in a unique way. Mrs Jeffs and Miss Hill took their classes to Gallipoli by setting up the classroom like trenches and the students had to work in these trenches all day. They were divided into the Allied Troops and the Central Powers. They had tasks to complete throughout the day, for example, researching how the war started, who each side was, what life in the trenches was like, and what it was like at Gallipoli. Every now and then war would break out but luckily we had great nurses on hand to fix up the wounded and send them back to the front lines. They were all rewarded with a care package from home with ANZAC biscuits.

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)

LIBRARY NEWS

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Register for Term 2 >>>  After Soccer Term 2

Pay the kindo way: https://botanydowns.school.nz/kindo/