Newsletter – Week 4, Term 3 2025 – Botany Downs Primary School

Week 4, Term 3, 2025

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,

Our Dance Extravaganza on Thursday evening was spectacular. Our fabulous dancers lit up the stage with energy, confidence, and creativity; it was a joy to watch every performance. A huge thank you to Mrs Jeffs, Miss Smith, and Sam, whose enthusiasm and dedication made the evening possible. And to our amazing BDS whānau, wow, what a turnout! You packed the hall and brought an incredible vibe with you. What a celebration of talent, teamwork, and joy.

What an incredible achievement from our talented BDS Choir! They were awarded a Gold Medal at the Kids Sing Choir Competition held at Holy Trinity in Parnell.

A huge congratulations to our amazing choir teacher, Miss Liu, and our wonderful BDS choir, you truly showed your Botany Best on stage.

Thank you to Miss Liu for your support in preparing our performers, supported by Mr Yoon, and wonderful parent helpers. Thanks also to our BDS whānau who helped behind the scenes and came along to cheer us on. Your presence made the night even more special.

Ka rawe, everyone. We are so proud of you all!

Thank you to everyone who has already completed our survey, we truly value your feedback. There is still time to have your say, as we have extended the survey for one more week. Together, we can keep bringing our school vision to life by striving to be ‘Our Best Always’ and form our Strategic Direction.

Please take a few minutes to click on this link and complete the survey:

BDS Survey

Teaching and learning continue to be at the heart of everything we do at BDS. Last week, our School Board received a mid-year update on student achievement, and we’re proud to share some of the highlights with you.

Our tamariki are engaged, working hard, and achieving great results. The table below shows the percentage of students working at or above the expected curriculum levels in reading, writing, and maths.

Thank you to our dedicated teaching team and supportive whānau for everything you do to help our learners thrive.

	Reading (% at/above)	Writing (% at/above)	Maths (% at/above)
Total	87%	86%	93%

Attendance Matters – Let’s Work Together

We have attached the graphic below from the Ministry of Education for the Stepped Attendance Plan Guidance for school. We will be using these categories to contact our whānau to show your child’s attendance.

Regular attendance is a key focus for us. Being at school every day really does add up. Missing just one day every two weeks means a whole year of lost learning by the age of 16.

As whānau, you play a vital role in helping build good attendance habits. Please let us know if your child is going to be away, and remember that holidays or time off for non-school activities are not considered justifiable reasons for absence by the Ministry of Education.

If you’re unsure whether your child is well enough to attend, you can find helpful health guidance by clicking on this link, or just get in touch with us. We are here to support you.

If getting to school is tough at the moment, please talk with us. Together, we can help every learner thrive.

At BDS, we’re committed to creating a safe, welcoming environment where every child belongs and wants to be each day.

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

Coming Up @ BDS

Wed 6 Aug – Nominations close for School Board Elections
Wed 6 Aug – Yr 5&6 Speech finals
Mon 11 Aug – ICAS English / HPPA Speech finals
Wed 13 Aug – HPPA Gymnastics
Mon 18 Aug – PTA Bake Sale
Tues 19 Aug – Netball Non-competitive day
Wed 20 Aug – PTA Jester’s Pie day
Thurs 21 Aug – ICAS Science
Mon 25 Aug – ICAS Maths
Tues 26 Aug – School Board meeting, 6.30 p.m
Fri 29 Aug – HPPA Lit Quiz / Daffodil day
Thurs 4 Sept – Junior Cross Country / Chinese Speech Competition
Fri 5 Sept – No Uniform day / Father’s Day morning
Tues 9 Sept – Netball competitive day
Wed 10 Sept – PTA Jester’s Pie day
Fri 12 Sept – PTA School Disco

Nominations Close – Tomorrow
12 noon Wednesday 6th August 2025

The nomination process for our School Board elections has started and nominations are now open. We have three (3) spaces for parent representatives on the Botany Downs School Board.

We have appointed Schooled Election Pilot as the Returning Officer for the election, they will be handling the election process and you will see communications directly from them.

Everyone who is eligible to vote in the election will receive a nomination pack (either via email or post). The info pack will contain everything you need to nominate yourself or another member of the community. If you are going to nominate someone else, just make sure they know about it and will accept the nomination! It will also include information about who isn’t able to be a School Board member.

If you need extra forms, or want a copy of the nomination form in Te Reo Māori or another language, just contact the Returning Officer from Election Pilot directly on 0800 VOTENZ (0800 868 369) or election@electionpilot.nz.

Don’t leave things to the last minute, because elections close at noon on Wednesday 6th August 2025.

You can email in your nomination, complete it online at www.boardelections.nz or fill it in and drop it off to the school office. You can also send in a candidate statement and smiling photo with your nomination as well.

A copy of the electoral roll is kept at the school office and is available to be checked during usual school hours.

Voting will end at 4pm on Wednesday 10th September 2025.

Regards,
Schooled Election Pilot

SCHOOL NEWS

BDS Wins Gold at The Kids Sing Choir Festival!

Botany Downs School Choir achieved a fantastic result of scoring Gold on Monday 4th August, at the Kids Sing Festival 2025! It was great to see three terms of hard work come to fruition on stage.

Thank you so much to the parent helpers – Shirley, Ying, Rachel, Hazel, Eunice, Mariah and Jing. We could not have done this without you. A special thanks to the Bua family – Miriam Chen, Jared Bua and Nathan Bua; and to Mingfei Wang and Rafa Zhao, our student accompanist. Your constant support with the school choir has been fundamental to our success.

To the 33 tamariki who spent the whole day at the Holy Trinity Church in Parnell; and their whānau who braved the chilly winds to come watch us sing – thank you, thank you, thank you.

Finally, huge thanks to Miss Liu for organising and coordinating the choir for the last few years. Her passion and drive is what brought us together.

Nga mihi and regards,
Mr Yoon

Dance Extravaganza

On Thursday last week we had our wonderful Dance Extravaganza! There were 100 students involved in this event, and all students danced proudly and looked fantastic on stage. Here are some photos from the fabulous evening:

If anyone has a photo from the finale or any amazing group photos please email them to Miss Smith: katies@botanydowns.school.nz.

Junior Playground Progress…

School Assembly

We invite you to attend our school assembly on Friday at 9.10 a.m. We will be presenting our Botany Best Certificates and Values Bookmarks. This week our item will be from Year 4 Tītoki team – Room 17, and the Cook Island dance group.

Our Values

Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown our focus value Relationships / Whanaungatanga: Daisy Huang, Baghel Singh, Suzanna Kamakorewa, Max Wang, Willow Cometti, Siva Ramachandran, Charlotte Else, Harley Hine, Leroy Singh, Alice Chen, Sophia Cheah, Anika Du Preez, Beau Scott, Zerahiah Turner, Qitei Ramlall, Roxas Eason, Zoya Khan, Novan Leno Alex, Tong Wang, Charlie Carson, Nathan Hurter, Ryan Hu, Cassia Grisselle & DJ Brown.

Our Capabilities

Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown their Botany Best by displaying our Capabilities: Ethan Pope, Uriel Su’a, Matilda Malez, Dana Al-Sarraf, Hayley Bauer, Shuang Liang, AJ Aisea, Joseph Maifea, Mila Ritchie, Taika Murray, Finlay Mackay, Jax Bloem, Nancy Mao, SJ Sieleelea, Kezia Muruganathan, Hanro Stoltz, Quintus Wang, Mika Nel, Yongha Kim, Zainab Ali, Jayden Coetzee, Joanna Qiao, Jasgun Mavi & Maci Lund-Finn.

Student Success…

Over the weekend, Lexi Tsai from Room 19, participated in the Eastern Suburbs Gymnastic Competition.

Lexi won 1st place in Floor Apparatus, 2nd place in All-Arounds, and 3rd place in Beam. Congratulations Lexi!

Fun & Learning @ BDS

Year 4 Tītoki, Room 19: Room 19 has been exploring the rich cultural diversity within our school community. We were fortunate to welcome a special guest facilitator into our classroom, who taught us how to create a traditional Korean Hanbok using paper. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about Korean culture while also sharpening our paper crafting skills — a fun and memorable experience for us all!

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)

LIBRARY NEWS