Kōwhai News Term 2 Week 11

We have made it to the end of Term 2, and what a term it has been! 

Learning Conferences

We would like to extend a big thank you to all the whānau who came along to our Learning Conferences last week. It was wonderful to sit down with so many families and celebrate the amazing achievements of our Kōwhai tamariki. We love working alongside you.

Term 2 In A Nutshell

Despite the changeable weather, our hub has been abuzz with a range of busy and fun learning activities. In writing, we have been working on completing our narratives, with tamariki producing some fantastic writing that may have been shared with you at Learning Conferences. We are now working on descriptive writing, expanding our sentences to make them more interesting for the reader. 

In reading, we continue to focus on the structured literacy programme as well as reading a variety of rich texts. In maths, we have finished a unit of work focusing on statistics and are currently learning about fractions and decimal numbers.    

Learning out of the classroom has included P.E. lessons focusing on small ball skills. Learning to catch, throw and field tennis balls with a partner and in small groups has been a great challenge! These skills involved a lot of teamwork as well as developing hand-eye coordination. We have now completed our pepeha learning and are currently working hard on completing our paper weaving project, which we will be displaying on the hub's walls very soon.




Cross Country Challenge


On Tuesday 30th June, a team of 24 eager athletes from the Kōwhai team took on the Cross Country Challenge at Hillview Christian School. Everyone gave it their all, making it a thoroughly enjoyable and successful day out for the whole team!

Legacy Studio Hip Hop performance

The Legacy Studio hip-hop crew have been working hard practising their routines during their lunch breaks to prepare for the much-anticipated performance last weekend. Every crew member showed incredible focus and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe - We Love Challenge! Here is a photo of some of the hip-hop crew below.




Cyber Safety: Hector's World


Hector's World is an entertaining animated series used to support the education of online safety for primary school-aged tamariki. Over the course of Term 2, we have completed seven cyber safety lessons. The most recent lessons focused on: 

  • Why it is important to be kind and respectful online and how to get help if it’s needed.

  • The concept of ‘Digital Citizenship’ - learning the skills, values and behaviours that lead us to engage in online experiences positively, confidently and kindly.

We hope that this learning has encouraged conversations at home with your child/ren about safety online.






Scooter-athlon


Next term, our Kōwhai team will take part in the exciting Scooter-athlon again, on Friday 7th August from 11:30pm – 12:30pm. Parents are invited to come along and cheer on the tamariki.

The Scooter-athlon will follow a run → scooter → run format, giving students the chance to experience a fun, active, multi-stage race. Students are encouraged to wear their House T-Shirts, bring their own scooter and helmet, wear closed-toe shoes, and follow safety rules. Year 7/8 students will act as marshals to help run the event safely. Please note that if it is raining, the Scooter-athlon will be postponed. Any changes will be shared with parents via Hero.

Please let your classroom teacher know if your child does not have a scooter or if you have a spare one you are happy to lend. Your child will need to provide their own helmet. We can’t wait to see the tamariki scoot, run, and have fun – nau mai te wero! We love challenge!


We thank you for your continued support of our tamariki and wish you a happy and safe school holiday. We look forward to seeing you back in Term 3.


From the Kōwhai team


Pōhutukawa Team Update – Term 4, Week 9, 2017

It's almost the end of Term 4

The children in Pohutukawa hub have had a fabulous term in our new learning space. At some point this week the children will be bringing home their stationery and pencil cases etc.  Please remind your child/ren to have a look at home for any school journals or library books that will need to be returned to school.

Canterbury Athletics competition

Congratulations to Nadia Russell, Nina Callaghan, Jesse Ferguson and Hebe Butland. These talented children from the Pohutukawa hub represented Beckenham School and travelled to Ashburton on Wednesday 6th December, to compete in the Canterbury Athletics competition.  What an amazing effort, performing to such a high level in athletics! Ka pai.

Annual Summer Reading Challenge - Wild About Reading Challenge

The Christchurch City Libraries annual Summertime Reading Club programme is for kids between 0 and 13 years old inclusive. The competition starts on Friday 1 December 2017 and finishes on Friday 19 January 2018 at 5pm.  Try an eBook, read an eMagazine or read to someone – tell us your reading experiences and be in to WIN great prizes.

https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/11/Page-2.pdf

Pick up a challenge sheet from any Christchurch City Libraries or download a copy from the library website: https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/summertime-reading-club/

The emphasis is on encouraging shared family experiences – have fun together as you celebrate the joy of reading!  Children will be asked to get a teacher, librarian, or parent to ‘stamp, sticker, or tick’ the five experiences they have had.

South Zone Athletics day (Monday 13th November). Parent help needed.

Kia ora koutou,

The South Zone Athletics day will be held on Monday 13th November, at Hansen Park. 
We have 70 year 5-8 children attending zones this year, which is fantastic.
We will be taking the bus to Hansen Park and Gayle, Jenny and Amy will be accompanying the children on the day.  

We are in need of some parent helpers.  If you are available to help out for all or part of the day, we would love to hear from you.  We will need some parents to take charge of transporting and putting up our gazebo and school flags in the morning.  We would also like to hear from anyone who has a spare gazebo, as we have a lot of children attending zones and want to make sure we can provide enough shade for all of them.

Please email Gayle on gayle.mcnaughton@beckenham.school.nz or Jenny on jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz if you are able to help.

If you have any questions about this event, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Ka kite,

Gayle & Jenny


Year 5-8 Athletics – Distance races are being held tomorrow (Wednesday 1st November)

Kia ora Whanau,

As you will be aware, tomorrow afternoon we will be holding the 1000m and 1200m distance races for year 5-8 students. This is an optional event. Your child will have already expressed their interest in competing in these events.

If your child is involved, please ensure that tomorrow they bring to school tomorrow the following:
  • Comfortable P.E / athletics gear or their house t-shirts if they have one
  • Comfortable running shoes or sneakers (the children may run in bare feet or wear socks that are taped to their feet)
  • Sunhat
  • Waterbottle
  • Sunscreen - It would be a good idea to apply sunscreen before school and we will have sunscreen available to apply throughout the day
  • Warm jacket or jersey (school jacket is great)
We will begin running at 1:15pm with the year 13 students.

Warm regards,
Gayle McNaughton and the Pohutukawa team.



Long jump event tomorrow (Friday 27th October) at Hillview Christian School

Tomorrow, Friday 27th October is our long jump event for years 5-8, to be held at Hillview Christian School.


If your child is competing in long jump (this is an optional event) they are to come to school tomorrow wearing their school uniform, as usual, but with the following in thier school bags:
  • Comfortable P.E / athletics gear or their house t-shirts if they have one.
  • Comfortable running shoes or sneakers.
  • Sunhat.
  • Waterbottle.
  • Sunscreen - It would be a good idea to apply sunscreen before school and we will have sunscreen available to apply throughout the event.
  • Warm jacket or jersey (school jacket is great).
  •  Lunch, more food than usual may be helpfual as the children will be on the go.  

Please do not use the lunch-online service tomorrow.


At 1:15pm all classes will be heading out to the East Hub Inner Courtyard (in front of the office) to listen to instructions for the afternoon. Students will then walk down to Hillview Christian School's Senior Campus (on Gamblins Road) at 1:30pm to begin competing. We will be finished and returned back to Beckenham School by 3:00pm.
Families are welcome to meet us at the Hillview campus to support your children, at 1:45pm.

Warm regards,

Gayle & Jenny.