Key reminders for our trip to Ōtākaro Orchard and Tūranga (library) on Monday Nov 5th:

• Leaving school at 11am and returning by 3pm
• Bring lunch and water bottle
• All children must have a sunhat and sunscreen
• School uniform is to be worn, including a jacket
• Children are encouraged to bring a trowel and gardening gloves if they have these
• Children may bring their library card if they would like to issue a book from Tūranga

It continues to be all go in the Intermediate Hub! Remember sports day has been moved to Friday this week. Jenny will be emailing out details, including a programme of events. Read on for important messages...

Ōtakāro Orchard Trip

The weather forecast is looking good and we have Simon, Peter and Anne signed up to help, so it is all looking good for Monday's trip to town (Nov 5). Children need to bring gardening gloves and a trowel (in a bag) if they have these at home. Packed lunch, drink bottle, sunhat and sunscreen are musts. We leave school at 11am and return by 3pm.

The Sexuality Road Parent Information Evening

This Thursday in the staffroom. Please fill in this form if you are planning on coming.

Top Team Competition

Our Top Team competition is coming up in week 5 on Tuesday Nov 13th. So far we have Mary,  Sonja, Leigh and Kate signed up to help. Rory, Philippa and Peter are maybes. We still need more adults to help supervise events. This is a great opportunity to see your child interacting in a group situation.  If you can help, please fill in this form.

Parent helpers for Victoria Park and Corsair Bay

May thanks to those who have offered to help with these two trips at the end of the term. We would need you all.
Corsair Bay: Simon, Peter, Kate, Jane and Kathryn (with possibly Mary and Rory)
Victoria Park: Rory, Philippa, Kate, George, Peter, Simon, Nicole and Rebecca. We still need a couple more for this trip. Details on the link above.

Creativity Abound!

There are lots of creative juices flowing in the Intermediate Hub this term. Work is underway with props, costumes and performances for our production in December. If you would like to join your props and costume crew, who work on a Thursday morning between 11 and 12:40, we would love to have your help. All skill levels welcome. Please email if you are available.
On a Thursday during passion time, one group are designing a mural to be painted on the toilet block by the Beckenham ponds. We are excited to have local artist, Ira Kirk, guiding us through this process.

2019 Leaders

We are currently interviewing the 34 Year 7s who applied for house captain and student council executive positions. As you can imagine, this will be a tricky task. We hope to be able to announce these positions by Friday this week. The 11 children who are selected will attend a leadership training afternoon, 'Be Inspired', on Wednesday, November 14th. This is the day of the proposed teacher strike. We will need at least two parents to accompany this group.

Theatre Sports

Our Theatre Sports team hit the stage at the Court Theatre this coming Sunday at 11am, for their first heat. They would love to have a crew of supporters watching. Here is the link if you would like to book tickets. Best of luck team. We think you are very clever and very funny!!

Summer Tournament

Next Wednesday a group of children from Kauri are competing in the Summer Tournament. We have teams entered for orienteering, kiwi tag (touch), slow pitch (all at Hagley Park) and tennis (Wilding Park). Children participating in Summer Tournament will need to be at school for 8:30 next Wednesday. All children will need the following:

• Beckenham sports uniform
• Suitable shoes for their sport (tennis players should have shoes that will not mark the courts)
• A water bottle
• Warm Layer
• Sun Hat 
• Packed lunch

A donation to cover associated costs (transport and entry fees) will be added to your child’s account.

Hi everyone,

This Thursday evening, starting at 7pm in the staffroom, we will be holding an information evening about our upcoming health topic in Kauri and Pohutukawa: The Sexuality Road. Please fill in this form to indicate if you will be attending this meeting.

Many thanks
Nicky and Tracy

Many thanks to the parents who have signed up to help with events we have planned for this term. If you have yet to do this, please click on this link.  30 of our Year 7s have expressed an interest in being a House Captian or on the Student Council Exec in 2019! If your child would like to apply for a position and has yet to complete the form, here is the link. They have until this Friday to apply. Please read on for important messages.

Sexuality Road: Parent Meeting

In week 4 we will be starting our health unit: The Sexuality Road. This topic addresses, changes that happen at puberty (physical and emotional), communication and decision making, reproduction and where to go to for support. We will teach the Year 7 programme and the Year 8 programme separately. If you would like to find out more about what the programme involves, we will be holding are parent information evening for Year 5 - 8 families in the staffroom on Thursday November 2nd, starting at 7pm.

Long jump this Friday

Unfortunately, we do not have a long jump pit at Beckenham, and therefore need to hold our long jump event at Hillview. This Friday afternoon, we would like to give the children the opportunity to practise at Hillview. We are looking for two parents to accompany this group, with Jenny. Please email Jenny if you can help out between 1:20 and 3pm.

Year 8 Pool Party

As has become tradition, we will be holding a Year 8 pizza and pool party on Monday December 17, from 4pm until 6pm. This year Georgie's family have offered to host the party at their property. More details, including address, will be provided closer to the time.

Basketball singlets and other sports tops to return

If your child played in a basketball team, or for a winter sport team, please make sure that their uniforms are returned to school this week.

Year 8 photos when I was 5

The Year 8s have until next Friday to write their memories for the Graduation Year Book. We like to include photos of when they started school, as 5 year olds, in this book. It doesn't matter if their first school wasn't Beckenham. Parents please locate and email me a photo file, or send a photo for scanning (I promise to return it the same day). We need to get these photos in by next Friday too. Many thanks for your help with this. nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz

Ōtakāro Orchard visit

Last term, Peter from Ōtākaro Orchard visited our hub to talk about their project to create an urban food forest in the centre of Christchurch. At the end of his visit, Peter invited us to come for a working bee to see what the project is all about. On Monday 5th of November, we will be heading into town to do just that. The hub will be split into two groups, with one at the Ōtākaro Orchard site while the other group learns some research skills at Tūranga, Christchurch's brand new central library. The groups will meet at Margaret Mahy Playground for lunch and then swap so that both groups get to do both activities.

In order to make this trip a possibility, we need three parent helpers. If you are able to help, please email hannah.elliott@beckenham.school.nz.

Donations to cover expenses

The following requests for donations will come out on your next school account:

• Ōtakāro Orchard: $5.50
• Corsair Bay: $7

We hope that the holidays have been good at your place. It's time to dig out that sun hat ready for the new school term, when spring returns on Monday. Read on for some important messages and a brief glimpse at what lies in store for this term.

Headphones:

It is important that every child has their headphones or earbuds at school from the first week back. A stationery check, especially pencil, eraser, ruler, glue-stick and pen, would also be appreciated. Please check that the sunhat is packed too.

Missing a lunchbox?

We have a collection of lunch containers at school. The food remnants have been removed and they have been washed. If you spot one of yours in this photo, please remind your child to collect it, on Monday, from the maker-space.

Writer’s Club

Following the success of Maths Club on a Wednesday morning, we are offering an extension group for writers for the duration of Term 4. This is an optional group session that will meet on Friday mornings at 8:20 in the Breakout Space. Maths club will continue as usual on a Wednesday morning at 8:20.

2019 Leaders:

For your diary:

Oct 22:  Labour day (school closed)
Oct 24: Volleyball league begins
Nov 1:  School athletic sports
Nov 2: Long jump at Hillview
Nov 7:  Summer tournament
Nov 12: Zone athletics
Nov 13: Top Team (parent helpers required)
Nov 14: 'Be Inspired' leadership course for 2019 House captains and student council exec.
Nov 16: Show day (School closed)
Nov 26: Staff only day
Nov 28: Canterbury triathlon
Dec 5: Canterbury athletics
Dec 10: Kauri production. All Year 7 & 8 students will be required at school for this evening show.
Dec 12: Kauri production. All Year 7 & 8 students will be required at school for this evening show.
Dec 14: Trip to Corsair Bay (parent helpers required)
Dec 17: Walk to Victoria Park (parent helpers required)
Dec 19: Year 8 Graduation Assembly, starting at 11am. Year 8s finish school following luncheon.
Dec 20: Final day for Year 1-7. School closes at 12:30.
We have one more trip that is yet to be confirmed and will tell you about that one next week.

Parent help required:

As you can see it is a rather busy term! We have at least three events that can only go ahead with parent support: Top Team afternoon on November 13, Corsair Bay trip from 11am on December 14 and our Walk to Victoria Park from 10am on December 17. Please click here to find out more and let us know where you can help. 

Upcoming sports events

Wednesday the 24th October - Kiwi Volleyball Year 7/8 league starts

Continuing our newly found love of volleyball, we have two teams entered into this after school league which runs for 7 weeks at Hillview Christian School.

Thursday the 1st November - School Athletics

The children will compete in Mid Distance, Sprints, Shotput, Discus and High Jump. We started our training for this event at the end of last term.

Friday the 2nd of November - Long Jump

Our long jump event will be held at Hillview Christian School again this year. This will be an optional event for the children. Children enter this event by completing a Google Form that is shared on Google Classroom.

Wednesday the 7th of November - Summer Tournament

We are putting together teams in touch, orienteering, tennis and slow pitch this week. Children who are interested will need to complete a Google Form. Many thanks to the parents who have volunteered to take a team.

Monday the 12th of November - Zone Athletics

Qualifying children will travel by bus to Hansen Park to compete against our neighbouring schools.

Wednesday the 28th - Canterbury Triathalon

This is a fantastic event held at Pegasus, involving a swim in the lake, a bike and a run round the lake. This is an optional event for children with a good level of fitness who want to embrace an extra challenge. Children have had an amazing time at this event in the past.

Wednesday the 5th of December - Canterbury Athletics

There is a change of venue for this event this year. Children who qualify for Canterbury’s will be amoung the first to enjoy the new facilities at Nga Puna Wai.

We are looking for some adult helpers for the above athletics events. If you are available to help out at any event, please, email Jenny.

Mountain Biking Passion

Organisation for our mountain biking passion is well underway. If your child is part of this passion group and you have not yet completed the google form, please do so asap.
We are still looking for an additional parent to come with us to Halswell Quarry on Thursday the 25th of October. This is more about transporting bikes, we have plenty of adults on bikes to run the session and just need to get the children to the tracks. A non-biking parent would be just fine.