Pōhutukawa News, 7 September 2016

Dear Parents and Caregivers


Thank you to everyone who has put their name forward to be a parent helper on camp. We will try and confirm the final number of parents early next term.


The Big Move!
You will have heard that our expected move to Champion Street will take place on the first day of Term 4. We are preparing for this now and we hope to see you all at the parent meeting on Wednesday 14 September at 7:30pm.

Year 5 & 6 Choir (Glee Club)
They Year 5&6 Choir (Glee Club) will be performing at the Christchurch Schools Music Festival on 27 October. On Tuesday 13 September they will be travelling by bus to Avonhead School for a massed choir rehearsal. They will need to be at school by 8.30 this morning as they need to be seated at Avonhead School by 9.15.

If you still need to purchase tickets for the Music Festival they will be available from Ticketek in mid September.

Market Day:
All the children are working very hard developing their products and stalls for our Asian inspired market day.  This will take place on Thursday, 15 September. The students in Team Pohutukawa will be opening shops at 11am and will sell lots of interesting and delicious items such as Asian food, baking, confectionery, drinks, games, challenges and more!


Tickets will be sold before school near the flagpole on the day. Each ticket is worth 50 cents and most students will want to buy multiple tickets. Most items will cost between one and three dollars. Look for our posters around to school to find out what each shop will be selling. We would love to see you there.


We will be purchasing the supplies that the children need for their products this week. If they are making their products at home they will bring the supplies home on Friday.  Thank you for all the support that you are giving them. It is very exciting to see them taking on the responsibility for their own businesses.


The money will be used to fund raise for camp.


Food for Thought:
This free programme has been offered to us by Foodstuffs Ltd.  It consists of a classroom lesson about healthy eating and a supermarket trip with a free voucher to buy food for a healthy lunch.  It takes place in the first week of next term and will be a good opportunity for us to get to know the community around Champion Street.
The supermarket trips will take place on 13 October.  We will need parent support to walk with each class to the Richmond Street New World.  If you can help with this please let your child’s teacher know.  The time for each class is as follows:


Thursday October 13
  • Room 14: 9.30 - 10.30
  • Room 15: 10.30 - 11.30
  • Room 21: 11.30 - 12.30
  • Room 22: 12.30-1.30


Thank you for your continued support at this very exciting time.


Kind regards,


Katie Chapman        katie.chapman@beckenham.school.nz
Nick Bruce           nick.bruce@beckenham.school.nz
Caitlyn Downing       caitlyn.downing@beckenham.school.nz
Susan Walsh            susan.walsh@beckenham.school.nz
Kat Cotter             kat.cotter@beckenham.school.nz

Swimming Lessons

On Tuesday 30 August we begin two weeks of swimming lessons at Aquagym. Children need to come prepared every day with togs and towel in a plastic bag. We have three buses travelling to Aquagym each day. On Tuesday 30 August the first bus will depart at 8.30am, the second will depart at 9am and the third will depart at 9.30am. Every day after that the first bus will depart at 9.30am, the second at 10am, and the third bus will leave at 10.30am. There is no swimming on Tuesday 6 September.
 Please check below to see which bus your child will be on:


GROUP 1GROUP 2GROUP 3
Bus leaving:
8.30am 30 August
9.30 am all other days
Bus leaving:
9am 30 August
10am all other days
Bus leaving:
9.30am 30 August
10.30 am all other days
Boyd GoldsburyJack BartonJoshua Allen
Declan AllenJordy BoonDelana-Mae Areli
Bradley PyeAva Winstanley-HTamryn Bately
Sophia BrownTheodore ClancyTyler Chesterman
Georgina CockfieldOskar CooperLydia Coombs
Helena SiceEmily EadeKate Cornfoot
Maia DavisTessa FoleyFrankie Ebert
Michael FaircloughElla FreemanBenjamin Evan
Charlotte TindallRiley FrenchJoel Fergusson
Winnifred GoldsburyEthan GillerJordis Flynn
Charlotte GrayMillie GrahamKeira Tough
Jess HancockMaddi GrantRiley Walsh
Aaron KumarLucy GrayAlexander Howarth
Gabriel LyallCharlotte GreyZachary Knowles
Gemma YorkNoah Harmer-CMatthew Moore
Jimmy MiddleditchTilly HarrisAbbie Murray
Santiago MontejoJessie LeaskCharlotte O'Connor
Flynn Moses-JRohith ThonyConnor O'Leary
Ayden MustyMeg MacdonaldLiam Price
Portia PascoeMorvern McDaidBella Reddecliffe
Caleb PodmoreArran RobertsonChristopher Reynolds
Aliya PhiskieOlivia WilsonVienna Scott
Paolo ReidRoxanne MurfinFreya Pratt
Samuel RogersFlorence GerardAaliyah Ranguhuna
Matilda HindinElla ClarkeRekha Thony
Nadia RussellLily Cummins-NCallum Lucas
Fynn SkeltonMorita DuaneAdam Barton
Daniel SmithEdward FeryaginTom Woodhouse
Imogen Stevenson-FIzak JohnsMurphy McCabe
Sama AhmedReid CraigSamantha Maule
Anton AdamsonCharlotte StrahlFelix Morgan
Hannah WinchesterEmily RoweNina Callaghan
Kwahli BeauchampKaty AgarDuncan Moulin-G
Tash BoonAmber JaiswelThom Bell
Gemma CampbellJoel KinghamSophia Ramirez
Bonnie BrooklandRuby LovelockMillie Jameson
Daniel CowieAsha LewisConstantin Gorny

Madeleine McIvorOlivia Kneale

Living Springs Camp

Planning is well underway for Team Pōhutukawa's Term 4 camp at Living Springs (23 - 25 November). Living Springs is a self-contained complex where the children stay in comfortable and clean bunk rooms with attached ablution blocks. Parent helpers stay in the Harbour View Conference Centre or, if on bunk room supervision duty, in an adult bunk room adjoining the children's bunkrooms.

If you are able to be a parent helper at the camp, please complete the online form at https://goo.gl/forms/zUFikIgIYbwQt6r33 by Friday, 2 September. We require the help of approximately 15 parents if the camp is to go ahead. If you are able to help, your role will involve direct supervision of groups of children (inside/outside activities, evening bunk room duty, setting tables, supporting children during the bushwalk into camp), serving meals, operating the dishwasher, helping with the cleaning of all areas used at the end of the stay. You will need to be able to stay the entire camp. As the cost of parent helpers is covered in the camp fee, we will only take the necessary number of parent helpers in order to minimise costs. If we have more volunteers than we need, we will select first based on the skills needed and then names will be drawn from a ballot.

A consent form and medical questionnaire will be sent home in Term 4 to students and parent helpers.

The camp costs us $135 per child to run and this includes food, accommodation, the cost of the programmes run by the Living Springs staff and transport. Your next statement (due out at the end of August) will have a request for contribution for $135. You are welcome to make payments either in full or by instalment at any time. Please don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher or Audrey Cooper (Financial Officer) in the office, if payment will be difficult for you. Any funds raised prior to camp, including our Term 3 Market Day, will be shared evenly across the team and will appear as a credit on the Term 4 statement.

We are looking forward to a great camp.

Literacy Learning in Hub 21/22

In Hub 21/22 we settle into the school day with literacy learning. We begin with writing, which is done in home groups. Our latest text type has been persuasive writing which was ignited by the topic of 'Scooters should be banned at Beckenham School'. We had some very interesting discussions around this.

Please enjoy reading the following two examples of children's work.



After writing, we begin reading. We are in groups and have different activities each day. These include independent novel study, Olympics activities, guided reading with the teacher, and plays. We enjoyed watching two groups perform their plays this morning.








Term 3 Learning in Team Pōhutukawa

This term, the two central themes for learning in Team Pōhutukawa are "Asia Awareness" and "Entrepreneurship". As part of their learning, our students will work in small groups to investigate an Asian culture of their choice. They will then learn to develop an authentic business based on this culture throughout the rest of the term.

In Week 8, the students will open their businesses at a special "Market Day" that families and the other classes will be invited to. During the Market Day, each business will operate a small shop where the children will sell their Asian themed product/service. The money raised from the businesses will go towards reducing the cost of camp in Term 4.

The children will be provided with some start-up resources for their business. They are also allowed to accept donations from family members but this is entirely at your discretion. Please do not feel pressured to contribute anything at all unless you want to. This is an authentic opportunity for the children to develop financial literacy skills and understand the value of money.

The children are very excited about developing their businesses and we are all looking forward to Market Day.