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Newsletter Issue 3
Term 2 - 6 June 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
We hope you enjoyed the long weekend and wish to thank you for supporting our Staff Professional Learning day on Tuesday this week.
We had a very successful day of learning from one another in our Te Korowai ō Horokiwi Cluster schools. All teaching and support staff from the four local primary schools and Newlands Intermediate spent the day learning more about neurodiversity, strategies for supporting diverse needs and useful, practical tools for the teaching and learning. There were workshops about autism, ADHD, sensory friendly classrooms, language development, self-regulating behaviour and emotions, structured literacy and AI with a total of 130 people attending from our schools.
Thank you also for supporting us with the smooth running of a very successful disco last Thursday. The students had a wonderful time. We appreciate the families who waited in Rooms 2 and 3 to give them space to enjoy themselves and helped with a swift and safe pick up. Our thanks also goes to the Student Council who worked so hard to organise this event guided by Megan Walters - we appreciate all the mahi (work) that goes in behind the scenes!
Staff and Student Sickness
Over the past few weeks, Bellevue has experienced a run of high staff sickness. Though this is not uncommon in Term 2 and 3, the increasing shortage of relieving teachers means that we are not always able to find teachers to replace our team.
Of course, this is our first choice, however when we are unable to fill a position for the day we manage this by:
Postponing other scheduled teacher release or cancelling professional development
Splitting a class or classes
Moving a teacher to cover a vacancy in another team
Moving to an alternative programme to reduce disruption for families
As during Covid times, we are currently looking at our planning for when a number of staff are away at once, or when a few staff are away for a sustained period. The safety, wellbeing and learning of our students remains our top priority in this planning alongside taking care of our teaching team so that they are able to sustain this.
As a last resort, if a part of the school is not able to operate safely due to an extremely high number of teachers absent on the same day, we will notify parents using a text alert, Facebook and email. While we do our utmost to minimise disruption for families, you will understand that this is something we have to plan for in the current teacher shortage.
One way parents and whānau can help at this time is to keep children who are sick at home to minimise the chance of illness spreading to others at school. Along with an increase in staff sickness, there is a surge in students being unwell with several types of sickness being reported, such sore throats, upset tummies and of course in line with reports in the media, an increase in positive student cases of Covid.
Effective Pedagogy in Literacy
At the beginning of this year families gave feedback that they would like to know more about ‘How we do things at Bellevue’ in regard to Literacy and Mathematics. Following this there has been much media coverage about the government's initiatives for Structured Literacy, One Hour a Day and the Science of Learning. Already identified in our Annual Planning for 2024 was a review of existing practice in Literacy and Mathematics at Bellevue, alongside developing our understanding of the NZC refresh and continuing our journey with the Better Start Literacy Approach. Our staff have begun work on Literacy - aligning our practice to our school values and philosophies, developing consistency across the school and considering what needs to be strengthened to align with the NZC refresh. Following this, we will look at Mathematics. In early 2025 we will hold community information sessions to share with our families the why, what and how of teaching and learning at Bellevue in Literacy and Mathematics so that we can work together to support our students learning most effectively.
Advance Notice - Important Date for Your Diary
We have teamed up with our Newlands - Paparangi cluster schools (Te Korowai ō Horokiwi Cluster) to bring John Parsons from Citizen 21 to Newlands on Thursday 29 August. John speaks about safeguarding children and adults online. He will do an after school session for our collective staff, followed by a session for families from 6 -7.30pm. John is a highly engaging speaker whose presentations usually include some challenging statistics and plenty of good common sense about what we can do to keep our young people safe. Please mark this in your diary as an important event to attend. We hope that you will be able to join us at Newlands Intermediate for this event.
Also Coming Up
We have a busy second half of the term lined up with our new reporting style Three Way Conferences in the final week of the term and our Matariki Community evening the week before. Please do mark these dates in your diary. More information about both of these events below.
Three Way Conferences - 2 & 3 July
Our six month trial of a new approach to reporting to families concludes at the end of this term with our Three Way Conferences. The purpose of these meetings is:
For families to hear from/talk with the whānau teacher directly, honestly and in plain language about their child’s progress both academically and socially/emotionally.
To provide a foundation for school and whānau to work as a partnership to support each student to develop as an active, connected, life-long learner.
This face to face opportunity is focused on giving families the overall picture of their child’s progress / achievement at mid-year in key curriculum areas, rather than the detail around a ‘moment in time’ demonstration of their learning as you will have seen in their Seesaw posts. Please note that, depending on the timing of the posts (and what is required to achieve a next step in learning) some next steps for your child may be similar/the same. This is also an opportunity for families to ask questions or share information about anything specific in relation to their child’s academic or social/emotional progress.
For more information about what to expect from these meeting please follow THIS LINK.
If your child’s attendance is below 90%, in line with our procedures, it is our responsibility to remind you of this. Your child’s teacher will provide you with information about this and a letter outlining the impact of reduced attendance over time.
Following this meeting, and for the final two weeks of the term, we will be gathering your feedback about our reporting trial to inform our approach for the second half of the year.
To book a time to speak with your child’s teacher between 3.15pm - 8pm on Tuesday 2 July or 3.15pm and 6.30pm on Wednesday 3 July please follow this link to School Interviews look for the ‘Make a Booking’ button top right, and enter the code vm95x.
2023 Annual Reports now available online
Last year's Annual Report (Analysis of Variance) and financial statement have been published on the school website. The report contains information about last year's annual goals and the school's end of year financial position. Please go to the Board page of our website to view these if you are interested.
ICAS Writing - change of date
Please note in the information below that there has been a change to the date for the Year 4-6 ICAS writing assessment due to the juggling of multiple events happening in the school. This will now be held on Wednesday 7 August (the day before that originally published).
Reminders
Please do take some time over the next couple of weeks to share your thoughts with us in the Health & PE Biannual Survey included later in our newsletter. We use this information to plan our approach to our Health & PE curriculum for the coming couple of years.
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.
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.
Kayden - Room 4
Shekinah - Room 4
Jacob - Room 4
Austin - Room 4
Willow - Room 4
Taika - Room 4
Thank you
- A heartfelt thanks to all our community members who have donated carpet or rugs for our juniors working in the hall.
- An enormous thank you to The Trusts Community Foundation who are supporting us with a grant for $77,564.81 towards the development of an accessible playground in our senior school.
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.
Username bellevue-newlands, password 'grow'
ICAS Assessments 2024
Please note there is a change to the Writing assessment date originally published.
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 $21.50, EXCEPT Writing which is $27.75.
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 2024 are:
Writing - Wednesday 7 August
English - Thursday 15 August
Science - Thursday 22 August
Maths - Thursday 29 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 Monday 22 July (first week back in Term 3)
Sports News
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Junior Invitational Cross Country event at Amesbury School. You did us all proud showing our school values, especially resilience and integrity!
Disco!
Whakawhanaungatanga Fridays
This next Whakawhanaungatanga is Friday 7th June (11:50am - 1:05pm).
Please note: that due to the current build working happening at school, this session will only be going ahead in fine weather. We will advise via Facebook on the morning, but if you are unsure please contact the school office.
During Whakawhanaungatanga Fridays children are:
1. Learning in rich and authentic contexts, relevant to their own experiences and interests.
2. Developing dispositional skills, such as collaboration, risk taking, and leadership.
3. Living values that we hold dear at Bellevue School, such as empathy, integrity, resilience, and creativity.
We warmly invite whānau to come along and play, explore and learn alongside your child/ren during any of the sessions this year. 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 will run this year from 11:50am - 1:05pm on any of these days. On arrival, please head to the office and you will be able to find where your child/ren will be for the afternoon.
Matariki Celebration Evening
On Wednesday 26th June 2024 from 5:30pm - 7pm we are hosting our annual Matariki Celebration Evening at Bellevue. Each hub will be displaying their learning about one or two Matariki stars. We will also have our student’s calendar art on display. Please bring your own kai, we are unable to provide hāngī this year. More information to come soon in a formal invitation.
Can you help Hub 3?
Hub 3 are collecting yoghurt pottles for a project towards the end of the term. If your family eats yoghurt, please can you save any clean, empty containers and drop them off to Room 11 and encourage your children to do the same if they have a yoghurt at school. We need HEAPS so continue to drop them off until Week 9. Thank you SO much for your help!
BIANNUAL HEALTH AND PE SURVEY
$50 PRIZE DRAW!
Every two years schools ask for feedback from their community about Health Education. Parents, whānau and caregivers are invited to share what is important to them in relation to Health Education and the needs of their child/ren.
This information is carefully considered when determining the future Health Education at Bellevue School. Please share your thoughts so that the health programmes that are available at our school meet the needs of our tamariki.
This survey will close on Friday 21 June at 4pm.
To thank you for taking part, these families will go into a draw for a $50 grocery voucher.
Please follow this link to complete the survey: Health and PE survey 2024
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 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 Friday 28 June 2024, for enrolment from Saturday 14 October 2024 to Tuesday 17 December 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.
School Photos
Parking on Bancroft Terrace
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!
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.
Hi Bellevue Family!
A short update from us this week.
Our next FUNdraisers committee meeting is next week, Thursday the 13th June 2024.
We look forward to welcoming you at 6.15pm in the school staff room.
Below is an update on our upcoming events:
Matariki Celebration Evening – 26th June
Unfortunately, due to illnesses, the hangi meal (the FUNdraising portion of this event) has been
cancelled for 2024. We are genuinely disappointed to not have the hangi on offer this year,
however we look forward to bringing this back again in 2025 and collaborating with our local
marae Ngā Hau e Whā o Paparārangi for the event!
Kids Art Work
No new update this week.
The tamariki have started their art work as part of the ‘arts’ portion of their classroom learning, and
we understand that it will be available to view at the Matariki Evening.
Orders will be collated in Term 3 for this FUNdraiser.
End of Term Pizza
Order information will be coming home with your children soon for our classic End of Term Pizza
lunch which happens on the last Friday of term.
FUNdraisers Video
We will be recording some fresh content or our FUNdraisers promo video…
If you have a child who is keen on being in front of the camera, please let Rebecca know on the
below email address and we will do our best to include them if we can!
FUNdraisers Committee Meetings
Next meeting: 13 th June 2024
Meetings will now be 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
fundraisers@bellevue-newlands.school.nz or just turn up to our meeting on the 13 th !
Community Notices
We will be operating from the school hall from 29 April - 5 July. All enquiries to linda@kapaikidz.co.nz or 021 409641.
Important Dates
Thursday 13 June
FUNdraisers Meeting 6:15 - 7:15pm
Tuesday 18 June
Inter-Zone Cross Country, pp Thursday 20 June
Thursday 20 June
Bellevue Board Meeting 6:30 - 8:30pm
Tuesday 25 June
School Photo Day
NZ Hockey, pp Thursday 27 June
Wednesday 26 June
School-wide Matariki Celebration Evening 5:30 - 7pm
Friday 28 June
Matariki Public Holiday - School closed
Tuesday 2 July
3-Way Conferences 3:15 - 8pm
Wednesday 3 July
3-Way Conferences 3:15 - 6:30pm
Thursday 4 July
Newlands Intermediate School Open Evening 7pm
Friday 5 July
Last day of Term 2
Monday 22 July
First day of Term 3
Thursday 1 August
Newlands Intermediate School in Action Morning 9am
Saturday 31 August
Newlands Intermediate Enrolments Close
Newsletter proudly sponsored by
Email: office@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Phone: 04 4787037