Monthly Archives: May 2019

Beckenham School Moving Forward 2019-05-27 12:30:00

Posted on by

 Newsletter - Outdoor Spaces Update 3

26th March 2019

We held a community meeting to discuss the Pūkaki play area on 4th March. It was great to have so many people interested in this first project. This meeting highlighted the need for us to create a space for our school community to be able to easily access the information about the outdoor spaces development around the school and to keep informed of up and coming events.

A tab has been created on the school website for you to be able to access the newsletter updates that we send out all in one place, along with information about the processes we are following and the projects that are currently being working on.

We are aware that the development of the outdoor spaces is taking time as we have had to work with the MOE and having heritage trees on site. As a committee, we are committed to ensuring that we achieve the best possible outcomes for all. Having student voice and involvement is an important element of this process as the children are the ones who will be using the spaces and are our guardians of this land. We also want to ensure that the areas created across the school have a consistent ‘flow’. The school cultural narrative is our guiding theme. The cultural narrative is our story and what makes our space in the world unique. Here is our school cultural narrative if you are unfamiliar with it. It also explains the development and significance of our school logo and building names too.

We have developed a set of protocols to be governed by to ensure the developments across the school are equitable. These are the Beckenham Outdoor Spaces Committee Process Protocols as approved by the BOT:
Guidelines/Process
1.Gathering Ideas (Students) based on set criteria they must

  • Support our cultural narrative
  • Be accessible for all children
  • Support neurodiverse as well as neurotypical students (different spaces for different purposes; busy/quiet spaces)
  • Be achievable 
  • Be within the set budget (organised by the Outdoor Spaces team)

2. Refine ideas and put into 2-3 plans for consideration
3. Expert involvement (landscape architect and playground expert) of review of the plans
4. Confirm the plan- costings, timeline etc.
5. Ensure plans meet safety guidelines
6. Install the project

Here are our latest developments 

Pūkaki Play Space

The plans for the Pukaki play space are all ready to go. We are awaiting a tree report to understand the viability of working on and around the tree roots.

Junior Playground 

The children are currently being asked for their input into the refurbishment of this play area. We plan to repaint and repair damaged and worn areas on the current playground and will add new items to enhance what is already there. The children across the school will be asked for their ideas for what they would like to see updated and added. It is important that we have student involvement as they are the ones who will be using the area. We would like to begin this over the Term 2 holidays and complete this in the first few weeks of Term 2 so the children receive the greatest benefit.

Court Markings

We are aware that we need to add some court games across the school. The senior school are investigating what types of court markings that they would like to install across the school. This may include hopscotches, four square, twister, chess etc. We will send out the plans when they are developed. This will give the children more games to be able to play at break times and maximise the use of our court space.
Examples of court markings
Trees for Canterbury 
We are currently putting in an order from trees for Canterbury for us to use across the school.

Outdoor Spaces Committee

Outdoor Spaces Update 2

Posted on by

Newsletter - Outdoor Spaces Update 2

19 December 2018

The Outdoor Spaces team are currently working on developing a new play space at the end of Pūkaki, on the bark area, for the NE children. At this stage, when the newest members of our school start, the main playground is a distance from their hub and they only have direct access to the inner courtyard. For many, the sheer size of our school is quite daunting so creating a play area close to the hub will help to provide a safe area for them to play.

Over the past few weeks, the children in the NE team have investigated possible play items for this space and designed plans for this area. The children are very keen to have a sand pit (this needs to be covered to protect it from animals and the elements), a fort-like play structure (for their play-based learning and inquiry) and balance beams (for locomotor activities).

Examples of Student Designs

Last week the outdoor spaces team met to review the students’ designs and begin to plan this area. They identified some  potential limitations in the area due to the wonderful trees that inhabit the space. Keeping in line with our cultural narrative and the planting that has already occured in the school, the team now has a plan for this area which is ready for community consultation.

The committee is aware that this is one area of many across the school that require development, and will fund it accordingly. Below is the proposed design for the space.

Proposed Design Plan
We invite you to email Matthew McDonald matthew@odab.co.nz with any feedback regarding this plan by Friday 18th January. The aim will be to start this area at the beginning of Term 1 2019, so the children can utilise this space as soon as possible.

Beckenham Outdoor Spaces Committee




Newsletter – Outdoor Spaces Update 1

Posted on by
Newsletter - Outdoor Spaces Update 1
November 2018

An Outdoor Spaces Committee has been established to help guide and oversee the development of the outdoor spaces at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto. The PTA has done an INCREDIBLE job over the past 2-3 years dedicating their fundraising efforts to enable us to develop the outside areas across the school.

The committee comprises of: Matthew Macdonald (BOT), Paulette Newton (staff), Amanda Wolt (PTA), Natalie Doering (parent) and Carmel Wade (parent/architect).

The committee has been meeting each fortnight and so far has worked together to:
Develop a set of guidelines and processes to enable the school to achieve the best outcome for our students. 
Identified the purpose of the outdoor spaces so there is a natural ‘flow’ across the school. Criteria:

  • Reflect the school’s cultural narrative
  • Accessible for all
  • Fun and meet the needs of all students
  • Able to grow as the school grows. 

3. Identified areas across the school for development and begun to create a timeline for these.
4. Present and ask for school engagement in the process. We have met with the Student School Council about using the school logo - Matau (hook) - to influence the shape of the renewed play space at the centre of the school. They were very excited about this!

We understand that this will be an ongoing plan that will have a number of smaller projects within it. The costings for each of the projects will need to be worked through. The fundraising the PTA has done will be a wonderful contribution towards getting these plans underway, but we don’t assume for a moment that it will cover the total costs! We will be making grant applications and seeking further funding from a variety of sources. Ministry of Education operational funding that the school receives each year is not able to be used to support significant capital investments such as these.

As the children are the Kaitiaki (guardians) of the school grounds and will be the ones using the spaces, it is essential they have a strong voice in this process. Much of the planning and design work will be developed and generated by the students, which is an authentic learning experience. This is such an exciting opportunity, and one that we know will take time to plan to ensure we get the best outcome possible. 

The first area that we hope to develop with the students is Pūkaki (new entrants hub). The students have begun the process of generating ideas for this area. We hope to share the ideas before the end of term and work towards development early in term 1.

We will put regular updates in the school newsletter to keep you informed of proposed plans, and at times we will be seeking your input and ideas and offers of support for working bees as we action different areas across the school.





Koru News Term 2 Week 4

Posted on by
Kia ora i te whānau,

We are continuing to make the most of working and playing both outdoors and indoors, as the balmy weather persists.
Long rope skipping: working as a team.

Expert skippers take flight!

Literacy in Learning Through Play:
Our Learning Through Play photos focus on portraying the children as they engage in literacy-based activities. Reading and writing in a play setting ensures that the literacy learning is absolutely authentic in relation to that situation. The Literacy, in such situations, is driven by the children and represents a need that has presented itself in the play.

The children love playing 'schools' (Yes! They come to school, and 'play' schools!) and at one point in the game, the question was posed: " Can we have our own modelling book, please?"

A part of playing schools: practising handwriting...


...and reading.


The children requested their own visual timetable, which they then trimmed and laminated for their own whiteboard easel.

Here we are, awarding house points!

A Focus on Respect:
As a whole school, we have been putting even more of an emphasis on 'respect', beginning 2 or 3 weeks ago. We asked our children in Koru, what this word means, what it might look like, and what being respectful might sound like too. We have discussed who and what we need to show respect towards. Here are some of the thoughts that the children have come up with:

  • Tidy as your go (showing respect for our learning environment)
  • Be polite and use good manners (showing respect for self and others)
  • Be kind and caring (showing respect towards others)
  • Work and play quietly indoors (showing respect towards others)
  • Be helpful towards others (showing respect towards others)
  • Be caring towards, and with, our resources (showing respect for our environment)
The children are very focused on the value of respect, and are making impressive efforts to display respect in many, many ways throughout the day.
Showing respect for our environment

Jacinda visits Beckenham:
What a treat we all had at Beckenham last Thursday, when Jacinda came to visit us. She actually came in order to meet and speak with Lucy Gray, one of our wonderful Year 8 students, and our Strike 4 Climate organiser, and we were all lucky enough to be present when Jacinda arrived, and was introduced to us all by Lucy. You may well have read the full article about Lucy, and her hopes and dreams for our planet, in The Press yesterday.  Our Koru children were incredibly lucky, because they were invited to sit at the very front of the area where Jacinda and Lucy were going to stand. The children all showed Jacinda their brightest smiles and most sparkling eyes (this, they practised beforehand!). Unfortunately in these photos you can't see the smiles or the eyes, but you may recognise the backs of some heads...


Maths Problem Solving:
The children are working extremely well as they challenge themselves and are challenged, at Maths problem solving time (or DMIC, which is the acronym for Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities). During this part of the day, we always place a big emphasis on our 'groups norms'. Our group norms are the ideas the children came up with at the start of the year, being those behaviours and attitudes which they believe they would need to display if they were going to be doing their best learning. Some of these behaviours include:

  • smile at your buddy
  • use your buddy's name when you are speaking to him or her
  • help your buddy to understand
  • be kind and caring
  • take turns and share
  • ask your buddy a question if you don't understand.
Two buddies smiling at each other!
A great way of solving a tricky subtraction problem.

Alex and Chester showed that this same problem could be written as an addition equation.

Kiko and Natsune used the 100s board to help, as they went about solving the problem together...

...and here is their recording.






Handwriting:
We love handwriting time! The children show amazing focus and always put in impressive effort, under the watchful gaze of Bounce and Skip. We begin with finger strength and dexterity exercises, then we move on to practising picking the pen up and ensuring that our grip on the pen is correct, before beginning our letter formation practice. We are very proud of the children's beautiful work, and the progress that they are making in this area of their learning.
















Ka kite koutou. We hope you have a wonderful week.
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Stacey, Kristika and Elizabeth

Term 2 Week 4 in Pōhutukawa

Posted on by

Zones Cross Country

Congratulations to all of the students who represented our kura last week at the South Zone cross country. This was held last Tuesday at Halswell Quarry. We had 24 students from our hub, and according to Jenny and Nigel they did a fantastic job of displaying our school value of  'We love challenge'. Special congratulations and good luck to Kever Thorley and Josh Breitmeyer, who have qualified for the Canterbury cross country competition.











The Christchurch School Strike 4 Climate Team

The Christchurch School Strike 4 Climate Team have notified us that there will be another student strike for climate change on this Friday.

In a bid to recognise the advancements that need to be made another strike will occur on May 24th from 1 pm in the Entertainment Triangle in North Hagley Park. We invite school students, teachers and staff to attend the strike in support of a local, national and international change to the system in order to ensure the future generations, the youth of today, and the leaders of tomorrow, will inherit a livable planet. 

In order to meet our sporting commitments on Friday afternoon, we need to know who will be attending this strike. Can you please email by the end of Thursday, either 
to let us know if your child will be involved in this strike. 

More fantastic emotion writing

The end of this week sees us finish our current writing topic on emotion. If you have yet to read your child's piece of writing, ask them to share it with you, or show you, through Google Docs.
Here are some more examples of fantastic writing:

My First Time Horse Riding

My stomach tightened with nerves as I led the pony to the mounting block. I stepped onto the block while someone else held the pony still. I put my left foot comfortably into the stirrup and bounced into the saddle. I screwed up my face in fear, if the pony moved but he stayed still. I aimed to get my other foot in the stirrup but I missed. I aimed again and got in. Phew. It reassured me that both my feet were in the stirrups. The pony felt enormous to me but he was tiny. I was only seven! I took a deep breath. “Are you good up there?” the helper asked. “Yup,” I said hesitantly. The truth was, I wasn't ready, but how do you learn without doing it? The teenager clicked on the pony and he walked forward. I wobbled around, trying to keep my balance. By the time we got to the round pen, I had found my balance. I never thought that animals aka horses are so comfortable to sit on! She led me around the small round pen, while we waited for Bonnie. When Bonnie and our instructor came, we kept being led around the pen. Then the instructor asked if we wanted to ride without being led. I felt my butterflies in my tummy as the teenager walked beside me but didn't hold me. We learned to turn, go, and stop, and then we played a game of sneak up granny. Of course, I won! I started having fun and relaxing, as it was only Bonnie and me in the lesson. It was soooooo much fun, and now I get riding lessons/pony club.

By Tabea

 Fear factor!!

The last name gets pulled out of the bucket, but it isn’t me. Applause thunders through my ears as the challenge gets announced. You have to eat an eyeball, eeeeeww!!!! It sounds gross but I still want to do it. I hear that there are still more eyeballs to be eaten, so I shoot my hand up straight away. Katie is coming with metal tongs plopping sticky eyeballs into people's hands. I am getting even more excited. As she comes  closer and closer she gets to me and drops a sticky, squelchy eye ball in my hand waiting there 

I walk up to the humongous line of people waiting to eat the eyeball. Once everybody who wants to do the challenge has an eyeball to eat my anxiety kicks in. Then the countdown starts: 5,4,3,2,1! I hesitate for a second then reluctantly stuff it in my mouth. It tastes revolting! I am disgusted. I instantly ask Rae if I can get a drink from the drinking fountain by the classroom. She says yes so I race over as fast as I can. I have never run this fast, not even in cross country. Sluuuuuurp, I drink as much as I can to try to wash the taste out. 

The water just makes it worse. Now I feel nauseous - worse than ever. I go back to the line to be applauded for the task I have achieved. Now I am grateful that I have done it.

By Quinn

Splash

I clung to the side rail as we entered the dark gloomy cave. The only noises I could hear were screeching tracks, screams and trickling water. As we walked down the wet path I saw broken bars and caution tape. Now I was getting scared. Eventually we got a cart. I jumped in. Finally I thought.

Erch, the cart screeched up the track then when we got to the top of the hill edge we jerked to a stop. I felt worried. What if the track was broken? But that was exactly what the ride wanted me to think because next screech the cart wheeled down the track at top speed. Ahh! Where is this going? Curving, wurving, up, down, left, right. Then suddenly the cart dropped down and we splashed through a giant curtain of water. Woosh! It was over.

I got out of the cart sopping wet, took off my dripping headband and jersey and wrung them out. I looked up at Dad and asked him hopefully, “Again?”

By Julia

Special visitor

Today, just before lunch, we were very privileged to have the Rt. Hon. Jacinda Adern visit our school. She was here to speak with Lucy Gray and 5 other students from surrounding schools about the Climate Change Strike happening tomorrow. It was all very exciting, and a great experience for the students to see, hear and speak to our prime minister up close!