PTA Update 23rd February 2021

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Welcome to 2021.


It was great to see so many people at the picnic the other day – for once the weather was on our side 😊 Hopefully we can make this a regular event and get the whole school and their families on the field! 

Our first PTA meeting in Wednesday 24th of February at 7:30 in the Green Room just off the hall. We would love to see some new faces there! 

Who are we?

The PTA committee is a small group of parents who want to support the school and strengthen our school community. You don’t have to come to every meeting to be a member and you certainly don’t even have to be a member to help if we put a call out! 

What do we do?

We meet up every month during the school term for about a 1.5 hour meeting. Its a good chance to connect with other parents and hear what is happening at school.

Events we run include: the disco, the welcome morning teas and some key fundraising events like the Readathon, Calendar Art and some kind of fun evening event. We quietly organise support for families when they need it, for example a serious medical diagnosis. We also run the uniform room. 

What do we do with the money we raise?

Every year we make a $10,000 donation to school for the bus trips that all the students go on at the end of the year. Last year we also funded new sports uniforms and contributed to the purchase of software for home learning. Other years we bought the sound system for sports days and a gazebo to keep the children dry at events. If we didn’t raise the money children would miss out, or our school fees would be higher as these extras are not funded by the Ministry of Education.
 

Please don’t be shy, come and join us – its a lot of fun, we usually have excellent sweet treats to munch on and the chat is great! 

See you soon

 
The PTA

Ferrymead Heritage Park – Final Reminders

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 Kia ora whanau, 

We are all very excited to be going on our trip tomorrow! 

There has been a lot of organization going on behind the scenes by all our teacher to help make sure we have a safe and happy trip. 

Please take a look at this Social Story with your child BEFORE tomorrow. It has been shared with them at school already, however it would be helpful for them to take another look! 

Ferrymead Trip Social Story

ALSO: 

Please apply sunblock before sending your child to school tomorrow. 

Everyone needs to have a drink bottle filled with water. 

Parent helpers: meet Lisa in our theatre at 8.30am. 

Thanks everyone! 


Year 5-8 Swimming Sports Info

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 This post is just for whānau with children involved in swimming sports.


Kia ora koutou,

Swimming Sports is this Thursday afternoon at Wharenui Pool. 

All children attending Swimming Sports will be having an early lunch at school on Thursday before boarding the bus at 12.15. In addition to our competitors, we have a few of our House Captains and deputy house Captains attending Swimming Sports to assist with the running of the event. There will be a Beckenham School staff member onboard each bus to supervise the children. 

  • Children should go to swimming sports with their swimmers on underneath their school uniform. There is no time to get changed when we arrive at the pool. 
  • Please ensure that your child has a packed lunch, a water bottle and a towel. 
  • Children who carry personal medication, such as inhalers should have these on them. 
  • We welcome you to join us and support our swimmers. We will have a space for spectators opposite the children, who will be sitting in house groups on the bleachers. To support us in running this event, we ask that you stay on the side allocated for spectators.  
  • Should you wish to collect your child from Wharenui Pool, you must sign out your child with a Beckenham teacher. All other children will return to Sandwich Road by bus. We expect to be back by 3pm. 

We will start with freestyle, followed by backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and then the medley. The 25 m races will be done before the 50 m races. We will finish with a house relay. All races are straight finals with the exception of a few where the number of entries requires heats. There are also some occasions when multiple races of the same stroke and distance will be occurring at the same time. In this instance, the children will still be judged and placings recorded for their age. 

We are a little shorter on time than we usually are due to the pool not being available earlier. We will aim to be as efficient as we can and if necessary we may need to cancel the medley races if time does not allow. 

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions. 

  • Between races, children must stay seated on the bleachers. As they will have had an earlier lunch than what they are used to, they may eat while seated. 
  • Children may start in the pool, or may dive from the poolside or the starting blocks. Children who are not confident in performing a shallow dive are advised to start in the water. All backstroke competitors must start in the water. 
  • The starting procedure is as follows:

Whistle - enter the pool, step up to the side of the pool or step onto the blocks

“On your marks” - Get into starting position and then stay still

Clap - Swim

  • A false start will be indicated by two more claps and the dropping of a rope. Swimmers should then immediately return to the start.  
  • If a child gets into difficulty, they should grab onto the lane ropes from where they will be assisted by the lifeguard. 
  • Children can stop and stand if they need to (where depth allows). 
  • 25 m races are one length, 50 m are two lengths and the medley is three lengths
  • Children should do a one-handed turn/finish for freestyle and backstroke and a two-handed turn/finish for breaststroke and butterfly
  • No disqualifications will be made.
  • On completion of their race, they will be handed a token that represents their placing, which they then take to the recorders. Children should then go back to their seat.
  • Children should get changed after their last event and return to the bleachers to cheer on their peers. 

We look forward to seeing many of you there!


Koru Team news: Term 1 Week 3

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Kia ora, e te whanau,

We have had an amazingly busy and productive fortnight - it's been SO much fun, and in amongst all of the fun, the children have very quickly shown fantastic gains in their independence and their confidence.

We have:

  • made ice cream
  • started visiting the library
  • started exploring simple programming using the Beebots
  • made tiger handprints
  • been exploring the Maths equipment
  • made tiger masks
  • worked with the Year 7 students, participating in activities planned and organised by the older children
  • set up a tank for our tadpoles 
  • practised our core strength exercises, in preparation for the start of our handwriting programme.
Carefully pouring the first ingredient for the ice cream (cream itself).

Stirring in the second ingredient (condensed milk).

Whipping the cream.

Sprinkling in the chocolate.

Stirring in the chocolate.

Eating the ice cream.

Mmmmmmm!

Yum...

yum...

YUM!!

Learning about the library.

Programming the Beebots to move through a maze.

Working together to problem solve.

Will this Beebot make it safely to the other end of the maze?

Oopsy daisy!

We take very good care of the Beebots.

Decorating a tiger cupcake with the help of a Year 7 friend.

Decorating a Rainbow Fish with the help of a Year 7 friend.

Listening to The Rainbow Fish.

We really enjoyed this story!

Working together with a Year 7 buddy to create a set up involving the castle and the blocks.

Painting with our Year 7 buddies.

Adding the stripes to a tiger handprint.

Exploring with Oobleck.

Learning how to make a leaf rubbing.

An expert at 'planking' - working on developing core strength.

Keeping a VERY close eye on our new tadpoles, and making sure they're safe and happy in their new home.

What a lot of great times we've been having at school over the past fortnight!

Parents, a request ... are you able to help us out, please? We are searching for the following items for our Learning Through Play:

  • any old baking equipment you no longer need (suitable for a 'mud' kitchen) 
  • baby clothes ('prem' size best) to fit 41 cm. dolls
  • old bits of downpipe or other plumbing 'parts'
  • old sandpit toys (preferably in quite good condition), including dump trucks and diggers, as well as buckets and spades
  • an old children's size pop up tent
  • old toy cars to add to our somewhat depleted collection
We'd be very grateful if you have any of the above items which you'd be willing to donate to us. Please just touch base with Nicola or Elizabeth if you do.

Our Library time has now been confirmed as being on Fridays, and you will have noticed your child's library folder in your child's bag today. The books can be kept at home until Friday next week, but need to be returned by then, if your child is to have new books issued.
You will also have noticed that your child's poetry book is coming home now too. Please read the new poem, as well as the previous weeks' poems, with your child. Any colouring that hasn't been completed can be finished off at home. Your child could also colour in the title page at the front of their book. Please ensure that your child's poetry book is returned to their school bag and comes back to school each Monday.

We have also learnt some new songs, which we have added links to here (if you would like your child to teach you at home!):

Your children are doing a fantastic job at school! We hope you all have a wonderful, warm and relaxing weekend, and look forward to seeing all of those happy, smiling, little faces back at school on Monday.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Nicola, Jo and Elizabeth





Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter 19 February 2021

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora e te whānau

We are thrilled to be back at Alert Level 1 again after a week where we were sharply reminded that we are not through this pandemic yet. Thank you to all of you for supporting the Alert Level 2 practices of staying off our school site during this time. Yet again, our children showed us that, with positive messaging and support from the adults around them, they are often ready to manage more independence than we give them credit for. I encourage you all to foster that independence, particularly around morning drop-offs. We particularly notice that the younger children come into the hubs and settle more easily without a lot of caregivers and pre-schoolers present. We will continue having a teacher outside the NE, Y1/2 and Y3/4 hubs in the morning so that you can touch base with a teacher if you need to.

I have had the honour of being in Wellington yesterday and today for the New Zealand Principals Federation Executive meeting. Among other topics, we have today been talking about the exciting new Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum that was recently announced and is currently in draft form. 
Many young people leave school without being fully aware of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories. They haven’t learned where we have come from or the way people have experienced our histories differently.
Our histories are important to us all because they have shaped our present-day lives. Understanding the past will help to shape the way we move forward into the future.


You can watch a short video about it here: Introduction to Aotearoa NZ Histories

The public can give feedback on the draft - to find out about how to do that, please follow this link.
Our staff will be giving feedback on the draft curriculum this term also.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Wed 24 Feb - Kahikatea trip to Ferrymead

Wed 24 Feb - PTA Meeting, Green Room, 7:30pm

Thu 25 Feb - School Swimming sports for Years 5 - 8 - Wharenui Pool 12:45pm

Thu 25 Feb - BOT Meeting, Staffroom 5:30pm

Fri 26 Feb - Celebration Assembly  12 - 12:30pm in the hall.  All Welcome.

Mon 1 - Fri 5 Mar - Kauri camp at Wainui YMCA

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Lily Mclachlan - Year 4

Lily, you are such a fantastic role model in the Kōwhai hub. You show 'We Get There Together' always by lending helping hand to both your peers and the teachers. Lily, your enthusiasm knows no bounds and you are always willing to show that you care by offering your help to others. You use initiative in your learning and you are a fantastic communicator. Tino pai Lily! 

Haile Harmer-Campbell - Year 6

Haile, you embrace our kete value, 'We Love Challenge'! We see you growing so much as a leader in our hub, always enthusiastically encouraging and supporting your peers in their learning. You demonstrate grit, team work and good sportsmanship on the field, showing the 'We Get There Together' kete beautifully. It is wonderful to see your passion! We appreciate that you make us laugh with your witty sense of humour each day. Tino pai Haile! 

School Notices

Christchurch Schools Music Festival - Applications for special groups now open


Talented singers and musicians from Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto can now apply for an audition to join a Representative Group - Junior & Senior Choir, Concert Band, Orchestra - for the 2021 Music Festival.

We want to encourage and support any students in Years 5-8 who are confident singers, and/or instrumentalists to apply for an audition. This is particularly the case in 2021 given the cancellation of the 2020 Music Festival.

Applications are made online on the Festival website here.

This is a chance to not only participate in a life-changing learning opportunity but also to represent Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto while doing it.

Being selected for a Representative Group for the Music Festival is the artistic equivalent of being selected for a Canterbury level sports team; let's make sure the opportunity is not overlooked.
If you have any questions about this, please speak with Jody Keenan (CSM Band tutor), your music teacher, or email Sandy principal@beckenham.school.nz

Our Literacy Programme

Kia ora whānau,
We are very excited to be continuing the implementation of a structured literacy programme across the school this year. Structured literacy is based on the science and research behind how we learn to read and write. You may have seen information surrounding this, through the media and Ministry of Education over the last few months. This structured approach involves a stronger focus on the teaching of phonological awareness (identifying and manipulating units of spoken language), letter/sound knowledge and learning the spelling patterns of English. Please check out the following links for further information around the science of reading, and evidence for this:

During the first 3 full weeks of school the teachers and children will be sitting down together and going through some literacy assessments.  Assessing our tamariki’s phonological awareness, letter/sound knowledge and knowledge of spelling patterns gives our teachers solid data that informs our planning for the individual needs of each learner and helps monitor progress. It is also an opportunity to talk with the children about their learning and possible next steps. 

During the next few weeks you can help by reading to and with your child each night, enjoying and discussing texts / books from the library (both school and city council libraries have books for children to borrow) or that you have at home.  Older children may wish to read their own book and share the story line with you.  Remember also, no one is ever too old to be read to.

Teams will be in touch with information about how you can support your child with literacy learning at home, in the coming weeks.  
Lisa Collier, Literacy Lead Teacher.

Lunchonline


Lunchonline is a lunch delivery service that our families are able to access for their children, which is available on Wednesdays (Subway) and Fridays (Sushi Factory). Please ensure that you update your child's details on their database so lunches can be matched up with your child more easily when they are delivered.
To access this, you will need to set up an account with LunchOnline here.

Hats

We have a small number of children across the school who do not yet have sunhats at school each day. Please would you check that your child has a hat every day. Please also ensure that hats are named in an easily visible place INSIDE (not on the outside) of the hat. Named uniform items that are found are always returned to hubs, rather than being put into the lost property.

Sports News

Miniball for Year 3 - 4 starting in Week 3

We have four teams entered into this league. It was fantastic to see so many children interested in this opportunity. There will be another chance to play in Term 4 and if children missed out this term, they will have priority to play in Term 4. Thank you to all the whānau who have volunteered their time to support the children at games. 

Hanmer 4 Hour Mountain Bike Relay

We would like to promote the above event to keen mountain bikers. Children compete as a team to complete as many laps of the course as they can in 4 hours. Children 11 years old and younger ride a mellow loop that goes through the Heritage Forest. Children 12 years and older ride an intermediate level track, (it’s worth noting that this course is the same one that adults compete on and so it is a little busier). Whānau are responsible for entries and for supervising children at the event. There are already a number of children entered and we will have a Beckenham Te Kura O Pūroto base area set up for all our teams to use. If you enter this event, please let Jenny know so that we can share information and coordinate plans for race day. 

BOT Update

The Board of Trustees have their first meeting of the year this Thursday 25th February, from 5:30pm in the staffroom. We welcome our new trustees to the Board: Richard Scott, Suran Dickson, Nicole Forster and Anna Reid (newly elected Staff Trustee). We welcome back returning Trustees: Matthew Macdonald, Jude Clarke, Sampson Karst, Lisa Taylor and Marcel Frie.
Board of Trustee meetings are 'Meetings held in Public', as opposed to 'Public Meetings'. This means that anyone is welcome to come and sit in on the meeting. It does not, however, give visitors the right to speak at a meeting, unless this has been pre-organised and agreed to by the Chair.

Community Notices

(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)



Christchurch Pride & Qtopia Pride Ball

March is Christchurch Pride month! We’re so excited to be supporting the youth programming, and to be throwing our very own ball! It’s all ages and pay what you can - celebrate your high school formal the way you always wanted to - wear what you feel most you in, bring the date you want, and celebrate with other beautiful rainbow folk.
For more information and to book your ticket, click here!
All the events below are suitable for young people to attend. We can’t wait to see you there!



St Andrew's College Open Day

St Andrew’s College are holding their Secondary School Open Day on Wednesday 17 March 9am - 12pm.  visit stac.school.nz for further information