Monthly Archives: March 2020

Holiday Greetings 31 March 2020

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Kia ora, dear tamariki and whānau in the Koru team,

We wanted to check in on you all, and find out how you're doing, and what you've been up to.

We hope you all had a great first day of the holidays yesterday, albeit a day spent, no doubt, mostly indoors because of the miserable weather. Didn't that just make today's glorious weather even more so, though?!

Jo's been fitting in lots of yoga, and who's that there on either side, with their own little yoga mats set up?!
How cute is that?

...and little Vito is finding the new intensive training and exercise regime to be extremely rewarding!
Am I a good boy? Am I? Am I? Yes, you are, Vito!


We would love to find out what you've all been up to over these past few days, so we thought it might be fun if you were to email a photo through to us, showing something that you've enjoyed doing, then we could add these photos to our next Blog post. That way, all the children would be able to see what their Koru friends have been up to.
These photos would need to be sent to either Jo or Elizabeth by the end of Friday this week (April 3rd).
Jo's email: jo.smith@beckenham.school.nz
Elizabeth's email: elizabethgail.drummond@beckenham.school.nz

We can't wait to hear from you!
Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Jo and Elizabeth




Team Kahikatea Holiday Update March 31 2020

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Kia ora whanau, 

We hope you are all doing well in your 'bubble'. Our team wanted to let you know what we are up to and how we are all doing.
We wish you all a safe and happy bubble holiday!

From Amber: 
Hello everyone!
I'm staying home in my bubble with my daughter Lilian-Lhamo, my husband Gyaltsen, and our dog Bodhi. We have been enjoying some time in our garden, going for little walks and bike rides, baking, tidying and keeping in touch with friends and family. I am looking forward to planting my spring bulbs and gettings some jobs around the house done these holidays. 



From Lisa:
Kia ora everyone! 
I am staying at home in my 'bubble' with my husband Darren, our three kids, Jade, Jordan and Luke and our dog, Ormeau. We have some of our teddies at the front door for anyone who walks past to see. Have you seen any teddies if you have been out for a walk or bike ride?

We have been for a few bike rides and enjoyed some exercise provided by Les Mills on TV1 and TV2.  Check it out if you haven't already, at 3pm on channel 2, it's quite fun!  

We are currently working on a puzzle, which is quite tricky. I am looking forward to doing some more sorting around the house and playing games with my children these holidays. 



From Charlotte:
Kia Ora!
I've been having lots of fun with online gym classes...and creating my own funky dance routines to pop songs! I've been setting challenges for myself too...I can now cancan for 3mins and do 40 star jumps without stopping. How many can you do? GoNoodle is a great free website for fun brain breaks inside. 
I've also been phoning friends and looking out for my gorgeous cat Tuppence. It turns out a new cat in the neighbourhood, who looks just like Scarface McClaw from Hairy McClary, has been coming into MY garden and spooking MY cat. I am NOT happy about that and grateful that I'm here to help my Tupps get confident outside again. 
I've loved time in the garden and have planted bulbs and peas for Winter, and gathered seeds to save. I hope you're enjoying the holidays with your family at home :-)  Aroha, Charlotte

            



From Katie:
Kia ora, gorgeous children! 
I hope that you are all enjoying your bubbles! I have been busy doing my holiday project for the past few days - painting Toby's bedroom. One more coat of paint and I should be finished! Our dog, Buzz, has been enjoying having us around and is LOVING his many, many walks. Isla and Toby have had a great time rediscovering toys that they hadn't played with for a long time. They have also enjoyed spending more time in their PJs! We have played Battleships, Uno and Twister. I have kept in touch with my mum and dad on FaceTime. Have you been using Skype or FaceTime to keep in touch with people too? 
Arohanui, Katie




From Jules:
Kia ora I te whānau
Jessica, Leo and I are home and have a couple of extras in our Bubble - Bounce and Skip!  They are getting used to their new temporary home and are currently holding residence in our kitchen window as part of our community's Bear Hunt.  
We are lucky to be able to do our regular walks down to the beach and back but stay out of the playground.  We have challenged ourselves to do a puzzle a day, a bit of gardening each day for fresh air (even in the cold) and Jessica is working her way through a cookbook she was given for Christmas so we are eating well - maybe a bit too well.  
We have made 1 day a week a 'P' day - Pyjamas and Popcorn in front of a movie, and Leo is loving having people home with him during the day for extra cuddles and attention.  He is not so fussed on Bounce and Skip wanting to play with him though.  
We are using Facetime, Skype and Hangouts to keep in touch with our whānau and friends in between doing some catch-up jobs around the house, and Bounce told me the windows are overdue for a clean - isn't he cheeky!  I have also been challenging Jessica to daily brain teaser challenges and have put one below for you to try.  Your challenge is to draw just the house.  Kia kaha I te whānau.  











From Paul:
I'm home in my "bubble" playing a card game called Bridge (online) and spending time on this lovely treadmill. 

Kia ora from the Kōwhai Teachers

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Hello from all the Kōwhai teachers.
We hope you are all keeping safe and warm in your houses during this lockdown period.

We thought it would be nice to share what we have been doing over the past few days.

Laura has been playing lots of board games with her flatmates. Here I am playing Scattergories, which is one of my favourite games. I was also pretty proud to win Monopoly, with a final bank balance of 22 million dollars!


I have also been doing lots of baking - Chelsea Winter has a great recipe for Lockdown Bread - you could try to make it! Stay safe and take care x





 Pip has kept very busy! Here is a photo of all the things she has done this week.



Paulette has been keeping busy with Ben and Millie her cat. Millie has been spending most of her time sleeping or asking for snuggles! She's pretty persistent!



Ben has been sorting ALL his Lego into sets which is taking quite some time. We have needed 'hawk' eyes to find some of the pieces! It's like finding treasure when we come across a piece that we have been hunting for. 



Experimenting in the kitchen has resulted in us making bread, brownies, muffins and other delicious treats. My favourite has been the chocolate brownie. It was so delicious even though it had black beans in it!



 

I've been reading, doing puzzles and playing games with Ben. He so far is the master champion of all the games we have played. If you haven't checked out Epic yet, make sure you do as there are HEAPS of really cool books to read or have read to you. Stay safe and warm. I'm missing seeing all your lovely smiles and hugs! xx

Rowe has been pretending she's taking nice bike rides on the beach, but the exercycle and lounge views will have to do for now. 

She has also been partaking in scrabble championship matches with her husband and daughter. Her pantry has never looked so clean.

Nick has been making some online maths games, playing computer games, watching movies and reading.


Welcome to Tracey to the Kowhai team!
Tracey has been keeping busy. Thank goodness for our coffee machine, feeding the alpacas our veggie scraps and enjoying the recent sunshine during the lockdown. These things, along with reading a good book, are helping to keep things normal for me and my husband, Kevin during this time.  I hope you are all safe and staying well during the holidays.  I'm so looking forward to starting the new term with the Kōwhai team and whānau.  🌸😄




If you have a photo of what you have been doing throughout this time, email it into your teachers and we will create a slideshow of the pictures to put on our blog for next week! 

Take care and stay safe.
Kōwhai Teachers 






Staffing Update Tuesday 31 March

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Kia ora e te whānau

Some good news!

Whilst we are all working to save lives by staying at home, we have also been finalising our staffing going forward. As you have been aware, particularly if you have children in the Kōwhai Team, Paulette Newton is moving on from Beckenham to a new job with the RTLB (Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour) from the start of Term 2.

Paulette Newton

With the school holidays being brought forward by two weeks, Paulette effectively now finishes at Beckenham at Easter. We do wish her very well in her new role, and will arrange for a more appropriate farewell assembly at school when we are back on site again.

In the meantime, we advertised for a new Team Leader and went through a robust appointments process. From that, we are delighted to announce that our own Laura Williamson has been appointed as the new Team Leader for the Kōwhai Team. We are very excited about having Laura join the Leadership Team, and bring her expertise and skills to our mahi.

Laura Williamson

That, of course, solved the problem of the Team Leader vacancy, but didn't replace a teacher within the team! We have just finalised our second appointment process, and are delighted to announce that Tracey Maloney will start in the fixed-term role of teacher in the Kōwhai Team from the start of Term 2, until the end of the year.

Tracey Maloney

Tracey has been one of our key relievers in the school for some time and, in Term 1, was working on Fridays in the Kahikatea Team in Charlotte's place. Charlotte will be returning to full-time work from the start of Term 2.

Nigel Easson

We also wish Nigel Easson extremely well in his new position as principal of Sheffield School, which he starts in Term 2. His time with us has also come to an abrupt halt and, like Paulette, we will invite him back for a proper farewell assembly.

Rob Proffitt-White

And a reminder that we have Rob Proffitt-White joining our team from the start of Term 2, to take up the position of Acting Deputy Principal. We will welcome Rob and Tracey properly when we have our next Welcome Assembly on site!

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy and the (changing) team

Keeping in Touch

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Kia ora whānau,
We hope that you are all well and enjoying a holiday break in our "new normality".  This is just a short note to let you know that we've sent your child(ren) a video to say hello - they will find it in the Pōhutukawa Class in Google Classroom. We know not all of the children will be checking their school email accounts, so if you could let your child know to head to Classroom when you have time and check it out, we'd greatly appreciate it.
Ngā mihi nui,
Anne, Rae, Anna, Steve, Gayle and Kerilea