Category Archives: Weekly Newsletters

Update for Wednesday 21st February 2018

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Cyclone Gita and impact on School

Kia ora koutou

At this stage, we are planning to be open for school as usual tomorrow morning.

Whilst the Christchurch City Council has put a State of Emergency in place, each school Board of Trustees has the responsibility for making the decision about whether a school opens or closes.

We are conscious, when we do close the school, of the impact on families who need to continue with as much normality as possible, and we don't make this decision lightly.

A big consideration in deciding what to do will be the state of Eastern Terrace on the eastern boundary of the school in the morning. When that road is closed and flooded, there is a significant impact on children's ability to access the school safely on foot, and the impact on traffic is also severe.

We will assess the situation again in the morning and send out a text.

If you decide that it is safer to keep your child(ren) at home tomorrow, please let the office know by leaving a message on the school answerphone.

Ngā mihi

Sandy and the team

Feb 2018: Special Bulletin – Farewell to a dear friend of the school

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With the fondest memories of a dear friend and colleague

Kia ora koutou

As many of you may have read on the school, or neighbourhood Facebook pages, we heard the very sad news last week of the passing of Caroline Radcliffe, a very dear and loved colleague and friend of the Beckenham School community.


Caroline began her association with Beckenham School when she attended here as a child herself. She then sent her four daughters to the school, and then began working here in the office as the school secretary, a position she held for 30 years.

Caroline was the welcoming face that greeted everyone who came into the school, managing to get a laugh and a smile from even the most serious.

Along with her wicked sense of humour, she was renowned for her fabulous sense of style. She always looked immaculate, and ran many fashion shows at Beckenham as fundraisers.

Her bright lipstick and immaculately polished, extra-long nails, were legendary!

On her last day at Beckenham, we had a special "Glam up your nails" day - in honour of this gorgeous lady and her nails!


Caroline retired from Beckenham in October 2012 and moved to Blenheim with her husband Mike.

She passed away on Tuesday of last week, with her family around her.

A memorial service for Caroline will be held at 2pm this Friday 23rd February, at Lamb and Hayward, Wairakei Road. To all attending this service - you are encouraged to "Glam up your nails and lips" in honour of Caro.

At school this Friday, we will be encouraging those who remember Caroline, to 'glam up their nails' and put on their brightest lipstick, as a salute to this special lady. This will particularly apply to our staff and our Year 6, 7 & 8 children who were just 5, 6 & 7 year olds at the time that Caroline retired.

We will be flying our New Zealand flag at half mast on Friday, in memory of Caroline.

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter 9 February 2018

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Welcome back to the start of 2018! I hope you have all managed to have some holiday time with your whānau and caught some of the wonderful weather along the way.

Welcome to our 16 New Entrants who have started school this year, along with the 19 other new students from Years 1-8 who have also joined us. Welcome also to the 6 new students in the Ferndale unit, bringing their total numbers now to 12.

We also welcome new staff to the school: Hannah Elliott in the Year 7/8 team, and Jess McColl, Margaret Billett, and Sumiko Pollock in the Ferndale Unit.

Start of Year Learning Conferences

It was wonderful to see whānau and tamariki at Learning Conferences last week. We held 413 Learning Conferences over the two days for the 428 children on our start of year roll. That's over 96% - thank you all for your commitment and presence. We listened to the feedback that you shared with us from the mid-year learning conferences and, whilst the purpose of the start of year conferences is different, we used that feedback to inform and modify these latest conferences. We hope you found them informative and worthwhile.
We would appreciate you taking a couple of minutes to give us your feedback on your learning conference experience, by clicking on this link.

Mathematics - a problem-solving focused approach

During our three staff only days at the end of January, we were fortunate to have a day with Dr Bobbie Hunter from Massey University. The focus of the day was on "Developing a Community of Mathematical Inquiry"
Dr Hunter's research and approach was originally targeted at low decile schools with high Māori and Pasifika populations and the short introductory video below was produced two years ago. The results of this methodology  have been so successful, that the Ministry of Education are now supporting schools around New Zealand to work with Dr Hunter, and to use this approach in their teaching of mathematics. As a Community of Learning, Beckenham, along with St Martins and Cashmere High School, will be working with Bobbie this year, funded by the Ministry of Education, to develop our understanding of this approach. We are very excited to be working with Bobbie and her team and introducing this mathematical inquiry approach to our teaching and learning.

Senior Leadership

As most of you will know, Michelle Maule is on secondment to the Ministry of Education for the first half of this year. I am delighted to have the leadership support of Sue Leadbetter in the Acting Deputy Principal position during this time. Sue and I look forward to supporting all of our students and staff through the year ahead.


2018 looks set to be an exciting year, and we are all looking forward to working together with you and your children.

Ngā mihi
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Mon 12th - Thu 22nd Feb: Life Education visiting the school
Wed 14th Feb - first day of CSM band programme
Thu 15th Feb - first day of String lessons
Wed 21 Feb - Walk or Wheel Safely to School
Thu 22 Feb - School Swimming sports for years 5 - 8

Term Dates

Click here to view 2018 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Nika Turner-Germon - Year 3

Nika, you are an outstanding role-model in our team. The way you have started the year in Kōwhai has been incredibly impressive. You are kind and thoughtful and always on task. Tino Pai Nika!

School Notices

Life Education

From 12th February we will have the Life Education mobile classroom at school, with Harold the giraffe visiting to help teach us about our feelings, being unique and working as a team. Each home group will have two lessons in the classroom over the two week visit. 

Life Education is a charity that educates and empowers children to make healthy choices so they can live full and healthy lives. Every year they teach over 250,000 children about their body, friendships, their identity, food and nutrition and helpful and harmful substances.

'Today children and adolescents face a lot of challenges, including: obesity, substance use, mental health and well-being and bullying. The decisions we make as children can dramatically affect how we live our lives in the future – and this is why Life Education exists. Through education we help students to understand how decisions they make today can affect their future health and well-being.'

Lunchonline


Lunchonline have advised us that Sydenham Bakery are no longer able to supply lunches on Mondays and Tuesday.  This is due to very low order numbers which make it not viable to continue this service.  Lunch orders can still be made on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Pita Pit continues to be available through Lunchonline on Thursdays.  



Sunhats

A reminder that sunhats are required to be worn when outside during the school day. Please ensure that your child's hat is named so that, in the event it is misplaced, it can be returned to them. Sunhats can be purchased through the school office.


Building Update

We are so close to being finished the excitement is electric!
It's hard to remember back to when we first began this journey over 3 years ago, and even to Oct 2016 when the builders first arrived on site, but we are, fingers and toes crossed, about 4-6 weeks away from completion now. All of our buildings are basically finished and the final work is now happening in the car park extension.
This weekend a pump is being put into the ground (in the rainwater retention system that was dug into the grass area adjacent to the junior playground) so that excess water can be pumped away. We hope that this will improve the 'swamp' that develops in this space after any rain. There will still, unfortunately, be some time where we are not yet able to access this area, as there are now stones coming up through the grass, and there are sump covers (required for the rainwater retention system) that are hazards for children running through the area. A new landscaping plan is being considered, which is exciting, and will take some time, so our continued patience is required in this area.
Our next step is to get new signage up around the school.

Bike Stands

It is great to see so many of our children biking and scootering to school. The challenge that this has created, that you are no doubt aware of, is the enormous overcrowding issues in the bike stand area. Whilst we are working on doubling the size of the bike stand area, there is no fast fix for this, and we ask for patience and care from everyone using the bike stand each day to ensure that all the spaces are used and that all bikes are treated respectfully.

Parking on Sandwich Road     

There continues to be pressure on parking spaces on Sandwich Road.  Please be considerate of residents on Sandwich Road and do not block their driveways.  Residents need to be able to enter and exit their properties at any time of the day.                                                                                           

PTA News


We are sooooooo EXCITED!!!!
Mark your calendars- Friday 23rd March 2018 will be our first TWILIGHT FAIR since 2014. Let's showcase our NEW school & celebrate with the best fair ever!!! Thanks to wonderful Gail Harris from Platform Design Ltd for another stylish poster design

Calling all Artists, Musicians, business owners & generous soles…..We are on the hunt for donations of prizes, vouchers, cash, food, services & acts to help us to create an amazing Twilight Fair

If you are a business/person that can help, please click on the link for more detailed information: https://goo.gl/forms/UXBCuV3Z4iURxLhB3

All funds raised from the Twilight Fair will be added to the PTA ‘OUTDOOR SPACES’ FUND

Community Notices

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

CHRISTCHURCH UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB OPEN DAYS 

Sunday 25th February & Sunday 11th March at Spreydon Domain.
11am -1pm  Spreydon Domain - Domain Terrace.  A welcome back to our club members and welcome to all new players.
Inflatable Pitch, Target Shooting, Fun Games, Sausage Sizzle and Coffee
Fun for all the family!

Guitar Tuition

Want to learn to play guitar? Want to play your favourite songs? Want to be able to play in a band? Joe Jutha, a qualified musician would love to teach you! Have you tried to learn before but it seemed too hard? Joe has developed many different and exciting ways to teach students so don’t give up! Give it a try! $30/Half hour (Monthly deals are available).  Contact Joe for available times or to have a chat about what he can offer you!Guitar tutor Joe: 0221932976

Aquagym

459 Cashel St
Ph:381- 0299
Learn to Swim
& Coaching
AquaGym and Sumner Pool
Bookings still open for Term 1
Leaders in Aquatic Education






Final Beckenham School newsletter for 2017

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

This is definitely the FINAL newsletter of the year!

Did you get your child's report today?
Today your child(ren) should have brought home their report, stationery list and a letter about their teacher and team for 2018 and a request to book a learning conference for the start of the year.  We encourage you to order your stationery online through OfficeMax - the stationery lists are there also, and on our website.

BYOD for Year 5-8 students in 2018
Year 5-8 students are strongly encouraged to bring their own device to school in 2018. Any tablet, chromebook or laptop will work, however, if you are considering buying something new, then we would recommend a Chromebook. OfficeMax do a very reasonably priced bundle, again - this can be purchased online using the Office Max Back to School website.

Learning Conferences - 1 & 2 Feb
PLEASE book the learning conference now, before you go on holiday or forget, so you can tick that off your list and put your time in your diary!
The Booking link is www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and the code is pdfwh. Learning Conferences will be on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd February.

Year 8 Graduation
We had a fabulous celebration yesterday with the graduation of our 40 Year 8 students. Each and every one of them has made their own unique contributions to our school, and we wish them all the very best as they head to their various high schools in 2018.

Finally, I would like to share a huge THANK YOU to you all from all of the staff here at Beckenham for your support and encouragement through this challenging building year.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas a Happy New Year, and a very safe summer.

Ka kite koutou

Sandy and the team.

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Thu 1 Feb & Fri 2 Feb - Learning Conferences
Book NOW! www.schoolinterviews.co.nz CODE: pdfwh

Mon 5 Feb - classes begin 8:55am.

Click here to view 2018 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Torun Joergensen - Year 3

Torun, you are a friendly, polite, curious and motivated learner. You display a positive attitude towards your school work and learning tasks - you get to work on your tasks, settling quickly, focussing well and seeing activities through to completion.  These excellent self management skills make you a wonderful role model to others in large groups, small groups and in individual learning situations. You are a kind, caring friend to others and you show that you love learning and that you love a challenge by the way you give all new learning your best effort. Your growing confidence is letting these attributes shine.  We love your positive attitude and reliability in the Kowhai team. Well done Torun!

School Notices

School Office - Holiday hours
The school office will close for the summer holidays on Thursday 21st December at 3pm and will re-open on Monday 29th January.

Carisbrook Tournament

Three weeks ago, Kauri Whanau welcomed a team of 20 Year 7 & 8s from Carisbrook School in Dunedin for our annual sports interchange. We played three very close and exciting games of basketball, football and touch. One win and two narrow losses for us, saw the trophy head back down to Dunedin, this time.  Many thanks to the PTA for providing a scrumptious lunch for our visitors and to Aaron Flynn and Becky, Rachel, Joe and Jake from Cashmere High, who refereed our games. We look forward to winning the trophy back next April, when our whole team heads down to Dunedin on camp.


School Working Bee

We are still looking after a pair of loppers and a spade that were left behind after the recent working bee at school.  Please come to the office to claim them.
Many thanks.

Year 8 2018 School Based Vaccination Programme

We are pleased to inform you the Canterbury DHB will continue to offer a School Based Vaccination
Programme to Year 8 boys and girls, who have not completed their eleven year old vaccinations in
General Practice.
The School Based Vaccination programme will offer the two dose HPV vaccinations to protect
against genital warts, cervical cancer, throat and mouth cancers, and other types of cancers later in
life. In 2018 the programme has been extended to include a one dose Boostrix vaccination to
provide protection against Tetanus, Diphtheria and Whooping Cough.
To enable students to receive the vaccinations at school, a vaccination pack will be sent home in
Term one, Parent/Caregivers will need to complete and return the consent form to school.

Sports News

Canterbury Athletics
We were gifted with a respite from the intense heat of recent days to provide great conditions for Canterbury Athletics at Ashburton last Wednesday. Twelve children from Pohutukawa and Kauri represented our school and zone as they competed against the best of the best from our region. It is such an achievement to get through to this level of competition. We are very proud of all our athletes’ determination, character and preparation.

Kaia Joergenson 2nd 1200m
Tilly Harris 2nd 100m


13 year old girl’s 1200m)

Community Notices

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

Play Football during the warm months of the Summer at Halswell Domain

First Kicks / Fun Football for 4-8 year olds
Fridays: 4:30-5:30pm
Skill Centres for 9-12 year olds & 13+ years
Tuesdays/Thursdays: 4.30-5.30pm (9th/10th), 5.45pm-6.45pm (11th/12th)
Wednesdays: 5.45pm-6.45pm (13+ years)
Girls Only HUB for 9-12 year olds
Wednesdays: 4.30pm-5.30pm
Visit website for information and registration links

For TERM 1, 2018
www.hawkfootball.org.nz
HALSWELL UNITED AFC

Our Senior Players get together every Wednesday 6.30pm for a friendly kick around (registration not necessary for this)
Email: huafcGM@gmail.com or
phone: 0277 748 232 for more information

Kiwivolley Holiday Fun
Three sessions of fun-filled volleyball and games.  Includes a mini tournament.  Suitable for any level - complete beginners welcome!
Learn all the basic skills, meet other volleyball players and have a ton of fun.
Dates: 23,24,25 January.
Time: 9am-12pm.  where: St Margaret's College.
Cost $60 per person.  Register at www.canterburyvolleyball.org

The Christchurch City Libraries Summertime Reading Club

The Christchurch City Libraries annual Summertime Reading Club programme is for kids between 0 and 13 years old inclusive. The competition starts on Friday 1 December 2017 and finishes on Friday 19 January 2018 at 5pm. Try an eBook, read an eMagazine or read to someone – tell us your reading experiences and be in to WIN great prizes.

Children and families with children aged 0 to 13 years inclusive are encouraged to share their reading experiences this summer. All kinds of reading are to be celebrated! Pick up a challenge sheet from any Christchurch City Libraries or download a copy from the library website: https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/summertime-reading-club/

The emphasis this year is on encouraging shared family experiences – have fun together as you celebrate the joy of reading!  Children will be asked to get a teacher, librarian, or parent to ‘stamp, sticker, or tick’ the five experiences they have had.

Aquagym

459 Cashel St
Ph:381- 0299
Learn to Swim
& Coaching
AquaGym and Sumner Pool
Book now for January Holidays and
Term 1
Leaders in Aquatic Education

Exciting News! A new name for us!

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Special Edition Newsletter

Tēnā koutou e te whānau o Beckenham School

Over the past few years, our wonderful school has faced many challenges including damage sustained from earthquakes and a fire that claimed our library which has resulted in the design and rebuilding of our beautiful school. This is something that our school and community will never forget.

During this time our Board of Trustees and senior management team have worked alongside our students, staff, community, and iwi to create a new vision and values for Beckenham School which is now well embedded in the culture of our school. We have been fortunate to have been very well guided and supported through the consultation process by Dianne Collier from Matauraka Mahaanui (Ngāi Tūāhuriri Education Committee) and the Ngāi Tūāhuriri rūnanga (mana whenua of the area that Beckenham School sits in).

The Ngāi Tūāhuriri rūnanga has generously gifted Beckenham School with a name that reflects our place in the area around the Ōpāwaho River. The name we have been gifted is “Te Kura o Pūroto” which literally translated means “The School of the Ponds”.

Discussions at our November Board meeting resulted in the acceptance of this name which has been linked with Beckenham School’s existing name. We are proud to announce that both Ngāi Tūāhuriri and the Ministry of Education have accepted our new school name as being

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto. 

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto (Beckenham, the School of the Ponds) will take effect from 01 January 2018. Work is already underway to ensure the new name, logo, and signage will be ready to go in the new year.

The Board of Trustees believes that Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto not only affirms a sense of place and belonging for our tamariki, but that it also reflects the bicultural nature of Aotearoa New Zealand and shows our commitment to upholding the Treaty of Waitangi.

There will be a ceremony late in term 1 2018 to unveil the new name officially to our community which everyone will be invited to.

If you have any questions or if you would like to know more about the process we have followed please see the school website to find a Trustee (from 2017) you can talk to about it.

The BOT wishes you and your families a safe and happy holiday break. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.


Beckenham School Board of Trustees