Monthly Archives: May 2021

Kōwhai Team News – Term 2 Week 2

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Kia ora whānau, 

We have had a lovely start to our term. On Tuesday the students all took part in our school Cross Country. It was so awesome to see so many people trying their best, and cheering people on from the sidelines as well! The students definitely showed our school value Nau Mai te Wero - We Love Challenge!  

 New Team Members

This term we have welcomed our two lovely new teaching assistants,  Sonya and Charmaine  into the Kōwhai hub. They have already become a wonderful part of the Kōwhai whanau. 



Kapa Haka

We have started our Kapa Haka classes for this term. We are going to be focusing on the students pepeha for the beginning of the term. Pepeha are a way of introducing ourselves by identifying with geographical features such as rivers and mountains, as well as parts of our history. It would be very helpful if you could assist your child with researching theirs where needed. Your child will bring home some information for you to help them fill in, so they can complete this. Please help us by sending this information back with your child. 

Term 2 Inquiry topic

Our inquiry topic this term is split into two areas in which we are exploring the idea of Change. These are Kitchen Chemistry and Coding. We are looking forward to exploring both of these areas across the term. 

If you child has some wired headphones they could use when using technology, please name these and send them in. They will stay in their tote trays. 

Reminder

Just a quick reminder that school will be closed next Friday the 21st of May for a Staff only day. 

Discovery

Here are some pictures of the fantastic learning through play that our students have been doing during our Discovery time. This play involves learning robotics, practicing oral language with headbands, life drawing of the hub fish, creating new different species of dinosaur and many more other activities. 














Have a lovely weekend! 

Ngā mihi nui, 

The Kōwhai Team - Laura, Nick, Quynh, Meagan and Rowe. 


Pōhutukawa News – Week 2, Term 2, 2021

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

School Cross Country

What a fantastic day we had for our school cross country on Tuesday afternoon. As it turned out, the weather was perfectly planned and it was lovely to see so many whānau come along to tautoko, support the tamariki. It was so pleasing to see the students giving their best and supporting each other to achieve their goals. You, and they, can feel very proud of their efforts. Congratulations to all of our young athletes who have qualified for the Zone cross country. More information about this event will follow


The Wonder Project

This term as part of our continuing inquiry into the concept of  'Change' for 2021, we are taking up the Rocket Challenge as part of the Wonder Project, which is run by Engineering New Zealand. Students will work with their homegroup teacher and a Wonder Project Ambassador to design, build and launch their very own water rocket! We are lucky to have John Aramowicz (Luka's dad) as one of our ambassadors, along with 3 other volunteers, all of whom are STEM professionals. This project teaches students about Newton's laws of motion, the engineering design process, and also promotes creative thinking and teamwork. This project aims to get the tamariki excited about a career in science, technology, engineering and maths. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning! To enable our project to take off, we are asking for your help. Each student is being asked to bring along a clean, washed 1.5 litre plastic bottle with the lid attached from which we can create our bottle rockets. Your help with this is greatly appreciated.

Muddy Months

As we head into winter we are noticing the inevitable increase of muddy shoes and clothes as students come back from play and lunch, having played sports and games on our beloved Park. We have spoken as a hub about the need to show We Care for our school environment by taking off muddy shoes before we enter the Hub and lining them up neatly outside the door. We are lucky to have wonderful underfloor heating in the classrooms, so feet stay nice and warm. In addition to this, we suggest that if your child is coming home with very muddy clothes, please consider supplying them with a spare pair of school shorts and a spare school top for them to change into once they finish their games. We appreciate your support with this.

Upcoming Dates

Wednesday, May 19 - School Photos

Friday, May 21 - Staff Only Day

Tuesday, May 25 - Zone Cross Country at Halswell Quarry

Monday, June 7 - Queen's Birthday (School closed)

Tuesday, June 8 - Staff Only Day

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 2 Week 2

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 In this post:

  • ShowQuest
  • Getting muddy
  • Hamper donation for Quiz Night
  • Uniform
  • Staff only day
  • Photos

ShowQuest

We are less than a week from showtime. Please click here for important information and a form that everyone needs to read and complete.  Costumes need to be at school tomorrow, Wednesday.

Getting Muddy 

As winter approaches Beckenham Park is developing some muddy patches. The children are very good at finding these! If your child tends to come home muddy or has the potential for this, please make sure they have a spare school shirt and pair of pants in their bag.

Hamper Donation

We would like every Kauri family to donate a luxury item from the supermarket to our Quiz Night hampers. These hampers will be raffled on the night and we may also sell tickets beforehand. Please send an item along to the hub before the end of next week. We will have a collection box in the hub.

Quiz Night ticket sales opened in the weekend and we have already sold over half of the tickets. If you plan to enter a team, do so now.

Uniform

Just a reminder that caps, beanies and hoodies are not part of our unifrom at school. Children are welcome to wear beanies to school and at breaktimes on cold days, however not in the hub. School jackets are to be worn, not hoodies. We have a good supply of second hand jackets at the PTA shop if your child does not have a school jacket. 

Staff Only Day

A reminder that our first staff-only day for this term is next Friday, May 21st. School will be closed for students on this day.

Photo Gallery

Here are some pics from our first dress rehearsal last week.

















Help Needed for Winter Sport

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Winter Sport

Winter sport starts in Week 5 of this term. We would love to be able to provide every child who wants to participate in competitive winter sport a place in a sports team. To make this possible, we are still looking for adults to accompany teams. Ideally, this adult would be comfortable having a go at refereeing a game. This is something we can support you in learning how to do if you are new to it. If you are not comfortable refereeing but would be available to support a team, please do still get in touch. The most important thing we need is for the children to be adequately supervised.  

Unfortunately, at the moment we still do not have enough adults for a competitive winter sport to go ahead, and we are still looking for support to help with football, netball, and hockey.

Please get in touch with Jenny Diggle directly at jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz or with your child's homegroup teacher. Mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe, we are all rowing the waka together!