Choir

A huge well done to our choir who performed at the South Music Festival this week. Their love of music was evident in their efforts and radiant faces. Those who sung solos,  sung in the chorus, introduced items and conducted our choir, did so with poise and enthusiasm. We were proud. A special thanks to Megan for leading our choir and sharing her joy for music with the children.

Nail polish, makeup and relationships

Our children are on the cusp of (or midst of) adolescence and teenagehood is just around the corner. This manifests in lots of change, both physical and emotional at Year 7 and 8. We spend lots of time supporting our children to make good choices at this time in their lives.
Talk about 'so-and-so likes so-and-so'  is discouraged at school, as it can lead to teasing and upset children.  Likewise, talk of boyfriends and girlfriends is also discouraged and closely monitored at school. You also may have noticed that at this age, taking care with appearance becomes a bigger focus. We have noticed that the wearing of makeup and nail polish to school is becoming a thing. Today we talked with the children about this not being accepted at school and from tomorrow forward, anyone coming to school with coloured nail polish or makeup on will be given a remover product and asked to take it off. Clear nail polish and non-coloured lip balm (for those with sore lips) are acceptable. We would really appreciate your support with this by checking and reminding your child of the no nail polish or makeup message. Final note, pierced ears are to have simple studs, no dangly earrings.

PJ day Friday

Tomorrow we will be celebrating the shortest day of the year in three ways, thanks to an initiative from the Student Council and the PTA. There will be a free breakfast in the school hall at 8am, children are encouraged to bring a can of food to the hall - which will be donated to a food bank and children can wear their PJs to school. The children can participate in their choice of these activities. A reminder that it is a sports day and so sports uniforms must be packed or worn under PJs. If they choose not to wear PJs, then school uniform is worn.

Ski Day in Term 3: September 6th

Many thanks to those who have signed up to help with our ski trip. We have plenty of offers. I will be in touch with you later about more specific details. At this stage make sure you are available on Friday, September 6th.

We have started fundraising for our ski day by selling cheese rolls at lunchtimes on Monday. These are $2 for three and need to be ordered before school by the flagpole.

Maths-Whizz for the rest of this term

Until the end of term we are working on contextual projects in maths, in preparation for Cantamath. This means we are spending less time on Maths Whizz in class. Time spent on this online learning at home will be important.

We are settling back into our normal weekly routines in the Kauri Hub, now that the excitement of ShowQuest has passed. Last week we enjoyed developing our creative talents during our art week. The official ShowQuest video is out. This is the video of our performance and this is an overview of the day, which also features some of our team.

Go Well:

Best of luck to all of our children who are taking part in the 40 Hour Famine this weekend. If your child has a Famine booklet, but has yet to gather any sponsors, please encourage them to contact a few family members and friends. This is such a fabulous way for our tamariki to 'make a difference'.

We also wish Gemma and Lucy well. These two Year 8 girls will be speaking at the 'Speaking 4 the Planet' competition tomorrow, Friday.

Learning Conferences:

Tomorrow, Friday, your child will bring home their school report. Next week on Tuesday (June 11) and Thursday (June 13), we have our term 2 learning conferences. While the learning conference form has 15-minute booking slots, for Year 7 & 8 we ask you to allow 30 minutes for your conference. This will allow time to speak with your child's home-group teacher, maths teacher and in some cases, reading teacher. When you arrive at our hub, please just come straight in and your child will start sharing their learning with you. Teachers will come to you once you are settled with your child. Please click here to book your conference and use the code yucbe.

Choir:

Our choir is performing over two nights on June 18th and 19th at Hillview School. If your child is involved, please encourage them to be learning words and practising at home. There is a link to all music on Google Classroom. Megan will be sending out details about ticket purchasing very soon.

Ski Day:

We have booked our Mt Hutt Ski Day for September 6th, in term 3. Our lessons are booked for 11am, so we will be leaving school at around 7:45am and will be back at around 6pm. If you would like to join us as a skiing or non-skiing parent, please fill in this form. 
 

It has been a week since our ShowQuest performance and we now have some great pictures to share.

We were so so proud of your children and the power of their performance on Tuesday evening. It was a real team effort, from conceptualizing the idea to the final performance, the whole team has been involved - under the wonderful leadership and guidance of Jenny.

The most common reaction to our performance was how emotive it was. Many people have told us how they were moved to tears. The day after our performance we got a lovely email from a Burnside High School parent who was in the audience:

'Last night I attended ShowQuest to watch my daughter perform with another school however I just had to contact you to tell you how absolutely marvelous your school's performance was. It should have won something but regardless I hope the children know that the message was received loud and clear by the audience. So beautifully and thoughtfully and cleverly done. Thank you so very much. Please pass this on. Regards Catherine Woods a Mum of Burnside girl!'

I sent Catherine a thanks message and she replied with ...

'Still thinking about it tonight and I won't be the only one! I hope the performances were all recorded as it would be beautiful if more people could see your message in these times where intolerance is such an issue. What a wonderful advertisement for the values of your school too. Arohanui Catherine!'


We are still waiting for the official video and are thankful to have this one that was taken by Jane, one of our parents.

We would also like to acknowledge Liz, who helped with making the floaty skirts; Kathie, Naska and Steve, who accompanied us on our break at the playground; and Sudama, who prepared us all a delicious meal.

Photos of our performance can be found on the ShowQuest Facebook page. Here is a selection:

Kia ora everyone,

The Christchurch School Strike 4 Climate Team have notified us that there will be another student strike for climate change on this Friday.

In a bid to recognise the advancements that need to be made another strike will occur on May 24th from 1 pm in the Entertainment Triangle in North Hagley Park. We invite school students, teachers and staff to attend the strike in support of a local, national and international change to the system in order to ensure the future generations, the youth of today, and the leaders of tomorrow, will inherit a liveable planet. 

In order to meet our sporting commitments on Friday afternoon, we need to know who will be attending this strike. Can you please email either nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz or jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz  to let us know if your child will be involved in this strike before midday tomorrow, Thursday.