Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 2

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Kia ora e te whanau, 

We hope you have all had a fantastic week. We have had a busy week leaping into a busy and exciting Term 4.

Dance and Ukelele Lessons

Through weeks one and two we have started both our dance and ukulele lessons. It has been amazing to see 'We Get There Together' and 'We Love Learning' in these sessions as everyone starts to learn these new skills. Everyone has been trying new things and having a go! We will be doing both dance and ukulele until the end of the term and we look forward to see the progress. 

Scooter-athlon

On Wednesday, we had our Scooter-athlon. It was an action-packed afternoon with a lot of speed, cheers, and enjoyment. It was great to see everyone participating and enjoying some friendly competition between peers. Well done everyone on such an amazing event! Thank you too for the parent support. It made the event really special for our tamariki.









Hats

We are now well into term four and as we get closer to summer, it is important that we stay sun smart. Could you please support your tamariki to make sure they are wearing their hat when they are outside. If they have forgotten their hat, they need to go under the hall verandah at break times. Duty teachers will be supporting with reminders. 


Athletics

In weeks one and two, we started our athletics training. We have been working hard on training for shot put, discus, high jump, long jump, and sprints. It has been wonderful to see all the mahi that has been put in so far. We will be continuing our training in weeks three and four in preparation for the big day on Thursday in week four. We look forward to seeing everyone out there giving it a go and displaying 'We Love Challenge'.


Cyber Safety


Staying Safe Online: Online Grooming 
As young people become more independent online, they can connect and communicate with people they don’t know.
Often this is a positive experience, but sometimes your tamariki could be being groomed or talking to someone who isn’t who they say they are. Netsafe’s advice explains how unwanted contact works, including grooming and what whānau can do to educate kids.
Check out the link here.



Have a great weekend! From the Kōwhai team. 


Pōhutukawa News Term 4 Week 2 2025

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Ngā mihi e te whānau, welcome all to the first update for Term 4! Read on for what has been happening in the Pōhutukawa Hub for weeks 1 and 2. Have a great weekend everyone, kia pai ngā rā whakata.

Learning in the hub: Learning through Play Friday afternoons. 







Tennis Star Matthew Blackman

Matthew won the 10 and under boys singles at the Talley's Spring Junior Open in Nelson and he was runner-up in the 10 and under Boys doubles at the Tennis Canterbury Junior Spring Open! Ka pai te Mahi Matthew! We are all super proud of you! 






Online Safety

As young people become more independent online, they can connect and communicate with people they don’t know.


Often this is a positive experience, but sometimes your tamariki could be being groomed or talking to someone who isn’t who they say they are. Netsafe’s advice explains how unwanted contact works, including grooming and what whānau can do to educate kids.


Check out the link here.




Have a lovely weekend, Ngā mihi nui. Kia Kaha.

The Pōhutukawa Teaching Team

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

Kahikatea News: Term 4, Week 2

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 Kia ora whānau,

Our tamariki have had a busy and wonderful start to the final term of the year! 

We are well underway with our athletics practices, we have had a ponds visit and we have started ukulele and dance sessions on a Tuesday. 

A plea for any LLLL books (the readers we send home) to come back to school. We are carrying out a stocktake of these at the end of October, we are missing a few and they are very expensive to replace. If you find any at home please return to your child's classroom teacher.

A reminder for sunhats for Term 4 please.

Some dates for your diary:

Thursday 23rd October-Teacher Strike action, school is closed.

Thursday 30th October: Whole school athletics day. Kahikatea aim to run ours 11:00am-12:15pm, on the park.

Tuesday Arts:

We have been fortunate enough to receieve some funding to promote some performance arts sessions in the Year 1-4 classrooms. This means that on a Tuesday each homegroup has a 30minute ukulele session with our whānau worker Paerau (also a member of One Drop Nation) and a hip hop dance session with Steph from Legacy Dance. How lucky are we?!












Maths Learning:
We have had a two week focus on Geometry, looking at 3D shape. We have learnt some key mathematical language such as cube, cuboid, prism, cone, cylinder, faces and vertices. We have been learning about nets and how these are the blueprint/map for a 3D shape and learning about where we can spot 3D shapes in everyday life.




























Athletics:
We are well underway with our practices. These are happening 2-3 times per week. Please ensure that your child is wearing appropriate footwear to partcipate. Sandals are not appropriate for these practices in terms of health and safety.

















Ponds Trip:
We had such a wonderful time in our sessions run by the Christchurch City Council. We learnt about all of the differnt plant life and saw some of the invertabrates living in our pond. The council were impressed with the diversity of the ecosystems living in our Beckenham ponds.
Thank you to all of the parent helpers who came along to support us, we really appreciate you and cannot run these types of activites without your help.

























Term 4, Week 2 2025

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 Blog - Term 4 Week 2 

It’s been a fantastic start to Term 4, with everyone returning settled, focused, and ready for a great final term of the year. It’s been wonderful to see the positive energy across the hub and students quickly getting back into routines.


Athletics training is well underway as we prepare for our upcoming sports events. Students have been practising a range of disciplines including high jump, sprints, relay, shot put, and discus. It’s been great to see everyone giving things a go, encouraging one another, and showing great teamwork and determination.

We are also delighted to have Jemimah, a second-year student teacher, joining Chloe’s homegroup for the next five weeks. She has already made a fantastic start, getting to know students and supporting learning across the hub.

We celebrated our Speech Finals this week, a huge congratulations to all who presented with confidence and passion. Well done to our Year 8 and Year 7 winners for their outstanding efforts and persuading speeches. 

Year 8: Winner - Annabelle Aitken, Runner up - Oscar Radford 

Year 7: Winner - Max Potter, Runner up - Minah Malak

Students who took part in the Kiwi Competitions have now received their results. A special mention to Tom Broadbank, who received an Excellence in Maths, and Ruvi Lawrance, who received an Excellence in English. Seven students were also awarded Merit certificates, with some achieving across multiple subjects, an impressive effort by all!

Our Passions Programme for Term 4 is off to an exciting start, with students taking part in a variety of engaging activities including Cooking, Digital Technology, Māori Games, and Mural Painting. It’s wonderful to see students exploring their interests, developing new skills, and collaborating across groups each week.

We’ve also enjoyed some friendly competition with our Staff vs Year 8 Basketball Game last week. It was a high-energy match filled with great teamwork, impressive shots, and plenty of laughter. Despite some strong plays from the Year 8s, the staff managed to take out the win, though we’re sure the students are already planning their comeback!

We have also begun our Navigating the Journey health unit. Thank you to the whānau who attended the information evening last week. Across the hub, students have approached these sessions with maturity, respect, and thoughtful discussion.


It’s shaping up to be a busy and exciting term ahead! 

Koru News Term 4 Week 2

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Kia ora e te whānau, 

What a wonderful, mostly sunny start we have had to our Fourth Term! We have had lots of fun, playing outside, soaking up the sunshine, and digging away in the sandpit. Everyone is settling back in well with the routines and showing lots of curiosity, kindness, and enthusiasm for learning. 






Athletics

We have started practising for our Athletics Day, which will take place on Thursday, the 30th of October. We are practising our jumping, running, and throwing. It has been wonderful to see everyone give it a go and cheer on their friends! Nau mai te wero! We love challenge!


Social Sciences - Our Kura, Our School

This term, our Social Science focus is Our Kura, Our School. We began by taking a walk around our school to visit all our favourite spaces around the grounds. We had a korero (discussion) about our cultural narrative and about what the name 'Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto' means. We will continue to learn all about our school, and the people in it, and what makes us so diverse and special. 


Sunflowers

The lovely teaching assistant, Lucy, took a group of students out to plant the sunflowers that had sprouted over the holidays. Tamariki enjoyed learning about how to plant them and are excited to watch as they grow into beautiful flowers, which will brighten up our kura. 







Earthquake Drill

On Thursday, we had a school-wide earthquake drill to practise keeping ourselves safe. We learned to drop, cover, and hold. Everyone did an amazing job staying calm and following instructions. We are proud of how sensible and confident ākonga were during this important practice. 


Literacy Reading Books



Please have a hunt around the house and return all Pip and Tim books to school. We love to look after our resources, and they are very expensive to keep buying and replacing. 


Hats and Sunscreen

A quick reminder that hats are required at school every day this term. Please ensure your child's hat is clearly labelled. Hats are kept in your child's bag (or blue cubby) and sent home each day.  Students without hats play under the hall veranda during break times. Please apply sunscreen to your child each day before they come to school. We have a bottle in the hub for reapplication in the day if needed. If your child requires their own sunscreen, please bring it to school in a named bottle that can be kept on the teaching station. 


Ngā mihi nui, 

Niquita, Katie, Stacey, and Elizabeth