Newsletter Issue 3
Term 4 - 15 November 2023
Principal’s Update
Kia ora, Nameste, Talofa, Konnichiwa, Guten Tag, Gidday, Vannakkam, ni Hao, Kia orana, Hola, Salam, Sa wat deekha, Dia Dhuit, Goeie Dag, Bonjour, Καλημέρα, Mālō e lelei, Greetings everyone
We'd like to begin by wishing all our Indian families a happy Diwali Festival for last weekend - we hope you enjoyed some celebrations.
The school is a 'hive of industry' at the moment and not just in classrooms!
Throughout this newsletter you will see evidence of students actively engaging in Bellevue as 'their place'. Whether they are inviting you to a morning tea, collecting for Pack the Bus, fundraising to develop our school with a mural or representing our school at the Inter Zone Athletics (ka rawe Molly and Jerry!) or taking care of the school grounds, it is fantastic to see our children so invested in their school!
Making Connections Across the Cluster and Beyond
The Te Korowai ō Horokiwi Principals have been busy planning for our connections across the Newlands - Paparangi schools for 2024. We are very fortunate to have schools who work so closely to provide cohesive pathways for our children. Some of the events already in the diary for 2024 include:
- Our cluster staff only day - building professional capacity across our schools and responding to the NZ Curriculum refresh
- A cross-schools sport event
- A leaders' network
- Board networking
- Building on our network of specialists looking at how we cater for our gifted and talented students
- Connecting our schools with Ngā Hau e Whā o Paparārangi Marae
Last week the Deputy Principals Anne Smith, Deeann Daniels and myself attended a workshop on schools 'Giving Effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi'. This was an enlightening session hearing from other school leaders about ways in which they were working with their Boards and communities to overcome some of the historic and systemic barriers to work towards schools where ALL ākonga feel a strong sense of identity and belonging. While our school is extremely multicultural we believe that building an understanding of what a bicultural partnership looks like is the first step to becoming more culturally competent for all our students.
We too, had some visitors last week from Russell School in Porirua who had come to take a look at our wonderful library. They commented, of course, on how lucky we are to have Sarah and this incredible resource in our school as well as on the happy settled atmosphere of the school in general.
Staff News
We are delighted to share that Cassie Woodhouse, who currently teaches in Hub 4, is expecting a baby in 2024! She is informing the children in her class today.
Cassie will be on parental leave during Term 2 and 3 next year, during which time we are extremely fortunate to have Jean Goodhall already ready and willing to step into this role for us. Jean is an experienced teacher who is currently working a great deal in our school and has already developed a good rapport with our students and staff. She is also Mum to a child joining our kura next year! Please look out for Jean around the school as we welcome her into our community.
Transition - What To Expect For Next Year
Every year is different for our tamariki and kaiako at Bellevue School. With student led learning as one of the foundations of our curriculum no two years are ever the same. At the beginning of the year, teachers and students take time to get to know each other - their strengths, interests, goals and aspirations as well as the challenges they will work to overcome. This information informs the planning of the teaching and learning, which responds to the needs of the learners.
In 2024, we are fortunate not to be losing any of our teaching team, although some will be working with us in a different capacity. Some of our teachers, who are used to teaching across several levels of the curriculum no matter which year group they work with, will be moving into teaching in another year level. The organisation of the school for 2024 will be shared with you in our next newsletter.
As a result of all of the above, there are questions hubs will not know the answers to yet - such as ‘How will we operate? What will the hub look like?’ until they know the needs of their learners. While we hold true to our values, student agency and collaboration, we pride ourselves on the design of our curriculum responding to the children in front of us at the time.
If you have concerns about how your child will settle into their new area of the school, we ask that you give our teachers time to settle the students and get to know them in the first instance. We have a robust transition process for all our learners with additional needs which involves detailed information being passed on to next year's teachers about what works for them as learners (and as human beings!). In addition to this, we encourage you to take up the opportunity to book a 1:1 meeting, either at our Meet the Teacher / Whānau Picnic event on 31 January (more information to come), or at any time throughout the year, to talk with your child's whānau teacher.
Property Update
We are still on track for our move back into the administration block next week. We are looking forward to increased access around the school, seeing the back of the portable toilets and temporary offices for our staff, our Year 3 and 4 children being able to use the playground area more freely and being able to access everything currently in storage.
Please do pop in before the end of the year to take a look at our new and improved space!
Seesaw Is Translatable
We discovered recently that Seesaw posts are translatable!
If a note, caption, comment, announcement, or message is written in a language that is different from the language of a family's device, a 'Translate with Google' option appears below the post. If you are a family who would find this useful and need some assistance, please get in touch with our e-Learning lead teacher nic@bellevue-newlands.school.nz, or with your child's whānau class teacher.
In case you missed it:
Please note the change to our start dates as advertised in last week’s communications.
Don't Forget
To join us for our final Whakawhanaungatanga Friday of the year this Friday - more information below!
Other places to find information about our school:
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.
Noho ora mai
Annette
Hub 5 students getting into the weeding!
The finished result.
Painting over graffiti on our slide
To assist our families with locating our Attendance Procedures, please note that the below link now takes you to a 'quick link' to the Attendance Procedures in PDF form.
Whakawhanaungatanga Friday
We warmly invite whānau to come along and play, explore and learn alongside your child/ren during our final Whakawhanaungatanga Friday session this Friday (17 November).
There is no need to commit in advance and you are welcome to stay for as little or as long as you are able. We would love to see you. Sessions run from 1:30pm - 2.30pm on any of these afternoons. On arrival, please head to the office and you will be able to find where your child/ren will be for the afternoon.
Welcome
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.
Room 4 - Jessie
Thank you
Thank you to the Pye Foundation for the grant to renew our annual subscription to Sunshine Online reading.
2024 Helpers' Morning Tea
Our annual Helper’s Morning Tea is an opportunity for us to come together with all the amazing parents, caregivers, whānau and community members who have helped out in some way over the course of the year to say THANK YOU!
This years Helper’s Morning Tea will be held in the hall on Friday 1 December at 10:30 am. Invites will be emailed out by the end of Week 6.
Year 6 Orientation Morning at Newlands Intermediate School
Year 6 students who are enrolled at Newlands Intermediate School will attend an orientation morning to NIS this Friday 17 November. Students will be collected by a NIS staff member and travel by bus to and from the Intermediate. Please ensure students arrive at school by 8:25am and meet in Room 12. This will give them time to drop bags to their classrooms, and walk to the bus. They will return to school by 12:30 pm. This visit provides an opportunity for our Year 6 students to become more familiar with their new school. Students who are not enrolled at NIS next year should attend school as usual.
Regular Attendance - What Difference Does It Really Make?
For more information please click on the link below:
Username bellevue-newlands, password 'grow'
Update From The Library
Congratulations to Amelia and Sofia for completing their Librarian’s Silver Award.
Given the end of year is looming, there's a lot of 'library' information this week :-
Year 6 students - all books are due back by Friday 1st December.
Year 0 - 5 students - all books are due back by Friday 8th December.
Please help your children to find and return their books on time.
Library Donations
In previous years, some families of Year 6 leavers, and others leaving Bellevue School, have wished to mark their time here by donating a book to the library.
We are holding a small number of fiction, non-fiction and picture books suitable for a wide range of ages and interests. We make these available for donation at about half the retail price.
A library donation plate showing the name(s) of the donor will be placed in front of the book which will be available for borrowing by the donor after cataloguing and covering.
If you wish to make a donation to the library in this way, the books may be viewed at the school office from Monday 27th November.
Fundraiser for our new Office mural - Dress Up Day on Friday 24 November
This term Hub 4 have been working on ways to improve our school environment.
One of their plans is for a special mural for our new school office area.
To fundraise for this project, the Hub 4 students have planned a dress up day for Friday 24th November.
For a gold coin donation, students can come dressed up - in fancy dress, as a character, in their PJs, or with a wacky hair do! It's going to be a super fun day and we would love as many people as possible to join the fun!
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. 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 Friday 8 December , for enrolment from Saturday 13 April 2024 to Friday 5 July 2024.
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.
The Student Council are joining with the City Mission and The Breeze again this year to think of others less fortunate at Christmas through Pack the Bus, supporting Wellington City Mission.
A bus with Disney characters will arrive at school and students will have the opportunity to pack the bus with Christmas items.
This year the bus comes to Bellevue on Monday 27 November at 11:00 am.
We encourage our students and learning community to practice empathy and manaakitanga by donating a little something to help children and whānau less fortunate so that their families can have a more enjoyable festive season.
The Student Council invites you to send along items to place under the tree in your child’s hub at school. A list of suggested items from Wellington City Mission is included below.
If you wish your child to place the item your family/they have donated on the bus, please put their name clearly on this gift but please do not wrap the gift (a request from the organisers).
Please note Christmas trees will be up in each Hub from the beginning of Week 6.
Thank you in advance from the School Council, The Breeze and The City Mission for thinking of others and practicing empathy, aroha and compassion for those less fortunate.
Support Finder
Support Finder is a digital tool available on asb.co.nz and within the ASB Mobile Banking app (Fastnet Classic) to help New Zealanders identify the benefits and services that the government provides within minutes. It was created by ASB to help all New Zealanders find out what financial assistance they may be eligible for and how they can apply. You don’t need to be an ASB customer to use this tool.
Variety - the Children's Charity
If your whānau are supported by ‘Variety - the children’s charity’ our school champion is me, Deeann Daniels. Please get in touch with me at deeann@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
if I can help in any way. I look forward to hearing from you.
BELL Challenge
The last day to hand in completed BELL Challenges this year is Friday 24 November. Please hand these to your child’s whānau teacher.
Sports News
Inter Zone Athletes!
Congratulations to Molly and Jerry who have both qualified for Inter Zone Athletics. Molly for Quoits and Jerry for High Jump. They will be representing our school on Tuesday 21 November, and we wish them the best of luck. Kia ora!
Weet-Bix TRYathlon
Registrations for the 2024 Weet-Bix TRYathlon are now open! If you wish to register your child for this event, please follow this link to sign up under our school group. You can find more information about the event here.
Miniball results for the last 2 weeks:
6th - 7th November
Thunder won 16-13 against West Park Comets. Hunter was player of the day.
Lightning won 60-27 against Amesbury Tui. Arlie and Benji were players of the day.
Storm lost 67-6 to Ngati Toa.
13-14 November
Thunder won 24-14 against Redwood Lakers. Harvie was player of the day.
Hurricane won 34-30 against St Bens Heat. Prateet and Harvie were players of the day
Lightning won 38-28 against Redwood Celtics. Players of the day were Ethan and Levi
We have been advised that there is Hand, Foot & Mouth in our community.
Please see the following information from the Ministry of Health:
Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease
Anyone can get hand, foot and mouth disease, but it is most common in children under 10. Preschool children tend to get sicker.
If your child has hand, foot and mouth disease, they’ll have painful sores in their mouth and a rash with blisters on their hands and feet.
Hand, foot and mouth disease appears most often in warm weather – usually in the summer or early autumn.
For more information about Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention, please click on the following link:
Supporting Children With Their First Phone
First Phone Advice
Receiving their first smartphone marks a significant milestone for most children. However, given that 87% of parents express concerns about their children's online activities, ensuring smartphone safety has become a top priority.
In response to this concern, 2degrees has introduced the "First Phones" program. This initiative is aimed at equipping parents and children with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the online world, covering both its positive and negative aspects.
In collaboration with Netsafe, this program features an information hub and ten safety tips, conveniently presented on a vibrantly designed box. Parents can use this box when gifting a new or second-hand smartphone to their children.
For more details head to the First Phones website Good Tings.
Good Day to All!
Halloween may have been and past, but here’s a fact that is perhaps a little scary…
30 days to the end of the school year… 4 more weeks… eeeeeeek!!
The updates on our confirmed current events as below -
End of Term Pizza – 7th December
Pizza Lunch is confirmed for THURSDAY the 7th December. Order forms available soon, keep an eye on Facebook or your children’s bags!
Juicies – Term 4
The days are getting warmer, and oh my lord they are getting busier.
We will try and squeeze in a Juicie day however it will not be a pre-order event.
So please put $2 aside for your child to bring to school on a day TBA which will hopefully be sunny and warm!
Keep an eye on the school and parent facebook pages for confirmation of this event date.
Kids Art Work (Calendar Art)
Thank you too everyone that placed their orders. Processing is being finalised and we will keep you posted on a delivery date once we have one!
Alana Estate Wine – Orders closed. Pick up 1-3 December.
Thank you to all the parents that have supported this FUNdraiser! The orders have closed and are being processed, with pick up available on the weekend of 1st/2nd/3rd December.
Due to the nature of this fundraiser, we cannot undertake distribution at school, so collection is from a private address in Newlands. If you could please nominate a date/time to collect your order via this form: https://forms.gle/NciNPQPXQuAYZB5U9
Bake Sale 2023 – Friday 8th December
The Bellevue Bake Sale will be on Friday the 8th December at 3pm, outside of Hub 1.
For this event, we kindly ask that our families donate baked goods for the bake sale. The items are sold on an individual basis (ie a single cookie or piece of slice or cupcake). So, get your kids practicing their baking and decorating skills ahead of this highly anticipated event!
Can you help us? FUNdraisers Committee Meetings
Our little team of 5 need more support – WE NEED YOU!
Gosh do we LOVE to bring the FUN to our kids with events through the year, and we have some really interesting ideas we would like to bring to the school. We however don’t have quite enough resources to make it all work. Do you have some of that elusive ‘spare time’ and would you like to give back to our cool school? If so…
Our next committee meeting is re-scheduled for 7pm on 23rd November 2023, location TBC due to the school building works.
We hope to see you there! Or get in touch with Rebecca: fundraisers@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Have you joined our Facebook Group? https://www.facebook.com/groups/FUNdraisersBellevueNewlands/
What’s all this fun and FUNdraising for you ask?
What are we fundraising for? What have we spent our funds raised on?
Our wish list is reviewed often, and is linked via our FUNdraisers webpage:
https://www.bellevue-newlands.school.nz/fundraisers
If you work for a company that may be interested in supporting our school with any of these targets, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our principal Annette with details :)
Upcoming Events – 2024 Focus
We have set the last of our 2023 events and will be considering our 2024 events at our next FUNdraisers committee meeting.
Teacher Aide Positions
Bellevue School - Newlands
Wanted: Patient, sensitive and caring people to support students with special social, emotional, physical and learning needs. Need to be calm, fair, consistently follow guidelines and be interested in working with children from 5-11 year olds.
You will support students with routines, learning tasks and making good choices for their learning/behaviour in the classroom and playground. May involve assistance with toileting and administration tasks at times.
Experience/willingness to support students learning in:
- developing skills in speaking/using English
- calming/de-escalating and resetting behaviour
- working with teachers in a variety of learning spaces
Current positions are for supporting students with English as their second language, class/playground or learning and behaviour support.
The hourly pay rate will be based on experience for the role.
To apply: send current CV with the details of two referees who can attest to the skills relevant to the above and letter of application to: principal@bellevue-newlands.school.nz.
Position closes as soon as appointments are made.
Community Notices
KAPAI KIDZ - Before & After School Care
We have space available, casual, part time or full time (5 days). Check out our website for more details www.kapaikidz.co.nz
BNZ Breakers - New Zealand Basketball
The school holidays are nearly upon us – keep the kids entertained by taking them to an action-
packed game of basketball.
The BNZ Breakers have 8 Auckland games remaining this season and every single game promises
plenty of fun, giveaways, and entertainment for the whole family. Choose the dates that suit you
and get behind the BNZ Breakers. Tickets are on sale at www.ticketmaster.co.nz
Christmas Market Saturday 2 December - Johnsonville Rotary Club
The Rotary club of Johnsonville is very pleased to advise that, in conjunction with Johnsonville Shopping Centre, we are holding a Christmas Market on Saturday 2 December from 12.00pm-4.00pm in the Mall carpark. All funds raised will go to Community projects and donations, including the Wellington North Primary Schools Citizenship Awards and Lifting the Lid.
- We are looking for entertainment so if you know of kapa haka groups, choirs, bands or individual performers, could you please ask them to contact Community@johnsonvillerotary.org.nz to register.
- If you would like to have a stall at the market, please contact us here
- We are also looking for some help in advance or on the day with leaflet dropping, marshalling car parking, sausage sizzle and other tasks. If you are able to help for an hour or two, we would really appreciate it - please contact Community@johnsonvillerotary.org.nz.
The Johnsonville Rotary Club support the Annual Citizenship Awards for our Year 6 Students.
Goodtime Music Academy
Get ready to ignite your child's musical passion! Goodtime Music Academy teaches at Bellevue School and is offering award-winning in-school music lessons. Say goodbye to post-school commutes! Dive into the world of music in a vibrant group setting with the following instrument lesson: Drums, Guitar, Keyboard, Ukulele, or our 'Intro to Music' course. But the excitement doesn't stop there! Your child will have the chance to shine in our thrilling concerts.
Act fast, as spots are limited. Enrol now at www.goodtimemusicacademy.co.nz/learn-at-school or call us at 04 568 2237. Your child's moment in the limelight awaits!
This is our platform to publish great writing from students across the school.
Please pop onto our website here to view a collection of great writing from our students.
Important Dates
Important Dates
Wednesday 11 October - Wednesday 13 December
Hub 1 & 2 Swimming (every Wednesday)
Thursday 2 November - Monday 20 November
Hub 5 Swimming
Friday 17 November
Year 6 Orientation Morning at Newlands Intermediate School
(Students travelling by bus to NIS)
Friday 17 November
Whakawhanaungatanga Friday - 1.30pm - 2.45pm
Thursday 23 November
Pōwhiri to welcome new students
Friday 24 November
Bell Challenges due in today
Monday 27 November
Pack the Bus
Thursday 30 November
Hearing/Vision Technician visiting school
Year 6 Sleep-Over - School Hall
Friday 1 December
10.30am Helpers' Morning Tea
Saturday 2 December
BOT Meeting, 10am - 2.00pm
Wednesday 6 December
End of Year reports sent home
FUNdraisers Pizza Lunch
Thursday 7 December
Friday 8 December
FUNdraisers Bakesale - 3pm outside Hub 1
Friday 8 December
Year 4-6 Celebrations Assembly 9.30am - 10.30am
Monday 11 December
2024 Whānau class & teacher information + Stationery Lists Home
Year 6 Leavers Event - 5.00pm - 8.30pm
Friday 15 December
Last day of the School Year (12.30pm finish)
Wednesday 31 January 2024
Meet the Team:
Community Picnic/3-Way Conferences
Thursday 1 February 2024
First day of the school year
Friday 12 April 2024
Last day of term 1
Newsletter proudly sponsored by
Email: office@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Phone: 04 4787037