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

Hard to believe it's 2 weeks to go until the end of Term 3! We've been enjoying some warm, sunny afternoons and it's great to see some students starting to bring sunhats to school. Sunhats become a compulsory uniform item next term, and it's definitely a good idea for them to be worn now, as well. Children can choose either plain red or plain black wide-brimmed or bucket hats – these can be purchased from Mainland Uniforms. Thank you for taking the time to read on for some updates on our last 2 weeks, and some other important information. Thanks as always for your continued support.

Margaret Mahy Playground Trip

The weather was kind to us last Wednesday as we filled three buses and visited Margaret Mahy Playground for the afternoon. The students were super excited to be going to the playground, and some couldn't quite believe we were going "just to play!?" It was a joy to see the students showing our Kete values out in the community and the trip went really smoothly. We Care, We Get There Together, We Make a Difference, We Love Learning, and We Love Challenge were all on display as the students played together, interacted with their environment, gave their social, physical and cognitive skills a workout, and, well, just had fun! It affirmed that so much learning can happen outside of the classroom. We'd like to extend our gratitude to the big squad of 20 parent helpers for  their tautoko, support in making the trip a success. We hope you enjoy this movie of the trip that we showed at Celebration Assembly today.

Paralympic Rotations

Hopefully you have been hearing all about our Paralympic Sport Rotations in the afternoons. This is the last part of our term-long inquiry into the Olympics and Paralympics. We have been using our 2024 concept of Identity to learn about accessible sports, which encourage people to be independent, rely on themselves and acknowledge what everyone can bring to the table. Students have been learning about goal ball, boccia, sitting volleyball, and frisbee golf, all sports that support unity and inclusivity for all members of our team. They challenge the students to improve both physically and mentally to persevere and overcome challenges, nau mai te wero! We hope you enjoy the photos of our rotations.

Choir

On Wednesdays, the Y 5-8 Choir has been rehearsing a range of pieces that we will be performing at the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival in November. This Wednesday they had the pleasure of attending an Area Rehearsal at Haeata Community Campus. This rehearsal was led by the Musical Directors of the festival and was attended by a range of schools that will be taking part in the performances. Our choir's hard work shone through at this rehearsal, the level of focus and attention that the students showed was amazing. They should be very proud of the work they have put in! They are looking forward to getting stuck back into our rehearsals and getting ready for the big November performance. Tino pai tamariki mā!

Pōhutukawa's Got Talent!

We laughed, we cheered, and we were left amazed at the talent of the performers this afternoon at our 'Pōhutukawa's Got Talent' auditions. A HUGE shout out to everybody who summoned up the courage to stand in front of their peers, as well as teachers and whānau to play music, sing, dance, tell jokes, and fully entertain! We will be letting the 3 acts who will represent us at the whole school 'Beckenham's Got Talent' show 

Speeches

We have been working very hard on our persuasive speeches in Writing over the past few weeks. It's been wonderful to see the students diligently planning and crafting their speeches,  with many also putting in some extra mahi, work at home too.
Next week they will be presenting their speeches, and we will conduct a Speech Final to award the Megan McLachlan Year 5 - 6 Speech Cup. Nau mai te wero, embrace the challenge!

Duathlon

Last Monday saw 33 of our students take up the wero, the challenge of the School Duathlon, and test their endurance over a course that saw them run, then bike, then run again! It was wonderful to have their fellow students outside cheering them on and to see so many family members here at kura to tautoko, support the tamariki. You could see the lift that it gave them when they heard the cheers. Congratulations to all of the competitors, and special mention to our Year 5 Champions Haydn and Jayme, and our Year 6 Champions Laura and Zach. Look out for a movie from the Kauri Media team of the event coming soon

Beckenham then achieved a couple of stunning results at the Canterbury Duathlon this week at Ruapuna. We had 13 competitors who represented our kura. A huge effort from these students to back the school race up just a week later! Congratulations to these athletes for giving it heaps and Haydn winning the Year 5 Boys event, and Laura coming third in her Year 6 Girls' race. Ka mau te wehi, kōrua, awesome achievement you two!

Rae Returning 

Next week we will be welcoming Rae Marsh back from medical leave. We have had a couple of visits from Rae this week, and the students were very excited to see her back! We'd like to thank Mikyla, who has done a stellar job, and has made amazing connections with the tamariki in Rae's stead. We are excited that Mikyla will be staying on with the team for the rest of the year, working 3 days a week to cover classroom release time.