Newsletter – Week 6, Term 3 2025

                                         Week 6, Term 3, 2025

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,

Congratulations to our tamariki for their amazing performance at the HPPA (Howick Pakuranga Principals’ Association) Gymnastics Competition. A big thank you to Miss Liu and Miss Young for their many lunchtime coaching sessions and excellent organisation that made this possible.

Lucas Pope represented our school in the HPPA Speech Competition. We were very proud of you, Lucas. Thank you, Miss Young, for helping Lucas with his speech competition. 

Thank you to our PTA and all our Year 0,1 and 2 BDS whānau who provided food for our bake sale which was a huge success.

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

Coming Up @ BDS

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
Thurs 11 Sept – Year 2 Kōwhai Trip to Howick Historical Village
Fri 12 Sept – PTA School Disco
Thurs 18 Sept – HPPA Mandarin Speech Competition
Thurs 18 Sept – Visual Arts Evening
Fri 19 Sept – Last Day of Term 3
Mon 6 Oct – First Day of Term 4

Teachers Paid Union Meeting

We wish to inform you that on Thursday 21st August, some of our staff will be attending a paid union meeting in the morning from 9.30-10.30 a.m. 

Fortunately, we have plenty of staff remaining onsite at school to run an alternative instruction programme during that time to ensure students continue to receive meaningful learning opportunities. Therefore, Botany Downs School will remain open during the paid union meeting. All staff will be back at school from 11.00 a.m and the school day will run as normal from there.

We appreciate your understanding and support in helping us meet Ministry of Education requirements for continuous instruction while also respecting our staff’s right to participate in this important meeting.

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

Ngā mihi nui.
Mark Insley – Deputy Principal

SCHOOL NEWS

HPPA Gymnastics Competition

On Wednesday 13th of August, 32 students represented BDPS at the HPPA Gymnastics competition. Their hard work paid off, with a few of our students even making it onto the podium. Great job, gymnasts! 

Miss Young and Miss Liu 

Individual Results:

Team Results:

Scholastic Book Club – Issue #6

The latest Scholastic Book Club brochure will be coming home today. The Book Club offers a wide range of exciting and engaging books to suit all ages and interests.

Choosing their own books to read is a great way for children to build their reading for pleasure; reading for pleasure is proven to improve literacy, social skills, well-being, empathy, and more.

Every order also helps the school to purchase valuable library and classroom resources – thank you for your support!

• Orders for Issue 6 close Tuesday 26 August, 3.00 p.m
• Order and pay online via the Scholastic Loop website: Loop parent login

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 items will be from Year 2 Kōwhai Rm 3, and the Tongan Dance Group.

Winning House for Week 5 was Batten. Here are the Batten students from Rm 29:

Our Values

Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown our focus value Respect Manaakitanga: Lakena Wilson, Yunxiao Yan, Yeray Limones-Navarro, Akshar Samdaw Krishinchand, Reshitha Perera, Cheng Hong, Kade Hubbard, Zoe Mungapattu, Taye Yon, Tiffany Qu, Christian Perry, Noah Ellis, Shangyuan Cao, Joy Qu, Kirianne Parado, Mikaele Atoa, Agam Pavadia, Theia Saunders, Alan Hu, Reuben Tate, Artie Ong, Maxton Fung, Navya Kumar & MacKenzie Kim.

Our Capabilities

Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown their Botany Best by displaying our Capabilities: Dhrishiv Katal, Nicolas Long, Angela Wang, Kiano Gillespie, Amber Ren, Xena-Leigh Hamilton, Kaius Oti, Harley Hine, Gloria Wang, Keileb Dell, Nella Ranchhod, Mengxi Lu, Eli Adams, Ali Moshtagh Askari, Mohamad Alali, Chevy Davis, Sarah Shawani, Isla Jones, Mason Huang, Nathan Christians, Riley Wu, Yasmine Alsharefi, Gabe Jacobs & Olivia Chen.

Fun & Learning @ BDS

Culture Comes Alive in Year 6 Kauri: Our Year 6 Kauri tamariki have been busy exploring different cultures as part of our inquiry learning. They were fortunate to take part in hands-on experiences, including a Korean Cultural Experience and a German Cultural Experience.

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

Congratulations to all the winning authors, illustrators and publishers of this year’s
New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults!

COMMUNITY NOTICES

HJ Elite Academy –
Holiday Soccer Development Programme

Looking for a fun and active way to keep the kids engaged, entertained, and learning during the school holidays?
Join our Holiday Soccer Development Programme with HJ Elite Academy!

Click here to register

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