Welcome Back

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

Kia ora e te Bellevue Whānau,

Ngā mihi o te tau hou Pākeha - Happy New Year and a warm welcome back to all our whānau and school community.

Apologies if you are the parent of a child who has left the school with no siblings as this communication is just ahead of the removal of your contact from our newsletter list. Please ignore this communication and all the best for 2024!

We are very much looking forward to seeing our whānau and tamariki at our Meet the Teachers' picnic from 4.30 - 6.30pm on the school field on Wednesday (31 January). The original communication for this is HERE in case you missed it.

Our FUNdraisers will have sausages, ice blocks and drinks available so bring some change if you are feeling peckish!

We have had some questions regarding the slip 'n' slide, which was so popular with students and families last year, in light of the current water restrictions for residential households.

The guidelines issued by Wellington Water state that businesses should 'review their practices and make sensible, pragmatic decisions about water use.'

Wellington City Council states:

Wellington City, ...will move to Level 2 Water Restrictions at 12.01am on Wednesday 17 January, meaning a ban on sprinklers and irrigation systems for residential households.

The ban applies to all irrigation systems, soaker hoses, and unattended watering systems. Residents can still water their garden by hand (e.g. a garden hose) at any time, on any day, so long as this is not left unattended.

Given the above, the school has made the decision to go ahead with the slip 'n' slide which uses an attended hand-held garden hose. This will be limited to one hour between 5pm - 6pm. Water use (monitored by school staff) will be kept to a minimum, while still providing what we have found to be a long anticipated and joyful start to the school year for our tamariki. Please bring togs and towels for anyone who wants to join in the fun!

Please note that at this event there will also be -

• A photo board so that you can identify the teachers of your child/rens' hub / whānau class. (You may wish to remind yourself of your child/ren's room number which came home on the sheet attached at the end of last year so you can use this to idenitfy your child's teacher).
• Teachers wearing lanyards for easy identification.
• A brief introduction of our staff just before we begin the slip 'n' slide at 5pm.
• An opportunity to review and give your feedback on our draft strategic plan and goals for 2024.
• An opportunity to give your thoughts on what community/whānau evenings our families would appreciate/find helpful in 2024.

Please take some time to share your thoughts with us.

Collecting Beginning of Year Information

We will do this digitally through our 'Whānau Inventory Form'.

This will come home in the week beginning 12 February.

This gives us important information about your child and family and how you like to work with school as well as an opportunity to let us know of any changes in medication, etc for your child.

If you would like support completing this form we will be offering some drop in sessions on:

• Tuesday 13 February 2-3pm
• Wednesday 21 February 2.30 - 3.30pm

In the school staffroom. Please come along and join us.

Finally, we have included below some of the information from the end of last year that is still relevant in case it is helpful. Our first fortnightly newsletter for the year will come home on Wednesday 7 February, with the important dates only on alternate weeks.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you all.

Ngā mihi nui

Annette

To assist our families with locating our Attendance Procedures, please note that the below link now takes you to a 'quick link' to the Attendance Procedures in PDF form.

Username bellevue-newlands, password 'grow'

At Bellevue our staff choose whether students call them by their first name or last name.

To help our families with this, here is a staff list with their room and the titles our team prefer -

Beverley Warwick Room 14 - Beverley

Nadine Dechapunya Room 15 - Nadine

Jane McCauley Room 12 - Jane

Tessa Finnigan Room 13 - Tessa

Cassie Woodhouse Room 9 - Cassie

Jean Goodhall Room 9 Term 2 & 3 only - Jean

Megan Walters Room 8 - Megan

Anne Gullen Room 10 - Mrs Gullen

Emma Cummings Room 11 - Emma

Nichaela Taylor Room 5 - Ms Taylor

René Senekal Room 6 - René

Anne Smith - Rocket Room - Mrs Smith

Grace Mellow Room 2 - Grace

Deirdre McArthur Room 3 - Deirdre

Elizabeth (Liz) Macmillan Classroom Release Time cover Hubs 1-3 - Mrs Macmillan

Anneke McLean Classroom Release Time cover Hubs 4-5 & Fridays in Hub 3 - Room 10 - Anneke

Deeann Daniels - Office, Hub 5 - Deeann

Mandy Toms - Junior Area - Mrs Toms

Annette Borgonje (Principal) - Annette

All our support staff go by first name terms.

A reminder that this year, there are changes to the times of our breaks during the school day. As well as the change to timings, students will now play before they have their kai. School will still start at 9am and finish at 3pm, with 3 learning blocks throughout the day.

This means our breaks will look like the following:

Break 1

11:00 - 11:30 - Play

11:30 - 11:40 - Eat

Break 2

1:10 - 1:40 - Play

1:40 - 1:50 - Eat

Changing the order to playing first and then eating has shown in international studies to improve children’s ability to focus in classroom learning. With the ‘Play’ first and then ‘Eat’, children eat more, drink more and have improved readiness to learn. They are not so inclined to rush their food to get out to play. They are calmer when they are eating after playing. By having the ‘Learn’ time immediately following eating, they are more attentive, relaxed and ready to learn. The aim is to provide a time to focus on eating in a calm, settled way and then transition successfully into learning programmes.

A number of schools across NZ have embraced this concept following the research of Dr Kathleen Liberty, an Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury. If you would like to find out more, please follow this link.

We are still looking for new volunteers to support with Road Patrol.

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: Mondays - Friday before or after school

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 Nadine at nadine@bellevue-newlands.school.nz or contact the school office if you are able to volunteer.

Bellevue School - Newlands

Wanted: Patient, sensitive and caring people to support students with special social, emotional, physical and learning needs. Need to be calm, fair, consistently follow guidelines and be interested in working with children from 5-11 year olds.

You will support students with routines, learning tasks and making good choices for their learning/behaviour in the classroom and playground. May involve assistance with toileting and administration tasks at times.

Experience/willingness to support students learning in:

- developing skills in speaking/using English

- calming/de-escalating and resetting behaviour

- working with teachers in a variety of learning spaces

Current positions are for supporting students with English as their second language, class/playground or learning and behaviour support.

The hourly pay rate will be based on experience for the role.

To apply: send current CV with the details of two referees who can attest to the skills relevant to the above and letter of application to: principal@bellevue-newlands.school.nz.

Position closes as soon as appointments are made.

Wednesday 31 January 2024

Meet the Team:

Community Picnic/3-Way Conferences

Thursday 1 February 2024

First day of the school year

Friday 12 April 2024

Last day of term 1