In this post:
- Celebrating our Year 8s
- Sexuality and relationships education
- Zone speech competition
- Athletics
In this post:
In this post:
We have recently started novel studies with our literacy classes. Megan, Caitlin and Jenny's groups are reading 'The Boy in Stripped Pyjamas', by John Boyne. Themes of innocence, friendship and human nature are explored as the story of the relationship between the son of a German officer and a Jewish boy unfold. Nicky's group is reading 'Two Weeks with the Queen', by Morris Gleitzman. This book, while told with lots of humour, deals with heavier topics of cancer, aids and issues faced by people who are gay. The children are very engaged in discussions and activities unpacking the stories. Please let us know if you have any questions about these novel studies.
When lockdown sent us home, we were just getting into our Choice health unit which explores making good choices around drugs and alcohol. While we have been unable to have lessons with the police constable, we are continuing this unit ourselves.
Sadly, we were unable to rebook another date for this year's ski trip. We look forward to offering this opportunity again next year.
The organisers of Cantamath are determined for this event to go ahead and have yet again rescheduled the competition to October 27th in term 4. This involves our problem-solving teams and we will also be sending a number of projects into the display competition.
We have started athletics training in preparation for our athletic sports which is scheduled for week 2 next term. The children will be doing athletics 4 afternoons a week for the next two weeks.
We were treated to listening to a fabulous selection of persuasive and informative speeches on Friday. Topics were varied, including speeches encouraging us to not eat meat, respond to climate change, address gender inequities in sport, be inclusive, consider the needs of chickens, care for our oceans and avoid the dangers of sport. As you can see we were wowed by some very important topics. The judges had an extremely tough job.
Year 7: First, Lola; second, Billy; and third equal, Stella and Fergus Macd
Year 8: First, Zoe C; second, Andi; and third equal, Thomas and Fergus McM
We wish Lola and Zoe the best of luck when they compete at the South Zone competition in week 10. The media team is putting together a video with snippets of each speech. We hope to have this ready to share with you next week.
In this post:
Kia ora everyone,
I am back at school gathering resources for learning at home - however long that may be?? There are 5 BYOD devices still at school. Two are out of charge and are not named and the others belong to Tahere, Jonty and Rory. School will be open until 10pm tonight. Let me know what you need from kids' buckets - books to read, pencil cases - anything else. If I am not in the hub, I will leave things in the office where Sandy will be until 10pm. Please email with what you need - nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz
Ngā mihi
Nicky
In this post:
It was so exciting to see all of the fabulous Cantamath projects arrive at school on Friday. We are hoping to see some last-minute arrivals on Monday. Well done to the 90 children who completed their projects on time. On Friday after school, the teachers marked each project and identified those that will be going through to the Cantamath competition at the Christchurch Arena on Wednesday, August 25th.
We would love to give whānau the opportunity to view these projects. A display has been set up in East Pukaki, the old new entrant hub that is across the courtyard from our hub. This will be open before school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and after school on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. All work that is not going through to Cantamath will need to be taken home on Friday.
Cantamath problem-solving teams will be announced early next week. These teams will compete at the Christchurch Arena on August 25th, at 4pm for Year 7 and 5pm for Year 8.
On Wednesday afternoon last week, we held our annual Beckamath competition. Children competed in homegroup teams to solve tricky maths problems. The hall was filled with excitement, focused energy and the heat of competition. Below is the top part of the results table. See photos at the end of this post.
A special congratulations to Zoë Clarke, who has been awarded a leadership scholarship for Cashmere High School in 2022.
Many thanks to everyone who has completed our ski trip form. We nearly have all of these completed. As part of the preparation for our day on the mountain, we will be going over a ski safety contract with the children and viewing a slideshow to give them an idea of what to expect. We will also be having lessons looking at the snow safety code, dressing for a mountain environment and familiarisation with equipment for first-time skiers.
A reminder that our ski day is on September 2nd. The buses will be leaving from Sandwich Rd at 6am and will return at 6pm.
For those of you who indicated on the ski form that you would like help to get clothing for your child, we will start matching children up with gear and sending this home next week. If you offered to loan clothing - I will contact you if we need it. If you are looking for a good place to hire clothing and goggles, Snowmania rents gear at very reasonable prices: 4 Dalgety Street, Riccarton Phone: 03 961 6747. Remember that we arrange the skis, boots and helmets through Mt Hutt; you don't need to sort this equipment.
Being dressed for the mountain conditions makes such a difference to the enjoyment of the day. Below is a reminder of what your child will need.