Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Schoolwide Newsletter, Rāmere (Friday) 1 November 2024, Week 3

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou,

What a busy couple of weeks here at kura (school)! Whole school athletics, Kōwhai and Kahikatea have been at swimming lessons, the seniors finished off athletics with long jump, a Kauri Home Group went to Quake city, Kauri sausage sizzle fundraiser and the Choir sang at the Christchurch Music Festival. You may also have noticed the Life Education classroom on site, they will be here for the next two weeks.

Staffing update

Each year as we begin the planning phase for the following year as a kura change is something that  becomes apparent and we know is certainty in life. As we move to the end of the school year we concentrate on keeping routines and expectations as consistent as possible. Near the end of the term we work  closely with the tamariki around embracing change. If they are moving to a new team for example we support them to become familiar with the new hub, staff and routines.

Some staffing changes for 2025 were shared in the last newsletter and we have some more updates.

Congratulations to Thomas Woodfield. Thomas has been appointed to a permanent teaching position at St Andrew's College teaching music and social studies in the secondary school. Thomas's skill in music has shone through during his time here with choir and leading whole school waiata. Thank you Thomas.

Congratulations to Krystal Hunt. Krystal has been appointed to permanent a teaching position at Selwyn House School. Along with teaching a Home Group Krystal has been the Maths Curriculum leader for the past 2 years, thank you for your dedication and mahi (work) in this area Krystal.

Congratulations to Steve Cooke. Steve has been appointed to permanent teaching position at a school in Christchurch. Steve has been the Year 5 and 6 Team Leader and supported kura in the area Te Ao Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand Histories. Thank you for sharing your skills and passion for all on the Te Reo Māori journey.

Congratulations to Ella Rainbow who has been appointed to a permanent position at Te Kura o Huriawa Thorrington. Thank you Ella for all your aroha (love) and mahi (work) during you time at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto.

2025 Enrolments - do you have a 4 year old or know someone near by who does!

We welcome enrolment forms for any New Entrant students who may start with us in 2025. It is never too early to pre-enrol your child, and having this data early will help us in the coming months when we begin to organise teaching staff for the following year.
If you know of any in our area, please encourage them to enrol.
Enrolment forms can be collected from the Office or can be found online here.

Considerations for home-group placement for 2025

As we start to put together home groups for 2025, we know that you may hold particular information or insight that you want to share that will support the placement of your child for next year.
While our teachers hold a lot of knowledge and understanding around the needs of our children, we are keen to also know if there is anything particular you think we should be aware of as we make these decisions.

As you will appreciate, putting home groups together is a hugely complex puzzle where the needs of all children need to be carefully considered. This means that we are not asking for 'requests' for teachers or for friendship groups as we would never be able to meet all of those. What we are seeking, is to be made aware of anything important you think we need to consider that we might not be aware of. We will add your thoughts to ours, and do the best we can to make sure that everyone's needs have been considered in our process.

If you have anything you want us to know, please email me (not the teachers) so that I have all the information in one place. I will need this information by the end of Week 5  - Friday 8th November.
email: principal@beckenham.school.nz

Ngā mihi nui
Jo Smith - Tumuaki (Acting Principal)

PTA News

BINGO NIGHT Saturday 9th November - 1 week away!

Grab your tickets for the fabulous funny Bingo Night fundraiser!  MC extraordinaire Jarred Skelton, of Court Jesters and Kauri Quiz fame, will be hosting this night to remember:
  • Tickets $16, includes one bingo card (extras available), no need to make a team
  • Delicious supper provided
  • Bar
  • Spot prizes
  • Silent Auction
Call your friends, aunties, uncles, neighbours, grannies and grandads and book your tickets here.  We're looking forward to seeing you there, and thank you for helping to buy new Kapa Haka uniforms for our tamariki.

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto PTA

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Thu 7 Nov - Strings Concert, 11:00am in the Hall
Sat 9 Nov - PTA Bingo Night, in the Hall
Fri 15 Nov - Canterbury Anniversary Day (kura/school closed)
Mon 18 Nov - Curriculum Day (staff only - kura/school closed)
Wed 27 Nov - PTA Meeting, 7:30-9:30PM, Green Room
Wed 11 Dec - BOT Meeting, 5:30-7:30PM, Staff Room
Fri 13 Dec - Final Celebration Assembly, 9.45-10.30am, in the Hall
Mon 16 Dec - Year 8 Graduation
Tue 17 Dec - Last day of Term 4, School finishes 12.30PM

Term Dates

Click here to view 2024 term dates 

Citizen of the Week

Neasa Adams - Year 4

Neasa, you are a role model learner in the Kōwhai hub. You take pride in your work and you show great persistence too. You are a caring friend and we love your sense of fun. You are the first to offer to help out whenever anything needs doing and in this way you really make a difference. Ka pai, Neasa!

Citizen of the Week

John Macdonald - Year 6

John, your love for learning shines through everyday! You are an active listener who participates in group discussions with enthusiasm. You add fun and humour to the learning environment which is enjoyed by many. You are creative and imaginative and you showcase this in many different ways. Ka pai, John!

School Notices

Strings concert 7th November at 11:00 in the hall. Whānau welcome.

If you would like your child to learn the violin, viola, cello please come along and listen - there will be details of enrolments for 2025 at the concert.
Anne Robinson is our itinerant strings teacher and Head of Strings for Christchurch School of Music.
Please contact Anne if you wish to find out any further details.
annejohnrobinson@gmail.com.
(021)1322604

Upcoming Curriculum Day

The Ministry of Education has allocated a curriculum day for all schools to work on the English and Mathematics curriculums in preparation for implementation in 2025. A reminder that our Curriculum Day is on Monday, November 18th. The school will be closed for students on this day. 
We are fortunate to have BOSCO open and available to book on this day. If you wish to sign your tamariki up for BOSCO on this date, please either head to bosco.aimyplus.com to make a booking, or, contact Harriet on 027 645 6632 or via email at office@bosco.org.nz

Kiss and Go Parking

A huge thank you to all those who have supported the 'Kiss & Go' zone. This area is for whānau to pull in and drop off or pick up their children kerb side and then leave. 

The area works best when it is just the children getting in or out of the car (on the kerb side).  If whānau need to come into the school please park elsewhere on Sandwich Road or the surrounding streets.

Garden Spaces

We would like to extend a big thank you to members of our school community, and beyond, for your help with developing some garden areas around the back of Tahaki and in front of the hall.
The gardens are growing under the watchful eyes of Lucy, Maria, some of our ESOL students, the gardening club and children involved with our afternoon Learning Through Play sessions.
Our next step is to level the lawn behind Tahaki. 

Does any have a Rotary hoe or know of anyone we may be able to borrow one from so we can hoe the very uneven grass area and flatten it for next steps.

Text Line Absences

Please contact the school office if your child will be absent from school. When contacting us please remember to include; your name, your child’s name, the reason for their absence and how long you expect your child will be away from school.

If you do not provide a reason for your child’s absence, we are required to mark this as an unjustified absence on their attendance report.

Phone: (03) 337-1404
(Press 1 to leave an absence message)
Text Message: 021 027 94107
Email: office@beckenham.school.nz

Please note our text message option is for text only, and is not set up to be routinely answered or to leave a voice message on. While we will answer where possible, please consider saving this under a different contact in your phone so we don't miss your call! If your absence calls are being missed, please check which number you are phoning. Thank you!

Choir Shines at Christchurch Schools' Music Festival

On Friday night, our Year 5-8 choir performed beautifully at the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival. After an excellent dress rehearsal in the morning, the students carried their hard work and energy through to the evening, delivering stunning performances. A huge thank you to all the parents who came along to support the choir, and a special thank you to Megan C (from the Pōhutukawa Team), who has been an integral support for Thomas and the choir this year and last. We also extend our thanks to Margot H, who has been a great help on piano during our rehearsals at school.

I would encourage all Year 5-7 students who enjoyed being in the choir, alongside any enthusiastic singers in Year 4, to consider auditioning for the Junior or Senior Special Choir next year!

Ngā mihi,
Thomas

Sports News

Huxster Mountain Bike Relay

On Wednesday 25 tamariki (children) from Pōhutukawa and Kauri participated in the Huxster Mountain Bike Relay at McLean's Island. The challenge is to complete as many laps of the course as you can within the given time. Thank you to all the whānau who supported the tamariki at this event and to Grant Guise for volunteering to marshal. 

Ben Stoney and Zach Guise finished 1st in the Year 5/6 boys' team category
Laura Stoney and Izzy Clarke finished 2nd in the Year 5/6 girls' team category
Isabella Guise and Annie Smith finished 1st in the Year 7/8 girls' team category - and were the fastest team overall in the Year 7/8 category. 
Abigale Blencowe finished 5th in the Year 7/8 individual category

A huge congratulations to all who took part. 

The event was also the debut putting for our awesome new gazebo. The gazebo provided a fantastic base area for our competitors on what turned out to be one of our warmest days yet. A massive thank you to the PTA for their mahi (work) in fundraising and purchasing this gazebo for us. We are very grateful. 

Athletics

On Thursday the 26th of October we enjoyed our whole school Athletics Day out on Beckenham Park. The park was a hive of activity all day, starting at 7:45 am when a crew of dedicated senior students arrived to help set up. A huge thank you to this amazing group of tamariki, (children).

The event kicked off with the mid-distance run, an optional event for children in Years 5 to 8 who were keen to take on the challenge of a longer distance run. This year saw a record number of our tamariki, (children), take on this challenge! The seniors spent the rest of the day rotating through discus, shot put, sprint heats and high jump. The Junior tamariki came out at various times in the day to participate in their rotations of run, jump and throw events. Our youngest tamariki from Koru were supported by some buddies from the Kauri Hub. 

Throughout the day, cheers could be heard drifting across the park as the children celebrated each other's achievements. We were so impressed by the children's skill, effort and encouragement of each other. 

At the end of the day, the whole school came together to watch children give it their all on the track for the sprint finals and house relay. There were some incredibly determined faces and some very close races.  

Thank you to all the staff for their mahi in this event and to the parent helpers who gave up their time to make the event possible. 

On Monday 83 tamariki from Pōhutukawa head to South Zone Athletics at Hansen's Park. We wish them all the best.  

Jenny Diggle, Sports Co-ordinator & Kaiako



Mobile Dental Van Visit


Community Notices

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

KEEN SINGERS WANTED

Luminaires is excited to announce a family concert and arts market on 8th December and we are seeking enthusiastic singers to join our mass ensemble!
If you are aged 7-25, love to sing and enjoy working with a team of like-minded peers then we'd love for you to join us.
Click on the link below to find out more and to register your interest!
Email: luminairescharitabletrust@gmail.com

Market

The 'From Bellies, Babies to Tweens' market is on SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER from 9am-12noon at the Halswell RLFC, Halswell Rd.
This is a buy/sell new & pre-loved market to help families in the community find maternity, baby, kids & tweens items all in one place at affordable prices.
If you're interested in coming along or would like to be a stallholder, follow on Facebook & Instagram or send an email to fbbtmarket@gmail.com 

Kauri whānau update: Term 4, week 2

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  • Music Festival
  • Production
  • School Donations
  • 2025 Leadership Postions
  • Year 8 Leavers Book

Music Festival
On Friday night, our Year 7 & 8 choir members took part in a wonderful performance at the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival. After a solid dress rehearsal in the morning, their dedication and enthusiasm carried through to the evening performance, where they sang beautifully.

A huge thank you to all the parents who came along to support the choir, and a special thank you to Megan C (from the Pōhutukawa Team), who has been an invaluable support for the choir over the past two years. A big thank you as well to Margot H for playing piano during our school rehearsals.





Production:
As part of our Aotearoa New Zeland Histories and Identity learning this term we have decided to run a production. The production will be a timeline of inportant historical NZ events. We are currently in the research/learning stage and then will head into creative mode in the next few weeks. Watch this space!

School Donations:
We have raised close to $500 with our Kauri sausage sizzle next week. This is just over half of what we need to fund the buses to Cass Bay.
If you are yet to contribute to school donations, now would be an amazing time!  We greatly appreciate all donations you make towards donations. These go a long way towards providing a rich and diverse programme for our tamariki.
The suggested amount asked for is $150 but we are happy to take whatever you can give, you can also set up automatic payments more information can be found by visiting THIS link.
Thank you!

2025 Leadership Positions:
It is the time of year when we are asking our current Year 7 students to apply for 2025 leadership positons.
These applications need to be in by next Friday 1st November.
HERE is the link to the form.


Year 8 Leavers Book:
We are currently working on putting together a book that will be gifted to each Year 8 at the end of the year. The children have until Next Friday, Nov 1st, to get their memory writing done and to ask for a friend and a teacher to write a memory as well. Please check in with your child as to how they are going with this and encourage them to get their memory written in time. They also need to send to Nicky a photo of them as a 5 year old—huge thanks to the 40 people who have already sent in photos. 



Pōhutukawa Update, Term 4, Week 2

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 Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all, what a busy start to Term 4 we've had! It’s been great to make the most of this warm spell of weather to be able to be outside on the Park these past 2 weeks preparing for our school Athletics Day yesterday. We also had a lot of keen students competing at the Huxster MTB relay on Wednesday, and the Choir has been preparing for their big night tonight at the Christchurch Music festival. Special shout out to Megan for supporting them at dress rehearsal today and at their performance at the Christchurch Town Hall tonight. Have fun and sing your hearts out!

Athletics Day

The tamariki embraced the challenges and ran, jumped, threw, and supported each other through a very successful day. It all of our students itwas not only a great way to show out kete value 'We Love Challenge', but also a chance for our students to connect and show support to our junior school... and of course for some it was a much anticipated chance to showcase their amazing athletic abilities! Well done to all students for making these really successful day, and congratulations to those who have qualified for the Zones.

The South Zone Athletics day will be held at Hansen Park on Tuesday November 4th. As students can only compete in 3 events, we will help those who have qualified for more than 3 events, to make the decision about which events to compete in. This sometimes opens up other spots for more students to compete. Thank you for your patience as we work through this decision making process with the budding athletes. We will be sending out more information about the South Zone Athletics Competition next week after these conversations.

Long Jump Next Tuesday - Parent Help Required

On Tuesday afternoon we will be walking to Hillview Christian School with the Pōhutukawa students who have opted to do competitive long jump. We have 40 students, and require some parent help to ensure a successful trip. We aim to leave school just after 1:20 pm, walk to Hillview Christian School, do the long jump, and return by 3 pm. If you can assist, please email your child's Homegroup teacher. We thank you in advance for your support.

Huxster MTB Relay

Hearty congratulations to the amazing contingent of Year 5-6 students who competed at the Huxster Mountain Bike Relay on Wednesday.  

The Huxster Mountain Bike event is a time trial through various tracks at McLeans Island. The objective is to complete as many laps in a given time around a circuit. Our students competed in pairs

Well done to all the competitors for taking on the wero, challenge and giving it their all. Huge congratulations go out to Zach G and Ben S for finishing in 1st place, and Izzy C and Laura S for placing 2nd in their categories. Amazing!

Thank you to Melissa Hurst for the photo of the kids in front of our flash new gazebo!

Full results are here:  HUXSTER24

CCC and Life Education Visit

Our CCC classes are continuing and this term we are covering digital technology (coding), learning languages (NZSL), biology (human anatomy), and physical education (Ki o Rahi). Lots of great learning to be had, as well as plenty of learning conversations to be had at home.  Life Education Trust is a charity that educates and empowers children to make healthy choices so they can live full and healthy lives. The key questions we will be covering with them and the students are How do we know how others are feeling? and What is peer pressure and how can we deal with it? Lots of great learning to be had, as well as plenty of learning conversations to be had at home, too.

AVAILLL

This term we are running the AVAILLL literacy programme, which entails students "reading" selected films with the subtitle feature turned on. While the students read/watch the films they engage in activities to develop vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and spelling. The emphasis is on understanding how words are constructed and the activities reflect this. The aim of the programme is to develop vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and spelling. 

Have a great weekend, everybody. Kia pai ngā rā whakatā

The Pōhutukawa Team

 

Kahikatea News Term 4 Week 2

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Kia ora e te whānau,

We hope you all had a lovely holiday. Term 4 is an exciting term with lots of activities planned, and with the sunshine and wonderful warm weather, the children have been happy and settled back in school so quickly. We thank you for all the support to ensure such smooth transitions.

Labour Day Weekend

A quick reminder that school will be closed on Monday as it will be Labour Day holiday, and will resume on Tuesday 29th. We hope you'll have a relaxing and fun long weekend with your whānau.

Swimming (Water Safety Programme)

Swimming will start next week (week 3) on Tuesday 29th October and go until Friday 1st November, then week 5 from Monday 4th November to Thursday 7th November. Please note that there will be NO literacy books sent home in these two weeks due to the time taken for these water safety lessons. 

It would be a good idea to pack extra snacks and food in your child's lunchbox during these 2 weeks if possible to ensure our tamariki have full bellies after swimming. Please ensure that your child comes to school on swimming days with a NAMED swimming bag, clean towel and togs. You can also have a look at our Swimming Social Story with your child to know what to expect.

Thank you to our whānau who offered to help during the trips, you can either meet us at Pioneer or come with us on the bus. The departure time of each group is as follows:

Group 1 - Sarah's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 9.30am

Group 2 - Ella's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 10am

Group 3 - Quynh's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 10.30am

The bus will be waiting on Eastern Terrace.

Please note: No Literacy Group Lessons will take place on the days we are swimming. 

Swimming- Parent Helper Information

Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all, 

Thank you for being a parent/whānau helper for our swimming session/s. 

Please read carefully through the this information as this provides details about what to do as a parent/whanau helper during our time at Pioneer Pool. 

Helping Children

  • We want everyone to feel safe and comfortable at all times, so if you assist children in the changing rooms, please give verbal guidance. You do not need to dress or undress the children. 
  • Encourage the children to be as independent as possible and prompt them with what they need to do. 
  • Encourage children to use quiet voices in the changing room and keep their belongings in one place. 
  • Two or more parent/whānau helpers should be present, while others can wait at the changing room entrance to check that children have all their belongings. 
  • Parents can assist children to put their belongings into one of the cubbies provided. 
  • Parents/whānau are not required to be in the pool with children. 
  • Please let the teacher in charge know if you have any questions or concerns.
  • If a child needs to use the toilet, please show them where it is (these are in the teaching pool area, you will not need to use the public toilets), send the child in, and wait outside. 

Many thanks for your help with swimming this year!

 Please email your child’s teacher if you have any questions. 

Home Group Spaces

We moved homegroup spaces at the end of term 3, so here's a fresh walk-through of where we're based at the moment:

Ella - Atrium

Amber - Breakout Space

Sarah - Nook

Quynh - Theatre


Athletics

The tamariki from the Kahikatea team did so well at athletics on Thursday, what an awesome bunch! We saw a lot of demonstration of our values 'We Love Challenge' and 'We Get There Together' during our practice sessions AND the actual event, ka mau te wehi - how amazing! Below are some photos.















































Sunhats and Sunscreen

A friendly reminder that term 4 is a hats term, children are required to wear a hat when going outside. If they don't have a hat, they will need to stay in the shade by Tahaki building or the hall during playtime. Your child can bring their own sunscreen to school if they wish, please ensure that this stays in their bag during the day and your child takes responsibility for looking after it.


Maths- A Focus on Fractions 

Sarah's Homegroup has been learning about fractions, what they mean and what the symbols look like. The children then made a fractions robot in each group, they were super engaged and keen to make their robot look unique. What a cool activity!




Muesli Bar Wrappers

Ruby's whānau in Quynh's homegroup who have been sharing that, each year, they participate as instructors of the E3 expedition and make sustainability goals. This year they have gone back to this one around muesli bars which was last done back in Dec 2022. Below is the story told by the family.

"This was from our social media posts

https://www.instagram.com/p/ClsRXZdp-g1/?img_index=1 


So we did the numbers & came up with this…

* each person on E3 consumes 3x muesli bars per day. Avg per day = 16 people X3= 48

* 48 X 11 days = 528 bar wrappers. WOW THATS A LOT!!!!

* That’s just for 1 E3

But what does 528 wrappers look like? Hence the video of 100’s of wrappers falling out of that bucket. 

That’s 528 wrappers for each E3 that are not going into a landfill. 

And the remaining pics are the alternative. Over 1000 muesli bars so lovingly made by a few caring people who care about the planet… care about creation & care enough to demonstrate to you & all of us that meaningful change is achievable. All part of the great 10 Years of E3."

The family are setting a goal of collecting 2000 muesli bar wrappers to demonstrate how many wrappers have been saved from going into landfill by making their own for the expedition. In Kahikatea, Ruby and friends have started collecting these wrappers from other children's lunchboxes. If possible, we would also love to collect these from you, just hand them to Quynh or your child's homegroup teacher. 


Learning Through Play






Personal Space - Boundaries

In Kahikatea, we have been talking about and discussing boundaries, and what we can say when someone is being too close to our personal space. The video below is a fabulous resource, as the catchy melody and simple language make it so much fun for our tamariki to remember the key phrases. Please have a look with your child and sing along, we guarantee it'll get stuck in your head rather quickly.



Have an awesome long weekend!

The Kahikatea team

Amber Donovan | amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz
Ella Rainbow | ella.rainbow@beckenham.school.nz
Quynh Nguyen | quynh.nguyen@beckenham.school.nz
Sarah Angelo | sarah.angelo@beckenham.school.nz
Lisa Collier | lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz

Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 2

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Kia ora whānau, 

There has been so much happening in the Kōwhai hub already, and it's only week 2! Here's an update on the latest happenings in Kōwhai over the last two weeks. 

Maths 

All Maths groups in Kōwhai have enjoyed learning about the language of Chance and Probability in their Maths groups. Some of our tamariki were involved in a Probability Carnival held in Pūkaki. 






Writing 

For our Writing this term, we have begun with Procedural Writing, then later in the term we will be moving on to Poetry Writing. You may need to be prepared for them bring home instructions for making Tangy Lemonade, Delicious Pizza, or Fizzy Sherbet!



Athletics Day 

This week, we held our whole school Athletics Day and it was great to see everyone out on the park participating in their various events and disciplines. In the Kōwhai team, all the homegroups had 5 rotations: high jump, long jump, discus, shot put and sprints. It was amazing to see everyone give it a go and doing their very best. Congratulations to you all!









Swimming 

We will be heading off to our Swimming Lessons next week and also in Week 5. Please remind your tamariki to pack their swimming bag with their togs, a towel and goggles, if they have them, on Tuesday. 

Being SunSmart 

It has been great to see so many children remembering to wear their hats at school, especially with all these sunny days we have been experiencing. Please do continue to make sure that your child has a hat at school every day and that it is clearly named. There is always the option of keeping hats at school, either in tote trays or in an allocated hat tub. We also encourage everyone to have sunscreen on. This can be applied before coming to school and we also have sunscreen at school if anyone needs to top up or they forget to put sunscreen on. Thank you so much for your support with this. 

Staying Safe Online: Snapchat and Privacy

Snapchat is a popular messaging app that lets users exchange pictures and videos (snaps) that are meant to disappear after they’re viewed. Many young people love Snapchat but it’s important that they understand how to protect their privacy on the app.


Check out Netsafe’s Privacy on Snapchat page for some helpful information on Snapchat’s features. You can also find out more information about privacy, security and safety on Snapchat’s help centre.



Have a great weekend!