Relationships – Whanauangtanga, Resilience – Manawaroa, Respect – Manaakitanga, Responsibility – Tiaki
Kia Ora, Nǐ hǎo, Greetings,
Welcome to our new students and their families that have started with our school: Yi Fei Lee, Sofia Lewis, Helena Hu, Indigo Harding, Amy Liang & Christian Van Wyk.
Welcome to Māori language week, one of the three official languages of New Zealand. The New Zealand Curriculum states that ‘By understanding and using te reo Māori, New Zealanders become more aware of the role played by the indigenous language and culture in defining and asserting our point of difference in the wider world… As students learn, they come to appreciate that diversity is a key to unity.” Across the school, classes have been embracing Māori language week in a variety of ways.
Room 3 have been lucky to have student teacher Mr Muru, who is fluent in te reo, to lead their activities. They have been using contemporary materials to represent traditional Māori designs, and incorporating native New Zealand birds, (based on the work of Māori artist Shane Hansen).
Artwork by Oscar & Ruby (R3)
Here’s a thoughtful reflection, written by Amy R3.
Ever since I started doing Maori art I have been starting to like it. In my artwork of Maori patterns I used Whēke, Mako, Kete, Pākati, Tara, Ahu, Ahuahu and Mangōpare. We were inspired by Shane Hansen and his Māori art as he only used bright colours so we did the same. The whole thing was coloured in with felt pens. We all had to choose a native bird and I choose a fantail and its Māori name is tīwaiwaka or pīwakawaka. As tree decorations I drew two kowhai trees and a pohutukawa tree. The teacher that taught us all about this is Mr Muru, who stayed with us for about four weeks.
Staffing
We say goodbye to Mr Grimmer at the end of term, who has done a fantastic job teaching PE and other classes. Mr Grimmer is moving out to West Auckland. We wish him all the best. Mrs Christine Daniel will teach in Room 18 on Fridays for term four, and Mrs Robyn Millinchip will pick up the remainder of Michael’s teaching for term four. Again we have been incredibly lucky to attract such excellent staff.
We also farewell Cindy Christensen, who has been on maternity leave, and is pregnant with her second baby. Congratulations Cindy, we wish you all the best! Thank you for all you have given to BBPS.
Circle Time
Earlier this term two teachers attended a Circle Time workshop with Jenny Mosley, a renowned British educational facilitator whose focus is on developing children’s self esteem and promoting positive relationships within school communities. The teachers who attended the workshop are now feeding back what they learnt to other staff members. Circle Time is an exciting, democratic and creative approach that involves a class sitting together in a circle engaging with each other. It supports students to develop skills in turn taking and working with others towards a common vision in a very engaging and enjoyable way. It is effective in developing a sense of unity within a group and also helps students to develop an awareness of the feelings and emotions of others. Circle Time has already been introduced in some classrooms at BBPS, and will be introduced into others during the next few months.
Alongside Circle Time, Jenny Mosley’s Circle Time workshop presented other ways to encourage inclusiveness and well being for all members of the school community. These included ways to promote positive playground behaviour through the use of traditional games and a Jar of Good Choices in classrooms to acknowledge and reward respectful actions or words. Weekly staff meetings now include the presentation of a traditional game that teachers can take back to their classrooms and teach to their students. It is wonderful to walk through the playground during break times and see children engaging in the games that many parents will remember from their own childhood. The Jar of Good Choices has also been a huge hit with students. It involves children being invited to put a marble in a class jar if a staff member has noticed them making a good choice. Once the jar is full, the class is able to put down whatever they are doing and play a short traditional game. The game is usually only two or three minutes long so does not take very much timel out of classroom learning in other areas, but it provides an instant reward for a group achievement. Feedback from teachers indicates that children are really enjoying this new initiative. You might like to ask your child about the Jar of Good Choices games that they have played; they are also very enjoyable as games to play at home.
The ‘craze of the week’ in the playground, run by the student council. Students are enjoying learning old fashioned games, which promote collaboration.
ESOL at BBPS
BBPS has a variety of programmes to support students for whom English is a second or additional language. Children may be invited to join the ESOL programme and attend lessons with the ESOL teacher, or they may be included in small group activities with Learning Assistants to support vocabulary development. There are also other learning support programmes that children who speak a language other than English at home may be invited into. As well, additional support is offered within mainstream classrooms and BBPS is very lucky in that the school has a number of learning assistants who speak several languages and are able to support many students who are in the early stages of learning English.
Parents, families and caregivers of students who speak a language other than English at home are always welcome to visit the ESOL teacher, Diana Spencer, at the Bilingual Learners’ Room (adjacent to the school hall). From 8.30-8.50 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays a Mandarin speaking learning assistant is available to translate, and anyone who has a child who speaks a language other than English is welcomed to visit. Please feel free to call in and discuss any aspect of English language learning that you would like to.
We are very lucky to have such a skilled and dedicated ESOL teacher. Diana has been studying at University to support her practice at school, and graduates with a TESSOL Diploma this term. Congratulations Diana on your achievement on top of teaching!
PTA News
Science Challenge
A group of middle school students went to Point View School recently to participate in a Science Challenge. It was a day of interesting and exciting science challenges, and they had a lot of fun!
Junior Team News
Room 10 – Sushi Making and Play Performance
Last Friday Room 10 with Mrs Crowhurst had an extremely busy day. After assembly they enjoyed learning about the Korean culture when Elena’s mum came in to show the children how to make their own sushi. How clever is that?
Room 10 decided they’d like to invent, write and perform their own play. They chose to create a play about.
- Pirates
- Fairies
- Dinosaurs
In front of an audience of parents, teachers and children Room 10 sang their hears out. The looked spectacular with costumes on and face paint. Great acting Room 10!
Room 20 – Rainbow ‘New Entrant’ Room
Welcome to Miss Charlotte Wilson who has opened up the next new entrant room. Miss Wilson is New Zealand trained, and has returned back from teaching in the UK.
Middle Team Scientists
This term all the students in the middle team have been thinking like scientists as they conducted experiments to test different types of force and to investigate how things move. They made catapults and balloon rockets, used magnetic force, investigated kinetic energy and found out how to poke a sharp stick into a balloon without popping it. This is what it looks like when the classrooms become experimental laboratories.
Kind regards
Kelly Slater-Brown
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