Kia ora e te whānau,

A warm welcome to this fortnight’s Koru Team blog post. Although it’s been a quieter couple of weeks in terms of events, our tamariki have been busy with rich learning across all areas of the curriculum. It has been lovely to see their growing independence and engagement throughout all the activities and classroom routines.

Pathways, Direction, and Matariki – Our Maths Learning
As a start to our learning about Matariki, we shared the story Little Kiwi’s Matariki, which you can watch again at home here:
👉 Little Kiwi’s Matariki - YouTube

This story inspired some wonderful cross-curricular learning. We created Matariki stars through art and craft, and used directional language (such as forward, turn left, turn right) to help Little Kiwi find the stars. We also used Bee Bots to practise our coding skills by programming them to follow a pathway towards the Matariki star cluster. This learning has supported our development of spatial awareness, early coding, and mathematical language, all while celebrating the Māori New Year.

Kiss and Drop:
As the number of children in our Koru Team grows, our hub can feel a little overwhelming for some tamariki in the morning. Please aim to "kiss and drop" your child off at the door, rather than entering the hub with them. This will help set your children up for a calm, quiet, and successful transition in the morning. Thank you so much for your support with this!

Learning Conferences – Tuesday 10th & Wednesday 11th June
Our Learning Conferences are happening next week on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 10 & 11). Please note that school will finish early on both days at 1:00pm. Supervision will be available until 3pm for a small group of children who are unable to be collected at 1pm.

We need EVERY FAMILY to fill in this form (click here) to let us know your plans for your child(ren) on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th June. This includes letting us know if you need your child supervised at school on one or both of the Learning Conference days from 1:00-3pm.

These conferences are a great opportunity to celebrate your child’s progress and talk about next steps in their learning journey.

If you haven’t yet made a booking, please do so as soon as possible:

https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/code - use the code: r3wt9

Literacy Folders:
Please continue to send Literacy folders to school each day, and remind your child to unpack them into their group’s box each morning. These folders contain important learning materials used during our Literacy lessons. Thank you for your support in keeping this routine running smoothly.

Matariki Evening – Tuesday 17th June at 5pm - 7pm
We are looking forward to celebrating the Māori New Year with our school community at our upcoming Matariki Evening!
📅 Tuesday 17th June | 5:00–7:00pm

Here’s what to expect:
✨ Welcome in the hall at 5:00pm
✨ Kapa Haka performances
✨ Workshops and activities throughout the evening
✨ PTA Sausage Sizzle – please bring a koha (donation)

It will be a special evening of culture, community, and celebration. We hope to see you there!

We wish you a restful weekend and look forward to another fun and engaging fortnight ahead.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Niquita, Stacey, Katie and Elizabeth

niquita.dalley@beckenham.school.nz

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

elizabeth.drummond@beckenham.school.nz

Kia ora e te whānau,

A very warm welcome back to school for Term 2! It has been a wonderful and wet start to the term with a lot of time spent indoors!

Our School Values

At Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto we have five school values:

• We Care - Arohaina te tāngata me te taio

• We Get There Together - Mā tatou te waka e hoe

• We Love Learning - He taonga te ako

• We Love Challenge - Nau mai te wero

• We Make a Difference - Nā matou he rerekē te ao

This week, we have focused on our values of 'We Care' and 'We Make a Difference' to ensure that we all have happy days at school. Ngā tamariki have been amazing, showing inclusion, kindness, and consideration towards each other.

Our School Values

Our word of the week is upstander. An upstander is someone who speaks or acts in support of someone who is being mistreated. A fun way to learn about this was to go on an adventure with Oat the Goat. Feel free to let your child show you Oat the Goat's journey. Here is the link.

Concept-Based Curriculum (Inquiry)

Our school-wide concept-based curriculum focus this year is change. During Term 2, we are learning about change in Science.

This week, we learnt that adding ingredients creates change (structure, texture, colour and taste). Our first experiment involved children measuring ingredients to make milk. We then added vinegar to see what would happen. We noticed that the texture changed, and then the milk curdled. Ew!

Here were some of the hypotheses that children came up with before doing the experiment:

"The milk powder will change the colour." - Isla

"The water will go higher when the powder is added." - Frankie

"The water might turn purple." - Mohamed

"Adding vinegar might change the water's colour." - Beau

"There will be an explosion." - Jasper

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing you next week.

The Koru team

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

elizabeth.drummond@beckenham.school.nz

niquita.dalley@beckenham.school.nz

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz

Kia ora e te whānau,

It is incredible to think that we are nearing the end of our first term together, and what a fantastic term it has been!

Today was our school's 'Celebration of Culture' day. This week, the school has focused on diversity, and the Koru team has been learning about what 'culture' means. 

Kiss and Drop

Mathematics: 

Learning Through Play

Playground Boundaries

We look forward to seeing you all on Monday. 

The Koru team

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz

elizabeth.drummond@beckenham.school.nz

Kia ora e te whānau,

We have had a fantastic week in the Koru hub. It has been amazing to see tamariki embrace our school values as we continue getting to know each other!

Mathematics

This week, we have started our mathematics programme. We are working through a thematic unit called 'All About Us', which engages children in early numeracy activities. So far, we have explored children's prior knowledge of numbers, counting, and grouping, and we have conducted a simple statistical inquiry to find out our favourite sports and foods - some children even created their own graphs during learning through play!

Literacy

Teachers have been busy working through initial assessments with tamariki this week. It is so exciting to see the letters and letter sounds that children already know! Next week, we will be learning what to expect during a small-group literacy time and practising the routines involved. Literacy folders will begin coming home in Week 5.

We have been doing whole-class literacy activities this week. These involve a letter-of-the-day focus. We practise writing the letter in the air, look at our Milo the Monkey book, and go on a Pirate Island adventure (example below). Tamariki then engage in a task linked to the letter of the day.

Learning Through Play

We love learning through play! This week, we have continued to explore the resources and activities within the hub. Learning through play allows children to explore, discover, experiment, and solve problems in playful and imaginative ways. This time is very special as it is a time in which children can make new friends, practise our school values, and have fun!

Yoghurt pouches

Please loosen your child's yoghurt pouch so they can easily open these during eating time. Thanks!

Library

Staying Safe Online

That's all for now! We hope you have a fantastic weekend and look forward to seeing you next week.

Ngā mihi,

The Koru team

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

elizabeth.drummond@beckenham.school.nz

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz

Kia ora e te whānau,

What a wonderful start we have had to 2025 in the Koru team! We are so proud of how our children have embraced 'We Love Learning' and 'We Love Challenge' this week while learning the school routines. We have noticed children independently doing their morning jobs, such as putting their lunch boxes and drink bottles on the shelf, and their bags in the cubbies; fantastic! 

Thank you for taking the time to attend our Term 1 learning conferences. These gave us an excellent opportunity to get to know you and your child and set them up for success this year.

On our first day, we had a very special welcome for Cade Englefield, our new Principal. The Koru team were superstars in the audience, watching with interest as Te Whānau Mahi Tahi, our senior Kapa Haka group, and Christchurch South Karamata Intermediate Kapa Haka group performed waiata (songs) and haka. 

We have had lots of fun exploring our space and discovering the activities offered during Learning Through Play this week. Here are some photos of tamariki in action.