Kia ora whānau,

It’s hard to believe we are already six weeks into the term! It has been a very busy and positive time in our classroom. Our tamariki have settled well into routines and have been showing fantastic engagement with their learning. It has been wonderful to see growing confidence, new friendships, and lots of enthusiasm across all areas of the curriculum. 

Literacy

We are a few weeks into our literacy groups, and we are incredibly impressed with our tamariki and their enthusiasm to learn. It has been wonderful to see students building confidence as they work through their reading and literacy activities.

A quick reminder that students can only take their reading books home if they have their reading folders at school. Folders only need to be brought to school on Thursdays. On this day, students will return their previous book and receive a new one to take home. Thank you for helping support this routine!

Maths

Last week, we were learning about shapes and geometry. Our tamariki enjoyed exploring and identifying different shapes through a range of fun, hands-on activities. Take a look at some of the things we got up to!

Over the next few weeks, we will be diving into place value and grouping numbers. Students will be learning how numbers can be grouped into tens and ones, helping them better understand how numbers are made.

Ideas to try at home:

• Ask your child to group everyday objects (such as Lego, pasta, or small toys) into groups of 10.

• Practice counting collections and see how many groups of 10 you can make.

• When you see numbers around you (letterboxes, page numbers, prices), ask: How many tens? How many ones?

These small activities can really help strengthen their understanding of numbers.

Inquiry – Sustainability: Healthy Bodies and Minds

As part of our inquiry learning around sustainability, we have been exploring what it means to have healthy bodies and healthy minds. Recently, we looked at how to create a balanced plate of food and talked about 'everyday foods' and 'sometimes foods'. Students discussed what foods help give us energy, what foods help our bodies grow, and why it is important to have a variety of foods on our plates. Have a look at our balanced plates of food! 

Tuakana–Teina

Our seniors recently led some wonderful Tuakana–Teina activities as part of their leadership week. They created a range of games and activities for small groups of our tamariki.

It was a big hit! It was fantastic to see such great engagement from everyone involved. Our younger students loved working with the seniors, and it was awesome to see the older students stepping into their leadership roles. Here are some pictures of the fun!

Little Kickers

We are excited to be taking part in Little Kickers, an organisation that gives children a positive introduction to sport by teaching football skills in a friendly, pressure-free environment. The focus will be on developing ball skills.

Please talk with your child about this and reassure anyone who might feel nervous that this is for everyone, whether they have played football before or not.

Little Kickers will take place on:

• Wednesday 18th March

• Wednesday 25th March

We are looking forward to lots of fun and active learning!

Diversity Day

Wow! Everyone showed up today looking bright and colourful for Diversity Day.

Thank you to everyone who brought along a gold coin donation. These donations are going towards two fantastic charities: Rainbow Youth and The Dyslexic Foundation.

Sickness 

There is a lot of sickness going around at the moment! If your child is feeling unwell, please keep them at home. Phone 033371404 or email the office at office@beckenham.school.nz to let them know your child is unwell and will not be at school. 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend with your whānau!

Ngā mihi, 

Amber, Sarah S, Talia and Sarah J

Kia ora whanau, 

Welcome to Week 4! Wow — this first month has flown by!

Our Kahikatea learners are settling beautifully into their daily routines and expectations, and we are thoroughly enjoying getting to know each of our tamariki. It has been wonderful to see everyone make such a positive start to the new school year.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support and feedback — we truly appreciate being able to partner with you in your child’s learning journey.

Our literacy groups are now underway, with teachers carefully ensuring each child is placed in a group that best supports their current literacy stage. Reading books will begin coming home from Week 5.

Maths Focus Weeks 4 and 5 

This week, tamariki have been exploring geometry (shape), identifying, describing, and sorting by one attribute familiar 2D and 3D shapes presented in different orientations, including cubes, cylinders, and spheres.  Next week, we will be learning about 

Autumn/Winter Illnesses 

As we move into the cooler weather, we are having increased sickness in our hub. Please, if your child is unwell, keep them at home. Phone 033371404 or email office@beckenham.school.nz to let them know when your child is unwell and unable to attend school.  

Walk or Wheel Week 

Next week (Monday 2nd March), our school will be taking part in Walk or Wheel to School Week, a fun and action-packed week that encourages students to walk or wheel to school.

There will be daily themes and prizes to build excitement and encourage participation.Daily Themes:

Move It Monday - Blast off the week with an active adventure! Walk, wheel, skip, or scoot your way to school and start the week with an active commute. 

Travel Together Tuesday - Celebrate by walking and wheeling to school with friends and whanau.

Wacky Wednesday  – Wear something bright. Look bright, be bright, stay bright!

Thoughtful Thursday - Help the planet. Active travel supports a healthier environment. What else can you do to help?

Funky Feet Friday - It’s time to dress up those feet. Decorate your shoes, wear something wild, or strut in your silliest socks. Glitter, feathers, gumboots, anything goes!

We can’t wait to see everyone getting involved!  

Cyber Safety: All You Need to Know About TikTok 

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media apps. It’s a platform for creating, sharing and discovering short videos – and many young people love it! From new dance crazes to funny clips to animal videos, TikTok can inspire creativity and bring joy.

But parents and whānau must help their tamariki navigate TikTok safely. Today, we’re sharing the Netsafe TikTok Family Safety Toolkit so you can help guide your whānau to a fun and safe digital experience.

Congratulations to all our amazing Wheet-bix Try-athletes!

Titiro mai i matou akonga pai rawe! (Look at our wonderful students)...

 Kia ora Te Whānau,

Welcome back to school!

Our tamariki are thriving; they are so settled and eager to learn. It is fabulous to see how independent our ākonga are, with quick and easy drop-offs and students showing responsibility by putting away their own bags and lunch boxes, etc.

Thank you for your ongoing support in ensuring students have a sunhat each day.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi:

Last week, our tamariki learnt about the Treaty of Waitangi. In homegroups, we then co-constructed our own set of guidelines (treaties) as to how we want to treat others, our environment, and how we want to be treated. Once we ensured that everyone understood and we all came to an agreement, students signed the class treaty. Pop in and have a look at what we came up with!

Literacy:

We are currently working on our literacy groupings, and students will be told next week who their literacy teacher is, as this may differ from their homegroup teacher. Literacy tuition is run in small groups, usually 4-8 students, and students are grouped at the level they are working at.

In Kahikatea, reading folders come home on Thursdays with a new decodable reading book for the week. Students bring their reading folders back to school on Thursdays so that the book can be swapped for another. Reading folders can stay home and come to school on Thursdays only. No reading folder, no book home.

We are aiming to start literacy group teaching in the next few weeks.

Library:

Library days are:

Tuesdays-Amber and Talia's homegroup

Thursdays-Both Sarah's

Tamariki need a library folder and no overdue books out to be able to issue new books.

The Lorax:

I am sure you have heard all about the Lorax learning we have been doing. Our reading, writing, maths, and inquiry learning have all been based around the story of The Lorax as we engage and learn about the topic of Sustainability.

Here is some of our amazing artwork:

Cyber Safety:

As our tamariki spend more time online, it’s important that parents and whānau help them

stay safe. Now is a great time to talk to them about how we use the internet and digital

technology.

Netsafe has created an Online Safety Parent Toolkit so parents, families, and whānau have

all the information they need to talk about online safety.

If you or anyone in your whānau needs support, you can contact Netsafe.

Toys at school:

A friendly reminder to please leave all toys at home during the school day. They can be very distracting to other students, particularly when on the mat. We have had a couple of incidents this week where toys have been brought to school and have gone missing, causing upset. Thanks for your support with this.

Have a wonderful weekend and we will see you all next week,

Sarah J, Talia, Amber and Sarah S

Dear parents/whānau,

How have we only got 5 and a half days left of the school year???

We are posting the blog early this week as it includes some important reminders in terms of wrapping up the year.

Stationery:

Students are starting to bring home books, some are full and others are spares. You can use the spares next year. There is a link on the school website to stationery requirements for 2026.

Decodable readers:

No more reading books will be coming home, could you please send back any that you may have this week so that we can store them for 2026.

Library Books:

There are still many outstanding library books needing to be returned. We will not be visiting the library again this year but books need to be brought back to school and placed in the library returns box in the office. Any outstanding book loans will incur a fine.

The Great Migration:

If you can spare 20mins to come and help us shift some of the bigger pieces of furniture after school this Thursday 11th. We would be very grateful.

Fun Day:

As a reward for all of our tamariki's hard work we are planning a bit of a fun day next Tuesday. Students will need a change of clothes as we will have some different water play activities available. We will also have a Teddy Bears' picnic type lunch, children are able to bring a favourite soft toy from home on Tuesday.

Last Day:

 The final day of school is next Wednesday, the 17th of December, and it is a half day. School will close at 12:30pm.

Kia ora whānau,

How are we already in Week 8?

It has been a very busy few weeks here in Kahikatea, and we’re excited to share some of the highlights with you.

Colour Run

Our Beckenham School Colour Run was a huge success! Together, we raised an incredible $16,733 toward a brand-new playing turf that will be used for netball, hockey, soccer, pickleball and more. Even better, everyone had an absolute blast!
It was the perfect day for running, laughing, and getting absolutely covered in rainbow dye. It was wonderful seeing the tamariki giving it their all and finishing with big smiles, colourful shirts, bright faces and… even brighter hair!

Here are some pics from the event!

Chicks in the Hub

With our chicks hatched, we were lucky enough to welcome 19 fluffy visitors into Kahikatea for several days. The children loved watching them, helping to care for them, and keeping the hub calm and quiet while they settled in. Many of our tamariki even had the chance to gently hold the chicks!

Dance, Dance, Dance!

Every Tuesday this term, we’ve been lucky to have Legacy Dance Studio working with us. They’ve been teaching us a fun new routine, and we are getting pretty good!
Here are some photos of us busting our moves.

Peer Reading

We’ve recently begun a new reading routine focused on building fluency through peer reading. Students are buddied up and take turns reading a non-fiction passage aloud before swapping. This encourages self-correction, buddy feedback, confidence, and exposure to a range of texts. We are already seeing great engagement and can’t wait to see the progress that follows!

Reading Books

A friendly reminder to please keep returning reading books to school. These may include Little Learners Love Literacy, Ready to Read Phonics Plus, or Junior Journals.

Next week will be the final week for reading books. On Thursday, your child will bring home a book if they have their folder. In Week 10, they will bring this book back but will not take a new one home.
We’ve noticed a drop in the number of reading folders coming to school on Thursdays. Please help your child remember, as repeated reading practice is so important!

Dress-Ups Wanted!

At the end of the year, we will be doing a refresh of our dress-ups, as they are very well-loved and used very regularly! Over the holidays, if you come across any dress-ups your child no longer uses, we would be grateful to add them to our collection.

As we head toward the end of the year, tiredness definitely starts to set in. Enjoy the sunshine, take time to rest when you can, and have a wonderful weekend.

Ngā mihi nui,

The Kahikatea Team — Amber, Kendall, Sarah and Talia