School at COVID Alert Level 2 – Quick update, Sunday 28 February, 2021

Kia ora e te whānau

As you will all be well aware by now, and to quote Dr Siouxsie Wiles, we've hit 'another loop-de-loop on the COVID rollercoaster' and we are now operating again at Alert Level 2.

At Alert Level 2, school remains fully open for teaching and learning.

I'm conscious that we may have some new families who have started in the past couple of weeks so I'm re-sending the information from last time with ONE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE - the end of day finish times:
NE (Koru) AND Y1/2 (Kahikatea) children will finish at 2:45pm. This will allow for them to be collected and move away from the front gate area before the rest of the school is released. If you have children in both the junior and Y3-6 parts of the school, the junior teachers will hold your child in the hub until 3pm and bring them out then.

Year 3-6 (Kōwhai and Pōhutukawa) children will finish at 3pm as usual.

Year 7/8 children and staff are going to Wainui on camp tomorrow morning, albeit with additional contingencies built in for their health and safety.

1. Schools are open to everyone, and all children must attend.

At Alert Level 2 the disease is contained but there is still risk of community transmission. It is safe for children and staff to attend school as there will be appropriate measures in place, including for children and staff vulnerable to severe illness.


2. Learning will be onsite with distance learning offered in some circumstances.

Distance learning will be provided for those required to self-isolate, those individuals who health authorities have asked to stay away while waiting for a test result, or those choosing to remain at home because they are vulnerable to illness.
If you believe that your child fits the above criteria, please let the office know and we will contact you regarding home learning options.

3. Schools are not classified as gatherings and a range of events and activities can go ahead.

For most day to day activities at schools, the rules for gatherings do not apply. Under the COVID-19 Public Health Response Order, schools are exempted from physical distancing requirements when people are there to receive, provide, or support education services.
However as soon as an event or activity brings people onsite who are not there for education purposes, including students, parents and caregivers, then the rules for gatherings do apply. This includes performances such as school plays, cultural events and sporting activities.
This means that we will return to our protocol of parents dropping and collecting children from the gate rather than coming onto the school site. 

We will have staff at the main gate, and at the Park entrance to school so that you can hand children over to them, rather than coming onto the school site. Please remember that social distancing is important at Alert Level 2. This is particularly important at pick-up time in the afternoon so please try not to congregate in groups at the gate. If your child is able to travel independently, please encourage them to do so. If you can wait for them on the other side of the crossing, and spread out a little, that helps too. 


4. Schools will close for cleaning and contact tracing if there is a confirmed case who was infectious when at school.

The Director of Education will work closely with us and health authorities should this occur.

5. Face coverings are not required at school or on any school transport.

This includes charter buses hired by the school to transport students and staff. Anyone who chooses to wear a face covering at school will be supported to do so.

6. Sick people must stay at home.

They should seek medical advice if they have COVID-like symptoms and get tested if advised to do so. If that person displays relevant symptoms of COVID-19, tests positive for COVID-19, or has been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, they must self-isolate.

7. We have a contact tracing system in place.

If you have to come onto the school site, please ensure you sign in at the office as usual, AS WELL AS using your COVID app if you have one

8. Fundamental public health measures continue to apply at every alert level:

  • Physical distancing (not touching and not breathing on each other at Alert Level 2)
  • Hand hygiene
  • Cough and sneeze etiquette
  • Regularly cleaning and disinfecting high touch surfaces.

Note that our drinking fountains will be unavailable at Alert Level 2, so every child does need to have a named water bottle at school every day.

Stay in Touch

If you need to contact your child's teacher - email is the best option at Alert Level 2. You can find all of the teacher and admin email addresses HERE
If you need to contact Jacky in the office - email office@beckenham.school.nz or phone 337 1404
To contact Rachel in accounts, contact accounts@beckenham.school.nz or phone 337 1404

We will continue to keep updating you as more information comes to hand.

We've got this!

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy and the Team!




Pōhutukawa News – Week 4, Term 1, 2021

 Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all.

Week 4 was another busy week, here are some of the highlights!

Canterbury Earthquake Commemorations

Last Monday 22nd February, Pōhutukawa joined the other teams at Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto in commemorating the 10 year anniversary of the Canterbury Earthquakes by filling our footpaths with images and messages of aroha and togetherness. We Care, Arohaina te tangata me te taiao.





Swimming Sports

It was great to see many whānau at our annual school swimming sports on Thursday. The event is always a lot of fun and the nervous energy on the bus on the way to the pool was palpable! We Love Challenge at Beckenham, and it was fantastic to see the tamariki literally leap out of their comfort zones with a splash. Nau mai te wero! Here is a message from Jenny Diggle to the competitors:

"Congratulations to all our swimmers who competed in the school swimming sports.
You embraced an opportunity to get involved and challenge yourself in friendly competition. Wharenui Pool wanted me to pass on how impressed they were with how clean you left the bleacher area. When I did a check after you had all left there was not one bit of rubbish and there was no lost property left behind in the changing rooms. These seemingly small things do make a difference. Thank you!"


Maths Groups

Our maths groups started this week. The tamariki have all started to engage in independent activities and think about goals they want to achieve for the term. It's wonderful to see many children wanting to improve on their basic fact knowledge. All the groups spent some group time engaging in activities that require justifying their answers and reasoning by using mathematical language. One example of the questions that were used to promote this mathematical reasoning was the following question in a "Move and Prove" activity:
 I am 9 hundreds and 100 ones. Am I 900, 999, 1000, or 9100? Be prepared to justify your answer. 

We Love Learning. He taonga te ako. Why not ask your child/children to justify their answer to you?

Kauri Whānau: Final Wainui Camp Reminders

 Only two more sleeps and we are off to Wainui! Below are our final key reminders.

Camp is nut free! Please make sure there are no nuts in any baking.


Be at school at 8am:

  1. Gear on buses (Eastern Tce)
  2. Food donations and pre-prepared meals to the maker-space
  3. Hand medications in labelled zip-lock bags to home-group teachers. Children with inhalers keep these
  4. Go to homegroups with day-pack, ready to show teachers; raincoat, sunhat, sunscreen, lunch, water bottle

Be prepared:

  • 2 sunhats if possible (a spare in case one goes missing)
  • Raincoat - rain is forecast on Thursday and activities outside will go ahead
  • Old lace-up shoes for water activities
  • A book and a small game 
  • Plenty of thermal clothing
  • If sleeping bag is thin, bring an extra blanket
  • And everything else that is on the gear list!
  • Get plenty of sleep over the weekend
  • Our first activity is tramp to camp, so be dressed for this on Monday


Don't bring:

  • Sweets, bags of chips etc - we have plenty of food and with such a full programme do not want mid-night feasts planned, as sleep is so important.
  • Any technology. Children can use our phones to call home if needed. If your child needs to bring a phone, then make sure you have communicated with their home-group teacher about this. 

Emergency contact:

If you need to get hold of us during the week, call Nicky on 0276229403

Transport:

We have made some changes to the transport arrangements that we explained to the children on Friday. See below for the updated plan.


Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Friday 26 February 2021

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

We have made the decision to return to weekly newsletters. These will come out every Friday and it means that you can expect to get a school newsletter in your inbox every week. This has been made possible because we have welcomed Reihana Dougherty to our Admin Team, which is enabling us to spread the load, and build capacity. Reihana will be around the front office Monday through to Friday, with sole responsibility on Fridays as Jacky will now only be working Monday through to Thursday.

Building Update

The Ministry of Education have advised us that building will commence on Monday on the new double learning space at the Eastern Terrace end of the school. 

Earthquake Memorial - 10 years on

It is hard to believe that we have just remembered the 10th anniversary of the Christchurch Earthquakes. So much has changed across our city since then, and across the schooling sector too. Post-earthquake the schooling network had a huge amount of change which also had both positive and negative impacts on different communities, depending on the changes. A number of schools were closed, some were merged, new schools built, and nearly every school in Christchurch is in the Christchurch Schools Rebuild programme. We were one of the early schools in this programme, coming out of our rebuild in mid-2018. Some schools are still waiting for this rebuild to begin.
We appreciate that, for our current students, none of them were at school when the earthquakes happened, and only our oldest students were even born.
On Monday, our staff talked with the students about the earthquake with a focus on the way that it showed how a community can pull together and demonstrate many of the values we hold important at school - in particular, We Care, We Get There Together and We Make a Difference. Our students then had the opportunity to write messages to our wider community on the footpaths on Eastern Terrace, Sandwich Road, Norwood St and within the school.


Many thanks to Karen Wyngaarden for responding to our request for someone to make slipcovers for seats and curtains. They look great and the children are able to use the seats again which is awesome!

Our Year 7/8 team are looking forward to their camp at Wainui next week. 
I hope you all enjoy the weekend.
 
Ngā mihi
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Week 5:
Mon 1 - Fri 5 Mar - Kauri camp at Wainui YMCA
Wed 3 Mar - 4.15 - 5.45 Kiwi Volleyball at Hillview Christian School
Thu 4 Mar - 3.15 - 6.00 Miniball Grade C at Pioneer Stadium

Week 6:
Wed 10 Mar - 4.15 - 5.45 Kiwi Volleyball at Hillview Christian School
Thu 11 Mar - 3.15 - 6.00 Miniball Grade C at Pioneer Stadium
Fri 12 Mar - 12.00 - 12.30 Celebration Assembly

Week 7:
Wed 17 Mar - 4.15 - 5.45 Kiwi Volleyball at Hillview Christian School
Thu 18 Mar - 9.00 - 1.15 Zone Swimming Sports at Jellie Park

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 term dates

Citizen of the Week

Emma Reedy - Year 7

Emma, being kind, fun, loving and respectful are just some of the wonderful qualities you possess. You embrace opportunities to learn, lead and try new things. Your positive and proactive nature makes you a stunning role model to others.  

School Notices

Food Allergy Guidelines

Across our school, we have a number of children with different food allergies.
To support the wellbeing of these students we have the following guidelines in place which we ask you to follow:
  • Whenever children bring food to school for shared kai occasions, please follow the guidelines provided by the teachers for that event. 
We will inform you during the year if specific guidelines for your child’s hub change.  Our full allergy policy and guidelines in this booklet, are also available on the Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto website under “Information - Policies - SchoolDocs” then search ‘allergy’.  If you have any questions or concerns, please discuss them in the first instance with your child’s point of contact teacher.

Mana Ake “Drop-Ins” are continuing…

A number of whānau have already made great use of the Mana Ake “drop-ins” that are available on Wednesday mornings from 8:30 – 9:30am. These drop-in sessions are here to provide parents with an opportunity to have a private, informal conversation around the well being of their child with one of our Mana Ake workers (kaimahi). If you feel like you would like to attend a drop-in session, please book in a time via the link here: Mana Ake booking The code to use is 88t39. Alternatively, you can contact Jacky in the office and she will make a booking for you.

Concerns and Complaints Process

We understand that from time to time you may have a concern that you would like to raise with someone at school. You can find a copy of our concerns and complaints process below, and you can also access this through our school website, or by using the SchoolDocs login (user: beckenham password: pride).
We always want to work with you to resolve any worries or concerns you might have.

Parenting Tips

Each week we are going to put a parenting tip here that we hope will be helpful for some of you.
The Parenting Place has a great website that includes a section on "How to talk about: Making Friends (in real life)". This article acknowledges that many people now have many, many friends on social media, and may not find it easy to know how to make and keep friends with the people around them. It shares 5 simple strategies that you can talk with your child about.

Sports News

Swimming Sports Results

We had a fantastic school swimming sports with children from Years 5 to 8 at Wharenui Pool yesterday. Congratulations to all who competed. You deserve to feel very proud of yourself for getting involved and challenging yourself. 


Our 2021 Swimming Champions are:

Year 5 Champions
Holly McIntosh
Jack Sayer

Year 6 Champions
Archie Arnott
Emma Vaile

Year 7 Champions
Stella Gillman
Tahere Taylor

Year 8 Champions
Fergus McMillan
Zoe Clarke


Whenever we go to sporting events, there is so much more on display than just sporting excellence. Throughout the competition it was great to see children supporting and encouraging each other. Many of our Year 7 and 8 tamariki stepped into leadership roles to support the running of the event. Wharenui Pool staff commented on how clean and tidy our tamariki left the pool area and changing rooms. Thank you everyone to the part you played in this and for the values you demonstrated. 

PTA News

Weetbix Tryathlon - 28 February 2021



A matter of sleeps now until the Weetbix Tryathlon 2021 event. We hope you are all looking forward to a fabulous day. We have a number of entries this year which makes for a really fun morning. Keep an eye out for the Beckenham Flags where we’ll create a base for everyone. The PTA will pop on a sausage sizzle for every competitor. Pack a picnic and get your support crew ready for a fun fun morning. Any questions about the event don’t hesitate to make contact with Nicola – 021532996

BOT Update

Our new Board of Trustees met last night for the first time this year. Matthew Macdonald was elected by the Board to be the Chairperson for 2021. The rest of the Board are:
  • Sampson Karst (Ngāi Tahu iwi representative)
  • Lisa Taylor
  • Marcel Frei
  • Jude Clarke
  • Nicole Forster
  • Suran Dickson
  • Richard Scott
  • Anna Reid (Staff Trustee)

Community Notices

(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)

Christchurch Netball Centre is running Tu Manawa Multi Sport Have A Go Day on the 27th of Feb at Hagley Park, starting at 12.15pm.
The event is completely free for children aged 5 to 18 years. Lunch is provided for free as well.
Sports participating are Netball, Futsal, Skateboarding and Ki o Rahi .
Sign up here.

Coding Lessons
In today’s world, it’s essential for young people to learn how to create technology not just consume it. Coding NZ’s lessons empower students with the tools they need and help give students the best chance at being successful in our increasingly digital age. Extend your child’s awareness and horizons. Free trial lessons available now at codingnz.com/signup

Kauri Whānau: after school safety message

Today after school a group of children from our hub were playing at the rope swing along the river. A man in a car approached the group, took a photo and started following them. Three of the children ran to school to let us know and also took a photo of the car's licence plate. This was exactly the right thing to do. Tracy then accompanied them some distance from school and sent them off in groups to go home. The incident has been reported to the police. This is a timely reminder that children need to go home and touch base with whānau straight after school so you know where they are and what they are doing.