Newsletter Issue 2

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

Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki 'Airani - it is Cook Island Māori Language week. The 2025 theme for Cook Islands Māori Language Week is 'Ātui'tui’ia au ki te raurau a tōku matakeinanga – “Connect me to the offerings of my people'.

Although we like to acknowledge the language weeks at Bellevue, honouring the language and cultures that our children bring with them is an ongoing focus. The weeks are always a good reminder of our beautifully diverse community and an opportunity to learn a little more about the cultures that make up our school. In case you wish to look into this at home, more information and resources can be found HERE.

Next week, we celebrate Maths Week by engaging in the Bellevue Mathathon!

Sickness

It is that time of year again and we continue to find it difficult at times to find relievers. The Bellevue team are practised at this now and regularly give up release time to be back in the classroom, cover across classes if needed, and prioritise the needs of the children so that, frequently, families are not aware of this. We share this in the newsletter because over the past couple of weeks there have been times when an alternative programme has needed to be offered to manage with short staffing. Please be aware of this, if you hear from your child they have a different teacher or have worked in a different way to usual. Keeping learning programmes as calm, consistent and uninterrupted as possible continues to be our top priority.

Paid Union Meetings

Primary teachers, principals, school support staff and MoE learning support specialists are taking the rare and major move of coming together for joint paid union meetings later this month, after teachers received an offer of a 1% pay increase last week and Principals are looking at the same.

This is a time when so much change is taking place in education, at such a pace, while the numbers of children with complex needs arriving in schools with inadequate support or funding continue to rise. We continue to face an extreme shortage of teachers wanting to remain in the profession. This offer is a far cry from valuing our educational workforce and follows Learning Support Staff decisions to take collective action to highlight the lack of support for children with needs.

As is clear from the ‘sickness’ note above, a refreshed curriculum is only successful if there are people to teach it!

On Wednesday 20 August and Friday 22 August from 2-3pm our staff will be attending Paid Union Meetings to discuss next steps. As always, we will be coordinating this across the school and providing an alternative programme to minimise disruption for our families. If you wish to support us in this, and are able to, please feel free to collect your child from 2pm on Wednesday 20 August and Friday 22 August. Our Year 4/5 students will be continuing to attend their swimming programme so may not all be back at school by 2pm.

Please note that there is no requirement to pick your children up as they will be well supervised. Rather, just be aware that these two afternoons will look different to usual across the school. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Literacy Community Information Evening

The information shared at our Literacy Community Information Evening can now be found on our website HERE. This was intended to be a general overview of all aspects of Literacy at Bellevue and how this aligns with the refreshed NZ Curriculum English Learning area. We are aware that families are interested to know more about the Better Start Literacy Approach, including what these teaching sessions look like, and we will be offering sessions (to build on the one already held a couple of years ago) to outline this in the future.

Community Voice - The survey link is HERE - Last few weeks to participate!

We now have 25 families who have engaged with our Community Voice survey to give feedback on our key school foci and inform the school’s planning for the next three years. Responses so far are enormously positive and constructive.

The survey is short - we expect it to take less than 10 minutes - and will close at 5pm on 31 August.

Please do take a minute to share your thoughts with us so we can plan for the future with the confidence that all our families' voices have been represented.

Bellevue Board Elections

At a time when some schools are struggling to fill Board vacancies, we are so grateful to have a community whose engagement has led to enough nominations for us to go to an election. Thank you to those who have made a nomination, make sure you vote and we look forward to hearing the outcome of the election to be held on 3 September. This week’s Board meeting will now be held in the school staffroom at 6.30pm (Thursday) to enable interested nominees to join us.

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.

Miah - Room 4

Riley - Room 3

Samson - Room 3

Arlo - Room 2

Payton - Room 8

Last week we celebrated Te Rā o Tumeke Tumuaki - Principal's Appreciation Day 2025 and had the opportunity to celebrate Annette, our very own!

Our kura celebrated Annette in many creative ways, including making her a video, stories and cards, a basket of goodies and huge paper flowers delivered to her office throughout the day!

Our staff also put on a beautiful shared morning tea - there was no shortage of treats!

Thank you Annette, for the endless aroha you pour into our Bellevue whānau, and for the compassion and strength in which you lead our community with.

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.

We have a great team of librarians who are working together and helping one another out when needed. So this is a ‘shout out’ to them for the great job they are doing.

Along with their regular duties, they also have the option of working on awards which they do in their own time.

Congratulations to both Tia and Grace (below) for completing their Librarian’s Bronze Award.

Puzzle Mania in the Library!

The beginning of the school day sets the tone for the rest of the day – so arriving on time makes a big difference. Right now, we’re noticing that around 15% of our tamariki are arriving late each day. While we appreciate mornings can be a juggle, being regularly late can affect your child’s learning and wellbeing more than you might think.

Why does being on time matter?

• Settled start: Arriving on time gives tamariki the chance to settle in, connect with their friends and teacher, and be ready to learn.

• Important instructions: Teachers often give key information and expectations for the day right at the start. Missing this can leave children feeling unsure or behind.

• Confidence and routine: A consistent start helps children feel calm, organised, and confident. Being late can be stressful for kids, especially if they feel like they’re walking in halfway through something.

• Life skills: Getting to school on time builds great habits for later in life – like being on time for work, sports or other commitments.

How you can help at home?

Here are some simple tips that might make your mornings smoother:

• Create a morning routine: A predictable plan (wake-up time, breakfast, getting dressed, out the door) can reduce stress and keep everyone on track.

• Get bags ready the night before: Check clothes, lunches, and school bags in the evening to avoid the morning scramble.

• Aim to arrive early: Try to arrive 5–10 minutes before the bell – it gives your child time to connect with friends and settle in.

• Use a timer or music: Set a fun playlist or use a timer to help kids know when it’s time to move on to the next step.

We know that life happens – alarms don’t go off, socks go missing, traffic surprises us! But if every whānau does a little to improve their morning routines, we’ll see big benefits for our whole school community. Let’s work together to get our tamariki off to the best possible start each day.

Nominations have now closed for our board elections and as there were more nominations than positions available the election will be continuing to a vote. The Bellevue School Board received a total of seven (7) nominations for five (5) vacancies when nominations closed on Wednesday 30 July.

Keep an eye out for voting information as this will be sent to all eligible voters no later than Wednesday 6 August. The voting packs will contain all the details on how to vote in the election as well as candidate statements and photos from the candidates that provided them.

The voting will close at 4pm on Wednesday 3 September 2025 and the results will be available on Tuesday 9 September. The candidates who receive the most votes will be elected to the board and the results will be shared with the candidates and our school community. If you have any questions about the election process, please contact the Returning Officer directly on 0800 VOTENZ (0800 868 369) or election@electionpilot.nz.

Voting closes at 4pm on Wednesday 3 September 2025.

Kia ora,

My name is Shelley Olliver-Bell and I am the Learning Support Coordinator based at Newlands Intermediate School.

As part of my role, I am tasked with supporting the smooth transition of Year 6 students to us here at Newlands Intermediate. If you have a child who you understand to have:

• Social, emotional and/or behavioural needs

• Neurodiversity (either diagnosed or undiagnosed)

• Learning concerns

I would love to meet with you to learn more about them from a parents/caregivers perspective. This will help us to ensure the best support is in place for your child during their time at Intermediate. Your child’s current teacher may also help you to determine whether a meeting with me would be beneficial.

To make an appointment please contact me by emailing: shelley.ob@newlandsint.school.nz

I look forward to hearing from you and starting your whānau’s journey with us.

Variable speed limits will apply within 150 metres of school gates. This is to improve safety for all road users, especially students, during school drop off and pick up times.

Work is set to begin in 2025, with signs being installed in phases around the schools until mid-2026.

Sign locations:

To see the locations of the signs in detail, please visit https://wellington.govt.nz/Your-Council/Projects/Safe-speed-limits-outside-schools#about and enter the name of your local school or relevant TR number to find and download the related report.

If a sign is located near your home and you'd like to provide feedback, please email variablespeedlimit@wcc.govt.nz between 9am, Monday 14 July and 5pm, Monday 28 July 2025.

Out of zone enrolment applications are now being accepted for Term 1, 2026. Up to five (5) places are likely to be available for out of zone students. The deadline for out of zone enrolments is 9am Friday 19 September 2025. Please have a look at the school website for more details: https://www.bellevue-newlands.school.nz/enrolment.

Our school is a smoke free, vape free environment by law. Our SchoolDocs policy is HERE and can also be found on the Bellevue SchoolDocs site. We would like to remind our community that smoking or vaping either in or around the school grounds is not allowed. Thank you for setting a healthy example for our students.

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