Kahikatea Newsletter Week 7

Writing in Hub 1&2

We have a team full of amazing authors! Here is some writing they have been working on last week:

Team Minecraft Writers:


A big storm came here last night. My barbeque went down my steps on the deck. It got broken. My Dad was mad and he was at a work thing. The wind sounded like a truck crashing.
By Blake


No! No! I can't get out and play. Splish, splash, crash, bang! There's too much hail. We have to play inside. The end.                                                                                                          
 By Cian


Last night's storm brought rain, hail and thunder. I found an enormous puddle. It looks like a stream.
                                                                                                                                     By Bobbi


Team Dolphin Writers:

I like Ally because she is my best friend. We play together and we play in Room 0. And we do everything together.
By Charlotte


I have a fish called Juri. He can leap around the fish tank. His fins are not sick too. He is yellow. I like my fish because he is colourful. 
By Juri


Dad
My Dad is a great builder and a great wrestler. He never gives up on his work. One night my sister asked Dad if we could have some chocolate. He said yes! He loves spending time with us and he loves going to the park and seeing me on my bike. He is very nice. 
By Lola T

Team Rubble Writers:

Dad
He is crazy, my Dad because... He plays jokes on us and sometimes we laugh. He is like Fiji weather. My Dad is between tall and small. My Dad gives me hugs. Mum's hugs are the best but Dad's hugs are great. 
By Brynn


Dad
He's alright, my Dad. My Dad is good at work, biking and truck driving. He has whiskers and he's very hairy. He has black hair. He's alright, my Dad. He loves me, my sister Abby and my Mum. He's alright, my Dad. My Dad is as happy as a hippopotamus. I love my Dad and do you know what... He loves me too!!!
By Briar



My Dad
He's always awesome, my Dad. He is amazing at golf, mountain biking and being silly. 
My Dad looks like a clown in town. He has black curly hair and a goaty. He is a very tall man. He's always awesome, my Dad. 
He loves Mum, Reg and of course, me! He loves me 100%. He's always awesome, my Dad! 
My Dad has a super warm heart! My Dad is as silly as a goose on the loose! 
I can't wait for Father's Day again! 
By Maggie


My Dad is Cool
My Dad is pretty cool and he loves me. His favourite thing to do is probably play with me! He is as smart as a horse... He can build cool buildings. And he loves painting. And he loves everyone!!!
By Harvey


Maths - Direction and Turns

We are learning about direction and turns through our Discovery Stations at the moment. We have been giving directions to each other to find hidden treasure, finding our way through mazes, 'programming' our robots (which are actually our buddies), creating treasure maps with directions and turning objects around using quarter, half and full turns.  


Social Studies - Asia Awareness

As our learning is wrapping up for the term, we are looking into how we can make a difference for someone who has just moved to New Zealand from somewhere in Asia. Each hub is currently discussing and creating something that will help others learn about the language, food and culture in New Zealand. 




Beckenham School Newsletter September 8th 2016

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

We were very proud of all of the members of Te Whānau Mahi Tahi who performed at the Horncastle Arena last Friday evening at the Christchurch Primary Schools Cultural Festival.
The level of complexity of the waiata and te reo Māori that they perform is very high. The songs are carefully chosen to share stories and messages that are relevant to our children and their place in the world.
You can see their performance here:



Building Update

At this stage, the Unconfirmed start date for demolition is the first week of the school holidays. It isn't yet confirmed as we are still waiting on two key items - the building consent and the acceptance of the builder's price by the Ministry. We have always said that we won't be moving children off-site until the start date had been finalised, and this is still the case. At the same time, we are hopeful that this start date will be confirmed and all of the plans below are working towards it and assume that it will be so.

Moving of the Library

Some of you may have noticed that the library has been closed for the last couple of weeks as Anne has been busy boxing up the books for 'yet another' move! As we are going to be needing every classroom space, Tony and Anne have been very busy re-purposing the dental clinic and this is currently being turned into a fabulous 'Junior Library' for our Year 1-4 students.
The 'Senior Library' is sitting in banana boxes, waiting to be shifted over to Champion Street where a cosy room there is being prepared for it to be reinstated.

Moving of Year 3/4 Classes

Assuming that the start date is confirmed for the holidays, we need to move the Year 3/4 classes into new spaces so that the demolition and building programme will be able to move ahead. These moves are currently planned for the last two days of this term, ready to start properly on the first day of Term 4 in the new spaces.

Hub 8/9 

(Anna and Rebekah's building) is not being demolished. However, it is going to be quite cut off from the rest of the school during the building process, and was originally down for demolition. We have managed to negotiate with the Ministry a sensible and positive community outcome where the Ministry signs over these buildings to BOSCO, finally providing BOSCO with a permanent home that will be much better suited to their size and operation than the hall foyer!
Anna, Rebekah and the children from Hub 8/9 will move into Rooms 21/22 which they are looking forward to very much as the rooms are bigger and lighter.

Hubs 5/6/7 

Rather than being demolished, it has been decided by the Ministry that Hubs 5/6/7 can be relocated to Hornby High School and this is pencilled in to happen on Wed 28 September.
Gayle and the children of Hub 7 will be moving to Room 19 which has been the home of the library this year.
Paulette and Mike, and the children of Hub 5/6 are moving into the staffroom! This space has great potential as a learning environment, with three quite distinct spaces that can be opened up or closed off and, of course, includes a kitchen! Michelle and I are very excited about being so close and involved in the learning in Hub 5/6.

Staffroom - moving to the Hall Foyer

"But where are the staff going" I hear you ask! As we will only have half the number of staff on site, we are moving the comfy chairs to the hall foyer for morning tea and lunches and we will hold meetings as needed in a classroom space after school. The staff workroom will move into Michelle's old office and these spaces should work well for us.

Year 5-8's move to Champion Street

Every day there is some further work being done at Champion Street as we prepare to move there with our Year 5-8 students next term.
This week we welcomed James Beauchamp to our staff - James is going to be working part-time at Champion St (and sometimes at Beckenham) assisting with maintenance and grounds work and helping in other ways where he is needed.
Some other very exciting news this week was that Class* Furniture Solutions have offered to put brand new furniture into the learning spaces at Champion St for us! They would like the opportunity to be able to show prospective buyers (other principals usually) what the furniture looks like in a real school setting, and the Ministry suggested that Beckenham School @ Champion St would be a great place to do that in! Nicky, Susan and the teams are busy selecting furniture at the moment so that it will be delivered ready for when we start in Term 4.
We have invited all the parents of our Year 5-8 students to attend a meeting in the hall next Wednesday, 14 September, from 7:30pm, to learn more about the logistics and details of the move to Champion St.
We are taking the Year 5/6 students over for a short visit this Friday afternoon, and the Year 7/8 students will visit on Tuesday afternoon next week. At this stage, all going well we will have all of the Year 5-8 students at Champion St on the last day of term - ready to begin in earnest on the first day of Term 4.

So... as you can see, there is a LOT going on at the moment and its very exciting to think that, after nearly three years of talking about it and planning, the building project might actually begin!

That's it from me for the moment, keep looking out for school emails and communications as there will be regular updates as this exciting phase progresses.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy



Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Fri 9 Sep
9:15-9:45am Celebration Assembly - everyone welcome.
Y5/6 students to visit Champion St - pm

Tues 13 Sep
Y7/8 students to visit Champion St (immediately after Technology)
Y5/6 Glee Club - Massed Choir rehearsal for Music Festival (am)

Wed 14 Sep
6-7:00pm.  Kowhai Performance - Celebration of Learning - School Hall
7:30pm - Meeting for Year 5-8 parents re Champion St move - School Hall

Thu 15 Sep
11am-12pm.  Pohutukawa Market Day
6-8:20pm.  Board of Trustees Meeting.

Wed 21 Sep
9:15-9:45am Concert in the hall - Training & Concert Bands performing

Thu 22 Sep
1:30-3:00pm. Talent quest

Fri 22 Sep
Y7/8 technology at South Int (instead of Tuesday this week)
Y5-8 students at Champion St
End of Term 3.  School finishes at 3:00pm

Term Dates

Click here to view the 2016 and 2017 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Name: Conor Price - Year 8

Conor, it has been a pleasure to witness the growth of your confidence and progression as a Year 8 student. You happily contribute your ideas and thoughts when working in small groups and you entertain us all within the realms of drama and acting. You are a kind and caring friend, who is always there to lend a hand. You are always organised with your belongings and ready to learn. Your self-management skills have improved greatly and it is awesome to see you meeting set deadlines. We are very proud of the fine young man you are! Tino pai Conor.

Sharing our Learning

Koru Team

Our Koru children have had wonderful support from parents helping in school. The better the engagement between parents, families, and schools, the greater the positive impact on student learning.

Examples of home-school partnership includes:
Parents supporting learning in class, e.g. parent help in reading or sharing their cultural customs.
Supporting learning by reading with children at home .
Discussions between students, teachers, and parents/whānau e.g. learning conferences.
Further information on home-school partnerships from the Ministry of Education.
In Team Koru, recent home-school connections have included:
Rohini (Abhay’s Mum) sharing information about the Indian festival of Diwali with us, in line  with our current Inquiry into cultures. Students loved hearing the Diwali story, and colouring rongoli patterns like this:

Other Diwali customs include lighting candles, wearing traditional sari (for girls) and special treats. We enjoyed eating semolina cake as part of this.

Gyaltsen (Lilian’s Father) came in to share aspects of Tibetan culture. Students loved hearing about how Gyaltsen rode his pony when he was young as there were no cars.We found out where Tibet is and discussed how many plane  rides it takes to get there and who the Dalai Lama is. Another highlight was trying  on and talking about costumes worn during times of celebrations.


During discovery time on Friday afternoon we were very lucky to have Annabel’s mother (Olivia) and Grandmother, Scarlett’s mother (Carolyn) and Frankie’s mother (Aileen) come in to help hub 10 and 11 bake gingerbread. The process of measuring, mixing, cutting, baking and tasting was enjoyed by all. This experience would not have been possible if we did not have these amazing helpers!




Room 13 is up and running. Welcome to the new children and families. We are looking forward to working together to help the children settle into school.




Writing from Koru

Flynn
I found a big cat eating Little Cat’s food.

Felix
I saw a dragon in my bed.It breathes fire and it roars.It flies fast.
I hid under my bed .It is fun because I like to hide where no-one can see me.
My Mum likes making chocolate chippie cookies.They are delicious !

Alex
I am hiding and my dad is too.
“1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Mum! Mum! Mum!
I know where you are ! “

Keira
I wish I can be a hippopotamus in China. I love hippopotamuses. They are so cute. I wish I could see a real hippopotamus. 

 Abhay
One weekend I had a competition and I won. My Dad lost.



Team Pōhutukawa's Market Day

Recently the students in Team Pōhutukawa have been working hard to develop products and stalls for our Asian-inspired market day.  The market will be open on Thursday, 15 September from 11:00 to 12:00. The students will sell lots of interesting (and delicious) items such as Asian food, baking, confectionery, drinks, games, challenges and more.

Market day tickets will be sold before school near the flagpole. The tickets will be used as currency to purchase goods at the market. Most items at the market will cost between one and three dollars.

The money raised will be used to reduce the cost of Team Pōhutukawa's camp in Term 4 and to offset the market day's expenses.

Sports News

Sports uniforms

Now that winter sports is over, all sports uniforms and borrowed equipment should be returned to school to Tracy please.

PTA News

The PTA would like to extend a HUGE thanks to all our children, who put in so much effort, and to their families and friends who have given so generously. The Spellathon has been a huge success, and we have collected an amazing $10, 395 sponsorship money so far !! If anyone still has sponsorship forms and money lurking around at home, please drop it in to the office. Room 14 won the prize for handing in their sponsorship money first, and scoffed an enormous morning tea this week. The lucky children who have won tickets to Hoyts Riccarton Cinema will be announced in School Assembly on Friday....

Community Notices

(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)

NEW MEMBERS & COACHING OPPORTUNITIES BECKENHAM TENNIS CLUB

Beckenham Tennis Club Motto is to be family friendly our goal is for families to play tennis together
We are open for NEW members to play tennis.
Registration interest on our new web site: beckenhamtennis club
Pee Wee Junior First Day Saturday 3 September 8.30am (already had some coaching), 9.30am class for beginners.
Junior/Intermediate TEAMS (children can serve a ball) free coaching for three weeks in September.
ADULT – EASY TENNIS COACHING for beginner adults coming back into tennis or learning. Tuesday morning group or Saturday afternoon (after 4pm).
Contact: Leanne Dunbar cell 0275 316 026 landline ph 9606021

Holiday Programmes

Mainland Futsal Holiday Programme
Age:        6-12 year olds.
Dates:    28th, 29th and 30th September 2016
Times:    9.00am - 3.00pm
Venue:  CHCH Boys High School, Straven Road
Cost:     $37.50 per day ($112.50 for three consecutive days) 10% discount of second child when registering two or more siblings.
Mainland Football Outdoors
Age:        7-14 year olds.
Dates:   5th, 6th and 7th October 2016
Times:    9.00am - 3.00pm
Venue:  English Park
Cost:     $37.50 per day ($112.50 for three consecutive days
All information on Mainland football website: www.mainlandfootball.co.nz


rockitCHCH

My name is Danial Neale and I'm a local music tutor, operating a music school called rockitCHCH, situated in the heart of Sydenham.
I provide guitar, drums, and bass lessons to aspiring musicians, with a contemporary focus and an emphasis on providing performance opportunities for my students. I am a professional, friendly teacher with a modern approach to learning and a focus on the student as an individual.
One on one lessons are available as well as lower-cost group lessons. I can teach all levels, beginners to advanced. All ages welcome.
If you would like to find out more please feel free to contact me​ via the contact details below
Danial Neale - Guitar and Drum tutor
www.rockitchch.com
027 8211 544
lessons@rockitchch.com
www.facebook.com/rockitchch​


School Holiday Golf Coaching Programmes

Have fun learning golf these school holidays, programmes running 26-30 September, venues include Hagley, Rangiora, Harewood, Hororata, and Waimairi Beach.  Contact rachel@canterburygolf.co.nz or 359 4000 ext 2 to find out the details of a programme running near you.  Cost is $10 per session.


Inspired by the Rio Olympics?

PRT HILLS ATHLETICS will help your child discover skills and determination they didn’t know they had. Above all though, it’s about friends, meeting personal goals and setting new ones.
Clubnights-weekly Interclub-Colgate Games-Cant Championships
Prepare for school athletics! Want to know more?
Come to Registration;
Sunday 18th September 2.30-4 pm
Wednesday 21th September 5.30- 7 pm
Based at; Hansen Park, Opawa.
Info; T&F Junior Club Captain Megan Allan
021 02737136 yal@xtra.co.nz
WWW.PORTHILLS.ORG.NZ


Christchurch Football Academy holiday camps: Registration is now open to footballers of all abilities.  Please register at: holiday camp registration

Southern Districts Cricket Club:
Come join our Southern family!
Registrations open now on our website or call into the pavilion on any of the following open days, we would love to meet you.
Adult and Junior players welcome in all grades.
Open Days Beckenham Park:
September 3rd 10am-12pm
September 10th 10am-12pm
September 17th 10am-12pm
Cat: 0272981031
info@southerndistrictscricket.co.nz
southerndistrictscricket.co.nz
facebook.com/Southerndistrictscricket


Willowbank Holiday Programmes: for details and bookings please visit: info@willowbank.co.nz



Kauri Whānau Term 3 Week 7 Update

At this stage we are hopefully two and a half weeks away from moving out of our hub, so as you can imagine things are pretty busy. Read on for celebrations and notices.

Celebrations:

Te Whānau Mahi Tahi performed at the Cultural Festival last Friday evening. They were sophisticated, original and awe inspiring. Beckenham parents and staff in the audience were glowing with pride. Click on this link to see a video of their performance.

Our speech finalists presented their stories with confidence and enthusiasm at the south zone speech competition on Monday evening. Despite not getting placed, we thought they were fabulous. Special congratulations to Oskar for getting an honourable mention.


Cashmere High School Testing:

Testing for Beckenham students takes place on Thursday Sept 15th.
Starts: 9.00am, in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC). 
Dismissed: 12.15pm (approximately)
Students need to bring: A pen, pencil, ruler and some food for morning tea.
Cycles: Students will be permitted to leave their cycles in a designated supervised area.   All cycles should be brought to the Performing Arts Centre.
All students need to be back at Beckenham by 1:10pm.

Parent help needed:

We would love to have some parents / grandparents helping with two parts of our programme. Firstly if you have knowledge/skill in athletics and are free to help on the next two Monday afternoons, Sept 12 and 19, please let Tracy know. Secondly, we have a large group of children in the wearable arts group for arts academies. This group currently meets on a Friday (Sept 9 and 16) afternoon. If you are free to help out with planning, problem solving and advising, please let Nicky know. Wearable arts creativity will continue next term. 

Writing:

We have started our next writing topic: movie reviews. By the end of tomorrow, Thursday, each child should have started this writing. They have until Sept 21 to complete it. Please ask you child to show you what they have written so far, at the end of this week. The success criteria are listed at the top of their documents. 

Champion Street Update:

We are steaming ahead with our countdown to starting at Champion Street at the start of next term. Earlier this week we got the exciting news that Class Furniture will be supplying fabulous furniture for the Year 5 - 8 hubs while we are based at Champion Street. Occasionally staff from other schools will come to see the furniture in our 'living showroom'. We are currently moving resources to Champion Street. Below are three important dates for this term:

Tuesday September 13: 

After technology finishes at South on Tuesday, the children will be bused to Champion Street to see the school, have lunch and play, before returning to Beckenham by 1:30pm. 

Wednesday September 14:

There will be a parent meeting in our school hall to discuss the logistics of Year 5-8 at Champion Street. This meeting starts at 7:30pm and should take an hour.

Friday September 23:

Our children go to technology on Friday instead of Tuesday this week, due to activities at South. After technology the children will be bused to Champion Street. Parents are invited to join us for a picnic lunch and look around the school. At 2:30 the children will be bused back to Beckenham. This will effectively be our first day at Champion Street.

Pōhutukawa News, 7 September 2016

Dear Parents and Caregivers


Thank you to everyone who has put their name forward to be a parent helper on camp. We will try and confirm the final number of parents early next term.


The Big Move!
You will have heard that our expected move to Champion Street will take place on the first day of Term 4. We are preparing for this now and we hope to see you all at the parent meeting on Wednesday 14 September at 7:30pm.

Year 5 & 6 Choir (Glee Club)
They Year 5&6 Choir (Glee Club) will be performing at the Christchurch Schools Music Festival on 27 October. On Tuesday 13 September they will be travelling by bus to Avonhead School for a massed choir rehearsal. They will need to be at school by 8.30 this morning as they need to be seated at Avonhead School by 9.15.

If you still need to purchase tickets for the Music Festival they will be available from Ticketek in mid September.

Market Day:
All the children are working very hard developing their products and stalls for our Asian inspired market day.  This will take place on Thursday, 15 September. The students in Team Pohutukawa will be opening shops at 11am and will sell lots of interesting and delicious items such as Asian food, baking, confectionery, drinks, games, challenges and more!


Tickets will be sold before school near the flagpole on the day. Each ticket is worth 50 cents and most students will want to buy multiple tickets. Most items will cost between one and three dollars. Look for our posters around to school to find out what each shop will be selling. We would love to see you there.


We will be purchasing the supplies that the children need for their products this week. If they are making their products at home they will bring the supplies home on Friday.  Thank you for all the support that you are giving them. It is very exciting to see them taking on the responsibility for their own businesses.


The money will be used to fund raise for camp.


Food for Thought:
This free programme has been offered to us by Foodstuffs Ltd.  It consists of a classroom lesson about healthy eating and a supermarket trip with a free voucher to buy food for a healthy lunch.  It takes place in the first week of next term and will be a good opportunity for us to get to know the community around Champion Street.
The supermarket trips will take place on 13 October.  We will need parent support to walk with each class to the Richmond Street New World.  If you can help with this please let your child’s teacher know.  The time for each class is as follows:


Thursday October 13
  • Room 14: 9.30 - 10.30
  • Room 15: 10.30 - 11.30
  • Room 21: 11.30 - 12.30
  • Room 22: 12.30-1.30


Thank you for your continued support at this very exciting time.


Kind regards,


Katie Chapman        katie.chapman@beckenham.school.nz
Nick Bruce           nick.bruce@beckenham.school.nz
Caitlyn Downing       caitlyn.downing@beckenham.school.nz
Susan Walsh            susan.walsh@beckenham.school.nz
Kat Cotter             kat.cotter@beckenham.school.nz

Kahikatea Newsletter Week 6

Exploring Shapes during Discovery Time

Making a friend for Robot and a house for a dog and a mouse. So creative and a great way to make new friends.



How does learning make us feel?

Learning can feel so different, like when you think you are learning one thing, but you're actually learning lots of other things as well. - Aaria and Isabelle

I feel excited when I learn new things. - Vida

It depends on what kind of learning I am doing. Learning can be fun, exciting and challenging. - Taylor

When you get mixed up you sometimes feel challenged, but you can be creative and still do it. - Jayde

I normally get frustrated when something is hard and I sometimes panic, but I am learning to calm myself down. It helps because when I calm down, I can keep on going. - Katya

I normally get frustrated when I really really want to be able to do something. Today there were lots of people using the glue so I tried something different to make my spider and that worked really well. - Emma

Learning Conferences

Thank you to our families for coming in to school last week, to share in celebrating the children's learning ... and congratulations to the children themselves for stepping up to the challenge of leading their own Learning Conferences. Well done to you all - we're very proud of you!

Discovery Stations

Discovery Stations continue to be a big hit with the children, many of whom are doing their utmost to be at school by 8:30 a.m., so that they can embrace their learning as early in the day as possible! 
As the weeks progress, teachers will add in or withdraw different station activities for various reasons. This week, stations relating to Position and Orientation (our current Maths Strand focus) have been added in to the mix. The titles of some of these stations are: Direct Me, Turns and Maps, Robot Hands, Amazing Mazes ... very enticing! Other stations may be added as a result of student interest, for example, Paper Engineering, which has been an area of great interest in recent weeks.

Wednesday afternoon

A reminder to our families that we are requesting children be picked up at 12:30 tomorrow as teachers will be off-site at an NZEI Union meeting. If you are unable to pick your child up at this time please enter their details into the following document: http://bit.ly/2cA9Qsq. Thank you.