Author Archives: Nicky Dunlop

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 4 Week 2

Posted on by

Athletic Sports this Thursday:

We have our fingers crossed, hoping for fine weather on Thursday and Friday for our athletics sports events. We are in need of a few helpers to run events on Thursday (10 til 2) and to assist with walking children to Hillview on Friday for our long jump event (12:30 til 2:30). Please let Jenny know if you can assist with any of these events. 

We have included the event schedule for the day and welcome you to come and cheer the children on as they compete in their events. 



9 year olds
10 year olds
11 year olds
12 year olds
13 year olds
9:55 - 10:40
Shot Put
High Jump
Sprints
Discus
Shot Put
10:40 - 11:00
Morning Tea
11:00 - 11:45
Sprints
Discus
High Jump
Shot Put
Sprints
11:45 - 12:30
High Jump
Shot Put
Discus
Sprints
High Jump
12:30 - 1:15
Lunch
1:15 - 2:00
Discus
Sprints
Shot Put
High Jump
Discus
2:00 - 2:45
Sprint Finals
2:45 - 3:00
House Relay
Adults V Children Relay


Long Jumpers on Friday:

Children who are taking part in long jump on Friday, will be heading to Hillview to use their long jump pit (we currently don't have one) at 12:30. They will be taking their lunch with them. As lunch orders will not be sorted by 12:30, please do not order lunch on Friday.T


Alice Props and Costumes:

The props group need to borrow a clothes rack to create a mobile mini backdrop for 'Alice'. If you have one similar to the one below that you are willing to lend us, please let Nicky know.



Orana Park:

A big thanks to Matthew, Nicola, Rebecca, Tamsin and Sonja, who joined us on our day at Orana Park last week. This proved to be a fabulous way to kick start our learning about endangered species. This week the children will select one species to focus on (rhino, cheetah or gorilla) and we will be watching videos and note-taking to learn more about these animals.








Passions Underway:

On Friday we started our term 4 passions. The mountain bikers had a skills and gear check session at school, in preparation for off site rides during the rest of the term. The pixel art group discussed mural options and then had a play with creating post-it note art. Theatre sports had lots of fun learning new drama games. The buddies group were very well received in Koru Whānau, leading activities and supporting learning. The newbies to code club got underway with coding basics, while experienced students stepped up as peer tutors. Fridays continue to be a real highlight in our hub.










Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 4 Week 1

Posted on by
It is soooo good to be in our new hub. The children are adapting well to new routines. These include shoes off inside, feel free to have a set of school slippers, and storing lunch boxes in our maker-space, so that they don't heat up in the outside lockers.


There is lots happening this term. Here are a few key dates for your dairy:


  • Wednesday October 18: Orana Park field trip
  • Thursday October 26: Sports Day
  • Monday November 13: Zone Athletics
  • Thursday November 16: Top Team
  • Thursday November 30: Carisbrook School visit for sports competition
  • Monday December 4: First performance of 'The Trials of Alice in Wonderland'
  • Wednesday December 6: Canterbury Athletics
  • Thursday December 7: Second performance of 'The Trials of Alice in Wonderland'
  • Thursday December 14: Corsair Bay fun day
  • Monday December 18: Leavers' Assembly starting at 11am. Year 8 finish at 1pm.
  • Tuesday December 19: School year ends for Year 1 - 7 at 12:30

We are still to schedule our Victoria Park walk and the Year 8 pizza and pool party.


Orana Park:

We are off to Orana Park tomorrow to kick off our science / literacy study around endangered species. The weather forecast is telling us the day will be cold, possibly with some early rain. Children need to come prepared with the following:

  • wear school uniform, preferably with long pants and a thermal layer under their school shirt
  • bring a jacket to go over their school jacket, preferably waterproof with a hood
  • school sunhat
  • beanie, warm hat
  • lunch and water bottle
  • asthma and other required medication, to be handed to home-group teacher, except for inhaler
Children are to be at school at the normal time. Our buses depart at 9:15 and we will be back by 3pm. Parent helpers please meet in our hub at 9am.

Athletic Sports:


Thursday the 26th of October is our School Athletics Day. We welcome all parents to come and support our children as they compete in field and track events throughout the day. 

Friday the 27th of October is our Long Jump event, which is being held at Hillview Christian School as we do not yet have our own long jump pit here at Beckenham. This is an optional event for the children and entries were made at the end of last term. We are looking for parent helpers to support us in walking the children to Hillview and supervising them in between jumps. Please email Jenny if you are able to provide assistance with this event. 

Long Distance Running will be held the following Wednesday at Beckenham Park.

These events will decide which children go on to represent our school at our Zone's event at Hanson's Park on the 13th of November. 

Finally, it was great to see nearly everyone at school on time today, Tuesday, to catch the bus to South for technology. Everyone needs to meet for roll call at 8:30 on a Tuesday.


Kauri Whānau Update: Term 3 Week 10

Posted on by

Trip to University:

What an awesome morning we had at the University Of Canterbury. A huge thank you to Jenni and Simon for putting together a great morning for us. It was interesting listening to the children talk about what they wanted to study, as we walked through the university. We were wowed by a number of dazzling experiments in the science dept. After a fascinating insight into how drones are used, we experienced a number of hands on activities in the geography dept. Thanks also to Gaby, Shane and Jo for accompanying us on this field trip. Check out the photos at the end of this post.


Elections Experience:

The children have been very engaged in forming their own parties and policies as part of a student interest initiated writing topic. On Thursday they present their policies to Year 5 & 6, who will then vote. Please click this link to check out their polices. These are arranged in four groups, based on the Year 5 & 6 classes they will present to. 

Parent help required for trip in week one of next term:

We hit the group running next term, with a trip to Orana Park on Wednesday October 18th. This will be the start of our learning about endangered species, with links to the science and social studies curriculum. We need four parents to accompany us on this trip. Please click this link to indicate if you can help. A $17.60 transportation and park entry contribution will be added to your next account.


Last day at Champion St:

On Thursday we say farewell to Champion St. The children will arrive at Beckenham slightly earlier than usual, to deliver their buckets of stationery to our new hub. On Friday morning they are off to technology and will then return to Beckenham. Woohoo, can't wait to be back!


Learning about how colours are produced in fireworks.

Elephant toothpaste!

This balloon was inflated by dry ice.

Making ice-cream in less than a minute!

Learning about drones.




Kauri Whānau Update: Term 3 Week 9

Posted on by
We are becoming surrounded by packing boxes as the end of term is approaching with rapid speed! Despite the approaching move back to Beckenham, interesting and exciting learning opportunities continue in our hub.

Trip to the University of Canterbury, Wednesday September 27th:

As an extension of the learning our children have been going about chemical and physical change, we will be taking our team to the University of Canterbury on Wednesday morning next week, to visit the science department. To make the most of the trip, we will also be visiting the geography dept. The morning will involve a science experiment, learning more about the periodic table, exploring career pathways, soaking in the vibe of a university and more. Many thanks to Jenni Adams and Simon Kingham for helping to put this exciting morning together for our students. We would like to have three parents join us on this trip. As we will be leaving from Beckenham and returning to Champion Street for lunch, you would need to meet us at the university. Please send an email to nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz if you can join us. There will be no cost to families for this trip. For those who usually drop their children to Champion Street in the morning, please have them at Beckenham on Wednesday.

Sexuality Education:

Our Sexuality Road unit has begun, welcomed by cheers from Year 8 and slightly more caution from Year 7. It would be good to open discussions at home about what is being talked about in class. This topic will run for the rest of this term and into term 4. 

Sports News:

Congratulations to our Year 7 and 8 orienteering team who placed 1st at the Canterbury School's Orienteering Festival last weekend. The children navigated their way successfully through courses at Ferrymead and Spencer Park in the two-day festival. Tino pai, Rosie, Daisy, Mitchel, Kaia and Sadie. Many thanks to Jenni Adams for managing and coaching the team. 

Next week, Alex, Millie and Kaia travel to Timaru to complete in the Inter-Regional Cross Country Race. We wish them all the best for a successful run. Thank you, again, to Jenni Adams for managing this team.  

Good luck to our korfball team who will be competing in an all day tournament on Monday at Pioneer Stadium. 

Athletics day is coming up early next term on October 26th. If you are able to help with the running of events, please send an email to jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz

Passion Friday:

Once again the children have been loving their learning during passion time this term. The board game group are off to The Fab Lab to design and make game pieces using a 3D printer, this Friday. The monster softies group have been very creative and can take pride in the very cool toys they have created. A big thanks to Sue Kingham and Annette Bone who have been supporting the children with their sewing. Great gales of laughter can be heard coming from the breakout space, as the children experience theatre sports. A team has been put together for the Year 7 & 8 theatre sports competition next term. The code club continue to develop their coding skills. We are very grateful to Ivo Gorny and Bruce Peters who work with this group on projects that are personalised to each child's skill level. 

Next week passion Friday will happen on Tuesday, as our technology day has been switched to Friday, due to events at South. Our final day at Champion Street will be next Thursday.

Monster softie creations.

Speech Competition:

Well done to our speech finalists who presented last Wednesday. We were impressed by the breadth of topics, impressive writing, and confident delivery. It was definitely an entertaining afternoon. Lisa McGonigle, who has a PHD in literature, judged the speeches. She was very impressed by the quality of the speeches and the skill displayed in delivery. Congratulations to the place-getters:
Year 7: 1st Thom (why I should be king); 2nd equal, Georgina (gender equality), Sophia (animal rights) and Tilly (smoking)
Year 8: 1st Amelia (women's rights), 2nd Daisy (car free zone by school) and 3rd equal Jordan H (dad jokes) and Sadie (LGBT rights)

We were very proud of Thom and Amelia when they presented their speeches at the South Zone Rotary Speech Competition last night.



















Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 8

Posted on by
We are on the countdown, with just two and a half weeks left at Champion Street. Everyone is feeling pretty excited about being back at Beckenham, in our beautiful new hub. Tomorrow we will travelling back to Beckenham at 12:00 to hold our speech finals in the afternoon. Parents are welcome to join us. We'll be starting at 1:30pm. 


This Thursday:


On Thursday Cashmere High School are holding their Year 8 testing morning. All those involved will have received information about this morning from Cashmere. We have been stressing to the children that these tests are just one piece of information used for class placement and that the conversation we have with staff from Cashmere early next term, plays a big part in placement decisions. Children are to wear school uniform to Cashmere. We expect to see all Year 8s back at Beckenham School by 1pm. We do not arrange transport for this morning. The Year 8 children not going to Cashmere next year are to sign in at the Beckenham office by 8:50am on Thursday. They have each been assigned a hub to work in as a leader that morning. Nicky will drive back to Beckenham at lunch time and work with the Year 8s in our new hub that afternoon. 

Meanwhile the Year 7s will have a morning at Champion Street with the Year 6s, as a taster for 2018. Year 7 will have normal Champion Street bus arrangements on Thursday. 


Vaccination:


Those who are getting their HPV Vaccination through school will receive their second  dose next week, on Thursday 21st September.


Sexuality Road: 


This unit of learning will begin next Monday. The parent evening has been cancelled, due to only one parent signing up for this.


Speeches:

We have been very impressed with the standard of speeches that have been shared over the past three days. Well done to all of those who had the confidence to stand up and speak in front of their peers.  Tomorrow, Wednesday, we will be holding our Kauri Speech Competition in our new hub at Beckenham. We congratulate the following speakers who will present their speeches tomorrow.
Year 7: Tilly, Hannah W, Thom B, Sophia, Felix, Georgina, Chris, Fynn, Santi
Year 8: Jordan H, Isaac, Amelia Ca, Joe, Daisy, Juliette, Kaia, Sadie, Jamie

To our finalists, keep practising tonight. Watch your speed; not too fast. Make use of gesture and pauses for effect. Depending on your topic, some of you need to ramp up your expression. Best of luck.

This was a very difficult list to create. We would like at acknowledge the following people who really impressed us, but didn't quite make the finalists:
Joel, Marlonique, Maddi, Rosie, Alex, Isla and Ruby.

To everyone else who presented their speech, a huge well done. We were entertained and educated over the past few days. You displayed that you love challenge by facing one of the greatest fears known to man: public speaking. 


Sport:


Winter sport has wrapped up for the year and last week our basketball season finished on a high, with both teams having convincing wins. Many thanks to those parents who have been there game after game to support the children. Your cheering from the sideline makes a big difference. 


Beckenham Ballers 
Beckenham Bulls

Our next sporting competition is a korfball competition on Monday September 25th at Pioneer Stadium. The team is: George, Alex, Fergus, Joe, Caleb, Nathan, Isaac, Millie, Olivia, Shakira, Kaia, Hannah S, Ruby, and Bella. Jarred is sending home a paper notice about this tournament today.




From Canterbury Young Writers:
Book for the Spring into Writing Workshops 
These Spring holidays we will be running two workshop days. You can book for one or two sessions per day.
Cost: $15 per session or $25 for two sessions on the same day.
Where: The Writers’ Block, Hagley Community College. Entry via Waller Terrace ( map)
WORKSHOP OPTION A: Pick-a-Path extravaganza! Borrowing all the best bits from our favourite stories, we’ll kick off a story together as a class, then split off into smaller groups, taking the story in different directions, and everyone will get to write their own ending – be it romantic, gruesome, spectacular, tragic, victorious or heart-breaking. Choose your own adventure!
WORKSHOP OPTION B:  Poetry with Pictures: Have you heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words? Bring your artistic skills — draw a picture and then write a poem about it! Stick drawings work just as well as great art! And then learn how to write another kind of poem — a concrete poem. Turn your words into pictures by changing the shape of them. You will make great poetry by writing in images, about images and with imagery!
Monday October 2  Year 4 to 6
10.00 – 12.00 Both workshops are on offer ( Poetry with Pictures and Pick-a-Path)
Lunch: supervised. Children need to bring their own lunch if staying for both workshops.
12.30 – 2.30 Both workshops are on offer ( Poetry with Pictures and Pick-a-Path)
Tuesday October 3 Year 7 to 8
10.00 – 12.00  Poetry with Pictures workshop only
Lunch: supervised. Children need to bring their own lunch if staying for both workshops.

12.30 – 2.30  Pick-a-Path workshop only