Kōwhai Miniball Term 1 2021

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Kia ora whānau, 

Please fill in the survey below if your child is interested in playing Miniball this term. If you put your name down at learning conferences you will still need to fill this form in. 

https://forms.gle/z9HK4LEjV7GSzhw18

As the games start soon please fill this in by end of Thursday the 11th of January. 

Nga mihi, 

Jenny and Laura 

Kōwhai Kapa Haka Term 1

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 Kia ora whānau, 

This term during kapa haka we will be making rākau (sticks) in preparation for playing rākau (stick) games. To make these we are going to need magazines and newspapers. 

If you have any spare magazines or newspapers at home can you please send them in with your child - we will be using them throughout the year, so the more the merrier. 

Thank you in advance, 

Kōwhai Team 

Pōhutukawa News – Week 2, Term 1, 2021

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Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all. We had a great start to the year last week getting to know each other and learning about some of the routines in the Pōhutukawa team. Thankfully, the sun came out on Friday afternoon and we could finish off the week by having some water play in the Park. Those who weren't so keen on getting wet were still able to get outside and spend some time exploring our local flora and fauna down at the ponds or getting creative in the sandpit. It has been so good to reconnect with our returning Year 6 students, as well as make connections with our Year 5's and our students who are new to Beckenham. We are looking forward to an awesome year ahead!

This week we will be starting our ever-popular CCC (cross-curriculum classes) as well as the workshops/ papamahi, which will be covering the following topics:
  • using devices, with Rae
  • goal setting using WOOP, with Gayle
  • book setup and bookwork expectations, with Anna
  • being active listeners, with Steve

Thank you as always for your support, and please do get in touch if you have any questions. We understand there is a lot of information to take on board, particularly for students new to our team, and we are all more than happy to explain or clarify any queries you might have. Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe, we are all in the waka together! On that note, here are a few notices for the start of the year.

BYOD and Cybersafety Forms

It is great to have so many students bringing their own devices to school. Please remember to send along the signed permission slip for the BYOD agreement in order for your child to be able to access the BYOD network at school. If you have not yet returned the signed Cybersafety agreement, please do so as soon as possible. Every child MUST sign the Cybersafety agreement regardless of whether they are bringing their own device to school or not. Both of these forms are available at school if you need them.

Stationery

A big thank you to all of you who either brought $5 to your Learning Conference or paid by eftpos at the school office for your child's/children's two maths books for the year. We have received the books and we will be giving them out this week. If you are still to pay for these, please contact Jacky at the office to arrange payment.

Pōhutukawa Learning Site 

Our Pōhutukawa Learning Site is up and running for 2021! Please use the following link: https://sites.google.com/beckenham.school.nz/pohutukawalearningsite2020/home 
Here you will find the 'Pōhutukawa 101' video that we watched at Learning Conferences. If you find you are having trouble accessing any of the Google material it might be because the privacy settings have been limited to users with a Beckenham school email address. This is to ensure that materials relating to your child's/children's learning cannot be shared out into the wider world. Signing in together with your child will mean you can see everything that we have on our learning sites and on Google Classroom for this year.

Sunhats, sunscreen, and hand sanitiser

Thank you for ensuring that your child comes to school prepared for the sun. A named sunhat is a compulsory uniform item in Terms 1 and 4 and students who do not have a sunhat are required to stay in the shade during break times. A full drink bottle is another key item for these hot days. There is plenty of shade on the netball court, where we eat lunch, although it's a good idea for students to be wearing their hats whenever we are outside. The school supplies sunscreen and students can also bring their own sunscreen and keep it in their bag should they need to apply some during the day. We are making sure we sanitise and wash our hands throughout the day, so if your child has sensitive skin, please give them their own sanitiser to use. 

Important Dates

25 February - Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Swimming Sports (Y 5-8) - 12 - 2pm at Wharenui Pool
18 March  - South Zone Swimming Sports
23 March -  Canterbury Primary School Triathlon 
More information about the above events will come home closer to the time.

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 1

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Kia ora Kōwhai whānau, 

Welcome to the 2021 school year. It was so lovely to touch base with most of you at our learning conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

We have had a great first two days settling into our routines and getting to know each other. 

We are making sure we sanitise and wash our hands throughout the day, so if your child has sensitive skin, please give them their own sanitiser to use. 

We will definitely be continuing water play next week, so please remember to bring your togs on Tuesday - it's looking like it will be a hot day! 

We can't wait to continue to get to know the tamariki next week and start an exciting year ahead. 

Here are a few pictures of some of the fun we have had over the past few days. 




















Have a lovely long Waitangi weekend. 

Nga mihi, 

The Kōwhai team - Laura, Meagan, Rowe, Nick and Quynh 

Beckenham Newsletter 5 February 2021

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

It was amazing for our teachers to catch up with so many of you over the two learning conference days. Thank you so much for making the time to set the year up so well for your children and to ensure that you met with teachers. We know that the children have been mostly excited (and a bit nervous for some) about being back at school, and we hope you have had happy children at the end of each day yesterday and today.

Please remember that any concerns or wonderings should always be communicated to the child's hom group teacher in the first instance. Email is ideal if you don't see them in passing, and they will always endeavour to respond to you within 24 hours.

We apologise in advance if we have some communication challenges in the upcoming few weeks - we have just this week switched over to a new student mangement computer system and some of our data hasn't switched well from the old system to the new one. It will take Jacky some time to go through the contact forms that you completed at learning conferences and make sure that we have your information correctly in the new system. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

I know our teachers have had a huge week this week, first preparing, then with learning conferences, and then yesterday and today teaching. We are all looking forward to the long weekend and then to establishing a more typical routine next week.

Have a great Waitangi Day on Monday!

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our Staff, Board, PTA, BOSCO picnic from 5-7pm next Friday, 12th Feb. Bring your picnic/fish'n'chips and a blanket, and come along and meet up with other families. There will be some games, including Ki-o-rahi, and a bouncy castle.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates


Upcoming Events

Mon 8 Feb SCHOOL CLOSED - WAITANGI DAY
Wed 10 Feb CSM Outreach Band programme enrolment evening 5-6pm
Fri 12th Feb - School Picnic 5-7pm

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 term dates.

School Notices

School Donations, and $5 Stationery Charge

Many thanks to all of the families who have already paid their $5 stationery charge (for either pens or maths exercise books). This is very much appreciated. If you haven't yet paid, please would you arrange to do this next week.

We will shortly be sending out a request for the $150 school donation. Remember that you can claim back 33% of this from the IRD, so effectively this is only costing you $100 per child. If you would like to get organised with a monthly or fortnightly payment for this we suggest the following amounts:
  • fortnightly $5.75 per child = $149.50 /yr (or $10-$12 per Y7-8 child if you want to pay for most of camp across the year. There is no Y5/6 camp this year)
  • monthly $12.50 per child = $150 /yr ($25 per Y7-8 child if you want to pay for most of camp across the year. There is no Year 5/6 camp this year)
Thank you to those families who have already set this up, or who have paid their donations already. 

Sunhats are needed at school EVERY DAY

We are noticing a small number of children do not have their sunhats at school yet - PLEASE ensure that your child has a hat EVERY day. They need this to be able to participate in outside learning activities during the day.

Second Hand Uniform Shop (PTA)

The PTA run an amazing service for our community by offering second hand uniform for sale back to families at a very reasonable price. If you have good quality uniform that your children have grown out of and would like to donat it to the uniform shop, please bring it to the office, or take it to the uniform shop when it is open.
Opening hours:
Mondays & Fridays from 2:50pm - 3:15pm

CSM Outreach Band programme at Beckenham for 2021...

There will be an info session about the CSM Outreach Band Programme this coming Wednesday, February 10th at 5pm in the Pōhutukawa Hub for parents and students (Years 5-8) to come and try the instruments, find out about costs and talk to the tutors.  If you know that your child wants to enrol, or re-enrol for music lessons this year please fill in the link below re Band Enrolment.   Band and lessons will start on the 17th of February.
If you have questions, please email Jody Keehan at: outreachband@csm.org.nz

Kapa Haka 2021

We are very excited to confirm that Whaea Cath Milio will continue as our Kapa Haka tutor this year. We will be offering kapa haka rōpū (groups) from Year 3 - Year 8, and Cath will be supporting the teachers in NE through to Year 2 with their hub programmes.

In the Kōwhai team, ALL children participate in Kapa Haka for Term 1. 
From Year 5 through to Year 8, Kapa Haka becomes optional. Whaea Cath would like to open the Y5/6 and Te Whānau Mahi Tahi rōpū up to newcomers for the start of the year. If your child has not opted into Kapa Haka before, but would like to give it another try, they are able to join in for the first 4-5 weeks. At that point, all of the children will be asked to decide if they want to commit for the rest of the year. 
We hope to see both our senior Kapa Haka groups increase in size up to around 40-45 members.
Please talk with your child (if they are in Y5-8) about taking up this opportunity.


Kapa Haka will happen on Friday mornings. Te Whānau Mahi Tahi from 9-9:45am, followed by Pōhutukawa Kapa Haka from 9:45 - 10:30am. These groups meet in the north BOSCO room.

Mana Ake “Drop-Ins” are continuing…

A number of whānau have already made great use of the Mana Ake “drop-ins” that are available on Wednesday mornings from 8:30 – 9:30am. These drop-in sessions are here to provide parents with an opportunity to have a private, informal conversation around the well being of their child with one of our Mana Ake workers (kaimahi). If you feel like you would like to attend a drop-in session, please book in a time via the link here: Mana Ake booking  The code to use is 88t39. Alternatively, you can contact Jacky in the office and she will make a booking for you.

Basketball Hoops

Our tamariki have asked for more basketball hoops so that they can practise shooting at break times. One idea they had was creating a backboard for one side of the double-sided netball hoops. We would love to hear from anyone interested in supporting us with this project. Please email Jenny at jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz

Parking in the 3min area on Sandwich Road

A reminder please, that the stretch of road adjacent to the Admin building on Sandwich Road is a 3min drop-off zone from 8:30-9:30am and 2:30-3:30pm on school days. This means drivers are not able to sit in their cars from 2:30pm waiting for children, or to park cars in this area and go into school. If you arrive early and wait for children, or if you need to get out of your car and come into school, please find an alternative place to park. Having this area just for drop-offs means that the traffic on Sandwich Road moves smoothly before and after school, and this is much safer for our children.