The term is charging along and before we know it leadership week will be upon us. This Wednesday we welcome Attitude.inc to school for a presentation with the children, to kick off our leadership week activities. In this blogpost there is important information about leadership week, Maths Whizz, our fundraising Bingo Evening and the school duathlon.

Leadership Week, March 4-8

What you need to know:

Year 7s:

Wear mufti to school for their leadership day on Monday March 4th.

Year 8s:

Thursday 7th - Friday 8th or March, two day leadership camp, with a sleep over at school on Thursday night.
We would like families of Year 8 children to send along food donations, on Wednesday March 6th, as follows:

• Megan's homegroup (Te Awa) A bag of fresh fruit; apples, oranges, bananas etc.
• Hannah's and Nicky's homegroups (Te Ngahere and Te Maunga) Baking
• Jenny's homegroup (Te Tai): A packet of breakfast cereal

Gear list: Your child needs to come to school on Thursday dressed in clothes suitable for physical activity, i.e. track pants or shorts, t-shirt, polypro if cold, a warm top and sports shoes, suitable for running. The following needs to be packed in an overnight bag:

• Sleeping bag, pillow and something to sleep on, e.g. sleeping mat, stretcher or lilo
• PJs
• Toilet gear
• A change of clothes for the next day, again suitable for physical activity

These things should be packed in a day pack:

• Packed lunch and refillable drink bottle
• Sunhat
• Waterproof jacket
• Optional: camera, cell phone (these will be collected in) 

Please make sure asthmatic children have inhalers with them and that medication is in a labeled bag. This needs to be handed to the home-group teacher as soon as your child arrives at school.

Comedy Bingo Evening

Get your tickets for our Comedy Bingo Evening on Saturday March 23rd. Contact your friends and get a group together for a great night out, and at the same time help reduce the cost of camp for all of our whānau. Click here to book your tickets.

Duathlon

Our school duathon is coming up on the afternoon of Tuesday the 5th of March. This is an optional event and an awesome opportunity for the children to show our school kete value ‘We love challenge’.  House points are awarded to all competitors in recognition of their participation.

Over the past week, the children have been given the opportunity to enter the duathlon via a Google form on Google Classroom. Some children might need a bit of encouragement so please have a conversation about this opportunity with your child at home. The last day for entries is this Wednesday. If your child has had difficulty with the form, an email to me would be fine.

The course will be the same as in previous years. The children run a lap of the park, followed by a lap of the block, (Eastern Terrace, Fisher Avenue, Norwood Street). They then collect their bike from the Norwood Street side of the park and follow a serpentine course in Beckenham Park. Year 5 and 6s do one lap of the bike course, while Year 7 and 8s do two laps. After completing the bike course, the children leave their bike at the Norwood park entrance and run the block in the opposite direction, finishing back in the park. At no point do the children need to cross a road.

Before the race, we do a course walk with all competitors and we have lots of marshals on course to support the children in knowing where to go. If you are able to support us by being a marshal on the day, please email me at jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz.

Swimming sports

A report on the swimming sports will be included in the school newsletter. Here are some photos from last Thursday afternoon.

The children are settling well into the routines within the Intermediate Hub. Please read on for important information about maths, camp, music while learning at school, sporting opportunities this term and the Year 8 vaccination programme.

Maths:

Last week, assessments for Maths Whizz were completed and the children are now underway with these learning programmes. They should have their logon details in their dairies. Here is a parent introduction to the programme. We would expect the children to be spending around 30 mins a week on Maths Whizz at home.

Camp:

If would like to come on our Wainui Camp, from April 8 - 12, and have yet to let us know. please click here and complete the form.

Save the date! 

We will be having a fundraising evening for camp on Saturday March 23rd, in the school hall. More details coming soon.

Music while we learn:

A number of children have asked if they can listen to music while they do their learning. We had a good discussion about this at school today, with the children outlining the concerns that they thought we might have. They were right on the mark! We decided that certain music will assist concentration and other music will not. The children discussed the merits of using youtube playlists with lyrics only graphics, as well as instrumental versions of songs. We have decided to give this a trial, using an integrity model. Children will need to have a playlist that has been set up at home if they would like to listen to music while they work. If you are able to check their playlist, that would be appreciated. If you would rather they didn't listen to music while they work, please let us know. Anyone listening to inappropriate material or being distracted from their work by checking up on music will lose the privilege of music while they work. Headphones, which were on their stationery list, are a must.

Sports News

Sports Tops

There are many sports tops that were issued last year that have not been returned yet. Please have a check to ensure that you do not have a Beckenham sports uniform lurking at the back of a draw or elsewhere and return to the Kauri hub ASAP. This is much appreciated.

Swimming Sports This Week

Our school swimming sports is being held at Wharenui Pool on the afternoon of Thursday the 21st of February.

Answers to commonly asked questions:

• Children compete in year levels.
• There are 25m and 50m races for each stroke, (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly).
• The medly is 25 m of freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke.
• Only 50m races qualify for zone level competition.
• The children may do a diving start or start in the water.
• The children will not be able to touch the bottom at the deep end of the pool.Therefore, the children should be capable of swimming the distance they have entered without needing to stop.
• A lifeguard will be supervising the event.

Information for the day:

• Children need to bring their swimming costume, a towel, a good lunch and a water bottle to school with them on the day of the event.
• The children will travel to Wharenui Pool by bus, leaving school at 11.30.
• The event will start at 12:15 and finish by 2:30.
• There will be space available for spectators directly to the right as you enter the pool. The children will be sat opposite on the bleachers, in their house groups. Please, do not cross over to sit with the children.
• It is extremely difficult to give an accurate time for each race. The races will be in this order: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, medley, House relay. For each stroke, the 25m races will precede the 50m races. We will start with the youngest age group.
• After their last swim, the children may get changed and then rejoin their House to cheer on their peers.
• Children may go home with their caregiver after the event if signed out with a teacher.

It will cost the school $6 per child to offer this event. A request for a contribution to support this additional activity has been added to your child’s account.

Hanmer 4 Hour Mountain Bike Race

Beckenham School would like to promote an upcoming mountain biking event in Hanmer Springs that may be of interest to you: The Hanmer 4 and 8 Hour.

This event has been a fantastic day out and enjoyed by many in the past.

The Hanmer 4 Hour, run by Hanmer Events, is a super fun event, suitable for children looking to get into competitive mountain biking. Competitors work as part of a team with the aim of completing as many laps of a set course as they can over four hours. The course this year is a mixture of forest trail and non-technical single track. 12-year-olds may compete as an individual in the under 17 category. There is a separate course for Super Junior Teams (aged 8 - 11 years) that uses tracks in the Heritage Forest. These children need their own Tail End Charlie (an adult to keep up with them) for each lap they do. While these tracks are suitable for children, competitors should be confident riders, who are capable of controlling their speed and direction on a single track.

Teams of 3 or 4 are ideal, depending on how many laps the children want to do. Each lap would typically take 20 to 30 mins depending on your speed. More information can be found on the Hanmer Events website (www.hanmerevents.co.nz).

While Beckenham School encourages participation in this event, children will remain the responsibility of their parents for the entire duration of the event. Please let me know if you plan to enter an individual or team or if you would like support in connecting with possible team members.

Please email Jenny with details of your team, if you are looking for people to make up a team or have any questions.

Fun Run:

Join Hannah and Jenny in the City2Surf fun run, (yes, running is fun) on Sunday the 24th of March and help to fundraise for our school. A discounted entry of $15 is available when you enter through us and $5 of that stays with the school. Sign up at the office.

Vaccinations for Year 8s:

You may be aware the Canterbury DHB will continue to offer a School-Based Vaccination Programme, for those who have not completed their eleven-year-old vaccinations in General Practice. The School-Based Vaccination Programme will offer the two-dose HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) vaccinations to protect against genital warts, cervical cancer, throat and mouth cancers and other types of cancers late in life and has been extended to include a one dose Boostrix vaccination to provide protection against Tetanus, Diptheria and Whooping Cough.  The School Based Vaccination Programme will commence in March 2019. Consent forms for this vaccination programme were sent home, to Year 8 families, last week. If you did not receive one, please let us know. Please get these forms back to the office ASAP.