The School Lunchroom will reopen for orders on Monday 16 September 😋

Coming Up

• Wig Wednesday - Wednesday 11 September - Wear your school uniform with a colourful wig or funky hair do and please bring a gold coin donation

• FOTS School Disco - Friday 13 September (See FOTS section below for more Information)

• Māori Language Week - Monday 16 September

• Year 4 Motat Trip - Tuesday 17 September

• Term 3 & 4 Sports Team Photos - Wednesday 18 September

• Y5 & 6 Super Cluster Football - Thursday 19 September

• BOT Meeting - Thursday 19 September - 6.30pm (Staffroom)

• Level 4 Waterwise - Friday 20 September - Millenium Centre

Contents

Principal News

• Travelwise Week

• School Pool
  

• AWHI Update

School Notices

• Reporting Student Absences - Sickness/During the School Term

• Wheelchair Needed

Friends of the School

• Thank you Volunteers

• FOTS Disco

School Events

• Superstars

• ICAS Digital Technologies Exam Results

• Travelwise Wacky Wednesday

• Friendship Games/Peer Mediators

• Super Cluster Hockey

• Browns Bay School Eco-Warriors

• Learning Support Awareness Day

• Star Student

Principal News

Travelwise Week

Huge thanks to Jen Vermeij for organising Travelwise Week. It is a priority for us to have a safe school environment.

You may know that last week we had another incident on Masterton Road when a family were not using the road crossing. I can not emphasise enough the importance of using the crossing not only for the safety of your family, but the example that you set for all of our children. You are the role models of crossing safely and I ask again that you all consider that when you are crossing the roads around the school.

Last week a group of students counted the cars coming through the drop off between 3pm and 3.10pm. Between 45 and 50 cars came through each day. If we can reduce that number it would make a huge impact to the area around the school.

In the weeks before the end of term I am asking our whole community to make one small change. There is a link at the end of this article. In the next newsletter I will publish your ideas so we can all work together to make our school safer.

• If you arrive at school and the drop off is already full, drive around the block. Keeping traffic moving will help everyone and you might even find a park and be able to walk up to school.

• If you know someone who lives near you who also picks up from the drop off zone, try sharing pick up. It's great for the traffic around school, the environment and saves you energy costs.

• Children love walking with their friends. Find a place away from school where two or three friends can walk to school together. It is a great way for them to unwind together. I can promise they will be in a much better mood when you pick them up.

• Always use our crossings. Before you cross anywhere consider that if children see you crossing unsafely they will at some point follow that example. Being safe around school is all of our responsibility.

If you have other ideas, please leave messages by clicking this link and I will publish them in the next newsletter.

School Pool

Thank you for the feedback on the use of the school pool during the summer holidays. I know how much families enjoy using the facility during the summer break.

The repainting can't wait another year. The pool needs to be emptied, stripped back, repaired and several coats of paint are applied before refilling. In between each process time is allowed for curing.

The companies that we approached all said that they would not consider starting the work before November because of the unreliable weather and the need for warmer air temperatures. By that time our school swimming lessons are well under way. They have also advised that we should allow for at least a three week window because of the chances of the work being delayed due to the weather.

Work will start as early as we can in January, but it is unlikely that we will have the pool filled and chemicals rebalanced before the end of January.

There is a possibility that we can still allow families to use the pool through Term

1. I would like to do that if possible.

The main issue that has impacted the school in the past has been that covers have not been replaced at the end of the day. This has meant that heating costs escalated and the pool was not ready for the first classes at the start of the week. I am hopeful that next term we can look at a solution for this and work together to make the pool available.

AWHI Update

Your children have been learning some really valuable skills through our AWHI lessons. Our most recent lessons have focussed on knowing the difference between tattling and telling. We want students to be able to solve their own problems as much as possible yet to also know when it’s important to tell an adult and get some help. It's been wonderful to see them already sorting out minor problems themselves. They seem really proud of themselves. Our next lesson is teaching your children how to make friends. It’s powerful learning when students share their friendship skills and help teach each other. This week's lesson focussed on teaching your children to confidently say ‘no’. We want them to feel able to say no if someone is asking them to do something that they know is not the right decision. We also want children to know how to kindly let a friend know if they don’t feel like playing the game that has been suggested at break times. It would be great to ask your children about their AWHI lessons and share some of your knowledge with them. 

School Notices

Reporting Student Absences - Sickness

If your child is absent from school due to sickness, please advise us in the morning on each day of their absence.

Absences can be reported on the school website and through the @school parent portal. They can also be reported by phone – call (09) 479 4301 and leave a message on the answerphone, or by emailing absence@brownsbay.school.nz

School staff may contact parents for an explanation for any children that are recorded as an Unexplained Absence.

Reporting Student Absences - During the School Term
Whenever possible, parents/caregivers are encouraged to advise the school of a planned absence ahead of time.

The following are the preferred methods of explaining a student’s planned absence:

Email absence@brownsbay.school.nz with

- The student's name

- The date of the absence and expected return date

- The reason for the absence

For students leaving during the day:

If a student is required to leave school during the day for an appointment, the class teacher must be informed by the parent/caregiver.

Parents/caregivers are required to sign students out at the office.

Wheelchair Needed

We are on the hunt for a wheelchair that can be used at school when required.

If you have one at home that is no longer being used and are happy to donate it to the school, could you please contact the school office.

Friends of the School

A huge THANK YOU to all the amazing volunteers who helped out at last week`s sausage sizzle lunch at the school! Your hard work and enthusiasm made the event a great success. The children were absolutely thrilled with their lunch and had a fantastic time. We couldn’t have done it without you!

FOTS Disco

Please note: The times of the discos have changed from previous discos/communications:

School Events

Superstars

At the last school assembly, the following pupils received certificates for their achievements:

YEAR 0/1 TEAM - Jia Kim R7, Laura Hogg R7, Maison Van Aarde R8, Macey Ou R8, 

Catherine Sun R9, Jin Kim R9, Jackie Feng R10, Kayden Rawhiti-Waterhouse R10, 

Neda Vukovic R11, Kai Luker R11

YEAR 2 TEAM  -  Esther Hou R1, Anson Yii R1, Jack Weir R2, Olivia Yi R2, Jimmy Wei R3,

Hannah Danks R3, Freddy Wang R4, Neve Syred R4

YEAR 3 TEAM - Cameron Lord R14, Adam Zaki R14, Keanu Williams R15, Nicole Liu R15, 

Aria Derks R16, Jaden Zhou R16, Zara Mills R17, Fred Xu R17

VALUES AWARD  -  Juliette Glaves R2

YEAR 4 TEAM - Kun Chen Yang R30, Izelle Tongs R30, Vera Li R31, Minh Trinh R31, 

Carson Zhang R32, Madeleine Glaves R32, Jasmine Kong R33, Hannah Zhang R33

YEAR 5 TEAM -  Alex Rossouw R18, Kira Andreeva R18, Jenny Zhou R19,

Callan Basson R19, Sammy Prinsloo R20, Phoenix Song R20, Finn Wright R21, Lynette Xue R21

YEAR 6 TEAM -  Theo Kim R24, Lesley Zhang R24, Harrison Mills R25,

Xin Ling Yang R25,

Austin Liu R26, Alhena Scott R26, Tasmin Violich R27, Burton Yu R27

VALUES AWARD  - Lucia Liu R25

SERVICE TO THE SCHOOL –  Vinnie Thomas R27

ARTS AWARD  - Nora Abbas R26

SPORTS CUPS -  Brayden Dos Santos David R27, Charlie Bissett R25

ICAS Digital Technologies Exam Results

Congratulations to all of our Year 4, 5 and 6 students who showed the BBS value of Personal Excellence and challenged themselves to sit the ICAS Digital Technologies Exam. Special mention must be made of the following children who achieved a Distinction (higher than 90% of children across NZ at the same year level) or a High Distinction (higher than 99% of children at the same level).

DISTINCTION:  Austin Cui, Yomal Navaratne, Nicole Ni, Harold Yang, Yi-Tsung Lo and Jerry Luo.

HIGH DISTINCTION: Agnes Jun, Margarita Qiao.

The certificates will be presented at the School Assembly once they arrive.

Parents are able to access their child's results on the ICAS website using their Tap- ID and login details.

Each child’s TAP-ID and PIN are on the back of a previous year’s ICAS certificate. 

Parents can request their child’s TAP-ID and PIN using this form and will receive it within 1-3 business days.

Travelwise Wacky Wednesday

A huge thank you to our students, staff and the Browns Bay School community for making this day such a success. The large majority of our students used sustainable transport and as a result our drop off zone was virtually empty! 

It was wonderful to see so many children walking, biking and scootering to school while wearing their wacky winter woolies or mufti clothes. The careful thought that so many students and staff put into their wonderfully wacky clothes was impressive! A big congratulations to our prize winners. Let's continue to promote and practice road safety every day and be TRAVELWISE! 

(More photos in Gallery).

Friendship Games/Peer Mediators

A huge thank you to our wonderful Year 1 teacher, Sally-Anne Dore, for sending through these awesome photos. They clearly demonstrate the joy that our Year 5 Friendship Games students felt while teaching the Junior students some really cool games. 

This week our Year 6 students have taken on the special job of mentoring our Year 5 students during lunch playtime. Teaching them the ins and outs of being Friendship Games Coordinators and Peer Mediators. 

This is the last week that our Year 6 Friendship Games Coordinators and Peer Mediators will be on duty. The students and staff at BBS want to say a special thank you to these amazing students for the dedication, strong sense of responsibility and care that they have shown in these roles over the past year! 

Super Cluster Hockey

A Year 5 and a Year 6 Hockey team competed at the Super Cluster Hockey Tournament at North Harbour Hockey in Rosedale. All those involved had the best day and represented the school with pride. They all played with determination and skill while taking away lots of learning from the day. A huge thanks must go to the parents who helped coach, support and transport the students on the day. (More photos in Gallery).

Browns Bay School Eco Warriors 

This small group of enthusiastic students are working hard, with Restore Hibiscus and Bays, to clear the Rongoā Garden (traditional healing plants) of invasive weeds.  They are releasing the koromiko (hebe)and tī kōuka (cabbage tree) and have even planted small houhere (lacebark) seedlings in this very special area.   

Celebrating Learning Support Awareness Day

This was the very first Learning Support awareness day and pictured here are some of our Learning Support staff wearing purple to raise awareness. The teachers at BBS are so lucky to have you working alongside us and our children.

Star Student

McKenzie Rm 30 participated in the SADI International dance awards and received two silver awards , one for ballet and one for hip hop.
She showed great courage performing a solo on stage for the first time.

Well done McKenzie!

Community Notices

For all bookings and information click here https://www.skids.co.nz/locations/browns-bay/

We have a Love Tennis Day coming up on  Sunday 8th September 2024 (10am-2pm) and would love your community to join us.

Love Tennis is Tennis NZ's annual event that sees tennis clubs around the country open their doors and courts to their community. Everyone is welcome to come along and give tennis a go...for FREE!!

We will have activities for all ages including coaching sessions and court play, mini games, giveaways, BBQ’s and much much more, there’s so many reasons to come along and give tennis a go!
We also have a colouring in competition, that your students may enjoy. You can download the file here Schools colouring in flyer