Kauri Whanau Week 3 Update

Ski Trip: 

There are just a few people left to fill in the ski form. Here is the link.  Today you should have received the ski notice which includes a gear list. If you are joining us as a parent helper, another notice will be emailed to you later this week. Many thanks to the families who loaned us skis and boots today, so that our first time skiers could experience the equipment, without the slippery surface. If you have offered to lend clothing, please name it and send it along to school this week.





Speeches:

Children should be finished writing their speeches by this Thursday. Please ask your child to show you what they have written. If they haven't finished, please encourage them to complete their speech at home by Monday. The speech needs to tell a story and be between 3 and 5 minutes long. As well as writing their speech, the children also need to spend time practising the presentation, with an emphasis on expression, gesture and eye contact. While we will be working on this next week at school, practise at home as well will make a big difference to confidence levels and success.

Becamath:

On Monday afternoon we held our annual Becamath competition, our version of Cantamath problem solving. The teamwork was fabulous, determination impressive and enthusiasm contagious. Well done to all teams for their superb effort. The first placed Year 7 team was from Coast: Isla, Vita, Tyler and Isaac. The first placed Year 8 team was from Forest: Ruben, Holly, William and Shaun. It was interesting to observe the number of children who stood up while working.










Touch in Term 4:

SmartTouch is a touch rugby competition organised by St Martins School for local schools, held at Waltham Park on Thursday afternoons in term 4. The idea is for children to get together in teams of at least six, three boys and three girls, with a parent to act as manager / coach. Go to the SmartTouch site to register a team.


Kauri Week Two Update


Ski trip: 

Our soup fundraising is going well, with $400 raised so far. We hope to sell soup for another two Wednesdays, and with similar profits, we will be able to reduce the cost of the ski trip to $40 per child. So far half of our hub families have completed the form providing details needed about each child for this trip. If you have yet to complete this form, please click on the link below.
Ski form


Keeping up to date with learning commitments:


  • Maths home learning, which for many children is a Cantamath project, is due tomorrow, Friday.
  • Many children are making good progress with their storytelling speeches. The writing of these should be completed by next Thursday, allowing for time to practise presentation before sharing in week 5. Please ask your child to share their speech with you.

It's only week two and already we have lots to celebrate...

Our Sir Peter Blake Young Leader for 2016.

Our first Gold Leaders for 2016.


And the Blazers basketball team celebrated their first win of the season!

Distinction, Distinction, High Distinction, Distinction. Wow, what awesome scientists.

Harvey, from World Vision, came to thank those of us who did the Famine, for raising over $1500 for the refugees of Syria.


Winter Tournament: 

True to its name, the winter weather arrived in time for our South Zone Winter Tournament, which was played on Monday 1 August. With 15 teams participating, we were very grateful to all of the coaches who were able to help out on the day.
Passing and shooting, the netball players battled and pivoted, scoring and defending on the netball courts. Well done to all four teams, with three teams placing third and one team placing sixth.

With six football teams, playing 5-a-side, there were plenty of fast paced games to enjoy. Adjusting to the small pitches and different way of playing took some doing, however teams soon found their stride and went on to score goals and corners. Well done to the year 7 and 8 teams who placed first and two fourths (in different grades) and great work to the year 5 and 6 teams who placed first and second (in different grades).

Bobbly rugby fields, set a challenge for the hockey players,

particularly those used to the smooth surface of astroturf. Swift passing and controlled dribbling ensured goals were scored, along with solid defending to prevent goals at the other end. Great work all four hockey teams, with placings of second, fourth and two sixth placings.

Special congratulations to the year 7 and 8 Football Red team and to the year 7 and 8 Hockey Red team. They have both qualified to compete in the Canterbury Winter Tournament being held on Thursday 25 August, representing our south zone.




Special thanks to all of our coaches who made it possible for us to take so many teams to the tournament: Jarred Skelton, Caitlyn Downing, Sonja Sintmaartensdyk, George York, Katie Chapman, Sarah Freeman, Jenni Adams, Nicky Dunlop, Leone Scott, Jacky Sargent, Fred Simpson, Kate Inwood, Ashley Tough, Jonny Inwood, Tyler Logan and Rod Gray.



Looking ahead at term 3 in the Intermediate Hub.

It is great to be underway with another fun-filled term of learning in the Intermediate Hub. The children have made a great start to the term this week.

Speeches
We have leapt into speech writing this week, after Jarred led a motivation on writing and presenting a storytelling speech. The children have four weeks to write, and practise the presentation of their speech. Please encourage them to share their writing with you at home. Because the focus is on storytelling, use of voice, gesture and expression is very important, so the more time spent practising and learning the speech, the better. Speeches will be presented to home-groups in week 5. The team competition (six Year 7s and six Year 8s) will be on Monday August 29 and the zone competition, against local schools, will be on Monday September 5th in the evening (one Year 7 and one Year 8). Our school competition will be judged by someone from the Court Theatre.
Jarred used the 'story chairs' activity to show the children how to create a story.

Treaty of Waitangi
For the first three weeks of term 3, Sharon Tipene is running New Zealand History workshops with our hub. Sharon is a primary school teacher and a Treaty of Waitangi and New Zealand history educator. Each home group will have six one and a half hour sessions with Sharon. We are very lucky to have such an experienced and knowledgeable teacher working with us.

Sharon introduced props to signify important parts of NZ history.
Cantamath
Term 3 heralds the start of Cantamath season. This involves various projects and competitions.
Jarred and Nicky’s maths groups are working on Cantamath projects for home learning. These are due on Friday of week 2. Projects that are of a very high quality will go through to the Canatmath competition at Horncastle Arena on Wednesday August 24th. All children should be well underway with their project by now. We are more than happy to support children with ideas and advice. They just need to ask.
On the Monday afternoon of week 3, we will be holding our Becamath (group problem solving) Competition. All children will be competing in mixed ability groups of 4 from each home-group.
A squad of capable mathematicians, will meet during lunchtimes and possibly before school to hone their problem solving skills. From this squad, our Cantamath teams will be selected, comprising of four Year 7s and four Year 8s. They will compete at Cantamath on Wednesday August 24th between 4pm and 6pm.  

Ski trip
Our ski trip to Mt Hutt is coming up on Thursday August 18th. We now have enough skiing parent helpers, however we need a non skiing parent to help out at the base of the ski area, keeping an eye on kids who need a break and supporting where necessary. Please email Nicky if you would be happy to do this. This week the children learnt about appropriate clothing for a mountain environment. They will have one more session to learn about ski equipment, so that they are well prepared for a day of fun and learning on the slopes. The cost of this trip is $50, however with profits from our soup fundraising, we hope to reduce this cost. We will confirm this by the start of week 3. The charge includes lift pass, lesson and ski hire (including a helmet). Many thanks to the PTA for funding the bus trip. On Thursday we sent out a form for you to complete so that we can ensure every child is suitably clothed and equipped for this mountain experience. Here is the link to this form if you have yet to complete it.

We played 'dress the invisible skiers' to reinforce sensible clothing choices for a mountain environment.
Arts academies
Every year the Kauri Hub enjoys celebrating the performing arts by creating and presenting a Beckenham flavoured production. Unlike the shopping centres, we will not being celebrating Christmas in October, but will be building up to the joyous season over term three and four. This year we will be decking the halls and wishing everyone tidings of good joy, in ‘A Very Kauri Christmas’. The students will decide how they would like to contribute to our performance by signing up to one of our Arts Academies: acting/singing, dance, or wearable arts.

Swimming
Learning to swim is an essential survival skill, especially for us, living on an island. It is part of the New Zealand Curriculum – ‘it is expected that all students will have had opportunities to learn basic aquatics skills by the end of year 6’. Since the earthquake and the loss of our pool, we have been unable to offer as many aquatic learning opportunities for all students in Year 5 – 8 as we would have liked to. We are very aware that water safety is a topical issue, with many water-related fatalities occurring over the last summer.
To this end, we have arranged swimming lessons for all students in Year 5 – 8 at Aquagym for this term. Each student will have 8 swimming lessons, over two weeks, in weeks 6 and 7 (Monday 29 August - Friday 9 September). The students will be bused to and from Aquagym (459 Cashel St, Linwood) for their half hour lesson.
The Year 7 – 8 whānau will be split into two groups of 40 students, with one group having their lesson from 9 – 9:30am (with their bus leaving school at 8:30am), and the other group having their lesson from 9:30 – 10am (leaving school at 9:00am). The children have been organised into two groups, taking into consideration music lessons and being able to arrive at school by 8:30am.  Each group will then be split into smaller ability groups, so they are being taught at their level.

The overall cost of these 8 lessons plus transport is $85 per student. With 200 children involved, this is a total cost of $17,000. A request for your contribution will be added to your school account. If you don’t already have an automatic payment set up, you may like to contact Audrey or Jacky in the office, to enable you to budget for this.

Korfball
The Kauri Hub Korfball team, the Beckenham Guards, are scheduled to take part in their third interschool competition at Pioneer Stadium on Monday 15th August. We have been very successful at previous tournaments, with a second and third placing, and are excited to continue improving and giving our all! The team will be confirmed by Friday 5th August, and permission slips will be sent home.   

Asia awareness
The students in the Kauri Hub have been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to receive external tuition from a Chinese educator from the Confucius Institute based at the University of Canterbury.  As part of a school wide Asia awareness initiative, we will experience many aspects of Chinese language and culture, on a weekly basis throughout term three, starting in week four.

Talent quest
On Friday 23 September (the last Friday of this term) we will be holding the Beckenham Talent Quest at school. It will be held from 1:30 - 3pm in the school hall. There are three categories: Year 1-4, Years 5-6 and Years 7-8. The students are signing up for the talent quest at the moment, and then auditions will be held in week 6. Three acts will be selected for the final in week 9. We have such a talented group of students in Kauri this year, it will be a hard job just selecting three finalists. Good luck to all the students who intend to participate.

Week 9 Update

Our choir performed at the South Music festival tonight and they were fabulous. A big congratulations to Jarred and the choir. All of that hard work paid off; we were so proud of you all. A special well done to the talented comperes and beautiful soloists.








This Thursday is our Showcase evening for Year 5 - 8. All children performing need to be at school, in the hall, by 6:50pm. Groups performing are: Te Whanau Mahi Tahi, the choir, Jarred's Passion Friday drama group and the Friday youth band. Ailie and Oakley will be our comperes and Marco and Lennox will be managing the tech support. There will also be groups from Year 5 & 6 performing, as well as a video about Year 7 & 8. All families are most welcome to join us for what promises to be an entertaining evening.

Science Fair is occupying lots of our time at school at the moment. It was reassuring to hear many children have completed their experiments at home. If you have not seen your child working on their experiment at home, please ask questions and encourage them to get busy on this today. Display boards, which are being worked on at school, need to be finished by Thursday.

Ski Trip: On Thursday August 18th (week 4), we will all be at school bright and early (6:45am), ready to jump on the buses and head up to Mt Hutt, for an awesome day of fun and learning on the slopes. For this day to happen, we need the support of parent helpers. Please click on this link if you are interested in joining us for the day.