Principal's Patch
Kia ora koutou
Getting outdoors for Learning
The wonderful weather this week has supported some great learning opportunities outside the buildings.
On Monday, everyone took part in a "Māori Language Moment" in support of Māori language week. Some hubs went outside to the park, and learned a counting game, whilst the Year 7/8 team played a game using rakau, and others sang waiata.
On Monday, in place of the cancelled Koru Games, some senior students participated in a local volleyball tournament at Hillview Christian School. A number of our students stood out for their excellent sportsmanship. On Wednesday, also in place of the cancelled Koru Games, some senior student had the opportunity to engage with a local tournament against St Martins School on Beckenham Park in football, touch, and ultimate frisbee.
Caring for our local environment - Ngā Pūroto (the ponds)
Building on the work of our Healthy Ōpāwho ambassadors (Anna, Cleo and Ben), the students from the Pōhutukawa Team took part in a planting project around the Beckenham Ponds on Wednesday this week. They were supported by parent helpers, and Sampson Karst from our Board who talked with the children about the role that the importance of 'Kaitiakitanga' - being caretakers of our land and living creatures. A huge thanks to Sally Airey and Heidi Wilton, and their colleagues from CCC who organised this planting and worked to teach the children about the ponds, the plants and the legacy that this planting will leave for our wider community and the ponds ecosystem. Sally emailed this following the event:
Thanks so much for your mahi today, it was a great morning. We planted about 295 plants- a large area of swampy ground that will grow strong plants and in time grow a forest that will support the ponds to be a healthy habitat for our native fish, insects and birds. I was impressed with the care the tamariki made with their planting and lovely to see Anna and Cleo mentoring other students with their planting.
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki
Important Dates
Citizen of the Week
Freya Braun - Year 6
Freya you demonstrate a friendly, positive attitude to all that you do. You are outstanding in the area of sportsmanship. Your bubbly personality brings happiness to those around you. You are a great friend and lead by example to your peers. Keep up the great work!
Erik Cassels-Brown - Year 8
Erik, you are an energetic and enthusiastic member of the Kauri hub. You are eager to learn and give 110% on the sports field. Erik, we appreciate your personable nature and you often make us laugh with your awesome sense of humour. Tino pai!
School Notices
BOSCO Holiday Programme
Bookings are now OPEN for the October Holiday Programme. We have some exciting outings planned such as visiting Christchurch Gymnastics, Orana Park & Margaret Mahy Playground. Cheapskate Skateskool will also visit us with all their exciting activities. We have a Survivor day, athletics and a dance day planned for our “home days” to include lots of fun and sports to make the most of the beautiful days we know October brings. If you are interested in sending your kids to BOSCO and not miss out on any of these adventures, head over to our website
http://www.bosco.org.nz/ to make a booking using Aimy Plus, or contact Juanita at supervisor@bosco.org.nz. We can’t wait to see you there!
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A BOSCO trip out to Orana Park
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BOSCO also available on Teacher Only Day 12th October 2020
Teacher Only Day on Monday, 12th October - bookings are now open. We have a game of T-ball planned , the craft is making a foam ball octopus and our baking craft for the day will be yummy rice bubble marshmallow slices.
Use the following link to book your place:
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.
Registrations are now open for the 2020/2021 Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kid TRYathlon Series!
The world’s largest kids TRYathlon series is back. Open to kiwi kids aged 7-15 years of all sporting abilities, the Sanitarium Weet-Bix kids TRYathlon is a fun day out for the whole family. Swim, bike and run your way to the finish line as an individual or in a team of two, and receive your very own gold medal from top Kiwi sporting stars. Go on give it a TRY!
Be sure to link your entry to the Beckenham Te Kura o Puroto School Group- the school with the most entries can win LOADS of prizes!!
Sunday 28th February 2021, Jellie Park Burnside
Term 4 - HATS
As is our usual practice, hats are compulsory in Term 4 for all outdoor play and exercise. Please take a moment over the upcoming holidays to ensure your child has a suitable red or black hat for use at school. Caps do not provide adequate sun protection and are not part of the school uniform. Please name your child's hat clearly.
We no longer sell hats at the school office. Bucket style hats or wide brimmed hats are available from our uniform supplier, Mainland Uniforms at 189 Peterborough Street.
COVID-19 Testing for Pacific people:
The Pasifika Health Collective have asked us to share their contacts and the information about COVID-19 testing. This message is for our Pasifika families:
Testing for COVID-19 is IMPORTANT and the Pasifika Health Collective are encouraging Pacific people to get a COVID-19 test.
WHO can get tested?
- ALL PACIFIC PEOPLE
- regardless of whether you have flu-like symptoms or not
- regardless of your visa status
WHERE can I get tested?
- At your GP
- At Etu Pasifika, 173 Montreal St, 0800 388727
- Community Based Testing Centres (CBACs) at:
- Orchard Road CBAC: 174 Orchard Road: 9am – 4pm, 7 days a week
- Whanau Ora Community Clinic CBAC: 250 Pages Road, Wainoni: 9am-4pm, 7 days a week
- Ashburton Hospital CBAC: 28 Elizabeth St, Ashburton, 10am-2pm Tues, Thurs, Sat
How much does a test COST?
All tests are FREE except if travelling overseas
Pacific Health Collective contacts:
Focal point: Amanaki Misa
0800 388 727 or (03) 3611002
Pegasus Health
Focal point: Maria Pasene
(03) 353 0216 or 021 222 6417
maria.pasene@pegasus.org.nz
Sports News
Canterbury Schools Orienteering Festival
Congratulations to Torun, Anna, Stella, Claudia, Fergus, Zoe, Archie, Pippa, Feyja, James, Laura, Ben and Tisha who took part in the Canterbury Schools Orienteering Competition last weekend.
Day 1 saw the competitors sprinting around Hagley Park and day 2 competitors tackled longer and harder courses at Halswell Quarry. Our team had a range of experience, for some it was their first time doing orienteering. It was great to see children from our school in year 1 all the way to year 7 competing.
All children had fun and learnt lots from the experience. Congratulations to the year 6 and under girls who took out first place in their grade.
Volleyball Tournament
Three teams competed at a volleyball tournament organised and hosted by Hillview Christian School on Tuesday. The teams had been training to go to Koru Games this week so this was a welcome opportunity to participate in some competitive games. For some, this was an opportunity to further their skills and experience in volleyball, while others were new to the sport this season. It was great to see technique and confidence grow with every game. There were lots of close and exciting games and wonderful sportsmanship was shown by all.
On Wednesday, St Martins joined us on Beckenham Park for some friendly games of ultimate frisbee, football and touch. This was another example of some children following their passion and others trying a new sport for the first time.
A huge thank you to Brett, Nicola, Anna and Simon who supported and managed teams this week in these two events.
PTA News
It is Calendar Art time! The kids (and teachers) have been busy creating some wonderful art again this year.
Please look out for the personalized orders forms with your child’s unique code. Log into the Kids ArtWork website, and follow the prompts to view and order your kids' arts. You can order Calendars, Diaries, Mouse Pads, Notes Books and Cards. Orders close Monday 28th September.
BOT Update
Notice of adoption of new Home Zone for the school Enrolment Scheme
You will have received formal notification of this change in your email earlier this week.
For clarification, if your child is already attending Beckenham, and this change makes your residence out of our zone, NOTHING CHANGES for your child. They are already enrolled and can continue attending. If you have a child at the school already, and they have younger siblings who will be starting here after 1 January 2021 and your address has been made 'out of zone' because of the change, your other children can also enrol and attend Beckenham, because of the 'transitional arrangements' described in the documentation.
However, if you leave, and another family move into your home, their children will NOT be able to attend Beckenham as 'in zone' students.
If you have any questions about the impact of these changes on your family/address, please don't hesitate to get in touch by emailing Sandy directly -
principal@beckenham.school.nzSchool Board of Trustee Mid Term Elections 2020
Nomination round
Our school will be undertaking Mid Term Elections for our Board of Trustees this year. This process will start with the issuing of nomination papers to our caregiver in our community by Friday 9th October 2020.
The Board of Trustees has again employed CES to undertake the election process on our behalf. This year with legislative change, our nomination forms and full instruction on how to place your nomination into our own School’s Election website will be e-mailed to you by Friday 9th October 2020.
For those that do not have access to the internet, nomination papers will be available at the school office and those nomination papers should be returned to the school office. The school will send those on to CES for processing.
Nominations close on Sunday 1st November 2020 at 12 noon.
We look forward to your participation in this process.
Wayne Jamieson
Returning Officer
Community Notices
(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)
