We trust everyone was able to make the most of the extra time with family over the holiday break. Winter is certainly making its presence felt this week with some cold starts in the hubs! We hope you're all keeping safe, dry, and warm. Please read on for some information about the beginning of the term.

PB4L

Our PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) focus for the start of the term is “being an up-stander”. We have been discussing how we can show the values ‘We Make a Difference’ and ‘We Care’ by being up-standers. We have discussed with the students the different actions we can take to be an up-stander (as opposed to a bystander) if we see someone being mistreated. We have linked the Slideshow ‘How to be an Up-stander’ here, and encourage you to take a look so that you can continue these very important conversations at home, too. You could also read Oat the Goat (bilingual interactive online storybook), which teaches how to show acceptance, empathy, and tolerance by being an up-stander. Mā tātou kātoa, te waka e hoe, we are all in the waka together.

Cross ("Cool") Curriculum Classes

CCC classes continue with some changes for Term 3. Chris is continuing to teach the Arts this term this term Visual Arts and a focus on Calendar Art: Matariki Art. Rae is covering Digital Technology and continuing with Coding. Gayle is teaching DNA and Genetics, and Megan is teaching Drama, Nick will continue with Digital Technologies: Voxel Art. There is always a lot of learning happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

South Zone Basketball Tournament 

On Wednesday 23rd July the Year 5/6 Boys basketball team competed at the South Zone Basketball Tournament. We had an awesome day out and the boys were simply amazing! They represented their school with pride, being positive and showing a fantastic sense of sportsmanship. Results below

Game 1: WIN V Steiner School 14-0

Game 2: WIN V St Martins Red 6-4

Game 3: LOSS V Hillview 10-0

Play Off for 5th and 6th Position V St. Peters WIN 13-0

A massive thank you to all the supportive parents that came along to watch! We look forward to the next time we can get out to play basketball and show off Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto's fine sporting talent! 

Cycle Safe

During weeks 6 and 7 of Term 3 our Year 6, students will be involved in the Cycle Safe Programme provided by the Christchurch City Council. 

Cycle Safe is a cycle skills education programme for schools.  Students learn the benefits of cycling and how to ride with confidence and be road-wise.

The programme includes:

• Cycle maintenance and helmet fitting

• Basic cycling skills

• Road rules

• On-road cycling

Please fill in the permission slip and send it back to school by Thursday, 31st July.

Cyber Safety

Parent/Caregiver Evening: Behind the Screens – Internet Safety Tips for Home

Raising kids in the digital age isn’t easy and you’re not alone. Should your child have Discord? What are V-Bucks? Is it safe to let them keep their phone overnight? Join us for a practical, entertaining evening hosted by Attitude that will help you feel more confident about parenting in the online world.

You’ll leave with smart tips, tools you can use straight away, and a better understanding of how to guide your child through the digital space without panic or overreaction. Come find out if you're a Firewall Parent, an Open Source Parent, or a Bluetooth Parent—and why it matters.

When: 7–8pm, Wednesday 30th July 2025.

Where: Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Hall.

Who: This event is for parents/caregivers only.

Cost: Free to attend. A small koha (donation) is appreciated to help support the cost of this event.

Please complete this form to let us know if you are attending.

Stay safe, stay warm,

Kia Kaha

The Pōhutukawa Team

Chris, Gayle, Nick, Megan, Rae, Georgie, Viv, Stacy and Laura

It was fantastic to see so many of you at our Learning Conferences last week, we really appreciate the whanaungatanga that comes as a result of these conversations. If you were unable to make it, we urge yout to touch base with your child's homeroom teacher for a quick update on learning. Mā tātou te katoa te waka e hoe, we are all rowing the waka together.

Mānawatia a Matariki

It was rawe, awesome, to see so many whānau at our Matariki celebration last week, and to see the kapa haka rōpu up on stage doing their thing. Matariki is an opportunity to reflect on the past 4 seasons, celebrate the present with whanau, and look forward to what is to come as the days get longer... if not warmer quite yet! We have been learning all about Matariki over the past few weeks. Of the 9 stars we acknowledge, 2 are associated with the natural elements of wind and rain. We certainly had those elements in play over the last few weeks and a lot of learning also came with them. It would be wonderful to reflect on this learning with your tamariki over the holidays. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Shoes/ Ngā hū

It has been really great to see the students 'stepping up' to show We Care for our school environment by removing their shoes during this wet and muddy season.  We are lucky to have wonderful underfloor heating in the classrooms, so feet stay nice and warm, and as an added benefit our carpet stays mud-free! In addition to this, we suggest that if your child is coming home with very muddy clothes, please consider supplying them with a spare pair of school shorts and a spare school top for them to change into once they finish their games. 

 BYOD/ Cyber Safety

We are so lucky to have such a huge uptake of whānau signing up their children to bring their own devices to school. We'd like to ask these whānau to please remind your children to bring their devices to school, and fully charged. This enables the school Chromebooks to be used by those students who do not bring their own devices to school. Learning online continues to be a vital part of our learning at school, and the cyber safety of our tamariki is always at the forefront of what we do. At the beginning of the year, we held workshops on how to be cyber safe, and also expectations around using devices. We have recently been revisiting some of these ideas, and reminding our students that their school accounts are for learning purposes only. Mā tātou te katoa te waka e hoe, we are all rowing the waka together.

Winter Sports/ Hākinakina

Our Winter Sports programme is also now full steam ahead, with all of our students getting some amazing netball, football and hockey coaching and tautoko, support from our Year 8 student leaders on Wednesday afternoons. Our competitive teams are enjoying themselves in the South Zone competition and representing Beckenham admirably. A huge mihi, thanks to the parents who are helping out on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. We simply couldn't do it without your help and support.

Stationery

As we are at the halfway point in the year, we'd really appreciate it if you could check with your tamariki about their stationery and what they need. Essential and consumable items that all students require are: HB pencils, an eraser, glue sticks, a highlighter, and a blue pen. We have gone through the students' remaining stationery , and they will be able to tell you what they need. Thanks for your support with this, mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe.

We are looking forward to meeting with you and your child(ren) next week during their Term 2 Learning Conference. 

Matariki Evening

Tēnā koutou e te whānau,

We would like to invite you to our Matariki Whānau Rōpū hui.

Matariki is the start of the Māori new year and a time of reflection, connection and planning for the year ahead. We would like to celebrate with you and your whānau on Tuesday the 17th of June from 5:00 pm. The PTA will be having a Sausage Sizzle on the night for a small koha (donation). We will also be having performances form our Year 3-8 Kapa Haka groups, and each hub will be providing different activities to do with Matariki. There will be more details to come soon. 

Mānawatia a Matariki!

Working in and around the hub for CCC!

Citizen of The Week: Cora Nuttall

Congratulations Cora on receiving Citizen of the Week! We are super proud of you! 

Only 1 day to go until our Book and Clothing Sale. Doors open at 8am Saturday!

Thanks for all your donations, we are really impressed with the quality of books and clothing we have received, and we know you will be too.

We have been busy getting it all sorted into book genres and clothing sizes to make your shopping easier and all at amazingly low prices, so come take it off our hands.

Entry to the hall will be through the side doors off the playground with paying and exiting through the hall foyer. We will have signage out.

We will have 1 Eftpos checkout and hopefully 3 Cash checkouts if it gets a bit busy.

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto PTA

Back by popular demand. The PTA are selling CookieTime Rookie Cookies. Look for an order form in your child’s bag or Online Order Here. Extra forms are available at the office.

This CookieTime Fundraiser features the 25g Rookie Size version of the famous Original Chocolate Chunk Cookie. Made with real Chocolate and real ingredients, this size is ideal for lunchboxes, handbags and coat pockets. 
 
$20 per bag for 20 Individually wrapped delicious cookies.
 
Orders close Thursday 26th June 2025
Collection will be the 1st week of next term at the School Hall. Date to be confirmed and advised.

This year the PTA is working to fundraise towards the school bus trips, more sports uniforms and replacing the broken projector and blinds in the hall. We thank you all for supporting us as we try to reach this goal.

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto PTA

Have a great weekend everybody, stay warm! kia pai ngā rā whakatā!

Kia ora all, 

For the last fortnight the focus certainly has been on whats happening outside of the classroom rather than whats happening in it! Winter Sport has had the children pumped up and ready to go and throw the school Cross country on top of that they have been about ready to explode! The news this week is a lot of sport and some colder weather notices to keep things ticking over. 

Winter Sports

Our first outing yesterday for Winter Sport and it was awesome to see all of the students heading out in their Beckenham colours to represent the school! We had a great time and are looking forward to getting 10 weeks of solid sport in on a Thursday afternoon. We have scheduled in practice times for Wednesday afternoons so please remind students the will need their winter sport equipment on both of those days. 

For those who do not head off site for sport, there are plenty of options at school in the non competitive sports. We had Jump Jam, Dance, Skipping, Korfball, Table Tennis and Badminton on the go! Again, just fantastic to see everyone trying something new or giving something a go, getting active and blowing out the cob webs from being inside on some of these wet  days! 

Cross Country

We were blessed with beautiful sunny, but chilly! weather for this year's Cross Country, and it was so great to see the students out there giving it heaps!  A huge congratulations to all of our students who embraced the opportunity to push themselves and got stuck into the event, it is such a great opportunity to live our value "We Love Challenge". Results of the Cross country will be posted soon to Hero, fingers crossed we could have some amazing representatives form the Pōhutukawa Team heading to Zones! 

Muddy Months

As we head into winter we are noticing the inevitable increase of muddy shoes and clothes as students come back from play and lunch, having played sports and games on the Park. We will be asking students to take off muddy shoes before entering the Hub and lining them up neatly outside the door. Slippers are most welcome to be worn inside only as well. We are noticing many students wearing very little in the cold mornings as well. Can you please remind them to be wearing their school polar fleece to keep warm! 

In addition to this, we suggest that if your child is coming home with very muddy clothes, please consider supplying them with a spare pair of school shorts and a spare school top for them to change into once they finish their games. We appreciate your support with this.

Have a great weekend everyone, whatever you get up to. Kia pai tō rā whakatā.

The Pōhutukawa Teaching Team

Chris, Rae, Nick, Gayle, Megan and Georgie

 Ngā mihi e te whānau,

Warm greetings to you all. We have had a wonderful 2 weeks back in Pōhutukawa. The weather has been mostly welcoming, apart from the wet blast last week, and the students in great spirits! We've hit the ground running this term (literally) with some Cross Country practice. We all noticed how enthusiastic the students have taken to their practice. long may it last! Please read on for some news from the team, and some updates on the term. Have a great weekend everyone, kia pai ngā rā whakata.

Cross Curriculum Classes

We love alliteration in Pōhutukawa, and our "cool curriculum classes" continue with some changes for Term 2. Gayle is delving into Science and looking at The Human Brain this term, Rae is covering Digital Technology and continuing with Coding. Chris is taking a closer look into Art History with the A-Z of Visual Art, Megan is continuing with well being and Nick with his ever creative take on Digital Technology. There is a lot of learning happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Winter Sports

Our winter sports programme kicks off in Week 4. Every student has elected to join, and will be involved, in either competitive or non-competitive hockey, netball, or football. We still need parent assistance both on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons (approx. 1:30 pm - 3 pm) to help support our tamariki in the winter sports programme. In particular this year we have a large number of students who have signed up for the football competition and require parent help to make sure every team is supported at their games. If you think you could help us at this time, please get in touch with your home group teacher. Your support is hugely appreciated. We get there together, mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe!

Legacy Dance Group