Newsletter Issue 1

Kia ora, Nameste, Talofa, Konnichiwa, Guten Tag, Gidday, Vannakkam, ni Hao, Kia orana, Hola, Salam, Sa wat deekha, Dia Dhuit, Goeie Dag, Bonjour, Καλημέρα, Greetings everyone

Naumai, Haere Mai, Talofa, Kia orana and welcome back to all our families.

Our students have settled well into their classes and across the school staff and students are enjoying building relationships with their classes/hubs and learning the routines that will underpin their learning for 2023.

Meet the Teacher / Whānau Picnic

Thank you to all those who attended either a conference or the picnic on Monday last week.

It was really good to be able to connect with so many of our families in a range of ways and to see the students (albeit wet, soapy and grassy!) enjoying themselves with their peers before the year began. It was also great to welcome our new team members Anneke McLean (Room 10, Hub 3), Nadine Dechapunya (Room 15, Hub 5) and Tessa Finnigan (Room 13, Hub 5) to our community in this way.

We are in the process of gathering feedback about this event from our staff, students and families - please use the link in the Whānau Inventory section of this newsletter to let us know what you think. So far, it has all been very positive with some useful suggestions for how we can build on this in 2024.

A special thank you to our wonderful team of FUNdraisers for the kai and slip’n’slde which put a smile on everyone’s face.

Staff Professional Development

Prior to school starting, the staff were involved in two Teacher Only Days. These were to set the tone for our teaching and learning priorities in 2023. The first day we spent time team building, deepening our understanding of effective assessment for learning and setting up systems for the close monitoring of student progress. The second day included building consistent practice in acknowledging positive student behaviours across the school (as part of our Positive Behaviour for Learning journey) and developing a shared language for behaviours that sit outside our school values. We also completed an activity exploring the way in which our cultural lens may impact the way in which we teach our tamariki as part of our commitment to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The week finished with a car rally to places of historical significance in the Newlands - Paparangi locale as a starting point for our focus on integrating the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum area this year. Lots of fun was had!

Learning

The conceptual focus that underpins our learning for Term 1 and 2 this year is Tōku Anō Ao - Our Place / Our Space. We will be celebrating the diverse cultures of our ākonga; using this as a platform for our learning and connection with our school and wider community.

I enjoyed a great example of this when I visited Hub 2 this week for their hui to find their students discussing the Chinese New year, Year of the Rabbit and I even learned a few new words from our student teachers. (Photo below)

Planning is well underway for a ‘Cultural Festival’ community event later in the term - we will keep you informed through this newsletter. We encourage any of our families or community members who might be interested in being involved in this to let us know either through the Whānau Inventory link below, or by contacting your child’s whānau class teacher directly.

Ngā Hau e Whā o Paparārangi - Cluster Schools Connection

On Friday our school staff and representatives from the Bellevue Board attended an event at our local marae. This Te Korowai o Horokiwi (Cluster Schools) event was attended by Newlands Primary, Rewa Rewa, Paparangi, Bellevue, the intermediate and Newlands College. We were officially welcomed onto the marae, enjoyed kai and shared our stories. This was a wonderful way to end our first week and ‘start as we mean to go on’ sharing practice, expertise, resources and ideas to enrich the learning and wellbeing of the young people in our community.

Thanks to the team at Ngā Hau e Whā for the special welcome and to Newlands Intermediate for leading this event.

Sun Safety

We have been enjoying the Wellington summer! Please do support your child to remember their sun hat every day, drink plenty of water and either bring sunscreen with them or apply this before they come to school. Students who are not prepared for the sun are asked to play in the shaded areas so they are sun safe.

Paid Union Meeting for teachers

The NZEI are holding Paid Union Meetings this term as part of their collective bargaining for, amongst other things, increased staffing to provide more support for individual students and increased support for our highest needs learners.

Our usual policy in these situations is to offer two alternative dates each with half our teachers attending, leaving the remaining teaching team to run an alternative programme at school and minimize disruption for our families. This time, however, there is only one date in our area available - Wednesday 1 March. It is important that we support our teachers as they advocate for the future of education. We are therefore requesting that those families who are able to, please collect their child from school on Wednesday 1 March at 12.30pm. Students who are not able to be picked up will remain at school under the supervision of Annette and staff not attending the meetings. An alternative programme will be run for these students. Please use THIS LINK to notify us of your plan for this afternoon before Friday 17 February so we can plan for safe student supervision.

Property Update -

If you were about over the summer, you may have noticed there were some major repair works to the water main that runs through our school car park. This also involved excavating alongside the jubilee corner path. This is now repaired, but we would like to thank the Kapai Kidz team, the families attending in the final weeks of the break and those who made their way around the disruption during the final days before school opening.

There is much planned on the property front this year, so look out for updates in this newsletter.

2023 Term Dates

A reminder that our 2023 dates are HERE on our school website.

Please also take a look at the dates for Term 1 below and keep an eye on these as we lock in our community events over the next couple of weeks.

Ngā mihi nui

Annette

The Bellevue teaching team and Board at Ngā Hau e Whā o Paparārangi marae where we were welcomed and shared our stories.

We have had only one case reported so far this term.

We will continue to notify families when there is a case in their child's hub so that you can be vigilant for symptoms. Please continue to test children that are symptomatic, do not send students to school if unwell and notify us if your child tests positive (office@bellevue-newlands.school.nz) so that we can monitor the numbers in our school and work toether to keep our community safe from infection.

Thank you.

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.

Dexter, Ashton and Florence in Room 2

Havana, Adam, Charlie and Olivia in Room 3

Marama, Bethany and Xavier in Room 4

Allan in Room 8

Yibei and Icazia in Room 9

Joyan in Room 13

Christine in Room 14

• Shaina and Min Sung who brought in a delicious cake last week for the staff to enjoy.

• Huge thanks to Jonathan Mackenzie and Summerset Homes who donated a conference camera to the school. This will be a huge help anytime we are required to have remote attendees for our meetings (which has been quite frequently the past two years!).
  

Thank you to all who attended our aspiration meetings and whānau picnic last Monday. It was lovely to connect with you and your child in a more informal way.

Bellevue School will continue to gather our general family information digitally. Please follow this link to complete the whānau inventory for the 2023 school year. We are also using this opportunity to ask for feedback from you and your child about last Monday's meetings and picnic.

Please note that this form also includes permissions for sharing of images and work, as well as for your child's use of digital technology whilst at school. Your child will not be able to use devices at school until this is submitted.

Emergency contact information is not included in this form as it was last year. This will be sent home in paper form at a later date, prior to our Emergency Evacuation. In the interim, please contact the office directly if your Emergency Contact information has changed since our Emergency Evacuation last year.

We look forward to receiving your completed form before 5pm on Friday 24 February. Please contact the office if you require support with this form or would prefer a paper copy.

Bellevue School requests activity payments to cover the costs of optional equipment, experiences, and services that are extra to the school’s curriculum obligations. This payment enables parents and teachers to budget for the cost of educational trips and visiting performers throughout the year.

Until now, this payment has been set at $10 per pupil each term (i.e. $40 per year) and has remained unchanged for more than 10 years.

Providing a wide variety of experiences and rich learning opportunities for our students ‘to extend and broaden their educational experiences’ (2022 Annual Plan) continues to be a key focus for Bellevue School and, as you will be aware, the costs of transport, trips and booking for in school activities is increasing.

In order to support us to continue to provide these opportunities for our students in 2023 and beyond, the Board has agreed that from the beginning of 2023 the Student Activity Payment will be $15 per student per term or $60 for the year. Thank you to those families that have already paid this.

Thank you for supporting us to continue to provide exciting educational experiences for our ākonga.

We are still looking for adults to support our students while they are on road patrol throughout 2023. It is a legal requirement for schools to have an adult stand with the Road Patrols when they are on duty. It is important that our children are able to safely cross the road.

When: Thursday & Friday mornings as well as Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday afternoons

Times: Mornings - 8:25 am to 9:00 am; Afternoons - 2:50 – 3:15pm

Who: Any parent, grandparent or caregiver is welcome. Your child DOES NOT have to be a road patrol in order for you to volunteer.

Please email Deeann at deeann@bellevue-newlands.school.nz or contact the school office if you are able to volunteer.

On Wednesday last week, Deeann Daniels (Deputy Principal Year 4-6) and Annette had the privilege of seeing our leavers of 2022 welcomed into Newlands Intermediate at their pōwhiri.

It is a time of anticipation, excitement and no doubt some nerves, but as always we were proud of our now ex-Bellevue tauira as they boldly embark on on their next adventure. Kia kaha for your new start Year 7s!

You are very welcome to contact any member of our team.

Our emails are always: first name of teacher + bellevue-newlands.school.nz

For example Deeann Daniels is deeann@bellevue-newlands.school.nz

Please note, however, that as our teachers and support staff are focused on the students they are working with during the school day they endeavour to respond to emails received during the work day (8am - 5pm Monday to Friday) within 2 business days.

If your matter is urgent (ie changes to pick up arrangements) please call the school office 04 4787037

We have had a number of kind community members offer assistance with tidying up our school grounds which have become 'unruly' over the summer!

In response we would like to propose a working bee during the day on Saturday 18 March.

At this stage, we are keen to gauge interest to inform our planning. If you are not able to come along on the day, please consider sending along some baking or kai to sustain the workers!

If you are able to assist on this day - either in person or by providing sustenance - please let us know through THIS FORM before Monday 13 March.

Thank you for supporting us to keep Bellevue looking beautiful!

A big welcome back to all our budding Bellevue readers.

Thanks to those of you who have already returned your summer reading books.

It’s also a timely reminder about the use of book bags to protect our library books from food and water in school bags.

Book bags can be purchased from the office for $10.50

The latest brochures were sent out last week to all families. Orders are due in by Thursday 16 February. Payment is by cash or credit card (details on the bookclub form). Please place your order in the locked money box in the Office foyer, in a sealed envelope with your child's name, room number and Scholastic book club written on the outside of the envelope.

Miniball 2023

We are currently in need of another amazing parent to step up and manage our miniball teams. If you are interested please email Cassie at cassie@bellevue-newlands.school.nz ASAP. Unfortunately, if we cannot find someone willing to do this, Miniball will not be able to go ahead in 2023!

Wellington Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon 2023

Wellington Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon 2023 registrations are closing on 26 February!

The Wellington Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon will be held on Sunday 19 March, 2023 at Kilbirnie Park. Information about the event can be found here. If your child is interested in taking part in this fun activity, please register as part of our ‘Bellevue (Newlands)’ school group.

Wellington Dance - a local dance studio who offers dance to all ages

Budding ballerina or stage star in your house? Let us help your 5-6 year old get dancing! At our Thorndon Quay studio, we offer ballet & jazz classes after school on Mondays & Tuesdays plus Saturday morning classes. We also offer Saturday morning classes in Khandallah! Visit wellingtondance.co.nz to see why hundreds of Wellington families love our Junior dance programmes.

RĀROA MUSIC CENTRE REGISTRATION FOR 2023

Rāroa Music Centre offers Saturday morning group music lessons for primary and intermediate school children at low cost ($70 per year + $40 koha or parent volunteering). We have spaces available for beginners in the following instruments; Cello, Clarinet, Flute, Recorder, Saxophone and Ukulele. We also offer a fantastic Music Basics programme for 5-7 year olds to ready them for learning an instrument.

To register for 2023 or find out more information visit our website. Registrations close 18th February 2023.

www.raroamusic.org.nz

Wednesday 1 March

Paid Union Meeting - please pick up your children at 12.30pm if possible

Wednesday 8 March

School Athletics

pp Thursday 9 March

Saturday 18 March

Working Bee - School Grounds - Tentative date at present

Tuesday 28 March

School Cross Country

pp Thursday 30 March

Thursday 6 April

Last day of Term 1

Friday 7 April

Good Friday

Monday 24 April

Teacher Only Day - school closed

Tuesday 25 April

ANZAC Day - School closed

Wednesday 26 April

First day of term 2

Friday 2 June

Teacher Only day - school closed

Monday 5 June

Queen's birthday - school closed

Friday 30 June

Last day of term 2