Welcome back to Term 3 and a special welcome to our new students and families for whom this is the first newsletter. We are delighted you have chosen to join our school community.
We have had a very positive start to this term, especially considering it is the time for lots of winter sickness. The children have returned from the break settled and ready to switch back into their learning routines. It is always lovely to see them being able to enjoy some winter sun too, while they connect with their friends in the playground.
As always, lots is happening.
Learning
A big thank you to the 16 families who attended last night’s Literacy Information Evening. If you could not be there in person, we are hopeful that you were able to participate through the Google Meet link sent out yesterday. There were some great questions and the discussion is always helpful in defining what families are wondering, or would like to know more about, and which information is helpful to share. The general information shared at this session will be sent out through our next newsletter and available on our website, but as always, if you have concerns or wonderings about anything specific to your child we would urge you to talk directly to your child’s whānau class teacher or a member of the leadership team.
The term’s conceptual focus is ‘Journeys’ with a particular emphasis on the Social Science and Health & PE learning areas of the curriculum.
All students across the school will be involved in the Zero Waste Education programme this term. The Year 4-6 students completed their series of four lessons last week and the Year 0-3 students embark on these in September. This council funded programme enables children to investigate the link between the Earth’s natural resources, the products they use and see around them and the resulting waste that pollutes our environment. It empowers them to make decisions to reduce the waste pile by reducing, reusing, recycling and composting and by sharing their knowledge with others - we hope you will hear about it!
It is also exciting to share that the Better Start Literacy Approach we have been gradually integrating across the school is now happening in all classrooms. Our Year 4-6 teachers and some of our leadership team are still ‘in training’ this term but it is great to know that our children will experience a consistent pathway of Literacy learning across the school.
Swimming has also begun for our students in Rātā and Kahikatea hubs (Year 3 and Year 6) with our Rimu/Tōtara students (Year 4-5) beginning on 6 August. Mānuka and Nīkau will swim in Term 4.
Community Voice - The survey link is HERE
Thank you to the 19 families who have now shared their thoughts through our Community Voice survey to give feedback on our key school foci and inform the school’s planning for the next three years.
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.
Home Learning
Following our review of home learning in Term 1 (thank you to those who provided feedback), we have now updated our procedures and developed guidelines for Home Learning provision at Bellevue that will provide more consistency across the school. These can be found HERE on our website. They will also be included in your child’s home learning booklet which will come home via Seesaw on Thursday this week.
In addition to the guidelines, you will find an outline of the learning that is taking place this term and some activities your child can complete to practise skills that will support their learning in school. Following this, new information and activities will come home at the start of each new term. If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s whānau class teacher.
Whānau Māori Hui
We had a wonderful evening reconnecting with our whānau Māori last Tuesday. This was made more special by the kai (food) - delicious soup and fresh bread that our tamariki (children) had prepared to fuel our kōrero (conversations). We would like to thank our whānau for coming out on such a cold night to join us and we look forward to the next one. If you are interested, the key themes from our discussions are below.
Pōwhiri for New Students - 12.50pm Thursday
We are looking forward to welcoming our new students and their families at our Term 3 Pōwhiri tomorrow. Please note the time has changed from previous years if you have attended one before.
Attention Autism - Bucket Time
One of the benefits of connecting with the schools across our Te Korowai ō Horokiwi schools cluster is the sharing of initiatives that have been successful. One such initiative is the Attention Autism Bucket Time programme. After speaking with the Newlands School team Deeann Daniels (Deputy Principal & SENCO) and Naomi Haw (Teacher Aide) have established this programme in our school for a small group of children. The focus of this group is to scaffold children from engagement and focus in watching an activity, through to managing an activity more independently. I was fortunate to join a session last week and was struck by the enthusiasm with which the children are responding.
School Bells
We have adjusted the bells at school following feedback from our students via our Student Council that these were very loud and stressful for some children. As the bells are linked to our emergency alarms, it is not possible to reduce the volume. The student council and teaching team worked to solve this problem. Now there are only bells for bringing children into the building or marking the end of a break. This makes for a much more peaceful learning environment and draws greater attention to the bells when needed for emergencies.
The new bell times are:
Kelly Club - Before and After School Care
You will see that there is more information coming out from Kelly Club via their, and the school’s, Facebook page. Now that the numbers are picking up due to the popularity of Kelly Club, the school is also seeing the rewards.
It may be helpful to know that Kelly Club and Bellevue have a revenue share arrangement which means that, when you use this service, you are also helping to increase funds to the school. The numbers of families using before school care are still quite low so if you have been considering using this service, we would encourage you to check it out - supporting Kelly Club is supporting Bellevue!
Values Assemblies - 1 & 22 August & 12 September
We will be continuing to hold our short values-focused assemblies this term - these have been a huge hit with the children and we have noticed an increase in behaviours that support our school values (showing Aroha through empathy, resilience, integrity and creativity) in response to the shared messages about what these values ‘look like’ and the public celebrations of children who are demonstrating them in these assemblies. The dates are above. If you are able to join us for an assembly or two this term that would be fantastic.
Considering Standing for the Bellevue Board?
Nominations for the Board are now open. Below are a couple of resources you might find helpful if you are considering this valuable role on behalf of our community:
Reminders -
Reporting against refreshed English learning area of the NZC: A reminder that from Term 3 we are reporting against the refreshed English learning area of the New Zealand Curriculum. Teachers have been teaching from this throughout the year, so reporting is the only change. We are working on updating our Mathematics progressions currently so expect to be able to report from these by the start of 2026. For more information about this and how it may affect the picture of your child’s progress click here (this document was shared with families at the end of Term 2’s three way conferences).
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.
