Newsletter Issue 3

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 we are already in the middle of the term. As I write this there is a strong juddering outside the office while the concrete is removed outside the staffroom. This will be replaced with a smooth surface to enter into our accessible walkway. The walkway has really opened up the school and helps the block ‘down the hill’ to feel more connected to our school as a whole as well as making this more accessible. The Rīmu/Tōtara block is being thoroughly repaired as rot was discovered in both ends of the building. The children and their teachers are being amazingly patient with this work. It is a good reminder that it takes resilience, perseverance and often some tough challenges to achieve good things. We are all looking forward to enjoying our school for the following terms once these projects are completed, uninterrupted by construction work!

Bellevue Whānau Inventory 2025

Thank you to the 83 families who completed our 2025 Whānau Inventory. This is now closed, but we have many families (around 16-20 students in each year group) who have not confirmed their permissions for their child to have their work or images shared (or not) either in our newsletter, or on the website. Please do note that our newsletter is accessible through our school website too, but indirectly - follow THIS LINK to see what we mean. Your child’s whānau teacher will be following this up with you so please let us know what your preference is. Please also note that we do not share any photos or names of students on our closed group Facebook page. Another key aspect of the whānau inventory is the updating of important medical information for your child. If your child has medication at school, please do get in touch if our information may need an update - office@bellevue-newlands.school.nz.

2025 Annual Plan

The 2025 Annual Plan, that outlines the actions we will take towards achieving the goals outlines in our 2024 - 2025 Strategic Plan, has now been approved by the Board and published on our website. Both documents can be found on our website, under Board Reports, HERE. The Board is currently reviewing the 2024 Annual Financial Report that outlines school spending against our budget for the previous year and this is yet to be audited. Following this, this document will also be published to this page of our website and we will notify you through the newsletter. We are focused on making our guiding documents as accessible as possible to our community. If you have any feedback on how we can do this better, please get in touch.

Ngā Hau e Whā o Paparārangi Marae Welcome

On Friday, our team were privileged to join with the staff from Paparangi, Newlands Primary, Rewarewa, Newlands Intermediate and Newlands College for a special pōwhiri to welcome all any new staff to the marae and to connect with one another to begin the 2025 year. We are thankful to the team at the marae and the students and staff from the Intermediate who set up this event for us. It was a beautiful evening with not too much wind and we all savoured some of the best views in Wellington over the harbour. This is one of the many benefits of working so closely together as schools in ‘Te Korowai ō Horokiwi’ (the cloak of Horokiwi) cluster of schools focused on providing our children with a cohesive pathway right through to the end of their schooling.

Athletics Day

Thank you to all our whānau who came along this morning to support our children, despite the unpredictable weather! Unfortunately the rain didn't hold off, so the rest of our Athletics Day will continue on our postponement date: this Friday 14th March.

Years 3 - 6 will commence at 11:40am, and Years 1-2 will start their Athletics Day at 11:50am.

After Friday, the next step is the collation of the results to establish those who have qualified for the Northern Zone Event in Term 4. A big thank you to Cassie Woodhouse who continues to provide great sports coordination and leadership for our school, our teaching and support staff team who collaborate to adapt to unpredictable weather whilst still managing the event and helping our students have a blast.

He rau ringa e oti ai - Many hands make light work!

Pōwhiri For New Students & Staff

Tomorrow we hold our first pōwhiri for the year to welcome our new students and staff members. Everyone is busy preparing as this is a special event for the school to bring new families or staff members into our community of learning. If your child is new to the school, we look forward to seeing you there.

Neurodiversity Week - next week

Further to last year’s regular excerpts in the newsletter about understanding Neurodiversity, next week we celebrate Neurodiversity Week. THIS WEBSITE has masses of great resources and information to support families. The teaching team are using some of the school resources to explore with the tamariki the ways in which we all think differently to develop our school value of empathy - an understanding that diversity is a strength and we can all benefit from one anothers skills in a collaborative environment.

Bellevue & Collective BBQ End 2024 - Spending!

This event raised money for our school to buy new quoits, footballs and touch balls. In addition we have yet to purchase new netball nets with these funds. A huge thank you to The Collective for their support and to Mel Bradley (Teacher Aide & Parent) who organised this fundraiser and the purchase of the sports gear for our tamariki.

Seesaw Reporting - Updates

At our Realtime Reporting Community Information Evening, families asked about data privacy and security.

In our discussions with Seesaw, they provided the following links which provide more information about how Seesaw works to keep students information safe:

What regulations are there around privacy & security?

• Seesaw’s Privacy and Security homepage.

• About data storage.

How secure is my child’s data when stored on Seesaw?

• How Seesaw keeps student data safe.

Other queries we needed to do a bit of research to answer were:

Is ‘Family Sharing’ enabled so we can post from home onto Seesaw too?

• Yes - this is enabled from the school side. If you have any difficulties, please do contact your whānau class teacher in the first instance.

Is there a way to manage my notifications on Seesaw?

• Yes, please see the screenshot below.

Advance Notice - Annual Whole School Emergency Evacuation & Reunification Practise 2025

The Board has set the date for our Annual Whole School Evacuation Practise for Friday 10 October.

This is an important practise as we work though the considerations of notifying families and safely evacuating close to 300 students as we would need to in a civil defence emergency. We appreciate our families patience and understanding with this as we understand that it is an interruption to the working day and requires some forward planning. As with every year, more information will come out closer to the time, but for now please:

• Mark the 10 October in your diary

• Check that your emergency contact records are up to date with the office if these have changed since last year.

School Donations for 2025

School Donations for 2025 are to remain the same as 2024.

The Bellevue School donation is now set at $140 per year for the first child in a family, and $220 for two or more. Payment of the donation is voluntary, though as mentioned in our Issue 1 newsletter the school does rely on these to manage within our budget. Parents can claim an income tax credit from Inland Revenue.

A request for the amount is sent to each family every term.

Student activity payments remain the same as in 2023. The below is an excerpt from our School Docs policy for your information.

Activity payments are required to cover the costs of optional equipment, experiences, and services that are extra to the school’s curriculum obligations. This payment is set at $15 per pupil each term (i.e. $60 per year) to enable parents and teachers to budget for the cost of educational trips and visiting performers. Payment may also be required for curriculum-based activities that involve a “take home” component for the student to keep, or that are only available to a select group to opt into.

Parents are informed in advance of any additional optional payments that are extra to our curriculum obligations.

Ngā mihi

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.

Some of the team enjoying the view at Ngā Hua e Whā o Paparārangi Marae.

Screenshot: Managing notifications on Seesaw

Kyon - Room 4

Efrata - Room 4

Sanuli - Room 2

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.

This term has seen the introduction of Kura Ahurea into classrooms at Bellevue. Kura Ahurea is a sharing of local historical narratives, tikanga and kawa from Mana Whenua Te Ātiawa ki Te Whanganui a Tara/Taranaki iWhānui perspective. It is an amazing tāonga (gift) as it is specific to our region and allows all of our tamariki, both Māori and non-Māori to form connections with our whenua (land) and our history.

The learning is based around three pillars - visual, through the use of specially designed artworks, auditory via waiata and oral storytelling, and kinesthetic through the use of movement, activities and actions. Each year the group is engaging with this learning in their own unique way, and our kaiako are tailoring it to their learners.

This term we are learning about Ranginui and Papatūānuku. Look out for sharing via Seesaw, and ask your tamariki about what they have learned so far.

The cut-off for signing up is Thursday 3rd April. Please follow the link below to sign up.

Miniball Term 2 2025

Let’s Get Movin’ in March!

We’re a Movin’ March school and are stamping passports as part of the Walk or Wheel Passport Challenge all through March. Walking or wheeling to school is a great way to get active, know your neighbourhood, kick start learning for the day AND take care of the environment. Remember tamariki with at least one stamp on their passports go in the draw to win a Micro Scooter and helmet at the end of March!

Park & Stride

If you live ‘too far away’ why not try a Park and Stride? Your child can still get their passport stamped! It helps reduce congestion around the school gate, gives tamariki exercise and whānau get to share precious moments on the way to or from school. You can drop your child at the bottom of Bancroft Terrace, or on Link Road and they can still get their passport stamped!

We are excited to have finalised a great team of librarians for 2025. All our applicants shone, making the job of selecting very difficult. Congratulations to all of you who put your name forward.

Just a friendly reminder to make sure your child has a waterproof book bag! Our most common book damage is water, so we want to take every precaution to avoid this happening. We have good quality bags available from the office for $11.

Netsafe Webinar

A reminder that as we are a Netsafe School, we are working in partnership with our community to keep our tamariki safe online. See below for a webinar opportunity for our families of primary or intermediate age students.

Supporting Your Pre-Teens and Teens to Chat Safely Online

Date and time: 26th March @ 7.30pm

Register here: Webinar Registration - Zoom

This webinar is designed for parents and whānau who are you looking for ways to support their 11-18 year olds to navigate the challenges and opportunities of chatting online. Gain practical tips and advice for supporting your children’s online safety when they chat and connect in the digital world.

We’ll cover:

• Popular chat based social media apps and online games, and the practical safety steps that can be used on them

• Tips for discussing safer online chatting with your rangatahi

• What to do when things go wrong online

Whether you’re seeking reassurance or taking your first steps in learning about online safety, this welcoming and judgment-free webinar is here to support you. There will be plenty of time for Q&A.

Roblox Risks (from Common Sense Media)

What?

• Roblox is a gaming platform where users can both create and play games. With real money, users can purchase the in-game currency called Robux to buy items.

• It's a vast ecosystem of "experiences" and games, including concerts, branded simulations, and more metaverse elements.

• Though they've continually added safety features and parental controls, mature content is still easily accessible, instances of bullying and grooming continue, and an SEC investigation is in progress.

• Roblox gambling games, dance club "experiences," and the Clip It feature are just a few elements that adults may not know about.

Now What?

• It's important for adults to understand the breadth and depth of Roblox before their kid signs up: It's overwhelming. That means parents should take advantage of every safety feature and get a feel for the games their kids are playing and the interactions they're having.

• Adults also need to know that the Clip It feature is TikTok for Roblox. So even if a kid doesn't have TikTok, Clip It uses the same short-form video style with Roblox content, which can also contain mature stuff despite its blocky animation.

Talk to kids about gambling on Roblox or elsewhere (as sports betting is gaining in popularity with teens): Why do people gamble? What are the risks? At what point does it become an addiction?

Belleuve Kindergaren

Please have conversations with your children around road safety if they walk or ride past the Kindy to and from school, and remind them to use the footpath.

There are also still school parents driving right up to the kindergarten when picking up students, this blocks staff in and makes it very difficult when they need to leave for meetings.

Driving and parking safely around schools

See the important safety information below from the Wellington City Council.

See below for a fun family event this coming weekend run by a fantastic charitable organisation: Brick Engaged. For more information on what they offer, please visit their website: https://www.brickengaged.org/

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!

https://www.aainsurance.co.nz/big-little

Username bellevue-newlands, password 'grow'