Newsletter – Week 6, Term 4 2025 – Botany Downs Primary School

Week 6, Term 4, 2025

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,

It was a stunning summer day for our Senior School Athletics, and everyone enjoyed the event, showing their Botany Best! It was wonderful to see our tamariki giving their all and supporting one another throughout the day. A big thank you to our BDS whānau who came along to cheer, to Rachael Jeffs for her excellent organisation, and to all the staff who helped make the day such a great success.

With the warmer weather here, please remember to wear a hat this term. Let’s keep everyone safe while enjoying our time outside.

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

Coming Up @ BDS

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 – Festive Fun Theme
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

Cultural Dress Day

Summer Reading – Coming Soon!

After a successful Summer Reading programme last year, we are excited to offer this opportunity once again for our students.

Registrations will open next week for students in Years 1-5 who are
returning to BDS in 2026.

Why sign up for Summer Reading? The best way to improve literacy skills is to keep practising. This is particularly important over the long summer holidays, and it helps to keep students reading levels up. Developing a love of reading for pleasure helps to improve wellbeing, develops empathy, builds focus and stamina, builds vocabulary and general knowledge, and encourages curiosity and imagination (key factors in innovation and problem-solving skills).

Photos for School Jubilee

A massive thank you to Matthew Broodryk for his skills in using his drone to take our student number 50 photos for our school Jubilee. We really appreciate the time you took to do this for us. The photos were amazing!

Fun & Learning @ BDS

Pōhutukawa Team Year 3: This term in Room 28, we are learning about Natural Disasters. Last week, we focussed on Volcanic Eruptions by learning about the different parts of the volcano and how & why they erupt. We decided to do a fun experiment by creating our own mini volcanoes using coca cola and mentos to make an explosion. It was so exciting!

Tītoki Team Year 4: Room 18 have been really enjoying their swimming lessons at Lloyd Elsmore Pools. They are growing in confidence in the water and are learning how to float, kick, and practise different swimming strokes.

School Assembly

Our school assemblies will now be held under the canopy by our Year 4 Tītoki team, as the hall is currently unavailable while works are being completed.

We invite you to attend our school assembly on Friday at 9.10 am. We will be presenting our Botany Best Certificates and Values Bookmarks.

Our BDS Capabilities

Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown their Botany Best by displaying our Capabilities: Hazel McNeill, Leon Vatuvei, Bani Kahlon, Lennon Wallace, Inaya Galahitiyawa, Kaius Oti, Madison Hall, Emily Kim, Menima Feagaiga, Oliver Jones, Lorcan Van Wyk, Vick Feng, Max Harlum, Caelin Ramiah, Emma Kamakorewa, Amelia Berkett, Jaden Li, Jacky Liu, Ekko Wong, Ella Blake, Jurgens Lewis, Nancy Mao, Ali Alsharefi, Oliver Aye, Troy Viljoen, Adam Hamayun, Adam Shawani, Agam Pavadia, Lily McIvor, Theia Saunders, Michael Joseph, Sergio Guillen, Rosie Roberts, Yugo Tsuchiya, Asher Oostendorp & Gracie Grainger.

Our BDS Values

Congratulations to the following tamariki who have displayed our Value of Resilience – Manawanui: Noah Eliesa, Christiaan Meyer, Yixuan Zhang, Scarlett Blanco-Zijp, Disenya Athukoralalage, Zelda Brockwell-Gounder, Lloyd Singh, Amalia Mahabeer, Matisha Kumar, Halle Moir, McKayla Dell, Alisa Yang, Sebastian Zuo, Cherry Nguyen, Nehansa Athukoralalage, Claire Zhou, Kurl Matutes, Neil Olarte, Hannah Shadbolt, Azalea Ngo, Shawn Kim, Jiaying Lin, Wickus Botha, Leo McKeen-Smith, Evan Guo, Ethan Luo, Bella Mackay, Hanro Stoltz, Dehan Meyer, Julius Ming-Peterson, Sophie Chen, Sophia Guo, Laauli Leilua, Jacy Ablos, Lance Miguel, Brody Tynan, Austin Broodryk, Annieheta John, Emma Hughes, Alyssa Roberts & Konnor Oti.

PTA Notices…

It’s Calendar Art time again!

The students have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable calendars, cards, diaries, mouse mats, and sketch pads.

Each product is made from your own child’s art. These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.

Follow these instructions to place your order online:

Go to www.kidsartworks.com.
Use the Entrance Code: KZ791.
Enter your child’s room number and name when prompted.

Ordering is open until Wednesday 19th November.

Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.

If you have any questions please contact the PTA at pta@botanydowns.school.nz

Fruju Fridays – kindly supported by Pak’nSave 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!

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