Monthly Archives: October 2020

Living Springs Camp Health Form and Gear List

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Dear Parents/Caregivers,

 Planning is well underway for the Pōhutukawa camp at Living Springs. 

The programme is challenging, stimulating and safe. The activities include: archery tag, “Balanz” bikes, zipline, swimming (heated pool), group initiative challenges, low ropes course, bouldering wall, orienteering, animal survival and recreational activities. 

All children will be well supervised and all risks well managed in accordance with our Camp Safety Action Plan and the Living Springs Risk Management Strategies. It will be an exciting learning opportunity for your child. The children will be sleeping in carpeted bunk rooms, which can be heated if required. As well as regular meals, there are two snack times during the day. 

We will be leaving from the Pōhutukawa Hub on Wednesday 25th November shortly after the 9:00 am bell. After the camp, we will return to school between 2:30 and 3:00 pm on Friday 27th November. We will wait in the hub for you to pick your child up, along with their gear.

Essential Tasks to Prepare for Camp 

Medical Forms 

Please complete the Health Profile & Medical Consent Form by Monday 2 November by clicking on the link below and completing the online form.  One form needs to be competed for each child who is attending camp.  A separate health form will be emailed to our parent helpers soon. 



Medication 

If your child requires personalised medication on camp, please complete the Medicine Authority Form. We will print a copy of the form to be stored with your child's medication whilst on camp. Please put your child’s medicine in a small, clearly named zip lock bag or plastic container and hand the bag/container to Anne Batchelor on Wednesday, 25th November when you drop your child off at school. 

If your child has medication that should be kept with them (e.g. an inhaler or travel sickness medication), please put this in your child’s backpack and let your child’s home group teacher know where it is on the morning we leave for camp.

What to bring to Camp
  • A light backpack for the first day containing: 
  • A snack 
  • Lunch 
  • Drink bottle 
  • A warm and waterproof coat 
  • Sunscreen 
  • Sunhat 
  • Medicine that must be kept with the student (e.g. an inhaler or travel sickness medication)

A larger bag or suitcase containing: 
  • Toiletries – soap, toothbrush, toothpaste etc.  
  • Insect repellent 
  • 2 towels (shower and pool) 
  • A pair of walking shoes 
  • A pair of slippers or inside shoes 
  • Socks 
  • Underclothes 
  • Long pants 
  • Shorts 
  • T-shirts 
  • Warm jerseys or bush shirts 
  • A warm hat 
  • Pyjamas 
  • Swimming togs 
  • Lightweight bags for dirty clothes 
  • A pillow 
  • A single fitted bottom sheet for your bed 
  • A warm sleeping bag 
  • A book to read (optional) 
  • Games (small board games or cards only) (optional) 
  • Soft cuddly toy (optional)
If applicable, a plastic container or ziplock bag containing: 
  • Personal medication for the camp medic to look after and administer 
  • Medicine authority form
The following items will not be required and should not be taken on camp: 
  • Money 
  • iPod or MP3/MP4 players 
  • Computers/iPads/tablets 
  • Handheld electronic games 
  • Torches 
  • Chewing gum 
  • Radios 
  • Cell phones 
  • Cameras 
  • Toys 
  • Knives 

Please make sure all items are clearly named and that your child will be able to carry their bag themselves. A good idea is to bring the gear list to camp so that they can be checked off when we leave. A paper copy of the gear list will be sent home closer to our departure.  If there is something you don’t have, we encourage you borrow it from someone rather than buy it.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child's home group teacher.

Kauri Whanāu: Term 4 Camp Update 1

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 We trust you have had an enjoyable two weeks with your children at home. We teachers have had a great break and are busy getting sorted for our upcoming camp in week 2: Oct 19-23

Food

We appreciate everyone sending along some baking to get us through the week at camp. This will be collected on the Monday morning before we jump on the buses.

We are looking for a large number of volunteers to prepare pasta bakes and cottage pies. We are also needing to borrow some chilly-bins. Please click on this link to indicate how you can help out. 

Departure time on Monday

On Monday Oct 19, all children are to arrive at school by 8am. We have food to box up, buses to load and things to check before we hit the road at 8:30.

Bunk-rooms

The allocation of bunk-rooms is always a tricky job. We are confident that the following plan takes into account the children's requests.  




There will be another post next week with more details. We are sharing a presentation with the programme and many other details with the children on Tuesday. This presentation will then be uploaded to google classroom. The children will be able to access this at home and share it with you. 





Cycle Safety Term 4

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Kia ora whānau,

If your child is a year 6 student they will be taking part in the Cycle Safe Programme at school, during week's 1-3 of term 4.

The Cycle Safe programme is run by the Christchurch City Council and is a cycle skills education programme for schools. Students learn the benefits of cycling and how to ride with confidence and be road-wise. Students will be riding their bike on the road, supervised, around Beckenham School.

Your year 6 child/ren will be participating in this course on one of the following sessions:

Session 1 - Friday 16th & Monday 19th October
Session 2 - Tuesday 20th & Friday 23rd October
Session 3 - Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 28th October

More information as to the session that your child/ren will be participating will come home via a reminder notice, with your child, at the beginning of term 4.

On these days, students should bring the following to school:

  • Their bicycle (in good working order)
  • Their helmet (in good working order)
  • A lock to secure these items to the school bike racks

Please ensure that your child/ren come/s to school on these days wearing suitable
clothing for the weather. If it rains and it is unsuitable for the children to go out on their bicycles, the remaining sessions will be either rescheduled at a suitable later date or be classroom-based.

For those who do not have their own, ten bicycles and helmets are available through the programme.

The Cycle Safe team have recently created some 3-5 minute videos about their programme. We welcome you and your students to view them.
Here is a link to a Helmet Fitting video. You can also look on the Cycle Safe page under the videos heading.