Term 1 Weeks 3 and 4 in Pōhutukawa

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Swimming Sports

Congratulations to all of our students who entered the school swimming sports which was held at Wharenui Pool. For our Year 5 children it was the first time they have been eligible to enter a senior school event, and we were impressed with the number of students who took up the challenge.
Good luck to the swimmers who have qualified for the zones swimming sports being held on Thursday 14 March at Jellie Park.







Pitch Perfect

On Friday all of those Pōhutukawa children who were interested in joining the Pōhutukawa Pitch Perfect choir were given a letter, with a slip at the bottom which needs to be signed and returned to Katie. Please speak with your child and ensure that they are aware that joining the choir requires commitment. Choir members will need to attend regular practices during school time, as well as be available for performances in and outside of school time. The Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival requires confirmation of the number of children who will be participating from Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto. The music festival is on during the week of 5th - 8th November. We will perform on one night during this week - date to be confirmed.

Duathlon

Our school duathon is on the afternoon of Tuesday the 5th of March (this Tuesday). This is an optional event and an awesome opportunity for the children to show our school kete value ‘We love challenge’. House points are awarded to all competitors in recognition of their participation. 

The course will be the same as in previous years. The children run a lap of the park, followed by a lap of the block, (Eastern Terrace, Fisher Avenue, Norwood Street). They then collect their bike from the Norwood Street side of the park and follow a serpentine course in Beckenham Park. Year 5 and 6s do one lap of the bike course, while Year 7 and 8s do two laps. After completing the bike course, the children leave their bike at the Norwood park entrance and run the block in the opposite direction, finishing back in the park. At no point do the children need to cross a road. 

Before the race, we do a course walk with all competitors and we have lots of marshals on course to support the children in knowing where to go. If you are able to support us by being a marshal on the day, please email me at jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz. 



Cool Curriculum Classes (CCC programme)

Last week we began our CCC programme. Each teacher is covering a different curriculum area, teaching a half hour lesson to every class once a week. Each class will have seven lessons for each curriculum area over the term. This term the coverage is:
Katie - drama 
Rae - coding
Steve - music
Gayle - physical education (touch rugby)
Tracy - library




Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Week 5 Term 1

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Week 4 is done and we have five weeks until we are off to Wainui! Next week is our leadership week. Today we shared a slideshow with the children about the week. A few missed out on this, so I have shared it through google classroom for them to check out over the weekend. Please read on for important messages.

The Momo Challenge

Yesterday, you would have received an email from the school regarding online behaviour, particularly around the "Momo Challenge." Please check the latest school newsletter online (or in your email) if you have yet to read Sandy's message.

We've been marking student reflections this afternoon and have noticed the challenge mentioned by a number of students, to a level that we will be discussing the challenge with the hub on Monday.

Please talk with your child about this over the weekend, if you haven't already done so. We would also recommend having them show you their social media accounts, particularly any forms of instant messages. 'The Momo Challenge' has been appearing in videos linked to games, such as Fortnite.

Reminders for leadership week which is starting on Monday:

Year 7: 

Can wear mufti on Monday.

Year 8:

Send in food donations by Wednesday:

  • Megan's homegroup (Te Awa) A bag of fresh fruit; apples, oranges, bananas etc.
  • Hannah's and Nicky's homegroups (Te Ngahere and Te Maunga) Baking
  • Jenny's homegroup (Te Tai): A packet of breakfast cereal
If you have yet to return your child's health profile and medical consent form, please send this in on Monday.

On Thursday Year 8 come prepared with the following for Leadership Camp:


Gear list: Your child needs to come to school on Thursday dressed in clothes suitable for physical activity, i.e. track pants or shorts, t-shirt, polypro if cold, a warm top and sports shoes, suitable for running. The following needs to be packed in an overnight bag:
  • Sleeping bag, pillow and something to sleep on, e.g. sleeping mat, stretcher or lilo
  • PJs
  • Toilet gear
  • A change of clothes for the next day, again suitable for physical activity
These things should be packed in a day pack:
  • Packed lunch and refillable drink bottle
  • Sunhat
  • Waterproof jacket
  • Optional: camera, cell phone (these will be collected in) 

Please make sure asthmatic children have inhalers with them and that medication is in a labeled bag. This needs to be handed to the home-group teacher as soon as your child arrives at school.

Duathlon is on Tuesday afternoon. 

A separate email has been sent out about this today. Jenny is still looking for parent helpers.

Writing: 

Today was the due date for our current 'trust writing' topic. We will send out emails to children (copied to parents) who need to complete writing over the weekend.

Important information for parents re internet "Momo Challenge"

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Special update - Please monitor your child's online behaviour


Kia ora e te whānau

It has been drawn to our attention today that some of our children are talking about the "Momo Challenge" that has been circulating on social media for a number of months, and is trending again in NZ.

You can read about it on this link from the NZ Herald today.

We are being very vigilant at school and are monitoring our network very closely to identify if children are searching for this to find out about it. At this stage, unless we know about specific children talking about it, we are not going to discuss this specifically with the children as we think that most of them are not aware of it and we do not want to increase their curiosity about it and start additional searching.

Whilst we do not believe that this poses an 'actual threat' to our children, we are very concerned that it has the potential to cause some of our children extreme worry, anxiety and loss of sleep, and that this behaviour can become quite contagious when children talk about it together. 

We very strongly urge you to check in with your child(ren) and regularly monitor their social media and internet usage. As parents, we need to be having regular discussions with our children about safe behaviour on the internet and social media, and talking with them about stuff that we know is circulating. When we have these conversations and explain to them what our responses are, we model to them how they can respond and help them to become astute at identifying 'rubbish' on the internet.

We will continue having ongoing, safety and cyber-citizenship discussions with the children to continue to develop their awareness and competency in safe use of the internet.

Keeping our young children safe in their use of digital environments is a partnership that we are in with you. We each need to stay aware of what our children are engaging in, and having important conversations with them when we have concerns or wonderings about their safety.

Please do let your child's teacher know if you have any concerns or want to discuss anything around cybersafety. We were alerted to this information today by a parent and we appreciate the importance of keeping one another 'in the loop' about these issues as they arise.

Our Koru Whānau

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Kia ora to our families,

We have had a wonderful start to the 2019 school year. We warmly welcome families that are new to Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto, and welcome back to those families who have been part of our community for some time now.

Next week, we welcome Kristika Burridge, full-time, into the Koru team. Kristika is going to be the Home Group teacher for our third New Entrant group of children.

Our Reading Programme:
  • We hope you're all enjoying the reading books that have been coming home this week. This is a great opportunity to share time together with your child and celebrate reading (remember, it's of great value to reread the texts which are still in the folders and which have come home earlier in the week)
  • Also remember: Praise, Praise, Praise!
  • In class each week we have a shared book which we read and discuss together several times throughout the week. Sometimes a small copy of this book may come home in your child's reading folder. This book may be at a more advanced level than usual and will possibly need more support from you, as you read the book together with your child
  • It's important that the children pack their reading folders into their bags, and return them to school every day.

The children are loving our Discovery sessions each morning, and are displaying creativity, initiative and cooperation throughout this first part of each day. Discovery Time really supports the development of our school values: We Care, We Love Learning, We Get There Together, We Love Challenge and We Make a Difference. We see each of these values being displayed in a great many ways throughout this time devoted to learning through play.
Working together outdoors to make a ball challenge

Test flying our helicopters

Playing with the animals and magnetic shapes


Team work to create an obstacle course
Testing the obstacle course

Playing the cat game

Long rope skipping

Railway workers building together

Exploring patterns







Correction to School closing date and School Photos

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Kia Ora, these are the corrected dates for upcoming events.  School photos and school early closing are on Wednesday 20th March 2019.

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Wed Feb 27 - PTA Meeting in the staffroom.  7:30pm.  All very welcome.
Fri 1 Mar - Celebration Assembly, All Welcome. 12:10 - 12:40 in the school hall.
Mon 4 Mar - Beckenham Outdoor Spaces Meeting, 7:30 - 8:30pm in the staffroom.
Tue - 5 Mar - School Duathlon for years 5 - 8.  In Beckenham Park .
Thu 7 & 8 Mar - Year 8 Leadership Camp at school.
Thu Mar 14 - Zone Swimming sports at Jellie Park 9am - 1pm
Wed 20 Mar - School photos. Learning Group, and Individual photos will be taken (am)
Wed 20 Mar - School closes at 1:45pm

Term Dates

Click here to view 2018 term dates.