Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Another week of term has flown by and the end of the school year is getting rapidly nearer. this week saw our Year 5/6 team take off to camp at Living Springs and, by the look of how exhausted they all were when they returned to school this afternoon, a busy and enjoyable time was had by all.


The building work is coming along and the concrete slab of the West Hub should be being poured in the next 10 days. We'll be pleased when the foundation work is complete and the diggers and heavy rollers move on to another site!

Our 2017 teams are each meeting for a day over the next two weeks to have time together to plan for 2017. Sue Leadbetter will be coming down from New Plymouth to join the NE - Y2 team on Monday for their planning day.

Michael Balmer, our Board Chair, was in Kaikoura last week in his professional capacity with the NZ Fire Service. Whilst he was there, he met with the Principal and Board members of Kaikoura Primary School. On his return, he suggested that we ask our children to write to the children of Kaikoura Primary.
When I read the messages that some of them wrote, they gave me confidence and reassurance that the five years of resilience work and positive and growth mindset messaging that our Christchurch earthquake children have been getting has paid off in some way and been successful. They articulated, in many honest and natural ways, how important it is to look after yourself and one another after an event such as a major earthquake. Many of them recollected their earthquake experiences and were able to share that the future, even if it is different to what had been expected, will come right if we care for one another.

Kind regards
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Citizen of the Week

Name - Kennedy Vernal, Year - 7

Kennedy, your joyful enthusiasm regularly brings fun and laughter to the Kauri Hub. You approach your learning with a desire to always do your best, with a willingness to make mistakes and reflect on your learning. This has seen you grow immensely this year, especially in your writing. You have a warm and caring nature when interacting with everyone at our school. It has been great to see your confidence increase as a member of the Intermediate Hub. Keep embracing big mistakes, and celebrating your well deserved successes. Tino pai Kennedy!

Sharing our Learning

Kauri Team

Living our values in Kauri Whanau

In and out of the classroom, Kauri Whanau have been engaged in a wide range of learning experiences that have us living our school values.

We love learning: At Rapaki marae we learnt so much, both about the powhiri process that we experienced and also the history of Rapaki marae.


We get there together: The children are highly engaged in our Sexuality Road lessons. We are learning lots from each other.


We love challenge: This week one of our maths groups took on the four fours challenge. The challenge was to make every number from one to 100, using  four fours in an equation, e.g 4 X (4+4) + 4 = 36 and (4! + 4/4)X4 = 100. We still have a few gaps; let us know if you can work out a solution for 65, 73 or 91.


We make a difference: Our gardening passion Friday group are transforming the gardens at Champion Street. We can’t wait to see our garden grow!



We care: Climate change and sustainability are opening our eyes to issues in the world around us. We are currently in the midst of personal inquiries, which will lead to us working out how we can make a difference for the future of our planet. 

School Notices

School photos 

All of the individual, class and group photos have now been taken for 2016.  This year we did not offer the option of sibling photos due to operating over two sites and the complicated logistics that this would involve.
We are hoping to resume this extra service next year when we the school is based in one location.

PTA News

WEET-BIX Kids TRYathlon 2016/2017 series for Christchurch Sunday 26 February 2017
Click on this link to register as part of the Beckenham School entries that the PTA are co-ordinating. This makes your entry cheaper and you get to be part of the fun and excitement of being with your friends when you take part in the event.
Entries need to be in by Thursday 1 December.
Beckenham School Weetbix Tryathlon registration

Sports News

Summer tournament

On Wednesday 16 November 27 students from the Kauri team headed to Hagley park to enter in the fun of summer tournament. The kiwi tag team had been training under the supervision of Raneigh Smith, who came to us through Canterbury Rugby. The team worked well together, showing solid defense and some outstanding tries. Not everyone had played much rippa rugby before, so it was great to see the support and inclusiveness of the players. Placing fourth out of twelve teams was a pleasing achievement. Thanks to Sona Tuakalau for helping out with the coaching on the day. The slow pitch team was under the experienced eye of Jarred Skelton. Much to the surprise of some of the inexperienced players, many balls were caught and many more runs were scored. There were some huge hitters in the team, sending the ball flying. Coincidently, the slow pitch team also placed fourth out of twelve teams. Again, our Beckenham School students showed fabulous behaviour, making it a pleasure to be a part of Canterbury Sports activities. Many thanks to our wonderful parent help, who provided private transport: Desiree Smythe, Carsten Joergensen, Jo Barnett, Mary-Clare Delahunty, Katherine Ryan and Michelle Maule. Also thanks to the parents who popped down to the park to support and encourage our tamariki.

Athletics

71 students set off to Hansen Park to participate in the South Zones Athletics day Wednesday 9 November. After a drizzly start, the sun shone and it was a fabulous day for the athletes. Competing against the seven other schools in our zone is a daunting task, particularly for the 9 year olds who have only just joined the athletics competition this year. With hats firmly planted on their heads, our students supported and cheered each other on. Well done to all of the athletes who gave their very best against stiff competition. We were very proud of the way the large team behaved beautifully.
Special congratulations to the following students who came first or second in their event, now qualifying for the Canterbury Athletics competition in Ashburton on Wednesday 7 December:
Edward Feryagin high jump, Emily Eade high jump, Nadia Russell 80m, Tilly Harris 80m, Noah Harmer-Campbell 1200m, Joe Flynn discus, Vita Gear high jump, Shakira Radnoty shot put, Amelia Cunningham 1200m, Henry McMecking 1200m, Lauren Murfin high jump, Dom Gorny long jump, William Hanlon high jump.
We also had a number of children who placed third: Elisa Lester discus, Olivia Cochrane long jump and 60m, Kaia Joergensen high jump, Noah Harmer-Campbell 100m. These athletes are reserves and may be called upon if the first two place getters are unable to travel to Ashburton.
Congratulations to the 9 year old girl relay team and to the 12 year old girl relay team who both came second in their races. Unfortunately only the first placed relay team qualifies for the Canterbury Athletics.
Well done to everyone who participated on Wednesday and good luck to the thirteen athletes representing Beckenham School and the South Zone in Ashburton.

Community Notices

Online Holiday Program | Four weeks of fun!

Become your own music producer with Activate Music Academy’s Online Holiday Program! We’ll workshop your songs, make new friends in the community forum, and get creative to win awesome prizes. Complete beginner? Been making beats for a while? We're going to have a great time making music together! Register and find out more at:
activate music online holiday programme

Active Kids Holiday Programmes

January 2017 registrations now open!
Week one -16 – 20 Jan
CHCH Boys High, Papanui, Lincoln, Swannanoa
Week two -23 -27 Jan
Westburn, Pioneer, Rolleston
Active Kids is an exciting structured programme of sport, physical activity and play for primary school aged children.  The programmes are safe and affordable; OSCAR subsidies available.  New 8am start at CHCH Boys High and Westburn
Visit our website for full details: Sport Canterbury holiday programme

Come along and enjoy the iconic Charity Cricket match on 11 December.

Now in its 34th year, the Cystic Fibrosis Charity Cricket match is being held on the grounds of Christchurch Boys High School where favourites the BNZ Crusaders will pitch their skills against some of NZ’s all stars.
With Olympic medallists such as Tom Walsh, Stu Farquhar, Rory McSweeney, William Stedman who are also closet cricket player,s they may pose a challenge to the title holding Crusaders.
Entry is FREE and there will be an opportunity to meet the sporting heroes. There be a BBQ, drinks and ice cream or just bring a picnic. The kids zone includes a bouncy castle and face painting.
This year Evolution Sports Coaching will be running a cricket academy for kids aged 7-11 for a $10 donation which includes the chance of winning a VIP family pass to the VIP marquee where gourmet and refreshments will be served during the day.
All proceeds go to helping Kiwi kids and adults who have cystic fibrosis lead a much better quality of life.
The team will be welcomed on to the grounds at 10:45 for an 11am start.

Keep up to date on the Crusaders Charity Cricket Facebook .

Citizen of the Week

Weaver McDaid - Year 0

Weaver, your enthusiasm for learning stands out. You think deeply about learning areas, and share interesting insights that motivate others. Every day, you take risks and embrace new concepts and skills, and you ask questions to keep yourself on track. Your thoughtful, caring attitude is cherished by those around you. Thank you for noticing and helping others constantly, and for being at-the-ready for any responsibility that comes your way. Ka pai Weaver!

Sharing our Learning

Kahikatea Team

In Weeks 2 and 3, the students from the Kahikatea team packed their bags, barely containing their excitement, donned their sunhats and boarded a big red bus, which transported them into the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. The children danced and explored their way through the gardens, until they arrived at the playground. Much fun and laughter ensued, and from there, the children moved on to find a beautiful shady tree under which they could have their lunch. Some children practised their cartwheeling on the wide, open, daisy-covered lawns!
The next stop was to be the Art Gallery, so the children made their way along the Gloucester Boulevard, across Montreal Street and into the Gallery. Susie Cox, the Gallery educator, along with Max, one of the Gallery guides, were there to meet the children. They were split into two groups and were shown through to the exhibitions, which contained animals as their theme. The children observed carefully, to note exactly the methods the artists had used to create the effects they had achieved in their works of art.
Later everyone was invited back to the Gallery classroom where Susie demonstrated the techniques needing to be employed, as the children worked with clay to create their own animal art works.
All too soon, the bus arrived back outside the Gallery to return everyone to school! What a wonderful day out we all had – special thanks to all of the parents and grandparents who accompanied us on our outing. We appreciate your support.

Discovery Stations

We are continuing to start each day with Discovery Stations. Children arrive at school and begin their explorations immediately into such areas as:

• Technology challenges
• Problem-solving
• Painting
• Collage
• Building
• Science investigations
• Music making
• Creative writing
• Maths challenges
• Reading challenges
• Reading (special topic books, new chapter books, books about Maui)

Children are asked to think about such questions as:

• How is this activity helping your learning?
• Which of our values are you focussing on?
• Have you helped anyone else today?
• How are you showing respect for your own work and the work of others?
• Are you being careful or wasteful with resources?

The children are thriving in many and varied ways as they participate in Discovery Stations, but perhaps more than anything else, the Key Competencies are being extremely well supported and developed:

• Thinking
• Relating to Others
• Understanding Language, Symbols and Texts
• Managing Self
• Participating and Contributing

And now … a few samples of writing from Kahikatea students:

The Battle of the Mountains
Long, long ago there were seven mountains. The seven mountains are Tongariro, Taranaki, Tauhara, Putauaki, Pihanga, Ruapehu and Ngaurahoe.
One by one, the males started to get angrier and angrier. Tongariro wanted to fight the other mountains, who were jealous of Tongariro.
Angrily, Putauaki and Tongariro were fighting for days and days. At last Tongariro managed to defeat the other mountains. Tongariro felt proud of himself for defeating the other mountains.
Taranaki slid into the west. The other mountains slid into the north and east.
by Keanna

The Battle of the Mountains
Long, long ago Maui fished up te Ika a Maui, the North Island. On it, rose seven mountains. They had a battle. There were two kids and two parents. The chief and another mountain battled. They shot big, fiery rocks back and forwards. Some other mountains made lava and put it on the chief’s back, but they were tiny dots of lava because Tongariro was dodging really well! Then he managed to win.
The other three mountains slid away.
Tongariro and the lady mountain lived happily ever after with the kids.
by Ben

Art Gallery
On Friday our class left to go on a school trip. I was with Adelene and her Nana. We went over to the bus. Soon we arrived at the Botanic Gardens. Adelene and I played together on the playground. Then it was time to eat our lunch under a tree, but soon it was time to start the long journey to the Art Gallery. I walked with Adelene and her grandma until finally we arrived at the Art Gallery. We sat down in the old cafe there. We were split into two groups. Luckily I was with Adlene. A woman took us upstairs. We looked in an animals room. There was a bull that if you took off its head, it was a barbecue. I was amazed! Soon we went into a room with a gnome holding a bag. The woman said it meant good luck. We went downstairs to make our clay animals. We all sat down at the table. We were given a block of clay. The Art Gallery person called us to show us how to make a mouse. I was very excited. We went back to our desks and I started to make my mouse. It was very fun. I put the whiskers and eyes on and then I curled the tail round its body. Now my mouse was done! I dipped my hand into a cold bucket of water, so the clay would wash off. Then the woman called us down to the mat because it was time to get on the bus and go home.
by Vida


Art Gallery and Botanic Gardens
Last Thursday my class went on a hub trip to the gardens and the Art Gallery. When we got off the bus, we walked through the gardens to the park. At the park, my friend, Taylor, and I played on the chain bridge, then it was time for lunch. I had a roll, grapes and some yoghurt. After that, I walked to the Art Gallery. At the Art Gallery, the class met two art teachers, one named Max and one named Susie. Susie and Max took half the class each to have a look around the Art Gallery. When we got back, we made clay beasts. I made a seal. It was quite hard to make because we only had two minutes! My seal turned out better than I thought. That’s why it was the best school trip ever.
by Niamh

School Notices

Community Kindness  - We Care!

Jenny Diggle put out a call for donations of home baking and other food items to be taken to the Hanmer and the general Amuri area....what a fantastic response.  We had a car load of tasty baking to send to families  who are currently trying to deal with the after effects of the recent earthquake.  A huge thank you to our supportive Beckenham School community.

School Attendance & Absences:  

When your child is absent from school for any reason please ensure in the first instance, that you inform the office of this absence.  You can email to: office@beckenham.school.nz, txt to 02102794107 or phone and leave a message on 3371404.

Please feel free to also inform their hub teacher if you wish, but all absences need to be reported to the office as a matter of course. Information or emails sent solely to a teacher may not get recorded on the roll for the day due to a range of different circumstances, e.g the teacher is unwell/attending an off site course or on teacher release for the day.  Informing the office of absences will ensure the ongoing safety of our students and centralise this information.  Thank you for your assistance with this.

Scholastic Book Orders

All orders for Scholastic Book have now moved online.  Orders will be delivered to your home and payment needs to be made directly to Scholastic.  There has been an increasing amount of time needing to be spent on sorting, placing and distributing these orders by Beckenham staff and we are now pursuing the online option for this service.

PTA News

WEET-BIX Kids TRYathlon 2016/2017 series for Christchurch Sunday 26 February 2017

Click on this link to register as part of the Beckenham School entries that the PTA are co-ordinating. This makes your entry cheaper and you get to be part of the fun and excitement of being with your friends when you take part in the event.
Entries need to be in by Thursday 1 December.
Beckenham School Weetbix Tryathlon registration

Tip Top Ice Cream Sales - Canterbury A&P Show Fundraising

Community Notices

Christchurch School of Music Junior Symphony Orchestra: 

Playing in an orchestra is a great way to develop your musical skills and is also great fun!.  Contact the office 3661711 or visit our website if you would like more details - www.csm.org.nz.  Rehearsals are held at Catholic Cathedral College on Saturdays from 8:45-10am.  Cost is $70 per term.

Community energy Action & Orana Park

Our 2017 calendar is a little different than usual - not only have we packed it full of tips and advice about how to keep your home warm, healthy and energy efficient, there is also a built-in temperature strip that measures the warmth of the room, and tells you whether it is within a healthy range.  As an added bonus, having teamed up with Orana Wildlife Park there is lots of information about the animals that live there.  All proceees raised from these calendars will go towards the care and conservation of the animals of Orana Wildlife Park. Buy calendars online for $14.95 - www.cea.co.nz/orana.

International Antarctic Centre January school Holiday programme

Do your children like adventure and having fun then during the holidays have them join the explorers at the Antarctic Centre! They will discover the Little Blue Penguins, chill out in the snow and ice room, ride the awesome Hagglund, find out how to survive in Antarctica, play games and much much more…!
The adventures will running Mon – Fri 8.45 – 5.00pm for two weeks during January from Monday 9th to Fri 20th January.
More information is on our website www.iceberg.co.nz or email education@iceberg.co.nz

Brazil Football Clinic

Christchurch United (formerly Christchurch Football Academy) are pleased to announce that Fernando Lambert will be running an elite Brazil Football Clinic, for ages 12 years – 15 years old, focussing on cognitive skills and technique from 19-21 December.  Registrations are now open and limited to 16 players per age grouping (U12/U13 – group 1, U14/U15 – group 2), please refer to the attached  file for more information.   Spaces for the Brazil Football Clinic is extremely limited to the first 16 players in each group, so don’t miss out and register now at the following link Brazil Football Clinic
Xmas Football Camp
If the elite camp is not for you, have no fear, we will be running our regular fun-filled football camp too, also from 19-21 December.
Please note that our full day sessions are restricted to ages 9 – 16 years old, otherwise we hope to see your children here for some Xmas fun.
Don’t miss out, click on the link below to register your child now!
Xmas football camp
For any queries at all please contact office@cfa.org.nz or 021 446 212.

Kia ora whānau

Firstly I would like to acknowledge the amazing staff we have, for their outstanding efforts today. We were all operating on significantly reduced sleep, some much more so than others. Our goal for today was to have the children have as normal a day as possible and we did achieve this, as much as we possibly could.

We had 300 out of our 465 children attend school today.

We did send out text messages to all caregivers this morning, about the status of the school. If you didn't receive a text, please ensure that you contact Jacky in the office as soon as possible and check that we have current details for you.

Saying that, we are also aware that only around 80% of our text messages reached their destination this morning - the other 20% didn't get delivered which was frustrating. We discovered that we had similar issues with incoming texts also, when we started phoning parents of children whom we hadn't heard from and you were telling us you had sent a text! 

We do have protocols for dealing with an emergency situation at Champion St. We have an emergency services quality radio with its own private channel to communicate between Champion St and Beckenham which we will be able to use in the event that the telephone and/or cell phone networks are down. 

If we need to evacuate from Champion St, our plan will be to use buses to bring all the children back to Beckenham. Red Bus have assured us that children and schools are their first priority in an emergency. With this in mind, we would ask that you plan to meet all of your children, following an emergency, at Beckenham School, rather than have individual parents trying to get to Champion St. If this plan were to change, we would let the school office know to alert you.

We do encourage you to have your children return to school tomorrow, if they were away due to the earthquake this morning, so that school can support you and them to have a strong sense of routine and normality. 

There is a very useful site that you may want to explore, called 'The Worry Bug' which has a range of resources for parents and schools to use, to help understand and support anxious children.

These 7 tips for supporting children with anxiety come from their website and may be particularly useful over the next few days:

Kia kaha

Sandy and the team

Beckenham School is open as usual today. We have had an engineer check our Beckenham site and the Champion site is also being checked. Everything is as it should be. Buses are operating to Champion St as normal.

We do understand that normality and routine for children and families is important and our goal is to provide this.

We also recognise that some of you may want to keep children at home today.

We will be assessing the numbers of children that we have at school today and may end up joining some classes together so that we can send some of our staff home. We have staff who have evacuated from their homes and/or taken in evacuees, and have had very little sleep as a result.

Our goal today is to provide as much normality, in a low-key way.

Our thoughts are with those who have experienced any loss or damage.

Kia kaha

Sandy and the team

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Staffing Update

We are at the stage of the year where we have managed to successfully complete our full-time teacher appointments for 2017 and are able to share these with you.
We have some changes in our teaching teams, as a result of staff taking leave and resignations. We look to ensure that we have a range of skills and expertise spread across the teams to provide a strong and balanced team in each area of the school.
This year, we have had two permanent staff members on leave.
Megan Harris took the year off to spend time with her family in Dunedin. Sadly for us, Megan has now decided that her heart lies in Dunedin and that she will continue to live there for the foreseeable future. We wish her all the very best in that journey.
April Chapman left us during the year to become a mother to her beautiful daughter, Alexandria. It’s no surprise that April is loving being a full-time mum and we are pleased for her that she has found a position that will suit her new family commitments, teaching music one day a week at Halswell Primary School. We wish her all the very best with that new career change.
At the end of last year, we encouraged Rowena Barker to take on the Acting Team Leader of the New Entrant Team for this year. Rowena has been a fabulous Team Leader, and has reminded us that she was just filling in for the year, never intending to continue with that role beyond this time. We are grateful for the leadership that she has provided.
Susan Walsh has decided that she would like to relinquish her leadership roles at the end of this year, and focus her energy into classroom teaching. We are very grateful for the leadership she has provided and we are pleased to be able to retain her skills and expertise.
Tracy Inwood has requested, and been granted, a year’s leave for 2017. Tracy and her husband Phil plan to visit family in the UK for a time during 2017. We are likely to still see her around school, in a part-time and/or relieving capacity in 2017.
Amanda McLean will be taking maternity leave for 2017 and we wish her all the very best with becoming a mother for the first time.
We say farewell at the end of the year to Jo Smith, who has been taking our most recent New Entrant class in Hub 13. Jo’s experience, calmness and caring has been the perfect fit for our newest children and their families.

New appointments:

We have been very lucky to attract a new senior teacher to our teaching staff and Leadership Team. Sue Leadbetter will be joining our staff in 2017, moving with her family from Oakura School in New Plymouth. Sue is a Cantabrian who has previously been Deputy Principal at St Martins School and we look forward to welcoming her back to Christchurch.
Gayle McNaughton and Jenny Diggle have both been reappointed to our teaching staff and we are delighted to retain their skills and expertise.

So… working through all of the above, we have put the following teaching teams together, and we are confident that we have all the right people in the right places for 2017!

New Entrant, Year 1 & Year 2 (will be one team in 2017 instead of two)

• Sue Leadbetter (Team Leader)
• Rowena Barker
• Amber Donovan (and Dorinda Hampton - part-time)
• Caitlyn Downing
• Gail Hulme
• Charlotte Verity

Year 3/4 Team

• Paulette Newton (Team Leader)
• Mike Matulewicz
• Anna Reid
• Rebekah Stoop
• Susan Walsh

Year 5/6 Team

• Amy Buick (Team Leader)
• Nick Bruce
• Katy Chapman
• Gayle McNaughton

Year 7/8 Team

• Nicky Dunlop (Team Leader)
• Jenny Diggle
• Jarred Skelton

Citizen of the Week

Name - Oliver McLachlan Year 2

Oliver, it has been amazing to watch you grow this year as a confident, caring and enthusiastic member of our Hub. You have enjoyed learning about growth mindsets and have applied ideas around perseverance, problem solving and empathy into daily life at school. You thrive with responsibility and take pride in being a positive role model to others. Your fantastic attitude towards learning has enabled you to come on in leaps and bounds in many learning areas. We are so proud of all your efforts and contributions Oliver. Tino Pai! 

Sharing our Learning

Kowhai Team

Inquiry and writing

Kowhai team  have been learning all about different habitats. We are investigating where animals live, and how different animals are suited to their habitat. We are exploring what would happen if animals had to swap habitats. Could they survive? What adaptations would they have to make? We can't wait  to create our own diorama of a habitat to showcase our learning.
We have been investigating the characteristics of various animals that enable them to live in a particular habitat. We have applied this knowledge to invent a new animal and have identified the key attributes they need to survive in a particular habitat. This coming week, we will be exploring how changes to an environment can impact on animals and what they need to do to adapt to these changes in order to survive.


Fennec Fox

The Fennec fox who is sometimes referred as the desert fox, is the smallest in the entire world. They can grow from 6-15 inches long. They weigh 2 kilograms. They are the only fox you can have as a pet.
Fennec foxes are nocturnal (they hunt at night). They have very soft fur and big ears that help them hear their predators. The Fennec fox is not endangered.  Fennec foxes live in deserts and grassland like the Sahara desert and the Savannah grassland. 
Fennec foxes eat plants, reptile eggs, and birds. They can cope without having water. The Fennec fox has sharp claws which help them dig their burrows. Their ears are so sensitive that they can hear insects such as beetles and locusts walking on the sand and also locate underground prey. 
So after all that, I hope you have learnt a lot about the Fennec fox. I love Fennec foxes!

By Ilia Henderson


Snow leopards

Snow leopards are a member of the wild cat and panther families.
They are a warm blooded large cat. Snow leopards have grey and white fur, rosettes on the flanks, spots on the head and neck, they also have long tails. 
Snow leopards are found at altitudes between 9,800 and 17,000 feet high in the rugged mountains of central Asia.
In captivity, female snow leopards most often bear 2 or 3 cubs in a litter, though there can be more.
Snow leopards eat almost anything they can catch, often hunting animals three times their size. They prey upon blue sheep of Tibet and the Himalayas.
Snow leopards don’t have any predators at all, they are at the top of the food chain.
Snow leopards weigh 77-120 lbs [ 35-55 kg,] their height is 2 feet. Their tail length is 1m. Female snow leopards are about 30% smaller than males.

By Ella Newton

M.A.D (Make A Difference) Time

This term the children have been given the options of:
Photography - Learning how to use the ipad to take photos, how to take a variety of photos, editing and creating photo frames.
Stop Motion Animation - Learning how to make an animated story using lego.


Drama - Learning drama  skills and applying these to create a short performance.
Thorrington Rest Home - Visiting our local rest home to make connections with the elderly residents. The children read stories, chat and sing them songs.
Sewing - The children are learning a variety of sewing skills as they create a monster pillow.
Christmas Crafts and Cards - We are lucky enough to have the assistance of Nicola Arnott who is teaching the children how to make various Christmas crafts and cards.

Athletics

We are enjoying getting out into the sun and training for our Junior school athletics day later on the term. We have been working on high jump, relay running, shot putt, discus and long jump.

Papier mâché animals

The Hub 7 children have been enjoying learning about different habitats and adaptations that animals have to make in order to live in their environments. For our visual art unit this term we have been constructing papier mâché rainforest animals.  The children have been working hard and showing a lot of attention to detail and persistence when making the animals' bodies out of sculpted wire, and newspaper.  We have diligently added layers of newspaper to the rattle snakes, butterflies, tigers, chameleons and a variety of insects. Our next steps are to paint and decorate the rainforest animals to make them look as life-like as possible.  We hope to display these for all to see.

School Notices

Thank You!
We would like to extend a big thank you to 2 organisations who have supported Beckenham with some recent donations. Firstly, Mitre 10 Hornby for donating 15 bird house kits for our Kowhai team to make during their ‘Make a Difference’ time. Also, a big thank you to Carpet Kingdom who donated some carpet for our library when it was relocated to the dental clinic.

Parking is an issue on Eastern Tce...vehicles are parking where the buses are supposed to be and also on the other side of the road making it very narrow. Please take some time to check the signs on Eastern Tce and ensure that you are not parked there during bus times. This helps to keep traffic flowing, and to keep our children safe.
FOUND: by the Big Adventure Playground: Crimson wooden jewellery box with assorted jewellery inside.  Come to the office to collect.