We are well into the swing of things now in the Intermediate Hub, with literacy and maths programmes underway. Please read the important messages below. Our aim is to keep messages brief for quick reading. Feel free to email us if you feel you need more information.

Kete Award Scheme: 

It was exciting to read a child's first blog post and award points last week. A number of families are paying for maths and science badges by Friday this week, so these can be ordered. The link to the scheme is on our blog. It is great to see the children living our values by getting involved in this scheme.

Swimming Sports:

This Thursday we have around 40 of our children heading to Wharenui Pool at 11:30am for our swimming sports. Jenny will send a separate message with information and instructions for the day. 

Math Club:

It was great to see so many keen mathematicians at 8:20am last Wednesday. This club with continue every Wednesday at this time.

Technology at South:

If you need to drop your child at South Intermediate on a Tuesday morning, it is very important that you let us know (text of email) each day, so that we can mark our roll correctly. Our bus arrives at 8:45. Please do not drop children off at South before 8:40. 

Writing:

Last week we had our first writing motivation: Fear Factor. The children are now writing a descriptive piece about fear. The focus is on the quality of the writing (varying sentence starters, using short sentences for effect, use of similes and metaphors and developing ideas within paragraphs),  rather than the quantity. We are discouraging them from writing a 'story'. This piece of writing is due next Friday. We will be reading all writing and providing feedback each weekend. If your child has not completed enough writing, we will send them an email and copy you in, asking them to work on this at home. Of course, any child is welcome to continue working on their writing at home if they would like to. On their document they have a link to 'Literacy Links' which is a website we have created to support them with their writing. They also have an exemplar in the books at school and a planning sheet. 

HPV Forms:

Earlier this term all Year 8 children brought packs containing HPV forms home. Please make sure these forms are completed and returned to the school office this week.

Looking for someone with design skills:

Do you work or dabble in art, design or advertising?  Would you be interested in helping design our wellbeing definition? This will be central to our student wellbeing strategy this year....and beyond! Please contact me if you can help. Many thanks, Charlotte (charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz)

Police Competency Test:

Today we will be telling the children about the PCT competition. This is a team competition open to Year 7 & 8 children. They literally complete the Police Competency Test, so a moderate to high level of fitness is required. This half day competition is on March 27 and includes other activities based on the police force. We will aim to put in two teams of 4 and will need a parent helper per team. Sign up sheets are up in the hub this week. Next week we will run trials to select eight children, four girls and four boys. 

Photos from Fear Factor...

There was an awesome positive vibe buzzing through the Kauri hub last week, as our year in the Intermediate Hub got underway for 2018. Please read the important messages below about what is coming up this week.

Maths Challenge Badges and Science Badges: 

If your child would like to work on a Maths Achievement Challenge or Science Badge this term, please check out the links below and email one of us with their order. We will send away the first order for the year this coming Friday. These badges count towards the 'We Love Learning' kete award.
Science Badges
Maths Achievement Challenge
Hannah: hannah.elliott@beckenham.school.nz
Jenny: jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz
Nicky: nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz

Technology:

Technology gets underway this week. On the notice board in our hub are group lists; these include the technology they will be learning about this term. Please make sure your child is at school by 8:30am on Tuesday.  Mrs Lynch, the fabric teacher who will be working with a Year 7 group this term has asked for and surplus clean fabric, zips, cottons, threads that parents no longer need.

Maths Club:

This year we will be running a maths club from 8:20 to 8:50 on a Wednesday morning in our breakout space. The purpose of this club is to extend our more able mathematicians. We will be working on the Otago Problem Solving Competition and solving Cantamath problems. If your child is interested, make sure they are at school by 8:20 this Wednesday. 

Leadership:

We have a vast number of applications for leadership positions. Children should hear about their roles by the middle of the week, then training will get underway. Children generally get two or three leadership positions.

Learning in our hub this week:

Each home-group will have three Life Education visits this week. Our focus is looking at empathy and understanding, to support our leadership programme. Due to these sessions, we will be fairly home-group based this week, however maths and reading groups will get underway on Wednesday and we start our writing programme with our first writing motivation on Tuesday afternoon.

Basic Facts Support:

If your child needs to work on their basic multiplication facts, we have put together a pack of worksheets that they can make use of at home. If you would like a copy of this pack, please send an email request to your child's home-group teacher. This would be a great SMART goal to work towards for the 'We Love Learning' kete award.

Gardening Request:

If you have any spare gardening gloves lying around home, Hannah would love to use these for her gardening passion group. Please send any you can spare along to school.

Swimming Sports:

We are delighted to have just under 80 children entered for our School Swimming Sports, which will be held at Wharenui Pool next Thursday. For each stroke the children have had the option to compete in either a 25 m or 50 m event. Only swimmers from 50 m events have the opportunity to qualify for zones. Please discuss with your child the events that they have entered to ensure that they are appropriate for your child’s ability. We would love to see you on poolside cheering on our competitors as they demonstrate a love of challenge.
To support the running of the event, we are looking for some amazing parent helpers to assist us with a few jobs on the day. If you are willing and available to help out, please email Jenny on jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz.  

Below are some pictures from last week. Highlights included passion sessions starting on Thursday and basketball on Friday.

Music Creation Passion

Code Club

Passion photography explored camera angles.

Buddy time with Year 3 & 4.

Basketball sessions got underway with three awesome coaches.

We very much enjoyed meeting with so many of you at learning conferences last week. There was lots of information to take in, so here are some reminders.

We are a peanut free hub: 

In order to ensure that safety of all children in our hub, we are a peanut free zone. This includes your child not eating peanuts for breakfast, Monday to Friday. If your child does slip up and finds a peanut product in their lunchbox, they will not be 'in trouble', but need to let a teacher know as soon as they realise this.

Tuesday is an early start:

Roll call on Tuesday is at 8:30am. This is so that children can get to technology at Christchurch South Intermediate on time. There is a school canteen at South, so money can be brought for small purchases.

Forms:

If you did not sign and hand in cyber-safety or bus agreement forms at learning conferences, please get these back ASAP. We have spare copies in the hub. We also need BYOD forms back.

Parents to read:

Please click on the Kete Awards Scheme tab above this message and have a read of what is involved in this new scheme. We will be introducing it to the children this week. If you have any questions, feel free to email us.
Hannah: hannah.elliott@beckenham.school.nz
Jenny: jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz
Nicky: nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz

Cooked lunches:

Children are welcome to use the jug, sandwich press or microwave to prepare a hot lunch. It is preferable that this happens just once a week.

Dunedin Camp:

Dates: April 9 - 13. We have enough parent helpers. Children will arrive back at around 6pm on Friday the 13th, which is the last day of school. Cost is still to be confirmed; we hope to get it down to around $250 per child. Contact Vicki in the office if you would like to start weekly payments, or require financial support.

Leadership Camp for Year 8:

March 8-9. This involves a sleepover at school on Thursday the 8th. We will be back at school by 3pm on the 9th.

Devices:

We strongly encourage BYOD. All children using BYOD need to have BYOD forms back to school, signed, before using their device at school. Cell phones are only to come to school if they are needed for parent communication before / after school. They must be switched off and either in bags or handed into the 'Think Tank' (Kauri teacher office).

First day:

We are looking forward to getting underway with the fun and learning in our hub tomorrow. Please make sure that your child has their sunhat, that it is named, and their jacket is also named. Stationery also needs to be named. We have some free exercise books to give the children this week and will let them know what subject to put on each book.


Please don't hesitate to contact us this year if you have any questions of concerns. A happy child can learn. An unhappy child has difficulty learning. The sooner we know about any issue, the better. Though a positive partnership, parent(s) and teacher(s), we want to make this an awesome year for your child.

Waltham Pool tomorrow, Wednesday:

We have checked the raindrop graph on MetService often today. It looks like the rain, if it comes, will settle in around midday. Our plan is to be at Waltham by 11am, for a 45 - 60 minute swim, before walking back to school for the afternoon. Can you please make sure your child has the following packed for tomorrow:

• A raincoat
• Togs and towel in a plastic bag
• Sunscreen
• Sunhat
• Lunch and water bottle. No lunch orders please, just in case the forecast changes and we stay for longer.
• Medication if needed, e.g. asthma and hay fever

Year 8:

We had a lovely time with the Year 8s on Monday evening at the pool and pizza party. Excitement is building rapidly as they approach their final day on Monday. Many thanks for replying to the graduation assembly invitation. The hall will be open soon after 10:30am on Monday, ready for an 11:00am start.

The message below was in the daily notices today. Please encourage / support your child to sort out their google drive.

If you are leaving Beckenham School at the end of the year and want to keep any of your school Drive files or emails, please go to the website below before the end of the term. This website will ensure that all files are properly copied to your personal account. If you are under 13, ask your parents to create an account for you using Google Family Link.

https://takeout.google.com/transfer

Your Beckenham accounts will be permanently deactivated over the holidays so if you don't use the transfer tool, your files will be lost forever.

Walk up to Victoria Park on Thursday:

• Day pack
• Hearty lunch
• Large bottle filled with water
• Sunhat
• Sunscreen
• Rain coat
• Mufti suitable for walking, including sturdy shoes
• Medication if needed, e.g. asthma and hay fever

We very much hope you enjoyed seeing the 'Trials of Alice in Wonderland' this week. We know the children have loved sharing the show with you. We are trying to secure one more audience for next week.  See the end of this post for photos.

Year 8 Pool and Pizza Party

All Year 8s are invited to Jarred's place, 244 Opawa Rd, on Monday afternoon (December 11th). The party will get underway at 4pm. Please arrange to collect your child by 6pm. They are welcome to bring their togs for a swim if they would like to.

Waltham Pool Trip

We have our fingers crossed that the current weather forecast for Wednesday, December 12th, will shift and that we will get a fine day to enjoy at the pool. We will be walking down at Waltham Pool late morning and returning by 3pm. Please make sure your child has a packed lunch and bottle of water. They will also need sunscreen, togs and towel and sunhat. If the rain does come, we will look at some alternative school based fun.

Victoria Park Walk

Rain is also forecast for Thursday December 13th, so more finger and toe crossing! We will be heading off on our tramp up to Victoria Park at 10:30. That day children will need the following:

• day pack
• hearty lunch
• large bottle filled with water
• sunhat
• sunscreen
• rain coat
• mufti suitable for walking, including sturdy shoes

Helpers' Morning Tea and Final School Assembly

Graduation Assembly