Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter August 21st 2020

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Consultation on our next steps...

Thank you so much to the whānau who attended one of our two 'Community Conversation' sessions this week, to input your ideas and contribute to our way forward. 
If you did not get the chance to attend, there are still two opportunities to share your ideas.
One is by responding to this survey where you will find the questions we discussed at the conversations meetings.
The other is to come along to the Whānau Rōpū Hui, now rescheduled for  Wednesday 2nd September from 5:30pm - 7pm.
We have also sent an email today to caregivers of our 2019 Year 8 students, inviting them to come and give feedback on Thursday 27th August from 3:45pm

New Learning Spaces to be built

The Ministry of Education has advised us that we have qualified for two new learning spaces, to replace the Hangere block, that runs adjacent to the Treemendous area and parallel to Eastern Terrace. In this instance, the particular building design has been pre-determined by the Ministry, and we will work with them to ensure that the interior fit-out meets our teaching and learning needs. We have been advised that the demolition of the current block is likely to begin after this school year finishes, with completion ready for the start of Term 2 2021.

Staff Only Days - Monday 31 August & Monday 12 October

Please ensure that you add these dates to your calendar. We have received feedback from some whānau that the first day of term is not their preference for Staff Only Days and we will take this into consideration when planning these dates next year.

Ngā mihi nui 
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Sat 22 Aug - Quiz Night - Hall
Wed 26 Aug - PTA Meeting, 7:30pm - All welcome.
Thu 27 Aug - Past Y9 students afternoon tea and consultation 3:45pm 
Fri 28 Aug - Kauri Ski Trip BUS DEPARTS 6am
Mon 31 Aug - Staff only day.  SCHOOL CLOSED                                                                        
Wed 2 Sep - Whānau Rōpū Hui  5:30 - 7pm
Fri 4 Sep - Wacky Wig and Hair Day - gold coin donation please
Thu 10 Sep - BOT Meeting - Staffroom 5:30pm, All welcome

Term Dates

Citizen of the Week

Jain Cooper - Year 8

Jain, you are a stunning member of our team. You show a love of learning by putting a focused effort into your learning tasks. Jain, you are so reliable in the way you carry out leadership responsibilities. You demonstrate grit and teamwork on the sports field and you make us laugh every day with your dry sense of humour. 

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.

Better Beckenham Project

Over the next six months, our students from our kura will be involved in a special project - the Better Beckenham Project. The project is part of the NZTA (New Zealand Transport Association) Innovating Streets Fund.  It is designed to help communities retrofit streets to reduce vehicle speeds and create more space for people.  This could be anything from pop-up community-led street events to pilot a new walking or cycling facility, to a low-traffic neighbourhood to re-allocating more street space for people to connect with each other.  One part of the project will be designing and making benches to be placed around the river for people to sit on and enjoy the surroundings. 

This Sunday 23 August, from 10:00, at the St Saviours building at 200 Colombo Street, a group from the Cashmere New Life Church is going to deconstruct some palettes and start to prep the wood for these park benches. Anyone is welcome to join in the fun! There will also be a working bee on this project in 2 weeks time - we will keep you posted.

A new Student???


Who is this who has arrived at Beckenham? Ask your child if they know anything about him/her... Watch this space for more news

Student Council Event

The student council are excited to announce that Wacky Hair Day will be happening on Friday, 4th September, in support of the Child Cancer Foundation.


Dress up your head with your favourite hat, wacky hairdo, or wig, and bring along a gold coin in support of the Child Cancer Foundation.

Board of Trustees 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

by: 12noon, 17 September 2020.

Sports News

Canterbury Schools Orienteering Festival 

Are you interested in taking part in the Canterbury Schools Orienteering Festival taking part on the weekend of 12/13 of September. The competition is open to all school children. You can compete individually or in pairs or teams. Courses to suit all range of abilities. Beginners welcome.  Contact Sarah Wright on tandswright@xtra.co.nz for more information.
More details on the competition can be found on the website http://papo.org.nz/

Community Notices

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





Cheese Rolls, Toilet Paper, Paper Towels and a Bike

 Kauri Whānau are in the midst of fundraising for our camp. We would love your support for the following.


Cheese Rolls - delicious! Orders closing next Wednesday. Click here for details and to order.


Toilet paper and paper towel sales have been extended. This is a great way to stock up on the essentials. Click here for details and to order.


Bike Raffle. This raffle is being draw on Saturday night. Click here to order your tickets.


Hamper Raffles. Tomorrow, before and after school, tickets for our hamper raffles will be on sale outside school on Sandwich Road and on the park. These hampers are packed with lots of lovely treats. Buy your $2 ticket and be in to win. Raffles will all be drawn this Saturday night.

Many thanks for your support.

Winter Sport at Level 2

 We are following Sport Canterbury's lead on our decision around winter sport for the remaining two weeks. Secondary school sport has resumed with no spectators and contact tracing.


We have been in consultation with the other schools in our zone and we feel confident that we can go ahead with this week's games. We have existing systems in place that will enable us to easily identify who was where should the need for contact tracing arise. We ask that you refrain from spectating this Thursday's game. 

Kauri Whānau: Week 5 extra messages!

 I clicked that post button too soon! 

Sport

We are following Sport Canterbury's lead on our decision around winter sport for the remaining two weeks. Secondary school sport has resumed with no spectators and contact tracing.

We have been in consultation with the other schools in our zone and we feel confident that we can go ahead with this week's games. We have existing systems in place that will enable us to easily identify who was where should the need for contact tracing arise. We ask that you refrain from spectating this Thursday's game. 

It is important that all children bring water bottles, as well as their usual sports uniform, mouthguard and shin pads as appropriate. Drink fountains are currently out of action. 

Speech Competition

The children will be delivering their story telling speeches to home-groups this Thursday and Friday. Please encourage your child to be practising at home.  The hub finals will be next Wednesday morning, starting at 11am. Parents of finalists are welcome to come and watch. We will have socially distanced seats at the back of the hall and you will need to sign in at the office as usual. 

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 5

In this blogpost:

  • Fundraising Update
  • Ski Trip Update 
  • Maths
  • Self Defence

Quiz Night: 

A huge thanks to those who sent in items for our hamper raffle. Hampers have been put together and ticket sales are underway before and after school. Thanks to the 20 people who have offered to provide a plate of food for the supper. Liz will be in touch soon, via email, with instructions for dropping these off on Saturday.

Cheese Rolls: 

Orders are trickling in for cheese rolls. These close next Wednesday. Please click here if you are yet to order yours, or order on the paper form that went home last week and post the order in the box that is at the office.

Bike raffle:

The bike raffle will be drawn at the quiz night. If you have yet to get your tickets, you can buy these online.

Toilet Paper and Paper Towels:

We have extended this fundraiser as there are some delays with delivery. Please click here if you would still like to order some toilet paper and paper towels.

Ski Trip:

Apologies for confusing you with the wrong date on the ski contract form. Our trip is on August 28th. Many thanks for those who have returned this ski contract. If you have yet to get yours back, please get it signed and back to school. 

After speaking with Mt Hutt yesterday, we have had to change our departure times to fit in with their ski instructor availability. We will now all be leaving at 6am. Yes, that is a very early start, but it will ensure that we can all make the most of our day in the mountains. 


Please check last week's post for the list of what each child will need. I have nearly finishing matching children up with clothing. We are short on some sizes. If we are unable to help your child, you could check out Snowmania.

Maths Home Learning and Guest speakers:

On Monday we posted a presentation with ideas for Cantamath projects on google classroom. After Wednesday all children will have talked about what Cantamath projects entail and will have been given a notice with the entry options on it to take home. This is a home learning activity for the next three weeks. We are more than happy to support your child with ideas, they just need to ask one of us. By this Friday every child should have decided what to do and be underway with their project. Projects are due in on Friday September 14th.

On Monday and again on Wednesday we have had Alex, a maths professor from Canty Uni who is currently working  on the Govt National Response Committee for Covid-19, working with our team.  Alex talked about how being a mathematician is a rewarding career pathway. She went on to run a number of practical probability activities that gave a very good insight into how Covid-19 spreads and how mathematical modelling can predict the spread of the virus. 





Self Defence

Every year we work with Lynda Maindonald from the Girls' Self Defence Project, who spends 8 hours with our Year 8 girls teaching them self defence skills. This is a NZ wide project that was set up by the Crime Prevention Unit 20 years ago. These sessions start on Sept 4th. From time to time our boys ask why they cannot be involved in these lessons. This project was set up in response to crime statistics that clearly showed it was our female population who most needed self-defence skills and education.