Author Archives: Nicky Dunlop

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 4 Week 5

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 In the post:

  • Production reminders
  • Reports
  • Relationships and Sexuality
  • Fabulous trips

Production

A reminder that our production, 'A Walk Through the 80s', will involve all Year 7 & 8 children on the two performance nights, Monday, November 5th and Tuesday, November 6th. The shows will start at 7pm and we think they will take 90 minutes. Teachers have talked with the students about costume requirements and children should be organising these with your support. 

Reports

Reports go live tomorrow. Please keep an eye out for the link on Hero.

Relationships and Sexuality

We are still working our way through the relationships and sexuality lessons and are currently looking at the changes that take place at puberty and how to manage these.

Trips

We have been hugely impressed with how the children responded to the last two days of education outside the classroom. This is the first time we have organised trips to Adrenaline Forest and Waka on Avon and they both provided fabulous and well-organised experiences. There were plenty of opportunities for the children to step outside of their comfort zone and challenge themselves. A huge thanks to the parents who joined us and to Tim who ran the activity at Spencer Park. The behaviour and positive attitudes displayed by the children were commented on by all of the providers we worked with. We were very proud of your children!







































Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 4 Week 3

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 In this post:

  • Help needed with trips
  • Spikeball
  • Quiz Night
  • Year 7 Leadership 

We need your help

Our trips to Waka on Avon / Art Gallery and Adrenalin Forest / Spencer Park are just two weeks away. As of today, we have had very few parents sign up to help, in fact we have no helpers yet for the town trips. If we do not get enough adult help, some trips may need to be cancelled. Even if you could give half a day, that would help. Grandparents make great helpers too. Please fill in this form if you think you can help.

Waka on Avon and Art Gallery:

  • Caitlin and Jenny's homegroups Wednesday Nov 16
  • Nicky and Megan's homegroups Thursday Nov 17
Adrenaline Forest and Spencer Park

  • Nicky and Megan's homegroups Wednesday Nov 16
  • Caitlin and Jenny's homegroups Thursday Nov 17
Please note that the full day trips will be going ahead on Nov 17, despite the school being closed early this day for staff to attend union meetings. 

Spikeball

This term Spikeball is returning after school on Wednesdays, 3 - 4pm. If you have played Spikeball before or if you have never played before and are keen to learn, then come along! Talk to Dave to find out more. 


Quiz Night

Many thanks to the team who helped with our Quiz Night and to those who purchased tickets. We made $1580 that will help subsidise the cost of our Wainui Camp in term 1 next year.


Year 7 Leadership

This afternoon, we have sent out emails to the children who applied for House Captain, Deputy House Captain, Sports Leader and Student Council Exec for 2023. We had many more students apply than we have positions available and we know there will be a number of disappointed children. There are many more leadership positions that will be allocated at the start of next year. We ask the successful applicatants to take a humble approach when they come to school tomorrow.


Athletics

We had a superb day for our athletic sports last week and it was fabulous seeing the children have fun and give of their best. Jenny is currently collating results and we will be talking with children to finalise zone entries soon. The Zone Athletics will take place on Monday week, Nov 14th.










Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Ready to roll for term 4!

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 In this post

  • Canteen at technology
  • Sunhats
  • Outdoor education
  • Quiz night tickets
  • Production
  • Year 8
  • Term dates overview
We hope you have had a pleasant two weeks with your tamariki at home. We have a busy term ahead! Please read the important messages below and records dates in your diary. 

Canteen at Technology

The canteen at technology will reopen this term. The children will be very excited about this! Just before it was closed last year, some purchasing habits were concerning, and we were about to address these when Covid stepped in and solved the issues. Please talk with your child about the following guidelines:
  • You must wear your own sunhat or you will not be served.
  • You must bring your own money and not ask other people for money.
  • You only purchase things for yourself, not for others.
  • Do not over-purchase. Two items max per person. This is just food for morning tea, not to be brought back to school for lunch.

Sunhats

Please dig out the sunhats and check that they are named. Children need to wear full-brimmed hats whenever outside in terms 1 and 4. If children do not have a hat they will need to go to a designated area at break times. 

Outdoor Education

We have several outdoor education events planned for this term and require parent help with these. Please fill in this form to indicate where you can help.

Wednesday, November 16 and Thursday, November 17: Two home-groups will head into town and two will head to Spencerville. Groups will switch the following day.
  • Town day (9:30 - 3:00): Waka on Avon (history, team skills and waka experience) and Art gallery tour 
  • Spencerville day (8:30 - 3:00): Adrenaline Forest and activities at Spencer Park and beach 
Monday, December 5 (1:15 - 3:00): Top Team event on Beckenham Park

Friday, December 9 (11:00 - 3:00): Corsair Bay trip. 


Quiz Night

We still have room for a few more quiz teams. If you have yet to purchase tickets, please consider joining us for this great night out. You may be able to put a team from your workplace together. Click here to book tickets.



Production

After a break of two years due to Covid, we are immersing ourselves in the arts this term as we put together our 'A walk through the 80s' production. This will see the children working in either singing, acting, dancing or props-making groups. All of this creativity will culminate in two performances on December 5th and 6th, starting at 7pm. The props group would welcome any parent support. If you are able to pop along some afternoons in October and November, please email Nicky.  

Year 8

No doubt you will find it hard to believe that your child has less than nine weeks left of their primary / intermediate years! At assemblies this term we will be acknowledging our Year 8s with prizes being awarded across the term. We will notify you if your child is to receive a prize. Last year we changed our approach to the Leavers' Assembly, with the aim of focusing on all Year 8s rather than the spotlight being on the prize winners. The new format met that aim and we will be going with a similar approach this year. 

Thanks to those who have sent in a photo of your child as a 5 year old. If you have yet to do this, please email your photo to Nicky ASAP or send in a paper copy for scanning this week.

Term 4 Dates:

October
  • Wed 26: Athletics day
  • Thur 27: Zone Speech Comp at St Peters. Good luck to Christopher and Fergus

November
  • Wed 9: 2023 House Captains and Student Council exec leadership day at Christ College
  • Mon 14: Zone athletics
  • Wed 16: Outdoor edn day
  • Thurs 17: Outdoor edn day
  • Fri 18: Reports go live
  • Fri 18: Student Council dress up day - either teacher swap or PJ
  • Wed 30: Canterbury athletics
  • Wed 30: Whānau picnic and kapa haka concerts

December
  • Mon 5: Top team afternoon
  • Mon 5: Production performance 1: A Walk through the 80s. 7pm
  • Tues 6: Production performance 2: A Walk through the 80s. 7pm
  • Fri 9: Corsair Bay trip
  • Wed 14: Leavers' Assembly and lunch. Year 8 finishes for the year after lunch
  • Thurs 15: Last day for Year 7, finished before lunch



Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 9

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 In this post:

  • Cashmere High Testing
  • Fundraising for 2023 Camp: Quiz Night
  • Sports uniforms
  • Leadership 2023 applications - Year 7
  • Year 8 photos - when I was 5
  • Koru Games
  • Code Club

Cashmere High Testing

A reminder that this testing is happening this coming Tuesday morning. The children make their own way to and from the testing. They need to be back at Beckenham by 1:20pm. Today we spent a session with the Year 8s talking about what to expect and some tips for testing. The slides below outline what was covered. We have at least eleven Year 8s going to other high schools in 2023. These children come to school as normal, by 8:30 on Tuesday to catch the tech bus.





Fundraising for 2023 Camp to Wainui:

We have our Comedy Quiz Night coming up on October 29th. We have already sold almost half of the tickets - so get in quick and book your team in using this link. 

Many thanks to the Year 7 families who have already sent in a luxury supermarket item for our hamper prizes. Please do not send in alcohol. If you have yet to send in an item, please do so next week.


Sports Uniforms

All sports uniforms should be finished with for now. Please get these washed and returned to school early next week. The children put them into a returns box just outside the library. There are lots of outstanding tops and dresses from basketball, winter sport and Koru games.

Leadership Positions for 2023

Next term we have the opportunity to send a small group of our Year 7s to a leadership event in the middle of November. We will be sending our 2023 House Captains and Student Council Executive.  The application process for these positions begins now. We talked with Year 7 about this today and they know to fill in the form on Kauri Google Classroom. They have access to this at home, or could do it at school. This form needs to be completed by the end of this term: Friday Sept 30th.

Year 8 'when I was 5' photos

For parents of our Year 8 tamariki, no doubt it is hard to believe that your child has just one more term before heading off to high school. As part of our farewell to our leavers we put together a leavers' book. We need you to send in a photo of your child when they were 5 for this book. It could be a first day of school photo, or it could be any photo of them when they were 5. You can either email the photo to Nicky or bring in a hard copy and we will scan it and return it that day. Please start sending these in now. 

Koru Games

What an awesome week of learning we have had this week. Here at school we have been engaged in literacy, maths, athletics, STEM challenges, science learning about rockets and technology.

Around 40 of our tamariki have travelled to Lincoln on three days to take part in the Koru Games. They have had a blast! All teams were very competitive and displayed great sportsmanship. Jenny was impressed to have teachers from other schools come up to her to say how impressed they were with how our children supported the opposition during games. A huge thanks to Jenny and the team of adults who gave of their time to coach and support teams. Photos coming next post.

Code Club

As part of our Friday passions, Kate Allan runs a code club for our tamariki. These children have loved their sessions and today they headed into town to experience the life of a coder at Verizon Connect. They had a fabulous day getting an insight into the projects that coders work on, doing a collaborative project and enjoying the vibe of this inspiring workplace. They quite enjoyed the hot lunch too! Next term Kate is planning a code club trip to the university, as the children were keen to find out what they needed to do to get a job like the ones they saw today!

Kate is keen to expand the code club next term. She has someone else coming to join her, so there will be two tutors, with coding being taught at a beginner and more advanced level. We would love to see all genders involved in the club. Passions will be explained and selected next week. We are hoping to see more children keen to explore coding.















Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 8

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 In this post:

  • Cashmere High
  • Quiz Night
  • Speech Competition
  • Sports Results
  • Relationships and Sexuality



Year 8s to Cashmere High School


Please take note of the details above re the CHS principal, Joe Eccleton, coming to Beckenham to speak with our Year 8 whānau in the last week of term. 

If your child is enrolled at Cashmere High for 2023, you will have received information about their pre-enrolement testing on Tuesday September 27th. We will be talking with the children about the entrance testing and passing on some tips and advice this coming week. On the day of the testing, the children make their own way to Cashmere High and back to school afterwards. We ask that they are back at Beckenham by 1:20 at the latest.


Quiz Night

On Saturday October 29th we are holding a Comedy Quiz Night to raise funds for our Year 7 & 8 Wainui Camp which takes place early next year. If you have been to one of our comedy quiz nights before, you will know they are so much fun and that tickets sell out pretty fast. Tickets will go on sale in the last week of this term. 

At the quiz night we will be auctioning off grocery hampers. We ask that every Year 6 and 7 family donate a luxury non-perishable grocery item for the hamper. Please send these along to school before the end of this term. We will be collecting items in a box in the Kauri hub. Please encourage your child to bring their item ASAP and mark their name off the list when they deposit their item in the box.



Speech Competition

We were treated to an entertaining speech competition on Friday morning. This year the children wrote story-telling speeches and we listened to fractured fairy-tales with interesting twists, original stories and recounts of personal experiences. All were very entertaining. Special congratulations go to our place-getters.

Year 7:
  • First place: Christopher
  • Second place: Ashlyn
  • Third place: Luka
Year 8:
  • First place: Fergus
  • Second place: Lola
  • Third place: Richelle
We wish Christopher and Fergus all the best for the South Zone Speech Competition which will be held early next term. The date is yet to be confirmed.

Sports Update

On Thursday we had a netball team and a hockey team at the Canterbury Winter Tournament. A huge thanks to the parents who coached and managed these teams. Both groups had a fabulous day of competition with the netball team coming 5th and the hockey team 9th, both in competitions of over 30 teams.  Their sportsmanship, as well as their teamwork and skill, were top notch!

Next week we have teams competing at Koru Games in ultimate frisbee, touch, hockey and volleyball. Once again, many thanks to the parents who are giving up their time to coach and support these teams. Koru Games runs from Tuesday to Thursday and includes Year 7 & 8 teams from across the South Island.


Relationships and Sexuality Education

We will be keeping you informed as we work our way through the Relationships and Sexuality Education curriculum on the content of our lessons. 

Our first session focused on creating shared expectations for these lessons. The children identified what would make them feel safe during these conversations, which included sentiments such as respecting everyone’s contributions and questions, laughing along with someone, not at them, and being mindful of your own boundaries and the boundaries of others. 

Rights and Responsibilities
We reflected on how our rights and responsibilities changed as we matured. The children thought about what rights and responsibilities they would have in the future and how some of these would occur automatically while others would occur according to individual readiness. 

Stereotypes
In these sessions we identified the different stereotypes that we see in society today and how these have changed over time. We also looked at how stereotypes may be reinforced in the media and how these are being broken down. We talked about the influences that stereotypes have on people's lives and how can can stand up to these and be our own person. 

Body Image
In these sessions, we sought to normalise body image worries and explored the media’s role in promoting unrealistic body ideals. We looked at before and after photos that demonstrated how a person’s appearance could be drastically altered through photoshopping, camera angles, lighting and so on. The message: these models don’t look like this in real life. We shared some examples of companies that are engaging in more honest representation in their marketing campaigns. The children were encouraged to adopt the following mindset.
  • Think and talk positively about your body and about the appearance of others
  • Don’t judge others on their appearance - call out those that do
  • Eat a variety of foods that fuel and sustain your body
  • Focus on what your body can do rather than what it looks like