Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Building Update - come and see what's happening...

We are re-activating the Building Blog - which has been renamed 'Beckenham School Moving Foward' and we will be regularly publishing to this blog as new information about the building process comes to hand. We are very excited that the process which, held up for most of this year, has now reached a point where action is about to happen, and we have information to share with you.

Learning Conferences

A guide to Learning Conferences.

Next week children will have their Learning Conferences with their teachers. If you would like some more information about how the Learning Conferences run please read through this guide:

What is a Learning Conference?

A Learning Conferences is when your child will share their learning with you in their Hub. Their teacher will be in the Hub too. It is a time for your child to celebrate what they are doing well and what are their next steps in learning. Your child will practice speaking confidently, and taking responsibility for their learning.

What is a Hub?

The Hub is your child’s learning space. Usually this has 2 or 3 classrooms joined together. There may be 2 or 3 teachers who work in this space and your child will work in both spaces.
Do I need to go?
It is important that you and your child come to the learning conferences, so you can celebrate their learning with them. You can bring a support person with you too.
What do I need to do before the conference?

• Make an appointment with the teacher (through an online booking form or ring the office and they will do this for you)
• Talk to your child about what is going to happen.

What will happen at the conference?

Teacher:

• The teacher will help your child to show their work.
• They will talk to you about what your child's next learning steps are.Child:
• Your child will talk to you about what they have been working on in class.
• They may show you their work, read a book or some of theirwriting.

Parent/caregiver:

• Listen to your child talking.
• Ask them questions about what they have learnt or been doing.
• Make a positive comment about their effort on their learning.

What questions could I ask?

What did you enjoy?

What did you find hard with this?

What would you want to do different next time?

How can I help you at home?

What do I need to do after the conference?

If you are worried about your child's learning or have any questions, you can make a time to talk to the teacher on a different day.

When are the learning conferences?

Tuesday 30th August & Thursday 1st August (week 6)

What time will school finish?

School will finish at 2pm on Tuesday and Thursday. If you can not pick up your child speak to Jacky in the office. Your child(ren) will be supervised at school until you pick them up at 3pm.

Ngā mihi nui

Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Citizen of the Week

Dan Webster - Year 1

Dan, your positive, enthusiastic attitude in all situations is both a credit to you, and an inspiration to your classmates and teachers. You are thoughtful, considerate and reliable, displaying our school values in all that you do. You put maximum effort into all school activities. You also support your classmates to participate and achieve, which demonstrates your kind and caring nature.You display wonderful willingness and initiative, always ensuring that our learning spaces are clean and tidy, and doing more than your fair share. Your positivity is also contributing to great progress in your learning - what an amazing friend and learner you are, Dan! Tino pai tou rawe!

Sharing our Learning

Kowhai Team

Gymnastics

We have had a great start to the term with the children participating in a gymnastics unit. This has seen the children working on equipment to develop static, locomotion and balance skills. Hubs 5/6/7 went to the Christchurch School of Gymnastics on Tuesday 23rd August to participate in the, ‘Have a Go’ session. For many of our students they demonstrated the key school value, ‘We Love Challenge’ by attempting activities on new and challenging apparatus. They had to think positively using ‘Growth Mindset’ phrases and it was great to see the other children supporting one another. “I can do it. I just need to keep on trying. I’m learning because this is hard. People are here to help me, I CAN do it!

M.A.D. Time in Kowhai Team

Every Thursday afternoon, the children participate in a variety of M.A.D. Time (Make a Difference) activities. This term, we have been fortunate enough to have the support of some parents who have offered other options for the children to do. This term, the children have been able to choose from, sock puppet making, Wood work (making birdhouses with Mr Lee), construction, choir, paper mashe and visiting the residents at Thorrington Resthome.

Kowhai Sport

Every Friday, the children have chosen a sport to learn how to play. In Kowhai Team, we vlaue the skills that playing sports can teach us. WE have been working hard on persisting when learning is tricky, sharing and taking turns by using ll the players in our team and supporting and encouraging other with our words. Each week the children participate in skill drill and they then play a modified version of their sport so they can put the skills into practice. We are lucky enough to have been able to offer a sixth sport this term with the help of Nicola Reddecliffe, who is taking  basketball.

Olympic Learning

Over the past 4 weeks, our inquiry focus has been investigating the history of the Olympics and what is means to be an ‘Olympian’. The children have travelled around the world, learning about other cultures, and have learnt about the torch, Olympic events, the Rings, motto, mascot and have made comparisons between the ancient Olympics and the Modern Olympics. We  are looking forward to sharing our learning later on in the term in a team performance, where we will communicate our  learning through dance and drama.  Our performance will be on Wednesday 14th September at 6pm.

Writing in Kowhai Team

We have been working hard on adding detail to our writing this term by including precise language and details that, ‘paint pictures’ with words. The children have created some stunning pieces and here is just a sample:

Olympics:
Wow! She’s won! It was worth all of those years of practice. The crowd are roaring. She is so, so proud of herself. She is also proud of the other competitors. I knew she could get there, first place! Not everyone can get first place, the others were gutted.
I see the smile on her face. She is waving her hands in the air and you can tell she is so proud. The crowd are on their feet. They are so happy for her. She can see how proud her coach is. The other coaches look as devastated as the other competitors.
Arabella Froggatt

School Notices

Cultural festival tickets

These can be collected from the school office, thanks

Scootering & Cycling in the school grounds after 3pm

We have had a few near misses recently and complaints about children scootering and cycling in the school grounds between 3:00-3:30pm. Due the the number of adults and children walking around the school grounds we have asked all children and adults not to scooter or cycle in the school grounds between 3:00-3:30pm due to it being so unsafe.
If individual children are continuously being unsafe, their scooter or scooter or bicycle will be taken by a teacher to the office, so that it can be collected when parents pick them up.
Thank you all for supporting us to keep everyone safe.

Supervision after school

A reminder that all children need to be actively supervised after school to keep them safe. If you are late picking up your child, they will be asked to wait in the office area where they will be safe and warm.

Community Notices

Science Alive: Introductory Robotics (Ages 8 - 13 years) - $11 per child
Cultural Constellations (Age 5 -13 years - children must be accompanied by an adult) - $5 per child and adult

For more details and for booking tickets, simply hop over to http://www.eventfinda.co.nz/user/sciencealivenz