BOTANY DOWNS PRIMARY SCHOOL
PH:534 9848 FAX: 537 3631
MIRRABOOKA AVE, HOWICK
Year 3/4 syndicate newsletter – Term 2 2015
Dear Parents/Caregivers,
Welcome back to term 2 already!
Here are the contact details for the middle school team:
Sue McIntosh A.P/Team Leader (until week 5)
suem@botanydowns.school.nz
Y4
Natalie Fels
natalief@botanydowns.school.nz
Briar Reid
briarw@botanydowns.school.nz
Leskin Lambert
leskinl@botanydowns.school.nz
Y3
Room 23
Room 22
Room 21
Helen Pfister
helenp@botanydowns.school.nz
Keiko Giovanni
keikog@botanydowns.school.nz
Kirsty Halliday
kirstyh@botanydowns.school.nz
Sharlet Naidoo/Amy Muir
sharletn@botanydowns.school.nz
amym@botanydowns.school.nz
Room 18
Room 17
Room 12
Room 13
Welcome
Welcome to Mrs Lambert who has joined our team in room 21. We look forward to working with her and trust that you
will give her a little time to settle in to the ‘BDS Way.’
The School Day
Our school day starts at 8.55am. It is important that your child only arrives at school after 8.30am, unless they are
attending Kiwi Kids.
Uniform
It is important that children wear the correct uniform. This not only looks smart, but helps create pride in our school. All
uniform should be named. It is now time for all children to be wearing winter uniform. The dark grey shorts (all year) are
part of uniform for boys, as are school socks. Girls should wear black socks or tights. Please note that leggings worn
under dresses should not be visible below the hemline and hairbands/hair ties should be in school colours.
Lost Property
This can be found in the bins located in the back of the hall any time.
Inquiry unit
Our new unit is ‘When I Grow Up…’ focusing on jobs. We started off looking at the role of
soldiers as part of our Anzac Day commemorations. We would welcome anyone who
would like to come and talk to the team about their job and what it involves. (Please
see/email your child’s teacher)
The focus values for Term 2 are Responsibility (Week 1-5), Honesty (week 6-11)
Activity Fees
We appreciate your payment of activity fees, which cover trips/visits/visitors. This is an important part of our curriculum as it
supports learning, providing rich and engaging shared learning experiences. We have already had a fantastic art workshop
and a trip to Omana to learn hands on all about the Rocky Shore. Other plans are a trip to Ambury Farm to support our
term 4 Inquiry and a visit from the New Zealand Playhouse to support learning in Literacy/the Arts.
Sport and Fitness
Team sport is every Tuesday afternoon. Health and PE is currently a focus and each class will also partake in a weekly 30
minute class P.E. lesson and 3 x 15 minute fitness sessions, which are largely skills based.
All children are required to have school sports shorts and house tee-shirts for Sport and P.E.
Sneakers are recommended for Sport and will be required when we start training for Cross Country, later this term.
Homework
This will include reading, spelling, basic facts (weekly) and long term tasks, linked to
our inquiry topics. This assists students in beginning to manage their time and meet
deadlines. Research shows that regular practise of key skills
consolidates knowledge and grows confidence. Also work
linked to school topics is more beneficial.
We encourage you to support homework completion and please let us know if it is causing
problems. Thank you for your help – most children are completing homework tasks to a high
standard and we have been pleased with the results of the term 1 extended task, some of which
are displayed in our school library.
Lunches
Please ensure that your child has a healthy lunch and check regularly that they still like the
contents! Drink bottles should contain water only. Children are not permitted to share their
lunch.
Assemblies
Full school assemblies take place on Friday at 9.10am – you are encouraged to attend.
Blogs
We would like you to visit our team blog regularly, posting comments – this gives our
children feedback and a genuine audience for the weekly posts. It is a great way for
overseas family to stay in touch.
http://magnificentmiddleteam2015.blogspot.co.nz/
Important dates
Please refer to the website and weekly newsletters.
Please note that our newsletter will be emailed from term 3, so it is really important that
the office has a record of your email address.
We are always happy to see you to discuss concerns, although it is easier to make a time after school.
The best way to make contact is by email.
As this is my last team newsletter, I would like to take the opportunity to say that it has been my pleasure and privilege to
lead the middle school for the past 4 years and I look forward to keeping in touch through the blog etc.
Thanks for all of your incredible support, which I will surely miss.
Kind regards
Sue McIntosh