Ngā mihi e te whānau,

Warm greetings to you all. We have had a wonderful week back in Pōhutukawa. The weather has been mostly welcoming, and the students in great spirits! We've hit the ground running this term (literally) with some Cross Country practice. We all noticed how enthusiastic the students have taken to their practice, as you can see from the photos. Long may it last! Please read on for some news from the team, and some updates on the term. Have a great weekend everyone, kia pai ngā rā whakata.

Food for Thought

We are excited to be working with House of Science again this term! Please watch this video to give you an overview of what House of Science is all about.

Each home group has just completed the first round of hands-on, practical experiment-based scientific workshops focused on the concept of ‘food science’. We learned that each ingredient in a product formula or recipe adds different functionality. Adding or removing an ingredient can alter the structure, texture, colour and taste of food. Some of the questions the students investigated were: What is curdled milk? What does it look like? What does it feel like? What is the difference between baking powder and baking soda? How do you add or remove moisture from food? How do salt and sugar absorb moisture?

The activities in this kit allow students to explore the answers to these, and many more, questions in a hands-on engaging way. Lots of mess, but lots of fun too! We hope you enjoy the photos of our scientists in action.

Cross Curriculum Classes

We love alliteration in Pōhutukawa, and our "cool curriculum classes" continue with some changes for Term 2. Gayle is continuing with Visual Art this term, Rae is covering Digital Technology and continuing with Coding. Steve is delving into Health/Hauora with a look at the mātauranga Māori concept of ‘mana’ and how we can support it. Megan is continuing with the Learning Languages area of the curriculum and teaching French, German, and Spanish. There is a lot of learning happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Winter Sports

Our winter sports programme kicks off in Week 5. Every student has elected to join, and will be involved, in either competitive or non-competitive hockey, netball, or football. We still need parent assistance both on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (approx. 1:30 pm - 3 pm) to help support our tamariki in the winter sports programme. In particular this year we have a large number of students who have signed up for the football competition and require parent help to make sure every team is supported at their games. If you think you could help us at this time, please get in touch with your home group teacher. Your support is hugely appreciated. We get there together, mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe!

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

As the term races on it's time to catch up on what we've been up to in Pōhutukawa, and also let you know some information about a couple of upcoming events. Please read on!

PB4L

Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto is a PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) school. PB4L looks at behaviour and learning from a whole-of-school as well as an individual child perspective. Our particular team's PB4L focus for the start of the year is “being an upstander”. We have been discussing how we can show the values ‘We Make a Difference’ and ‘We Care’ by being upstanders. We have discussed with the students the different actions we can take to be an upstander (as opposed to a bystander) if we see someone being mistreated. We have linked the Slideshow ‘How to be an Upstander’ here, and encourage you to take a look so that you can continue these very important conversations at home, too. You could also read Oat the Goat (bilingual interactive online storybook), which teaches how to show acceptance, empathy, and tolerance by being an upstander. Mā tātou kātoa, te waka e hoe, we are all in the waka together.

Kapa Haka Performance this Friday

Our fabulous Kapa Haka rōpu have been working on a few items with Whaea Cath Milio, and have been called upon to perform this Friday at 10:00 am at our Celebration Assembly. As in years past, each team has a turn at performing at Celebration Assemblies during the year with the intention being to showcase what the learning has been, and to get used to performing in front of an audience. It would be wonderful to see you there. He taonga te ako.

Pioneer Basketball Year 5-8 Primary Winter Competition Registration of Interest

Please fill in the Form if your tamariki is interested in playing for Beckenham on a Wednesday (Year 6) or Thursday (Year 5) afternoon in the Pioneer Basketball Competition in Term 2 and 3.

Games are played at Pioneer Stadium, with schools and individuals from around Christchurch South. There is a cost involved and the team will require parental support to manage the team at the games. Please fill in this form before the end of the term (April 12) to indicate your child/ren's intention to play. https://forms.gle/4xHt41FrUmHYEiiBA

This year Pioneer have changed the competition to differentiate between Year5 and Year 6. Once we have collected the responses we will be in touch if we have enough players for a team for each Year level.

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

Huge congratulations to all of the Swimming Sports competitors who represented themselves so admirably yesterday. Such a fantastic way to show 'We Love Challenge'! Keep an eye out for some photos of the event from our Media Team. Thank you also to the parents and whānau who supported the tamariki at the pool, and in the preparing them for the afternoon. A special mention to those who have qualified for Zones. Nau mai te wero! And so, on we swim into the second half of the term. Please read on for some important information about what we are learning in Pōhutukawa.

Pepeha

Maths and Reading Groups

Maths and Reading groups have now started and everyone has been allocated a teacher for these core subjects - the final stage of our regular daily timetable. We encourage you to take some time to ask your tamariki to show you what they are now able to access through their  Maths and Reading Google Classrooms and Sites. These are a great way to keep the learning going at home, too. The treasure is learning, he taonga te ako!

Kia tino pai ngā rā whakata. Have a great weekend, everybody.

The Pōhutukawa Team

Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all

We've now spent a wonderful and productive 6 days in Pōhutukawa establishing routines and building relationships. We've all been impressed with how quickly the Year 5 students have adapted to new ways of doing things, and we love when the Year 6 students show support and aroha to their peers. Arohaina te tangata me te taiao, We Care. Thank you for reading on for some very important updates about what we have been up to in Pōhutukawa, and what is coming up.

Swimming Sports Thursday, February 29

Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto Swimming Sports is being held at Wharenui Pool on Thursday 29th of February, (Week 5). 

This is an optional event open to children in Years 5 to 8. Races are held for freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. For each stroke, there will be a 25m and 50m event.  You may enter races in all strokes but may only enter one distance in each stroke. For example, you could enter 25m backstroke and 50m breaststroke but you can not enter 25m and 50m backstroke. Only competitors from the 50m events are eligible to be considered for Zones. You will race against your year group. Please click here to enter.

To take part, you must be a confident and competent swimmer for the stroke and distance you have entered. If you are unsure of your ability, please ask a teacher for advice. Parents and/or your swimming coach, (if you have one) are also great people to ask for advice.

Workshops

All the teachers have now had the chance to teach every student in our team through a series of workshops. Monday was spent acknowledging Waitangi Day with a day of workshops on the Treaty of Waitangi/ Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The learning that comes with this important topic is vast, and something that we see as very important for our tamariki to understand. 

This week we also started our beginning of the year 'Workshops/ Papamahi', in which we covered Using Google Classroom, Active Listening, UDL (Universal Design for Learning), and Lunchtime Games and Activities. It would be great to discuss with your tamariki about these workshops, and what they have learned. It was a lot of information, so  asking them to share what they remember is a good way to consolidate their learning. These Workshops aim to introduce important aspects of life in Pōhutukawa, which we will continue with next week with Cyber Safety, PB4L, Health and Wellbeing, and Diversity.

Learning at Home and Google Classroom

All of the students have now signed up for the Pōhutukawa 2024 Google Classroom and their Home Group Google Classroom. Students can also access the Pōhutukawa Learning Site via their Google Classroom. The site serves as an online hub of resources should you wish for your tamariki to continue doing some school work at home. We will continue to add material and build the students' knowledge around using Google Classroom and Google Sites in the coming weeks. As always, we encourage you to actively participate in this area of your tamariki's learning. Ask them to show you what is available to them online and what they can see and do. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

CCC

You may have heard your child talking about our CCC "cool curriculum classes". This is how we start our day; they are a great way to ensure we are teaching all areas of our curriculum. We are planning to start the programme next week. Megan is teaching Performing Arts this term through Drama, Rae is covering Digital Technology with Coding. Steve is teaching P.E., while Gayle is teaching Visual Art. There is such a lot of learning happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Have a great weekend everybody, kia pai ngā rā whakatā!

The Pōhutukawa Team

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

It was wonderful to see, connect, and reconnect with you over the past 2 days at our Learning Conferences. We're all looking forward to a fantastic year in Pōhutukawa!

 Attached is a short movie all about the Pōhutukawa team, and some important information about the first day and the start of the year, superbly narrated 2 of our Year 6 students  Billy and Eva. There is also a Slides presentation containing the same information and the Welcome to 2024 newsletter if you need a digital copy. A reminder to students to bring their swim wear tomorrow if they'd like to enjoy some water play in the afternoon!

Kia pai te pō, have a great evening.

The Pōhutukawa Team