Newsletter Issue 5
Term 3 - 25 September 2024
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
It is hard to believe this is the final week of the term already. We are certainly not slowing down yet though, with our production tonight and many fabulous learning opportunities to celebrate from the last couple of weeks!
We would like to take this opportunity, however, to wish our families some quality time together over the term break. We hope it is a chance to mix up the routine or take things a little slower. Our students and teachers will certainly be ready for a rest after this week!
Year 5/6 Netball Tournament
Last Tuesday our Year 5/6 netballers took part in a wonderful Netball Tournament at Ākau Tangi Sports Center. This event, though organised by Rene Senekal, was totally managed by our families. It was thoroughly enjoyed by the Bellevue Totara and Kauri teams who made us proud by exhibiting great ‘sportswomanship’ and our school values throughout the day. Thank you to Teresa Kennedy and Tracey Lines for their organisation and willingness to support our young players to attend. I also thoroughly enjoyed seeing our players in action, being umpired by several ex-students who have also coached our teams and who are part of the ‘Kiwi Whistlers’ - a group of ‘up and coming’ referees.
Book Week
We owe a big thank you to Sarah, Megan Walters and the Student Council who ran the most wonderful book week last week with story reading in the library, bookmark or book cover designs and buddy reading across the school. This culminated in a very windy but enjoyable parade of all the book character dress ups. Such a fun way to end a busy week!
El Gregoe Magic Show
I heard great things from Hub 1 students about our whole school magic show on Friday. El Gregoe has been visiting Bellevue for years and for the last couple we have thought it may be his last - so fingers crossed for 2025! The children across the school (though some may be too big to admit it) are really engaged in this show which teaches values and has strong anti bullying messages. The highlight is often the colourful Macaw parrot, but there are some impressive tricks too.
Annual Emergency Evacuation & Reunification Practice
We want to thank our community for the amazing support with this practice last Friday. We recognise that this is an interruption to your working days and takes some organisation. To evacuate 258 of our 286 students within an hour is no small feat and we appreciated the positive patient attitude of our families to facilitate this. Holding this annually is important to us as a school so that even our newest learners and their families are familiar with the process we would use to connect children with parents in the event of any major emergency, even if damage to buildings or outside areas meant that the location was a little different. Practices such as this give our students, staff (and we hope our families) a familiarity with the process that will assist them to be more calm and confident in the case of an emergency. It was also fortuitous that the weather was kind to us until the huge downpour at 2pm!!
Production
Thank you to our community for the terrific response to this event - both in supporting it (we have sold 600 tickets over the two nights), and for your patience with the last minute changes to manage an additional date. The school is fizzing with excitement and we cannot wait to see our tamariki in action tonight and tomorrow night! After two nights of production and an action packed term, we recognise that the students will be very tired on Friday (our last day of the term) so classes will be managing this with an alternative, low key programme. The teaching team will keep you informed as necessary but please feel free to let your young people have a slower start on this day if you feel this is needed.
Hub 3/4 Science
I was fortunate to spend a bit of time in Hub 4 this week enjoying the creepy crawlies (in perspex fortunately) that Martin Langdon had kindly brought in to teach our students about classifying systems in Science, including how these vary according to different world views - for example in Te Ao Māori. The students were all heavily engaged in closely observing and drawing the features of a range of molluscs, arachnids and other invertebrates, but the highlight was an enormous sperm whale vertebrae which certainly drew some gasps! Thank you to Martin who enriched both Hub 3 and 4’s learning programme with these wonderful resources and his wealth of expertise.
Swimming Costs for 2024
For 2024, the cost of swimming lessons across the entire school will be the same.
When organising the swimming there are many contributing factors to the cost - the prices of buses, the number required, the number of lessons and how much this is offset by grants we are successful in securing to offset the cost for our families. In previous years this was done by areas of the school - Senior or Junior, or hubs which meant that sometimes some areas were better subsidised than others. We have decided that it is more equitable to spread the entire cost of swimming for all students, as well as the funds secured in grants, across the entire school so that everyone benefits equally from the grant assistance. Although some hubs may have one or two fewer lessons, this can also be balanced by different sized hubs needing additional buses. There may be some communications this year that are a little inconsistent as a result of this change. Please be patient as we are working on these to provide more consistency for 2025.
Property Update
The establishment of phase one of our new playground in the Senior area of the school is scheduled for 21 October - 1 November (the second and third week of the term), with a low key opening on the 8 November. The accessibility ramp, roofing work for the library, Rooms 7-9 and interior work on Rooms 3-4 will continue through the break. You are welcome to use our school grounds during the break. Please adhere to any safety signage and keep an eye out that children are safe around the multiple construction zones.
Library
The library is part of the re-roofing work scheduled for the break. It will be open until the end of this week and students are welcome to take books home for reading over the holiday. For the first two weeks of Term 4, however, it will be closed for the annual stocktake. It would help hugely if your child has borrowed books over the break, if these could be returned on the first day back to school. Thank you.
Eating Again!
As Tuesday was South Africa’s Heritage Day, we were spoiled at morning tea with South African pancakes from Anneke Mclean as well as delicious bacon and egg sandwiches cooked up by one of our Hub 5 students. A real treat and much needed in a production week!
Reminders:
Reporting to Families - Rest of 2024 and beyond - A reminder that you can find an outline of what to expect for 2024, including a hard copy of your child’s reporting coming home at the end of the year, in our first newsletter for the term - the fourth item after the Principal update.
Our FUNdraisers committee are recruiting. Please consider getting involved for 2025. See their update at the end of the newsletter.
School Organisation for 2025 - school planning for 2024 is underway. We would like to draw your attention to the ‘School Organisation’ section of this newsletter in case you wish us to consider anything for your child’s class placement for 2025.
Friday is the last day of term 3. We look forward to seeing you all back at school on Monday 14th October.
Ngā mihi nui
Annette
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.
Thank you
To assist our families with locating our Attendance Procedures, please note that the below link now takes you to a 'quick link' on our website to the Attendance Procedures in PDF form.
Please do always contact the office (office@bellevue-newlands.school.nz), or call and leave a message for absences. Do not reply to this newsletter as your message may not be seen.
Sport
Term 4 Touch Rugby at Alex Moore Park (Johnsonville).
Starting Monday 4th November - Monday 9th December (for 6 Mondays). Games will start from 3.30pm. If we don't get enough players per year groups, or coaches and managers for each team, we won't be able to enter teams. Fees will be $35 per player.
This needs to be paid into the school bank account 12-3223-0048283-00. Please add their name and touch as reference. Regos will close on the 4th of October or when teams are full.
Please fill out this Touch Google form if you are interested.
Contact Mel or Rene if you have any questions.
mel@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
rene@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Futsal Festival
Some of our Hub 5 students participated in the Primary School Futsal Tournament earlier this month. They had a fantastic day and did Bellevue proud with their efforts and positivity.
We received the following wonderful feedback from one of our parent helpers;
"I just wanted to share what a positive experience I had at the futsal festival with some of the hub five students.
I had the pleasure of spending the day with an awesome group of tamariki. They were polite, respectful and listened and responded to the parents when we gave instructions. They supported each other during and between the games, and they played some amazing futsal!
I was very proud of them all and how well they represented Bellevue school"
Yummy stickers
Just a reminder that this is the last week for collecting Yummy stickers to get sports gear for our school.
Please send all stickers to your whānau teacher.
How You Can Help At Home - Mathematics
Often families ask about how they can help students with Mathematics at home, especially given that the way that this is taught is so different from when we were at school!
Over the next few newsletters we will be sharing a sequence of articles that may help families to understand the research behind the way we teach basic number facts in particular, as well as outlining activities that can support this.
As we all know, for mastering anything the key is practice, practice, practice and these articles include ideas for simple, fun activities that can be done with the bare minimum of equipment for those who are keen to try them at home.
This week - The connection between addition and subtraction
Bellevue Board - Term 3 Update: FUNdraisers
FUNdraising achievements:
Term 2 Pizza: $243.90
Entertainment Book: $28
Student artwork: $2,527.90 (invoice still to be received/paid)
FUNdraising targets include: Sandpit equipment $500; Rebuild of little house $9,000; Fence around elevated garden in the Middle block $600.
School Production 25th and 26th of September
FUNdraisers are supporting the Year 6 tamariki to fundraise toward Year 6 school camp on production nights. There will be chippies and lolly bags for sale for $2 at the entrance to the school production. Wilson's Barbeque have also sponsored a LOLLIES IN THE JAR raffle - this will be on display at the school production - take a guess, only $2 and drawn on Friday for closest guess. Will it be you?
FUNdraisers Membership
Our FUNdraisers committee mostly have students finishing at Bellevue School at the end of 2024 and so we are doing an urgent plea for new members. If you are interested in supporting Bellevue School and our amazing tamariki to maximise the FUN at school; brighten the environment and support our school to reach its fundraising targets then please get in contact with the team at fundraisers@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Meetings are currently held at 6:15pm (in the school staff room when possible) in week 2 and week 7 of each term. The FUNdraisers are such a fantastic bunch of people and the positive vibes you get from contributing to Bellevue tamariki, the school community and Newlands community is an added bonus - and you can add to your CV. I have been a part of The FUNdraisers for the past 10 years and can say I have made some wonderful friends and had a load of laughs with the crew. Once your tamariki move on to Intermediate and College, the need for school fundraising groups diminish so take the opportunity to be part of your child's school environment while you can.
Keeping Your Tamariki Safe Online —John Parsons Presentation - Follow Up Resources
Attached today you will find Johns ‘Cyber Safety Tips for Parents’.
In this flyer, John says: “Nurture, Love, and Guardianship’ are the three most important assets a child needs to use technology safety are self control, empathy, and a strong sense of self-worth, and all of that can be found in a home that nurtures, loves, and protects the child. The most important relationships a child has is the one they have with family, it is not the one they have with technology.”
He also shares 18 tips on how you can best help your child to be safe on digital platforms.
A reminder that for anyone who was at the presentation and would like to receive all of the information John mentioned directly, please contact Alice - office@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Term 4 is a sun-smart term - wear a hat every day
Term four is just around the corner, along with the warmer weather - well here’s hoping! A friendly reminder that term four (and term one) are sun smart terms and students MUST wear a wide brimmed hat when they are outdoors for activities such as PE and Sport, morning tea and lunchtime. Please ensure your child has a named sunhat ready to go!
Understanding Neurodiversity
We continue to include a few snippets for families in our newsletter to support our collective understanding of neurodiversity under one of our guiding values of Empathy.
This week’s focus is Dyspraxia. The following link includes information about Dyspraxia for adults as well as a videos to help students understand the challenges faced by students with dyspraxia.
https://inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/dyspraxia-and-learning/understanding-dyspraxia/
School Organisation for 2025
Term 4 is a short term and always busy! At this time of year we begin looking at the number of students we anticipate in each year level to make decisions about class organisation and placement for the following year.
At Bellevue, providing the best environment for learning is at the forefront of our decisions. The number of classes we start the year with is dependent on the staffing entitlement received from the Ministry of Education. This is based on the number of students in the school.
Our teachers are capable of teaching at all levels of the school and so we can allocate teachers to classes no matter the structure of the school or where they were teaching the previous year.
When looking at class composition, we aim to meet each child's needs regardless of the whānau class or mix of year groups. Our team of skilled educators takes the following factors into account when considering class placement for students:
Individual needs and achievement
Peer relationships
Learning groups and friendship groups
Age and year group
Gender balance and number of students
Siblings in other classes and year groups
Students are asked for the people they work/play well with. We are committed to making the most appropriate placement, considering all the information.
If there are any factors we may not be aware of that you believe are important for us to take into account please contact the school over the coming month - by Friday 18 October at the latest.
You can talk with your child's teacher or a member of the leadership team or email us at:
Anne Smith (Deputy Principal Year 0-3) annes@bellevue-newlands.school.nz,
Cassie Woodhouse (Hub Coach Year 3/4) cassie@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Deeann Daniels (Deputy Principal Year 4-6) deeann@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Annette Borgonje (Principal) annette@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Once again, please make sure that you have contacted us before 18 October (end of the first week back) so we can take this into consideration when planning classes early next term.
Lost Property
A final reminder that there is a large pile of lost property in the first aid room. Please pop in to check if you are missing any items. Anything that is still there at the end of term will be donated during the holidays.
Term Dates 2025
AA Insurance Big Little Sponsor
If you would like to nominate our school to win $10,000 worth of sports equipment, please click on the link below. The more nominations we get the greater the chance of us winning!
Username bellevue-newlands, password 'grow'
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.
It’s an exciting week for our Bellevue Whanau! Production is on tonight, and school holidays are
here next week.
Have you signed up to our Facebook Group? If not, Rebecca looks forward to approving a flood of
your joining requests! https://www.facebook.com/groups/FUNdraisersBellevueNewlands
The update on our events is below:
School Production – 25th and 26th September
Wow – two sold out nights of production… colour me excited!
Our FUNdraisers team will see you there as we are supporting our Year 6 tamariki to fundraise
toward school camp at this event. What this means is that there will be sales of chippies and sweets as you arrive in the evening to watch the production. Don’t forget the LOLLIES IN THE JAR Raffle!
All purchases will be $2, so please bring your coin cash (change for notes will be limited) and keep
an eye out for us as you enter for the evening!
Lollies in the Jar Raffle
Wilsons Barbecue have sponsored the schools Lollies in the Jar raffle.
If you want to size up this jar, it will be on display at both of the school production nights.
End of Term Pizza – 27th September
Orders have closed and have been placed with Domino’s. We look forward to distributing these out to the tamariki on Friday!
Kids Art Work
We don’t yet have a delivery date on the artwork which is currently being processed.
An update will come via this newsletter when we do have more information.
Term 4 FUNdraising events
We have on our plan for term 4 the following events:
- A Wine fundraiser. This one is very much just for the adults.
- The annual end of year Bake Sale! (Such a student favourite!)
- We are also collaborating with the school for the FUNRun which is coming up.
- PIZZA!
FUNdraisers Committee Meetings
Next meeting: 24th October 2024
Meetings are currently held at 6.15pm (in the school staff room when possible) in week 2 and also
week 7 of each term.
If you have capacity to take on being an incredibly valued member of our community and
committee, please join us! You can contact Rebecca by email for information at
Community Notices
Kapai Kidz Holiday Programme
We will be operating from the school hall from 30 September - 11 October. All enquiries to linda@kapaikidz.co.nz or 021 409641 Register via our website www.kapaikidz.co.nz
Important Dates
Wednesday 25 September and Thursday 26 September
School Production - Doors open 6pm for 6:30pm start
Newlands Intermediate School Hall
Friday 27 September
Last day of Term 3
Monday 14 October
First day of Term 4
Monday 14 October
Hub 3 Swimming begins
Tuesday 15 October pp 22 October
Wellington Cricket in Schools sessions Year 2-5
Wednesday 16 October
Hub 4 & 5 Swimming begins
Wednesday 23 October
New Entrant - Year 2 Swimming begins
Hub 3 Trip - Dowse Museum
Thursday 24 October
6:15pm FUNdraiser meeting - staffroom
Friday 25 October
Year 4-6 Kapa Haka Festival NIS
Monday 28 October
Labour Day - School closed
Tuesday 29 October
Teachers Only Day - School closed
Newsletter proudly sponsored by
Email: office@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Phone: 04 4787037