Koru News Term 3 Week 8

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 Kia ora e te whanau,

What a lot of interesting and fun Learning Through Play has been taking place over the past couple of weeks!
The children continue to be reminded about why we call it Learning Through Play ("because while we're playing, we're learning") and the kinds of things we might be learning and practising during our play. This is especially as we have new children starting school, and we're noticing that many of our older children are really stepping up to model these behaviours for our 'newbies'.

Using these images, the children were asked to relate the relevant ideas below to the school values which were being displayed.

The children brainstormed these ideas about their Learning Through Play.

Learning Through Play:
For our topic this week, we have been looking at restaurants, eating out and cooking. During Learning Through Play, we have been amazed by how creative the children have been, building restaurants, 'creating' food, designing menus and taking our orders in their cafes and eateries. We will continue with this theme during this coming week, and our focus will be working as teams to create shops and restaurants, and to problem solve the variety of challenges that can arise as the children play together.

We Care

We Get There Together

We Love Learning

We Love Challenge and We Get There Together




We Get There Together

Wacky Hair Day:
We had so much fun admiring the wacky hairdos that arrived at school on Friday. What impressive effort and creativity families put in that Friday morning - we suspect that many of you were up well before the crack of dawn, judging by the impressive results that walked through the gate, between 8:30 and 8:55! Thank you to all of those who supported the child cancer society and donated a gold coin for this wonderful cause.























Wellbeing and Friendship:
We have been having a big focus on continuing to build and develop friendships in Koru. This week we introduced an activity, whereby the children needed to work together to solve a problem. Using their index fingers only, they had to solve how they could pick up and carry an object. It was great to see the children working together in pairs, communicating, problem-solving, and taking on a challenge, while at the same time having fun.
Some of the objects the children tried picking up were:
  • A pen
  • A glue-stick
  • An eraser
  • A thick book
  • A block
  • A soft toy
All children displayed our kete values of We Get There Together and We Love a Challenge, as they participated with their buddies to successfully pick up each item.










Tricky! How did they manage that?

Talent Quest Auditions:
The teachers in Koru had the pleasure of auditioning the children for our Talent Show, which is going to be held on the last day of school for this term (25th of September). We were delighted to see how confident and talented our Year 0 and 1 children are. As always, it is so difficult to make a choice as we would obviously love to send all children who entered through to the finals, however we are delighted to let you know that Moana, Vienna and Joseph will be going on to the finals at the end of this term. 

Kete Awards:
As we are unable to hold our assemblies at level 2, the Koru team held a hui in Pūkaki on Friday, August 28th. Congratulations to the children below who received kete awards. We are incredibly proud of how you uphold the Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto values.


Peter Rabbit:
It was with enormous sadness that we have had to farewell Peter Rabbit, who has been a faithful and loyal friend to hundreds of children at Beckenham te Kura over the past 9 years. Peter has been cuddled and loved by children, read to, played with, taken out to the park for time on the grass, and has helped children who have been feeling sad or upset by simply allowing them to hold him, and most children at Beckenham will know him really well. Something that Peter did incredibly well was to help children who were having trouble saying goodbye to their families at the start of the school day - Peter was worth way more than his weight in gold.
Peter Rabbit died of old age last week. In human years, he would have been about 85. He will be greatly missed, and remembered by all with enormous fondness.

Peter, aged nearly 9 years.

Have a lovely week, everyone. We look forward to another wonderful week of learning with the wee ones!

Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Sari, Stacey, Sophie and Elizabeth

Koru News Term 3 Week 7

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Kia ora e te whanau,

What a lot of interesting and fun Learning Through Play has been taking place over the past couple of weeks!
The children continue to be reminded about why we call it Learning Through Play ("because while we're playing, we're learning") and the kinds of things we might be learning and practising during our play. This is especially as we have new children starting school, and we're noticing that many of our older children are really stepping up to model these behaviours for our 'newbies'.

Using these images, the children were asked to relate the relevant ideas below to the school values which were being displayed.

The children brainstormed these ideas about their Learning Through Play.

Learning Through Play:
For our topic this week, we have been looking at restaurants, eating out and cooking. During Learning Through Play, we have been amazed by how creative the children have been, building restaurants, 'creating' food, designing menus and taking our orders in their cafes and eateries. We will continue with this theme during this coming week, and our focus will be working as teams to create shops and restaurants, and to problem solve the variety of challenges that can arise as the children play together.

We Care

We Get There Together

We Love Learning

We Love Challenge and We Get There Together




We Get There Together

Wacky Hair Day:
We had so much fun admiring the wacky hairdos that arrived at school on Friday. What impressive effort and creativity families put in that Friday morning - we suspect that many of you were up well before the crack of dawn, judging by the impressive results that walked through the gate, between 8:30 and 8:55! Thank you to all of those who supported the child cancer society and donated a gold coin for this wonderful cause.























Wellbeing and Friendship:
We have been having a big focus on continuing to build and develop friendships in Koru. This week we introduced an activity, whereby the children needed to work together to solve a problem. Using their index fingers only, they had to solve how they could pick up and carry an object. It was great to see the children working together in pairs, communicating, problem solving, and taking on a challenge, while at the same time having fun.
Some of the objects the children tried picking up were:
A pen
A glue-stick
An eraser
A thick book
A block
A soft toyAll children displayed our kete values of We Get There Together and We Love a Challenge, as they participated with their buddies to successfully pick up each item.










Tricky! How did they manage that?

Talent Quest Auditions:
The teachers in Koru had the pleasure of auditioning the children for our Talent Show, which is going to be held on the last day of school for this term (25th of September). We were delighted to see how confident and talented our Year 0 and 1 children are. As always, it is so difficult to make a choice as we would obviously love to send all children who entered through to the finals, however we are delighted to let you know that Moana, Vienna and Joseph will be going on to the finals at the end of this term. 

Kete Awards:
As we are unable to hold our assemblies at level 2, the Koru team held a hui in Pūkaki on Friday, August 28th. Congratulations to the children below who received kete awards. We are incredibly proud of how you uphold the Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto values.


Peter Rabbit:
It was with enormous sadness that we have had to farewell Peter Rabbit, who has been a faithful and loyal friend to hundreds of children at Beckenham te Kura over the past 9 years. Peter has been cuddled and loved by children, read to, played with, taken out to the park for time on the grass, and has helped children who have been feeling sad or upset by simply allowing them to hold him, and most children at Beckenham will know him really well. Something that Peter did incredibly well was to help children who were having trouble saying goodbye to their families at the start of the school day - Peter was worth way more than his weight in gold.
Peter Rabbit died of old age last week. In human years, he would have been about 85. He will be greatly missed, and remembered by all with enormous fondness.

Peter, aged nearly 9 years.

Have a lovely week, everyone. We look forward to another wonderful week of learning with the wee ones!

Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Sari, Stacey, Sophie and Elizabeth

Planting Day at the Beckenham Park Ponds

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Kia ora whānau,

Sally Airey (our Healthy Ōpāwaho faciltator) has organised and invited Pōhutakawa to complete planting at the ponds on Wednesday September 16th, supported by local CCC rangers and a river volunteer (and expert). It'll be an awesome opportunity to make a difference to our local environment, and is being held as part of our annual Clean Up Week at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto.

Groups of 30 children and their teacher will attend the ponds, listen to a local plant expert, and undertake planting at these intervals: 

9-9.45am: Group 1
9.45-10.30am: Group 2
10.30 - 10.50 break time (whole school)
11- 11.45am: Group 3
11.45am - 12.30pm: Group 4

We would be very grateful if we could have some parent help volunteers for some or all of this time. At least two parents per time slot would be very much appreciated. Please can you email Anne at anne.batchelor@beckenham.school.nz if you are available for some or all of this time. Thanks very much for your support.

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 8

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 In this post:

  • Cashmere High testing day
  • Cantamath
  • Cheese Roll thanks and pics
  • Elections learning

Cashmere High Testing

Those in Year 8 who have enrolled at Cashmere High School for next year would have been contacted by Cashmere about the testing day this Thursday. Children arrange their own way to and from Cashmere for this testing morning. We expect to see at children back at school by lunch eating time, 1:20, when we take the roll. This will provide ample time for those who will be walking to get back to school. 

Cantamath

We are waiting to hear from Cantamath about whether the competition will be going ahead this year. It is scheduled for Sept 16th, when we will still be in Level 2. 

We were blown away by the project work that came to school on Friday and are looking forward to seeing the remaining work (for those who asked for an extension) arrive on Monday. We will be setting up a display of all work for the school and parents to view on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I am in the process of confirming the venue for this display. 

Below are a selection of the projects that were handed in on Friday ...








Cheese Rolls

Many thanks to Jaana, Anna and Renata for helping us with our cheese roll making last Thursday. The children love this authentic learning experience. It is a great way to live our school value: 'We get there together'. 






Elections

We have recently started an integrated literacy topic about elections. Last Wednesday we held a mock parliamentary debate in the hall. The PM was in attendance (The Hon Jenny Diggle) and the speaker of the House (H Elliott) controlled the debate. There were numerous speakers who provided eloquent, thought provoking and amusing arguments, both for and against the bill. Following 30 minutes of debate, the bill went to the vote. The results were 67:30 against the bill, so the voting age will not be lowered to 13!

This week the children will be forming their own parties and writing policies with a school, rather than country, focus. 













Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Friday 4th September 2020

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Another busy week has gone by and we are already past the half-way mark of this term, with four weeks remaining until the school holidays.

Whilst we are responding to the ever-changing COVID situation, you will have noticed that we have returned to weekly newsletters, to keep you up-to-date as much as possible.

As we continue at Alert Level 2, we are aware that the use of masks in the community is increasing and, like in Auckland, may become more of an expectation for adults as the COVID-19 situation continues. 
Below is a link to a story for children about wearing masks that you may find useful to share with your children, if they are asking questions about why adults are wearing masks. Whilst we have no indiciation that there will be an expectation for children to wear masks, they are certainly already seeing adults wearing them.

The Task of the Mask


Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Thu 10th Sep - BOT Meeting - Staffroom 5:30pm, All welcome
Wed 23rd Sep - PTA Meeting 7:30pm All Welcome
Fri 25th Sep - Last day of term 3.  School finishes at 3pm
Mon 12 Oct - Staff Only Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
Tue 13 Oct - Term 4 begins

Citizen of the Week

Matilda Barr - Year 4

Matilda, you are a pleasure to have in the Kōwhai hub. You are a motivated learner and always try your best at everything that you do. Your calm and quiet confidence makes you a fantastic role model to your peers. You consistently demonstrate our school values, showing a positive and caring attitude and are a great friend to others. Tino pai! 

School Notices

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.

Dental Care during the School Holidays                                           

The Community Dental Service will be providing dental care for children enrolled with our service during the upcoming school holidays.  The clinics will offer treatment and relief of pain sessions by appointment only.   To make an appointment please call/email our Contact Centre which operates between the hours of 8am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday throughout the holidays.
The following Dental Clinics will be open during these school holidays: 

·       Aranui Clinic, 240 Breezes Road, Aranui,

·       Lincoln Clinic, 35 James Street, Lincoln,

·       Rangiora Clinic, 163 Ashley Street, Rangiora,

·       Timaru Clinic, Level 1, 18 Woollcombe Street, Timaru

The clinics will offer appointments between 8.15am and 4.45pm for school-age and preschool children requiring treatment.  If your child has dental pain because of an accident, please contact your dentist in the first instance.
To book an appointment at one of our clinics please: call 0800 846 983
Or email commdental@cdhb.health.nz

Springtime at the Ponds...

Being spring, there are ducks and other birds nesting around the ponds. Please keep dogs on a lead in the ponds area, and encourage children to be mindful of the nesting birds as they are easily frightened at this time.


Student Council

A huge 'Thank you!' to everyone who participated and contributed to our 'Wacky Wig and Hair Day' today, in support of the Child Cancer Foundation.



We were really thrilled to have raised $660.90 to give to the Child Cancer Foundation.



Thanks also to the children who ran a 'Mighty Alex' bakesale in the weekend, and raised another $122.50!

We Get There Together!

BOT Update

Casual Vacancy for an elected trustee

A casual vacancy has occurred on the board of trustees for an elected parent representative.

The board has resolved under section 105 of the Education Act 1989 to fill the vacancy by selection.

If ten percent or more of eligible voters on the school roll ask the board, within 28 days of this notice being published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then a by-election will be held.

Any eligible voter who wishes to ask the board to hold a by-election should write to:

Chairperson
Board of Trustees
Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto
71 Sandwich Road
Beckenham
Christchurch 8023

or email: office@beckenham.school.nz by: 12noon, 17 September 2020.

Community Notices

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

Crater Rim Ultra: 18th October 2020 

Based from St Martin's Hansen Park, with a range of trail running distances from 10 km to 50 km, this exciting community led event also hosts the Athletics New Zealand Trail Running Championships. 
We’re thrilled to confirm the children's race will continue in 2020. It is a short blast around the Park for all ages.  Entries and info from:




Landsdowne Terrace Playcentre 

Landsdowne Terrace Playcentre (8 Landsdowne Tce, Cashmere) are having a Monster Garage Sale! Saturday 19 September from 9am till 12pm. There will be something for the whole family; clothing, toys, books, white elephant, bake sale, bouncy castle, sausage sizzle and a coffee cart. Please come along and support your local Playcentre