Newsletter – Week 5, Term 4 2025

                                         Week 5, Term 4, 2025

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,

50th Jubilee Celebration

Our 50th Jubilee celebrations last week were a huge success. It was a wonderful gathering on Thursday evening for our Mix and Mingle event for past and present staff, students, and whānau. On Friday, our student leaders proudly showcased our school by guiding visitors who had booked in for tours. A memorable moment for all our tamariki was our giant “50” formation on the field, a fun way to celebrate this special milestone. 

Jubilee badges are still available from the office for anyone who would like one. Our PowerPoint presentation featuring photos from past and present is being prepared to share on our website.

A huge thank you to our wonderful Jubilee Committee, led by Kylee Holmes and Iris Liu, for their outstanding organisation and care in making the evening so special.

Thank you also to our incredible BDS staff for their support in bringing this event together. The Tōtara Team Year 5 classrooms were the perfect setting for our mix and mingle, and we are very grateful to our Tōtara Team Year 5 students and teachers for their help with the setup and pack down. Our Facebook page has photos from this memorable event.

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

Coming Up @ BDS

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 / Gumboot Friday
Wed 12 Nov – PTA Jester’s Pie Day
Fri 14 Nov – Cultural Dress Day
Wed 19 Nov – School Board Meeting, 6:00 pm
Fri 21 Nov – HPPA Athletics
Wed 26 Nov – Junior Athletics Day
Fri 28 Nov – No Uniform Day
Mon 1 Dec – Whānau Helpers Morning Tea
Wed 3 Dec – PTA Jester’s Pie Day

End Of Year Important Dates

Thurs 4 Dec  – Rimu Team Year 0/1 Celebration
Mon 8 Dec – Rimu Team Year 0/1 Big Day In
Tues 9 Dec – Kōwhai Team Year 2 & Pōhutukawa Team Year 3 Prizegiving
Wed 10 Dec – Kōwhai Team Year 2 Big Day In
Wed 10 Dec – Tītoki Team Year 4 & Tōtara Team Year 5 Prizegiving
Thurs 11 Dec – Pōhutukawa Team Year 3 & Tītoki Team Year 4 Big Day In
Fri 12 Dec – Kauri Team Year 6 Prizegiving / Graduation
Mon 15 Dec – Kauri Team Year 6 Big Day In
Tues 16 Dec – Tōtara Team Year 5 Big Day In

Yearbook / School Magazine 2025!  

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 NEWS

Senior School Athletics 

On Friday the 7th November we will be holding our Senior School Athletics day. Events will run all day and all students will take part in Athletic events. Some competitive and others non competitive. 

The event timetable is below. Please note that these times are approximate and may change on the day.

Lunch: 1.00 – 1.45pm
House Relays: 1.50pm
Prizegiving: 2.15pm

Middle School Poetry Recital

Every Pōhutukawa Team Year 3 and Tītoki Team Year 4 student shared their poem with their class, and the teachers had the tough job of choosing just a few to go through to the finals. These finalists then performed their poems in front of the Pōhutukawa Team Year 3 and Tītoki Team Year 4 students and whānau last Wednesday. They all did a fantastic job and should be incredibly proud of their confidence, expression, and creativity! 

Tōtara Team Year 4 Finalists 

Skyla McCallister-Lee, Charlotte Walsh, Ayeza Zahidani (Back Row)
Kacey Wang, Varya Govender, Harper Annan & Zahara Williams (Front Row) 

Pōhutukawa Team Year 3 Finalists

Leo Minto, Lexi Jones, Jordan Claasen, Aahana Perera & Zachary Bradbury (Back Row)
Darcey McCrindle, Rosie Roberts & Datis Bassam (Front Row)

Congratulations to the top 3 finalists

1st Place – Charlotte Walsh
2nd Place – Skyla McCallister-Lee
3rd Place – Aahana Perera

Pōhutukawa Team Year 3 T-Ball Tournament

The Pōhutukawa Team Year 3 T-Ball team competed against a Year 4 team last Wednesday, playing two games and winning both! These students have been working hard in training to sharpen their hitting and catching skills, and their effort really showed on the field. A big congratulations to these wonderful players!

Pōhutukawa Team Year 3 T-Ball Team:
Sebastian Fisher, Finn Roosenbrand, Konnor Oti, Luca Takaiti-Kerr, Nathan Hurter, 
Max Han & MacKenzie Kim (Back Row)
Ilaisaane Fifita, Datis Bassam, Lachlan Marck, Cayde Limu & Connor Swanepoel (Front Row)

Tree Poem Challenge

We’re thrilled to share that some of our tamariki recently took part in the Tree Poem Challenge, run by Paula Green – an award-winning poet and passionate advocate for children’s poetry. Paula runs The Poetry Box, a wonderful blog that shares poetry just for kids. Congratulations to Cameron Ellis and Rosie Chin for getting their poems published onto the website. 

A special congratulations to our young poet Rosie Chin for winning a book from Paula Green! 

The Life of Trees

The Kauri tree is big.

Big like a whale,

Big like an elephant,

And big like a building.

The Kauri tree is life.

Life for us.

If we didn’t have it life would be gone.

Our trees are life especially the Kauri tree.

Treat the trees with care.

Our Pohutukawa tree is beautiful.

It symbolizes life and death,

The connection between them.

Treat the trees with care.

The New Zealand oak known as Titoki,

Symbolizes strength and resilience.

Our Titoki tree needs care.

If we don’t treat it,

We won’t have nature.

If we don’t have nature our world is nothing.

It’s good to treat our land with care especially our trees.

Our trees are symbols of life and nature.

Treat them with care.

And our trees with care.

We need trees and plants if we be useless we won’t have land.

Land is not just for us, its for the animals, trees, and plants.

Everything matters, learn from your mistakes.

Treat everything with care if you can.

Rosie Chin, Kauri Team Year  6, Room 25.

Gumboot Friday – 7th November

Gumboot Friday is an annual event that raises money for free youth counselling. The event also serves as a platform to raise awareness about mental health and provide support to those who may be struggling with their mental well-being.

To support Gumboot Friday, our Botany Downs School Councillors will be collecting gold coin donations on the hall deck from 8.30-9am on Friday 7th November. It would be awesome to see as many children wearing their gumboots as possible to support this worthy cause. Our councillors are also running a colouring in competition with a prize for the best colouring for each year level. 

Gumboot Friday 7th November:
gold coin donation – wear your gumboots!

PTA Notice…

Fruju Fridays – kindly supported by Pak n Save Highland Park!

Fruju Fridays are up and running every Friday until the end of term! Come and buy your Fruju $2 or icepop $1 outside the staffroom from 3pm.  Pay in cash or via Kindo.

 

We need more help to sell Frujus to keep the process quick and running smoothly.  If you can help for 15 minutes at the end of the day please email pta@botanydowns.school.nz. Sign up to help and get a free Fruju on your first day!

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

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

COMMUNITY NOTICES

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