Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all,

How lovely to see the sun this afternoon! We seem to have raced through the first 2 weeks of Term 3, and it has been great to see tamariki back at school in a positive mood, after a well-deserved break. While we have had to deal with some grotty weather after returning to school, the students have managed really well and settled into the new term nicely. Please read on for some team news, updates, and some upcoming events to put on your calendar.

Olympic Games

This term we are studying Social Sciences by learning about the Olympics and Paralympics, and more specifically the Evolution of the Olympic Movement. It has been great to launch our Paris 2024 Olympic learning site (which you can access via your tamariki's school account) on which the students can access a plethora of information and learning activities. This week we have looked briefly at the events, the countries, the mascot, and the history of the Games. We’re looking forward to learning a lot more over the next few weeks, following the progress of our athletes, and celebrating their resilience and perseverance! We love challenge, nau mai te wero.

Road Patrollers

For our Year 6's, being a member of the Road Patrol is one of the key ways they can show leadership in our senior school. It is also a wonderful way to hone time-management skills, and perform a valuable service for both our kura and the community; rain, hail or shine! It was great to have our Year 5 patrollers out completing their training with Constable Meg last week, and they are now on patrol before and after school until the end of the year. Thank you for your support in ensuring they are aware of their days on patrol.

Update on Rae, and welcome to Mikyla

As you may know, Rae Marsh is away on medical leave. After receiving a hip replacement last week, Rae is very happy to be home now and is working hard to be independent and walking again! While Rae rehabilitates, we welcome Mikyla Campbell to the teaching team. Mikyla has slotted seamlessly into our Pōhutukawa whānau and she has made some fantastic connections with the tamariki already. Please feel free to contact Mikyla at any time should you need to. She is looking forward to getting to know the tamariki and their whānau more over the coming weeks.

South Zone Basketball Tournament

Last Thursday some of our keen basketball players competed in the South Zone Basketball tournament held at Hillview Christian School. While the results didn’t go our way, it was an excellent opportunity to pit our skills against some of the best Year 5-6 basketball players in the area. The team represented our kura, school with pride and embodied our school values of We Love Challenge and We Get There Together wonderfully. Well done, team!

'Cool' Curriculum Classes

CCC classes continue with some changes for Term 3. Gayle is continuing to teach Visual Arts this term with some exciting Olympic-themed Calendar Art to look forward to - watch this space! Mikyla is covering Digital Technology and continuing with Coding. Steve is teaching Health with a look at our Wellbeing/Hauora and Social and Emotional coaching, and Megan is teaching the students financial literacy through the Banqer programme. There is always a lot of learning over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting at home about what we cover in these courses. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Maths Family Whānau Evening

Thursday, 29th August (5:30 pm – 7:30 pm)

We invite ALL our Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto families (NE-Y8) to join us for a hands on workshop that will help you to support and extend your child with
Mathematics. This workshop will be facilitated by Rob Proffitt-White. His workshops are hands on, fun an The workshop will explore: d engaging.
• The mathematical practices all students must master
• What skills and processes are needed in high school
• Ways to help with number facts and mental computation
• Games to encourage mathematical discussions (You will get to play some of these on the night).

Please see the attached flyer for more information.

Year 7-8 Open Evening for Year 6 whānau

Head Lice

We are continuing to see cases of head lice at school. We have attached some helpful information about head lice - please read this if you are unsure of how to detect and treat headlice. Thank you for your vigilance around this.

Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all,

What a wonderful sunny finish to the term today - made extra bright by the rainbow colours worn in support of diversity and money raised for Youthline. A wonderful way to show 'We Care' - arohaina te tangata. We hope you all enjoy some quality family time over the next 2 weeks, and that the students can take the chance to replenish with a well-earned rest after a busy and productive term. Please read on for some important updates, and we wish you a safe and relaxing term break.

Mānawatia a Matariki

It was rawe, awesome, to see so many whānau at our Matariki celebration last week, and to see the kapa haka rōpu up on stage doing their thing. Matariki is an opportunity to reflect on the past 4 seasons, celebrate the present with whanau, and look forward to what is to come as the days get longer... if not warmer quite yet! We have been learning all about Matariki over the past few weeks. Of the 9 stars we acknowledge, 2 are associated with the natural elements of wind and rain. We certainly had those elements in play over the last week or so, and a lot of learning also came with them. It would be wonderful to reflect on this learning with your tamariki over the holidays. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Stationery

As we are at the halfway point in the year, we'd really appreciate it if you could check with your tamariki about their stationery and what they need. Essential and consumable items that all students require are: HB pencils, an eraser, glue sticks, a highlighter, and a blue pen. We have gone through the students' remaining stationery , and they will be able to tell you what they need. Thanks for your support with this, mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe.

Canterbury Cross Country

A massive congratulations to Laura, Jayme, Max, Lily and Haydn who represented both themselves and our kura so admirably at the Canterbury Cross Country last Wednesday. The conditions added and extra layer of challenge, with the runners having to battle some rainy, windy, muddy conditions. Fantastic to see so many runners from Beckenham competing, and special congratulations to Laura who finished overall in the 2nd Year 6 Girls' race, and Max who finished 6th in the Year 5 Boys' race. A stellar achievement!

Winter Sport

Thank you to the parents who offered their time to support the teams. We still have 6 more weeks of Winter Sport next term, and let's hope for some sunny weather so more sports can go ahead! Keep an eye on Hero for any cancellations, and we'll look forward to seeing many of you on the sidelines next term.

Head Lice

We are starting to see a few cases of head lice at school. We have linked some helpful information about head lice -here - please read this if you are unsure of how to detect and treat headlice.

Ngā mihi e te whānau,

It was fantastic to see so many of you at our Learning Conferences last week, we really appreciate the whanaungatanga that comes as a result of these conversations. Mā tātou te katoa te waka e hoe, we are all rowing the waka together.

A huge mihi/ thank you to those parents who supported our Food for Thought visit to New World on Wednesday, and St Martins New World for hosting us in-store. We certainly ran the gauntlet with the weather in the afternoon, and all the home groups were able to enjoy a practical lesson outside of school to consolidate what they learned during the in-class sessions. We hope you enjoy the photos, and the pānui/information about the programme below.

All the best to those tamariki who are entering the 40 Hour Challenge this weekend. Nau mai te wero - bring on the challenge! As we wind up the term, we have a few housekeeping items for you to be aware of, so thank you for reading on.

Empowering Healthier Futures Through "Food for Thought

This week we had Karli from Food for Thought visit the school to deliver three nutrition sessions to the students. Our schoolwide concept for 2024 is Identity, and we have chosen to look at this concept through the lens of Health this term.

The first two sessions saw students learn about how foods and nutrients support active and growing bodies. We also learned how to read the nutritional information on packaged foods and explored the sugar content in different drinks. We discovered that a 600ml bottle of Coca-Cola contains a staggering 16 teaspoons of sugar!

In the third session, students were given the opportunity to apply their newfound knowledge in a real-world setting. We visited St Martins New World where students analysed nutrition labels on various packaged foods to learn more about what is in our foods. Pōhutukawa are now expert food detectives! Don't hesitate to ask them to showcase their new skills to you.

At the end of the programme, each class received a $60 New World gift card to share some healthy kai. Watch this space!

It was great to have the Food for Thought team with us to give our students important lessons they can carry with them through life. If you are interested in learning more about Food for Thought, visit their website here: www.foodforthought.co.nz

Toys and Precious Items

We have noticed an increase in students bringing toys and precious items to school e.g. Rubik's Cubes. Unfortunately, due to the tendency of these things to get broken or go missing, we ask that all students not bring these to school. Thank you for your support with this.

Matariki Evening and Kapa Haka Performance

Matariki is the start of the Māori new year and a time of reflection, connection and planning for the year ahead. We would like to celebrate with you and your whānau on the 25th of June from 5pm - 7pm.  As part of the evening Whaea Cath Milio is preparing our kapa haka rōpu for a short performance on the night. The performance will be at approximately 6:40pm in Māpuna, our school hall, and will be after our Matariki activities in the Hub. It's a wonderful opportunity for our kapa haka rōpu to perform. Your child/children will need to meet in Pūkaki (opposite the Pōhutukawa Hub) at 6:15pm in order to get ready. We look forward to seeing you there!

Shoes
It has been really great to see the students 'stepping up' to show We Care for our school environment by removing their shoes during this wet and muddy season.  We are lucky to have wonderful underfloor heating in the classrooms, so feet stay nice and warm, and as an added benefit our carpet stays mud-free! In addition to this, we suggest that if your child is coming home with very muddy clothes, please consider supplying them with a spare pair of school shorts and a spare school top for them to change into once they finish their games. 

Ngā mihi e te whanau, warm greetings to you all. We've been lucky with some amazing weather for the start of our Winter Sports programme, with all of our students receiving netball, football, and hockey coaching and tautoko, support from our parent coaches and Year 8 student leaders on Tuesday afternoons. We have more than 70 students participating in the South Zone competition and proudly representing Beckenham. A huge mihi, thanks to the amazing parents who are helping out on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. We couldn't have that number of students involved in the inter-school competition without your help and support. We hope you all enjoy the photos. Please read on for some important updates - including a revised date for the Food for Thought programme and our visit to St. Martins New World.

New dates for Food for Thought and Parent Help Required

The Food for Thought programme has been rescheduled to take place in Week 8 on the 17th, 18th and 19th of June. Food for Thought is a free nutrition education programme offered to all New Zealand primary schools, and provides Year 5 and 6 classes with three Nutrition Sessions with a qualified nutritionist. This will be an invaluable learning experience for the tamariki who always learn so much about nutrition from this programme. It will also be a golden opportunity to ask questions around the dinner table about what the tamariki have learned in this programme and about the new knowledge they have acquired about sustaining their health. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Parent help will be required for our trip to New World on Wednesday 19th June.

Each Home Group will walk to and from New World and receive an in-store lesson to consolidate what they have learned from the programme over the previous 2 days. The schedule is as follows: 

Steve's home group: 8:30 am - 11:00 am

Gayle's home group: 9:30 am - 12:00 pm

Megan's home group: 10:30 am - 1:00 pm

Rae's home group 11:30 am - 2:00 pm

If you think you may be able to help out at any of these times, please get in touch with your child's home group teacher. It is possible to accompany your child with a buddy with your buddy and a different home group depending on the time you are available. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Have a great weekend everybody,

The Pōhutukawa Team

Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all on this chilly Friday. The grey day was certainly made more colourful with all of the creative Book Day costumes! The Media Team has been busy today taking photos of the array of characters, so keep an eye on Hero for those. Thank you for reading on as we have a lot of news to share, as well as some upcoming events.

Food for Thought update... and a "Super" Special Guest

As we posted on Hero earlier in the week, the Food for Thought program that we had planned to do this week was unfortunately cancelled due to their instructor being unwell. We are looking to rebook the program for later in the term, and will keep you all posted. Thank you again to the parents who had initially given up their time to come and support the trip. We do hope you can come along if it goes ahead next month. 

As it turned out there was a silver lining to this cloud, as we were lucky to have a visit from Jon Nabbs - a self-described 'life enthusiast' who came to talk to us all about his incredible endeavours. Jon enthralled the students (and teachers too) with stories of running across Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, a journey of approximately 8,000Km (around 195 marathons), with winter temperatures as low as -50 degrees Celsius! 

Jon also shared that the motivation for his journey is to raise money in support of child cancer patients across New Zealand and Canada to have access to services so they can continue to feel in his words "they have some control as they fight a fight they shouldn't have to fight". His talk was a wonderful example of our 'We Make a Difference' value for the kids, and we're sure they will remember the story of the muesli bar and the grizzly bear for the rest of their lives!

Jon is currently attempting a Guinness World Record for the fastest person to run the length of Aotearoa, and is again using this as a chance to raise money and awareness for children fighting cancer. We will be following his journey, and we wish him all the very best! Nau mai te wero, Jon.

You can find out more, donate, and follow his journey on his website https://www.jonnabbs.com/ and also watch the clip that he shared with the students by clicking here.

Winter Sports

Starting next week, we will be running our winter sports programme on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The tamariki will be either participating in non-competitive or competitive hockey, netball, or football.

Non-competitive sports will take place at school on Tuesday afternoons and will be supported by the Year 8 Sport Leaders. 

Competitive sports teams will play in the South Zone Winter Sports competition on Thursday afternoons. If your child is on one of these teams, you will soon receive a Hero post with all of the information you need to know. Students who are not on a competitive team will be doing alternative sports programme here at school.

Cross Country

We were blessed with beautiful weather for this year's Cross Country, and it was so great to see the students out there giving it heaps! Amazing also to have the chance to send 24 of our keen bean runners to the Zones.  A huge congratulations to all of our students who embraced the chilly challenge on Wednesday morning at the Zone Cross Country. It's a big achievement to qualify for this race, and the nervous excitement that accompanies the build-up is such a great opportunity to live our value 'We Love Challenge'. Well done to all of the competitors for representing Beckenham so admirably, and a special congratulations to Laura, Lily, Jayme, Max, and Haydn, who will be representing our kura at the Canterbury Cross Country next month. A massive achievement! Watch this space...

Latin American and Pasifika Musical Extravaganza

Yesterday the students were treated to an eclectic performance of Latin American Music by a visiting musician, supported wonderfully by our very own budding musicians Ben and Noah . The concert ebbed and flowed as the audience listened to, and sometimes participated in musical numbers from Chile, Brazil, Samoa, Aotearoa... and more. What a wonderful way to show 'We Love Challenge' for Ben and Noah who embraced the challenge of getting up in front of their peers with very little preparation to perform. Tau ke, awesome.

Muddy Months

As we head into winter we are noticing the inevitable increase of muddy shoes and clothes as students come back from play and lunch, having played sports and games on the Park. We will be asking students to take off muddy shoes before entering the Hub and lining them up neatly outside the door. We are lucky to have wonderful underfloor heating in the classrooms, so feet stay nice and warm, and as an added benefit our carpet stays mud-free! In addition to this, we suggest that if your child is coming home with very muddy clothes, please consider supplying them with a spare pair of school shorts and a spare school top for them to change into once they finish their games. We appreciate your support with this.

Have a great weekend everyone, whatever you get up to. Kia pai tō rā whakatā.