Author Archives: Nicky Dunlop

Kauri Whānau: Year 8 Yearbook

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 Kia ora,

No doubt you are finding it hard to believe that your Year 8 youngster has only 8 and a half weeks of primary / intermediate education left! As part of our farewell, we put together a yearbook with photos and memories for the Year 8s to treasure. To do this we need your help.

1. Can you please email me (nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz) a photo of your child when they started school. This can either be an 'at / going to school' photo or any photo of them as a 5-year-old. If you cannot email a photo, please send in the hard copy next week and I will scan and return it the same day. I'd love these pics ASAP.

2. Talk with your child about the memory they might write about (a Beckenham memory from the past 8 years) at school next week. They also need to choose a friend and a teacher who they would like to write a memory about them.

Ngā mihi

Nicky Dunlop

Kauri Whānau: End of Term 3

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 In this post:

  • Celebrating our Year 8s
  • Sexuality and relationships education 
  • Zone speech competition
  • Athletics

Celebrating our Year 8s

Some years ago, we changed the name of our Year 8 end-of-year formal event from 'Year 8 Prizegiving' to "Year 8 Graduation'. The intent behind that was to make more of a celebration of every Year 8 student who was leaving the school. To some extent, we have achieved this and we would like to make some further changes to support this graduation being about all of our Year 8s and the end of their primary schooling.
Another factor in the change is that the graduation ceremony has grown in size, as our numbers in Years 7/8 have increased over the past few years, leading to a ceremony that seems to be getting longer with each passing year.
To that end, we are going to remove the 'prizegiving' part of the programme from the Year 8 Graduation, and, for this year, spread the acknowledgment of Year 8 prizes through a series of whole-school Celebration Assemblies that we plan to hold weekly through Term 4. The prizes and awards that are given out will be the same, it will just be the timing that changes. 

If your child is going to be getting a prize or award, you will be notified in advance, so that you will be able to attend if you would like to (subject to us being at Alert Level 1).

Sexuality and Relationships Education

Next term, starting in week 3 we will be teaching our health unit on sexuality and relationships education. On Thursday October 21st, we will be having a parent information evening, starting at 7pm in our hub. 

Zone Speech Competition

Zoe and Lola represented our kura extremely well at South Zone Speech Competition on Monday evening. They both spoke superbly and their speeches were very well received. Congratulations to Zoe who was placed second.

Athletics

Our athletic sports will be held on Thursday October 28th, from 9 until 3. If you are able to help, even for part of the day, please email Jenny. 


Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 9

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 In this post: 

  • Literacy
  • Health
  • Ski trip
  • Cantamath
  • Athletics
  • Speeches

Literacy: Novel Studies

We have recently started novel studies with our literacy classes. Megan, Caitlin and Jenny's groups are reading 'The Boy in Stripped Pyjamas', by John Boyne. Themes of innocence, friendship and human nature are explored as the story of the relationship between the son of a German officer and a Jewish boy unfold. Nicky's group is reading 'Two Weeks with the Queen', by Morris Gleitzman. This book, while told with lots of humour, deals with heavier topics of cancer, aids and issues faced by people who are gay. The children are very engaged in discussions and activities unpacking the stories. Please let us know if you have any questions about these novel studies.

Health: Choice

When lockdown sent us home, we were just getting into our Choice health unit which explores making good choices around drugs and alcohol. While we have been unable to have lessons with the police constable, we are continuing this unit ourselves. 

Ski Trip

Sadly, we were unable to rebook another date for this year's ski trip. We look forward to offering this opportunity again next year.

Cantamath

The organisers of Cantamath are determined for this event to go ahead and have yet again rescheduled the competition to October 27th in term 4. This involves our problem-solving teams and we will also be sending a number of projects into the display competition. 

Athletics

We have started athletics training in preparation for our athletic sports which is scheduled for week 2 next term. The children will be doing athletics 4 afternoons a week for the next two weeks.

Speeches

We were treated to listening to a fabulous selection of persuasive and informative speeches on Friday. Topics were varied, including speeches encouraging us to not eat meat, respond to climate change, address gender inequities in sport, be inclusive, consider the needs of chickens, care for our oceans and avoid the dangers of sport. As you can see we were wowed by some very important topics. The judges had an extremely tough job. 

Year 7: First, Lola; second, Billy; and third equal, Stella and Fergus Macd

Year 8: First, Zoe C; second, Andi; and third equal, Thomas and Fergus McM

We wish Lola and Zoe the best of luck when they compete at the South Zone competition in week 10. The media team is putting together a video with snippets of each speech. We hope to have this ready to share with you next week. 



Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 8

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 In this post:

  • Technology
  • Choir
  • Speech finals
  • Cashmere High Testing
It was fabulous to welcome the children back to our hub last week. After the initial excitement of reuniting with everyone, the children have quickly settled back into learning.

Technology

Technology classes at Christchurch South Intermediate continue in level 2. The key difference is that the canteen is not running. 

Choir

Choir also continues in level 2. The choir meets at 8:15 am on Mondays.

Speech Finals

We were impressed with how adaptable the children were to presenting their speeches via Zoom or videoing themselves. Finalists were named at the end of last week. Our team speech competition will take place this coming Friday, September 17, between 11:00 and 12:40. 
Year 7 finalists are Lola, Tahere, Fergus, Quinn, Freya, Billy, Richelle, Lachy, Stella and Oliver.
Year 8 finalists are Fergus, Mila, Tabea, Mahli, Thomas, Marcellus, Zoe C, Rory, Lane and Andi.
Unfortunately, parents cannot be part of the audience while we are at level 2.

Cashmere High School Testing

Year 8 testing at Cashmere High has been rescheduled to take place on Thursday, September 30th. Those who have children enrolled will receive details from Cashmere High. The children make their own way to and from testing and are expected back at Beckenham by 1:20pm. 

Kauri Whānau – getting prepared for level 4

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 Kia ora everyone,

I am back at school gathering resources for learning at home - however long that may be?? There are 5 BYOD devices still at school. Two are out of charge and are not named and the others belong to Tahere, Jonty and Rory. School will be open until 10pm tonight. Let me know what you need from kids' buckets - books to read, pencil cases - anything else. If I am not in the hub, I will leave things in the office where Sandy will be until 10pm.  Please email with what you need - nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz

Ngā mihi

Nicky