Passions on Thursday

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This week, the Pōhutukawa Team's passion learning session will be held on Thursday instead of Friday. If your child needs to bring anything special for their passion learning project (e.g. Lego or other toys), please remind them to bring it to school on Thursday.

Kauri Team Weekly Update: Term 4 Week 8

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We are very pleased with the way the children are continuing to focus on their learning as we near the end of the year. There is a lot on over the next two weeks. Please take note of the important details below.

Production: Court for Thought

Our show, 'Court for Thought' - which celebrates our inquiry learning - is coming together nicely. We are two days out from our performance for the school, on Friday. Yesterday, we talked with the children about what they need to wear. Please check this with your child and make sure they have these clothes with them tomorrow, Thursday, for our dress rehearsal. Some children still need to learn the lyrics for 'Big Yellow Taxi'. These are online. All children sing this song. We would appreciate you checking how well they know these words and encourage them to go over these words tonight and tomorrow if needed.

This year, we are performing 'in the round' rather than on stage. This restricts our seating. It would help to know which night your whanau are planning to attend. Please click here to fill out a quick form.


Jars Needed:

Please send along any jars with lids that you may be recycling or do not need at home. Jars of all sizes will be gratefully received. There is a collection box for these in the hub.


Monday December 10: 

7pm start for first evening performance of 'Court for Thought'. Children need to be at school by 6:45pm.

Tuesday December 11:

Last day at technology, Christchurch South.

Wednesday December 12:

7pm start for final performance of 'Court for Thought'. Children need to be at school by 6:45pm.

Thursday December 13:

'Unveiling' of our community mural on the block wall by the ponds. This will happen at 2pm. Parents are welcome to attend if they would like to.

Friday December 14:

Final celebration assembly for the year, starting at 9:30. This will be followed by a helpers morning tea, from 10:30, for anyone who has helped out at school in some capacity this year.

Corsair Bay trip. We are hoping that summer returns properly by next Friday! Children are to come to school in uniform. They are to bring lunch and a water bottle (no orders this day), sunhat, sunscreen, togs and towel. If they have a wetsuit, they are welcome to bring this. They may also like to bring a picnic rug. Many thanks to Rory, Phillipa, Kate, George, Simon, Peter, Nicole, Rebecca, Anne and Henry who will be joining us on this trip. We will be leaving school at 11am and will return by 3pm.

Monday December 17:

Victoria Park walk. Children can wear mufti clothes suitable for walking to school on this day. They must have sunhat, sunscreen, inhaler if needed, lunch and water bottle,  and be wearing suitable walking shoes. We will leave school soon after 10am and will be back by 3pm. Many thanks to Anne, Henry, Nicola, Bryan, Simon, Peter, Kate, Jane and Kathryn who will be joining us for this walk.

Year 8 Party: We would love to see all year 8 children at their leavers' party from 4 - 6pm. Bring your togs for a swim. There is also a basketball court to play on. Pizza and drink provided. 79 Dyers Pass Road

Tuesday December 18:

Rehearsal for graduation assembly in the morning.

Wednesday December 19:

Graduation assembly starts at 11am. Year 8 to arrive at school at the usual time, dressed in their best mufti. A lunch for Year 8s and their parents will follow assembly at 12:30. By 1:15 all Year 8s should be on their way home. They will be finished for the year.

Thursday December 20:

Final day for Year 1- 7. School closes at 12:30

Friday December 21:

Yeehaaa, holidays begin.


A few photos from the last week or two...

Debate practice run.

One of our three teams in action on Monday night. Over the two nights of debating, our teams won four debates and lost two. We were very proud of all of them.

We love Thursday afternoons!





Corrections to today’s newsletter Fri 30 Nov, 2018

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Kia ora e te whānau


My very humblest apologies to two of our staff members for 2019 who are part of  our teaching teams... 

Dorinda Hampton missed out on being in a photo on Monday, and was subsequently missed out by me when sharing the teaching teams with you!


Dorinda will be teaching in Kōwhai (Y3/4) and in Pōhutukawa (Y5/6) - providing release in both of those teams.


Rae Marsh is one of our new teachers who will be in the Pōhutukawa Team - I mistakenly named her as Rae Smith in the Pōhutukawa Team photo.


Ngā mihi nui

Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 7

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Hi everyone,

Here is the latest information from the Kōwhai Team.

Athletics Day

Thank you to all the parents who were able to come to our Athletics Day last week. It was wonderful to see so many of you supporting the children in their events. Here are some pictures of the children participating in the events. We are still compiling a video and will upload them ASAP.







Kapa Haka Uniforms

We would love to have all the Kapa Haka uniforms returned to school. Please check if your child has a uniform at home and send it to school next week. Thank you to all those who have already returned their uniforms.

Reading Books

 We are nearing the end of the year and are in the process of returning all reading books to our resource room. Please have a look at home to see if you have any books 'floating' around. We would welcome any from previous years too. as this would help us to know which levels we need to order in 2019. We will leave a box out in the hub each morning for the book to be put into.

If you would like to help to put some books away, we would LOVE to hear from you too!


 Home Learning

 Next week will be our last week with Home learning. We thank you for supporting this part of our programme. Although we won't be sending home spelling and maths, please continue with nightly reading as this assists not only reading fluency but also writing.

Toys/ Jewellery at school

 We have noticed a few toys starting to come to school across the team. Could you please take a moment to look in your child's bag to ensure they only have the items for learning: drink bottle, sunhat, lunch, home learning folder. Fluffy keychains are best to stay at home.
The only jewellery that can be worn at school are items of cultural significance (pounamu or bone carving). Earrings need to be studs only to ensure ears stay safe when the children are playing.

Have a great weekend!

Kōwhai Teaching Team

















Beckenham School Newsletter 30th November 2018

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

It has been very busy at school these past weeks as we have been working through a number of changes to our staffing for 2019. We are very excited to have such talented new staff coming on board to compliment our current practice and work alongside us to help our tamariki to grow and succeed. We believe that we have put together some fabulous combinations of talent, new teachers with existing teachers, and we have some teachers moving around our teams too. This enables teachers to share the experiences and learning that teachers in different teams have gained with others and to enable all of our teachers to continue to learn from one another.

In 2019 our roll is expected to be slightly bigger next year than this year, and we have decided to go back to having five distinct teams again. This means that our NE team will be called Koru, and our Year 1/2 team will take on again the name of Kahikatea (a name that they had about 3 years ago before we combined the teams).

The Pōhutukawa (Year 5/6) team will be our biggest team in 2019 so they will be moving over to Parenga next to the Year 7/8 Kauri team (where the Year 3/4 Kōwhai Team are currently). This will allow them to utilise the three classrooms of Kōmanawa and Hangere as break out spaces. Kōwhai (Y3/4) will move into the space in Tahaki currently occupied by the Pōhutkawa Team.

This map may help!

2019 learning spaces:


On Monday this week, at our Staff Only Day, we were fortunate to have our new staff for 2019 join us. Each 2019 team spent the day working together, beginning to learn about the strengths and opportunities that their new team will be able to offer the children. 

In 2019 we are hoping to keep our Teaching Assistants (previously called Teacher Aides  more linked with one team in 2019 so that they too can build strong relationships with the teachers and the children in the team, and their strengths can be utilised to their potential.

We are excited to introduce you to the teams for 2019:

Koru Team - New Entrants

Elizabeth Drummond, Sue Leadbetter (Team Leader), Stacey McLachlan, Jo Smith

 Kahikatea Team (Year 1/2/3)

Paul McKinnel (Teaching Assistant), Jeanette Amies (Teaching Assistant), Jules May, Kristika Burridge,
Anna Reid, Amber Donovan (Team Leader), Charlotte Verity

 Kōwhai Team (Year 3/4)

Paulette Newton (Team Leader), Rowena Barker, Kate Swann, Nick Bruce
(Teaching Assistant yet to be confirmed)

 Pōhutukawa Team (Year 5/6)

Rae Smith, Steve Cooke, Katie McFarlane
Pip Wareing (Teaching Assistant), Gayle McNaughton, Tracy Inwood (Team Leader),
Kerilea Quinn (Teaching Assistant)

 Kauri Team (Year 7/8)

Anne Chin (Teaching Assistant), Chris Stace (Teaching Assistant), Tamsin Hardwick (Teaching Assistant), Jenny Diggle, Nicky Dunlop (Team Leader), Megan Culver, Hannah Elliott, Cath Barrie
We are currently finalising the home groups for 2019, ensuring that they are balanced within each team. Some teams have already begun a transition process for children - visiting the new hubs that they will be learning in next year, and getting to know teachers around the school who are not currently so familiar to them. This will continue over the remaining weeks of the term. We understand that for some of our learners, change can be a time of heightened uncertainty, so our goal is to smooth this journey as much as possible over the next three weeks.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Upcoming Events


Mon 10 Dec - Kauri production.  7 - 8pm
Wed 12 Dec - Kauri production.  7 - 8pm
Fri 14 Dec - Final Celebration Assembly.  9:30 - 10:30am in the school hall
Thu 19 Dec - Year 8 Leavers' assembly and luncheon
Thu 20 Dec - last day of term 4.  School finishes at 12:30pm

Term Dates

Click here to view 2018 and 2019 term dates.

School Notices

Library Stock Take December Monday 10


It is time to look under your beds, in your closets, your school desk, behind cupboards and dark places to get those books back to the school library BEFORE December 10.


Congratulations to...

2019 Student Leaders:

Earlier this month we interviewed Year 7 students who applied for House Captain and Student Council Exec positions for 2019. We had 30 people applying and the group interviews saw fabulous attitudes and ideas. Actually, the whole year has been a bit of an 'extended interview', as we have watched how the children responded in a wide range of situations.
Our current Year 7 cohort has an interesting gender distribution, with 18 boys and 41 girls. 3/4 of the people applying for positions were girls. This year we have decided to move away from our traditional approach of having one boy and one girl as captains/deputies of each house.
Being selected as a House Captain means that students may need to change house for your Year 8 year.

House Captains for 2019:

Freddie Winsor
Ben Evans
Emily Eade
Vienna Scott
Maddi McIvor
Gemma York
Sophia Brown
Meg McDonald

Deputy House Captains for 2019:

Jack Barton
Arran Robertson
Dom Hamilton
Ella Clarke
Roxy Murfin
Morvern McDaid
Samantha Maule
Matilda Hindin
Student Council Exec:
Chairperson: Lucy Gray
Secretary: Paolo Reid
Treasurer: Helena Sice

Te Reo Champion (new role): 

Maia Davis

One area our school will be giving more attention to in 2019 is the use of Te reo Māori in a simple and integrated way, so that whānau, staff and students can learn and use it together.  Our Te Reo Champion will play a pivotal role in supporting us all to make this happen.

We have many more leadership positions that will be sorted at the beginning of the school year in 2019.

Sports News

Canterbury Triathlon

The rain poured for the duration of the Canterbury Triathlon at Pegasus this week. Extremely undesirable conditions for a swim, bike and run but this added challenge did not deter our competitors nor did it dampen the smiles. We are incredibly proud of the determination and physical endurance of our six competitors from Years 5 to 8.


Community Notices

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

Aquagym

459 Cashel Street, Ph: 3810299.  Learn to Swim & Coaching.  Aquagym and Sumner Pool.  Book now for January Holidays and Term 1.  Leaders in Aquatic Education.