Newsletter Issue 1
Term 4 - 18 October 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
Fakaalofa lahi atu kia mutolu oti (Greetings to you all in Niuean).
We have had a sequence of weeks that celebrate the diverse languages of our school community from the Pacific islands, with Tuvalu language week in the holidays, Fijian language week last week and this week focused on Niue!
It is wonderful to see all our children returning so settled and ready for a term of learning and, with the sunshine there is a positive vibe to the school despite still waiting (and anticipating another few weeks at least) to move into our new admin block!
Thank you to all those families who came along to our Learning Celebration open evening in the final weeks of the term. It was great to see the classrooms looking so terrific and the students sharing so enthusiastically with their families. Having this opportunity to showcase, explain and take pride in their achievements with people they are most influenced by is a huge motivator for our tamariki.
Swimming
Our water safety programme is well underway with Hubs 1-4 swimming every week and Hub 5 with their lessons booked in for the start of November. Offering annual swimming lessons is something we introduced in response to overwhelming requests from families in our 2020 consultation to move from biannual to annual swimming. It is a hugely important part of the Health & Physical Education area of the New Zealand curriculum - in fact it is expected that all students will have had opportunities to learn basic aquatic skills by the end of year six. We do need your support with this. To provide safe supervision we require parent support with attending the pool, but we also need families support in our children seeing this as an important 'not-to-be-missed' part of their learning.
In the 1-14 year age group drowning is the second leading cause of injury death after motor vehicle accidents. The image below from the 2022 Water Safety New Zealand Annual Drowning Report has some shocking reminders about why learning to swim is so crucial for our young people.
Hub 5 Speech Competition
Deeann Daniels and I had the pleasure of judging the Hub 5 persuasive speech finals yesterday afternoon. All eight finalists had crafted and delivered well structured arguments with confidence and it was a tough decision. Congratulations to Sofia Liddle (who knew that it was a female footballer who had the record for the most goals?) and Lennox Langdon (who challenged and engaged his audience directly throughout) for their winning presentations.
Positive Behaviour for Learning
This term’s value is Resilience and with swimming, Friday’s Kapa Haka Festival, the speech competition, Northern Zone Athletics and a whole array of other exciting activities planned for Term 4 across the school, it is certainly a good time to practise this!
It was a privilege to host our colleagues from other PB4L schools with a PB4L teams meeting at Bellevue today. As part of this visiting kaiako always tour the school to see how we have implemented our values and positive behaviour teaching and share good practice.
Kapai Kidz Celebrates 21 Years with Bellevue
Today Kapai Kidz celebrates 21 years of working with Bellevue School. The hall looks special and the students are excited to mark this occasion. Talking to Linda (Owner of Kapai Kidz) yesterday, she explained that their connection with the school has been for longer still - since 1994 when her and Paul's oldest child started at Bellevue School! We consider our school very lucky to have this wonderful community focused before/after school care provider right on our doorstep.
Reminders:
School Closed Next Monday & Tuesday
A reminder that next Monday (23 October) is the Labour Day public holiday. Following this, on Tuesday 24 October, school is closed for a Staff Only Day. This is the second of the two Ministry approved days for teaching staff to work on the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh and we will be looking at the Common Practice Model. This outlines approaches to teaching and assessment that underpin effective Maths and Literacy instruction for all students. We will also be planning our Aotearoa Histories focus for Term 4, investigating Te Reo Tuatahi - a whole school language programme we are considering for 2024 and exploring systemic bias to build our cultural capability.
Kapa Haka Festival - Friday Morning at Newlands Intermediate
More information about this below.
Error in Dates
Thanks to the community member who pointed out the error in our Important Dates last week - it is the Year 6 students who have their orientation morning on 17 November at the intermediate.
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.
Koe kia
Annette
Celebrating Kapai Kidz
Congratulations to our Hub 5 Speech Winners
Statistics from - 2022 Water Safety New Zealand Annual Drowning Report
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 2 - Anyaa
Room 3 - Timothy & Edward
Room 6 - Oscar
Room 9 - Leo Crawford
Room 13 - Christy
Room 15 - Minh
Thank you
Thank you to Pub Charity Ltd for their generous contribution of $864.35 to Bellevue for the purchase of a Sensory Room Package to support our students with sensory needs to be ready for learning. Thank you also to Amanda Beauchamp for the work she puts into applying for grants to support ventures at our school.
Sunsmart in Term 4
A reminder that, in accordance with our sunsmart policy, all our children are asked to wear a sun hat out doors every day in Term 4 to protect them. Please support your child by providing a named sunhat for this term. If our tamariki do not have a sunhat, they are asked to work and play in the shaded areas of the school.
Sunscreen is also a vital ingredient for a healthy Term 4, so please either apply to your child before school or pop some into your child's bag so they can apply it during the day.
Thank you for supporting us to take care of our tamariki in the sun.
Scarlet Fever
We have been advised that a member of our community has Scarlet Fever. Please refer to the information below about this infection.
Description:
Scarlet fever is a streptococcal infection that is caused by the same bacteria that causes strep throat. Scarlet fever is more likely to affect children under the age of 18. The onset of scarlet fever may be quite sudden and symptoms include:
Sore throat
High temperature
Vomiting
Headache
A fine red rash
The face is often flushed except for an area around the lips.
A whitish coating can appear on the surface of the tongue. The tongue itself can look like a strawberry because the normal bumps on the tongue look bigger.
The rash shows up as tiny red bumps starting on the neck/chest and then spreading to other areas of the body. It looks like sunburn, but is usually rough to touch.
The rash may last for two to seven days. After the rash is gone, there may be some peeling on the tips of the fingers and the toes.
How does it spread? - Scarlet fever spreads when someone with the illness coughs or sneezes, spraying droplets of fluid from the nose or throat. It can be spread through contact with contaminated hands, food, food utensils and other items. A child may have been infected by the bacteria one or three days before any symptoms appear.
Infectious period - A child is infectious during the early stages of the illness and usually until 24 hours after treatment begins. A child who is untreated will remain infectious for as long as they are sick, which is usually between three to seven days.
Exclusion period - A child can return to the school 24 hours after treatment on antibiotics begins.
For more information - https://www.rph.org.nz/public-health-topics/illness-and-disease/scarlet-fever/
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)
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.
Te Korowai ō Horokiwi Kapa Haka Festival
Our Year 5 and 6 Kapa Haka members will be performing in the Te Korowai ō Horokiwi Kapa Haka Festival this Friday (20 October) at Newlands Intermediate School. Whānau are welcome to attend the festival to see all the great performances from the schools in our cluster. Please arrive at 9:30am in time for the mihi whakatau welcome at 9:45am. Please note that appropriate tikanga is for women to wear a skirt or dress that covers the knees.
The pōwhiri will take place on the basketball courts. All manuhiri (visitors) please meet on our turf beforehand. We estimate that the festival will be complete around 12.30 and the order of performances is as follows. As with all these events, timings are flexible so please see this as a guide only:
- Paparangi
- Bellevue
- Rewarewa
- Newlands Primary
- Newlands Intermediate
Whakawhanaungatanga Friday
We warmly invite whānau to come along and play, explore and learn alongside your child/ren during our Whakawhanaungatanga Friday sessions on 27 October and 17 November. Please note that swimming sessions may mean that some hubs cannot participate in one of the sessions. Your child’s whānau teacher will let you know if this is the case.
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.
Scholastic Book Club
The latest brochures have been sent out to all families. Orders are due in by Thursday 26 October. Payment is by cash or credit card (details on the book club form). Please bring your order along to the school office, in a sealed envelope with your child's name, room number and Scholastic book club written on the outside of the envelope.
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.
Fully Funded Internet Connection for Families
Fully Funded Internet Connection for Families
The Ministry of Education recognises that not everyone can currently access the internet at home.
The Ministry’s Equitable Digital Access initiative provides fully funded internet connection to learners/ākonga who do not have home internet connection.
To be eligible for internet connection, a learner/ākonga must:
be enrolled & attending a school
be in Year 0 to 15
not have access to an internet connection at home.
This support is only available until 30th June 2024.
Families, schools, & community groups can apply for student connections by:
emailing the Equitable Digital Access (EDA) team at EDA@education.govt.nz
emailing the Equitable Digital Operating System (EDOS) team at support@edos.kiwi
contacting the EDOS team between Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, on 0800 441 844
For more information about the initiative, refer to the attached flyer or go to the following websites:
The Ministry of Education website: https://www.education.govt.nz/school/digital-technology/your-schools-ict-network/enabling-home-internet-access-for-your-community/#Eduroam
The Equitable Digital Operating System (EDOS) website: https://edos.kiwi/
ADHD -Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It is a condition that affects the prefrontal cortex (the front part of the brain). This area is responsible for filtering and controlling attention, behaviour, emotions, motor control, judgement (impulsivity), and executive functioning - which includes ability to plan and organise. It is often said by leading experts that people with ADHD have racecar brains with bicycle brakes. Children with ADHD especially cannot think through the outcome of a scenario before they act on it, often leading to an undesired outcome.
ADHD presents in many different ways and is thought to be more like a spectrum of severity. When we say ADHD many people think about the stereotypical boy who can't sit still, interrupts everyone and can't concentrate on anything. This could not be further from the truth. It looks completely different from person to person and often presents completely differently between boys and girls.
Children with ADHD often find time management and organisation challenging. They may also find it difficult to regulate their emotions so feel things more deeply. As a child, this can be very isolating from their peers when they can see everyone else managing "better" than they can and it can be hard to form strong friendship bonds as many people with ADHD are perceived by others as naughty. People with ADHD will often be extra sensitive to negativity and can quickly develop a negative view of themselves. By the age of ten children with ADHD will on average receive 20,000 more negative messages from parents, peers and teachers than a neurotypical child.
Something you can do at home to support your child, even one that doesn't have ADHD, is to reinforce the idea that everyone learns differently, emotions are healthy and that people learn to manage themselves in different ways, so it might look different from person to person and that's ok. In fact it is something to be celebrated!
There are a number of positive attributes that a person can have as a direct result of having ADHD. People with ADHD are frequently optimists - they will see possibilities where others see limits. They are creative problem solvers and will often lock into an idea or project because a spark of creativity has been ignited. This is linked to an innate sense of curiosity that is held about how or why something is the way it is. When someone with ADHD is interested in something there is no deficit of attention!
ADHD is a lifelong neurodevelopmental delay. You cannot grow out of it, it is not a behaviour problem. With support to manage their symptoms, especially from an early age, people with ADHD can become extremely successful. If you look into many creative industries in particular you will find many people with ADHD. It can be an amazing asset when people are given an environment that nurtures this incredible side of them!
Information shared from one of our staff.
Year 6 Orientation Morning - Newlands Intermediate
The Year 6 Orientation morning is on Friday 17 November at Newlands Intermediate. The students will be picked up by bus at 8.45am from school. Students will return to school at 12.15pm.
**Please note that an error was made in the 'Dates to Remember' newsletter last week which referred to the Year 5 Orientation Morning. This should have read 'Year 6 Orientation Morning.'
Librarian Awards
Congratulations to both Oscar and Caitlin for completing their Librarian’s Silver Award.
Sports News
Miniball Results
Storm lost 23-28 against Churton Park Hoops. Player of the day was Rufus.
Lightning won 42-30 against Westpark Panthers. Player of the day was Mickey
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.
Focus on Health: John Parsons - Online Anti Social Behaviour
The following excerpt is from the article 'Protective factors to reduce anti-social behavior - A cyber safety resource for parents and schools'
Protective factors for parents:
>> For younger children, turn off all ICT at 7.30 pm.
>> Don't give them social media until they are old enough to be in it.
>> Maintain access to the child's platforms by creating the passwords for them.
>> Nominate trusted family members to join your children online and form a protective circle around them.
>> Create open lines of communication with your children.
>> For the first two years at high school, regularly look at their mobile phones.
A question I ask parents to ask their children "Have you ever bullied anyone?" It is essential to talk to children about the risks. Let them know how much you love them when you have these conversations. Try not to judge them; try listening and looking at the world through their eyes.
For more information on how to protect a child or young person
from cyberbullying and online exploitation, go to:
books by John Parsons: www.citizen21.co.nz/books
Hello Term 4 2023!
Our FUNdraisers committee meeting was rescheduled to 19 October, so some information regarding events in this update are still pending decisions!
The school board have confirmed priority of investment into the senior school areas. These are areas of the school that each of our children will move into and enjoy using. So please, if you have the time to spare to help our FUNdraisers achieve getting the funding for these upcoming projects, please join our team! It takes a village (or in our case a community) to achieve these goals.
The updates on our confirmed current events as below -
End of Term Pizza – Term 4
Standby for confirmation to advise if this event will be going ahead. We MAY swap this with a sausage sizzle.
Juicies – Term 4
Standby for confirmation to advise if this event will be going ahead.
Kids Art Work (Calendar Art) – orders due in by Friday 27 Oct.
Order forms have been sent home, the posters are up around school and we’ve posted about it on
Facebook :)
Keep in mind that if you want to, there is an option to submit photos other than the artwork that your child has created at school. So if you have, for example, a family portrait that you want to put onto cards to send out for Christmas, you can do that through our Kids Art Work orders.
Or alternately, if your child has done some amazing art at home, and you want products with that artwork, again, you can upload that and put it through our ordering system.
Orders:
For school created artwork - via https://forms.gle/bdZ6mjE1EgSVQFhi7 or this QR Code:
For home created artwork the print must be submitted manually, with the additional
Reference number provided by Kids Art Work once you have submitted the artwork online.
Alana Estate Wine
We are delighted to confirm that the following varieties of wine will be available for order this year. Tasting notes and prices will be on the order form, which will be released soon, in time to order your Christmas and Summer supply!
Estate Pinot Gris, 2022
Estate Sauvignon Blanc, 2022
Estate Riesling, 2021
Estate Chardonnay, 2022
Estate Rosé, Marlborough 2022
Estate Merlot, 2021
Rapture Pinot Noir, 2022
Lumiere Pinot Noir, 2022
Estate Pinot Noir, 2021
Limited Release Pinot Noir, 2020
Alana Estate NV Blanc de Blanc
Alana Late Harvest 2017
Bake Sale 2023
It’s confirmed, the Bellevue end of year Bake Sale is back! This event took a hiatus thanks to that nasty pandemic, but we look forward to bringing it back to the children for 2023!
The Bellevue Bake Sale will be on Friday 8 December at 3pm, outside 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 scheduled for 7.00pm on 19 October 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.
Community Notices
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.
Bigair Gym!
If your child loves doing cartwheels, handstands, trampolining, flips, dancing, or parkour, then they will thrive at Bigair Gym!
Bigair Gym classes are excellent for fun, focus and fitness! Children learn new skills and develop personal confidence and self-achievement! Strong focus is given to safety and technique, ranging from fundamentals to advanced skills. The structured classes follow a Bigair Badge Programme, which creates focused learning, and allows children to achieve and feel personal progression!
Bigair classes include GYMNASTICS, TRAMPOLINING, TUMBLING, FREE RUNNING (thats parkour with flips) & CHEERLEADING! Inquire about Bigair BIRTHDAY PARTIES too!
GET IN QUICK FOR TERM 4 GYM CLASSES! Book NOW. Book online at www.bigairgym.co.nz or contact your local Bigair Gym office today.
Bigair Gymsports Kapiti ph. 297 0400 e. kapiti@bigairgym.co.nz
Bigair Gym Owhiro Bay ph. 383 8779 e. wgtn@bigairgym.co.nz
Bigair Gym Tawa ph. 232 3508 e. office@bigairgym.co.nz
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
Wednesday 11 October - Wednesday 13 December
Hub 1 & 2 Swimming (every Wednesday)
Thursday 12 October - Tuesday 31 October
Hub 3 & 4 Swimming
FUNdraisers Meeting
Thursday 19 October - 7.00pm, location to be confirmed
Friday 20 October
Te Korowai ō Horokiwi Kapa Haka Festival - NIS
Monday 23 October
Labour Day - School closed
Tuesday 24 October
Teacher Only Day for Curriculum Refresh - School closed
Thursday 26 October
Scholastic Book club orders due in
Friday 27 October
Whakawhanaungatanga Friday - 1.30pm - 2.45pm
Monday 30 October
NZ Athletics (pp Monday 6 November)
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
Powhiri to welcome new students
Friday 24 November
Bell Challenges due in today
Monday 27 November
Pack the Bus
Friday 8 December
FUNdraisers Bakesale - 3pm outside Hub 1
Friday 8 December
Year 4-6 Celebrations Assembly 9.30am - 10.30am
Monday 11 December
Year 6 Leavers Event - 5.00pm - 8.30pm
Wednesday 13 December
BOT Meeting - 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Friday 15 December
Last day of the School Year (12.30pm finish)
Monday 29 January 2024
Meet the Team:
Community Picnic/3-Way Conferences
Tuesday 30 January 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