Category Archives: Weekly Newsletters

Kauri Whanau – update

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Kia ora Parents and Caregivers,

We just want to let you know that we have contacted Wainui to check how our Kauri whānau are this morning.  Everyone is together at the camp, on high ground, and involved in packing up activities. The children will be back at school by 3:00.  If there are any changes in arrival time school will contact you to let you know.  

Kindest regards
Sue Leadbetter

School at COVID Alert Level 2 – Quick update, Sunday 28 February, 2021

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Kia ora e te whānau

As you will all be well aware by now, and to quote Dr Siouxsie Wiles, we've hit 'another loop-de-loop on the COVID rollercoaster' and we are now operating again at Alert Level 2.

At Alert Level 2, school remains fully open for teaching and learning.

I'm conscious that we may have some new families who have started in the past couple of weeks so I'm re-sending the information from last time with ONE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE - the end of day finish times:
NE (Koru) AND Y1/2 (Kahikatea) children will finish at 2:45pm. This will allow for them to be collected and move away from the front gate area before the rest of the school is released. If you have children in both the junior and Y3-6 parts of the school, the junior teachers will hold your child in the hub until 3pm and bring them out then.

Year 3-6 (Kōwhai and Pōhutukawa) children will finish at 3pm as usual.

Year 7/8 children and staff are going to Wainui on camp tomorrow morning, albeit with additional contingencies built in for their health and safety.

1. Schools are open to everyone, and all children must attend.

At Alert Level 2 the disease is contained but there is still risk of community transmission. It is safe for children and staff to attend school as there will be appropriate measures in place, including for children and staff vulnerable to severe illness.


2. Learning will be onsite with distance learning offered in some circumstances.

Distance learning will be provided for those required to self-isolate, those individuals who health authorities have asked to stay away while waiting for a test result, or those choosing to remain at home because they are vulnerable to illness.
If you believe that your child fits the above criteria, please let the office know and we will contact you regarding home learning options.

3. Schools are not classified as gatherings and a range of events and activities can go ahead.

For most day to day activities at schools, the rules for gatherings do not apply. Under the COVID-19 Public Health Response Order, schools are exempted from physical distancing requirements when people are there to receive, provide, or support education services.
However as soon as an event or activity brings people onsite who are not there for education purposes, including students, parents and caregivers, then the rules for gatherings do apply. This includes performances such as school plays, cultural events and sporting activities.
This means that we will return to our protocol of parents dropping and collecting children from the gate rather than coming onto the school site. 

We will have staff at the main gate, and at the Park entrance to school so that you can hand children over to them, rather than coming onto the school site. Please remember that social distancing is important at Alert Level 2. This is particularly important at pick-up time in the afternoon so please try not to congregate in groups at the gate. If your child is able to travel independently, please encourage them to do so. If you can wait for them on the other side of the crossing, and spread out a little, that helps too. 


4. Schools will close for cleaning and contact tracing if there is a confirmed case who was infectious when at school.

The Director of Education will work closely with us and health authorities should this occur.

5. Face coverings are not required at school or on any school transport.

This includes charter buses hired by the school to transport students and staff. Anyone who chooses to wear a face covering at school will be supported to do so.

6. Sick people must stay at home.

They should seek medical advice if they have COVID-like symptoms and get tested if advised to do so. If that person displays relevant symptoms of COVID-19, tests positive for COVID-19, or has been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, they must self-isolate.

7. We have a contact tracing system in place.

If you have to come onto the school site, please ensure you sign in at the office as usual, AS WELL AS using your COVID app if you have one

8. Fundamental public health measures continue to apply at every alert level:

  • Physical distancing (not touching and not breathing on each other at Alert Level 2)
  • Hand hygiene
  • Cough and sneeze etiquette
  • Regularly cleaning and disinfecting high touch surfaces.

Note that our drinking fountains will be unavailable at Alert Level 2, so every child does need to have a named water bottle at school every day.

Stay in Touch

If you need to contact your child's teacher - email is the best option at Alert Level 2. You can find all of the teacher and admin email addresses HERE
If you need to contact Jacky in the office - email office@beckenham.school.nz or phone 337 1404
To contact Rachel in accounts, contact accounts@beckenham.school.nz or phone 337 1404

We will continue to keep updating you as more information comes to hand.

We've got this!

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy and the Team!




Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Friday 26 February 2021

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

We have made the decision to return to weekly newsletters. These will come out every Friday and it means that you can expect to get a school newsletter in your inbox every week. This has been made possible because we have welcomed Reihana Dougherty to our Admin Team, which is enabling us to spread the load, and build capacity. Reihana will be around the front office Monday through to Friday, with sole responsibility on Fridays as Jacky will now only be working Monday through to Thursday.

Building Update

The Ministry of Education have advised us that building will commence on Monday on the new double learning space at the Eastern Terrace end of the school. 

Earthquake Memorial - 10 years on

It is hard to believe that we have just remembered the 10th anniversary of the Christchurch Earthquakes. So much has changed across our city since then, and across the schooling sector too. Post-earthquake the schooling network had a huge amount of change which also had both positive and negative impacts on different communities, depending on the changes. A number of schools were closed, some were merged, new schools built, and nearly every school in Christchurch is in the Christchurch Schools Rebuild programme. We were one of the early schools in this programme, coming out of our rebuild in mid-2018. Some schools are still waiting for this rebuild to begin.
We appreciate that, for our current students, none of them were at school when the earthquakes happened, and only our oldest students were even born.
On Monday, our staff talked with the students about the earthquake with a focus on the way that it showed how a community can pull together and demonstrate many of the values we hold important at school - in particular, We Care, We Get There Together and We Make a Difference. Our students then had the opportunity to write messages to our wider community on the footpaths on Eastern Terrace, Sandwich Road, Norwood St and within the school.


Many thanks to Karen Wyngaarden for responding to our request for someone to make slipcovers for seats and curtains. They look great and the children are able to use the seats again which is awesome!

Our Year 7/8 team are looking forward to their camp at Wainui next week. 
I hope you all enjoy the weekend.
 
Ngā mihi
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Week 5:
Mon 1 - Fri 5 Mar - Kauri camp at Wainui YMCA
Wed 3 Mar - 4.15 - 5.45 Kiwi Volleyball at Hillview Christian School
Thu 4 Mar - 3.15 - 6.00 Miniball Grade C at Pioneer Stadium

Week 6:
Wed 10 Mar - 4.15 - 5.45 Kiwi Volleyball at Hillview Christian School
Thu 11 Mar - 3.15 - 6.00 Miniball Grade C at Pioneer Stadium
Fri 12 Mar - 12.00 - 12.30 Celebration Assembly

Week 7:
Wed 17 Mar - 4.15 - 5.45 Kiwi Volleyball at Hillview Christian School
Thu 18 Mar - 9.00 - 1.15 Zone Swimming Sports at Jellie Park

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 term dates

Citizen of the Week

Emma Reedy - Year 7

Emma, being kind, fun, loving and respectful are just some of the wonderful qualities you possess. You embrace opportunities to learn, lead and try new things. Your positive and proactive nature makes you a stunning role model to others.  

School Notices

Food Allergy Guidelines

Across our school, we have a number of children with different food allergies.
To support the wellbeing of these students we have the following guidelines in place which we ask you to follow:
  • Whenever children bring food to school for shared kai occasions, please follow the guidelines provided by the teachers for that event. 
We will inform you during the year if specific guidelines for your child’s hub change.  Our full allergy policy and guidelines in this booklet, are also available on the Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto website under “Information - Policies - SchoolDocs” then search ‘allergy’.  If you have any questions or concerns, please discuss them in the first instance with your child’s point of contact teacher.

Mana Ake “Drop-Ins” are continuing…

A number of whānau have already made great use of the Mana Ake “drop-ins” that are available on Wednesday mornings from 8:30 – 9:30am. These drop-in sessions are here to provide parents with an opportunity to have a private, informal conversation around the well being of their child with one of our Mana Ake workers (kaimahi). If you feel like you would like to attend a drop-in session, please book in a time via the link here: Mana Ake booking The code to use is 88t39. Alternatively, you can contact Jacky in the office and she will make a booking for you.

Concerns and Complaints Process

We understand that from time to time you may have a concern that you would like to raise with someone at school. You can find a copy of our concerns and complaints process below, and you can also access this through our school website, or by using the SchoolDocs login (user: beckenham password: pride).
We always want to work with you to resolve any worries or concerns you might have.

Parenting Tips

Each week we are going to put a parenting tip here that we hope will be helpful for some of you.
The Parenting Place has a great website that includes a section on "How to talk about: Making Friends (in real life)". This article acknowledges that many people now have many, many friends on social media, and may not find it easy to know how to make and keep friends with the people around them. It shares 5 simple strategies that you can talk with your child about.

Sports News

Swimming Sports Results

We had a fantastic school swimming sports with children from Years 5 to 8 at Wharenui Pool yesterday. Congratulations to all who competed. You deserve to feel very proud of yourself for getting involved and challenging yourself. 


Our 2021 Swimming Champions are:

Year 5 Champions
Holly McIntosh
Jack Sayer

Year 6 Champions
Archie Arnott
Emma Vaile

Year 7 Champions
Stella Gillman
Tahere Taylor

Year 8 Champions
Fergus McMillan
Zoe Clarke


Whenever we go to sporting events, there is so much more on display than just sporting excellence. Throughout the competition it was great to see children supporting and encouraging each other. Many of our Year 7 and 8 tamariki stepped into leadership roles to support the running of the event. Wharenui Pool staff commented on how clean and tidy our tamariki left the pool area and changing rooms. Thank you everyone to the part you played in this and for the values you demonstrated. 

PTA News

Weetbix Tryathlon - 28 February 2021



A matter of sleeps now until the Weetbix Tryathlon 2021 event. We hope you are all looking forward to a fabulous day. We have a number of entries this year which makes for a really fun morning. Keep an eye out for the Beckenham Flags where we’ll create a base for everyone. The PTA will pop on a sausage sizzle for every competitor. Pack a picnic and get your support crew ready for a fun fun morning. Any questions about the event don’t hesitate to make contact with Nicola – 021532996

BOT Update

Our new Board of Trustees met last night for the first time this year. Matthew Macdonald was elected by the Board to be the Chairperson for 2021. The rest of the Board are:
  • Sampson Karst (Ngāi Tahu iwi representative)
  • Lisa Taylor
  • Marcel Frei
  • Jude Clarke
  • Nicole Forster
  • Suran Dickson
  • Richard Scott
  • Anna Reid (Staff Trustee)

Community Notices

(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)

Christchurch Netball Centre is running Tu Manawa Multi Sport Have A Go Day on the 27th of Feb at Hagley Park, starting at 12.15pm.
The event is completely free for children aged 5 to 18 years. Lunch is provided for free as well.
Sports participating are Netball, Futsal, Skateboarding and Ki o Rahi .
Sign up here.

Coding Lessons
In today’s world, it’s essential for young people to learn how to create technology not just consume it. Coding NZ’s lessons empower students with the tools they need and help give students the best chance at being successful in our increasingly digital age. Extend your child’s awareness and horizons. Free trial lessons available now at codingnz.com/signup

PTA Update 23rd February 2021

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Welcome to 2021.


It was great to see so many people at the picnic the other day – for once the weather was on our side 😊 Hopefully we can make this a regular event and get the whole school and their families on the field! 

Our first PTA meeting in Wednesday 24th of February at 7:30 in the Green Room just off the hall. We would love to see some new faces there! 

Who are we?

The PTA committee is a small group of parents who want to support the school and strengthen our school community. You don’t have to come to every meeting to be a member and you certainly don’t even have to be a member to help if we put a call out! 

What do we do?

We meet up every month during the school term for about a 1.5 hour meeting. Its a good chance to connect with other parents and hear what is happening at school.

Events we run include: the disco, the welcome morning teas and some key fundraising events like the Readathon, Calendar Art and some kind of fun evening event. We quietly organise support for families when they need it, for example a serious medical diagnosis. We also run the uniform room. 

What do we do with the money we raise?

Every year we make a $10,000 donation to school for the bus trips that all the students go on at the end of the year. Last year we also funded new sports uniforms and contributed to the purchase of software for home learning. Other years we bought the sound system for sports days and a gazebo to keep the children dry at events. If we didn’t raise the money children would miss out, or our school fees would be higher as these extras are not funded by the Ministry of Education.
 

Please don’t be shy, come and join us – its a lot of fun, we usually have excellent sweet treats to munch on and the chat is great! 

See you soon

 
The PTA

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter 19 February 2021

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora e te whānau

We are thrilled to be back at Alert Level 1 again after a week where we were sharply reminded that we are not through this pandemic yet. Thank you to all of you for supporting the Alert Level 2 practices of staying off our school site during this time. Yet again, our children showed us that, with positive messaging and support from the adults around them, they are often ready to manage more independence than we give them credit for. I encourage you all to foster that independence, particularly around morning drop-offs. We particularly notice that the younger children come into the hubs and settle more easily without a lot of caregivers and pre-schoolers present. We will continue having a teacher outside the NE, Y1/2 and Y3/4 hubs in the morning so that you can touch base with a teacher if you need to.

I have had the honour of being in Wellington yesterday and today for the New Zealand Principals Federation Executive meeting. Among other topics, we have today been talking about the exciting new Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum that was recently announced and is currently in draft form. 
Many young people leave school without being fully aware of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories. They haven’t learned where we have come from or the way people have experienced our histories differently.
Our histories are important to us all because they have shaped our present-day lives. Understanding the past will help to shape the way we move forward into the future.


You can watch a short video about it here: Introduction to Aotearoa NZ Histories

The public can give feedback on the draft - to find out about how to do that, please follow this link.
Our staff will be giving feedback on the draft curriculum this term also.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Wed 24 Feb - Kahikatea trip to Ferrymead

Wed 24 Feb - PTA Meeting, Green Room, 7:30pm

Thu 25 Feb - School Swimming sports for Years 5 - 8 - Wharenui Pool 12:45pm

Thu 25 Feb - BOT Meeting, Staffroom 5:30pm

Fri 26 Feb - Celebration Assembly  12 - 12:30pm in the hall.  All Welcome.

Mon 1 - Fri 5 Mar - Kauri camp at Wainui YMCA

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Lily Mclachlan - Year 4

Lily, you are such a fantastic role model in the Kōwhai hub. You show 'We Get There Together' always by lending helping hand to both your peers and the teachers. Lily, your enthusiasm knows no bounds and you are always willing to show that you care by offering your help to others. You use initiative in your learning and you are a fantastic communicator. Tino pai Lily! 

Haile Harmer-Campbell - Year 6

Haile, you embrace our kete value, 'We Love Challenge'! We see you growing so much as a leader in our hub, always enthusiastically encouraging and supporting your peers in their learning. You demonstrate grit, team work and good sportsmanship on the field, showing the 'We Get There Together' kete beautifully. It is wonderful to see your passion! We appreciate that you make us laugh with your witty sense of humour each day. Tino pai Haile! 

School Notices

Christchurch Schools Music Festival - Applications for special groups now open


Talented singers and musicians from Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto can now apply for an audition to join a Representative Group - Junior & Senior Choir, Concert Band, Orchestra - for the 2021 Music Festival.

We want to encourage and support any students in Years 5-8 who are confident singers, and/or instrumentalists to apply for an audition. This is particularly the case in 2021 given the cancellation of the 2020 Music Festival.

Applications are made online on the Festival website here.

This is a chance to not only participate in a life-changing learning opportunity but also to represent Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto while doing it.

Being selected for a Representative Group for the Music Festival is the artistic equivalent of being selected for a Canterbury level sports team; let's make sure the opportunity is not overlooked.
If you have any questions about this, please speak with Jody Keenan (CSM Band tutor), your music teacher, or email Sandy principal@beckenham.school.nz

Our Literacy Programme

Kia ora whānau,
We are very excited to be continuing the implementation of a structured literacy programme across the school this year. Structured literacy is based on the science and research behind how we learn to read and write. You may have seen information surrounding this, through the media and Ministry of Education over the last few months. This structured approach involves a stronger focus on the teaching of phonological awareness (identifying and manipulating units of spoken language), letter/sound knowledge and learning the spelling patterns of English. Please check out the following links for further information around the science of reading, and evidence for this:

During the first 3 full weeks of school the teachers and children will be sitting down together and going through some literacy assessments.  Assessing our tamariki’s phonological awareness, letter/sound knowledge and knowledge of spelling patterns gives our teachers solid data that informs our planning for the individual needs of each learner and helps monitor progress. It is also an opportunity to talk with the children about their learning and possible next steps. 

During the next few weeks you can help by reading to and with your child each night, enjoying and discussing texts / books from the library (both school and city council libraries have books for children to borrow) or that you have at home.  Older children may wish to read their own book and share the story line with you.  Remember also, no one is ever too old to be read to.

Teams will be in touch with information about how you can support your child with literacy learning at home, in the coming weeks.  
Lisa Collier, Literacy Lead Teacher.

Lunchonline


Lunchonline is a lunch delivery service that our families are able to access for their children, which is available on Wednesdays (Subway) and Fridays (Sushi Factory). Please ensure that you update your child's details on their database so lunches can be matched up with your child more easily when they are delivered.
To access this, you will need to set up an account with LunchOnline here.

Hats

We have a small number of children across the school who do not yet have sunhats at school each day. Please would you check that your child has a hat every day. Please also ensure that hats are named in an easily visible place INSIDE (not on the outside) of the hat. Named uniform items that are found are always returned to hubs, rather than being put into the lost property.

Sports News

Miniball for Year 3 - 4 starting in Week 3

We have four teams entered into this league. It was fantastic to see so many children interested in this opportunity. There will be another chance to play in Term 4 and if children missed out this term, they will have priority to play in Term 4. Thank you to all the whānau who have volunteered their time to support the children at games. 

Hanmer 4 Hour Mountain Bike Relay

We would like to promote the above event to keen mountain bikers. Children compete as a team to complete as many laps of the course as they can in 4 hours. Children 11 years old and younger ride a mellow loop that goes through the Heritage Forest. Children 12 years and older ride an intermediate level track, (it’s worth noting that this course is the same one that adults compete on and so it is a little busier). Whānau are responsible for entries and for supervising children at the event. There are already a number of children entered and we will have a Beckenham Te Kura O Pūroto base area set up for all our teams to use. If you enter this event, please let Jenny know so that we can share information and coordinate plans for race day. 

BOT Update

The Board of Trustees have their first meeting of the year this Thursday 25th February, from 5:30pm in the staffroom. We welcome our new trustees to the Board: Richard Scott, Suran Dickson, Nicole Forster and Anna Reid (newly elected Staff Trustee). We welcome back returning Trustees: Matthew Macdonald, Jude Clarke, Sampson Karst, Lisa Taylor and Marcel Frie.
Board of Trustee meetings are 'Meetings held in Public', as opposed to 'Public Meetings'. This means that anyone is welcome to come and sit in on the meeting. It does not, however, give visitors the right to speak at a meeting, unless this has been pre-organised and agreed to by the Chair.

Community Notices

(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)



Christchurch Pride & Qtopia Pride Ball

March is Christchurch Pride month! We’re so excited to be supporting the youth programming, and to be throwing our very own ball! It’s all ages and pay what you can - celebrate your high school formal the way you always wanted to - wear what you feel most you in, bring the date you want, and celebrate with other beautiful rainbow folk.
For more information and to book your ticket, click here!
All the events below are suitable for young people to attend. We can’t wait to see you there!



St Andrew's College Open Day

St Andrew’s College are holding their Secondary School Open Day on Wednesday 17 March 9am - 12pm.  visit stac.school.nz for further information