A very warm welcome to all our new students and families in the Junior School.

The Team organisation for Term 2 is as follows:

Sarah Bartholomew – Team Leader – s.bartholomew@bbps.school.nz

Miriam Giles and Sue Everard with New Entrants in Room 4 – m.giles@bbps.school.nz

Anna Madgwick & Hayley Sanileva with Year 1 children in Room 5 – a.madgwick@bbps.school.nz

Donna Crowhurst with Year 1 children in Room 10 – d.crowhurst@bbps.school.nz

Marlies Wilson with Year 1 children in Room 11 – m.wilson@bbps.school.nz

Liz Keel with Year 2 children in Room 6 – l.keel@bbps.school.nz

Lorna Foulger with Year 2 children in Room 7 – l.foulger@bbps.school.nz

Kelly Cowan with Year 1 & 2 children in Room 8 – kelly@bbps.school.nz

Michelle Murray-Brown & Marlene Jackson with Year 2 children in Room 9 – michelle@bbps.school.nz

 

Our programmes for Term 2 are underway and include a focus on our values of Respect and Collaboration.

The Inquiry Topic is:      Where we are in time and place

The Central idea is:            Generations share similar experiences

Learning Intentions (We are learning to…)

  • Learn about basic requirements people need in a community (education, food, shelter, recreation, clothing, occupations.
  • How different generations have met these needs and interconnect.
  • How the needs of the past impact on the present and the future.

Inquiry Skills

  • Finding – Where shall we look for information?
  • Organising – How do I organise my information in an effective way?
  • Presenting – How will I share/present my information with others?
  • Social Action – What impression did I make? (interviewing)

Key questions that will support the inquiry

  • How have things changed?
  • Why have things changed?
  • What impact did/does this have on the present day/past/future?

The children will be recording what ‘life’toys’food’communication’school’home life’transport’jobs’holidays’spare time’ was like in the past

             (Grandparents time/Parents time/Our Present time)

We will be holding a Grandparents Day/Special Person Day at school on Monday 28th May where we’ll be asking for afternoon tea to be sent into school. More details to come soon.

Nude Lunches

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.

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.

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 book bags 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 children’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. Jewellery should be kept at home please.

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.  A Poetry book comes home to share each Friday. At the higher levels the books are longer and may be worked on for two or more days.  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.

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.

Early arrivals – in the morning children aren’t supervised outside classes and can’t enter classrooms before 8.30a.m.  Please consider SKIDS as an option so they’re not sitting in the cold. Thank you.

Important Dates: (please check calendar for dates nearer to the time as dates and events could change)                                                                                                        

  • Mother’s Day – 13th May
  • Ramadan – 15th May
  • Pink Shirt Day – 18th May
  • Sausage Sizzle – 22nd May
  • Grandparents Day – 28th May
  • Monday 4th June – Queen’s Birthday Weekend (DAY OFF SCHOOL)
  • Sausage Sizzle – 5th June
  • Matariki – 15th June
  • Junior School MOTAT TRIP – Rooms 4, 10, 6 & 9 – Tuesday 19th June
  • Junior School MOTAT TRIP – Rooms 5, 11, 7 & 8 – Wednesday 20th June
  • Literacy Week – 25th June
  • Cross Country – 29th June
  • Reports sent home – 2nd July
  • Stomp dance show – 3rd July
  • Parent/Teacher Interviews – 4th and 5th July
  • Last Day of Term Two – 6th July

Please remember to check the school website for notices – www.bbps.school.nz and our official school Face Book page.

Kind Regards

Sarah Bartholomew – Junior School Leader

s.bartholomew@bbps.school.nz