Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all

We trust everyone was able to make the most of the extra time with family over the holiday break. We were glad to see the sun greet us when we returned, although our luck ran out when our winter sports were again cancelled because of the change in weather. Winter is certainly making its presence felt this week, as well! We hope you're all keeping safe, dry, and warm. Please read on for some information about the beginning of the term.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

PB4L

Our PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) focus for the start of the term 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.

Cross ("Cool") Curriculum Classes

CCC classes continue with some changes for Term 3. Steve is continuing to teach the Arts this term this term Visual Arts. Rae is covering Digital Technology and continuing with Coding. Gayle is teaching Geography, and Megan is teaching Health with a look at conflict resolution. There is always 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.

STOMP!

As part of our concept of Innovation this year, we have launched into our Inquiry this term with a bang... and a thump.... and a rat-a-tat-tat! As you may have heard, we have been looking at STOMP: the inventive and invigorating stage show and the students have been working in groups to recreate and innovate with improvised instruments. It's been great to see the tamariki working together and taking different roles in their groups to create their own unique rhythms. We will be making an audio recording of their performances, so keep your ears open for that!

Kia pai te wiki, have a great week

The Pōhutukawa Team

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

What a busy few weeks we have had! We loved having the chance to connect with you at our Learning Conferences and also see many of you at our Matariki Evening this week, as well.  These connections, and the whanaungatanga that comes with them, are so valuable. They are wonderful chance for the students to reflect on their successes, as well as look ahead to the next two terms. We hope you enjoy some photos of life in the Pōhutukawa Hub over the past busy few weeks. Please take the time to read on for some important information.

Cyber Safety

Learning online continues to be a vital part of our learning at school, and the cyber safety of our tamariki is always at the forefront of what we do. At the beginning of the year, we held workshops on how to be cyber safe, and also expectations around using devices. We have recently been revisiting some of these ideas, and reminding our students that their school accounts are for learning purposes only. We have attached a Cyber Safety Guidelines @ Home for you to look at with your tamariki and discuss. Mā tātou te katoa te waka e hoe, we are all rowing the waka together.

Shoes/ Ngā hū

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. Please click the link here to take a look at our latest Y-chart that was co-constructed with the students during our PB4L lesson. It really does make a huge difference to our learning space. Our next 'step' in this regard is to continue to work on keeping the shoes in a tidy way. Again, revisiting these expectations at ho'me, as well really helps us to get there together.

Winter Sports/ Hākinakina

Our Winter Sports programme is also now full steam ahead, with all of our students getting some amazing netball, football and hockey coaching and tautoko, support from our Year 8 student leaders on Wednesday afternoons. Our competitive teams are enjoying themselves in the South Zone competition and representing Beckenham admirably. A huge mihi, thanks to the parents who are helping out on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. We simply couldn't do it without your help and support.

 Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all

A wet end to the week, with quite a number of tamariki absent due to illness. With coughs and colds, as well as of course Covid, doing the rounds, we are being extra vigilant with our ventilation practices in the team, and giving lots of reminders to cough into elbows, wash hands regularly, and be aware of personal space. We hope you all have a happy, healthy weekend. Please read on for some updates and reminders.

Winter Sports Starts Next Week

 Our Winter Sports programme starts next week and will take place on Wednesday 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 Wednesday afternoons and will be supported by the Year 8 House Captains. 

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 have received a Hero post with all of the information you need to know.

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 our beloved Beckenham Park. This week we incorporated how to show We Care for our school environment into our PB4L lessons. We will now 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.

Living Springs Camp Movie

Today at our Celebration Assembly, we were lucky to see the premiere of the Kauri Media Team's 'Pōhutukawa Camp Movie'. We have added it here as a link for you to watch and enjoy with your tamariki. 

Noho ora mai

The Pōhutukawa Team

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

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

What an amazing time we spent at Living Springs. We hope the tamariki have somewhat recovered from their exhaustion, and that they've been able to tell you about some of the highs, lows, challenges, and triumphs, which they experienced over the 3 days at camp. Thankfully, the weather played its part; we experienced a lot of sunshine, a bit of rain, some mist, and pretty mild temperatures throughout, which meant most of the time was spent outside in the stunning surroundings that our corner of the world has to offer.

As teachers, we want to pass on that it was a pleasure, and a privilege to be able to offer this experience of camp to your tamariki. The values we talk about so often at school: We Care, We Get There Together, We Make a Difference, We Love Challenge, and We Love Learning, were all on display at camp, and hopefully the students will now have memories that will last many of them their whole lives.

Over the next little while, we will be unpacking the whole experience of camp with the tamariki at school, and reflecting on how camp ties into our kete values. We certainly took a lot of photos, which will be put together for you and the students to enjoy in the coming days. Watch this space!

Finally, we would like to give a special shout-out to the whānau who joined us on camp. Without you giving up your own time to give your tautoko (support), your awhi (help), and your aroha (care) the camp simply could not, and would not, have happened. Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe, we all row this waka together. Kia pai nga rā whakatā ki a tātou, enjoy a lovely weekend, everyone.

The Pōhutukawa team

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