Outdoor Spaces Update – 28 March 2018

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Kia ora koutou

The Board of Trustees has set up a new Property Working Party to specifically address the outdoor areas of the school, now that the building project has virtually finished.
As was anticipated, there is no money left in the Ministry of Education building project funds for any landscaping or outdoor improvements. 

We have three major areas that we want to focus on this year. These are:

The Treemendous Makeover area:

This area is on the Eastern boundary of the school on Eastern Tce by the river (click on this link to see the proposal that was successful in winning a $10,000 makeover from Mazda Foundation). This proposal is now a plan and we are actively working on this for the next two and a half months. We will be having a number of working bees to support this project, beginnning next Saturday, 7th April from 9am to 3pm  Click here to register your willingness to participate, and the time you think you could be there for. We will be needing people with garden tools including pruning saws, gardens forks and spades for relocation and planting of natives, wheelbarrows and energy! We also have a fence to remove, so need a couple of grinders as well.


The Bike Stand area

We are acutely aware of the need to expand this area to make it functional. We have a plan ready to go that will involve the development of a second bike stand area at the top of the Eastern Tce entrance, behind Kōmanawa (R21/22) and this will hopefully be resolved by the start of Term 2. Thank you all for your patience in this.


The junior play area

As you are aware, this area has been fenced off for nearly a year. We have been very disappointed about the length of time that it is taking for the building project team to resolve the numerous issues that have come up around this area. The biggest issue is drainage and each solution put forward to resolve the issue has in turn created a new, and often more challenging problem. The reality of the situation we now face is that this area cannot be turned back into a grass field as there are four concrete sumps within this area that would create a health and safety concern for children playing on the surface. The Ministry of 
Education have funded a concept plan for this area that explores natural and creative outdoor play options and this concept is attached here for your feedback. Within this concept design, we have also included the relocation of the Gap Filler Sound Garden which we have been very fortunate to acquire as Gap Filler were looking for a new home for it. 

We will have the concept plan on display in the hall foyer from next week, so please take the opportunity to have a look at it, and give some feedback.
    • To give feedback on this concept plan, you can put sticky notes on the display in the foyer, or you can email Matthew Macdonald: matthew@odab.co.nz

All of the above couldn't  be achieved without the fantastic support of the PTA. They have managed to fundraise an amazing amount of money so that all of our children can benefit from this. The BOT greatly appreciates their support.

Matthew Macdonald
Board of Trustees Property Working Party

Please read if you ordered cheese rolls.

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Firstly, a huge thanks for supporting our Dunedin Camp fundraiser. On Wednesday and Thursday this week we will be making just under 400 dozen cheese rolls!

Payment

Thanks to those who have already paid.  If you have yet to pay, please do so by the end of Monday. $8 for one dozen, or $30 for 4 dozen.

  • Online transfer (12-3148-0131641-00, reference cheese rolls)
  • Cash  (Take money into the office at Beckenham in an envelope with child's name on it and place in Eeezy Cheezy Box)
  • Eftpos Payment At School Office
If you have forgotten how many dozen you ordered, please send an email to nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz

Packaging

We are wanting to cut down on the amount of plastic packaging we use. A sustainable option is to provide your own packaging. If you would like to do this please label your container with: child's name, child's team, number or cheese rolls ordered (by the dozen). We will place a tub for collecting containers outside the school hall foyer on Monday and Tuesday; please drop your labelled container off there, either before or after school.  

For those who don't provide their own container, we will use the same recyclable plastic containers we used last year, placing 2 dozen orders in each container. 

Delivery

Due to the distribution of orders received, there is a slight change to the pick up days:
  • Wednesday: Koru, Kowhai, Pōhutukawa, Staff
  • Thursday: Kauri
Orders will be delivered to hubs at the end of the day for children to take home. 

Enjoy your cheese rolls, best served toasted with a dob of butter ... yum!

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 1 Week 7

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We have spent the last week and a half learning about  WW1 ANZACs. In the process we have been developing our research skills, using a variety of websites including Cenotaph and Papers Past. Our trip to the Airforce Museum built on this knowledge, including a very good session on Gallipoli. The children are about to start a letter writing task that uses the knowledge they have gained from their research. This ties in with our focus for this term: 'We must act to sustain what is valued'.

Dunedin Camp:

It is just over two weeks until we are off to Dunedin. Tomorrow we will be talking with the children about camp. They will bring home a paper notice that will include a gear list. I will also send you an electronic copy of this notice. The first evening meal will be a pasta bake. We would like these to be prepared before we go. Please click here if you would be happy to prepare a pasta bake for 8 people. We will provide ingredients, including a foil baking dish.

Cheese Rolls:

We have exceeded expectations with cheese roll orders. The only things we now need are a parent to help on Wednesday afternoon and three electric knives. Please click this link if you can help us out.
There has been some discussion around packaging and we have decided that one option will be to provide your own packaging. On Monday and Tuesday we will put a tub outside the hall to gather labelled (child, hub and number of orders) containers. For those who don't provide containers, we will use the same packaging we used last year.

Congratulations and good luck:

A big well done to all of those who competed in the Hanmer 4 Hour mountain biking event last weekend. Beckenham had 6 teams entered and took out two 2nd places and two 3rd places. Congratulations to Boyd, Winni, Paolo, Sam, Tamryn and Charlie from our team.

Next week we have children competing in the Canterbury Duathlon on Monday and the Police Competency Test on Tuesday. We know you will do us proud and give of your very best.

School Fair Tomorrow:

There is lots of excitement about the fair tomorrow. We have a number of children who have volunteered to help setup, cleanup or help on game stalls. The hall is the meeting place for these children. If you have yet to send your can of coconut milk or your mystery bottle to the fair HQ, please send these in tomorrow morning, along with your plate of home baking.

Below is the collaborative art produced by your children. Wouldn't one of these artworks look great on your wall? Make sure you place your bid at the fair.




St Andrew's College Open Day:



Last chance to order cheese rolls.

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A huge thanks to all those who are supporting Year 7 & 8 camp fundraising by purchasing cheese rolls. There is only one day left to order your tasty cheese rolls. Orders close tomorrow, Thursday. Cheese rolls will be sent home with your child on either the Wednesday (Koru and Kowhai) or Thursday (Pōhutukawa and Kauri) before Easter. $8 for one dozen or $30 for 4 dozen.

Click here to order your cheese rolls now.



Koru Term 1: Weeks 5 & 6

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Kia ora whanau!


Bounce and Skip
Some of you may have had the pleasure of meeting our class friends, Bounce and Skip. These two monkeys are experts at handwriting and have been teaching us how to strengthen our hands, fingers and core so that we can become neater, quicker writers. We are now experts at these exercises so please ask us to show you. The more we practice, the stronger we become! 

Writing by hand engages the brain in learning and especially activates the “reading circuits” of the brain. Using the results of modern brain imaging techniques, research suggests that writing by hand plays a substantial role in the visual recognition and learning of letters, a foundation for both reading and writing. Through studies using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to probe how the brain processes stimuli in real time, researchers have demonstrated that there is a distinct system in the human brain that is recruited during reading that is also recruited during writing. The reading network develops as a function of handwriting (printing) experience. Handwriting (printing), and not keyboarding, leads to adult-like neural processing in the visual system of the preschool child. Findings like these suggest that self-generated action, in the form of printing letters by hand, is a crucial component in setting up brain systems for reading acquisition.

One of the things Bounce and Skip has been teaching us this week is how to correctly pick up and hold a pencil. Below is a graphic we are using that we encourage to look at together at home to. Is your pencil grip up to scratch?  This way of holding the pencil is comfortable and allows children to write fast and legibly.




School Fair Art Auction Pieces

Dorinda's Home base has been enjoying creating our piece for the School Fair Art Auction - we love wondering who will be successful in buying it! Here is our writing about our butterflies.


  • My butterfly is really cool and I love the colours. It has cool wings. HETTIE
  • My butterfly is colourful. It is going to be on a canvas. How much do you want it to be? It is going to be beautiful. I love my colours of my butterflies. It even has mixed colours. FINN
  • My butterfly is a Monarch. The money is going to be $10. My Mum is going to buy it and I will make a magic potion so it can be real. QUINN
  • We painted our butterflies for the School Fair because the school wants to make money. My butterfly has black spots. He is really colourful. I like my butterfly. OLLIE
  • Our Butterflies. My butterfly is blue. It's got silver and green and black and it's pretty. ARCHIE
  • My butterfly is a rainbow colour. I like that it is really colourful. GEORGIA 
  • I love how my butterfly is coloured and I really like the colour of the canvas. I really like the book pages at the bottom. KJ
  • The butterflies like playing with their friends. JONTAI
  • I want my butterfly to fly off the page. ZEKE
  • i made this butterfly. I love my colours. They are blue, pink and silver. I love Bounce and Skip too because they are cute. CAMMIE
  • I am a butterfly and I can fly. JAKE
  • I like my butterfly and I want it to fly off the sky. KARDA
  • We painted our butterflies for the School Fair. My butterfly is black and red. I did it those colours because red is for Christmas and black is for Halloween and I love both of them. BREE
  • This is my butterfly. He is a Monarch. He has black rain drops on his wings and he is blue and red. He has a big smile. Annabelle
  • Our butterflies are awesome. I love our butterflies. They are super. STELLA
  • I made a butterfly. It has flashes on it and it has cool patterns on it. I love it. It is a Monarch. I think it is nice. It has blue around the edges. JACK
  • Do you know why I like butterflies? It is because they can fly and my butterfly's colours are black, red and blue. CORTANA
  • Our butterflies are lovely and we like the butterflies so much. We like to see them. GABRIELLA
  • I like butterflies. My butterfly has black and dark blue on the wings and black spots and red on the head. KAWA
  • We did class butterflies for our School Fair. Mine has some gold, blue and red and orange colours with black dots. I feel great about my butterfly. AYLA
  • My butterfly is like candy. She needs water to drink. Her name is Twinkerbelle. I like butterflies because they are really beautiful. IRIA-MARIA
  • I love my butterfly. it is black and golden, blue, pink, light blue and a tiny bit of white. I love the colours. CHELSEA

Kristika's home base tamariki developed their pride and sense of belonging through creating their own piece of Koru art.  These were all put together like a puzzle and 'mod podged' into place.
We discussed the meaning of what is 'koru' and how we as team Koru are the like the young koru of Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto school. 


Discovery - Play Based Learning

Koru have been inspired by our Year 7 leaders in making obstacle courses all week. Some great ideas, co-operation and leadership came out of our sessions. We also had child-led art workshops, maze drawing and lego construction Enjoy these photos.