Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Friday 12 March 2021

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Today you might have noticed the Pride flag flying from our flagpole. In the same way that we fly flags of different nationalities to celebrate and welcome the wide range of diverse cultures we have within our school community, we also fly the Pride flag to celebrate and welcome all of those families who identify in any way as part of the rainbow community. 



Today you may also see a number of our staff wearing a new NZEI rainbow badge. Being an inclusive school for everyone is a foundational belief for our school. 

On Monday we will be flying the New Zealand flag at half mast to remember those who lost their lives in Christchurch on March 15th 2019.

Enrolment reminder

If you (or someone you know in the neighbourhood) have a preschooler who is 4 years old and you are planning on having them start school within the next 12 months, please complete an enrolment form for them and bring/email it in to the office as soon as you can. Whilst their 5th birthday may seem a long way off for you, it is extremely important that we know well in advance exactly how many new entrant students we have arriving over the year, so that we can ensure we have enough staffing in place.
You can find all the enrolment information on our website, including an enrolment form that you can download.


Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumauki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

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

Week 8:
Tue 23 Mar - 9.00 - 2.00 Canterbury Triathlon at Eyrewell Forest, South Eyre Road.
Wed 24 Mar - 7.30 - 9.30pm PTA Meeting
Fri 26 Mar - 12.00 - 12.30 Celebration Assembly

Week 9:
Wed 31 Mar
- 4:15-5:45pm Kiwi Volleyball at Hillview Christian School
Thu 1 Apr - 3:15 - 6:00pm Miniball Grade C at Pioneer Stadium
Fri 2 Apr - Good Friday - School Closed

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Freyja Scholer - Year 5

Freyja, you are showing yourself to be an excellent role model in Pōhutukawa. You settle to tasks very quickly and complete them to the best of your ability. You are willing to share your thoughts and are prepared to take on board new ones. This is a great attribute to have.

School Notices

School Donations

We wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for all of the donations we have received this year! Your generous contributions enable us to offer a rich and broad curriculum to our tamariki. Also a reminder that we are still happy to receive payments online or by eftpos or cash in the Office and you can pay either in full, by regular instalments, or set up a regular automatic payment. If you require further details you can find the Annual Donation information on our website

During the next two weeks we will be sending out details of your accounts, including a request for the annual donation of $150 per student. You are welcome to pay before you get this!

Claiming back 33% of your School Donations from the IRD

A reminder that you can find out about claiming 33.33 cents for every dollar you donate to the school from the Inland Revenue Department. This includes both the main school donation, and donations towards activities and camps. This makes the real cost of the main donation only $100 per child once you claim this back. Please note there is a 4 year limit for making claims. See https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/income-tax-for-individuals/individual-tax-credits/tax-credits-for-donations for more information.

Please contact Rachel Higginson by emailing accounts@beckenham.school.nz if you would like a donation receipt confirmation letter for previous years or the current year after 31st March. Please note any payments you make for this years' donations, which are received prior to 31st March this year, can be included in your claim for the Tax year ending 31st March 2021.

Alternative Weetbix Tryathlon - Beckenham Style


Last Sunday, the change to Alert Level 2 caused the Weetbix Tryathlon to be cancelled. A small (COVID regulation size) group of whānau quickly arranged an alternative event at Beckenham Park. What awesome initiative!

Parking and driver care on Sandwich Road

We know that everyone is keen to keep our children safe as they travel to and from school. To support this, please can drivers NOT try to undertake U-turns on Sandwich Road during the pick-up and drop-off times. We have witnessed some near misses recently and, ultimately, it is our children who are being put at risk.
Please also remember that the 3 min zone on the school side of Sandwich Road is MAX 3mins - not time enough for you to get out of your car and go into school to drop off or collect your child. If everyone can use this area as a drop-off/pick-up point, then all of the traffic will flow more smoothly.

Te Mana Raupo Kahui Ako

Parent Workshop - Parenting to Establish Safety, Connection and Engagement

The workshop will provide an overview of children’s challenging behaviours and how parents/caregivers can better understand the causes and possible ways to prevent and respond.
The overview covers:
  • Understanding challenging behaviours
  • Understanding Window of Tolerance and Arousal and how this contributes to challenging behaviours
  • Understanding how co-regulation & attunement can enhance moments of shared joy
  • Learn a number of useful activities to respond to various behaviours.
This presentation is grounded in relational attachment based principles and philosophies.
This presentation is open to all families in our wider community and is free of charge.

Presented by: 
Dr Petria Thoresen, PhD, a fully certified Theraplay® Therapist and Theraplay®
Maria Lui, SWRB & MNZAC, a fully certified Group Theraplay® Practitioner and Theraplay®

St Martins School Hall
Tuesday 30th March
5:30-6:30pm

To attend, please RSVP to - reihana.dougherty@beckenham.schoool.nz

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.

Parenting Tips

The Parenting Place has an excellent article on What using cellphones before bedtime does to our kids – according to science. I encourage you to read it.


Staff Profiles

The admin team were thrilled to get their photos taken to introduce themselves to you all!


(Left to right: Reihana Dougherty- Leadership PA & Board Secretary, Rachel Higginson- Accounts and Payroll Administrator, Anne Chin- Librarian, Jacky Sargent- Executive Office Administrator)

Reihana will be working in the back office Monday - Thursday and on Fridays she will be the new face in reception, as Jacky enjoys her new working week, from Monday - Thursday.

Across the way you will find Rachel managing our accounts and payroll systems in the front office, from Monday - Friday during the school day. In the library you will find Anne on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The library is open for students to access every lunch time.

Community Notices

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

Cashmere Technical Football Club

Have a go girls football fiesta! No experience needed.
March 12th 4.15-5.15pm Somerfield Park. All ages - Free!
Register here - https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/156407
Or, email: lisay@ctfc.co.nz

Landsdowne Terrace Playcentre

We are a parent run Early Childhood Education Centre with a friendly and diverse group of local parents.  We believe that child led play is central to development, and recognize the value of parents as first educators.  We run sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday mornings 9-12, and explorer outings on Thursdays. 

Come and check out our Community Mural Fun Day on Saturday 27th March 9am-3pm: bouncy castle, cake stall, sausage sizzle and more. Updates on our Facebook page.
Phone 3322140 | landsdowneterrace@playcentre.org.nz   

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Friday 5 March 2021

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

It certainly does seem that our value of 'We Love Challenge' is being tested as today our country had to deal with not just changing COVID Alert Levels, but a series of significant earthquakes, followed by Tsunami warnings. My thoughts were with principal colleagues in Whangarei and Whakatane who had to evacuate their entire schools, some walking many kilometres to get children out of possible tsunami zones. We contacted our Year 7/8 camp team at Wainui who were well away from the water today, packing up their camp and making ready to head home after a fabulous week of outdoor challenge and adventure.
Events such as these serve as a very real reminder of the need for us to be well prepared and planned for the possibility of an emergency. To that end, Jo Smith and I spent the day on Wednesday at a workshop run by the Ministry of Education and NZ Police that focused on just that - planning and preparing for emergencies. We will be sharing some of our planning with you through upcoming newsletters. We all have specific roles to play to help keep our children safe in unexpected or emergency situations. 

Fire Evacuation Drill

On Tuesday this week we had our first Fire Evacuation Drill of the year. It is a great chance to practise what to do if there was a fire alarm triggered at school. The fire alarm sounded and everyone on site, staff, children and visitors, walked to the assembly point on the field. You may like to talk with your child about the drill and what they had to do. This will reinforce the emergency procedure with them. They did a great job!

Thank you... Y7/8 Camp adults

Thank you to the staff and whānau who supported our Year 7/8 camp to Wainui this week. Taking over 100 young people on an outdoor education camp for 5 days takes an extraordinary amount of planning and organisation. We acknowledge your support and appreciate everyone who put in time and energy to make this camp so successful.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

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

Week 8:
Tue 23 Mar - 9.00 - 2.00 Canterbury Triathlon at Eyrewell Forest, South Eyre Road.
Wed 24 Mar - 7.30 - 9.30pm PTA Meeting
Fri 26 Mar - 12.00 - 12.30 Celebration Assembly

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Zach Guise - Year 3

Zach, you have made an outstanding start to the year. You consistently focus on doing the right thing and are an extremely caring and helpful member of the team. You work enthusiastically in all areas of school and are a fantastic role model to others. You are an absolute star, Zach. Tino pai!

School Notices

Christchurch Schools Music Festival - Representative group auditions still open...



A reminder that 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

Te Mana Raupo Kahui Ako

Parent Workshop - Parenting to Establish Safety, Connection and Engagement

The workshop will provide an overview of children’s challenging behaviours and how parents/caregivers can better understand the causes and possible ways to prevent and respond.
The overview covers:
  • Understanding challenging behaviours
  • Understanding Window of Tolerance and Arousal and how this contributes to challenging behaviours
  • Understanding how co-regulation & attunement can enhance moments of shared joy
  • Learn a number of useful activities to respond to various behaviours.
This presentation is grounded in relational attachment based principles and philosophies.
This presentation is open to all families in our wider community and is free of charge.

Presented by: 
Dr Petria Thoresen, PhD, a fully certified Theraplay® Therapist and Theraplay®
Maria Lui, SWRB & MNZAC, a fully certified Group Theraplay® Practitioner and Theraplay®


St Martins School Hall
Tuesday 30th March
5:30-6:30pm

To attend, please RSVP to - reihana.dougherty@beckenham.schoool.nz

Parent Playground Roster

A big thank you to Katherine Christensen for offering to organise our parent playground roster. It will be wonderful to have extra adults out in the playground during lunch play to ensure that our tamariki are safe and happy.

Lunch play runs from 12.40 - 1.20 each day. Being on the parent playground roster is a wonderful opportunity to observe the dynamics of your own and other children playing in the playground, as well as being involved in the school community.

If you are interested, please contact Katie with the following information:
  • Your full name
  • Contact number
  • The names of your child/ren
  • Day/s of the week available
katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

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.

Children’s Day - a plant for every family to collect this coming Monday...

Children’s day was donated 2700 plants from Trees for Canterbury to give away to children at the event to plant at home following the event. Unfortunately due to the change in alert levels Children’s Day has been cancelled and changed to be an online event only. (See the community section for details)  As a  result, we have been given enough native plants to give one to every family within our school community.



These will be placed outside the hall on Monday after school for caregivers to collect. If we remain at alert level 2 children will be able to collect one plant per family to take home.

Community Notices

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

Cashmere Club would love to get some more players for their Future Ferns competition.
We are looking for players from Year 3-6 to join our family-friendly club, everyone welcome.
Email us at cashmerenetball@hotmail.com, or visit our website www.sporty.co.nz/cashmerenc


Mega Mates Social Skills Holiday Programme is coming to Christchurch!

We are excited to be running this great programme finally in Christchurch - we have had wonderful feedback from the previous Mega Mates run in Otago and Southland!
This programme is run by our great Christchurch based Speech Language Therapist - Ellie Bloxham 
She will be working on real social skill development in a small, fun group.

Don't miss out - numbers are strictly limited and there is an early bird booking special 
We are focusing on 5 to 7 year old's for this programme.
The course runs over 3 mornings - 3 mornings  28th, 29th & 30 April 2021

Beckenham, Somerfield, Spreydon and Waltham

We’ve already looked at the condition of roads and footpaths in your area and have picked up some things like potholes, damaged kerbs and areas where water is pooling. We’ve also completed safety assessments. To get the full picture, we’re keen to hear further information from local people about roads that may need things like safer crossings, slower speeds, or improved lighting.

Let us know what will make a difference in your neighborhood.
We’re seeking community input until 12 March 2021.

Make a comment on our map of your local neighborhood.
Email us at waybetter@ccc.govt.nz.
Or, submit your comments at have your say.

Kauri Bus Update

Kia ora Parents and Caregivers,

Our Kauri camp busses are running behind schedule. The children will be back at school by 3:15 with busses arriving on Eastern Tce.

Ngā mihi

Reihana Dougherty

Kauri Whanau – update


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