Kōwhai News Wk7 T3

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Hi everyone,

We have had a busy couple of weeks with some fantastic learning happening across the hub.
Yesterday saw us having the auditions for the school talent quest which is being held in the last week of the term. We were so impressed with how many children expressed an interest in participating in this event.
The finalists have now been chosen for the school talent quest and they are:

  • George, Will, Harvey, Quinn, Fergus and Tahere performing the Duck Song
  • Emma Vaile, Lilian and Alyssa performing a gymnastics routine
  • Xanthe, Ella Thomas, Keira Ryder, Isla Chapman, Layla McCallum, Bailee Green and Briar performing "Hall of Fame" through dance and singing

Congratulations to all those who took part, displaying our school values, 'We love challenge', 'We make a difference' and 'We get there together'.

Discovery
Each morning we begin with our Discovery programme. This time provides the children with the opportunity to explore wonderings and curiosities. This week, there have been many children challenging themselves with new learning, from learning how to braid, creating 3D shapes with cardboard, drawing, building intricate models with Lego and even completing engineering challenges.
This time allows the children to problem solve, work alongside each other and to acquire new skills in the process. Here are some of the children in action:



 Gymnastics
This week we have begun our gymnastics unit. Each Monday afternoon, the children participate in a variety of gymnastics activities. We are wanting the children to develop their balance, coordination, rotation and the ability to perform a sequence of movements with control.







Literacy / Inquiry
As part of our Inquiry learning into sustainability, the children in Paulette and Anna's literacy group are going to be creating tracking tunnels as a way of identifying some of the animals that are inhabiting our school grounds. We would love to have any plastic bottles (milk/soft drink), plastic card, heavy cardboard, plastic sheeting (plastic drop cloths, PVC sheets), sponges, peanut butter, wood, cardboard boxes that could be used to construct a tracking tunnel.
The children will analyse the data they collect and use this to make any changes to ensure our school environment is sustainable for all wildlife.

Conservation Week
Next week is Keep NZ beautiful week. As a school, we are having a focus on the school surroundings and have been given an area to keep clean for the week. In our team, we are also going to be looking at our waste production and our goal is to reduce the amount of waste that we create each week. We are going to see if having smaller rubbish bins will help us to make less waste. You might like to take this time to see if there are any small changes that you might be able to make as a family. It has been great to see so many children using the wax wraps that are being sold by the PTA.

Pioneer Miniball
At this stage, we will only be able to enter in 2 teams to the Pioneer Miniball competition which is held after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you are keen/able to coach, please let Paulette know ASAP so we know the number of teams that we can enter. Later this coming week, an email will be sent out with all the information about how to enter your child.

Parent Help - Reading
We would still love the help of another 2 parents to listen to children read each week. If you are able to help out, then we would LOVE to hear from you. This only needs to be for 1/2 an hour and it can be at any time of the day! Please email or see your home group teacher if you can help out.

Donations
We would love to have some donations of cups, saucers, plates, blankets, sheets, pegs or old toys ( they can be broken) for use at discovery time.
We will have a box in the hub and one in the office for you to put them in. The children will love using these for their learning.

Well, that's all for this week.
Kowhai Teaching Team








Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 7

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Te Whānau Mahi Tahi

Those of us sitting in the audience of Horncastle arena on Monday night were filled with pride as we watched our senior kapa haka group, Te Whānau Mahi Tahi, perform. Their confidence, purity of sound, skill and professionalism, resulted in a stunning performance.














Sustainability

This afternoon we welcomed Peter Wells into our hub. He talked with us about the Food Resilience Network in Christchurch, and more specifically the Ōtākaro Orchard in the centre of town. Hearing about what is being developed and how this will flourish and provide sustenance in the near future, was very exciting. We feel a field trip coming on ... more details on this soon.







Sports News

Kiwi Volleyball Year 7/8 League:

To continue our new found love of volleyball, we have entered a school team into the Kiwi Volleyball League in Term 4. Sessions are held on Wednesdays between 4 and 6pm at Hillview Christian School and contain a coaching and game component. Children will have the chance to express their interest from tomorrow at school and a team of 6 will be selected. This will run very similar to the Pioneer Basketball League in that families will need to arrange their own transport to and from Hillview. If this is something that your child is interested in, please have a conversation about how it fits with any other after school commitments they have. A condition of this team entry is that we have a parent who can act as manager and accompany the team. Please email Jenny if you are able to act as manager.

The two teams that are competing in the Koru Games in week 9 are underway with their training and very excited for the upcoming challenge of a three day tournament.

Winter Sport Results:

Congratulations to the following teams
  • Football
    • Beckenham Bandits - A Grade - 3rd Place
  • Netball
    • Beckenham Bluebirds - B Grade - 3rd Place
    • Beckenham Bullets - G grade - 3rd equal
Mountain Biking Passion:

We are still looking for more adult help to support us with running a mountain bike passion in Term 4. Please email Jenny if you would like to know more or if you can offer assistance about this.

Basketball:

Our basketball season has come to a close this week. The children have had a ball and developed in skill and confidence throughout the season. It was always great to have a good turnout of parent support at each game. A special thanks to Cory for his coaching of the Friday team. 

Cantamath Results:

We received the official Cantamath display competition results today. Certificates and badges will be presented later in the week.
Highly Commended: Paolo, Connor, Nadia, Frankie, Charlotte Grey, Helena, Olivia K, Vienna, Tilly, Hannah, Jordan, Bonnie, Jenny's class project and Nicky's class project
Excellence: Morvern, Maddi M, Daniel S, Jack, Lucy, Ben, Charlotte T, Santiago, Marlonique, Kaden, Arran and Hannah's class project
That is one pretty impressive haul of awards! Well done everyone.

Art Week:

Next week we will be having a focus on visual art, with an hour of art each day. Children will choose from three options, with pictures being created for calendars etc. We will be explaining options and taking choices on Friday.

Readathon:

The Readathon is now over and it is time to collect sponsorship money. Please get this in to the school office, ASAP.

Those who love to dress up, relished the opportunity during book character day last Friday.















Week 6/7 in Pōhutukawa

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Winter Sports

Winter sports finished last week, and we would like to say an enormous thank you to the parents who have helped us out by coaching teams. Thank you to Brett, Anna, Belinda and Kerryn for giving up your time to help us with our tamariki. Without your help we wouldn't have been able to enter the maximum number of teams in the Hagley Park competition. If your child played in a winter sports team, could you please send the washed uniform back to school, to be returned to the green bin in the Kauri hub.


Named clothing and lunch boxes

We constantly have a stream of left behind sweat shirts, polar fleeces and lunch containers. The teachers are getting very good at matching lost items with bewildered children! To help the children identify their belongings it would be very helpful if they were clearly labelled with their names.
Image result for lunch boxes

Readathon

This week has been book week and we have had a number of special events going on. The book fair has been running in the Green Room before and after school every day this week, and we have seen a number of children excitedly bringing in new books to share. The teachers have gone to a different class after morning tea and read a picture book. The children and teachers have enjoyed a change of scenery! Hopefully the children have been hitting their target of reading for 30 minutes a night. Research tells us that regular reading improves comprehension, increases vocabulary and is good for the imagination! It's also fun! Thank you for your support of your children with their reading at home. Readathon cards and money are due back to school on Friday 7 September. Book week  culminated in a dress up day! How exciting. Some children were unrecognizable in their book character costumes. There must have been some early risers on Friday! What a fabulous effort was made by so many children!






Cultural Festival

Te Whānau Mahi Tahi is off on Monday afternoon to Horncastle Arena for a rehearsal. Their performance at the Christchurch Primary Schools Cultural Festival is on Monday night and we know that they will wow the audience with their passion and beautiful singing. Kia kaha!

Writing

The teachers are in the process of printing off the fabulous poetry anthologies which the majority of the students finished last week. The students are very proud of what they have achieved and are surprised at how many different poetry types there are. We are making each student their own book by printing off their slideshow in colour, inserting a protective cover and binding it with a spine. This will mean the children will be able to take their anthology home to keep. To help us cover this cost we are asking for a donation of $3, which will be listed on your school account. If you are particularly impressed with your child's anthology (and we're sure you will be!), you may want to consider using an online publisher like Snapfish to publish the anthology in a professional way. What a great Christmas present for relatives!

We are beginning speech writing on Monday. The students have three choices of speech to write. They can entertain (tell a story), inform (teach us about something) or persuade (get us to agree with their point of view). It would be great if there was some discussion about topics at the dinner table to ignite your child.

Pitch Perfect Choir

The Pohutukawa Pitch Perfect choir will be attending the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival massed rehearsal on the morning of Monday 10 September. We will be back at school by lunchtime. The choir has worked very hard to learn a repertoire of songs, and we are very much looking forward to performing at The Horncastle Arena on the evening of  Friday 26 October. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketek.



Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter August 31 2018

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

What a fabulous week Book Week has been! Thank you so much to all the whānau who have supported the children with their Readathon fundraising and reading goals, with being so creative about costumes and ideas for Book Character Day today, and for taking time to visit the Book Fair.


We had a very noisy and fun Celebration Assembly today. It felt like we had double the number of people in there - each person in costume bringing their 'alter-ego' to assembly. Clearly the alter-egos never go to assembly and had lots of 'getting to know one another' to do!

School Closed Monday 26th November.
Our final staff only day for the year has been confirmed for Monday 26th November. This day has been allowed for from the start of the year, with the actual date to be confirmed.
School will be closed that day. 

Term Dates for 2019

These have now been confirmed. Please put them into your diary!
Check the school website for more details 

Term 1: Thu 31 Jan to Fri 12 Apr
NB: Learning Conferences all day Thursday 31 January and Friday 1 February. Supervision will be provided for families who need it. Classes start Monday 4 February.
Waitangi Day  Wed 6th February
Note that Easter holidays and ANZAC Day all fall during the April holidays in 2019

Term 2: Mon 29 Apr to Fri 5 Jul
Queen's Birthday Mon 3 Jun
Includes one Staff Only Day, date to be advised

Term 3: Mon 22 Jul to Friday 27 Sep
Includes one Staff Only Day, date to be advised

Term 4: Mon 14 Oct to Thu 19 Dec

Welcome to Tyson Grinham from Adelaide

On Wednesday morning next week (5th September) at 9:10am we will be welcoming Tyson to our school with a mihi whakatu. This will conclude by 9:30am. Parents are very welcome to attend. Tyson hosted me at Lockleys North Primary School in Adelaide for four weeks at the start of this term and now we get to show manaakitanga back to him.

Cultural Festival - this coming Monday evening

A big shout out to Sherrilee and our senior kapa haka group, Te Whānau Mahi Tahi, who we know will be amazing ambassadors for our school at the Christchurch Schools Cultural Festival this coming Monday evening at Horncastle Arena.

Ngā mihi
Sandy Hastings
Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Mon 3 Sep - Cultural Festival at the Horncastle Arena
Wed 5 Sep - Aerobics, hip hop and dance competition at Hornby High School  - yrs 5-8
Fri 7 Sep - Final day for Readathon cards to be returned to school
Mon 10 Sep - Pohutukawa Pitch Perfect choir rehearsal at Avonhead school
Tue 11 Sep - Cashmere High School Year 8 Testing at Cashmere High.  9am - 12pm
Tue 11 Sep - Zone Speech Competition - held at Beckenham in the hall. 6-8pm
Fri 14 Sep - Celebration Assembly 10:50 - 11:20am.  All Welcome

Term Dates

Click here to view 2018 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Jack Kelly - Year 6

Jack, you are a kind and caring friend, who entertains many with your jokes and witty humour. You are knowledgeable about a range of subjects, and love nothing more than getting your teeth stuck into research and learning. It has been fabulous to see you improve your self-management skills this year. What a charming and thoughtful young man you are! Keep shining Jack!

Freya Pratt - Year 8

Freya, we love the sparkle that you bring to Kauri Whānau. As a confident, caring and reliable Year 8, you consistently model our school values. You know when to laugh and entertain, and when to get down to focused work. Thank you for the initiative you offer and for being one of our regular, enthusiastic volunteers. You make our hub a safe and welcoming place. Tino pai Freya.

School Notices

Traffic Survey for Beckenham Area

The University of Canterbury is working with the community to find opinions on traffic safety on the way to school in the Beckenham area, especially around Tennyson St. Please take the time to complete the following survey, it should take no more than ten minutes.
https://app.maptionnaire.com/en/4748

Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week 

Exciting news - Beckenham Te Kura O Pūroto is taking part in Keep NZ Beautiful week! Each team will complete a daily litter pick up of our grounds and park during week 8. We will be learning about our role as kaitiaki of our grounds and river.  Stay watching for photos of our efforts.


Sports News

How does participating in winter sport demonstrate our school values?

Every Friday for the past 14 weeks, Year 5-8 students have had the option of participating in one of the following sports: netball, rugby, hockey, and football. Games are held at Hagley Park against other teams from a wide variety of Christchurch Schools

Participating in winter sport is a good way to get weekly exercise. It’s also a great way to get out of the classroom and have some fun!  Recently, we have participated in the Winter Tournament. This was an excellent challenge that we took on. We all gave it a try, which was great to see.

This is how we put our values into action...

We Care - By cheering on teammates and showing good sportsmanship.
We love learning - By learning new sporting skills.
We get there together - By turning up to practices and being a good teammate.
We make a difference - By supporting other age groups through coaching and volunteering to help out.
We love challenge - By competing against other schools, facing the hardest challenges and not giving up.
                           
We all had heaps of fun and are excited for winter sport next year. Thanks for the great season and thank you to all the coaches for all their time and effort. We really appreciated it.

Written by Bella Reddecliffe & Tilly Harris

Congratulations to...

Tilly Harris for being awarded a Sports Scholarship to Cashmere High School. Congratulations Tilly - this is wonderful acknowledgement of your contribution and participation in a range of sports at a very high level.

Charlotte Gray for having been successful in auditioning for the RNZB The Nutcracker end of November! Over 600 children across the country were auditioned and only a select few have been chosen at each centre to perform.

Strum, Strike, Blow ukulele players for the fabulous concert you and the other 1200 children from around Christchurch put on on Wednesday evening this week at the Horncastle Arena

Year 5/6 Rugby Team for finishing top of the league table at Winter Sport. 

Year 7/8 Ski Team for achieving 3rd place in the Primary and Intermediate School’s Ski Race at Mount Cheeseman. There was some very speedy skiing done by Freddie Winsor, Boyd Goldsbury, Winni Goldsbury, Paolo Reid, Ben Evans and Lena Rybaltovszki.


All Winter Sport Teams for the dedication you have displayed throughout the season. Many coaches have commented on the improvement made by their team over the duration of the 14 weeks that weekly sport runs. We are very grateful to the adults who coached, supported and managed a team; the children have gained a lot from working with you.

PTA News

READ-A-THON 2018

We hope you have been travelling off to some far off amazing places through the pages of your chosen book/s and having some incredible journeys.  Don’t forget you have till the end of this weekend to complete your reading target and start returning cards from Monday!
From Monday 3rd September, please return your cards and money to reception.
Remember plenty of prizes to enjoy.


Hollywood Quiz

See you at the HOLLYWOOD QUIZ (https://www.facebook.com/events/723059334691904/) this Saturday- we would like to encourage you all to grab a “WALKING BUS” to our event. And IF you do have to bring the car, your designated driver will receive juice/fizz all night FOC.
Thanks to all those that are attending, we SOLD OUT.
With so many amazing prizes are up for grabs (https://www.facebook.com/pg/ptabeckenhamschool/photos/?tab=album&album_id=712425929101186 ), a Fathers’ Day raffle, 2 exciting LIVE Auctions, 4 Mystery Bags & the return of an old favourite, the Blue Summit Construction COIN SLIDE guarantees you a night of FUN with a capital F (R18 event)
Doors open at 7pm
Bar & Eftpos available-NO BYO please.
Supper & Nibbles provided
Who will have the most “Star Appeal” & win an Oscar for 'Top Hollywood Quiz Team 2018'??


Community Notices

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

Smarttouch 2018


We welcome your entries into the term 4 smarttouch rugby competition run down at Waltham Park. Entries close Friday 28th September. See the attached flyer for dates, times and costs.

Steps to register:

Get a team organised and appoint a team manager and coach.
Enter online using the URL address www.sporty.co.nz/smarttouch
On the Smarttouch home page fill out the touch team manager sign up form and submit it.
You will then receive an email giving you the link to enter your player details.
Remember the competition is social MIXED and you need to have a minimum of 3 girls on the field at a time. Grades: Year 0-2, Year 3-4, Year 5-6, and Year 7-8.

We are all looking forward to a great season,
From the Smarttouch Team.





Mr Science and friends put on a WOW Show! Fun and Educational!

Sensational science demonstrations on stage, audience participation, fun for all ages.
Join us on a magical journey exploring the excitement of FLYING, FLOATING, GLIDING, and SHOOTING!
Mr Science (Sterling Cathman) is a specialist primary science teacher and has been working with kids and teachers for the past 10 years in schools around NZ.
Tickets
www.MrScience.co.nz   or https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2018/mr-science-magical-science-tour/christchurch


Rise for Climate

Trees for Climate Rally.  Pick up a Tree, Plant a Tree Sat 8 September 1-3pm at Victoria Square.
Gold coin koha for your own seedlings to plant where you want, or join our City Council organised planting team and choose seedlings to plant in Grampian Park on 15 Sept.  facebook - 350 Christchurch.

Kauri Whānau: Weekly Update Term 3 Week 6

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Lots to celebrate this week and a few important messages.

Te Whānau Mahi Tahi


Our senior kapa haka group are looking forward to their performance at the Cultural Festival on Monday evening. A reminder that these children have a rehearsal at Horncastle Arena on Monday afternoon. They will be leaving school at 2pm and the bus will return between 3:45 and 4pm.

Headphones at school


This week we will be encouraging a number of children to upload a google extension, ReadWrite, to support their learning in writing. This extension reads text, that the child has written, back to the child. It pauses for punctuation. By using this extension children will be able to pick up sense and punctuation errors in their writing more readily. In order to use this, headphones (or ear buds) are required. Please remind your child to have these with them at school.

Speech Competition


We had a very exciting and entertaining speech final at school on Monday afternoon. A huge well done to everyone who took part. The English teachers from Cashmere High, who judged the competition, were very impressed with children's enthusiasm and talent for public speaking. A special congratulations go out to Vienna and Lily who won their competitions. These girls will go on to the South Speech competition on Tuesday September 11, starting at 6:30pm in our school hall.





Cantamath


What an exciting day we had last Wednesday at Cantamath. A large number of our entries in the display competition gained Highly Commended and Excellence awards. In the teams section our Year 7s did a great job for their first time. The Year 8s were very pleased with their result, scoring 80 / 100 (double their score from last year) and with only 9 schools scoring a higher result. The official results sheet, certificates and badges are yet to arrive.






Mosaic Art Project


Last year in our term 4 passion session, one option was creating collaborative pixel art. The resulting mosaic squares have now been mounted on the heater box at the back of the school hall. The theme of the pieces is wellbeing in our environment. Take a look next time you are strolling through Beckenham Park.


GirlBoss Workshops


The girls who took part in the GirlBoss workshops last week, which explored future options in STEM subjects, came away very inspired. We will make the most of this opportunity in the future. Below is some feedback from the girls.