The hot topic around the hub is how many sunshine hours Christchurch has had in June, or not had! Approximately one hour a day is not doing our serotonin levels much good. Fingers crossed for the sunny, clear, cold days of winter! The students have been making great choices with regards to sensible footwear and wearing jackets and coats to protect themselves from the rain and cold.


On Friday, as we usually do, the teachers wandered around the hub, picking up bits and pieces and generally tidying. Imagine our surprise we noticed a number of lunch boxes still on the shelf in the maker space, along with abandoned drink bottles. We also gathered up a selection of footwear, which is still at school. We would love to see the lunchboxes and drink bottles go home daily, and how children manage to leave footwear at school, who knows! The routine is for the children to grab their lunch box on the way to pick up their bag (they literally walk past the shelves to get their bag). A further reminder from home to do this would be very helpful.







A pyjama mufti day for tomorrow has been organised by the Student Council in collaboration with the PTA. It is in support of The Methodist Mission to help restock food banks over winter. Please bring a can or two of food to donate. This can be dropped off at the multi purpose kitchen, and in exchange you can grab a bowl of hot porridge for a sustaining winter breakfast. The PTA will be making porridge for breakfast and this will be available from 8:00 - 8:55am from the hall kitchen servery. Please bring a named bowl if you would like to take advantage of this kind offer.

We had a fabulous day last Friday, learning much from our two special guests Ruud Kleinpaste (The Bug Man) and Riley Elliott (The Shark Man). The students were entertained, enthralled and informed by these guest speakers, who were a lead up to our Treemendous Day on Saturday. Many thanks to all of the families who came down to school to help out with the planting. What a fabulous community spirited morning it was, ending with a delicious sausage sizzle!


Reminder: Tuesday 26th June - School will close for formal instruction at 12:30pm
Due to the Paid Union Meeting for teachers in Christchurch that will be happening on the afternoon of Tuesday 26th June, we will be skeleton staff (Principal and Teacher aides only) from 12:30pm due to our teachers all needing to attend the union meeting. We are requesting that you pick up your children at 12:30pm that day, or contact the office to let us know they will be staying at school so we can arrange supervision.

On Tuesday 5 June, Gayle and several parents accompanied two basketball teams to Hillview School to represent Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto at the South Zone Basketball Tournament. Both teams played very well, and now we send good luck to the boys team which will be competing in the Year 5 & 6 Canterbury Primary Schools Indoor Basketball Tournament at Pioneer Stadium on Monday 25 June: Josh Brietmeyer, Harper Ford, Ben Newton, Izaak Broughton-Wealleans, Marcellus Scott, Walter McLoughlin, Henry Hood, Thomas Lyall, Josh Welch, Cooper Reddecliffe and Tom Armstrong-Gallot (who will be unable to attend as he will be travelling to France).

It might be a good time to check in with your cherub/s about how their stationery supply is going. It has been noticed that a few children seem to be lacking a pencil, pen or even have possibly lost a book!

We would like to introduce and welcome Eve Driver to our hub. Eve is from the University of Canterbury and is in her first year of studying to be a primary school teacher. She is based with the Beach and Tracy. Eve will be with us for two weeks, observing and learning lots. She then returns in term four for four more weeks, ready to learn more and begin some teaching. We know Eve will love being in Pōhutukawa, and we love having another teacher around.


Fingers crossed that the sun hangs around a bit more frequently! I'm sure we are all in agreeance that we love it when the children can get outside and run around, as well as the rays lifting our spirits!

Kind regards
Tracy, Katie, Nick and Gayle

Bbbbrrrrr.....thank goodness for underfloor heating. While it is freezing outside, it is toasty warm in our hub. With more wet and cold weather forecasted, encouraging your child to bring along a pair of slippers to wear inside is a really good idea. We have also been asking the children to make sure that their bags are securely tucked up in the cubby hole they select at the beginning of the day. When the cubby holes were checked by Sandy this morning, she found bags/parts of bags hanging out of them. This means these bags are may get wet. If your child brings home a wet bag today, a reminder about tucking completely into the cubby hole may be in order!



This week each class has been attending an ASB GetWise financial literacy session. The session gets to the heart of inspiring Year 5 and 6 students to start being much more creative and entrepreneurial with their earnings, saving and spending. Students explore the opportunity to start saving now and the power of interest while helping set-up and reach their very own CASH goals.
Concepts covered include:

• Setting up a savings goal.
• Different ways to earn.
• Establishing a small business.
• Earning interest.
• Using a CASH goal (or basic budget) to get the things you want.

Kia ora koutou.

Over the next few days your child will be bringing home sleep slips to fill in, along with a small clock, which is theirs to keep. The sleep slips are part of the sleep inquiry we are working on at the moment, which comes under the bigger umbrella of 'sustaining our well being'. The students are required to fill out three consecutive slips in order to analyse their sleep patterns and formulate a goal to do with sleep. We would love these slips to be returned to school the next day so that each child has a record of how they slept and how they felt when they woke up.

Jungle are off to the South Learning Centre today to participate in a Matariki session there, and Lake and Alpine will be off tomorrow. Thank you so much to the parents who are accompanying the classes, making it possible for us to take advantage of this free learning opportunity.

We are starting new art topics next week and Jarred will be taking a magazine mozaics topic. He requires used magazines to do this. If you have any unwanted magazines at home it would be lovely if you could send them to school for us to use.

We hope you are staying dry and warm!
Tracy, Nick, Katie and Gayle

Kia ora koutou

We are well into the swing of term 2 now, and for a winter term we have been pretty lucky with the weather so far. On wet days we ask the students to remove their footwear before they enter the hub to ensure the carpet stays dry for them to sit and work on. Bringing slippers on those wet days is a great idea to keep tootsies warm and preserve socks!

We have had three football sessions with Futa from Cashmere Technical AFC. On a Monday Futa takes half the class for a skill session while the teacher supervises a game and then the groups swap over. As the grass is often wet first thing in the morning, it's a good idea to bring either football boots to wear, or a spare pair of socks and shoes to change into after the football session. The students are learning lots and having fun.






After our very successful writing motivation, the students have been working on an information report on a country of their choice. These reports can be viewed at home through your child's school Google account. The children have been very motivated and are producing some excellent writing.

After the roll call at lunchtime the students are read to. They have two choices of novels to listen to: 'Kaspar Prince of Cats' by Michael Murpurgo and 'The Witches' by Roald Dahl. The children listen attentively, enjoying the quiet time after a busy lunch time.



Winter sport on a Friday afternoon began last Friday. This is often a highlight of the year for the Y5-8 children. We have children going to Hagley Park playing football, hockey, rugby and netball. One football team plays at Carlton Corner. It was great to see excited, enthusiastic students board the buses to Hagley, ready to work as a team and to try their best. To be prepared the children are required to bring to school on Fridays their sports uniform (handed out by the school), any appropriate gear (boots, shin guards, mouth guards, hockey sticks), a water bottle (this is very important) and warm clothes to put on after the game if it's a cold day, as the wind often whistles around the park, making it freezing. This week both of the football teams have a bye, and will still be travelling to the park to support the other teams and to have a training session. The children at school participate in an alternative sport programme. The options at the moment are table tennis, tapuaue and hall battle.

Today 43 students from Y 5-8 participated in the South Zone Cross Country at Halswell Quarry. As always, the students represented our school admirably, behaving beautifully on and off the course. The rain we had last night softened the ground and filled the creek, but the quarry wasn't as boggy as it has been in previous years, so the children came away only splattered in mud, rather than drenched. Our children did exceptionally well, and the official results will be in the school newsletter.








This term we have been doing art on Wednesday afternoons. The children had four choices to opt into. These were kowhaiwhai patterns, digi art, papier mache mask making and pop art (Andy Warhol). The teachers are very impressed at the art the children are producing, and are pleased with the perseverance, attention to detail and creativity being displayed by the students.









Next week each class will be vising the South Learning Centre to participate in a Matariki session.

Hopefully your child/ren came home from school yesterday buzzing about the fun they had experienced during the writing motivation yesterday afternoon. We had such a great time!
At the beginning of the session the students were given a passport to enable them to travel between the four countries. They filled in the details on their passport and then had to answer two questions about each country (Japan, Italy, France and USA - Hawaii) before they received a stamp, which meant they could commence their travel. Whilst at each country, along with finding the answers to the passport questions, the children were able to watch a slideshow, listen to music, make a flag and sample delectable edible delights. There was a fabulous atmosphere in the hub as children learnt, munched and drank, all the while dressed in fabulous outfits or clothing from all around the world. Many thanks to those parents who sent along food, encouraged dressing up and supported the fun afternoon. We are very sure that the interest sparked yesterday will be translated into terrific writing! Most children will have decided which country they are going to research, so should be able to tell you at the dinner table.













Tomorrow is our cross country. This is a whole school event. We will be eating lunch at 12:15pm, and then having lunch play. We will take the roll at 1:10pm and then the students will all assemble on the field at 1:20pm for a briefing. The Year 7 and 8 students will be running first, with the Year 5 and 6 students following and then the Year 3 and 4 students after that. Everyone will be finished running by 3pm.

To prepare for this event it would be great if all children had a drink bottle at school, wore appropriate footwear for running and have with them an inhaler if they require one. They are able to change into sports clothing at lunchtime if they wish. If a student is unable to run the cross country due to illness or injury, a signed note is required from home to explain the situation.

Having the whole school participate in a sporting event is a new initiative. As our school wide focus is on sustainability we support the following school outcomes:

• If we value our physical and mental well being we must act to sustain it. One way to sustain our health and well being is through regular physical exercise. 
• Cross country running exercises the heart and lungs, developing our physical fitness. 
• As we run, the body releases serotonin, a feel good hormone that can improve our mental well being. 
• Cross country running will present a variety of challenges. Success can take on many forms, depending on the goals of each individual. Working to overcome challenge can increase resiliency, which is vital to our mental well being.
• Being a part of something bigger than ourselves can support our well being. 

The desired outcome for this year’s whole school cross country is to:

• Provide a platform for children to experience success in a sporting context - We love challenge
• To promote sustaining a healthy and active lifestyle - We love learning
• To demonstrate our school spirit - We make a difference
• To foster tuakana teina - We get there together and We care