Pōhutukawa News Term 4 Week 8 2025

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Ngā mihi e te whānau, welcome all to what has been happening in the Pōhutukawa Team for Weeks 7 and 8 of Term 4 for 2025, kia pai ngā rā whakata.

As we head towards the end of the year, we'd like to take the opportunity to say a big thank you, nga mihi nui, for your tautoko, support throughout 2025. Mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe, we all row the waka together. We've all really enjoyed the year, and as always it's such a pleasure seeing our students develop self-awareness as learners, and grow in confidence, independence and maturity. We wish our Year 6 students all the best as they head into their intermediate years, and we are looking forward to seeing our Year 5 cohort flourishing in their role as tuakana in Pōhutukawa next year. Although we're not quite there yet, we wish you all a wonderful summer break. The final school newsletter for the year will be sent out next week with information regarding the final few days of school. Please do read on for some updates from the team, and information about an upcoming celebration to finish the year off here at kura for the Pōhutukawa students.


PTA Colour Run! 













     String Ensemble





  

Navigating the Journey

Next week we concluded our Navigating the Journey lessons. We will conclude with our last theme of Staying Safe. Students will learn about and discuss factors that influence personal safety online, and identify skills to ensure safe online use and strategies, and how to respond positively to challenging situations. The Navigating the journey Te takahi i te ara resources use the metaphor of navigation to describe a person’s lifetime journey of  physical, social, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of hauora (wellbeing). Thank you for your support with this by discussing this with your tamariki at home.


End-of-Year Celebration: "Pōhutukawa Big Day In"



Library Books and Sports Uniforms

As we head towards the end of the year on December 18th, it's a good time to remind your tamariki to return any library books they still have issued, or sports uniforms that are sitting at home and need to be returned. The Lost Property on the library deck is where unnamed property ends up, and this is also a place to check as it will be taken to the Salvation Army at the end of the year


Ngā mihi nui.

The Pōhutukawa Teaching Team

Chris, Gayle, Nick, Megan, Rae, Georgie, Viv, Stacey and Laura

Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 8

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Kia ora whānau!

This week has been a busy week getting ourselves ready for production. The children have been working together and sharing ideas. It has been great to see the collaboration. 

Production

We have had two full rehearsals and it has been excellent to see all our hard work put together. Next week, we have 2 dress rehearsals before performing for the whole school on Wednesday and then we look forward to performing for whānau on Thursday at 11:30am in the hall. The children are all so excited! 

Please can you make sure that your child/children bring their costumes on Monday, ready for the dress rehearsals. If your child is not sure what their costume is, you can either email your homegroup teacher or the dance group teacher. Thank you for your support with this!

Pizza Friday 

Our Pizza Friday has continued to be a highlight for many children. We are so proud of our students for all their hard work in earning this great experience. 




Moving Spaces 

As you may have read from the school newsletter, our hub is moving to Parenga. While this may feel like a big change, we have been drawing similarities between Parenga and the current Kōwhai hub. We are excited to be alongside the Pōhutukawa team next year! The move will be taking place on Thursday 11th December after school hours. This will mean that we will be in our new hub from Friday 12th onwards until the end of term.

Transitions 

We have begun transitioning our students in preparation for next year. The students have had the chance to reconnect and build new connections with the younger/older students who will be in their learning space. Yesterday afternoon, our Year 3's stayed in Kōwhai and the Year 6 children came to join them for a session of Discovery. Meanwhile, the Year 4 children went over to the Pōhutukawa hub to spend time with the Year 5 children whom they will be joining next year. We will have one more session like this in Week 10. On Monday next week, the Year 2 children will be coming to join in a Discovery session with the Year 3's so they can reconnect. Again, there will be one more session like this in Week 10. The children have really been looking forward to this and are embracing the opportunity.

Colour Run 

The colour run last Friday was a highlight for many. It generated such a community feel that was great to see and the children had such a lot of fun! It was also fantastic the way the Kōwhai children also ran with the younger children and helped them round the obstacle course. Congratulations to the PTA for running such a successful event and raising so much money!








Have a wonderful weeekend!

From the Kōwhai team.



Week 8, Term 4 2025

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 Kia ora e te whānau,

It’s been another exciting fortnight in our Year 7–8 team! Our learners have been embracing new challenges, strengthening their teamwork, and demonstrating our school values in action. From collaborative classroom projects to leadership opportunities across the kura, we are continually impressed by the way our students show curiosity, kindness, and determination.

We’ve enjoyed seeing students step up as role models, support one another in their learning, and take ownership of their growth. As always, we appreciate the whānau support that helps make these experiences possible.

Read on for highlights from the past weeks, important upcoming dates, and ways you can stay involved in our learning journey.

Production

Production prep is in full swing. Students have been creating props, backgrounds, preparing music and working together to bring it all together into a coherent performance which we will be doing in Week 9. We look forward to seeing as many Whānau as can attend. :)

Team Kauri students will be holding full dress rehearsals next week leading to our performances on Wednesday 3rd December. The teachers of Kauri request you support your children by ensuring they bring neutral clothes (black and/or white) in a bag to wear for the performances under their costumes. These can begin coming in Friday, but will need to be here this Monday. Some students may also have need of extra bits and pieces for their costumes. Students from the trojan scene are needing a small white sheet and a tie or belt. Give your child's homeroom teacher an email if you need any further direction.





Colour Run

Students and staff participated in our PTA run event colour run Friday Week 7. It was excellent not only to see Staff putting their hands up to get slimed but also to see the school reach its fundraising goal of $15,000.00 culminating in Cade's sliming at assembly.



Classical performance

Our school was treated to an impressive performance from the string ensemble last Thursday. Many of our musically gifted students participated.






Canterbury Athletics

What a fantastic day at the Ngā Puna Wai. The feedback has been incredible and what a display of talent. I wanted to share our students who had a top 10 finish as what an accomplishment that is!

Track Events:

  • Zach Guise - 4th in Year 7 1500m
  • Levi Bunting - 3rd in Year 5/6 AWD 60m Sprint
  • Jacob Hamitlon - 3rd in Year 7/8 AWD 60m Sprint
  • Jensen Spence - 3rd in Year 7 60m Sprint
  • Laura Stoney - 1st in Year 7 1500m
  • Ruby Grice - 8th in Year 5 60m Sprint
  • Isabelle Gale - 8th in Year 6 60m Sprint

Field Events:

  • Tilly Hopwood - 9th in Year 8 Discus
  • Lily McLachlan - 8th in Year 8 Shot Put
  • Levi Bunting - 2nd in Year 5/6 AWD Discus
  • Mitchell Trotter - 2nd in Year 7/8 AWD Discus
  • Jacob Hamilton - 3rd in Year 7/8 AWD Discus
  • Levi Bunting - 1st in Year 5/6 AWD Shot Put
  • Mitchell Trotter - 3rd in Year 7/8 AWD Shot Put
  • Jacob Hamilton - 4th in Year 7/8 AWD Shot Put
End of Year events

Team Kauri have two school trips planned for Week 10:

Monday 8th December: Victoria Park Walk, 10am–3pm
Wednesday 10th December: Cass Bay Trip, 10am–3pm

More information will be coming out regarding these events as we near the dates. Keep an eye out on hero or contact your child's homeroom teacher.

Ngā mihi nui,
The Year 7–8 Team

Kahikatea News: Term 4, Week 8

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Kia ora whānau,

How are we already in Week 8?

It has been a very busy few weeks here in Kahikatea, and we’re excited to share some of the highlights with you.

Colour Run

Our Beckenham School Colour Run was a huge success! Together, we raised an incredible $16,733 toward a brand-new playing turf that will be used for netball, hockey, soccer, pickleball and more. Even better, everyone had an absolute blast!
It was the perfect day for running, laughing, and getting absolutely covered in rainbow dye. It was wonderful seeing the tamariki giving it their all and finishing with big smiles, colourful shirts, bright faces and… even brighter hair!

Here are some pics from the event!


















Chicks in the Hub

With our chicks hatched, we were lucky enough to welcome 19 fluffy visitors into Kahikatea for several days. The children loved watching them, helping to care for them, and keeping the hub calm and quiet while they settled in. Many of our tamariki even had the chance to gently hold the chicks!








Dance, Dance, Dance!

Every Tuesday this term, we’ve been lucky to have Legacy Dance Studio working with us. They’ve been teaching us a fun new routine, and we are getting pretty good!
Here are some photos of us busting our moves.








Peer Reading

We’ve recently begun a new reading routine focused on building fluency through peer reading. Students are buddied up and take turns reading a non-fiction passage aloud before swapping. This encourages self-correction, buddy feedback, confidence, and exposure to a range of texts. We are already seeing great engagement and can’t wait to see the progress that follows!










Reading Books

A friendly reminder to please keep returning reading books to school. These may include Little Learners Love Literacy, Ready to Read Phonics Plus, or Junior Journals.

Next week will be the final week for reading books. On Thursday, your child will bring home a book if they have their folder. In Week 10, they will bring this book back but will not take a new one home.
We’ve noticed a drop in the number of reading folders coming to school on Thursdays. Please help your child remember, as repeated reading practice is so important!

Dress-Ups Wanted!

At the end of the year, we will be doing a refresh of our dress-ups, as they are very well-loved and used very regularly! Over the holidays, if you come across any dress-ups your child no longer uses, we would be grateful to add them to our collection.

As we head toward the end of the year, tiredness definitely starts to set in. Enjoy the sunshine, take time to rest when you can, and have a wonderful weekend.

Ngā mihi nui,

The Kahikatea Team — Amber, Kendall, Sarah and Talia 

Koru News Term 4 Week 8

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Kia ora e te whānau, 

We have had a busy and exciting fortnight in our Koru hub, filled with hands-on learning, hot days, and big smiles! 

Colour Run

Last Friday, we had our much-anticipated colour run! The children had an amazing time getting sprayed, splashed, and sprinting through the colourful course, twice! A big thank you to the PTA and all the parent helpers who came along to support.






Chickens

One of our favourite highlights was having the baby chickens in for a special visit. The children loved watching them play, eat, and explore. We even had the chance to gently hold them and notice how much they have grown since we last saw them. 

Some of our students also teamed up with their big buddies from Year 7/8. They took a closer look at the chicks together and enjoyed some reciprocal reading time focused on chicks. It was such a beautiful moment of tuakana-teina learning in action. 

Chicken Dance

Here is the cute poem we read last week - The Chick 

























Maths

This week in maths, we have been exploring repeating patterns. Looking for them, making them, and thinking about what comes next. Students have been creating patterns using shapes, colours, movements and numbers. This has strengthened our noticing skills and our algebraic thinking.













Literacy Folders

A friendly reminder to please keep bringing literacy folders every morning. Even though we are getting close to the end of the term, daily practice and reading make a huge difference.

Hats Hats Hats

Summer is definitely here! Please make sure your child brings a hat to school each day. Hats are required for outside play during the day. Children without a hat will need to play under the Hall verandah. 

Transition Visits

In the next couple of weeks, Koru will begin visiting their new learning spaces for next year. These visits help tamariki feel confident and settled for next year.


Have a wonderful weekend, 

The Koru team, 

Niquita, Katie, Elizabeth, and Stacey