A Visit from Dr Dan

As part of our Inquiry learning about body systems, we were very lucky to have Dr Dan, Elsie’s dad, come in to chat to us about his amazing job as a neonatologist in the Christchurch Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

The tamariki were super engaged and loved learning about what Dr Dan does to care of babies. He brought along life-size dolls, real medical equipment, photos and videos, which gave us a fantastic insight into his important work.

A huge thank you to Dr Dan for taking the time to come and share his knowledge with us!

Shapes!

We have been learning all about 2D shapes in maths and will be moving on to 3D shapes next week.

We have been exploring the different parts that make up shapes, learning about polygons and non-polygons, and investigating what makes different shapes unique.

We also got to have a go with the geoboards, which were a huge hit! It was so cool to see how many different shapes we could create and how many sides we could give our shapes. We definitely got creative!

Here are some photos of our shape investigations!

Disco Time!

Last Friday, we had our school Disco and what a fun afternoon it was! We loved seeing all the colourful outfits, impressive dance moves and, of course, popcorn all over the floor!

There was lots of dancing, music, a limbo competition and even an outfit parade. Everyone had a fantastic time!

Fairytales!

Lots of our literacy classes have been exploring fairytales, and it has been a super engaging focus.

Talia and Sarah J’s classes even performed their very own role-play of The Three Little Pigs! We were so impressed by how quickly they worked together to put their performance together.

The tamariki did an amazing job showing ‘We Love Challenge’ and being brave enough to perform in front of the class. We didn’t realise we had so many talented actors and actresses in our hub!

Big Buddies

We try to catch up with our Big Buddies every few weeks for some fun activities and a chance to practise tuakana-teina, learning from and supporting one another.

Last Friday, which was also Disco day (hence all the colourful outfits!), we teamed up with our Big Buddies for a scavenger hunt around the school. We had to work together to find lots of different things, such as:

🔎 Something with the letter B
🔎 Something smaller than your hand
🔎 Something older than your Year 2 buddy
🔎 And lots of other tricky challenges!

It was so cool to see everyone working together, thinking carefully and helping each other along the way. There were some very creative answers and lots of great teamwork!

Life Education Van

We are very excited to welcome Harold the Giraffe and our Life Education teacher back to Beckenham from Monday 7 September – Thursday 17 September.

Each home group will have two sessions in the mobile classroom, with both lessons supporting our current Science and Inquiry learning about our bodies and body systems.

Session 1: Why is physical activity good for our bodies?
Session 2: What are body systems and how do they work?

We are looking forward to some fun and interactive learning with Harold!

We hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and fingers crossed we get some more sunshine to enjoy! ☀️

Ngā mihi,
Talia, Sarah S, Amber and Sarah J

 Kia ora Whānau,

Welcome to another exciting fortnight in Kahikatea! We have had a lot happening, and we would love to share some of our wonderful learning and special moments with you.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and encouragement. We hope you enjoy keeping up with what we’ve been doing!

Cricket:

This week was our last of three cricket skills sessions; these were thoroughly enjoyed by all. It was a great introduction to cricket, and many are keen to play next season.

For the past two weeks, we have been learning how to add and subtract using 10s. Look at these clever kids! Next week we will begin a statistical investigation unit of learning.

Beckenham PTA Disco

How wonderful to have the disco to look forward to on Friday, the 21st of August! We are very excited and can’t wait to see the children all having a boogie.

 Disco Times:

• Koru and Kahikatea: 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Please feel free to send your child to school wearing their disco outfit at the start of the day. If you feel that their outfit may get damaged, please send it along in a named bag. The teachers will help your child to change into their dancing clothes after big play.

Teachers will collect gold coins at the start of the day. Please note that no food will be sold at the disco; however, your child will receive a small container of popcorn. If you would prefer that your child doesn’t have the popcorn, please contact your child’s Home Group teacher and let them know. 

Please contact your child's Home Group teacher if you have any questions about the disco.

Kia ora te whānau, 

We hope you have managed to stay warm this chilly week!

Term 3 has started off with a flurry of activities and the tamariki have got straight back into the swing of learning. They are so familiar with our routines and daily tasks by term three it doesn't take very long at all for everyone to settle into their roles and begin engaging in their learning. Here are just a few photos of all the wonderful learning which has occurred this week!

Recorder sessions - This term our tamariki have a wonderful opportunity to engage on a weekly basis with Rachel our visiting music teacher. Every Wednesday they get to learn how to play the recorder through tuition, games and playing the instrument. The tamariki really enjoyed this activity, and we look forward to seeing them grow in confidence and skills as the weeks progress. 

Next week, our Kahikatea Team will take part in an exciting Scooter-athlon on Friday 7th August from 1:30 pm – 3.00 pm. Parents are invited to come along and cheer on the tamariki.

The Scooter-athlon will follow a run → scooter → run format, giving students the chance to experience a fun, active, multi-stage race. Students are encouraged to wear their House T-Shirts, bring their own scooter and helmet, wear closed-toe shoes, and follow safety rules. Year 7/8 students will act as marshals to help run the event safely. Please note: If it is raining, the Scooter-athlon will be postponed. Any changes will be shared with parents via Hero.

Please let your classroom teacher know if your child does not have a scooter or if you have a spare one you are happy to lend. Your child will need to provide their own helmet. We can’t wait to see the tamariki scoot, run, and have fun – nau mai te wero! We love challenge!

Kia ora e te whānau,

Term 2 of 2026 has come to an end and we have celebrated this busy term with some wonderful events and activities! Thanks to all who attended learning conferences; what a wonderful opportunity for the kaiako (teachers) to connect with our parents and whānau and to highlight the success of our pupils. We have had PTA breakfast and PJ day, book character day and of course, funky hair day to celebrate the last day of term! We have enjoyed multiple sporting events, and we hope the tamariki enjoy a safe and well-earned break with an opportunity to recharge and relax.

Here are a few snapshots of what Kahikatea have been up to this week.

Hillview Cross Country Challenge!

A huge highlight of this week for some of our tamariki was to represent their school at the Hillview Year 1-4 Cross Country Challenge. It was a wonderful event, and the children showed fantastic sportsmanship and a "can do" attitude! Embracing the school value of "We Love Challenge"!

Numicon - Numicon continues to be a very popular mode of learning for our tamariki and we are enjoying the opportunity to use a wide range of resources and classroom collaboration to extend the children's mathematical knowledge. This week we looked into comparing and ordering numbers to 100, and it created some wonderful problem-solving opportunities for the tamariki.

Funky Hair Day- Friday was FUNKY HAIR DAY!! As always, the tamariki shone bright and showed us their fantastic and creative hairstyles! They absolutely loved comparing their styles with each other, and there were lots of beautiful smiles all around. This was a fantastic way to raise money for the Starship Hospital, who do such incredible and vital work in Aotearoa.

Importance notice for Term 3:

Scooter-athlon- Next term, our Kahikatea Team will take part in an exciting Scooter-athlon on Wednesday 5th August from 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm. Parents are invited to come along and cheer on the tamariki.

The Scooter-athlon will follow a run → scooter → run format, giving students the chance to experience a fun, active, multi-stage race. Students are encouraged to wear their House T-Shirts, bring their own scooter and helmet, wear closed-toe shoes, and follow safety rules. Year 7/8 students will act as marshals to help run the event safely. Please note: If it is raining, the Scooter-athlon will be postponed. Any changes will be shared with parents via Hero.

Please let your classroom teacher know if your child does not have a scooter or if you have a spare one you are happy to lend. Your child will need to provide their own helmet. We can’t wait to see the tamariki scoot, run, and have fun – nau mai te wero! We love challenge!

The Kahikatea teaching team wish you a safe and restful break, and we are looking forward to seeing you in Term 3.

Ngā mihi nui

Sarah J, Amber, Talia and Sarah S

 Kia ora te whānau, 

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of another term. 

Kahikatea performed in our whole school assembly last week. The parent turnout was amazing, the kids were so thrilled, and they did so well.

The Kahikatea staff have been delighted by the progress our students have made so far this year. It has been wonderful to see their learning and development flourish, with this growth clearly reflected in their reports.

Here are some of our recent learning celebrations:

Literacy:

The children continue to work hard and remain focused during our whole-class and small-group reading and writing sessions. The writing they are producing is outstanding! Below are some images of students' writing and of  Amber running a whole-class reading session, which the children enjoyed immensely.