Botany Downs Primary School

Very good school School staff is so helpful, thanks to Pravita and Aroha Curriculum is good, my daughter learned a lot within a year
Dec 2nd, 2022

I went to BDS in like 2012-2019. BDS is an alright school but my experience wasn't the most positive experience I wish it was. I remember we were suppose to have a gala every "2 years", I waited for 4 years still no gala. I remember children getting yelled at for speaking mandarin or speaking other languages that weren't english, that made me sad. New Zealand is multi-cultural, why aren't children allowed to speak their mother-tongues? I'm hoping things are different now at BDS, I'm hoping they have improved from the time I was at BDS. I looked at the website recently and saw there are more teachers that are POC, that is good, I remember when I was there, majority white teachers and mostly white students, which isn't a huge problem but one thing I noticed during my time was the lack of cultural diversity meant that it wasn't embraced. The only time we learnt about other cultures was Japanese culture, I'm pretty sure it was in 2014 and 2016, we had to learn about Japanese culture, which seemed kind of random because there wasn't many Japanese students in BDS at the time but I think the reason why we only learnt about Japanese culture was because that's the only culture white people were willing to understand and learn about. It was nice though, but I would have enjoyed learning about other cultures too. Students of colour experienced discrimination from other students and sometimes even teachers but it was never brought up or no one really did anything to fix the issue. I remember the principal at the time (Mr T) and the SENCO at the time (Mrs Henderson) being ableist to my younger sister, they didn't let my sister go to BDS because they said they had enough "special needs" children and I was furious. I'm glad she goes to a better school now, one that appreciates culture and diversity and isn't ableist. Now to the positive stuff, I really enjoyed the writer's quiz / literacy quiz. I know that Mr T has retired and Mrs Parkins is current principal, so I hope she's making BDS better!
Aug 28th, 2022

shocker enough said
May 8th, 2022

Mar 4th, 2022

great primary school, nice teachers, enjoyed time there with Mr T as principle, the extended math program was fun while it lasted. Enjoyed my time there 4 years ago. (do they still do the we go together graduating song/dance?)
Nov 28th, 2021