We hope everyone was able to enjoy some extra family time over the holidays. We have another busy term ahead in Pōhutukawa. Here are some of the things we are looking forward to in the coming weeks.
Winter Sport
Winter sport for us at school will continue until Week 4. We love seeing the tamariki out there giving it their all as they represent our kura on Thursdays, or participate in our in-school Wednesday afternoon programme and develop their teamwork and skills. Our main focus is enjoyment and sportsmanship, which we will be reaffirming with everyone. Please take a moment to go through this slideshow about team sports with your tamariki if you have a chance.
"Cool Curriculum Classes"
Our "cool curriculum classes" are continuing with some changes again this term. Anna will still be teaching Social Sciences and taking the children through a project in which they create their own culture, incorporating this with our concept of Change as the term progresses. Steve is taking Te Reo Māori, and integrating this with Health through the lense of the Te Whare Tapa Whā wellbeing model. Gayle is teaching Visual Arts, and Rae will cover Digital Technologies and work with the tamariki on coding. There is a lot of learning that will be happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
We will be spending this term looking at these Olympics as part of our ongoing Inquiry into change. These games will provide us all with rich learning opportunities, as we discuss and explore with the students the major changes that are happening for the 2021 Olympics, including disruptions, challenges and controversies that have come with them. We will also be looking into how the Olympics have changed over the years by comparing and contrasting the Ancient and Modern Olympics. We encourage you to ask your tamariki what they have been learning about the Olympics via our Google Site "2021 Tokyo Olympics", which is available to view on Google Classroom, and engaging in all the aspects around this exciting, and evolving, topic.
Open Night
Coming up on Thursday, August 5th (Week 2) from 7pm to 8pm is our Open Night for the Year 7-8 Kauri hub. Come along and discover the learning adventure that awaits in Year 7 and 8 at Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto!
Over the next three weeks all Kauri children have a home learning project to work on. Today, Monday, we introduced them to Cantamath projects. Ideas have been shared on a slideshow, which they can access at home on google classroom, and each child has brought an assignment sheet home (or will bring this home on Tuesday). The children select one project category to enter. They have been given three weeks, as it will take this long to do a good job. If by Friday they have not got an idea underway, please encourage them to speak with their maths teacher for some help.
Ski Day
Our ski day to Mt Hutt is on Thursday September 2nd. Please click this link and complete the form so we can support whānau to ensure every child is well prepared for their day in the mountains. We will be leaving school by 6am and return at 6pm. More information will come out in following posts.
Choice Programme
From weeks 3 - 5 we will be working through the 'Choice' programme, in class and with our community constable. Choice is a programme that aims to strengthen young people’s ability to make positive life choices with special emphasis on drug use.
Speeches
A single word that strikes excitement in some and fear in others: speeches. Starting in week 2, we will be working with the children to write a persuasive speech. In week 6 these speeches will be shared in literacy groups. We are aware that this may cause anxiety for some children. While we strongly encourage the children to share their speech with their literacy group, no child will be forced to do so and we have other options for sharing. We look forward to supporting the children in taking on this challenge.
Term 3 key dates for Year 7 & 8:
July 30 Learn, Create, Share Expo
August 2 Canterbury Indoor Tournament for basketball and volleyball
August 10Year 5 - 8 Duathlon
August 11 Beckamath event at school
August 13Cantamath projects due at school
August 15Choice sessions begin
August 19 Last winter sport session
August 20Book character day
August 25Cantamath (for problem solving teams)
August 30Canterbury duathlon
September 2Ski day
September 6 Hub speech finals
September 20Zone speech competition
Sept 21-23Koru Games
A message from Cahsmere High School
2022 Year 9 enrolments for Cashmere High School close at 4pm, 30 July 2021. Late applications received after this date may not receive their first choice academic options. Please share this information with friends and family.
Our staff are all looking forward to welcoming everyone back to school tomorrow.
We understand that there has continued to be quite a high level of illness across the community during the holidays, particularly heavy colds and respiratory infections, and viruses. Please do keep sick children at home for their own well-being and the well-being of others.
Tomorrow (Monday) 9:15am - new building opening
We are very excited to be opening our new double learning block 'Hangere' tomorrow morning at 9:15am. If you are able to stay and join us, please feel welcome to do that. Children need to be at school before the bell at 8:55am so that they can be in their hub when the roll is taken. Teachers will bring children over to the courts in front of the new building at 9:10am, ready for the opening at 9:15am.
Year 7/8 Choir will happen as usual at 8:15am in the Kauri theatre tomorrow.
Year 6 whānau evening - Introduction to the Kauri Hub
We do hope that this finds you all at the end of a very happy, warm and 'not-too-wet' holiday.
Welcome back to school for the third term of the year. We are looking forward to a fun term, including lots of further growth and development in all areas of life and learning!
We are very excited to be looking forward to the official opening of our new building, Hangere, on Monday morning. Please remember that if your child is in either of Elizabeth's or Tracey's Home Groups, we would like you to deliver your child to Kōmanawa, where they will be able to take their bags indoors. Once inside, one of the teachers will show the children where they can leave their bags, in the meantime. Children will then be able to settle in and reconnect with teachers and friends in Kōmanawa, before the bell rings at 8:55 a.m. Once the register has been taken, teachers will then bring the children over to Hangere for the official opening.
Have a lovely weekend, koutou, and we look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.
Ngā mihi mahana,
The Koru team - Elizabeth, Nicola, Stacey, Chelsea and Tracey
If you haven't yet downloaded the HERO app onto your phone, we strongly encourage you to do this ready for Term 3 when we will begin pushing out notices via this app, in advance of the Friday newsletter. The app will be particularly useful for pushing information out to specific groups within the school, e.g. a homegroup, team, or a particular activity group such as a choir.
New Building Opening
We officially took possession of our new building yesterday, two weeks ahead of schedule!
We will be holding the official opening of the new 'Hangere' building at 9:10am on Monday 26th July, the first day of Term 3. Please ensure that your children are at school before the 8:55am bell, and that they go to their hubs first so that they can be marked present on the roll. Teachers will bring everyone over to the new building as soon as their rolls are done. All whānau are most welcome to join us for this special celebration!
Working Bee
We are planning a working bee for Sunday 8th August from 10am -12noon to replant around the new building and do some other gardening work.
Our PTA has funded 6 new picnic tables for our children to use. These have been delivered flatpack and need to be assembled.
Please put this date in your diary and come along to help. Bring a spade if you have one.
Four-Square Festival
We have seen a huge interest in four square this term. Toby, Isla, Eadie and Nikoda from Kōwhai hub organised a fabulous Four Square Festival which ran very successfully this week. There were approximately 45 - 55 children playing each day. The skill level, sportsmanship and the way the children were cheering for each other increased each day. The school values were alive and shown all the way through the Festival.
The video below has been shared with the children at school to help them learn the rules and to ensure that everyone is playing by the same rules! If your child is keen to learn how to play four-square, you might want to look at this as a family.
We have had a very kind offer from a parent to paint some permanent four-square lines around the school so we are looking forward to having those in place soon.
CCC & Opawaho River Network Matariki Celebration
Our senior kapa haka students, Te Whānau Mahi Tahi, were invited to perform last Friday at the CCC & Ōpāwaho River Network Matariki Celebration at the Christchurch South Library. The email below was received from the Deputy Chair of the Ōpāwaho River Network:
Please pass on a huge thanks to your Kapa Haka group, and all their supporters that came to the opening of the OHRN Matariki Celebration last Friday.
I had a lot of feedback about how well rehearsed and beautifully dressed they were. They were focused, and put so much heart into their performance. A real highlight of the Matariki Celebration!
Huge thanks to our tamariki for being such great performers and ambassadors for our school. Special thanks to Cath Milio and Megan Culver for their support and organisation, and all of the whānau who came along and supported them.
We have been very aware of a lot of throat, tummy and flu-like bugs circulating over the past two weeks. I hope that you all manage to get/stay well and have some family time to recharge over the next two weeks.
Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal
Important Dates
Upcoming Events
Term 3, Week 1:
Mon 26 Jul - First day back at School Mon 26 Jul - New Building Opening (9:10am) Wed 28 Jul - PTA AGM and regular meeting (7:00 - 9:30pm) Thu 29 Jul - South Zone Winter Sport (12:00 - 3:00pm) Fri 30 Jul - Welcome Assembly (9.15 - 9.30am)
Thu 5 Aug - South Zone Winter Sport (1200 - 3:00pm)
Thu 5 Aug - Parent Info session on 'Keeping Ourselves Safe' and 'CHOICEs' programmes (2:15 - 3:00pm)
Fri 6 Aug - Celebration Assembly (12:00 - 12:30pm)
Sun 8 Aug - Working Bee (10am-12noon)
Tue 10 Aug - School Duathlon (pm)
Thu 12 Aug - South Zone Winter Sport (12:00 - 3:00pm)
Thu 12 Aug - Board of Trustees Meeting (5:30 - 7:30pm) All welcome
Ally, you are such a positive and hard-working learner and you show huge persistence even when learning is difficult. This is such a fantastic attitude to have. You are also a kind and caring friend and you always bring a smile and a can-do attitude with you to school every day. You are amazing!
School Notices
Hand trowels and forks needed
Our Enviro / compost students are getting involved in garden activities and we are short on hand trowels and forks. If you have any spare that you would like to donate, please send into the office or email: charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz
'Sushi Meets Dumplings' - lunch orders
We will be trialing an additional lunch supplier from the start of term 3. It is Sushi Meets Dumplings which is located at Beckenham Central on Colombo Street.
You will need to order online using a link that will be on the website under the information tab and then lunch orders The lunch ordering link for Sushi Meets Dumplings will be added to the website over the holiday break.
You will be able to order from Sushi Meets Dumplings on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Orders need to be placed by 9am.
Lunchonline orders (our other lunch provider) need to be placed by 8:30am on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Any feedback you may have, once you have used the new lunch provider would be great!
Safety around the area
One of our students was approached when out for a run last weekend by a man who wanted directions to Beckenham Park and who then asked her to get into his vehicle. She ran home and the police were contacted. This is a good reminder to regularly talk with your children about being safe when out and about without an adult.
HERO - School Accounts & Donations
Thank you to all of you who have logged onto our new app "HERO" and have paid, or part-paid your accounts and donations. We really do appreciate every bit that you are able to contribute towards enriching the experiences that we are able to offer the children.
(Click here if you haven’t yet set up HERO on your phone, and download the app)
To see your current statement, log onto HERO and click on Finance.
If you need more detailed information on how to log in, click here.
Parents and Whānau are invited to an information afternoon with Constable Ross who will be supporting the teaching of Keeping Ourselves Safe (Year 0 to 6) and the DARE program (Year 7/8).
Student Council - KidsCan FunRun
A huge thank you to everyone who sent in their sponsorship money this week. So far you have raised over $3000 for KidsCan! If you are still collecting your sponsorship money, please gather it all over the holidays and drop it in the purple box in the office at the start of the first week of Term 3.
PTA AGM Wednesday 28th July, 7 pm
Every year the PTA are looking for new ideas, energy and whānau to join the team and look at different ways that the PTA can support our school, our families and our children. If you would like to get to know some other school caregivers, have a little bit of time to share, or have some ideas about how the PTA might support the school, please come along to the AGM on Wednesday 28th July in the Green Room (adjacent to the hall foyer) at 7pm.
Community Notices
(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)
