Kahikatea Newsletter Term 2 Week 12

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Kia ora e te whānau


What a busy term we have had settling back into school life after lockdown.  We are very proud of all our wonderful tamariki in the Kahikatea whānau and all the wonderful things they have achieved in their learning. Below are some photos of the activities they have been enjoying as we continue to learn and explore transformation and Matariki this week.











Pōhutakawa Concert
We were invited to watch the Pohutakawa whānau share their singing groups today and really enjoyed all the wonderful songs they performed for us.  





Handwriting with Bounce and Skip

Now that we are settled back into Level 1, Bounce and Skip may make an appearance at your place.  Each home-group has its own special set and our wonderful handwriting monkeys love to spend the night at home with one of our wonderful tamariki.  
Bounce and Skip have the tricky job of watching our daily handwriting carefully and selecting the child they think is focusing on the task and reaching their handwriting goals.  





Learning Conferences
We have really enjoyed having the time with each of you and your tamariki, sharing their learning journey so far, and their next steps with you.  We do appreciate you taking the time to meet with us, and hope that our conferences were able to provide you with some valuable insight into your child's progress and the learning goals we are working towards together.

What's happening in Christchurch over the term break
Below are links to some fun activities or places you may like to visit with your tamariki over the term break:

Tūrangi: Christchurch City Central library
https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/turanga/turanga-whats-on/
Canterbury Museum
https://www.canterburymuseum.com/whats-on/
Christchurch Art Gallery
https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/?section=events&type=family-activity
Free events at Kids Fest 2020
https://www.kidsfest.co.nz/events/?event-type=&location=&event-date=&age=&free-child=1&keyword=


Learning through play Loose Parts
We are looking for donations of the following to support our play-based learning:  
  • Old newspapers and non-glossy magazines
  • Unwanted craft items e.g. wool, string, material scraps
  • Old clean socks 
  • Large suitcases or old chests (for storing dress ups)
  • Boxes for creations (eg biscuit boxes, soap boxes, etc) 
  • Clean plastic milk bottles 
  • Plastic caps (from milk bottles etc) 
  • Old kitchen pots, pans, spoons, etc.

Parent Help
We are looking for some parents to volunteer their help during reading, by playing literacy games or supporting a group on a task, any day between 9.10-10.10 am. 
We also would love some volunteers to put reading books away. Putting reading books away can be done before school or at a time that suits you. If you can help, please email charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz


Thank you
As we head into a 2-week term break, we would like to take the time to thank you for all the kind support you have shown to us over the last 2 terms through all the unexpected changes and interruptions, and for working with us to provide educational support for your fantastic tamariki in their learning both at home and at school.   

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter, Friday 3rd July 2020

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Hooray! The sun is out, and we made it to the end of what has been a very long and quite challenging term! Whilst the first three weeks back after lockdown saw high attendance with very low levels of sickness, the winter coughs, colds, sniffles, sore throats and occasional tummy bug have all been present and challenging both students and staff this last four weeks of term. The rain and cold over the past two weeks just added to that challenge, and Learning Conferences for two evenings this week have meant that teachers have absolutely worked to their capacity and beyond. As a staff, we are all very much looking forward to the first proper break since the Christmas holidays.

The huge rainbow that appeared over the school yesterday, captured by one of our lovely cleaners, Ellen.
This is an important opportunity to acknowledge again, the incredible dedication that our staff all have to our school, our children and their professional responsibilities. During lockdown, they didn't really stop, whilst they learned new digital skills and set up new ways of working to try and keep learning available for all of our children. We would also like to acknowledge the support that we continue to get from you, our parents and whānau, for the challenge that you took on in becoming the teachers during lockdown, and then supporting the different ways that we have needed to operate during the changing Alert Levels.

We do wish you all a very safe, warm and relaxing break over the next two weeks, and we look forward to seeing you on TUESDAY 21st July for the first day of Term 3.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Mon 20 Jul - Staff Only Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
Tue 21 Jul - First Day of Term 3
Thu 23 Jul - Year 6 Caregivers meeting - Kauri Hub
Wed 22 Jul - Y5/6 Zone Basketball, Hillview Christian School
Wed 22 Jul - PTA Meeting 19:30 - 21:30
Thu 23 Jul - Laura Williamson Y3/4 Catch-up Learning Conferences 1:30-5pm
Thu 23 Jul - Year 6 Whānau Evening in the Kauri Hub
Fri 24 Jul - Welcome Assembly 9:15am
Mon 27 Jul - Joe Eccleton, Pri8ncipal, Cashmere High @ Beckenham to talk with Y8 whānau
Mon 3 Aug - PTA Readathon starts
Thu 6 Aug - Board Meeting - All welcome
Wed 12 Aug - Canterbury Cross-Country - Halswell Quarry
Fri 14 Aug - Book Character Day! (Final Readathon day - come dressed as your favourite Book Character.

Term Dates

Click here to view 2020 AND 2021 term dates.

Year 6 Parents and Whānau evening - Thursday 23 July 7-8pm

We are very excited to invite the parents and whānau of our current Year 6 students to come along and visit the Year 7/8 hub on Thursday 23rd July from 7-8pm.
Please do take the opportunity to come and learn about our Year 7/8 programme, and find out from both students and the teachers about what our programme offers your intermediate aged children. 
Find out about how the Year 7/8 team operate, and what 2021 has in store, including camp programme, sport, extension, technology and general learning programmes.

Farewell to a very special friend

Most of our children will be very familiar with 'Beau' who has been our school 'Canine Educator' for the past 5 or 6 years. Beau belonged to Tracy Inwood, and would regularly accompany her to school and participate in learning in the hubs! He was a very gentle, loving and patient dog. 
Sadly, after 16 and a half wonderful years, Beau passed away earlier this week. We know that Beau will be so missed by Tracy and Phil, as we will also miss him, quietly keeping up with Tracy when she comes into school. 


Thank you, Beau, for all the wonderful memories!

ShowQuest - seeking a videographer

For the past two terms, a group of Year 7 and 8 students have been conceptualising and choreographing an entry for ShowQuest. This is usually an on-stage performance but in response to Covid, the organisers have switched to an online video entry. We are wondering if there is anyone in our school community has any experience or expertise that they could contribute to this project. Please, get in touch with Jenny, if you think you could help. The plan is to film early in term 3.

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:

·       Burnside Clinic, 96A Memorial Avenue, Burnside,

·       Hornby Clinic, 2 Hei Hei Road, Hornby,

·       Lincoln Clinic, 35 James Street, Lincoln,

·       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

Sports News

Winter Sport

We are hoping to be able to continue to offer a local winter sport competitive programme with our zone next term on Thursday afternoons. Thank you to the parents who have already offered support with this. For this programme to run, we are in need of adults to manage hockey and football teams for Year 5/6 and 7/8. This is a six-week commitment.

School Cross Country Champions

Year 8 champions - Mia, Lucky and Erik

Year 7 champions - Mila and Jonty

Year 6 champions - Billy and Petra

Year 5 champions - Archie and Jayde

Year 4 champions - Lily and Jack

Year 3 - champions - Kawa and Isla

Zone Cross Country

Monday, was a fantastic day at Halswell Quarry for our zone cross country. Our competitors did our kura proud by showing exceptional perseverance and sportsmanship. It was great to see the way that the children supported each other. A special mention goes to Mia, Jain and Ruby who stayed back at the finish line to cheer every last runner over the finish line.

Congratulations to Jonty Mitchell, who placed 4th in the year 7 race, and Torin Jorgensen, who placed 5th in the year 6 race. Both children will be representing our kura at Canterbury’s in term 3.

Year 7/8 Zone Basketball

Congratulations to our girls’ basketball team who won our zone basketball tournament on Wednesday. 

Community Notices

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

Hola , Kia ora !

Celebrate Argentina Day with us in Riverside Market on Friday 10th of July. Come after work and stay all night long!

Featuring:

- 6pm- Argentinean Street Food from El Quincho
- Live music: El Ristu + Open Mic - El Quincho
-7pm- Social cards games (Truco & Chinchon)
- 7pm- Argie Quizz - Upstairs Cantina
- 8pm- Social Tango - Milonga -upstairs at Cantina
-10pm - Fiesta Argenta at Castro Bar
- Dance until 3am with Argentinean DJ Sofia
-Riverside Market and El Quincho $50 vouchers

- Free Entry

- To make the event safe and comply with COVID 19 regulations, please register your name for the event.

Thank you for sharing this event with your amigos!

Hasta pronto, Gracias!

Denise Lovato

The Big Planting Day Farnley Reserve 

19 July (last Sunday of school holidays), 9am -12pm  81 Eastern Terrace Beckenham
An opportunity for families to get to know your local reserve, plant some plants and meet some of the regular Friends of Farnley volunteers.

Bring your own shovel and gloves if you have one (make sure they are named).  Wear warm clothes, sturdy footwear and bring your own morning tea.


Pōhutukawa Camp Term 4 2020

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Kia ora whānau,

Great news! Planning is underway for our Pōhutukawa Camp at Living Springs. The camp will run for three days and two nights from Wednesday the 25th to Friday the 27th of November, which is in week 7 of Term 4.

The cost of camp is likely to be no more than $180 per child. You can start making contributions for this as soon as you are able to, by setting up a small automatic payment. If you set that up this week, $9.50 per week would ensure that your contribution towards camp was fully paid by the time camp happens. To set up an automatic payment, please copy the school’s bank account number:

12-3148-0131641-00 into your internet banking and use your child’s name and 'Y5/6Camp' as the reference.

We will be needing some parent helpers for the camp, and will be putting out the call for parents who may be interested and available early next term. Next term you will receive more information about the camp, as we firm up the camp programme of activities.

We hope you have a restful and fun filled holiday break.

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 2 Week 12

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Week 12! It's been a long term and everyone is in need of a holiday. We are so impressed with how so many of our learners are maintaining focus and continuing to give of their best. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us during learning conferences. This is a great opportunity to share successes and next steps.

Ski Trip Form

Many thanks to the 35 families who have filled in our ski form. If you have yet to do this, please click this link and fill it in now. We need this information before going to the next step of our preparation.

Sport in Term 3

We would like to continue our winter sport programme on Thursday afternoons next term. In order for this to happen, we need a football and a hockey coach. Please email Jenny if you can help.

Over the past two years, we have taken part in Koru Games, a South Island sports tournament for Year 7 & 8s. This competition takes place in the Selwyn District from Sept 12 - 15. Before we decide which teams to enter, we thought we should start by seeing which sports you could support us with. Please click on this link to see what is involved and let us know if you can help. 

Evening for Year 8 Whānau attending Cashmere High in 2021

Joe Eccleton, the principal of Cashmere High will be at school on Monday, July 27th, between 6 and 7pm, to talk with families and children planning to attend CHS in 2021. Please mark this date in your calendars.

ShowQuest - seeking a videographer and some sewers

For the past two terms, a group of Year 7 and 8 students have been conceptualising and choreographing an entry for ShowQuest. This is usually an on-stage performance but in response to Covid, the organisers have switched to an online video entry. We are wondering if there is anyone in our school community who has any experience or expertise that they could contribute to this project. We would like to hear from people with knowledge in filming, editing, or sewing. Please, get in touch with Jenny, if you think you could help. The plan is to film early in term 3.

Pōhutukawa News Term 2 Week 12

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Kia ora whānau,

What a busy term we have had! 

Winter Sport
We've been very unlucky with the weather this term for winter sport. Thanks to all of you who put your names forward to help with winter sport development and competitive teams. We are continuing next term on Thursdays - if you are unavailable to help next term please let us know, otherwise we look forward to working alongside you again in term three. 


Learning Conferences
Thanks so much for booking in for the learning conferences. We are looking forward to supporting all our learners to share their learning with you.  The weeks since returning to school after the Rāhui have flown by. Below is some information on what we have been up to.

In recent weeks, our focus  at writing time has been on identifying, understanding the grammatical structure of and creating simple, compound and complex sentences. The children have been  self assessing their writing skills in this context and will share more with you about this at the learning conferences this week.

A large amount of time and focus has been directed at the area of place value in mathematics. Place value is an area of the mathematics curriculum that will be covered every academic year through primary and secondary school, with a view to building upon previous knowledge. An understanding of place value forms the basis of many areas of mathematical understanding. Initially the focus might be on place value columns and reading numbers accurately, then it develops to being able to quickly identify the number of tens, hundreds, thousands and so on in numbers, in conjunction with using place value knowledge and understanding to manipulate numbers in addition and subtraction calculations, for example.

Another area of focus in mathematics this term has been tracking both reasoning and recall ability in relation to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. The children have done a great job of assessing their abilities in this area, and setting some goals for future focus. They will be sharing this with you at their learning conferences, and we will have some work that you can continue at home to support our learners in achieving these goals. Rob has created a brief video below to help you to understand the tracker system that we are using. The children are experts at this, so they will also be able to help!