Newsletter Issue 3

Kia ora, Nameste, Talofa, Konnichiwa, Guten Tag, Gidday, Vannakkam, ni Hao, Kia orana, Hola, Salam, Sa wat deekha, Dia Dhuit, Goeie Dag, Bonjour, Καλημέρα, Greetings everyone

Tālofa lava, O ā mai outou? (How are you? - to many)

This week is Samoan language week and we are proud to celebrate with our Samoan families. This year’s theme for Samoa Language Week is encouraging all use of the Samoan language. In the photo below are some phrases you may like to try over the course of the week to acknowledge this special part of our culturally diverse community.

As usual, there is plenty going on for the students and staff at Bellevue!

Support to Attend Teachers Union Meetings

Firstly, we need to extend our thanks to the wonderful Bellevue Community for the incredible response we had (within a couple of hours) to our request to inform us of early pick up where possible for the teachers union meetings this afternoon. Although it is unusual for a paid union meeting to be called at such short notice, the Secretary for Education agreed to this request because union members indicated they wanted a swift resolution to these negotiations.

Extra-curricular Opportunities

We were proud of our youngest ākonga who attended the Junior Invitational Cross Country event last week and proudly represented Bellevue. It is exciting to see how many students embraced this with the support of their families. We are having such enthusiastic interest in our school sports that our Sport lead teacher Cassie is in conversations with FUNdraisers and our Board about purchasing more uniforms!

At the other end of the school, we had a small group of 10 Hub 5 students attend the National Young Leaders' Day in Porirua. These students were given this opportunity to acknowledge the leadership they provide in school on a daily basis. More information about the key take-aways from the day is included later the newsletter, but we would like to thank Deeann Daniels for organising this fabulous event in liaison with two of our other local schools so that we continue to strengthen our networks.

On Friday the school was a sea of pink in honour of Bullying Free Week and ‘Pink Shirt Day’. Continuing the conversation about bullying, the importance of being an ‘upstander’ not a ‘bystander’ and supporting students with strategies for navigating friendship challenges is important to us at Bellevue and certainly not something that only fits within this one week!

We look forward to seeing many of our tamariki dancing the night away at our Deep Ocean disco tomorrow! A notice is coming home about the pick up for this event - please read where to collect your child from as it will make connecting students with caregivers much easier on a dark night!

Kapa Haka Group Growth

There is a plus side to working right beside the school hall, in that every Wednesday I am able to enjoy the powerful voices of our Kapa Haka rōpū as they practise with our kaiawhina Māori Jacqueline Witute (or whaea Jayjay). We also have two new in school leaders of Kapa Haka from the start of this term; Tessa Finnigan and Anne Gullen.

As one of our goals for the school this year is to strengthen our Kapa Haka group, it is exciting to see that our groups have grown enormously! We now have 33 students in our (new this year) Junior Kapa Haka rōpū and 71 in our Year 4-6 rōpū. This is a real testament to the mahi of these three leaders and the importance for our tamariki of continually building on our practices to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Property Update

Importantly, please note that on account of the weather on Saturday the safe removal of a small amount of asbestos that was scheduled did not go ahead. This is now scheduled for this Friday, when school is closed for the Professional Learning Day (see below) and Saturday 3 June (this Saturday). There will be signs warning the public placed at all entries to the school but we would advise avoiding the school grounds altogether this weekend.

Although the work on the administration block is very visible, especially following the completion of the weatherproof wrapping this week, there are a number of property projects lining up quietly in the background.

We are a week or so from the completion of the accessible bathroom outside Room 4, we have plans in place for a modernisation and internal environment improvement to Rooms 4-6, with a toilet upgrade to the Junior block. Hub 5 buildings are due for roofing, cladding and window improvements

Professional Learning Day 2 June - School closed this Friday

This Friday 2 June, all of our staff will be attending our Te Korowai ō Horokiwi cluster Professional Learning Day at Newlands Intermediate. The day offers a range of workshops for the sharing of best practice and an opportunity to learn more about the New Zealand curriculum refresh, along with our colleagues who are part of our cluster. This is an important day in the year for growing our connections across the schools to use our shared resources to provide the best educational experiences for our students.

A reminder that our fortnightly newsletters can also be found on our Bellevue Website - scroll down to view 'previous Bellevue Newsletters' - and for more timely updates, you could follow our closed group Bellevue Facebook Page, if you are not already.

Nāku noa, nā

Annette

Haere mai ki te kura o Bellevue. Welcome to the following students and their whānau. It is great to have you in our Bellevue Learning Community.

Dario in Room 2

Matheus in Room 3

• Richa Taneja, Ramana Thinagarjah, Toby Dixon Sr, Xiaojun Lu for your offer of assistance with our Hub 4 Pukehuia Park visit tomorrow. It is great to be able to offer an alternative to our trip scheduled for Wednesday at short notice thanks to our families!

• Robin Kennedy-Moffat for the donation of a brand new whiteboard for the school. We look forward to utilising this perhaps in our newly refreshed spaces!

  All those whānau members who provided assistance with transport to the Junior Invitational Cross Country at Amesbury School last week.

• Martin Langdon for visiting Hub 3 to teach us about our native birds, including observing closely, kupu Māori and fun facts!!

Our wonderful Library team Sarah and Nita have come up with a cunning plan to beat the 'building work blues' for our Junior classes.

Rather than having to walk all the way around the school or car park to access the library whatever the weather, we have our very own 'mobile library' that makes its way to our lucky Hub 1 and 2 customers each week. Below are some pictures of this wonderful initiative in action!

New Entrants—Enrol Now!

We encourage you to enrol your preschoolers as soon as they turn 4. This assists with future planning for our kura and classes. Out of zone enrolment applications close approximately six months prior to commencement date so it is important to submit these early to ensure you are in the ballot. We accept up to five out of zone new entrant applications per term.

Important information about the Bellevue School enrolment scheme (zone)

If you have preschoolers at home that you are planning to enrol at Bellevue School in the future, here are a few important things to know and put into action:

1. If you are living outside of the Bellevue School enrolment zone, then your preschooler(s) will need to be processed as an out of zone application. Please let us know, if you haven’t already, of any future enrolments at Bellevue School from your family. It helps greatly with our planning to know well in advance. And if we know then we can also prompt you as to when you need to get your out of zone application in.

2. It is very important that out of zone applications are received by the application deadline of 9am Friday 30 June 2023, for enrolment from Saturday 23 September 2023 to Friday 15 December 2023. We cannot accept any out of zone applications if they are not received by the deadline advertised for the enrolment period your child is due to start school in. The deadline can sometimes be up to six months prior to your child actually starting school.

3. Even if your preschooler(s) are in zone, please get your enrolment in to us as soon as possible to enable us to plan ahead. We need this information to be able to work out how many out of zone applications we can accept in each enrolment period.

If you have any questions or are unsure about anything, please call the school office and talk to Amanda.

Casual vacancy for a parent representative

A casual vacancy has occurred on the school board for an elected parent representative.

I would like to extend our gratitude to Feta for all his time and expert advice he has given to

Bellevue School over the last seven years. Feta has ensured our property was maintained to a high standard and improvements were prioritised and completed efficiently.

Feta, your positivity and friendly smile will be missed by the Board and staff. We wish you all

the best in your adventures going forward and welcome you to visit our kura anytime.

The board has decided to fill this vacancy by running a by election. More information about this is included below. Please note that Feta’s skill set in ‘all things property’ will be greatly missed by the board so nominations for candidates with skills in property would be a huge advantage for the school.

Nga mihi nui

Kelvin Russell

Presiding member

Bellevue School Board

Parent Election Notice

Nominations are open for the election of one (1) parent representatives to the school board.

All eligible voters will receive a nomination form via email. Use this form to nominate yourself or someone in your community. You will also receive a nomination cover letter calling for nominations. Information on who is not eligible to be a board member is provided with the nomination form.

If you need more nomination forms, contact the school office.

Nominations close at noon on Friday 30 June 2023. You may provide a signed candidate statement and photograph with your nomination.

The electoral roll is held at the school and can be viewed during normal school hours.

As nominations are received there will be a list of candidates’ names kept at the school up until election day, which you can view.

Voting closes at 4pm on Friday 4 August 2023.

Signed Amanda Beauchamp

Returning Officer

Sadly we will be losing one of our kaiawhina (Teacher Aides) at the end of this term. Gabrielle Gilbert, who has worked closely with Hubs 3 and 4 over the past couple of years is moving on to pursue an area of personal interest with a digital design company. Gabrielle is a valued member of the team who has contributed a huge amount both through her professional skills and the rapport she has built with staff, students and families. She will be missed, but we wish her well for this new and exciting venture.

With every loss comes an opportunity. We are currently advertising for a full time teacher aide so if you, or someone else you know is looking for a role like this please encourage them to get in touch with Deeann Daniels (DP and SENCO) - deeann@bellevue-newlands.school.nz with their CV and two referees. Our advertisement can be found in the Independent Herald or on Trade Me HERE.

Our previous appointment process for a teacher aide is now complete and we are excited to welcome Tom Stewart-Edwards to the Bellevue Whānau as of Monday 12 June. Tom has experience as a holiday programme/after school care facilitator and has worked with the Take 10 vulnerable youth support team. He is currently a community support worker (holidays) for young people with intellectual/physical disabilities in respite care. We look forward to Tom joining us in a couple of weeks.

On Tuesday 23 May a group of Year 6 Leaders attended the National Young Leaders Day at Te Rauparaha Arena. At the event we listened to a range of speakers talk about their leadership journey. These speakers included a champion wakeboarder who became a quadriplegic, an author, a singer and a stuntman/actor. They shared key messages about leadership to inspire us as we develop our leadership skills further.

Some key messages were

• It is important to develop perseverance and resilience - ‘A winner is just a loser who kept on trying’

• It is important to be curious so you can try and learn new things as you work towards discovering what you want to do

• Failing is not the same as failure, nothing worth doing is ever easy

• If you squish yourself into Impossible it becomes ‘I’m possible’

A quote that really stuck with us was ‘Never forget yesterday but live for today. Because you never know what tomorrow can bring or what it can take away.’ It was a cool experience and a great way to inspire young leaders. We had an awesome time!

After a year of training, our Hub 1 kaiako are now focused on embedding the Better Start Literacy Approach in the New Entrant - Year 1 area of the school. Our Minister of Education Jan Tinnetti spoke highly of the approach in a recent interview with Paddy Gower because of the evidence we are seeing Nationally of its impact.

Closer to home, our teachers are also noticing an impact on the writing of our youngest learners. They report that the transference of the key sounds in a word in written form is happening faster. Students are able to hear and record not just the initial sound but also the middle sounds in words, where historically we would only see the initial sound. Children are now recording more sounds of the - whole word, rather than just beginning sounds. For example - trapulen for trampoline.

This photo is of Logan and Summer who visited Annette to proudly share their stories about visiting Pukehuia park and whose writing is an excellent example of this.

Bellevue School offers interested families the chance for their children to participate in the ICAS Assessments in:

• English (Reading)

• Writing

• Mathematics

• Science

All of these assessments are online. The cost of each of the assessments is $20.70, EXCEPT Writing which is $27.03.

This competition takes place each year in schools throughout Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, the Pacific region and South Africa. ICAS Assessments are designed to recognise and reward academic excellence. Students are asked to demonstrate a deeper, integrated, and thorough level of learning. For more information please follow THIS LINK.

The assessments are challenging and provide an opportunity, particularly for students of high academic ability, to gain a measure of their own achievement in an external assessment situation. We would not advise that your child sit these if they are a less confident learner or would become anxious in an exam situation.

If you are uncertain about whether or not your child should participate please talk to their whānau teacher.

The dates for the ICAS Assessments at Bellevue in 2023 are:

• Writing - Thursday 10 August

• English - Thursday 17 August

• Science - Thursday 24 August

• Maths - Thursday 31 August

A notice has already been emailed to all Hub 4 and 5 families about registering for these assessments. A reminder that entries and payment must be in no later than 3pm on Tuesday 18th July (first week back in Term 3)

Open Evening - Thursday 29 June, 7:00pm to 8:00pm

School in Action Morning - Thursday 20 July 9:00am to 10:30am

Enrolments Close - Thursday 31 August, 5:00pm Enrol online here

PLEASE NOTE:

Payment and ordering of photos will be ONLINE ONLY through School Memories. The school office will not be able to process any payment (cash or online) for photo orders.

Payments need to be made directly to School Memories.

Please also note that you do not pay for any photos prior to photo day. You will receive an order form featuring a photo of your child after photo day. All students who are at school on Photo day will have an individual photo taken (no obligation to purchase).

Family/Sibling photos that include children outside of school (eg. pre-schoolers) will be taken between 8.30am - 9.00am. All other family photos (where all siblings attend Bellevue) will be taken throughout the school day. All photos are taken in the school hall.

As a result of the current construction work taking place at our school, car parking spaces are extremely limited. We are working with Kapai Kidz to maintain access to families dropping their children early at before school care, but when this is after 7.30am it impacts our team. Some mornings staff are queuing to park in spaces occupied by families dropping their children. In addition to this, the speed at which some cars enter the car park means that our staff are at risk. We would like to thank Kapai Kidz for their recent messages to families which has made a big difference to the Bellevue team over the last week. So we can work together on keeping our school grounds safe, some reminders:

• You are able to access the school car park until 7.30am to drop children for Kapai Kidz.

• If you arrive after 7.30am please park on the street or drop your child at the top gate. They can access the school grounds from here and can walk down the Jubilee path safely.

At all times, please consider your speed so that our staff who are using a temporary staff room (just inside the school gate and within the car park) can do so without being at risk.

Sadly, some of our pohutakawas alongside the Jubilee path at the main entrance are not in the best of health and will pose a Health and Safety risk if they are not attended to.

On Wednesday 14 June the two closest to the top gate will be removed as our arborist reports they are not salvageable. The remaining trees alongside the Jubilee pathway will be trimmed back substantially to allow them to grow stronger and to remove the dead wood overhanging the car park/pathway.

Please take care when entering and exiting our school on Wednesday 14 June - avoiding any marked areas to allow this work to happen. We hope that our trees will grow back happier and healthier!

Thank you also to Deeann and all our teacher aides who also attended. We had a fantastic day.

Junior Invitational Cross Country

Congratulations to all of our Year 1-3 tamariki who took part in the Junior Invitational Cross Country on Thursday 18 May. They showed our values of Integrity and Resilience, as well as having heaps of fun! Ka rawe!

Miniball Results

22nd/23rd May

Thunder won 26-4 against St Bridgids Hawks. Harvey and Qing were players of the day.

Hurricanes lost 12-36 against Wadestown Whirlwinds. Emily was player of the day.

Lightning won 32-29 against St Brigids Jets. Arlie was player of the day

Storm lost 30-24 against Khandallah Knights. Ayva was player of the day

29th/30th May

Thunder lost 14-24 against Khandallah Stars. Jack was player of the day.

Hurricanes lost 18-22 against Wadestown Whirlwinds. Prateet was player of the day.

Lightning lost 39-74 against Paparangi Pitbulls Jets. Ethan was player of the day

Storm lost 23-22 against Johnsonville Lions. Jett was player of the day

We are always looking to strengthen our partnerships and relationships with those in our local community, If you work for a company that may be interested in supporting our school, please get in touch with annette@bellevue-newlands.school.nz.

Thank you.

Bellevue FUNdraisers are delighted to make hāngī available for pre-order for the school Matariki Celebration on Thursday 29 June.

Kai will be delivered hot in individual foil trays, cooked by CJ’s Hāngī.

Hāngī has a special place in Māori culture. It is traditionally a shared feast, which is what our Bellevue Matariki Celebration is all about, coming together to celebrate and share our meal time.

If your whānau would like to enjoy a hāngī at the celebration, meals are $15 each and can be ordered online here -

https://forms.gle/xkoirAX8e1DkSiGk8

This year we have a limited number available, so to avoid disappointment get your order in early! The latest date for orders will be Friday 23 June.

Mānawatia a Matariki!

You can host either on a short term or long-term basis.

We have short term students coming from Europe and Asia in July - a great opportunity to see if being a homestay whānau is for you. These students will pay their host family a weekly homestay fee of $330 ($340 in 2024). We offer ongoing, 24/7 support and will try to match you based on your interests and preferences.

Thursday 1 June

School Disco

Friday 2 June

Teacher Only day - school closed

Monday 5 June

King's birthday - school closed

Wednesday 14 June

BOT Meeting - 6.30pm - 8.30pm

Tuesday 20 June

Northern Zone Hockey

pp Thursday 22 June

Tuesday 27 June

School Photo Day

(Please note change of date from 20 June as this conflicted with Northern Zone Hockey)

Wednesday 28 June

Reports go home

Thursday 29 June

Matariki Celebration

Thursday 29 June

Newlands Intermediate Open Evening for 2024 Year 7's

7.00 - 8.00pm

Friday 30 June

Last day of term 2

Thursday 20 July

Newlands Intermediate School in Action Morning for 2024 Year 7's

9.00 - 10.30am

Wednesday 9 August

BOT Meeting - 6.30pm - 8.30pm

Friday 18 August

Northern Zone Swimming

Thursday 31 August

Newlands Intermediate enrolments close for 2024

Wednesday 6 September

BOT Meeting - 6.30pm - 8.30pm

Friday 15 September

Whole School Emergency Evacuation Practice