Newsletter – Week 2, Term 2 2026 – Botany Downs Primary School

Week 2, Term 2 2026

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,

Thank you to Mrs Ryan for organising our ANZAC Assembly this morning. As a special day of remembrance it is always a special time to reflect on the importance of ANZAC Day and spend valuable time with whānau and friends. Additionally to this I would like to thank Mrs Bishop for organising the sale of the new ANZAC Day poppy stickers, which were sold by our school Councillors. An amazing $240 was raised to support the RSA, thank you.

Lest We Forget

On Monday 4th May, we have Life Education coming into our school for three weeks as part of our delivery of the Health Curriculum. Students will have the opportunity to engage in health and wellbeing programmes and also experience the return of Harold the Giraffe!

A reminder to please use the crossing at front of school when dropping off or collecting your child or children. Our Road Patrollers are there to help you cross the road safely with the “CROSS NOW” call.

Ngā mihi nui,

Mark Insley
Acting Principal/Tumuaki (marki@botanydowns.school.nz)

Coming Up @ BDS

Mon 4 May – PTA meeting, 7.00pm in staffroom
Wed 6 May – PTA Jester’s Pie Day
Fri 8 May – PTA Mothers’ Day Breakfast, 8.00-9.00am
Fri 15 May – Pink Shirt Day / HPPA Dodgeball
Wed 20 May – HPPA Girls Soccer Day 1 / School Board Meeting, 6.00pm
Fri 22 May – HPPA Rugby
Wed 27 May – HPPA Girls Soccer Day 2
Fri 29 May – TEACHER ONLY DAY
Mon Jun 1 – King’s Birthday (public holiday)

School Donations

We have sent out our 2026 School Donation email so you can see exactly how your contributions help our tamariki and school.

The School Board has decided to keep the school donation the same as in 2025: $235 per child, capped at $470 per family.

Payment Options:

KINDO https://www.botanydowns.school.nz/kindo/
Direct debit to our school bank account. 12-3089-0059300-00
Payment can also be made at the office by Eftpos or Credit Card

Please contact our executive officer Trish Toussaint (trisht@botanydowns.school.nz) for any further questions about payment. Thank you.

Thank you again for supporting our school. Your contributions help create wonderful learning experiences for all our tamariki.

Curriculum Evening

During the final week of Term One, we hosted a Parent Information Evening to share the recent changes to the New Zealand Curriculum and to explain how Mid‑Year and End‑of‑Year reporting will look at Botany Downs School. Thank you to all the parents who attended — we hope you found the session valuable.

Please use the link below to access the Ministry of Education’s Parent Portal, which provides learning guidance and helpful resources for parents and whānau.

Parent Portal

Health and PE Curriculum Survey

At Botany Downs School, we value our parent and caregiver thoughts about what we do. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey regarding our Health and Physical Education Curriculum.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will be used to support our future decision making in designing and delivering this important curriculum learning area.

Health and PE Curriculum Survey

Policies and Procedures – SchoolDocs 2026
Term 2 Review

SchoolDocs provides a comprehensive core set of policies and procedures that are tailored to the needs of Botany Downs School. SchoolDocs updates, modifies and creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools and regular reviews.

Policies and Procedures

Our SchoolDocs policies and procedures can be found via our school website on the link below:

Policies and Procedures – School Documents

If you would like to participate in reviewing the policies, please follow the instructions below.

Visit the website https://botanydowns.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm
Enter the username (botanydowns) and password (best).
Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.
Read the policy.
Click the Start your review button at the top right-hand corner of the page.
Select the reviewer type.
Enter your name (optional).
Follow the prompts to show that you’ve read the topic and enter your feedback if you’d like to comment.
Agree to the privacy statement and click “Submit review”.

For Term 2 the following policies relate to Learning Support and are up for review:

School Swimming Pool / Swimming Off Site
Education Outside The Classroom (EOTC)
EOTC Governance Roles and Responsibilities
EOTC Risk Assessment and Management

Mark Insley, Acting Principal (marki@botanydowns.school.nz)

Fibre Upgrade/Works on Booralee Ave

We have been informed by Universal Communications Group (UCG), that they will be completing fibre-upgrade/works on Booralee Ave for five (5) days during the dates of 27th April to 24th May.

While UGC’s work time set up is from 10.00 am and cleared by 3.00 pm, please be aware that this may cause some delays for drop offs and pick ups at the Booralee Ave gate exit at the back of our school.

SCHOOL NEWS

BikeReady Cycle Skills

The Year 5 Tōtara Team participated in BikeReady Cycle Skills training as part of their Health and Physical Education programme.

The students had great fun, building confidence to ride and learnt practical bike skills including control, signaling, awareness, safety checks, and road rules.

Winter Uniform

A reminder that our winter uniform must be worn in Terms 2&3. New uniform items are purchased from John Russell Schoolwear, 9 Moore St, Howick. Ph: 534-9373 www.johnrussellschoolwear.co.nz

PTA Notice

Mother’s Day Morning – Friday 8th May

Celebrating All the Special Women in Our School Community

Friday 8th May | 8:00–9:00am | Under the Junior Canopy

Join us for a morning of connection and appreciation as we celebrate not only mums—but all the amazing people who fill a mother-like role in the lives of our tamariki.

Enjoy a warm drink, a bite to eat, and a chance to relax and connect with others before the day begins. Everyone who attends will also go in the draw to win a beautiful basket of goodies, kindly donated by the PTA!

Please note: food and drink will be provided for mums and caregivers only.

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Fun & Learning @ BDS

Pōhutukawa Year 3, Room 28 – ANZAC Poppy Art

In honour of ANZAC Day, Room 28 has been creating artwork of poppy flowers. We scrunched up old parchment paper to create a wrinkled effect, then used pastels to assemble the poppies and added keywords that remind us of ANZAC Day.

School Assembly – Seniors

This Friday is our Senior (Year 4-6) assembly at 2.15pm. We will be handing out Botany Best awards, and Values Bookmarks to the following Year 4-6 students. This week’s assembly item will be Kauri Room 25. All whānau are welcome to attend.

Our BDS Capabilities

Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown their Botany Best by displaying our Capabilities: Hannah Biddick, Mia Cajayon, Artie Ong, Sujin Yu, Maci Lund-Finn, Lavinia Chen, Alyssa Roberts, Joshua Chuah, Alice Chen, Hoor Laghari, Christian Perry, Juping Qi, Leon Lo, Anashe Mlilo, Aiden Neveling, Kiaan Kapadia, Kirianne Parado, Movindu Konara Mudiyanselage, Mene’ Nel, Ansh Patel, Chaz Grisselle, Olivia Wang & Sebastian Zuo

Our BDS Values

Congratulations to the following tamariki who have displayed our Value of Responsibility / Kaitiakitanga: Una Tuake, Gracie Grainger, Ethan Du, Annieheta John, Minji Kim, Finn Roosenbrand, Sebastian Fisher, Harper Annan, Connor Rudman, Mila Biddick, Leo Mckeen-Smith, Natalie-Mae Tokai, Paige Monsanto, Carol Ma, Benjamin Duckworth, Alofa Vaoele, Alexander Ong, Arlie Clements-Goh, Mohamad Alali, Riaan Karthick, Umama Adil, Julius Ming Peterson & Dante Eason.

Enrol Now If Your Child Turns 5 in 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