Kowhai News 4th August

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Image result for head lice clip artHi everyone,

Our news for this week.

Head lice
We have have had a couple of children who have had head lice over the past week. Please make sure that you have a look at your child's head to ensure these little critters have not decided to set up camp! Remember, once a head has been treated it is important to keep checking for eggs as they are sneaky creatures and it only takes one egg to start the cycle again. we highly recommend girls having their hair tied up and have discussed the importance of keeping heads apart while at school!


Inquiry- Changes
This term, our inquiry focus is on the concept of change. This ties in really well with the team moving into our new learning space. The children have been identifying the different types of change and how many things stay the same when changes occurs.
On that note, we would like to reassure you that we have continued with the same systems and groupings as last term to ensure consistency for the children. Although we are in a big space with five classes, the learning processes are still the same. Each child is in a target learning group for reading, writing and maths and these groups have been created based on the learning needs of the children. We have been working with our home groups for inquiry and  PE and start and finish in these groups too.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be exploring how changes can occur in our body and what we need to do to ensure we keep ourselves healthy. The children will be learning about the importance of food, water, sleep, exercise and how we can look after our teeth and body by taking care of it and keeping it clean.

Inspiration Stations
Our focus over the past couple of weeks has been on using SOLO or help direct our thinking during Inspiration Stations time. SOLO is a tool that we use to help us deepen our thing and understanding about learning and work on our next steps. This week has seen the children being agents with their learning by exploring the organs, creating observational sketches and constructing body parts with Lego.


Parent Help Needed
We still need the assistance of some wonderful parents to help support some of our class programmes during the week.
Library- Each fortnight, each home room will have the opportunity to go the the Christchurch South Learning Centre to have a session with one of the children's librarians. As our library is unavailable this term, this will also provide the children with the opportunity to get books out. Please let us know if you would like your child to join the library.

Thorrington Rest Home- We need the help of a /some parents to walk down to Thorrington Rest Home each Friday. The children leave school at 10.30am and return to school at 11.40a. Please add you name to the parent help roster if you can assist us.

Pizza Making- Each Friday, the children have the opportunity to make pizzas. If you can help us with this, please add your name to the part helper roster. This is from 10.45am- 12pm.

Short Films Festival- We have been lucky enough to be asked to the Isaac Theatre Royal on Thursday 17th August to watch a variety of short films as part of the International Film Festival. This is a morning outing. Please let your point of contact teacher know of you can help.

Parent Help Link

That's all for now. Have a wonderful weekend ahead!




Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 2

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Many thanks to the 8 parents who filled in this form to give us feedback last week. Your comments were really useful. If you have yet to complete the form, we would really appreciate you doing so over the next couple of days.

Open Evening:

Thanks to the parents who have confirmed that their child can help out at our open evening this Thursday. The children involved need to be at our new hub, accessed via Beckenham Park, by 6:55 on Thursday, in school uniform. We should be all wrapped up by 8:30. Please collect your child from the hub at the end of the evening. 

Home Learning:

By now your child should be in the midst of their Cantamath project home learning, if they are in Jarred or Nicky's maths class. This is due next Friday, August 11th. If your child needs some support, we are here to help. Encourage them to ask us at school, or email. 

Ski Trip:

We have just over two weeks until we head up Mt Hutt for the day on August 17th. Mt Hutt now has the student information and the bus has been triple checked! 

The next task is to match up clothing with the children who need it. If you offered to lend clothing, please name it and send it to school this week. If you asked for help to source clothing, but then manage to sort something, please let us know, as we have a long list of requests to fill. 

On the day of the trip, children will need to be at school by 7am. We will be back between 5:30 and 6:00pm. 

To transport the children we have booked one bus and have organised a number of cars. All drivers have 4WD vehicles and are experienced with driving on mountain roads. If you have a preference for the transport of your child, car or bus, please email one of us by Friday. We will be sorting transport lists next week. 

Thanks from World Vision:

Harley from World Vision came to see us today. He showed us how our fundraising is making a difference to the children who have escaped from Syria, to the safety of Jordan. Beckenham raised over $2000. What an awesome way to show that 'We make a difference'!


Celebrating our Leaders:

At the end of last term we presented gold leadership awards for term 2, and today we presented silver and bronze awards. Congratulations to:
Bronze: Santiago, Tilly, Tom, Adam, Bella, Fynn, Hannah W, Gabe and Felix
Silver: Isolda, Nathan and Olivia 
Gold: Daisy, Kaia, Rosie, Juliette, Elise and Sadie

Winter Sport Tournament:

Yesterday, we braved the mud at Hagley Park to compete in our Zone’s Winter Tournament. Our winter sport teams played games against St Martins, Hillview, Opawa, Waltham, Steiner and Thorrington in football, netball and hockey. Games were fast and furious 5 minute halves and gave our children the opportunity to play many different teams, none of whom we would usually verse during winter sport.

Congratulations to our Year 7/8 hockey team, coached and managed by Jenni Adams, who qualified for the Canterbury’s Winter Tournament on the 24th of August.

A huge thank you to all the parents who offered their time, enthusiasm and expertise to manage teams and referee games.


Ski Racing at Mt Cheeseman:


We are looking to put together a team for the Canterbury Primary and Intermediate School Ski Races that are being held at Mount Cheeseman on Sunday the 20th of August. The children need to be able to confidently ride a T-bar and ski groomed slopes. Please email Jenny on jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz if your child is interested.

Open Evening this coming Thursday

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We are looking forward to sharing the opportunities the Intermediate Hub at Beckenham has to offer in Year 7 & 8. Families are welcome to come along to our open evening on Thursday August 3rd, from 7pm. We will be holding this evening in our new hub. This is best accessed via Eastern Tce.


Pohutukawa Team Newsletter Term 3 Week 1

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Kia ora whānau!

We got off to an exciting start to the new term on Tuesday with an awesome science experience. The whole hub was quietly settling into the day when all of a sudden alarms sounded and the screens around the hub announced that a biohazard had been detected. How exciting!


A top secret transmission then came in, in which we were told that there had been a number of biohazards found around Champion Street.


All of the special agents rushed outside and searched in the areas highlighted on the map. 


Once all of the substances had been found, they were brought inside and Agent X (Nick) explained how to conduct experiments to identify the substances. Each group got a beaker or flask filled with a blue substance. Next, children carefully placed dry ice into their vessel. The reactions were amazing!








Learning about Change

 Our conceptual unit this term is 'Change'. Children will be learning about change in a range of forms across the curriculum areas of Social Sciences, Science, Technology and Drama. When learning about Social Sciences, children will learn about the way inventions have shaped the way that we live and made improvements to our lives.


They will be following the Inquiry process to ask questions, gather information, analyse to understand this new knowledge and then present their learning. So far, topics range from anaesthetic, air travel and elevators, to internet and the first PC.


Maths - Geometry

Our maths focus for the first few weeks of this term is Geometry, with a focus on identifying and classifying 2D and 3D shapes, and representing objects with drawings and models.


Coffee Cup Collection

One of our weekly challenges this term will involve the use of a coffee cup - just the cup. If possible, can the children each bring a clean, coffee cup to school next week (it can be used). We have spares if needed. 

Grass Seed

One of our other challenges this term involves grass seed. If anyone has any available can you please let Amy know - amy.buick@beckenham.school.nz . We are aiming for approximately 240 tablespoons.  


Kind regards,
Amy, Gayle, Nick, Katie and Kat




Fabulous Phrasing and Fluency. Our Reading Programmes

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Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We have had a really great start to the term in our new spaces.  The children have settled in and it feels as though we have been here much longer than a week.  

Thank you for all your support and the positive comments we have received.  Staff have worked really hard during the holidays to get the spaces ready for the new term and we appreciate your feedback.

This term, as well as the individual learning goals discussed with each child at literacy time, we are focussing on promoting  reading with phrasing and fluency on every book.  
Your child will bring home reading each night.  The reading could include poems, reader books read with the teacher or chosen from their browsing box. This reading will be familiar and enable your child to practise successful reading strategies, reading with expression, phrasing and fluency.

Image result for children reading booksYour child may bring home a book more than once.  This is an important part of learning to read as it enables them to practise all their skills.  Just as we, as adults, return to a favourite film, magazine or book, the children will choose books they are familiar with and give them pleasure.

You can support us by continuing to read with your child each night and praising them using phrases such as
  • I like the way you are reading like talking.
  • You made your voice sound very interesting when you read that piece.
  • Well done you are reading using the punctuation.
  • Your reading is getting more phrased and fluent (fast).

Hubs 1 to 4 have been reading lots of poetry this past week.  Next week the children will bring home a poem and a book from their browsing box each night.  Following this we will begin our guided groups with poetry coming home on Fridays.