Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

What a very busy start to the term it has been so far!

It has been the most different start to a school term that any of us have ever had! We did promise that we wouldn't start bussing our children to Champion St until we could guarantee that there would be building action starting at Beckenham and that promise has certainly been fulfilled.
Our senior students have begun working at the new site and they are loving the experience! They shared a video with the rest of the school this afternoon in assembly which I will arrange to put into next week's newsletter.


Some quotes from the Year 5-8 students about the new learning environment include:

• I like the new, comfortable furniture.
• I like the couches.
• I like bus rides!
• I like being with the whole of Pohutukawa in a hub instead of being in 2 separate hubs.
• I like the big outside play spaces.
• I like having new and different play equipment.
• It's just awesome!

This week at our Beckenham site it has been extremely busy with the demolition of the Intermediate Hub happening from Monday. The building took two days to remove, and they are now finishing off the removal of the foundations.


All the the classes on that side of the school have grandstand views of the action which has been the catalyst for much oral language development and writing!

By Ashlyn: The noises are bang, crash, crrrr and it makes the ground shake!  The builders are taking the concrete so they can rebuild the classroom. I can see the digger making a lot of noise. I love the diggers because I get to watch them out the window. They are so clever. 
By Luka: The digger is making a crashing noise like it is raining concrete. The intermediate children are moving to Champion Street because the builders are making a new building.
By Archie: I see a digger eating a high verandah. Why are you smashing the classrooms down? It is raining concrete! The builders are smashing the buidings down to build a new school.
By Bailee: The digger is cool. It looks like a dinosaur and it sounds funny. It sounds like rocks flying from the sky and the builders are breaking some classrooms. They are building a new school.
By Aine: I am very excited about the construction going on. It all is, well I can’t really know everything but I do know that the big digger opens its mouth and then it lowers its mouth and closes it again. It also sounds like crash, bang, roar! The digger even works in the rain. It was raining concrete as it smashed the classroom! The builders are building another classroom. What is it going to look like?
By Keira R: The digger is a dinosaur and it makes a loud crack! Bang, arrr, smash! It is raining concrete! The builders are crashing the school they are working hard. What is it going to look like? Is it going to be red?

HRS have shared a plan (attached), which has been published as a a maildrop for local residents, outlining the arrangements that are being set up next week for access to the two building sites through the park entrance at Norwood St. The large green boxes on the plan are 'student crossings' with gates that will be able to be opened and closed to students at appropriate times, to ensure that vehicles travelling along the access are always kept separate from students who need to cross.

Recording the journey

We are looking for a parent who would like to be our official ‘rebuild photographer’ and document the rebuild over the next 18 months through pictures. We envisage this involving taking half a dozen photos from specific points around the school a couple of times a week. This will then allow us to display photos for our community, and capture the changing school environment for posterity. If this sounds like you, please contact me through principal@beckenham.school.nz or leave a message at the office.

Thank you all for your patience and willingness to go the extra distance, quite literally, as you walk further from cars and find new routes around the school to find your child's class and to access BOSCO in the new home in the old R8/9.
It's been a fairly exhausting week for staff, and very exciting at the same time, to see this journey finally started.

Ngā mihi nui

Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Kahikatea Team

Geometry

We had an exciting end to the term when we combined our Maths focus with Discovery Stations and explored directions and turns. We explored and created mazes, followed and gave directions and created pictures and buildings by following instructions.

Writing

We were focusing on writing about a character. Our goal was to make the writing as interesting as possible for the reader. We do this by writing an interesting ‘hook’ at the beginning, using adjectives and similes and writing an interesting ending. Here are some awesome examples of writing from our talented authors:

Greedy Cat

Greedy Cat is as hungry as a jawsome crocodile.
He is as scruffy as a kune kune pig.
He has black stripes and an orange background. 
And he is as greedy as a turkey! 

By Sophie Macdonald


Kung Fu Monkey

Kung Fu Monkey
Kung Fu Monkey
Kung Fu Monkey
He is fat
Kung Fu Monkey
He is chubby. 

By Luke Hancock


My Mum

She is nice, my Mum. She has very short black hair and long legs like a lizard. She is as beautiful as a butterfly. Her actions are very peculiar. She is never angry and doesn’t do yoga. She always has a very big smile. Do you think those are good reasons? I do too! 
I like her enormous smile. I like her soft hair. She looks small. 
I love my Mum. And do you know what? She loves me too. And she always will.

By William Pooch


Sandy

Sandy is like a bell bird. She sings beautiful waiata. 
She is sparkly. She is a princess.
Sandy is a blanket. She is warm and makes us feel better.

Written collaboratively by a Hub 3&4 writing group

School Notices

Gender Diversity

Our values of ‘We Care’ and We Get There Together’ underpin the way we treat one another and are the foundation of the inclusive approach that we aspire to always practice.
As part of our sexuality education programme, which the Year 5-8 students are about to continue, we will be including gender diversity in our discussions about diversity. Our staff are getting additional support and are learning about these topics too. This will enable us to ensure our learning environments are strongly inclusive and supportive of all children, and teach children to be supportive and inclusive of one another.


We currently have a student at the school who is gender diverse and is in the process of transitioning (changing their expression of gender from their birth sex to the gender they identify with). We are committed to supporting this student, as we do all students. There will no doubt be discussions and questions about this from time to time in the classrooms and among students. We encourage you to talk about diversity with your child(ren). Please do come and talk to your child’s teacher or to Michelle or I if you have any questions we can assist with, or if you would like any information to support your discussions with your child at home.

#TheFairestOfThemAll       

An original children's play, presented by New Zealand Playhouse.

We are pleased to welcome back to Beckenham School, New Zealand Playhouse for their current show #TheFairestOfThemAll.  Snow White and the mirror compete for social media popularity. Viruses and rumours create mayhem while the princess learns about the value of true friendship, putting electronic devices down to enjoy life and the importance of staying safe online.

The Magic Mirror’s cracking up. Now Snow White’s a princess everybody knows she’s ‘the fairest of them all’ and he’s out of a job. After some bitter reflection he decides it’s time for Princess White to be sent back to the forest so he can once again be the mirror-to-the-stars.


With the help of a gruff goat-deprived internet troll, the Mirror launches a very 21st century poisoned ‘Apple’ attack to hijack her computer and cause social media mayhem.

When everyone turns against her, including her beloved prince, she turns to the only friends she has left, the seven dwarfs. Will they be willing to help her one more time and what shocking secret are they hiding?

New Zealand Playhouse will be coming to Beckenham on Monday 17th October, from 1:50pm until 2:50pm. The cost of this to the school is $5 per child. A request for a contribution to this will be on your Term 4 account.  All of our students will be seeing this as the Champion St buses will drop children back to Beckenham for the 1:50pm start.

English ICAS: 

Congratulations to all the children who participated in the English ICAS test. The following students achieved outstanding results: 

Year 5: Kate Cornfoot-Merit, Florence Gerard-Credit. 

Year 6: Adam Barton-Credit, Georgina Cockfield-Credit. 

Year 7: Isaac Macdonald-Credit, Juliette Gray-Credit, Alex Braun-Distinction, Amelia Cannon-Distinction, Kaia Joergensen-Distinction, Sadie McLoughlin-Distinction, Daisy York-Distinction, Rosie Zinzan-Dickie-Distinction. 

Year 8: William Hanlon-Credit.

Community Notices

Bring the whole family down to the Bowls Canterbury Have a Go sessions held at local bowling Clubs this November.
These are FREE family friendly events and are perfect for anyone from 2 years to 102.
Find Bowls Canterbury on Facebook or follow the link below for more event information.
http://www.bowlscanterbury.co.nz/Category?Action=View&Category_id=4584

Touch Canterbury Junior Trials
Sunday 16 October, Sheldon Park, Belfast
The Touch Canterbury junior trails for the under 12 and under 14 grades are taking place very soon on the 16th of October and we would love to get as many kids there as we can.
Important things  to remember are that the participant has to be playing at an affiliated module to be eligible. The participants also must be younger than the age they are trialing for by the 31st of December, (i.e. For under 12 the participant must not turn 12 until the following year).  The under 12's registration time starts at 9:30am and trial beginning at 10am. The under 14's registration starting 11:30am and trials at 12pm. If anyone wishes to seek more information about the trials, we have all information needed online at  our website http://www.touchcanterbury.co.nz/touch-canterbury/.
Logan Forrester
Junior Development Officer
Touch Canterbury
0278702633
03-323-6102