Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3, Week 1

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It was lovely to welcome Kauri Whānau back to school today. We have another exciting term ahead. Highlights include:


  • Arts Academies get underway, as we work towards our music production of 'The Trials of Alice in Wonderland'. Auditions for speaking parts will be held next week. The show will be performed in December, on Monday 4th and Thursday 7th. 
  • Week 2: Monday 31st July, Winter Tournament and GTX Dance workshop for those not going to tournament.
  • Week 2: Thursday 3rd August, Open Evening for Year 5 & 6 families. You would have received an email if your child is one of the presenters.
  • Week 3: Wednesday Aug 9th, Becamath problem solving competition for all of Year 7 & 8.
  • Week 4: Monday Aug 14th, Cultural Festival.
  • Week 4: Thursday Aug 17th, Ski trip to Mt Hutt. 7am - 6pm
  • Week 5: Art week.
  • Week 5: Wednesday Aug 23rd, Cantamath at Horncastle Arena from 3:30 - 6pm. Teams yet to be selected.
  • Week 6: Learning conferences on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
  • Week 7: Friday Sept 8th Beckenham speech finals. 
  • Week 8: Tuesday Sept 12, possible trip to town.
  • Week 9: Monday Sept 18th, South zone speech finals at Cashmere Primary in the evening.
  • Week 10: Packing up for our move back to Beckenham.
Please keep an eye out for our weekly news and read this carefully, for updates on the events mentioned above.

Writing:

We had a writing motivation this afternoon, for our next writing topic. The motivation involved a blindfolded trust walk. The children need to be thinking about a simple story outline, based around a theme from this experience: being lost, trust, darkness, having to be reliant on senses other than sight. Planning for writing gets underway tomorrow, Wednesday. 

Your feedback please:

We would appreciate you filling in this brief survey, so that we can continue to improve the teaching and learning in our hub.

Home Learning:

Over the next three weeks, all of Jarred and Nicky's and some of Jenny's maths class will be working on a Cantamath display project for home learning. Children have been given a sheet with all instructions to take home today. There is also a google presentation with ideas that children can access at home through google classroom. It is really important that they make a decision on their project and get underway this week. Anyone struggling for an idea should talk with their maths teacher before Friday. Three weeks will be needed to complete a quality piece of work. Jenny's class has the option of doing a Cantamath project or normal home learning. Most opted for the usual worksheets.

Ski Trip:

We nearly have information for all children for our ski trip. Some paper forms were sent home today, for those who have not completed the online form. Please return these tomorrow, Wednesday. Many thanks to the people who have offered to loan clothing and goggles. Please name these and send them along to school ASAP, so we can match children up with gear.

Language reports from Cashmere High School:

Language reports arrived at school after the children had left at the end of last term. Today these were handed to children to take home. Check your child's bag if it has not been produced.

Congratulations:

Congratulations to Daisy, Rosie and Kaia who competed in the NZ School Orienteering Championships in the first week of the school holidays. There were about 50 girls competing in the event and all three girls were placed in the top five for both the short and long events.
Short event: Kaia 1st, Daisy 4th, Rosie 5th
Long event: Kaia 1st, Daisy 2nd, Rosie 5th
What an awesome achievement. A shining example of girls who love challenge!

Our new hub:

Today our new hub was opened. At the moment, a lack of outdoor play space and the Year 5 & 6 hub being used for admin, delays our return for one more term. We can't wait!



Declaring the Year 7 & 8 and Year 3 & 4 hubs open.

Lovely outlook to the park.



Beckenham School Start of Term Update Monday 24July 2017

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Update for the start of Term 3

Kia ora whānau

We are so looking forward to seeing everyone back at school tomorrow for the start of Term 3. We are also extra pleased that we had today as a staff only day, after the flooding in the weekend, having Sandwich Road and Eastern Terrace closed this morning, and then having our power, water and internet each go off at different times during the day today, as the builders did their final work to get everything ready for tomorrow!

East Hub opening 8am, Tuesday 25th July

We will be having an opening for our second, new building tomorrow morning at 8am. We will gather on the park side of the new building at 8am for the opening ceremony. Everyone is very welcome. We are keeping these openings brief, with the purpose being to get into the building and use it. We are planning a big naming celebration for Term 4, when the building programme will be nearly finished, and the whole school will be back on site.

Entrances and Access points to school

The school site has significantly changed during the holiday period, particularly with regards to access. HRS have moved their site office to the staff carpark, and have almost finished 'making good' the park access road that they have been using up until now.

Because the front of the school is now the building site, getting into the school grounds becomes a wee bit more challenging this term.

We have four primary access points into the school.
  • Sandwich Road - between the bike park and the West Hub. This entrance will allow easy access to the office (in the Sandwich Road end of the West Hub), the Year 1/2 learning spaces, and BOSCO.
  • Cnr of Sandwich Road and Eastern Tce - this access has a number of steps, and will give easy access to the Year 3/4 area and New Entrants in Hub 10/11 (the buildings that were where Hub 7/8 & 9 were last term)
  • Eastern Tce - This is the main entrance for the New Entrant and Year 3/4 areas. Please note that there is no parking at this entrance due to the buses.
  • Norwood St - via the park road. This access will provide good foot access to all learning spaces, but should not be used by children with bikes, as they won't be able to access the bike park from this entrance. ALL BIKES need to come via Sandwich Road and go into the bike park that way.

Parking

We are very aware that parking is going to be even more challenging this term than it has been before with trade vehicles likely to be parking in Sandwich Road. Staff have been asked not to park on Sandwich Road and we will be parking in neighbouring streets and walking a short distance.
We encourage those of you who can, to walk to school, and prevent the parking chaos that is likely to ensue if everyone tries to bring cars and park as close to school as they can. 

The PTA are offering to hook people up with other interested families to get 'walking buses' going. Historically Beckenham School has had THREE walking buses operating- therefore the PTA would like to facilitate an opportunity for people who are interested in getting the ‘walking buses’ operational again an opportunity to connect. 
Fill out this survey & the PTA will match you up with a coordinator in your area: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdb91uwMhd4CfyUo2…/viewform
Want to know more about how walking buses work- read this information provided by NZTA: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/…/…/docs/wsb-coordinators-guide.pdf


Welcome Back! Tuesday Term 3

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Dear whanau,

We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning and hearing about all the wonderful things the children have been up to over the holidays.  Our new hub is all set and ready to go and we are feeling very excited to welcome you and the children in.

Access to the Buildings
There is still construction work which is limiting the access to some of the buildings this term. The children will be able to enter school from:
1. The Sandwich Road gate near the West Hub (by the bike racks) and walk up the park access road or enter at the old Dental Clinic entrance.  
2. Norwood Street entrance and walk up the park access road.
3. Eastern Tce and walk up the pathway near the ponds. 
There will be two teachers outside at the beginning of each day this week to guide you to the right place and show the children their new routines.  

School Items
The only items that your child will need at school tomorrow for their learning are:
1. Home learning folder
2. Drink bottle
3. Warm jersey or waterproof jacket.
Please remember that toys, fidgit spinners or trading cards are to stay at home.

We will be working in our Home groups tomorrow across the hub. Each teacher will have a box for the children to put their home learning folders into by a teaching station. This will also be where the children will start and end the day. Drink bottles are to be kept on the shelves on the outside of the hub. 

Bags and Shoes
Susan, Rebekah and Anna's children can put their bag and shoes on the park side of the building and Paulette and Mike's children can put their bags and shoes on the other side of the building (old staffroom side).

Shoes and Change of Clothes
As the hubs are shoe free please can the children bring a spare pair of named socks to school in their bag. This will replace the need for slippers. The children can keep their spare socks either inside their tote trays or school bags. 
Due to the very wet weather of late, we also actively encourage your child to wear gumboots to school on wet days. If your child likes to play football or games on the grassed areas, please make sure they have a spare pair of old shoes and clothes to change into at school as the park is extremely boggy at present. 

Food Breaks
This term we are trialing not having healthy food in the middle of the first block, so there is no need to send along a separate item of food.  It will be important for the children to have a good breakfast each morning so they feel satisfied until morning teatime. This term the children will be having morning tea at approximately 10:20am each day and then going out to play afterwards.  Lunch will be at the same time of 1.10pm and will follow the play / eat/learn routine.

There is a noticeboard that we will have on the outside of the hub (park side)  with anything you may need to know about the day ahead. We will send home a more detailed newsletter outlining the programme later on in the week.

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
Kowahi Teaching Team

Welcome to Term 3 2017

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Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning.  Our new hub is all set and ready to go and we are feeling very excited to welcome you and the children in.
This week, the children will be able to enter the school from the Sandwich Road gate near the West Hub (our learning space).  There will be 2 teachers outside at the beginning of each day to guide you to the right place and show the children their new routines.  We have popped posters illustrating the routines on the entry doors so parents can help with this.

This term we are trialing not having healthy snacks in the middle of the first block, so no need to send along a separate snack box for brainfood / morning snack.  Please can you ensure your child has a good breakfast each morning so they feel satisfied until Morning Teatime.  This term the children will be having morning tea at 10:20 each day and then going out to play afterwards.  Lunch will be at the same time and will follow the play / eat routine.

As the hubs are shoe free please can the children bring a spare pair of named socks to school in their bag.
There is a noticeboard inside the entry door with anything you may need to know about the day.

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
Kind regards

Koru Hubs 1 – 4.

Kauri urgent info needed.

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I hope the holidays are going well at your place.

Thanks to the parents of Juliette, Adam, Mirielle, Constantin, Felix, Bonnie, Sophia, Georgina, Jess, Rohith and Rekha, for filling in the ski trip information form. I need everyone else to do this by the end of the holidays at the latest. Mt Hutt require information from several weeks before our trip.

We are planning a trip into town, to make the most of our 'local' environment for learning, before we leave Champion Street at the end of term 3. In order to go ahead with the activity we are thinking about, we will need a large number of parent helpers. If you could help out on Tuesday September 12th, from 11:30 - 3:00, please click this link.

Many thanks for providing this information ASAP. Stay cosy.