Author Archives: Kendall Skelton

2026 Koru Team News – Term 2, Week 9 (19/06/2026)

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 Kia Ora e te Whānau, 

It has been another busy and exciting week in the Koru Hub, with our tamariki engaged in a wide range of learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom. From developing their literacy and numeracy skills to collaborative play, and hands-on learning opportunities during our ponds trip, there has been plenty to keep everyone motivated and engaged.

Our learners have continued to show curiosity, resilience, and enthusiasm as they tackle new challenges, build friendships, and celebrate their successes. It has been wonderful to see students supporting one another, sharing their ideas, and taking pride in their learning.

Junior Park Explorers Adventure at Beckenham Ponds

We enjoyed a wonderful morning on Thursday exploring Beckenham Ponds as part of the Christchurch City Council Junior Park Explorers Programme.

The trip gave our tamariki the opportunity to get outdoors, learn about the natural environment, and discover some of the amazing plants and animals that live right here in our local community.

During the visit, the children became nature detectives, using their observation skills to learn about the different birds, trees, and insects found around the ponds. They listened carefully to the sounds of native and introduced birds, looked closely at the shapes and features of different trees, and searched for insects living amongst the plants, grasses and pond water. There was plenty of excitement as students shared their discoveries and asked thoughtful questions about the natural world.

The Junior Park Explorers Programme encourages children to develop a sense of curiosity and appreciation for nature, and our students embraced every opportunity to explore, investigate, and learn. It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm as they connected classroom learning with real-world experiences.

A special thank you to the parents and whānau members who joined us on the trip. Your support and assistance helped make the outing a success, and we greatly appreciate the time you gave to help our students enjoy this valuable learning experience.











Kapa Haka

We are loving our Kapa Haka sessions with Whaea Cath on alternating Fridays. It is a lovely time to share stories, sing waiata and korero. Cath often brings a small friend with her to help us learn new waiata. This week we meet her little ruru! 

PTA Mid Winter Breakfast 

The Student Council and PTA are hosting a Mid Winter Breakfast on Wednesday 24th June at 8am. Start your day with a lovely warm breakfast with your child in the hall. You will need a bowl, spoon and a can to donate to the Christchurch City Mission. Some teachers may be there to have breakfast too. Please note the classrooms will open at 8.30 as usual, there is no supervision for children to be dropped at breakfast unaccompanied. 

Toys at School 

We have seen an increase in toys from home being brought to school recently. If your child needs a particular toy for comfort, please contact their home group teacher. Otherwise, we ask that toys are not brought to school. They are often a distraction in the classroom and a big worry and disappointment if they get lost or broken. 

Cutlery and Lunchbox Food

If you are sending food to school with your child that requires a spoon or fork, please can you supply this in their lunchbox. We do not have cutlery in the classroom and it is very difficult to get this while we are supervising the children eating. It would also be very helpful if any pouches could be opened a little so the children can access these independently. 

ICT Message

Staying Safe Online: Scams

People in New Zealand are losing millions of dollars to scammers each year – and this is just the figures reported to Netsafe so the actual figure is likely much higher!


It’s important that you and your tamariki know what to look out for to avoid scams. Netsafe have put their best advice together to help you stay safe online and stay away from scams.


Read their scam tips here.


Coming Up 

Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th June - early finish for learning conferences at 1.45pm
Please make sure you have filled in this form to let us know your plans for your child on these days.
Wednesday 24th June - PTA Mid-Winter Breakfast
Friday 3rd July - Funky Hair Day, Last Day of Term 2

2026 Koru Team News – Term 2, Week 3 (8/05/2026)

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 Kia Ora e te Whānau, 

It has been an exciting start to Term 2! We have quite a few new faces who have joined the hub in the last three weeks. It has been so nice seeing the children come together as a hub in their learning and play.  

Cross Country 

Last Friday, we had our whole-school cross-country. The Koru children showed our school value of 'We Love Challenge' when they gave it their best go and ran all the way around the park. The Koru teachers were so impressed and proud of everyone giving it a go. 












Inquiry Topic 

Our focus for this term is based on the Social Science curriculum, specifically Geography. We have started our learning close to home, looking at our school environment and what makes our place special. As the term progresses, we will move our lens wider to more of our city, island and then country. This week we learnt about our school logo, our full school name and the cultural narrative of our school.

Cultural Narrative 

Coming Up This Term: 

Friday 15th May - Book Character Dress Up Day - Children may come to school dressed as their favourite book character. 

Friday 29th May - Staff Only Day - School will be closed.

Monday 1st June - King's Birthday Holiday


Have a wonderful weekend, 

Kendall, Nicola, Elizabeth and Stacey


2026 Koru Team News – Term 1, Week 8

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Koru Team News - Term 1, Week 8 

Kia Ora E Te Whānau, 

We have almost come to the end of our first term together. Your tamariki have come so far and learnt so much in such a short space of time. Learning a new routine and becoming settled in the school day timetable is a big transition, and they have all done this so confidently. 

Below you will find some more insights into our school day, some important dates for Term 2 and a few links at the end you may like to use during the holidays with your child. 

Kapa Haka

Whāea Cath is coming to visit us every other Friday for Kapa Haka. Last week, we learnt a new karakia and the actions that go with it. Then we sang some songs while Cath played her guitar. These were old favourites for some of us and brand new for others. Cath brought her little kiwi friend to meet us while we sang a song about kiwis. 



Maths

Our focus this week has been on measurement. We have used Gingerbread People to help use mathematical vocabulary and skills such as compare, taller, longer and shorter. We also ordered objects by their length using the vocabulary shortest and tallest. 






Inquiry - Kotahitanga

We have focused on how we use and show our school value 'we care' for the last two weeks. One of our favourite activities was musical hoops. As Kendall and Nicola took away more hoops, we had to think about how we could show 'we care' to make sure no one was left out when there weren't enough for us to have our own. 







Student Teacher 

Mitchell Ackland will be joining Koru for the last week of Term 1 and the first 6 weeks of Term 2. In-class placements are a hugely valuable part of teacher training and we know our school and our hub will be a lovely place for Mitchell to learn and grow in his journey to becoming a teacher. 



Holiday Links 







As this is our last blog post for the term, we would like to thank you all for a wonderful first term. We have loved getting to know you and your children. 


Ngā Mihi, 

Nicola, Elizabeth and Kendall

2026 Koru Team News – Term 1 Week 2

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Koru Team News 2026

Term 1, Week 2

Kia Ora E Te Whānau, 

We have had a wonderful and positive first two weeks of school. We have been so impressed with how our tamariki are coming into school and organising their belongings and choosing something fun to do to start their day. 






Literacy - Letter Learning

We have started our literacy learning and you may have seen some letter learning coming home and up on the wall. We are practising the letter name and the sound it makes as a key skill for reading. 



Kinetic Letters Handwriting

This week, we started our Kinetic Letters Handwriting Program. The first stage of this involves strengthening our bodies, ready for writing. You will see in the photos below that we have been crawling and holding different animal poses to get our muscles strong. Can your child show you the meerkat or gorilla pose? Or maybe the lizard or lion pose? A much-loved part of this program is our monkey friends, Skip and Bounce. Some of you may have had a visit from them already. If not, there will be one soon! The monkeys come with a book, with all the instructions on the front, so you and your child can prepare a story to share with us.





Art

This week we read about Greedy Cat, a cheeky little ginger cat who is always hungry! The tamariki had a lot of great knowledge about colours and mixing primary colours to make secondary colours. We put this into practice, making Greedy Cat's gingery colour for our own paintings.



 

Friendship List 

If you would like your phone number and email address to be included in a friendship list, please email Nicola (nicola.reddecliffe@beckenham.school.nz). This is a great way to get in contact with other families and organise play dates. A new list will come out each term.

Cyber Safety - Staying Safe Online

As our tamariki spend more time online, it’s important parents and whānau help them
stay safe. Now is a great time to talk to them about how we use the internet and digital
technology.

Netsafe has created an Online Safety Parent Toolkit so parents, families and whānau have
all the information they need to talk about online safety.

If you or anyone in your whānau needs support, you can contact Netsafe.


Have a fantastic weekend. We look forward to seeing all your smiling faces next week. 

Ngā Mihi, 
Kendall, Nicola, Elizabeth and Stacey

Kahikatea News: Term 4, Week 6

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Term 4, Week 6 


What a whirlwind week we've had with just three days! We are zooming through our final term of the year, and there is some great learning going on in the hub. The arrival of our first school chicks has been very exciting. All of the children have had a chance to pop in and see them in the office. We got to pet the wee chicks and feel how soft they are. 


Paired Reading 

This week, we began using a new strategy during our reading sessions. The "Paired Reading, Paragraph Shrinking" strategy focuses on reading fluency and comprehension. The children work in pairs to read through passages of text. We have practiced how to help each other when the reading gets tricky. The children are settling into the new routine, and we hope to hear smoother, more fluent reading in the coming weeks. 









Kapa Haka

Our children have been working really hard to learn a haka with Whaia Cath during our Friday Kapa Haka sessions. We are ready to share this with you and will be performing in the assembly on Friday, 21st November. Assembly starts at 10am and is usually finished around 10.30am. We hope to see you there. 

We hope you all have a lovely long weekend!

Kendall, Amber, Sarah and Talia