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.

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Building  site health and safety update

Managing health and safety on our Beckenham building site has continued to take much of my attention this week. We are aware that access from Norwood St into both the school and the park continues to be challenging for pedestrians, especially those with prams, pushchairs, toddlers, dogs and cycles. We are working very closely, on a daily basis with the site team, to be as responsive and proactive as we can and getting this right, for the duration of the building programme, is a top priority. It isn't right yet, and it may take a couple of weeks or more to get it absolutely working the way we want it to, so we ask for your patience during this time. We are very aware of the need to keep pedestrians and vehicles separated for safety reasons. We also know that people don't want to have to walk through wet grass and mud for the next 18 months to be able to access the park.
Again - please can you be patient with us on the wet, muddy aspect and ensure that the safety part is adhered to whilst we work on trying to get council permission to put a path alongside the road track, for pedestrians!

Learning in and out of the classrooms

We have had lots of children involved in learning outside the classroom this week, with all of our Year 5 and 6 children visiting Rapaki Marae for the first time. Our Year 7/8 students will visit next week. They had an amazing time and we plan to make this a regular part of our school programme.


Our Year 7 and 8 students had a 'Big Day Out' in the city yesterday, visiting an exhibition called ‘Art in the Palm of Your Hand’ at the Canterbury Museum, Quake City and taking part in an activity at the Botanical Gardens.

Our Year 1 and 2 team learning groups have each taken a trip to the Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens over the past two weeks and it has been wonderful to hear about their experiences.

Thank you to all of the whānau who assist staff on these trips - without you we wouldn't be able to take the children out of school for these amazing learning opportunities.

Year 4 parents - meeting at Champion St next Wednesday evening

Year 4 parents should have received an email this week, inviting you to visit our site at 102 Champion St next Wednesday, 9th November from 7-8pm for a familiarisation meeting.
If you have any particular questions you would like addressed at that meeting, please email them to me at principal@beckenham.school.nz or give me a call before then.

Ferndale Satellite Class parking 

Tony is putting cones out each morning and afternoon at the bottom of Sandwich Road to ensure that there is a parking spot for the Ferndale taxi van, and for Ferndale parents who need to drop their children off. These vehicles do have mobility parking permits and need to be able to drop the children at the closest point to their classroom. Thank you all in advance for understanding that these are particular needs and for ensuring that this parking spot is available and that the users of this spot are made to feel welcome.

Enjoy your weekend

Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Sharing our Learning

Pohutukawa Team

We have had a fantastic start to the NEW term at our NEW location, Champion Street!




One of the awesome pieces of learning we have been able to do in our new learning environment was the annual Pohutukawa probability fair. The children spent the first two weeks planning and creating a probability game where they had to stack the odds in their favour. The result was a thriving probability fair full of fun, laughter and best of all MATHS!

PTA News

A BIG thank you to all the people who have offered to help with the Tip Top Fundraiser next week.
All shifts are now FULL. If you want to be ‘back up’ for a shift, please click on the Tip Top Link
We hope to get your passes to you at the beginning of next week.
Make sure you come & see us at the A & P Show.....& buy an ice cream!!

Sports News

Canterbury triathlon

The Canterbury triathlon is being held at Pegasus Bay on Thursday 1 December for students 9 years and older. The age group you race in is as of 1 Jan this year, so students must be already 9 years old on January 1 2016 to be eligible. This is an individual event, which means each participant must do all three disciplines - bike, run and swim. As this is a Canterbury event, participants need to be very competent and confident in all three disciplines.
Swim is 75 metres for 9 and 10 years, 100metres for 11 and 12+ years.
This swim is in the lake and it will be deep enough to be over students’ heads in parts. Guards from a local surf lifesaving club will be on duty. The temperature may also be quite cold.
Cycle is 5.4 km for 9 & 10 yrs, 10.8 km for 11 & 12+ yrs. These distances may change slightly.
Run is 2.5 kilometres
Students will need to be able to get themselves and their bike to Pegasus Bay by 9:30 on the morning. If transport there (and back) is going to be difficult, please contact Tracy who will try to help out by contacting other competitors.
If students are interested in entering this event, they are to let their teacher know, and they will record their name on a document, or contact Tracy.

Y 5-8 Athletics

We breathed a sigh of relief as Monday dawned, displaying blue skies and clear weather! A perfect day for the Y 5 - 8 team to participate in their athletics at Beckenham Park. The children competed in age groups, as of 1 October 2016, in sprints, high jump, shot put and discus. Long jump and the long distance races were run at Champion St on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was fabulous to see such a high participation level, superb sportsmanship and so much support for peers. Thank you to the amazing parent help from Pania Radnoty, Desiree Smythe, Sonja Sintmaartensdyk, Rod Gray and John Aramowicz. The day ran very smoothly thanks to all of the teachers and their organisation. It’s a big day! Congratulations to all the students who participated in all the events, earning house points and special congratulations to the following students for placing first in their age group for these events:

First Place Getters:


To  find the champion of each age group, points are allocated for the first four placings in each event and then accumulated. A huge congratulations to these students who have placed first in their age group overall:

School Notices

Community Notices

DO YOUR KIDS WANT A SHAKE DOWN BEFORE THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS TRIATHLON?
The weekend before our primary schools triathlon at Pegasus there is the House of Travel Triathlon Festival.
For more details www.triathlonfestival.co.nz
The swim and bike are the same as for the primary schools triathlon so it is an ideal warm up / trial run. The run is the same but in the opposite direction.
There is also options for younger kids from 5 years up over a shorter course.
If you can insert the following note into school newsletters it would be appreciated by John Newsom who runs the event and helps us with our event

DO YOUR KIDS WANT TO TRY A TRIATHLON?
If your kids want a challenge the House of Travel Triathlon is coming up on November 27th
There are events for all ages starting at 5 years and up.
For more details and entry visit www.triathlonfestival.co.nz

John Newsom
 Tel +64-3-6692216
 coachjohnnewsom.com
IMTalk podcast www.imtalk.me
HOT Triathlon Festival

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Another week of the term has gone by and we are settling in to our new 'normal', both at the Beckenham and the Champion St sites.

Today we saw the large oak tree adjacent to Hub 11 get felled. Several of the classes were able to stand on the park and watch. Whilst it is always very sad to see a mature specimen tree go, it wasn't very healthy due to its roots being significantly compromised over the years of being too close to a building and paving. We are very thankful for the shade that it has provide our children for many years. We have ensured that the large logs are retained to be used in landscaping.
You can watch it below:

Planning for 2017

As we get closer to the end of 2016, we are busy preparing for 2017. This week we have been conducting interviews for full-time teaching staff, and will be able to share that information with you very soon.
We are also working on learning groups for next year. If you have any considerations for your child's placement in a learning group for 2017 that you think will assist us, and that we won't necessarily be aware of, please email me principal@beckenham.school.nz by next Wednesday 2nd November. We will add your considerations to the picture we already have, and work out the best way to put together learning groups that are going to be successful for all children.

Digital safety
It's important to remember that children need to be taught to be safe and responsible users of digital communication and devices. There are lots of online tools available for parents who might be wondering how to navigate this territory, especially when it can feel that the children are one step ahead of the adults in terms of their knowledge of the digital environment. Just because a child can navigate their way confidently around the internet and numerous apps, it doesn't mean that they have the maturity and skills to be able to use the applications safely and responsibly, or that they will know how to recognise, or what to do, if this environment starts to become dangerous or unsafe in any way.
Vodafone, NetSafe & The Parenting Place have joined together to develop a set of resources they have called "Digi-Parenting: A one-stop shop of advice to help families make technology decisions". I encourage you to make a visit to this site, and have a look at what might be relevant for where you and your family are at with this important topic.

Have a great weekend - we are looking forward to having all of our students on site together at Beckenham for the day on Monday as the Year 5-8 students have their Athletic Sports day on Beckenham Park.

Ngā mihi
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Citizen of the Week

Rohith Thony - Year 6

Rohith, you are a superstar in our hub. You are a self-motivated learner who can always be relied upon to do the right thing. You are a thoughtful and caring role model and are an excellent friend to others. Well done for always putting 100% into your learning. We are so proud of you! Tino pai.

Sharing our Learning

Kauri Whānau

Year 7 & 8 are loving the learning at our new school environment on Champion Street. The layout of our hub and having a breakout space, creates an even better learning space than we previously had at Beckenham. With a number of different areas making up the outdoor space, there are lots of options for play, including full sized hoops on the basketball court.


One of our weekly highlights in Kauri is Passion Friday. This term we are cooking; learning how to knit, crochet and make felt; and creating a vegetable garden. The gardening group are having a lovely time digging over the raised garden beds, preparing plants and creating wooden tags to label the garden areas. When we arrived, a rather saggy and tired looking scarecrow was watching over the shabby garden. One of the gardening team’s project will be to give him a makeover. We look forward to watching the garden flourish as the term progresses.




Part of the attraction of being based at Champion Street is the lovely new furniture that we are trial
ing courtesy of Class Furniture. This was one of the aspects that we shared in the video that the media team put together for our first celebration assembly this term. Click on this link and ‘Daniel Attenborough’ will take you on an adventure through the Champion Street environment.

Sports News

School Notices

Wanted:We would like to develop a composting system at Champion Street and are proposing to use packing pallets....5 of them.  If you have access to these can you please contact Jacky at the office 3371404, office@beckenham.school.nz

RUDOLPH STEINER SCHOOL FAIR

Saturday November 19th
Come and join us for an old fashioned spring time fair!
Indulge in scrumptious food for lunch from a diverse range of delicious options,
stock up on plants and beautiful handcrafts for Christmas,
or just enjoy the fun and games at the sideshows.
-- Stunning handcrafts
-- Organic food - with plenty of vegetarian options
-- Secondhand clothing, books and a huge White Elephant stall
-- Farmers market with organic veges, honey, flowers, plants and more
-- Fairyland - including a cafe and a craft stall full of child sized goodies at child sized prices
-- Carnival games, pony rides

New Brighton Surf Lifesaving Club:

New Brighton surf lifesaving opens its doors to the community nd members to celebrate ther start of this summer's season.  Juniors start at 10am with an intro to surf and first training of  summer.  At 12pm we have the officil opening of the season. Anybody that is interested in finding out about surf lifesaving at New Brighton is very welcome to come down and find out more about us.  www.newbrightonslsc.org.nz, info@newbrightonslsc.org.nz

Hororata Highland Games

5th November.  Toss the caber, Stone Putt, Farmers Walk, Highland Dancing, Pipe bands plus much more.  Visit www.hororatahighlandgames.org.nz for more details.