Today after school a group of children from our hub were playing at the rope swing along the river. A man in a car approached the group, took a photo and started following them. Three of the children ran to school to let us know and also took a photo of the car's licence plate. This was exactly the right thing to do. Tracy then accompanied them some distance from school and sent them off in groups to go home. The incident has been reported to the police. This is a timely reminder that children need to go home and touch base with whānau straight after school so you know where they are and what they are doing. 

 This message is only for whānau with children at swimming sports.

Swimming Start Time and Reminders for Tomorrow

There is a chance that we will be able to have access to the pool earlier than initially indicated. If we can use this time, we will. Therefore, please be advised that we may be able to access the pool from 12:30 and start very soon after. 

If you are a parent help for this event please arrive at 12:30 if you are able. 

Reminders

• Togs should be on under the children's school uniform.
• Any children with personal medication such as inhalers should have these with them poolside.
• Children need a towel, water bottle and enough lunch to have an afternoon snack on poolside, and underwear to change into after the event.
• If you want to take your child home after the event, please sign them out with Jo. 

 Kia ora everyone,

Camp is now just around the corner. Today the children saw which activities they will be doing on camp. We have also shared the camp social story, which is below, with the children. It would be great to view this again at home. We are very close to being able to share bunkroom groups. All children should now have a paper copy of their gear list at home. Please email your child's homegroup teacher if you need help sourcing anything on the gearlist.

 This post is just for whānau with children involved in swimming sports.

Kia ora koutou,

Swimming Sports is this Thursday afternoon at Wharenui Pool. 

All children attending Swimming Sports will be having an early lunch at school on Thursday before boarding the bus at 12.15. In addition to our competitors, we have a few of our House Captains and deputy house Captains attending Swimming Sports to assist with the running of the event. There will be a Beckenham School staff member onboard each bus to supervise the children. 

• Children should go to swimming sports with their swimmers on underneath their school uniform. There is no time to get changed when we arrive at the pool. 
• Please ensure that your child has a packed lunch, a water bottle and a towel. 
• Children who carry personal medication, such as inhalers should have these on them. 
• We welcome you to join us and support our swimmers. We will have a space for spectators opposite the children, who will be sitting in house groups on the bleachers. To support us in running this event, we ask that you stay on the side allocated for spectators.  
• Should you wish to collect your child from Wharenui Pool, you must sign out your child with a Beckenham teacher. All other children will return to Sandwich Road by bus. We expect to be back by 3pm. 

We will start with freestyle, followed by backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and then the medley. The 25 m races will be done before the 50 m races. We will finish with a house relay. All races are straight finals with the exception of a few where the number of entries requires heats. There are also some occasions when multiple races of the same stroke and distance will be occurring at the same time. In this instance, the children will still be judged and placings recorded for their age. 

We are a little shorter on time than we usually are due to the pool not being available earlier. We will aim to be as efficient as we can and if necessary we may need to cancel the medley races if time does not allow. 

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions. 

• Between races, children must stay seated on the bleachers. As they will have had an earlier lunch than what they are used to, they may eat while seated. 
• Children may start in the pool, or may dive from the poolside or the starting blocks. Children who are not confident in performing a shallow dive are advised to start in the water. All backstroke competitors must start in the water. 
• The starting procedure is as follows:

Whistle - enter the pool, step up to the side of the pool or step onto the blocks

“On your marks” - Get into starting position and then stay still

Clap - Swim

• A false start will be indicated by two more claps and the dropping of a rope. Swimmers should then immediately return to the start.  
• If a child gets into difficulty, they should grab onto the lane ropes from where they will be assisted by the lifeguard. 
• Children can stop and stand if they need to (where depth allows). 
• 25 m races are one length, 50 m are two lengths and the medley is three lengths
• Children should do a one-handed turn/finish for freestyle and backstroke and a two-handed turn/finish for breaststroke and butterfly
• No disqualifications will be made.
• On completion of their race, they will be handed a token that represents their placing, which they then take to the recorders. Children should then go back to their seat.
• Children should get changed after their last event and return to the bleachers to cheer on their peers. 

We look forward to seeing many of you there!

What you need to know:

• We are off to Wainui on Monday, March 1st, until Friday, March 5th.
• Children need to be at school by 8:15am on Monday. We will be back by 3pm on Friday.
• Below is important information about camp cost, gear and food. Please read it carefully and let us know urgently if you need help with any gear for your child.
• We will have a paper gear list for the children to take home on Friday.
• On Monday and Tuesday, we will be sharing a camp social story with the children. This will have information about a wide range of things, including our programme and menu. We will share this with you early next week.
• We are currently busy allocating activities to each child. We hope to be able to give the children their activity groups early next week. 

Camp Cost:

We have set an achievable target of $5000 for fundraising, which will take place after camp. Taking this into consideration, we are requesting your contribution of  $165 per child to cover the costs of camp.  This will be added to your next account. This can be paid on a small weekly payment basis if that better suits your family. Please contact Rachael in accounts if you want to arrange a drip payment.

Camp Gear List (supplied by Wainui)

Please ensure all of the items below are named. Gear needs to be packed into a sturdy bag.

 Warm Sleeping Bag or Bedding

 Fitted sheet

 Pillow

 Pyjamas

 Toiletries: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap,  deodorant (not spray), shampoo etc.

 3 towels

 Tea towel

 Raincoat

 Warm waterproof jacket

 2 warm jerseys

 6 T-shirts

 3 pairs of shorts

 3 pairs of trousers

 Socks and underwear

 Thermals longs and tops

 Swimming togs

 Warm hat / beanie

 Sunscreen

 Sun hat (and a spare if you have one)

 2 pairs of lace up shoes

 If doing coasteering - an old pair of lace-up shoes that can be worn in the water

 If doing raft building or kayaking - water shoes or old lace-ups that can be worn in water

 Gumboots or jandals

 Torch

 Small Backpack

 Water Bottle

 Any Required Medication

 Plastic bags for transporting wet clothes and shoes home

 Lunch for the first day

 A book

Optional Items

 extra clothes, bedding, toiletries, cards, diary, wetsuit, camera etc

Do not bring

 Money or valuables

 Spray deodorant

 Pocket knives

 Sweets or energy drinks (stipulated by Wainui)

 Electronic equipment*

* We would prefer that cell-phones are left at home. As the road is windy, we do not want devices for use on the bus. If you would like to make contact with your child, we can arrange for them to call you on a teacher's phone. If you really want your child to bring their cellphone, please email your child's teacher. We will look after their phone and they can use it in the evening to make contact with you. We will be taking plenty of photos and will aim to put together a photobook after camp.

Camp Food

We will be self-catering at Wainui to help keep costs down and would like your help with the following.

• Jenny and Nicky's homegroup - a bag of fruit (10 -12 portions)
• Caitlin and Megan's homegroup - some baking. We would love to get more nutritious and less sugary baking, lots of oats, etc would be great. We are going totally nut-free on camp, so please avoid putting any nuts in baking.