Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

The term is clearly racing by - so much so that we realised today that we didn't send out the newsletter last Friday. Here it is... enjoy!

Learning Conference Feedback

Thank you to everyone who has given feedback on the Learning Conferences. Today (Monday) is the final day for feedback, so if you still want to have your say, please click here and complete the feedback form. We will use this information to support our next steps with this process.

Building Update

Slow progress seems to be the order of the day at the moment! However, this is not changing the fact that our Champion St classes will DEFINITELY be returning to Beckenham from the start of Term 4. So only three weeks left of catching buses every day! Hooray! We are working with a moving company to shift most of the Champion st resources back to Beckenham in the second week of the holidays. However, we will be looking for offers of help from parents who have a trailer, to pick up some really bulky items like picnic tables and benches, ideally during the last week of this term. If you can help, please call Jacky or email her at office@beckenham.school.nz

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Citizen of the Week

Sharing our Learning

Kauri Team

Last Wednesday, 70 bleary eyed, yet excited, Year 7 & 8 children gathered at 6:20am to embark on a day that put ‘We Love Challenge’ into action. 90 minutes later our bus emerged on the other side of the cloud that had descended over Canterbury, into a sparkling blue sky day, surrounded by the snowy slopes of Mount Hutt. What an awesome day we had. A 90 minute lesson set the foundation for a day of skill development. Persistence, practise and a positive attitude reaped rewards, whether that was on the beginners’ slope, venturing up the chairlift for the first time or exploring new slopes. Our able and willing parent helpers allowed for a day where everyone could meet challenge at their level. As the bus arrived back at school 12 hours later, 70 tired yet happy children descended, full of stories to share from their day of challenge on the slopes. 

By spending Years 7 & 8 at Beckenham School, you open the door on many adventures. Adventures where everyone gets to take part. We encourage the children to seize opportunities, rather than let opportunities pass them by. Our day at Mt Hutt was just one example of this.

Kowhai Team

Netball

We have had a very successful season of netball in the Kowhai team. We managed to put together 2 teams this year, the Beckenham A team and the Beckenham B team. All the children have had a great experience and have hugely improved their netball skills throughout the winter. Well done to all those children and a big thank you to Jacqui Cooper, Huriana Timothy and Rebecca Carr who helped to coach the 2 teams. We could not have done it without you. Thank you also to all the parents who came and supported the teams even on some very cold and wintery days!

Calendar Art

Wow, what an amazing effort the children have been putting into their calendar art. Each home group has taken a different spin on creating a calendar masterpiece. The children have taken ownership of a their art to create a piece they can be really proud of. We hope you enjoy them!

Inspiration Stations:

Every morning in the Kowhai hub children are learning through different challenges and play. These challenges allow us to be metacognitive (that means thinking about our thinking) as we think deeply about how we are using our thinking skills to solve problems and be creative. All our activities are based around a theme of Change. These activities include:

• Investigating how games and toys have changed over time
• Researching geological and historical change.
• Creating cars and making changes to our designs.
• Changing shapes through tangrams.
• Creating costumes of the future .
• Upcycling junk.
• Exploring maps.
• Creating transformers.

Ask us about what we are learning in our inspiration stations. You will be amazed!

Kids In Town

This week both the Koru and the Kowhai Kapa Haka groups performed at the Art Gallery as part of the Kids In Town programme. Sherrilee and the Kapa Haka groups all put on an amazing performance and there was a fantastic turnout of friends and family which was great to see. It was such a wonderful experience for the children and very exciting too!

School Notices

We have the opportunity to apply for a grant to support families who feel stretched to cover some extra schooling costs, including uniform, stationery, additional tuition (eg music lessons) and camps.

If you would be interested in us applying on your behalf, please complete this brief form (https://goo.gl/forms/77FQinMfFtnJ9hNY2) by Friday, 15 September, and Vicki from the office will be in touch.

Term dates 2018.  

There was an error in the original dates published.  In 2018 Labour day is Monday October 22nd and Christchurch Anniversary day is Friday November 16th. Click here to find the 2018 dates on the school website.

Wellbeing Focus This Fortnight

Over recent weeks, we have looked at how being part of family and friendship groups supports our wellbeing. We have shared how we care for our family and our friends. We have learnt that being with family and friends requires working as a team, and using lots of communication, caring and compromise.

We have explored how good friends and family listen to each other actively. Watch this clip and practise at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWe_ogA5YCU

Each family is different, and we celebrate that difference. Many children have shared some of the special things their family do, in terms of activities or spending certain parts of the day or week together.
Ideas to reflect on or discuss at home:
What special or fun things do you do together with your family?
What matters in your family?
Who are you grateful for in your family and what do you enjoy about them? Make a point of telling them or writing a note to share your thoughts with them.

Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS) Parent Information Meeting

Thursday 28 September 2:15pm
Years 0-6 will be learning about ‘how to keep themselves safe’ in weeks 3&4 in term 4.
The Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS) programme focuses on helping students learn and apply a range of safety skills that they can use when interacting with others.
We will be holding a parent information meeting where Constable Ross will inform our parents of the programme and answer any questions you may have about the programme and content covered. Constable Ross will be teaching alongside our teachers and spending time in each hub.
There is also some information about the programme and a range of resources for parents on the Police website below:
http://www.police.govt.nz/advice/personal-and-community-advice/school-portal/resources/successful-relationships/keeping-1

BOT News

Have you wondered what the Board of Trustees do, or thought it might be a way for you to contribute to our school?  Here's a few thoughts from current Board member Rachele Allan.

In 2014 I was elected to the Board and have enjoyed a very eventful time; the achievements have been spectacular.  Look around and you almost see a revamped school with beautiful and well functioning learning spaces.  Inside the classrooms our children are privileged to amazing learning opportunities; literacy, numeracy, reading, culture, music, sport that all support a journey for our future leaders.

As a Board member I'm not involved with the day to day running of the school; that is left to Sandy and her team of experts.  Our role on the Board is to provide direction and be constructive in our involvement to focus on "every student achieving their highest possible educational potential".  We support our teaching staff and students through decision making and planning. We are responsible for making sure that the budgets are maintained and have roles in supporting and advocating for our school.  Skills such as communication, planning, finance are useful, as are a collaborative and team focused approach to meetings and issues resolution.

I am a passionate Beckenham School supporter but my priorities have changed and I won't be standing in the election at the end of the year.  We have about 10 meetings a year and some preparation time is also required.  In all probably maximum about 4 hours a month.  Not a huge commitment for incredible rewards and satisfaction.  I am very proud of the achievements the Board has made in recent times and I hope that some of you might consider putting your name forward.

There is always reluctance to stand for something in case you don't win or get elected, and I know that being a trustee isn't for everyone.  However if you have the skills (or recognise these skills in someone else), I would challenge you to stand despite the potential outcome, win or lose.  From the other side I can promise it's pretty concerning being on the Board and wondering if there will be enough people to have an election!  Don't worry about not knowing what to do; the School Trustees Association has plenty of resources and training to help you through; here is a short video on what it's all about (http://www.trustee-election.co.nz/).

If you'd like to know more please get in touch with any of the current Board members - http://www.beckenham.school.nz/index.php/people/board-of-trustees.

Congratulations

Roxy Murfin and Jimmy Middleditch have been selected to represent Canterbury in football. They will play in a tournament against 21 other South Island teams in October. It's a huge achievement for both these players who trialled against strong competition to be selected.

Roxy Murfin placed third in the Canterbury Primary Schools fencing competition last weekend.

PTA News

ASB Summer Starter

We have created a Beckenham School Team for the ASB Summer Starter on Sunday 26 November. Beckenham School will receive 50c per KM for every person from the school community that joins our school team and participates in the ASB Summer Starter. So get your friends, family, neighbours and work mates signed up through the Beckenham School Team. 10km, 4km and Kids 1.5km Dash, Duck & Dive options. Adults $20, 10-15 years $10, under 9s $5, 1.5km option $15. The perfect way to fundraise for our new outfit spaces! How many children will we spot wearing their house tops on the day?
http://bit.ly/2vgIuvK

Beckenham Tea Towels

You should have received a flyer in your child's bag, about the PTA Tea towel fundraiser. These beautiful tea towels will be available by advance order only, for just $10 each. To order, click here. Orders need to be received by the end of the term, Friday 29th Sept.

Staff Profile - Michelle Maule

Kia ora koutou. This will be my 22nd year teaching and almost all of it at Beckenham School! Yes I love being here! Every year is different and there have been many varied roles and opportunities at Beckenham that have enabled me to be challenged and continuously learning.  I am married to Simon, who is a mortgage broker, and we have a 13 year old son, Ruben, who has been at Beckenham for 8 years and has now just started Cashmere High School as a Year 9. My mother was a Solomon Islander and my father is from England so we have a rich cultural background. Simon, Ruben and I live in one of the most amazing places in the world, Governors Bay. At the end of the day, we love feeling like we are going on holiday when we drive over the hill. It is an incredibly peaceful place and we all love walking in the hills and playing basketball together. Recently my school focus has been on creating a culture of wellbeing, supporting our staff to develop strategies for increased wellbeing and explicitly teaching wellbeing practices to empower our children and to ensure learning is optimal. I have participated in Mindfulness training (Pause, Breathe, Smile) and support the wellbeing team at school. I am also about to embark on study in Positive Psychology/Education and Strengths Based Practice.

Rebekah Stoop

Community Notices

NEW MEMBERS & COACHING OPPORTUNITIES BECKENHAM TENNIS CLUB

Beckenham Tennis Club Motto is to be family friendly our goal is for families to play tennis together
We are open for NEW members to play tennis.

•             Registration interest on our new web site:  www.beckenhamtennisclub.co.nz
•             Pee Wee Junior First Day Saturday 28 October 8.30am (already had some coaching), 9.30am class for beginners.
•             Junior/Intermediate TEAMS (children can serve a ball) coaching for two weeks in September prior to school holidays.

•             ADULT – EASY TENNIS COACHING for beginner adults coming back into tennis or learning.  Tuesday morning group or Saturday afternoon (after 4pm).

HAVE A GO DAY sponsored by Canterbury Tennis – Sat & Sunday the 2nd and 3rd September for all people interested in trying out tennis = 1-4pm
Will have spot prizes and Sausage Sizzle

Contact: Leanne Dunbar cell 0275 316 026 landline ph 9606021

Do you have no time after school with all your child's activities to be able to fit in swimming lessons?  Well you aren't alone!  MAC's & Bumble Bees Swim School  are running an intensive holiday programme that will help with this issue.  Get your swimming tuition in over 5 consecutive days and make great progress quickly.
Dates:  Monday 9th - Friday 13th October
Times:  9am - 3pm (Bumble Bees) & 1.30pm - 5pm (MAC's).  All lessons are 30 minutes long
Cost:  $75.00

Call Louise now on 332 4671 or email bees.swim@xtra.co.nz to book in.

Expect Trains

The rail line has been closed since the November earthquake and we need to make sure people have not become complacent around the railway.
Your local school or home may not be located next to the rail line but at some point you and your family or friends will no doubt use a rail crossing on their travels.

Our key safety messages are:

• Always expect trains from either direction and at any time
• If you are in a car, always slow down as you’re approaching a level crossing and be prepared to STOP
• Look out for trains, and obey signs and signals
• Stay off railway tracks. Only cross the railway at approved railway level crossing points.

Port Hills Athletics

Registration days:
Sunday 17 th September 2-4pm
Wednesday 20 th September 6-7pm
Clubrooms Hansen Park, Opawa
Info: T&F Club Captain
Sarah Clapp
gandsclapp@gmail.com
WWW.PORTHILLS@ORG.NZ

Christchurch Vegan Expo

Air Force Museum of New Zealand, Harvard Ave, Wigram.
10am – 4:30 pm
Sunday, October 8, 2017

Studies have shown eating excess meat is causing health issues, so whether you are looking at reducing your meat intake by including Meatless Mondays into your family’s diet, or if you already eat a wide range of vegetarian/vegan meals, you will find something at the 2017 Christchurch Vegan Expo to interest you.

Enjoy great vegan food, watch top veggie chefs display their cooking secrets, learn about vegetarian living and enjoy celebrating cruelty-free, pro-planet lives with Christchurch’s vegetarian and vegan community. Whether you are vegetarian or not, you will love the variety of foods and entertainment on offer, which includes a special kid’s zone and bouncy castle.

Eftpos and plenty of free parking will be available.
Kids free (12 and under), adults $5 (tickets available on the door).

More info: veganexpo.org.nz 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/666845676847643/

New Zealand Football and Mainland’s action-packed holiday football programme is a great way for young players to have fun and develop their football skills at the same time.

Available from one to three consecutive days per week.
Suitable for children aged 7-14 years old. Children will be placed in groups relative to their age and ability
Girls only sessions also available (numbers permitting).
Each session includes skill-based training, so kids can learn the tricks and techniques to become better players. There are also plenty of chances to play football games in a fun environment, and experience the thrill of putting those skills into practice.
Keen to play? Click here to register

Starfish Swim School

Bookings for the October holiday program
are now open!
Week one:
2 nd – 6 th October
Week two:
9 th – 13 th October.
Cost is $62 for the week or $105 for both weeks.
Email: info@starfishswimschool.co.nz
Or phone us at: 03 3381795
2 Nash Road, Halswell



Book Club Issue 6 is now available.  visit  https://bookclub.scholastic.co.nz/ to order

CASPA

CASPA is now accepting enrolments for the up and coming October Holiday Programme, please book online via caspa.aimyplus.com or call 03 3499260

Meet in the Middle, Sunday 15 October 

Celebrate the opening of Te Ara Ōtākaro, the Avon Trail, by joining the walk or ride along the river from New Brighton or the City to Kerrs Reach for a grand family fun day, with a regatta, kids activities, food and live entertainment. For details: www.middle.nz


Weekly Writing Classes - for years 4-13.  8 Saturdays each term from 10am - 12pm at Hagley College.
To register go to : http://www.schoolforyoungwriters.org/

Kiwi Volley 

Holiday Fun programme for year 7 & 8 students takes place on 11th, 12th and 13rd October 2017, between 9am and 12pm at St. Margaret's College, Cost: $60 per person. These sessions are full of fun and they include a mini tournament. Complete beginners are welcome! Players will learn all the basic skills, meet other Volleyball players and have a ton of fun!
 Register at:  https://www.canterburyvolleyball.org/kiwivolleyball-holiday-programme

Kids Karate Classes

Help your child build confidence, self-control, and a healthy body and mind through a traditional martial art. Port Hills Karate supports a safe, caring and respectful learning environment at Christchurch South Intermediate.
Principal Instructor, Dan Jakes has been training in karate for over thirty years. Dan holds a third degree black belt and is a former National Champion and NZ Representative. Dan has twenty years of coaching experience and is also a qualified teacher.
For more information:
Visit: http://www.porthillskarate.nz/
Phone: 03 3665058 or 021 408036
Email: dan@sanctuaryhealth.co.nz

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Apologies for the lack of newsletter last Friday. With no internet from Friday morning through to the end of Tuesday, communications at school certainly became very challenging. Thank you all for bearing with us through this and for keeping in touch via the school cell phone. We are VERY pleased to have our normal internet services fully returned.

Building update:

I was going to advise last Friday that the demolition of Rooms 12 and 13 would begin this week - however, those of you who have driven or walked by will have noticed that they are now fully demolished and removed!

New Entrant teacher update:

Next week we formally welcome Kristika Burridge to our New Entrant team. Kristika has been doing lots of relieving in the school this year, and from Monday, will be covering for Elizabeth Drummond (Gail Hulme) whilst she and her husband go on a long awaited holiday to Italy. When Elizabeth returns next term, Kristika will continue on as the fourth teacher in the New Entrant team, as the new entrant numbers increase.

Learning Conferences

Our New Entrants (in Hub 10 and 11) have had their learning conferences this week and the rest of the school have theirs next week, on Tuesday and Thursday.


If your child normally goes to BOSCO, they will start at the earlier time of 2pm on those days.

The Champion St buses will leave Champion st at 1:40pm to be back at school at 2pm. You will need to let your child know if you want them to walk home, OR to go up to the East Hub and sign in there for the supervised hour. All children who are waiting at school will need to go to the East Hub - if children are waiting on the playground for parents, we will take them to the East Hub.

If you have not yet booked your learning conference, please do this as soon as possible by going to
www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and entering the code ay2w2

Wellbeing

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Canterbury Primary Principals' Conference in Hanmer on Monday and Tuesday this week. One of the excellent speakers was Dr Lucy Hone, speaking about Positive Psychology and strategies to promote Wellbeing.

A key concept was the idea of being able to identify our Character Strengths - what are the strengths that each of us, including our children, bring to each day and each situation? One of the areas that the children will be focussing on in their learning conference discussions with you is their strengths - the areas of their learning that they are experiencing success and achievement in. There will be important character strengths that underpin these successes such as persistence, attention to detail, curiosity, humour and teamwork.

Recognising and celebrating our character strengths are an important part of developing resilience and wellbeing. You can help your child to see their strengths by helping them to identify and name them, and the learning conference process is one great place to do this.

I look forward to seeing many of you during the learning conferences at school next week.

Regards
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

2018 Term Dates

 Citizen of the Week

Olivia Wilson - Year 6

Olivia, you are a superstar in our team. You are a motivated learner and always try your best at everything that you do. You consistently demonstrate a positive and caring attitude and are a great friend to others. You have excellent self-management skills and are a positive role model to others. You are extremely reliable and are always willing to lend a helping hand. We love having you in our team. Well done!

Angus Bowden - Year 6

Angus, we are so lucky to have you at Beckenham School! You are an outstanding role model who consistently demonstrates our values of 'we get there together', 'we care' and 'we make a difference'. Your thoughtful consideration of others' viewpoints and feelings shows your exemplary nature, which is highly appreciated by those around you. Your sense of humour shines through in all that you do and we love the laughter you bring to our hub. Keep being awesome, Angus! Tino pai!

Sharni Fa'avesi

Sharni, you are a shining star in Team Koru. You demonstrate 'We Love Learning' each and every day by staying focused and challenging yourself. You are a kind and caring friend and always do your best to help others by role modelling excellent self-management skills. Keep up the great work, Sharni. We love having you as part of our team. Ka pai!

Sharing our Learning

Pōhutukawa Team

Team challenges

This term, the Pōhutukawa hub have been participating in 15 minute mini challenges.  Our aim is to give our children the opportunity to explore different passions through art, teamwork, and passion time. This also gives our children more of an opportunity to explore the key competencies of We Love Challenge & We Get There Together through agentic learning. Here are some photos of the children in action.

Pōhutukawa persuasive writing

This term the Pohutukawa team have been working on persuasive writing.  The topic for this has been ‘fidget spinners - pro or con?’  Students have been confidently stating their opinions and providing many reasons to support them.  Here is an example  from one of our talented writers.

I think fidget spinners should be banned 
Did you know that there is a world shortage of ballpoint pens because of fidget spinners?

One of the reasons I think fidget spinners are bad is because they distract you from doing work which means you could fall behind in learning, and they were actually made for people with ADHD, but it may seem they were targeted at school children as they are so popular.

They should not be allowed in schools because children would be in despair if they lost them, and worse still people could steal them from other people’s bags and that would be terribly upsetting. They are also “over priced” but the average fidget spinner is three to fifteen dollars. (did you know that the most expensive fidget spinner is three million dollars?)

Another reason fidget spinners are bad is that they are highly addictive. You may think that’s a good thing because it keeps kids away from screens, but did you know that spinning a fidget spinner for too long can damage your skin!

So there are many reasons why fidget spinners are bad, I bet you don’t want one now because of all the horrible things you have heard about them.
By Ruby McNiven

Safe Travelling to School-We Care & We Get There Together

We have noticed a large number of our children are crossing roads in unsafe places and we are concerned this could lead to a tragic accident. Please discuss the following with your child(ren) so they arrive to and from school safely.
NZ Transport Agency has some helpful road safety tips for our children:
As a way to get around, walking is an easy, healthy and safe way to travel. There are a number of tips you can follow to keep it that way.
How to stay safe when walking
Use pedestrian crossings or cross at traffic signals.
Stop and check at every driveway.
Walk on the footpath, close to the houses and away from the road.
Hold hands if walking with a young child near roads or in carparks.

When there’s no pedestrian crossing

Be patient and cross the road only when it’s safe to do so (it takes time for a vehicle to stop)
then use the kerb drill:

• Stop one step back from the kerb.
• Look and listen for traffic coming from all directions.
• If there is traffic coming, wait until it has passed and then look and listen for traffic again.
• If there is no traffic coming, walk quickly straight across the road.
• While crossing, look and listen for traffic, wherever it may come from.

When picking up or dropping off your children

• Ensure children get in and out on the footpath side of the car.
• Park safely, away from yellow lines, intersections and driveways.
• Drive slowly outside schools and be prepared for surprises.
• Never double park outside a school.
• Walk to the school gate with your children in the mornings.
• After school, walk to the school gate to meet your children and walk them to the car.
• Take extra care on wet days.

Head-lice/Nits/Kutu

We have had a number of cases of head-lice at school recently. Anyone can get head lice – it doesn’t matter how clean or dirty a person’s hair is. Head lice spread by crawling from one person’s hair to another’s – usually between people who are in close contact, such as family or school classmates.
We do need to make sure that all known cases of head-lice are treated with urgency as they can infest others and this puts all of our children and teachers at risk. Untreated they can cause severe irritation and even infection.
We will notify you if your child presents at school with head lice, and ask you to take them home and treat them if you haven't already.
We are able to make a referral to the Public Health Nurse if you are experiencing difficulty getting rid of persistent head-lice.
We have confirmed with the local GPs that visits for children up to 13 are free, and the GP can prescribe parasidose shampoo or a new treatment called dimethicone 4%. Both of these are subsidised by Pharmac and free with a prescription.
You can find out more about nit treatment here: CDHB Head Lice Information
Click here for a demonstration video. This is an American video, and it gives very detailed, step by step instructions that match the CDHB handout on how to comb out nits.
Remember:

• Anyone can get head lice.
• Check your children’s hair every week for head lice.
• If you find head lice or eggs – you need to treat them.
• Repeat the treatment: 7–10 days later for chemical treatments and weekly for wet combing.
• For more information, talk to your pharmacist, doctor or nurse.

This fortnight, students and staff have looked at two aspects of Wellbeing:

NZSTA - Becoming a school trustee from NZSTA on Vimeo.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Isolda Rees-Stevenson who has been accepted into Burnside High School's Specialist Music Programme to study vocals in 2018.  This is the first time in six years that a voice student has been selected so it definitely is an achievement worth noting.

Congratulations to Jordan Hardwick who has been successful in winning a leadership scholarship to Cashmere High School for 2018.

Congratulations also to Kaia Joergensen who was recently selected in the Canterbury Primary A hockey team. The team will compete at the Collier Trophy in Tauranga in the second week of the October school holidays.

Congratulations to Gemma Campbell who has just competed in Auckland at the Allstars Olympia Cheerleading competition. Gemma's team took gold and won a bid to compete in Hawaii in 2019. These girls only formed as a team this year and to have them bring gold home and a bid to compete in Hawaii is such an achievement.

Congratulations to all of the children who participated in the CantaMath competition this week, in the team challenges, the class project and with individual entries. A very large number of our students won Escellence and Highly Commended awards for their entries and the class project entry from Nicky Dunlop's maths class won the Supreme Award for the Class Project!
The project was a huge mural, depicting a crossword about learning across the Curriculum. The mural will be installed on the outside of the West Hub underfloor heating plant, next to the junior sandpit next week.

Sports News

Year 5-8 Winter Tournament

On Monday 31st July the year 5-8 students braved the mud at Hagley Park to compete in the South  Zone’s Winter Tournament. Our winter sport teams played games against St Martins, Hillview, Opawa, Waltham, Steiner and Thorrington in football, netball and hockey. Games were fast and furious 5 minute halves and gave our children the opportunity to play many different teams, none of whom we would usually verse during winter sport.  Congratulations to our Year 7/8 hockey team, coached and managed by Jenni Adams, who qualified for the Canterbury’s Winter Tournament on the 24th of August. A huge thank you to all the parents who offered their time, enthusiasm and expertise to manage teams and referee games.

Cheeseman Ski Race day:

It wasn't a perfect blue bird day so visibility was a bit hit and miss at times but  the kids all had a fantastic time and all raced really well.  Well done to everyone who participated and special congratulations to Winnie Goldsbury who was third in the girls' year 5/6 group.

PTA News

Evening of Style

Thanks to everyone who attended - the models, Becks Mason, Sarah Middleditch, those who had a stall & the businesses that offered prizes to the 'Evening of Style'
We received fantastic feedback on a very enjoyable night for all & raised over $4300 profit
This money is targeted for the 'Outdoor Spaces'
It will be used to purchase the NEW Basketball Hoop system & three NEW Netball systems for your children to enjoy (If grant applications are unsuccessful)
So look out for them, arriving soon!!

ASB Summer Starter

We have created a Beckenham School Team for the ASB Summer Starter on Sunday 26 November. Beckenham School will receive 50c per KM for every person from the school community that joins our school team and participates in the ASB Summer Starter. So get your friends, family, neighbours and work mates signed up through the Beckenham School Team. 10km, 4km and Kids 1.5km Dash, Duck & Dive options. Adults $20, 10-15 years $10, under 9s $5, 1.5km option $15. The perfect way to fundraise for our new outfit spaces! How many children will we spot wearing their house tops on the day?
http://bit.ly/2vgIuvK

Staff Profile - Jenny Diggle

Kia ora koutou!
Teaching had appealed to me as a potential career from a young age. My mum is an early childhood teacher back in England, but she always tried to steer me away from pursuing a career in education. Today, both my sister and I are teachers and my dad has retrained as a careers advisor, so we have all ended up in the educational field, despite her advice! Before teaching, my work followed my love of horses. I worked in the USA, Canada, Australia and NZ as a riding instructor and trail guide. My most memorable job was guiding multi day horse treks through the Victorian Alps.

I met my partner, Sam, while spending a summer mountain biking in Fernie B.C. After a failed Canadian visa attempt, I decided to take a chance in relocating to what was at that time a recently earthquake shaken Christchurch, much to my parents’ dismay! On completion of my teacher training, I worked at Amuri Area School and Gilberthorpe School before starting at Beckenham at the start of 2016. A highlight of my teaching career has been travelling to Nepal where I volunteered in the Solukhumbu region as a teacher trainer. This was a challenging, but incredibly rewarding experience, creating engaging learning experiences with very limited resources.

I feel most at home in the mountains and nearly all my recreational pursuits stem from my love of spending time in the hills. Trail running with my dog, Denver, mountain biking, snow boarding, horse riding and tramping are some of the ways that I enjoy connecting with nature.
I feel extremely privileged to be a part of the Beckenham School community. I relish working alongside an incredible bunch of passionate teachers who are so dedicated in providing engaging learning opportunities; Sometimes I feel like I enjoy our learning programme more than the children do!

Staff Profile - Jeanette Amies

Hi, my name is Jeanette and I have been a teacher aide at Beckenham School for 10 years. I live in Prebbleton with my husband, Scott and son Alexander. We have a large section where there is plenty of scope to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes- gardening. I also love reading, having a cuppa with friends and family and going for walks especially if it's through native bush.  I feel very lucky to be part of Beckenham School. I love supporting the children in their learning and whenever they come up to me in the playground to have a chat or just to say hello, it always makes my day!

Community Notices

Smarttouch 2017

We welcome your entries into the term 4 Smarttouch rugby competition. See the flyer for dates, times and costs.
Steps to register:
Get a team organised and appoint a team manager and coach.
Enter online using the URL address www.sporty.co.nz/smarttouch Entries open 21st Aug
On the Smarttouch home page fill out the touch team manager sign up form and submit it.
You will then receive an email giving you the link to enter your player details.
Entries close 29th Sept

Remember the competition is social MIXED and you need to have a minimum of 3 girls on the field at a time. Grades: Year0-2, Year 3-4, Year 5-6, and Year 7-8.
We are all looking forward to a great season,
From the Smarttouch Team.

The Buddy Zone Holiday Programme

Social skills group for ages 6-14 years.  Held at the Village Community Centre, Ilam.  Term 3 holidays Wed & Fri 8:30am - 4pm.  Call today to book your place, 0212436677.

Imagination Yoga  - Children's Yoga - Weekly Classes!

Parents, your Child​ will​ ​delight in their super-​magical-fun ​yoga ​adventure​s​​, whilst you ​plant positive seeds for ​their future ​mind-body vitality​.​ Double positive!
​Tuesdays 3:30-4:15pm for 4-6yrs: Huntsbury Community Centre, Huntsbury Ave
​Thursdays 3:30-4:30pm for 7-12 yrs: Lyttelton Union Chapel, Winchester St.
​Saturdays 10.00-10:45am​ for 4-6yrs: Lyttelton Union Chapel, Winchester St.
​Saturdays 11.00-12pm ​for 7-12 yr​s​: Lyttelton Union Chapel, Winchester St​.​
​Drop-in welcome!
More info: siouxiesolar.com/imaginationyoga
Contact Lou 0226 250 321 or hello@siouxiesolar.com ​

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

It's hard to believe that we are two weeks into this term already!
Harder still to realise that we are getting to the home stretch of the building programme, with both of our new buildings now opened and in use! We are still pinching ourselves at how gorgeous they are, and how very lucky we feel to be working in such warm, beautiful, and modern learning spaces. We are looking forward very much to having all of our school back on the same site at the start of next term.

The school holidays were some of the most intense I have seen with work happening on every aspect of the site, to ensure that the buildings were ready, the resources moved in, the admin area set up and the new part of the building site carefully fenced off. Our Ferndale colleagues have moved from their tiny Room 20 location into their purpose built space that is part of the East Hub too. Once again, a huge thank you to all of our staff who came in during the holidays, second week in particular, for long days, to ensure that we were ready for school to open for the first day of Term 3. Thanks to the parents who came in to help with the shifting and special thanks to Tony Lee, our caretaker, who has worked tirelessly and continues to be at everyone's beck and call. Because his garage is now within the building site, his job has been made even more challenging and he would surely win any staff 'steps' challenge we might have with the daily kilometres he is clocking up around the school.

A bouquet also to our New Entrants and their teachers who have worked under less than ideal conditions these past two weeks with the power continuing to trip out in their buildings and one heat pump out of action. Today they relocated to the new building for part of their day and had lots of fun learning in that space. We are working as hard as we can to get a replacement heat pump installed in this block.

Building update:

Cubbies for bag storage are not quite finished, but we are expecting them to arrive and be installed in both hubs in the next couple of weeks.

The asphalt courtyard at the end of the East Hub finally went down today! This area will eventually have a half basketball and half netball court painted on it.

Our internet fibre from Enable was shifted yesterday (accounting for no internet and no phones first thing this morning) and the demolition of the old admin block will now proceed sometime next week.

We have secured funding to relocate two native trees, a kauri and a totara, that are between R12 and Sandwich Road. These will be moved at the end of next week to a new location on Eastern Tce, behind R20.

We have identified that the wrong material  was used in the road outside the new East Hub as it contains crushed glass and should be used as a sub-base, not a top layer. Next week a new layer of more suitable material will be put down and compacted. The crushed glass does not pose a hazard, but is not what we want to have on that surface.

The old verandah block (Rooms 1-4) is currently being stripped out and a lot of work is going on inside as our new library, office and staffroom is developed. The foundations for the deck that will lead into the library (Rm 1) are being put down.

The Hall and foyer are continuing to be worked on. When the admin block is demolished, we should see the new foyer roof go on, and that work move much more quickly.

On top of all that, we have our painters in the school, beginning our 7 yearly repaint, changing the colours of our existing buildings to match the new buildings.

The best news we had today is that the park is reopened and we had children playing on it again today for the first time in ages! Hooray for the sun. Next week is looking warm and dry at the start of the week, so we hope that goes a long way to drying out our grounds even further.

Year 7/8 enrolments for 2018

Last night we had a fantastic turnout for our Year 7/8 Open Evening in the new building. A big thank you to the large group of senior students who shared their experiences of learning in our intermediate team, and to our teachers. We know that not all of you who might have wanted to attend will have been able to make it. Please do make contact with Nicky Dunlop (nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz) who is our Y7/8 team leader, or myself, if you would like to have a look around the new Y7/8 learning space and talk aobut how learning happens in this team. WIn a couple of weeks we will be sending out a request for Year 6 parents to let us know your intentions for 2018 so now is the time to be asking any questions you might still have.

Kind regards
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Citizen of the Week

Levi Dixon - Year 2

Levi, we are so impressed with your initiative, creativity, enthusiasm and top quality work. You have embraced collaborative learning and we love how innovative and fabulous you are at solving a learning challenge! You are living the Beckenham School values every day. Arohanui!

Elise Lester - Year 8

Elise, you are a kind, caring and community minded member of the Kauri Whanau. Your interactions with peers and staff demonstrate empathy and integrity and a genuine desire to put other’s needs ahead of your own. You are generous with your time and energy and are intrinsically motivated towards social action. You possess strong personal values and stand up for what you believe is right. Elise, you are exceptionally dedicated in your pursuit of further learning, demonstrating a self directed approach and perseverance in the face of challenge. Thank you for your contributions to our learning community. 

Sharing our Learning

Koru Team

In Team Koru, we love our new learning space! We have been exploring the different areas and establishing what we use them for.
Discovery learning happens every morning. During this time, we can choose to work on lots of different things – games, writing, construction with blocks or lego, play with the Sylvanian families or dolls or reading. We also have a maker space (kitchen area) with lots of materials including fabric, tape, scissors, paint, dye, crayons and much more!  This area is perfect for art and creating – some of us have made costumes, puppets and even masks this week.


The construction zone has also been very popular. Some of us have met and made new friends from other classes. We are fast becoming one, big, happy family, all learning together. In the construction zone, we tend to work in small groups. We have made mini shops, enjoyed dramatic play with Lego and doll families, and some of us have created a dinosaur city! The cars and trucks are always a hit too, and we like working on towers together.
At times, some of us like to work on our own and the new space is perfect for this. It is a lot quieter than our old classrooms thanks to the new sound proofing, and it is quite easy to find a nook or spot for drawing or reading. Mindful colouring has been especially popular.


The theatre is where we gather altogether for a morning korero, singing or presentations from the teachers.


We have also written protocols and responsibilities for the different areas and our teachers are very impressed with how we are caring for resources. We are putting things away and tidying up speedily.
Most important, a HUGE thank you to all of the parents, grandparents and other friends who helped with our moving process.

School Notices

Coffee Cart and Children's Hot Chocolates

Nick has started bringing the coffee cart onto the park access road, near the junior playground on her coffee morning days (Mon, Thu, Fri) to hopefully make it accessible from both ends of the school, whilst the building is happening on the Sandwich Road side.
We have asked Nick to stop making hot chocolates for children after 8:45am so that any drinks that are made are able to be consumed before the school day begins at 8:55am.

All Right Parenting

To check out the All Right Parenting, go to www.allright.org.nz/parents.
 You’ll find:
A page dedicated to as many parenting courses and groups available in the Greater Chch area - around 70!
Helpful guides on the most common parenting questions we hear - how to help your child: keep calm, manage worries, be grateful and kind and feel good and have fun
Guides on how mums and dads can look after themselves too
Downloadable routine charts for younger kids and tweens and teens
Weekend and school holiday ideas
And loads more…

The Parenting Place

The Parenting Place is a superb resource for parents and educators, they provide support, advice, educational courses and workshops to help make family life enjoyable and fun. The website is extremely comprehensive, we encourage you to take some time to orientate yourself around the website; the ‘articles’ are a great place to start.
Here is a link to a recent article on ‘The working parent’s school survival guide’.

Wellbeing Update

A huge thank you to those who gave feedback for our school Wellbeing definition. We are now promoting the definition across classes, and focusing on one aspect (dot point) each fortnight/week. We will also feature information in upcoming newsletters. Talking with your child about the definition will grow their understanding of what wellbeing is…feel free to discuss at home.
Beckenham’s Wellbeing Definition:

Sports News

Congratulations to... 

Daisy, Rosie and Kaia who competed in the NZ School Orienteering Championships in the first week of the school holidays. There were about 50 girls competing in their event and all three of the Beckenham girls were placed in the top five for both the short and long events.Short event: Kaia 1st, Daisy 4th, Rosie 5th
Long event: Kaia 1st, Daisy 2nd, Rosie 5th
What an awesome achievement. A shining example of girls who love challenge!

Canterbury Primaries Verse Intermediates Cross Country

Following a fantastic qualifying run in the Canterbury’s Cross Country, three children from the Kauri hub represented Beckenham at the Canterbury Primaries verse Intermediates Cross Country. The standard of competition was extremely high and the course a challenging 3 kilometres over varied terrain. Still, our runners worked hard to achieve a fantastic result.

Alex Braun - qualified -  Year 8 Boys
Amelia Cunningham - qualified - Year 8 Girls
Kaia Joergensen - qualified - Year 8 Girls

PTA News

Staff Profile - Kerilea Quinn

My name is Kerilea, I come from a country background living out toward Burnham all of my childhood (not many neighbours/public buses or tar sealed roads at that stage, now it's a bit different). Pet day involved taking goats, lambs and ponies to school. Once the teenage years arrived, my interests somewhat changed to alternative desires and challenges, pulling me townward. I started my working career in Wholesale & Retail Sales, lastly being lucky enough to travel around the South Island organising corporate apparel as a Sales Manager. I then had my children.....which saw me alter my vocation to fit alongside being 'A Mum'. I began to grow a keen interest to work in a classroom environment and am now a teacher Aide at Beckenham. I have two boys, one is a current Beckenham Year 4 student, the other is 18, flown the coop and doing an apprenticeship in the Building Industry. I enjoy working as part of a team here, to promote everything great amongst our students. It's a pleasure to work in such a friendly, family focused school and community, all holding such a passionate vision of happiness, wellbeing and success.

Gayle McNaughton

Community Notices

Music Lessons

After school music lessons available in St Martins area.
Piano, Clarinet, Saxophone and recorder.
All levels and ages. Please call Josie on 0224103616 for more information. 

We are so looking forward to seeing everyone back at school tomorrow for the start of Term 3. We are also extra pleased that we had today as a staff only day, after the flooding in the weekend, having Sandwich Road and Eastern Terrace closed this morning, and then having our power, water and internet each go off at different times during the day today, as the builders did their final work to get everything ready for tomorrow!

We will be having an opening for our second, new building tomorrow morning at 8am. We will gather on the park side of the new building at 8am for the opening ceremony. Everyone is very welcome. We are keeping these openings brief, with the purpose being to get into the building and use it. We are planning a big naming celebration for Term 4, when the building programme will be nearly finished, and the whole school will be back on site.

The school site has significantly changed during the holiday period, particularly with regards to access. HRS have moved their site office to the staff carpark, and have almost finished 'making good' the park access road that they have been using up until now.

Because the front of the school is now the building site, getting into the school grounds becomes a wee bit more challenging this term.

We have four primary access points into the school.

We are very aware that parking is going to be even more challenging this term than it has been before with trade vehicles likely to be parking in Sandwich Road. Staff have been asked not to park on Sandwich Road and we will be parking in neighbouring streets and walking a short distance.

We encourage those of you who can, to walk to school, and prevent the parking chaos that is likely to ensue if everyone tries to bring cars and park as close to school as they can. 

The PTA are offering to hook people up with other interested families to get 'walking buses' going. Historically Beckenham School has had THREE walking buses operating- therefore the PTA would like to facilitate an opportunity for people who are interested in getting the ‘walking buses’ operational again an opportunity to connect. 

Fill out this survey & the PTA will match you up with a coordinator in your area: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdb91uwMhd4CfyUo2…/viewform

Want to know more about how walking buses work- read this information provided by NZTA: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/…/…/docs/wsb-coordinators-guide.pdf

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Just a brief end of term message from us all here at school to wish you all a very relaxing and safe holiday break. Thank you all for the support you have given to staff over the past weeks as we prepare for the first of the BIG moves these holidays!
Today has been electric with excitement as even our New Entrants were spotted carrying boxes of their reading books over to their new learning space for Term 3. We have had parents in most of the last two weeks helping individual teachers as they move out, and the skip, emptied this morning, is almost certainly nearly full again this afternoon!

It was the last day of teaching and learning in our original verandah block today. Next term this building will be gutted and transformed into our library, admin area and staffroom.

Hub 1

Hub 2

Hub 3/4

Michelle and I will be in tomorrow, to tackle our office!

Help needed in the holidays:

We would love to have a small team of adult helpers to move on the morning of Tuesday 18th July from 9am.
If a couple of trailers were available that would be helpful too. We will be moving Hub 5/6 from the west building into the east building, and Hubs 7, 8 & 9 also into the East building.
If we can get a team of 5 or so people, we should be able to have this done by midday. (No children please, as you will technically be going into the building site).
Please email me if you can help, so I know how many people we can rely on. Thanks principal@beckenham.school.nz

The teachers are all heading away this afternoon for a very well-earned break. None of them will be in to school again until Wed 19th July, when they will be back to set up their new spaces.

Please remember that we have a Staff Only Day on Monday 24 July and school will begin on Tuesday 25th July. BOSCO will be open for bookings on that day. They are likely to fill up quickly, so if you haven't yet booked, contact Yvette manager@bosco.org.nz as soon as possible.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Litter Free Lunches

We are re-establishing our litter free lunch policy, to reduce our school waste. We encourage families to consider using containers or removing wrappers from lunch items. Children will be asked to take any wrappers home in their lunch boxes to dispose of. Many thanks for your support for our eco-friendly school.