Kia Ora Parents & Caregivers

We are planning a trip to Alpine Ice as part of our learning about our school values and our topic focus of ‘Identity’ this term. Part of our inquiry is focussing on our values of ‘We Get There Together’ and ‘We Love Challenge’. This activity is an ideal opportunity for the students to be in a highly engaging and challenging environment with an individual goal to work towards. They will need to rely on each other to achieve their goals together.

We plan to visit on Monday 10th April, leaving Champion Street at 11:20a.m. and will be returning directly to Beckenham School at 3:00p.m.

Each child will need their jersey, jacket, gloves, warm hat, morning tea, cut lunch, drink bottle and any special items they may require, e.g., inhaler. Please note that there will be no lunch orders available on this day.

The cost of this trip will be no more than $15 per child and a request for this donation will be added to your school account.

We will need 13 parent helpers to make this trip possible. If you are able to help us, please email your child’s teacher before Monday 3rd April 2017. Please indicate if you have sufficient ice skating experience to be able to help children on the ice or not. Lack of experience won’t rule you out, however we would like to take some parents who are able to assist children on the ice.


Thank you
Pohutukawa Team

amy.buick@beckenham.school.nz 
gayle.mcnaughton@beckenham.school.nz 
katie.chapman@beckenham.school.nz 
nick.bruce@beckenham.school.nz

Home Learning

For part of their home learning this week, the students will be completing a special one-off activity where they will create a diagram of their family tree. As part of this, please talk to your children about any interesting events in your family's history or about any interesting relatives/ancestors.

In the coming weeks, the children will be using the information they learn about their family as a starting point for a personal inquiry into a topic related to their family's history (e.g. early settlers, a famous relative, life in New Zealand in the 1990s etc.).

Paint Shirts

For art, the children will soon be working on creating and painting clay models. We ask that all children bring a large, old shirt to protect their uniform from any accidental paint splashes. We also have a small selection of shirts for any children that are unable to bring a paint shirt.

Word Art

As part of our identity inquiry, the children have been enthusiastically creating word clouds to express the personal qualities that make them special. Check out some of our work:

Baby Photos

Thanks for sending in all of the baby photos. The children have been having a lot of fun looking at them and trying to guess who is who!

• All participants must be wearing their togs under their uniform before they get on the bus. They will not be able to change at Wharenui Pool. There will be time to change after the event.

• The children will have an early lunch at Champion Street before boarding the buses for Wharenui pool at 12 midday.

• Please ensure your child has a good lunch and a water bottle with them for the day.

• We are aiming for a 12.30 start and will then run through all events (which are organised by age and distance) for each stroke. There will be a House Relay as a finale. The order of events are as follows: Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, 75m Medley, House Relay.  

• We welcome you to join us and support our swimmers. We will have a space for spectators on poolside opposite the children, (who will be sitting in house groups). To support us in running this event, we ask that you stay on the side allocated for spectators.    

• If you would like to pick up your child after the event at Wharenui Pool, please ensure that you check them out with a teacher.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Jenny or Gayle.

Kia Ora Whanau

We have had a fantastic start to the year! It was great to reconnect at learning conferences last week and we really appreciate the time you took to come in. This week we have had fun getting to know each other and settling into school life again. Here are some photos of our hub in action:

Identity inquiry: Family Crests

 Creating a diorama based on a book

Creating a diorama based on a book

Writing a book review

Writing a book review

Researching a non fiction topic

 Creating a diorama based on a book

Silent reading

Water Fun

As you may be aware, the Pōhutukawa children are currently involved in some water-themed team challenges as part of our end of year activities. Our final challenge will be a water fight on Wednesday, 14 December. The children will need to bring a water pistol (or a drink bottle) along with their togs and towel.

Any children who do not want to participate will be able to do alternative activities with Susan.

Also, a reminder that we will be walking to the Margaret Mahy Playground on Tuesday, 13 December, leaving Champion Street at 12pm and returning by 2.30pm. Thank you to all the parents who have offered to help on this trip. If you are able to help please contact your child’s home group teacher.