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Kahikatea News: Term 4, Week 2

Posted on 17 October, 202517 October, 2025 by https://www.beckenham.school.nz/index.php/category/kauri

Kia ora whānau,

Our tamariki have had a busy and wonderful start to the final term of the year!

We are well underway with our athletics practices, we have had a ponds visit and we have started ukulele and dance sessions on a Tuesday.

A plea for any LLLL books (the readers we send home) to come back to school. We are carrying out a stocktake of these at the end of October, we are missing a few and they are very expensive to replace. If you find any at home please return to your child's classroom teacher.

A reminder for sunhats for Term 4 please.

Some dates for your diary:

Thursday 23rd October-Teacher Strike action, school is closed.

Thursday 30th October: Whole school athletics day. Kahikatea aim to run ours 11:00am-12:15pm, on the park.

Tuesday Arts:

We have been fortunate enough to receieve some funding to promote some performance arts sessions in the Year 1-4 classrooms. This means that on a Tuesday each homegroup has a 30minute ukulele session with our whānau worker Paerau (also a member of One Drop Nation) and a hip hop dance session with Steph from Legacy Dance. How lucky are we?!

Maths Learning:

We have had a two week focus on Geometry, looking at 3D shape. We have learnt some key mathematical language such as cube, cuboid, prism, cone, cylinder, faces and vertices. We have been learning about nets and how these are the blueprint/map for a 3D shape and learning about where we can spot 3D shapes in everyday life.

Athletics:

We are well underway with our practices. These are happening 2-3 times per week. Please ensure that your child is wearing appropriate footwear to partcipate. Sandals are not appropriate for these practices in terms of health and safety.

Ponds Trip:

We had such a wonderful time in our sessions run by the Christchurch City Council. We learnt about all of the differnt plant life and saw some of the invertabrates living in our pond. The council were impressed with the diversity of the ecosystems living in our Beckenham ponds.

Thank you to all of the parent helpers who came along to support us, we really appreciate you and cannot run these types of activites without your help.

Kahikatea-Term 3, week 10

Posted on 19 September, 202519 September, 2025 by https://www.beckenham.school.nz/index.php/category/kauri

Kia ora whānau,

A huge thanks for all of your continued support over the term. The kids have worked so hard and have earned a well-deserved rest (as have my team).

A big thank you to Maddy, who has been with us for the last 6 weeks in Sarah's home group. We wish you all the best for your future teaching career!

Here are some learning highlights below:

Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto-'The school of the ponds'

We took our tamariki for a short stroll by the ponds as part of learning about our cultural narrative. We talked about the importance of the ponds to the everyday life of our ancestors. Many students were keen to collect rubbish while we were there, showing our values of 'We Care' and 'We Make a Difference'.

If you are able to parent help on our ponds trip next term please fill in the form HERE.

Kapa Haka

This term in Kapa Haka Whaea Cath has been teaching us how to use the poi-there is a lot of learning about tikanga with poi and we have impressed her with our learning.

Book Amnesty:

Can you please have a look for any decodable reading books over the break and bring them back to us next term. We have a few that are missing. No books will come home during the break.

Talent Show:

Well done to the lava chicken boys: Atlas, Alex, Greyson, Gray, Johnny, and Finn who represented Kahikatea in the school talent show. You were amazing, what courage! You showed 'We Love Challenge'!

Team Kahikatea Week 8 Term 3

Posted on 5 September, 20255 September, 2025 by Talia Garrick

Staff Only Day Reminder

Friday 12th September (Week 9) Staff Only Day. School will be closed this day.

Kia ora whānau,

Wow, this term is flying by. Can you believe it’s already Week 8? Kahikatea has been full of learning, creativity, and new experiences these past couple of weeks. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to:

Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS)

Constable Meg visited us to teach important lessons about how we can keep ourselves safe. Our learning has included:

How to identify Police officers and understand that their job is to keep us safe.
What to do if we get lost, and how to recognise adults we can trust.
Learning the correct names for body parts.
Marching and saluting.
Understanding what consent means and practising role-plays where we confidently say no.

Here’s a short video to continue these conversations at home: Consent for kids

Clay Art

Our clay skills are growing every week! Nicky has been showing us how to make and shape pots, which has been both fun and challenging. This project has been a wonderful way to live our school value: We Love Challenge.

Here are some photos of our process, from shaping to painting our unique clay pots!

Maths – Statistics and Graphing

In Maths, we’ve been learning how to use tally charts and collect data. Next week, we’ll take the next step by exploring graphs – learning how to read them and create our own based on the data we’ve gathered.

You can support this learning at home by encouraging your child to collect data on something that interests them (e.g. favourite fruit in the family, colours of cars passing by, or types of toys they have). They can then organise their results in a tally chart and even try creating a simple graph to show what they found.

Trees for Survival

We are excited to share that Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto has been chosen as the first urban school in the South Island to take part in the Trees for Survival programme! 🌱

Trees for survival is a Charitable Trust started by Rotary and works in partnership with Regional Councils, schools, sponsors and volunteers. It is an environmental programme which works with school students to grow and then plant native trees on sites such as wetlands, hillsides, stream edges, to increase biodiversity, stabilise soil and help improve water quality.

This week, our ākonga planted our very first seedlings. We learned how to care for the seedlings properly and keep ourselves safe while working with potting mix. We are super excited to watch these grow and continue looking after our seedlings!

Find out more about Trees for Survival here: https://www.tfsnz.org.nz/

Enjoy the first weekend of Spring!

Ngā mihi,

Talia, Sarah, Amber and Kendall

Team Kahikatea Week 6 Term 3

Posted on 22 August, 202523 August, 2025 by Kendall Skelton

Kia Ora!

It has been another busy week in the Kahikatea hub. The newest members of the team have settled in and become part of the team pretty quickly.

Disco

We attended the disco on Friday of Week 4. The dance moves were amazing and the outfits very impressive. Thanks to the PTA for organising a fun event for us.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

Sarah, Amber and Kendall's home groups have had Constable Meg come and visit this week. Hopefully you have seen a homework activity come home to continue the discussions we had with Meg at home. Talia's home group will have Meg visit next week.

The Keeping Ourselves Safe program is designed to empower the children to help themselves in unsafe situations. The topics covered so far have included getting lost, identifying our feelings (safe and unsafe) and naming our body parts with the correct name. We were really impressed with how many children could say their address and at least one of their caregivers phone numbers. It is really important information our children should know in case of an emergency.

Calendar Art

We have finished our art work this week that will become available for you to purchase as a calendar, notebook or greeting card. Please keep an eye out for the notice and order form which will have a link for you to see your child's art.

Date Reminders

Monday 25th August (Week 7) school finishes at 1pm for teachers to attend a Paid Union Meeting. Supervision is available if you cannot collect your child. Please let one of the teachers know if you have not filled in the survey sent home and need supervision for your child.

Friday 12th September (Week 9) Teacher Only Day. School will be closed this day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sarah, Amber, Talia and Kendall

Team Kahikatea Week 4 Term 3

Posted on 8 August, 20258 August, 2025 by Amber Donovan

Kia ora whānau,

Welcome to Week 4! Our teaching and learning programmes are now in full swing, and it's been wonderful to see our new homegroup settling confidently into the breakout space. Next week, Kendall will be welcoming another group of learners from the Koru team. These tamariki have already visited our hub, and their transition is going smoothly as they begin to feel more at home in their new environment.

Supporting Your Child's Independence

We’re thrilled to see so many families encouraging independence by allowing children to come into the hub on their own in the mornings and confidently follow their daily routines. To support this further, at the end of the day, you may want to establish a designated meeting spot with your child—such as the library steps, hall steps, flagpole, or another agreed-upon location outside the hub. This small step makes a big difference in reducing congestion and ensuring a smooth and safe pickup process. Thank you for your continued support!

Mathematics

We are now using these fabulous Oxford Maths Student Workbooks. We will be using these once a week to provide students with the opportunity to revisit and practise key mathematical skills and strategies. Our Year 1 students are using book 1, and our Year 2 students are using book 2.

Maths Week

Click this link for information on how whānau can access the parent portal and find out more about mathematics in New Zealand schools.

Next week is Maths Week, and we’ll be sharing a new maths challenge each day! If you’re dropping by, be sure to check out the whiteboard outside the hub and give it a go. Creating positive and engaging experiences with maths is a key focus of the refreshed curriculum, and we’d love for whānau to join in the fun and be part of the learning!

Keeping Ourselves Safe Weeks 5 & 6

This term, as part of our Health Curriculum, teams will be teaching Keeping Ourselves Safe in Years 0-8, supported by our Police Education Officer, Meg. Click HERE to see more information on our school website.

The four focus areas in the Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS) junior primary programme are:

I am unique, He taonga ahau
My body is my own, Nōku tōku tinana
Unwanted behaviour or touch, Kore e hiahiatia te whanonga me te pā kino
Adults who help, Ngā kaiāwhina pakeke

What will children learn? They will learn:

to work out when their safety is at risk
how to keep safe when they meet and mix with other people
who and how to ask for help if they, or someone they know, is being abused
to go on asking for help until someone does something to stop the abuse
that it is important to make and follow personal, family and school safety rules

There will be homework activities for you to complete with your child/children, and we will send these home at the end of each learning session:

Focus area 1 – I am unique, He taonga ahau

Focus area 2 – My body is my own, Nōku tōku tinana

Focus area 3 – Unwanted behaviour or touch, Kore e hiahiatia te whanonga me te pā kino

Focus area 4 – Adults who help, Ngā kaiāwhina pakeke

Welcome, UC Student Teachers

We are fortunate to have students from the University of Canterbury, and this term we welcome Robert Carpinter to Amber's Homegroup, who has joined us this week and is here for 7 weeks as part of his final placement. Starting on Monday, we welcome Maddison Frame, who will be working alongside Sarah for 6 weeks.

Winter Ills and Chills

Thank you for keeping your child at home when they are unwell — we really appreciate your support. As is common during winter, we’re seeing an increase in illnesses such as fevers and tummy bugs. To help prevent the spread and ensure all tamariki are well enough to fully participate in learning, we kindly ask that you keep your child home until they have fully recovered.

Friendly Reminders - Library Days

Tuesday: Amber & Talia's home groups
Thursday: Sarah & Kendall's home groups

Library books can only be issued when your child has returned one or both books and has their library folder. Please support your child in returning their folder to school on their designated library day.