A very warm welcome to all our new students and families in the Junior School, the Team organisation for Term 2 is as follows:
- Lisa Ray Team Leader.
- Miriam Giles and Sue Everard with New Entrants in Room 6.
- Louise Johnson with Year 2 children in Room 7 (Linda Richards will be in Room 7 from Week 1 to Week 8)
- Lorna Foulger with Year 1 and 2 children in Room 8.
- Amber Davidson with Year 2 children in Room 9.
- Kelly Cowan with Year 1 children in Room 11.
- Hayley Sanileva with Year 1 children in Room 12.
- Michelle Murray-Brown with Year 1 children in Room 10
Our programmes for Term 2 are well underway and include a focus on our values of Respect and Collaboration.
Our teaching and learning inquiry topic is focussed around the theme: HOW WE ORGANISE OURSELVES
The Central idea is that People help one another in different ways during times of need.
Learning Intentions (We are learning to…)
- Identify local people who offer their skills and time to society (emergency services, doctors, nurses, teachers etc.)
- Ask questions to find out what work these people do and how they meet society needs.
- Share information about community jobs.
- Discuss ways in which we could help others in our community
We are developing inquiry skills:
- Finding – Where shall we look for information?
- Organising – How do I organize my information to get my message across?
- Presenting – How will I share my information with others?
- Social Action – How did I make a difference?
Key questions that will support the inquiry:
- What are our most important needs?
- Who can we go to for help?
- Why /How do we help each other?
- How do we help each other? How can we help and make a difference for others?
We will be continuing with Nude Food Fridays this term. The children will be encouraged to bring food to school with as little wrapping as possible. They will also be encouraged to put any worm friendly rubbish into the worm bins. We are learning to CHECK THE LIST FIRST, as there are many things that worms cannot digest. Any other rubbish will be put back into the children’s lunchboxes and brought home to sort.
Junior Concert
During the first part of the term will be focusing on the Arts, in particular Dance. We will be working towards performing for a school concert in Week 7. The children will be performing two night concerts and a matinee and they are working hard to perfect their items. Each family will be allocated two tickets for each night and a notice will be sent home closer to the time with the concert times and further ticket details. Towards the end of the term we may visit a local retirement home to perform our concert for the residents. Your child’s teacher will let you know further details and any costume requirements as needed.
Our BBPS Vision is “We are inquiring, connected, resilient and future-focussed learners who give 100%”
The children are working on gaining skills in thinking, problem solving, working co-operatively, and communicating effectively. We very much value the partnership with parents in helping to make our vision a reality.
A sincere thank you for:
- reading to your children every day.
- listening to them read to you every day as part of home learning, and practising the alphabet, basic words, early spelling skills and maths.
- ensuring children have enough sleep and have an ‘early to bed’ time.
- getting children to school before the bell at 8:50 so they have enough time to get organised before school.
- helping teachers in classrooms as necessary.
- helping to return readers to the book room.
- letting us know about the things you feel are going well.
- approaching teachers to discuss any concerns or issues so we can work together to address them.
Quick informal queries or comments may be made before school or through emails. However, because teachers may need to attend staff meetings immediately after school, for anything requiring more deliberation please make a suitable appointment.
Self-Management
To foster the Key Competencies component of our New Zealand Curriculum including self-management, at this time of the year we would be expecting the Year Twos in particular, to be taking more responsibility for walking into school, hanging their bags up and putting bookbags into classrooms ready for the day. If possible, saying goodbye at the school gate would help to further the development of the children’s confidence and independence. A meeting place after school away from the classroom could be another step.
It also helps teachers end the day with the class’s full attention for notices etc if parents wait at a distance from classrooms and are not directly outside classrooms before the 3pm bell.
Uniform
Now we are into the second term children should wear the winter uniform. Our website has a list of the requirements. Undergarments including extra non uniform t-shirts or vests should not be seen. For extra warmth it is better to wear the school sweatshirt that can then be easily removed when it gets too hot. Sunhats are no longer compulsory but may still be needed on these continuing hot sunny days. It is a good idea to also have a raincoat ready and waiting in schoolbags for those unexpected downpours. An extra pair of undies can also be a good idea in case of emergencies. Longer hair needs to be tied back to discourage nit epidemics. If your child has lace up shoes please teach him/her how to lace them up independently.
Home Learning
At the early levels children bring home a book each day that is kept in their book bags until Friday or the following Monday so that over the week they have 4 small books to share with you. At the higher levels the book will be returned to the class each day so they only have the one to read. Please ensure all books are kept and returned in the book bags after the home reading each day and it would be helpful if you could return any earlier readers that may have got ‘lost’. They are a huge expense for the school and we do need to keep them in circulation for class reading programmes.
Please remember to check the school website for notices – www.bbps.school.nz
Morning Tea and Lunches
Drink bottles need to contain water only please. To promote healthy eating we encourage children to eat their bread (or pasta, rice, noodles) first at lunchtime. Please keep sugary, highly processed snack foods to a minimum. Our expectation of a rubbish free school means that children need to take home anything not eaten from their lunch box, however fruit peel and cores etc can be collected to feed our worm farm.
Our main goal is to ensure children feel secure in their class, enjoy coming to school, and develop confidence and independence as they continue their learning journey.
On behalf of the Junior Team, kinds regards and thank you.
Lisa Ray
Junior Team Leader
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