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
Mānawatia a Matariki
What a wonderful night we had last Wednesday for our Matariki community evening . The weather, though cold, was kind to us, the classrooms looked incredible, adorned with some deep learning about the stars of Matariki and the concepts that underpin these; remembrance, planning for the future and all of the gifts we enjoy from the earth and sky. We were delighted with the huge turn out from our community - whole whānau from the youngest to our koroua (grandparents). Thank you for supporting this event with your presence, participation and feedback and making all the children’s preparations worthwhile. We appreciated also the great turn out from our Kapa Haka group who opened the event with support from Whaea Jayjay, Tessa Finnigan and Jane McCauley. Their voices were a wonderful way to start the evening, even if the tight hall space meant that the audience were spilling out of the door!
Three Way Conferences & Reporting Feedback
It was great to have such a good turnout to our Three Way Conferences last night and we look forward to more this evening. A reminder that as per the outline of our new reporting processes these meetings, together with the Reading, Writing and Mathematics posts, replace our mid year written report during this six month trial, so we encourage all families to attend. Following these meetings, you will be given a feedback sheet for those who prefer to do this on paper - please drop this back into the office before the end of the week. For those who would prefer to give their feedback digitally -
The link to the digital feedback form is HERE. As previously indicated, the turnaround for this feedback is short - we request you complete the form before Sunday 14 July. There are only three questions and this will inform how we report our student’s achievements for the remainder of 2024 and beyond so please do take the time to jot down your thoughts.
Property Update
Our accessible walkway between the upper and lower parts of the school is set to begin this term break. The fencing for this will be going up in the first week of the holidays and the construction team expect to begin earthworks in the second week. There will be a great deal of fencing and construction traffic around the school grounds during the break so, if you are using the grounds, please do adhere to any safety signage and keep an eye out for vehicles to keep yourselves and our children safe.
Please also note that, from the first day of Term 3, all foot traffic to the senior school will be redirected through the Jubilee Corner (from the middle school) to allow vehicles that need to access the lower part of the school to do so on the hall side.
In addition to this, the existing work on the Junior block will accelerate during the break, with roofing work to the entire block and carpeting to improve the internal environment for our youngest learners (who sit on the floor a great deal) throughout the block.
Excitingly, the Board has approved an additional spend on the junior block during this project to allow the addition of internal doors through the entire block (as with Rooms 1-3) to provide more flexible learning spaces for our students. We are delighted to be able to include this as part of this existing project which is ultimately a saving both on the financial front and in regard to further interruptions to learning for our students.
Accessible playground
We are delighted to share with our community that we have been awarded two grants totalling to the tune of $120,000 to begin work on an accessible playground in our senior area of the school. We are now just awaiting final approval from the Ministry of Education to proceed. The Trusts Community Foundation awarded us $77, 564 and Johnsonville Charitable Trust provided the balance of $57,752 to cover our costs for stage one of this project, which will be completed in two stages. This project will have to work around our existing projects, but we hope to start towards the end of the year. An image of the full project (stage one and two) is below and stage one will be the groundwork and installation of the two bucket swings, balance posts which are hidden by the (fictional) trees in this concept design and the addition of a series of communication or sensory panels (see second image) within the little whare (house) that the green slide leads from. The design for this project is the culmination of a great deal of student research and student voice from our 2023 Hub 5 students. We are enormously grateful for the support from TTCF and JCT as we anticipate this project will improve the playing spaces both for our school and for the wider community for the future.
Te Ao Māori Lead Teacher - Study leave Term 3.
As the families of Year 5 students will already be aware, Tessa Finnigan has been granted study leave for next term by the Bellevue School Board. The focus of Tessa’s study is observing and learning from local kaiako, whānau or community members about how to effectively include Te Ao Māori in daily classroom programmes. As the leader of Te Ao, Reo, Tikanga and Mātaurangi Māori learning across Bellevue School, Tessa will explore ways to meaningfully incorporate Te Ao Māori in daily classroom programmes. This will strengthen Bellevue School’s plan to ensure the local curriculum responds to the needs of our Māori learners and sustains their language, identity and culture. In turn, this enriches the curriculum for all students. We are fortunate to have Anneke McLean, who currently works on Fridays in Room 11 and covers teacher release across the school (and who was a full time Bellevue teacher in 2023) covering this role for Term 3. We are currently finalising the Term 3 and 4 Friday teacher for Room 11.
Staff update
We are delighted to welcome a new teacher aide to our team from the beginning of Term 3, for the remainder of the year. Naomi has more than 10 years experience as a teacher aide, including three years at Kimi Ora Special School. We are confident that she will be able to 'hit the ground running' in supporting our students with additional needs and look forward to welcoming her to the team.
Hindi classes Term 3
In Term 3 we have an exciting opportunity for some of our students to participate in Hindi classes. These are provided by the Wellington Hindi School who hold lessons in the school hall on a Sunday. As with our Heritage Language groups, students who share the same language will be invited to participate in this group.
Dr Ramesh Sharma who teaches the Sunday classes will come into school once a week throughout Term 3 and work with a group of Year 4-6 students.
Advance Notice
Our whole school emergency evacuation and reunification practice will be held on Friday 20th September. Prior to this we like to check that all families have checked that we have their most up to date emergency contacts on file. Your child’s emergency contacts will be sent home to review week in the early weeks of next term. We recommend that each family has at least two emergency contacts listed that can pick up their child from the school at short notice if absolutely necessary. Please ensure that whoever you list will be able to pick up your child on Friday 20th September. We will not be able to release your child to anyone who is not listed.
Thanks for another great term!
As we complete the final days of the term we would like to thank our fabulous school community for your ongoing involvement in and support of your children's learning, our staff and our school. We thank our teaching and support staff for the huge amount of themselves they pour into every day at Bellevue and our Board for their guidance and governance.
Ngā mihi nui
Annette
Remember to take a look at the Bellevue Website for longer term information (Parent Portal) or follow our closed group Facebook Page for quick updates or reminders.
