Kahikatea News: Term 3, Week 4

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 Kia ora Whānau,

Welcome to another exciting fortnight in Kahikatea! We have had a lot happening, and we would love to share some of our wonderful learning and special moments with you.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and encouragement. We hope you enjoy keeping up with what we’ve been doing!


Cricket:

This week was our last of three cricket skills sessions; these were thoroughly enjoyed by all. It was a great introduction to cricket, and many are keen to play next season.





















Learning through play:
Our twice-weekly learning through play sessions continue to be a team highlight! During these sessions, children are encouraged to follow their curiosity, express themselves and learn through play. Every session offers opportunities to experiment, make, wonder and connect — while building confidence, creativity and a love of learning.











Sculpture with Nicky:
Sarah J's homegroup has been working with Nicky on creating sculptures made out of things you put together. Students have made their own decorated paper and have been working with clay. Look at the stunning results:



Numicon Maths:
For the past two weeks, we have been learning how to add and subtract using 10s. Look at these clever kids! Next week we will begin a statistical investigation unit of learning.







Beckenham PTA Disco

How wonderful to have the disco to look forward to on Friday, the 21st of August! We are very excited and can’t wait to see the children all having a boogie.

 Disco Times:

  • Koru and Kahikatea: 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Please feel free to send your child to school wearing their disco outfit at the start of the day. If you feel that their outfit may get damaged, please send it along in a named bag. The teachers will help your child to change into their dancing clothes after big play.

Teachers will collect gold coins at the start of the day. Please note that no food will be sold at the disco; however, your child will receive a small container of popcorn. If you would prefer that your child doesn’t have the popcorn, please contact your child’s Home Group teacher and let them know. 

Please contact your child's Home Group teacher if you have any questions about the disco.















Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 4

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Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome to our latest update on what’s happening in the Kōwhai hub.

Exploring Felting

This term, we have been getting creative and learning all about felting! We have explored a range of different felting techniques and developed our skills by experimenting with wool felt, colours, shapes and textures.

We have enjoyed learning how to turn loose wool fibres into felt and discovering how different techniques can create different effects. We then put our new skills into practice by using felting to create a variety of different items.

We have been focusing on making felt discs, which will be used to help decorate our Shaun the Sheep sculpture. It has been fantastic to see everyone experimenting, learning new techniques, and watching it all come together. 


Learning NZ Sign Language

This term, we have been learning the basics of sign language and developing our understanding of how we can communicate using our hands, facial expressions and body movements.

We have been learning signs for different words and phrases and practising putting them together to communicate with one another. It has been a fun and engaging way to learn a new form of communication while developing our awareness of how people communicate in different ways.

It has been great to see everyone challenging themselves to remember new signs and using them in the classroom. We are showing that We Get There Together with everyone getting involved, supporting one another, and building confidence in using sign language! 


Disco Time

Next Friday on the 21st of August we will be having our Kōwhai disco from 3:15pm - 4:00pm. Make sure to bring your dancing shoes and your best dance moves!


Staying Safe Online: Snapchat and Privacy

Snapchat is a popular messaging app that lets users exchange pictures and videos (snaps) that are meant to disappear after they’re viewed. Many young people love Snapchat but it’s important that they understand how to protect their privacy on the app.


Check out Netsafe’s Privacy on Snapchat page for some helpful information on Snapchat’s features. You can also find out more information about privacy, security and safety on Snapchat’s help centre.



Have a great weekend!


From the Kōwhai team

2026 Koru Team News – Term 3, Week 4 (14/08/2026)

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 Kia Ora e te Whānau, 

The term is well underway now! The Koru children, new and old, are doing a wonderful job engaging in their learning and showing our school values throughout the day, in a variety of different contexts. 

Cricket

For the last three weeks, Nicola and Kendall's Home Groups have had Dan from Canterbury Cricket come to school to teach us some cricket skills. We have had a great time having a go at batting, bowling and fielding. This week we put all our skills together to play a game of cricket! 







Beckenham PTA Disco

How wonderful to have the disco to look forward to on Friday, the 21st of August! We are very excited and can’t wait to see the children all having a boogie.

Disco Times: Koru and Kahikatea: 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Please feel free to send your child to school wearing their disco outfit at the start of the day. If you feel that their outfit may get damaged, please send it along in a named bag. The teachers will help your child to change into their dancing clothes after Big Play.

Teachers will collect gold coin donations at the start of the day. Please note that no food will be sold at the disco; however, your child will receive a small container of popcorn. If you would prefer that your child doesn’t have the popcorn, please contact your child’s Home Group teacher and let them know.

Please contact your child's Home Group teacher if you have any questions about the disco.

Photo Gallery







Reminders: 

Spare Clothes - keeping a set of spare clothes (including underwear and socks) is really helpful while the weather is still wet. It is a great idea for children to wear gumboots to school on wet days. These can be left by the door when they are in the classroom, and socks or slippers worn inside. 

Up Coming Dates: 

Saturday 15th August - PTA Bingo Night
Friday 21st August - PTA Disco
Friday 4th September - Staff Only Day, School Closed

Have a wonderful weekend! 

The Koru Team

Pōhutukawa Team News Term 3 Week 4 2026

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 What a busy couple of weeks we’ve had in Pōhutukawa!

We kicked things off with a very exciting snowfall in Christchurch! There was plenty of excitement as the flakes started falling, with lots of children heading outside to catch snowflakes, enjoy the moment and hope that just maybe enough would settle for a snowball or two! It certainly made for a memorable school day and sparked lots of conversations throughout the hub.



                                                           Investigations, curiosity and hands-on learning.

In Chloe’s CCC class, students have been exploring their senses. One investigation involved smelling a range of mystery scents, trying to identify what they were and grouping scents that had something in common. It was interesting to see how strongly our sense of smell can connect to memories! Some smells were quickly described as smelling like “Grandma’s bathroom” “Nanna’s clothes” or “My shampoo”, which led to some great conversations about why certain smells can feel so familiar.


We then put our noses and taste buds to the test with a jelly bean challenge! Students had to try to identify the flavour using smell first, before tasting it to see if their prediction was correct. This proved much trickier than we expected and gave us plenty to think about when it comes to how our senses work together. 


Our Science learning has been just as hands-on. Students have been getting their dissection tools out and taking a closer look at the structures of living things. We started by dissecting mushrooms, identifying features such as the cap, gills and stem and exploring how mushrooms reproduce. We then moved on to flowers, carefully pulling them apart to identify the different parts involved in plant reproduction. The big question now is… what will we dissect next? 



                                                                       Maths Challenge Competition 

Seven of our Year 5/6 students headed to St Martins School to take part in the Te Mana Raupō Maths Challenge. Our teams were amazing and were fantastic ambassadors for Beckenham! The challenge certainly put their mathematical thinking to the test, with questions taken from previous Year 7 Cantamaths challenges. Our Year 5/6 students successfully worked their way through all of the questions and received an Honourable Mention certificate in recognition of their achievement as the first Year 5/6 team. A fantastic effort, particularly when tackling problems designed for older students!


Cultural Presentation

We also had a very special moment at our Celebration Assembly, with Mihi-Rose sharing an amazing presentation about her Māori culture. She spoke to everyone about her culture and then was joined by her dad, Ranui, who played the guitar while Mihi-Rose sang Taku Raumiri waiata for everyone. It was a beautiful way for her to share something important to her and her whānau with our school community. Ka rawe, Mihi-Rose! 

Cricket Workshop 

We’ve also wrapped up our cricket workshops this week after three weeks of learning and fun. Students have been developing their throwing, catching, batting and bowling skills, including learning how to bowl correctly. It has been great to see their skills and confidence develop across the three sessions.

A fantastic couple of weeks filled with plenty of opportunities to wonder, investigate, explore and learn by doing!

Kauri Term 3 Week 4 Blog

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 Kauri Term 3 Week 4 Blog

Kia ora koutou,

What a busy and productive couple of weeks it has been in the Kauri Hub! There has been plenty of learning, creativity and fun happening across the hub.

We have had our first session preparing for our ski trip in Week 7, with students getting organised and excited for the adventure ahead. Our Cantamath projects have been completed. The students certainly used brilliant minds, showing fantastic mathematical thinking and creativity.

In writing, we have been creating exciting narratives filled with suspense, action and interesting characters. It has been great to see students developing their ideas and bringing their stories to life.

Winter Sport continues to be a highlight each Thursday, with plenty of energy, teamwork and fun on the fields. A reminder that our last Winter Sport session will be in Week 6.

Our Passions sessions have also been a real highlight, with students getting stuck into cooking, movie-making, board games and buddy activities. There is so much enthusiasm and creativity being fostered, and it has been fantastic to see students sharing their interests, learning new skills and working together.

Art

We have been offering Art sessions twice a week in Term 3. The students were able to choose Mosaics - dry fit and gluing, Anime sketching, Mixed Media techniques, or Layered Art. We have some very talented artists on our team. Here are some pictures of the Mosaics being created.







Cantamaths Projects

Here are a few photos of Kauri’s maths projects. The projects chosen to go to Cantamaths will be delivered to their location on Tuesday. Well done team!



Te Mana Raupō Maths Challenge

Our maths team represented our kura with pride at the maths competition on Tuesday. The Year 8 children came second. They got all the questions correct. There was also a fun challenge after their break. They were given number/letter problems to solve. Ka pai to our mathematicians!

PSC Indoor Volleyball Tournament at Parakiore

Our volleyball team had a blast at the tournament on Monday. Although they didn’t place, they were energetic and proud of their achievements. 



Upcoming Dates:  

Term 3

Week 5: Wednesday: Cantamath Competition (4:00-7:00)

   Thursday: Winter Sport

Friday: School Disco 4:30-5:30 (Year 5-8)

Week 6: Wednesday: Year 5-8 School Duathlon (12:00-3:00) Beckenham Park

Friday: Celebration Assembly 

Ngā mihi,

Hugo, Kate McG, Sarah A, Megan C and Megan H