A very warm welcome to all our students and families in the Junior team, especially those who are joining the BBPS family for the first time.

As a part of the BBPS junior team we strive to ensure that children feel secure in their class, enjoy coming to school, and develop confidence and independence. Our goal is to facilitate learning through inquiry by guiding and assisting the children with ongoing development of thinking skills, problem solving, working co-operatively, and communicating effectively.

Our BBPS Vision is “We are inquiring, connected, resilient and future focussed learners, who give 100%.”

We really value the partnership with parents in helping to make our vision a reality.

Initially the class will be busy

• getting to know the children’s interests, skills, talents, achievement levels and specific learning needs
• establishing relationships
• establishing expectations and standards i.e. to be the best that we can be
• setting routines

Timetable

Each day will include the following:

• Fitness and PE – We have jump jam fitness on Tuesdays and Fridays at 8.50, when parents are very welcome to join us (and earn a Gotcha Award!)

• Oral Language – including news.

• Reading – Children are grouped according to their progress and achievement level. During ongoing monitoring these groups will change over the year.       It is important that children feel that their individual success is celebrated and not compared to the rate of progress of the other children.

• Writing – Children are encouraged to develop their letter sound knowledge and spelling skills so they have the confidence to attempt words with increasing independence. Using individual conferences teachers assist children with their own writing goals. Classes also write together as a group to model the writing process i.e. planning their ideas, writing them down, editing, and publishing in a variety of ways.

• Maths – In Years 1 and 2 the major part of maths learning is based on developing number knowledge and strategies to use when working with numbers. Children are grouped accordingly.

Initially the children will be working on Statistical investigations, during which they will be learning to

• sort objects into categories
• use simple graphs to make a display of the data collected

• talk about their data displays and discuss what they discovered

Over the year we also work on probability, time, money, measurement, and algebra.

• Other learning areas include art, music, drama, and health.

• Inquiry Topic – Much of the learning is integrated with topic studies to include science, social sciences and technology, and as an Enviro school we are incorporating Education For Sustainability ideas as well. This term our inquiry theme is ‘Sharing the Planet”. We have the Tread Lightly caravan visiting the school on the 7^th of March and we will be taking part in activities that highlight environmental issues and responsibility. The cost for this is $2.50 per child. We are also learning about building human responsibility towards animals and have a trip tentatively planned for later in the term. You will be advised of the cost as soon as possible.

Our school has zero tolerance for bullying and all issues are followed up with the ultimate aim being that children know the steps to take if they are unhappy with incidents that occur.

These are:

1. Ignore trivial or minor irritations.
2. Move away.
3. Be assertive in saying what you don’t like and to tell the person to STOP IT.       We are learning the words to use to express ourselves clearly, rather than lashing out physically.
4. If none of the above solves the problem, have the confidence to then seek help from a trusted adult, i.e. teachers on duty or the classroom teacher.

Please reinforce the above steps and encourage your child to get issues resolved at school the day they occur.

To further assist with fostering good relationships between children we ask that the issuing of birthday invitations and sharing of party food be dealt with out of school, thank you.

 Home Learning

On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays this consists of

• reader/s. Children may bring home the same book for more than one night depending on their reading level and the focus for lessons. The reading log is used as an incentive to increase ‘reading mileage’ and an opportunity for you to write a comment.

Please ensure readers are kept and returned in bookbags as they are needed by other groups and classes. They are also very expensive to replace.

• practice of alphabet and recognising basic words as applicable.
• other activities may be included from time to time e.g. news preparation, spelling practice, maths or topic studies.

Please encourage the correct pencil grip and letter formation for any writing that your child is doing.

On Fridays, instead of the reader and reading log, children will bring home their poem book and library book, which need to be returned to school the following Monday. Individual classes may have some variation to this procedure.

Please check you child’s bag for newsletters and notices – there are also spares kept on the table in the office foyer, and copies can be accessed on our school website.   www.bbps.school.nz

Also your child may be attracted to classroom items that find their way into pockets so please return any bits and pieces such as little teddies from the maths corner – we would be grateful and no questions asked!

Before and After School

A good time to arrive at school is between 8.30 and 8.45am.

Children settle better if they have time in the morning to unpack, get their book bags organised, and have time to briefly play and meet up with friends before school.

Children arriving just before 8.30 need to stay seated outside the classroom until the bell goes.

SKIDS offer a before and after school programme for parents which includes a casual drop off from 8.00 to 8.30.

If your child is going to be late or absent, please phone the school on 534 6543 to notify the office, or use the absence link on our school website.

Please note that the school programme begins at 8.50.

It would be helpful if parents arriving before the 3.00pm bell, wait away from the classroom e.g. by the sun shelter or ‘friendship seats’, so that teachers can end the day with the class’s full attention for notices etc.

Children may ride scooters to and from school, but not within the school grounds when it is busy with parents, pre-schoolers and other children. Painted scooters on the concrete show a scooter trail where children may ride their scooter carefully. Helmets are encouraged.

Uniform

Please ensure all your child’s belongings are named; including the spare pair of knickers/undies that each child should have in the bottom of their back pack. This minimises the chance of items becoming lost. The found property boxes are in the corridor off the main block between Rooms 3 and 4 so please check this regularly for items that have gone astray. If your child comes home with someone else’s name on an article of clothing please return it to school as soon as possible.

Morning Tea and Lunches

The first 15 minutes of children’s lunchtime is supervised when they need to remain seated and are encouraged to eat their bread (or equivalent) first!

Drink bottles need to contain water only please.

We are fostering the notion of a rubbish free school with a “Pack in, Pack Out Policy”. This means the children need to take home anything not eaten from their lunch box. It would be helpful if items like yoghurt are put into containers so they do not leak and also that items in wrappings are able to be opened independently. Please can you pre-open wrappers such as muesli bars etc. Please keep lollies, sweets and chocolates for home treats, rather than part of their school lunch.

Some scraps such as apple cores and banana skins may go in the worm bins for our school gardens.

We have quite a large number of children with various allergies including reactions to certain goods, eg peanut products, so no food is shared between the children.

Lunches can be ordered through our school website Wednesday Thursday and Friday only. These are delivered to school..

School Assemblies

These are on some Friday afternoons starting at 2.15pm. Parents are welcome.

At some time during the year, your child’s class will present an item and you will be informed when this is on. Also if your child is going to receive a certificate or award the office will ring you. It may seem a long time before your child gets a certificate, as there are only one or two allocated per class per assembly, but we do try to be as fair as possible over the year. We give extra certificates at our team singing sessions and the children also enjoy gathering stickers and other awards for work well done.

e-learning

All classes have classroom computers as well as access to school laptops and ipads.

Our school website is http://www.bbps.school.nz  The BYOD option is for years 4, 5 & 6 only.

Reporting Progress and Achievement

Every child’s learning, progress and achievement is observed and assessed continuously throughout the year. This is done in groups as well as individually through formal assessment, ongoing feedback and feed forward and reflecting on learning and the next steps. You will receive an initial report soon after your child’s arrival and then they will be rostered on a reporting schedule according to their age and birth date.

ELL (English Language Learners)

Diana Spencer works with children needing extra assistance with learning English. They are withdrawn from the classroom for lessons. Please keep up the child’s first language at home and the English will develop by being totally immersed at school.

Working in Partnership

We endeavour to foster open communication with parents, with the interests of the children being our paramount concern. We have parent teacher conferences in a few weeks when you will have the opportunity to share information about your child with the teacher. Details are in the school newsletter.

Also, if at any other time you wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s schooling and well-being please approach your child’s class teacher in the first instance; the Team Leader Lisa Ray and then the Deputy Principal Carole Crompton, or the Principal Dorothy Bigwood, if necessary. Quick informal queries or comments may be addressed before or after school but for anything requiring more deliberation please make a suitable appointment. Teachers may be busy with classroom preparation or have before / after school meetings to attend. These are usually held Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Communication to teachers can also be through email or a letter or note delivered to the teacher.

We welcome your involvement through the PTA and parent help. Some of the ways parents are able to support the school are

• joining the PTA. There is a meeting Tuesday 9 February in the staffroom.
• being a class liaison or parent rep
• doing crossing duty at Clovelly Road
• returning readers to the reading room
• being a parent help on trips
• visiting and helping with special events
• helping in classrooms

We look forward to a happy successful year in the Junior School at Bucklands Beach Primary School where ‘our enthusiasm makes the difference’!

Thank you

Kind Regards

Lisa Ray                   Room 8 with Year 1/2. Team Leader of the Juniors

Louise Johnson        Room 7 with Year 2

Amber Davidson       Room 9 with Year 2

Hayley Sanileva        Room 12 with Year 0/1

Kelly Cowan              Room 11 with Year 0/1      

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