Kahikatea Team Newsletter
Term 1 2019

Kia ora koutou,
Greetings to you all and a very warm welcome to this new year. It is a pleasure to be able to meet with you and your child/children during learning conferences. We are looking forward to a full and flourishing year ahead!

Meet our teaching team:




Amber Donovan amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz
Jules May                        jules.may@beckenham.school.nz
Charlotte Verity charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz
Anna Reid                       ann.reid@beckenham.school.nz
Kristika Burridge kristika.burridge@beckenham.school.nz


The First Weeks of School
Our focus in the first weeks of school will be about building relationships and getting to know each other. This will include supporting students to become familiar with daily routines including how to use the inside and outside spaces, how to move around safely and sensibly, how we use resources and materials and learning how to work together. Becoming familiar with the sequence of and expectations within a day of learning at school is important for all our tamariki. If you have any questions or concerns please let your child’s home group teacher know.

Daily Routines:
The first bell rings at 8.30am. At our hub entrance there will be a teacher to meet and greet children and families as they arrive. If your child/children arrive before 8.30am they will need to wait outside as this allows time for teachers to prepare for their teaching day.
We encourage you to support your child’s independence by allowing them to carry and unpack their school bag and place it into one of the green or blue cubbies (at the back of the Tahaki Hub).
Lunch boxes, drink bottles and reading folders will be stored inside the hub.
Activities will be set up in hubs at 8.30 each morning. Once your child has put away their things, he/she is welcome to choose an activity or to go outside to play.
All children are to come to their home space at 8.55. If you arrive after this time it is very important that you report to the office to sign in.  If you need to collect your child from school during the day you will need to sign them out at the office.

Home Learning
During the first two weeks as our teaching and learning programmes are being established there will be no expectation for our tamariki to be completing home learning tasks. More detailed Information about what our Home Learning will involve will be shared with whanau soon and we will let whanau know how parents can support us within the hub.

Topic
Through a range of learning experiences and across a range of different curriculum areas we will be learning about the concept of Innovation. We look forward to sharing our learning goals for this with you soon.

Parent Help
To help us settle into our learning routines we would appreciate if offers of parent/whanau help are delayed for the first few weeks. If you are happy to work ‘behind the scenes’ to put away reading books etc we would very appreciate that.  Please make contact with one of us and we’ll let you know how you can help.

Mini Ball
We are offering our tamariki the opportunity to play mini ball in Terms 1&4 at Pioneer Stadium.
For us to provide this opportunity, we need the help of some wonderful parents who would be keen to coach one of the teams. This would look like providing a training session at school one lunchtime each week and attending the weekly games. I organise the management side of things; sending out game times etc each week.
If you are keen to help, please send me an email ASAP as the games begin early in Term 1. This will enable me to advertise this to the children and organise the teams in the first couple of weeks.
I very much look forward to hearing from you!
Kind regards
Anna Reid - anna.reid@beckenham.school.nz

Karakia to start the day
This karakia is used across our kura to start the day and for formal gatherings, celebrations and meetings.
“This is an ancient karakia that was used when you were out at sea and a storm was approaching. However, the storm is a metaphor for any life­ threatening force. It is now widely used at the start of the day or at the start of a meeting”.

Whakataka te hau ki te uru,
Whakataka te hau ki te tonga.
Kia mākinakina ki uta,
Kia mātaratara ki tai.
E hī ake ana te atākura he tio,
he huka, he hauhunga.
Haumi e! Hui e! Tāiki e!

Translation
Cease the winds from the west,
Cease the winds from the south,
Let the breeze blow over the land,
Let the breeze blow over the ocean,
Let the red ­tipped dawn come with a sharpened air,
A touch of frost, a promise of a glorious day.

We wish you all the best, for a very happy and successful year together!

Arohanui, Kahikatea Team.

Kia Ora

Wow! What an amazing year it has been! We are enormously proud of all the children have achieved and very grateful for the strong home-school partnership. Thank you very much for your time and efforts this year.  We Get There Together!

Dorinda
This Wednesday 14th December is Dorinda's final day, this year. She is getting an early Christmas present and heading into hospital for a new hip. We suspect it was all the 'hip-hop' she was doing in preparation for our Wearable Arts Performance. We will see Dorinda back at school next year in 2017.

Books
Please keep hunting for final library books and reading books and return them this week.

Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon 2016/2017 
Sunday, 26th February 2017. Refer to the PTA facebook page for registration information and more event details. This event is so much fun and entries fill fast. You don’t want to miss out this year!

Hub Visits
This Thursday 15th December children will be spending some time in their new hubs with their teachers for 2017. This is an excellent opportunity to meet new friends and reconnect with familiar faces, while getting to know their teacher.

Junior Athletics
This Friday 16th December is our final day of school. It is a half day and we are holding the Junior Athletics at 11:15 - 12:30. After the event teachers will take their children back to the hub for final farewells and release them after that. Please ensure your child has their drink bottle, suitable footwear, a sunhat and house colours (if they would like to).

Have a safe and fun-filled Christmas break everyone! Looking forward to seeing you all in 2017.

Kia Ora Whanau


We have our postponment Junior Athletics Day coming up next week, on Friday 16th December 2016. We will begin at 11:15am and be finished by 12:30pm. Please meet us outside, on the junior side of the hall. We will then move out into Beckenham Park.

Children are invited to wear their house colours for the day.

This is a timely reminder to please ensure your child has their sunhat, drink bottle and appropriate footwear each day. Teachers will take their children back to their hubs after athletics, so they can collect their bags and then you will be able to take your child home at 12:30pm, as this is the last, half day of school for the year.

This is where teams will be doing their athletics in Beckenham Park:

• Koru will be beside the Tennis Club
• Kahikatea will be in front of the school hall on the park side
• Kowhai will be in front of the re-build, beside the big tree

Warm Regards
Koru, Kahikatea & Kowhai

Kia Ora Parents/Caregivers



Thank you for getting your child's amazing costume in to their teacher - what a fantastic assortment of wearable arts we have! The following is our plan for the costumes, so everyone is ready to go on the evening of the performance.

On Wednesday 7th Dec, the day before our Wearable Arts Performance, we will be sending costumes home so most of the children will come to school in their costume on Thursday evening. You are welcome to assist your child into their costume at school if it is a bit tricky for them to get here wearing it.

We will open hubs on Thursday evening at 4:45pm and children will need to be signed in by their parent/caregiver, with their costume by 5:00pm. After the performance, they will also need to be signed out.


Kapa Haka Children
If your child is in the Kahikatea Kapa Haka group, they will be getting their Kapa Haka uniform on in Hub 5&6 (the old staffroom). They will also leave their wearable arts costume, named, in that hub to get changed into after their Kapa Haka performance. The only exception to this is if your child is in Hub 3. Their costume will need to be delivered to Jenny so she can take it to the stage wings, as they will need to get changed there straight after their performance. All children will need to sign in with their teacher prior to going over to Hub 5&6.


Hip Hop Crew
If your child is in the 'Hip Hop Crew', they are invited to wear dark pants/tights, shorts or denim shorts. If they have a hat or sunglasses, they can wear them for their performance at the end. If you have a plain black or white singlet, t-shirt or long sleeved top at home, can you please send it to school in a named plastic bag, with their shorts and hat and/or sunglasses as soon as possible. We have some spare t-shirts at school if you don't have one. Please let Amy Buick know if you need one.
Help!
If you are able to assist with costume changing during our performance on the evening, we would be very grateful. Can you please let your child's teacher know if you can.

Thank you for your amazing support

Kia Ora

This term, the children have been working hard on creating a wearable art costume and dance - with the help of many wonderful parents! These have both run alongside the theme of 'seasons'.

We would like to invite you to come and see our performance on Thursday 8th December at 5:30 - 6:45pm. This will be held in the school hall.

Children will need to be dropped off and signed in with their teacher in their hub between 4:45 - 5:00pm. Teachers will bring their groups over to the hall at 5:15pm. After the performance, children will go back with their teacher to their hub and parents/caregivers will need to sign them out.

Children in Kahikatea Kapa Haka will have their costume named and in their hub as they will perform first in their Kapa Haka outfit. Sherrilee will be sending more information on this later this week.

Please can all costumes be in this week. If you have any questions please see your child's teacher or Amy Buick.

Thank you for your amazing support!

Kahikatea Team