Monthly Archives: April 2021

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 11

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Kia ora whānau, 

What a fantastic and busy term we have had with so many awesome activities throughout the term. Thank you to all those parents and students who came along to the student-led conferences this week. It was lovely to touch base with everyone and reflect on our learning so far this year. 

Cross Country

Our whole school cross country is coming up at the start of next term. This will be held on Tuesday, 11th of May in the afternoon. 

Seniors will have an earlier lunch and start first. The Junior students will start later in the afternoon. Timings will be confirmed during Week 1 of the term and sent out to you via the school newsletter. 

We encourage all the students to embrace our school value, "We Love Challenge" and to try their very best. While for the majority this will be participating as a runner, there will be additional ways to make sure all our tamariki are involved in the event. Teams have started our practices already and will continue during the first week of Term 2. We know that some children will enjoy practising over the holidays. Our course distance is around 1km if you would like to start training. Happy running! 

Structured Literacy 

Here is our structured literacy scope and sequence which forms the basis of our literacy programme. We check all students on their sounds and teach spelling patterns with this.  

A reminder that some students will be bringing home sound cards in their reading folders, and some will bring home books. If your child does not bring home a book, then they can choose a book to read from home. 

We also do not send books home if the student does not have their reading folder, so please help your child by reminding them to bring their reading or library folder each day. 

Learning conferences were a great opportunity to chat with you about structured literacy. Remember if you have any further questions, your child's literacy teacher is the best person to get in touch with. 

laura.williamson@beckenham.school.nz                            

rowena.barker@beckenham.school.nz

nick.bruce@beckenham.school.nz      

quynh.nguyen@beckenham.school.nz

meagan.mathers@beckenham.school.nz                              


Art 

We have been creating some amazing art over the last week. Some homegroups have focused on emotion-based art and some have been exploring the artist Piet Mondrian and making Mondrian inspired art. 

Here are some examples:












We hope you have a lovely and relaxing holidays. 

See you next term. 

The Kōwhai team - Laura, Nick, Rowe, Meagan and Quynh

Showquest Important Information for Everyone

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Showquest

ShowQuest rehearsals are in full swing and the children are responding really positively to the challenge. Below is information about purchasing tickets to the show and important costuming information. Our performance date is Monday May17th. On this day the children will be at the Town Hall from 10am until after their performance in the evening. 

Tickets

Please visit Ticketech to order your tickets. If you can't make the show, there will be a video.


Show Quest Costumes


We are asking each child to source their own costume, with your help. The children know which dance they are in. If you don't have anything suitable, we encourage you to check out op shops and recommend ... If you have items that would be suitable for a dance that your child is not performing in, please contact us so we can match children up with whatever you have. If you get stuck, please get in touch with us early on.

All dancers are bare feet.

20’s - Flapper Dance

  • Knee-length dress (plain colour)
  • Dark trousers or shirt
  • Accessorise with beads/ boa/ bow tie/ headband
  • Plain colours, blacks, greys or pale colours

30’s - Singing in the rain

  • Dark trousers or leggings
  • Shirt and tie or raincoat
  • Bowler hat
  • Long umbrella
  • Dark colours

50’s - Jail House Rock


  • Hooped skirt (we have a number of these)
  • Plain coloured T-shirt
  • Dark jeans and denim jacket with plain or striped T-Shirt
  • Plain/ stripped or checkered

60’s - Lets Twist Again (longer skirts)

AND

60’s Dancing in the Street (more of a hippy vibe)


  • Short skirt/dress
  • Trousers
  • Variety of prints and colours or plain

70’s - You Should Be Dancing

  • Short dress
  • Flared trousers would be amazing (not essential)
  • Bright shirt
  • Bright patterns and colours, shiny material and sparkles are ideal.

80’s - What a Feeling

  • Leggings
  • Leg warmers
  • Off-shoulder t-shirt (bright and bold are best, could have a graphic or slogan, can be an old shirt with the neck cut out).
  • Accessorise with headbands, 80’s style jewellery
  • Bright and loud!

90’s - Everybody Dance Now

  • Blue jeans (on the bigger side is preferable) with cuffs turned up or denim dungarees
  • Bright, plain T-Shirt or sweatshirt
  • Denim jacket or shell suit jacket (optional)

  • Baseball cap worn sideways or backwards
  • Demin combined with bright colours


Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 1 Week 10

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  • Rubix Cubes
  • Learning Conferences
  • Wainui Camp Book
  • Cheese rolls, done and dusted!

Rubix Cubes

This is one of those crazes that is highly appealing for a small number of our children and it is having an impact on focus during learning time. Children are to leave their cubes at home and not bring them to school. If your child is a 'cuber' please ensure they leave their cube(s) at home. 

Learning Conferences

It is great to see the high number of bookings for learning conferences on Monday and Wednesday next week. A reminder that classes finish at 2pm on those afternoons. Kauri learning conferences run a little differently from the rest of the school. 
  • Please come into the hub as soon as you arrive.
  • The children collect any books and a device to share their learning with you.
  • Settle down somewhere in the Pathway and your child will start sharing their learning with you.
  • There will be a list of what to share on the whiteboard to prompt them if needed.
  • Your child's literacy teacher and maths teacher will come and join you to share progress and next steps.
  • Your child's homegroup teacher will talk through a self-management reflection with you and your child.
  • You will be given a datasheet to take home. This sheet will have curriculum levels and next steps.
  • So that we can manage multiple teachers touching base with you, we ask that you allow 30 minutes for your conference.

Wainui Camp Photo Book

We have put together a photo book as a keepsake of our wonderful week spent at Wainui earlier this term. The book is a hardcover, A4-sized, 20-page book packed with photos and captions written by the children. The cost of the books is $30. If you would like to order a copy, please click here.




Cheese Rolls

A big thanks to the wonderful parent team who supported us with cheese roll making. Most of the children loved the experience of being part of the production line and they worked like trojans to achieve our goal of 735 dozen in one day. A Beckenham record! Any cheese rolls that are yet to be collected have been put in the freezer. Please come and collect these ASAP.  If you loaned us equipment, we will have it on the spotty table in the hub for you to collect early next week. We will let you know the profit once all the bills have been paid and the maths has been done. 


Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Friday 9 April, 2021

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Learning Conferences next Monday and Wednesday

Monday 12th April and Wednesday 14th April

School will close at 2pm on both days, to allow Learning Conferences to begin at 2:15pm.

Please go onto the School Interviews website and use the code kk64k to book your learning conference. The Learning Conferences are for 15mins each, except for Year 7/8 where you need to book a 15-minute slot, but allow 30 mins (it works!)

The focus of these Learning Conferences will be to update you on how your child has settled into the school year, and to give you a picture of the areas of focus they are working on, particularly in numeracy and literacy. 

Learning Conferences - After School Supervision

If you require your child to be supervised from 2 - 3pm on either or both of these days, please contact Jacky at the office, 3371404 or office@beckenham.school.nz.

House Games

Our senior students are putting their leadership training and skills to great use in the running and support of our House Games that are scheduled to happen weekly (weather permitting) on Thursdays this term and next. Below is a photo taken yesterday - a lot of fun being had by all as they worked together to get the parachute to behave in the way they wanted it to.

Structured Literacy Parent Workshop video

We know that there were many people who couldn't make the Structured Literacy workshop two weeks ago, so we videoed it and have uploaded it to a school YouTube Channel for you to access:


Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Week 11: 
Mon 12 Apr - Learning Conferences - SCHOOL CLOSES at 2pm 
Wed 14 Apr: - Learning Conferences - SCHOOL CLOSES at 2pm
Fri 16 Apr: - Last day of Term 1

School Holidays

Term 2, Week 1:
Fri 7 May - Welcome Assembly 

Week 2: 
Tue 11 May - Whole School Cross Country
Thu 13 May - Cross Country (postponement date)

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Mila Montejo - Year 8

Mila, you are an exuberant, bubbly, ray of sunshine. Your lust for life and positive energy is contagious. It has been great to see you make great gains in your learning, all due to your positive attitude and the way you embrace extra opportunities to learn. You are wonderfully supportive and encouraging to you peers, teachers and younger students. 

School Notices

Cross Country

Our whole school cross country is coming up at the start of next term. This will be held on Tuesday the 11th of May in the afternoon. 

Seniors will have an earlier lunch and start first. The Junior students will start later in the afternoon. Timings will be confirmed during Week 1 of the term and sent out to you via the school newsletter. 

We encourage all the students to embrace our school value "We Love Challenge" and to try their very best. While for the majority this will be participating as a runner, there will be additional ways to make sure all our tamariki are involved in the event. Teams have started our practices already and will continue during the first week of Term 2. We know that some children will enjoy practicing over the holidays. Happy running! 

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.

News from our ESOL classes

ESOL students from Kahikatea have been busy cooking muffins over the last fortnight, and practicing sequential language (first, then, next etc.). The students also wrote a recount of the experience in their books. Fun was had by all!


Meanwhile, our Kōwhai ESOL students have been learning about prepositions and giving directions. They have created mazes, given directions to help partners get to the playground and had fun playing the Minefield Game. Many thanks to Elizabeth for sharing this fun, learning activity!
(insert images ESOL week9,9b,9c)



Sports News

Last weekend our Year 7 student Billy Murfin, represented Canterbury in an athletics meet in Dunedin. He was part of a team of athletes selected from all the athletics clubs in Canterbury. They competed against athletes from Otago and Southland in a range of events.

Billy came first in the boys grade 11 100m race, his team also won the 4 x 100 relay.

Canterbury won the overall tournament trophy thanks to an awesome effort from the whole team, which also included the mighty Isla Mitchell (Y4). Ka pai!


Volleyball

Three teams from Kauri participated in weekly volleyball sessions at Hillview Christian school this term. These sessions were run by Canterbury Volleyball and incorporated skill development and competitive games. The children participated with huge enthusiasm and made huge progress in their skill development, especially their serves! A massive thank you to Gail for supporting the children at these sessions each week. 

Miniball

Four teams of children from Kōwhai have been participating in a miniball league at Pioneer this term. This group of enthusiastic children have gone from strength to strength in their skill development. Many of them were trying the sport for the first time. Thank you to all the parents who supported the children at the games by managing the team and doing the score board. Another thank you goes to Lola, Cooper, Zoe, Marcellus and Ollie, (students from Kauri) who have been sharing their knowledge and giving their time to coach these teams. 

Canterbury Swimming

A huge congratulations to all the tamariki who competed at Canterbury Swimming on Thursday. It is a massive achievement to qualify for this event.

Nau mai te wero!
Zoe, Cooper, Fergus, Tahere, Stella, Lola, William, Emma and Jack

Results:
Zoe Clarke - 5th Butterfly and 9th Freestyle
Jack Sayer - 11th Breaststroke
Lola Harris - 12th Backstroke
Stella Gillman - 19th Freestyle
Fergus Mcmillan - 18th Butterfly
Cooper Reddecliffe - 18th Freestyle 

Community Notices

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

Dental Care during the School Holidays                                 

The Community Dental Service will be providing dental care for children enrolled with our service during the upcoming school holidays.  The clinics will offer check-ups, treatment and relief of pain sessions by appointment only.   To make an appointment please call/email our Contact Centre which operates between the hours of 8am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday throughout the holidays.

The following Dental Clinics will be open during these school holidays:
  • Hornby Clinic, 2 Hei Hei Road, Hornby,

  • Northcote Clinic, 24 Tuckers Road, Casebrook,

  • Timaru Clinic, Level 1, 18 Woollcombe Street, Timaru
The clinics will offer appointments between 8.15am and 4.45pm for school-age and preschool children.  If your child has dental pain because of an accident, please contact your dentist in the first instance.

To book an appointment at one of our clinics please: call 0800 846 983 or, email commdental@cdhb.health.nz