Koru Team Blog: Term 1 Week 11 (11/04/2025)

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Kia ora e te whānau,

Wow, we have made it to the end of our first term for 2025! We would love to say a massive 'thank you' to all our tamariki and whānau for showing our school value 'We Get There Together - Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe'. 

Here are a few things our children have loved about being in the Koru team:


"I like playing with the Lego and drawing."


"I am showing We Care by listening to others."


"I love sitting at the yellow jellybean table for Literacy and learning new letter sounds."


"I love making new friends."


"I like learning."


"I like drawing with my friends."


"I like playing on the car mat with special cars."


"I like our teachers."


"I like going to Treemendous and the Junior Playground at Little Play and Big Play."


House Groups:
Our Koru children have been allocated a 'House Group' to belong to: Fisher, Heathcote, Tennyson and Waimea. Children from the same family/whānau are put into the same house. Each house group has it's own chant and tamariki learn this so they can participate in the house chant at sports and special events, and in Celebration Assemblies if their house has won the house points for the fortnight. You can find the House Chants here, and there are also videos that you can share with your child to help them learn their house chant. Each house has its own colour, and there are House Shirts that are an optional part of the school uniform, that can be purchased and worn on Fridays, or sports/special event days as advised in the newsletter.

House Games:
In Term 1 and 4, House Leaders from the Kauri Hub take House Games for all the Beckenham tamariki. Our Koru children played many fun games with the House Leaders and children from their House Group. Some favourite games were a sandpit treasure hunt, cat and mouse, hula hoop and ball team challenges and Duck, Duck, Goose! 

Cat and Mouse

Team ball challenges

News for Term 2:
We warmly welcome Niquita to Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto next term. Niquita will be our third Home Group teacher to join our Koru team. 

Kōmanawa block (the classroom up the ramp) is undertaking some building work, starting in the school holidays and will be completed around the middle of Term 2. Once this work is complete, our Koru team will start to use this learning space too.

Kiss and Drop
As more children are starting in the Koru team, our hub can feel a little overwhelming for some tamariki in the morning. Please aim to "kiss and drop" your child off at the door, rather than entering the hub with them. This will help set your children up for a calm, quiet, and successful transition in the morning. Thank you for your support with this!

Learning Through Play
Box construction continues to be a popular activity in the Koru team. If you have any boxes that you would usually put in the recycling, please send them our way! Our children love to stick, colour, shape, cut, decorate and paint. 

Have a wonderful break,

Ngā mihi nui,
Koru Team
Katie, Elizabeth, Stacey, Lucy, Maisy, Denise








Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 11

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Kia ora whānau,

Wow! It is hard to believe that we have got to the end of an 11-week term with lots of highlights to look back on. We started the year with Slip 'n' Slide afternoons and then we also had Top Team come and visit with lots of fun team activities to particpate in. We have been doing lots of amazing chemistry experiments, looking at chemical change and how different substances react in different conditions. We have also been enjoying Discovery, with lots of different activities to get stuck into, such as making your own board game, deconstructing electronic equipment and learning how to play French Cricket. On top of all that, we have been making good progress with our learning in literacy and mathematics and have really got into the swing of things. Your tamariki have been working really hard and I'm sure they all looking forward to a holiday break.

Kōwhai Services Club

Megan has started up a Kōwhai Services Club with volunteers who do good deeds around the school and particularly in the Kōwhai hub. They have special lanyards which they have made and they wear these when they are taking on different responsibilites and carrying out jobs around the school. Their first job has been to sort and tidy all the games and activities in the hub and have done a great job of making everything look neat and tidy. They really have been showing how they care and how they make a difference at the school. Thank you!

Pizza Friday 

Next term, we are going to start up 'Pizza Friday' which will involve one child from each homegroup being chosen to make pizza on a Friday afternoon with our wonderful teaching assistants. This is a special reward for the children we see showing the school values each and every day. The school will provide the ingredients for the dough and then we will ask each child to bring in a topping or toppings of their choice. We think it will be a fun and educational way to celebrate success in our hub.


Finally, the Kōwhai team would like to thank you all for your ongoing support this term. We hope you have a wonderful holiday break and look forward to seeing you all in term 2. Happy holidays!

Kauri Update: Week 11, Term 1

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 In this post:

  • Staffing change in Kauri
  • Inquiry presentations
  • Maths club change of day
  • Looking ahead to term 2
  • Uniform reminder
  • Technology fun

Welcome to Kate McGregor!

We are looking forward to Kate starting with us next term. Kate will take over from Nicky who will slip into her release teacher role. Kate has considerable experience teaching in Year 7 & 8 and is returning to teaching after a short stint of maternity leave.



Inquiry presentations

This week we have been most impressed by the learning our tamariki have shared as part of their term 1 inquiry. Each child selected a leader, researched and reflected on how that leader displays some of the 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People'. They also reflected on the lessons they can apply to their own life based on their research findings. You may like to ask your child to show you their presentation. 

Maths Club

It has been great to see so many children at maths club this term. The focus of this group is on extension and problem solving in maths. From next term we will meet on a Friday morning at 8:20am.

Looking ahead to term 2 in Kauri

Every term in Year 7 & 8 is a busy one and term 2 is no exception!
  • Our inquiry, that is based on change this year, will have a visual art and science focus
  • We will start cross country training in week 1, with the school cross country happening on Friday May 23rd, starting at 10:45.
  • Winter sport teams will be sorted in the first few weeks, with winter sport starting in week 4 on Thursday afternoons. If you can help with coaching, please fill in this form.
  • In week 2 we will be welcoming presenters from Blake VR to leader about 'Threats to our Moana'.
  • Our Passions Programme on Fridays continues, with options this term including: rugby league, ukulele for beginners, felt making, board games, buddies and rippa rugby

Uniform Reminder

Sun-hats can now be stored away for the winter. Please make sure your child has a warm school jacket: either the red polar fleece or our black senior jacket, ready for the start of term. A few non-uniform hoodies have been making their way to school. Please remind your child to come in the correct uniform.  Our second hand uniform shop is temporarily in the Green Room, to the right of the hall entrance and is open during term time from 2:45 - 3:15pm on Mondays and 8:45 - 9:15am on Fridays.

Technology

This week the children moved to the second (of five) rotation for technology. There was much fun in the food tech room as cupcakes were baked and iced.





We'd like to wish you a safe and happy two weeks with your children at home or away on holiday and look forward to seeing them back at school on Monday April 28th.

Kahikatea News: Term 1 Week 11

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 Phew! We cannot believe how quickly the first term has flown by. You should be super proud of your wee ones, they have worked hard and our recent assessment shows they are all progressing in leaps and bounds.

Amber, Talia, Lisa, Nicola and myself have all really enjoyed getting to know you more this term, thanks for all of your amazing, ongoing support with our tamariki.


Here are a few pics from our Learning through Play sessions this week: We are always astounded by the creativity, problem solving, caring, energy and delighful conversation that occurs during these sessions.
















A few things to keep on your radar for next term:

-School reports will go out mid term

-Whānau learning conferences will be scheduled for later in the term

-No sunhats required next term! (these should have arrived home today).

-We have Cross Country happening in the first few weeks of school and will need some parent helpers to mark out the course and marshall. More info to come.

-Next term both Talia and Amber's homegroups will participate in Kapa Haka sessions. Sarah's class will join back in, in Term 3.

-Our overall theme for Inquiry this year is change. This term we have had a Health and P.E/Art focus. Next term the focus will be Technology. We will be looking at Toys through time-how they have changed and how we could adapt/create a fabulous new toy.

-Please collect cardboard boxes over the break. We will be needing these as part of our Technology sessions next term.

-We have planned a trip to Ferrymead Heritage Park in the third week of term. I will be requesting parent helpers for this via a google form over the holidays so keep an eye out.

Please have a safe, happy and relaxing break! We will see you all rearing to go in a couple of weeks.



Pōhutukawa News Term 1 Week 11 2025

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Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all

We have come to the end of the first term of 2025! What a jam packed term is has been with all the new routines, teachers, learning and CAMP! Surely camp was the highlight of the term! For those who missed the CAMP VIDEO you can see this on HERO. We are super pleased to have been able to take the entire hub, 146 students, 26 parents and 5 teachers, in total,178 people went on camp for this epic experience, thank you to all the parent helper for their hard work in making the three day experience a memorable one for our Tamariki. 





We look forward to both a restful and busy term break, getting ready for Term 2 with a lot to look forward to! Winter Sport will start up in week 5, if you are keen to coach or take a team, please let us know ASAP! We are always on the look out for more parents to take sports teams, without you many will miss out! 

Keep an eye on the HERO notifications for more information of whats happening including parent teacher interview information and more Winter Sport info coming out soon. 

REMINDERS

Cyber Safety

Netsafe has created an Online Safety Parent Toolkit so parents, families and whānau have all the information they need to talk about online safety.

If you or anyone in your whānau needs support, you can contact Netsafe.

Learning at Home and Google Classroom

All of the students have access to the Pōhutukawa 2025 Google Classroom and their Home Group Google Classroom. Students can also access the Pōhutukawa Learning Site via their Google Classroom. The site serves as an online hub of resources should you wish for your tamariki to continue doing some school work at home. We will continue to add material and build the students' knowledge around using Google Classroom and Google Sites in the coming weeks. As always, we encourage you to actively participate in this area of your tamariki's learning. Ask them to show you what is available to them online and what they can see and do. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.


Have a lovely, well earned term break everybody, kia pai ngā rā whakatā! We look forward to seeing you all again soon for another jam packed term at 





 

The Pōhutukawa Team

Chris, Nick, Rae, Megan and Gayle