Building Update 5 May 2017

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Building Update

(from school newsletter 5 May, 2017)

Our building work continues at great pace and we have been advised that they are making good progress and are well within their completion deadline for the full project. During the school holidays a stormwater retention system was installed. This involved digging a pit in the junior grass area where a network of interlocking plastic 'crates' were placed, then covered back over with topsoil. This is designed to take the stormwater from the roof of the West building, and prevent future flooding. We now have to wait for the grass to regrow before we will be able to utilise that space. We haven't had a chance to go into the West Building for a few weeks, but we are told that it is only 3-4 weeks from completion. The East Building is on track for completion by the middle of the July holidays.

HRS have begun work on the hall and foyer. The hall is getting some exterior recladding work done and the foyer is getting a new frontage, deck and roof. In the past couple of days a small amount of asbestos was found under the hall foyer so on Monday you may notice asbestos removal work happening in this area. The asbestos removal company have provided this information to confirm that this work presents no health and safety concern for our children, parents or staff:

ACM (asbestos contaminated material) located in small section of soil, stones and gravel. This has been immediately isolated / contained awaiting removal of contaminated material to be undertaken on Monday 8 th May.
Air monitoring has been conducted within the isolated area. Work in progress air quality monitoring will be performed as a control measure during the removal and disposal on Monday.

The small area of concern possess no associated health risks and has no potential for accidental airborne fibre release throughout removal works on Monday.
Suspect material is thoroughly wetted and damp and has been isolated under current regulations with 200 um plastic.
Hazardous containing material labels have been affixed to the small stock pile / area of concern.
A COC license holder from AQARL will oversee the removal of this material for immediate disposal on Monday.

New Bike storage area

If your children bring bikes or scooters to school, you will be aware that we have created a new bike stand on the Sandwich Road side of the old verandah block. This area will be our permanent new home for the bikes and will be locked during the school day. We plan to install security cameras when the new cabling has been installed. We are very grateful to one of our parents, Hamish Denny (Drainworkz), for carrying out the the groundwork for this area and donating all of the labour costs. We have temporary fencing in place at the moment, and plan to put permanent, pool-style fencing along this boundary when the fencing for the other part of that area is done. The PTA are currently fundraising for this and other landscaping work which will need doing as the building project progresses.

Building Update 13 April 2017

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Building update

(from the school newsletter, 13 April, 2017)
Today has seen the office move to the Minor Room , where it will be for Term 2. The hall, hall foyer and office reception will be part of the building site now, until the end of Term 3. The hall is being partially reclad (at the park end) where it is a leaky building. The foyer is getting a new front - windows and double doors to create a more welcoming entrance to the hall, and a new roof across the foyer and office reception area (which is being retained as an additional multi-purpose space).


The bike stands area will be relocated during the holidays to the Sandwich Road side of Rooms 1-4. Eventually we will put new fencing around this area. For Term 2, it will have temporary fencing.

The staffroom has been relocated from the hall foyer to Room 13 (behind Tony's garage).

For those of you watching the progress on the new buildings, you will have noticed the the West Hub (next to the Toy Library) is looking very smart with windows and doors now in, including the lovely red and yellow windows. The internal work happening in this building is massive with numerous different tradesmen (yes - sadly there haven't been any female tradies on site yet) working on their various trades at the same time. The East Hub has made a major transformational leap this week, going from a concrete pad on Monday morning, to a building with a roof by lunchtime today.

During the holidays, the diggers will be digging a stormwater pit in the junior grass area. This will be filled with a special stormwater retention system, and then reseeded. We do anticipate that this area will be partially fenced off for most of Term 2 whilst the grass is regrown.

Pōhutukawa Team Newsletter – Term 2, Week 6, 2017

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Dance

The children have begun practicing their dance routines in groups, with the help of our Jump Jamp team leaders.  Enthusiasm has been high with many children also practicing at home.  The routines are looking sharp, with high involvement and lots of smiles all round.




Writing

We are continuing with our descriptive writing.  This week, children have selected two animals and combined them to produce a hybrid animal with a unique new name.  The children have been focusing on using paragraphs correctly and including figurative language to add interest to their writing.  Here are some examples.


Cheamouse Hybrid
The Cheamouse is a cheetah and a mouse, all mixed up together.  The Cheamouse is a part of the Caouse family, which means big vicious cats and tiny little mice are all mixed up together like slime, mixed up in your hair.  The cheeky little Cheamouse has heaps of relatives like the pumping Puamouse, the terrifying Tiamouse and the leaping Lynamouse.
  
The Cheamouse loves to pounce on beautiful butterflies and loves to eat lovely luscious red cheesy meat from the best deli’s in Tokyo and the greenest caterpillars.
  
The Cheamouse is very spotty like a lady bug and is the size of the sweetest, medium sized, babies’ fist.  The Cheamouse makes the sound “meack”, a squeak and a tiny meow, mixed up together like a cake in a mixer.

The enemies of the Cheamouse are little rock-crawling crabs, birds and chickens.  They are from the deep, deep South of Hawaii. 

I am really glad that they aren’t so big, or we would probably all be dead by them violently smashing everything in its path.

By Hebe Butland.

The terrifying Chragon
A Chragon is a ferocious creature that lurks in the shadows of the African savannahs. It is rarely seen, but they are usually found in the rocky mountains where they sometimes live. They are a breed of dragon and cheetah.

They have deadly and dangerous abilities like their poison tipped tails and saliva. They are flying creatures with enormous wings making them powerful fliers. They are as fast as lightning in the midnight sky, but unlike their relative, the cheetah, they can go for hours on end without tiring.

They have light sand coloured scales with black spots and splashes of colour on them help to blend with the soft sand and grizzly grasslands.  They usually have hazel brown or yellow eyes but can have any colour.  They also have thick spikes down their backs, necks and tails and they have spots that glow like lightning in a midnight sky.

They like rocky mountain caves and cracks, boiling African plains and grasslands.

Now you have learnt about these terrifying creatures.  Would you want to go looking for them?
Probably not!

By Kate Dunstan.

The year 5 & 6 Basketball team

The year 5/6 backetball team have been playing on Thursday nights at Pioneer Stadium.  As a newly formed team they are really working very well together and have had some fantastic break aways and baskets.  What a team!  The Pioneer Basketball club are offering a July School Holidays clinic for boys and girls aged 6-13. The focus will be on shooting and footwork.  Please see the link below for more information.







Kauri Whanau: Term 2 Week 7 Update

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What are we up to in the Intermediate Hub?

Since the start of this term we have been exploring diversity through lots of rich discussion, videos and a guest speaker. Next week we will introduce the children to their inquiry options. The children will select an aspect of diversity: cultural, gender or disability, to focus their inquiry on.

In the meantime, we are having a focus on visual art this week. The children have opted for one of the following: mixed media mini canvas, cartoon drawing or lego based portraits. We are looking forward to seeing what they produce by the end of Thursday.

We finished our hockey unit with a festival last Wednesday. From tomorrow we will be focusing on football skills, every Wednesday for 45 mins.

Last week we started writing stories based on a world record attempt. We will come back to these next week. Some children will need to spend time at home working on these this week.

Year 8 girls will be starting self defence classes with Lynda Maindonald from Self Defence NZ next Monday afternoon. They will have 5 sessions. We have worked with Lynda for several years now and the girls in the past have found these sessions very empowering, and fun.

Choir:

Tomorrow, the choir meet by the ponds at 8:30. From there they will walk to Hillview for a massed choir rehearsal. This will happen again next Tuesday morning. Both mornings, they will be back at Champion Street by 11:45. Booking forms for tickets to see the choir perform next Tuesday and Wednesday evening need to be returned to the office by this Friday. Jarred has spare copies if needed.

Cheese Rolls:

Our Passion Friday cheese roll business group, EeezyCheezyInc, have been very busy planning, testing, designing and organising systems. Order forms went on-line in the weekend and paper forms went home today. We will be having two cheese roll making days. The first will be on Thursday June 29th, for Year 1-4 orders. The second will be on Wednesday July 5th for Year 5-8 orders. We would appreciate as much parent help as possible on these days. Please fill in this form if are able to help at some stage.

EeezyCheezyInc.



From Rangi Ruru:

Personalising Your Daughter’s Learning  is for parents wanting to know more about our individual plans for each Rangi student, our approach to the curriculum, learning support and extension, and our GATE programme.
Thursday,  15 June   5.30pm - 7.00pm                                                     
To register interest  http://bit.ly/InsightIntoRangi

An awesome family outing:

From the Christchurch Maths Association: We warmly invite you to discover the maths behind craft and the craft behind maths at Christchurch’s first Maths Craft Day, Sunday June 18 in The Great Hall at The Arts Centre. Our all-day event is free, and suitable for adults and children alike, and we would love to see you there. The Christchurch Maths Craft Day will feature seven craft creation stations as well as public talks by mathematician crafters, and the day-long celebration of maths promises to engage people of all ages. Make a Möbius strip, crochet a hyperbolic plane, build a fractal sculpture, fold an origami octahedron, and listen to talks about the connections between maths and crafts. Explore the newly opened Teece Museum at the Arts Centre and discover the ancient relationship between mathematics and craftsmanship. Open to everyone: experts and amateurs, maths-fans and maths-phobes, the crafty and the curious.

Beckenham Cheese Roll Fundraiser

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An enthusiastic team of Year 7 & 8 children have been busy setting up a small business: EezyCheezyInc. They have tested cheese roll recipes, sought feedback, sourced ingredients, created ordering and advertising material and are ready to launch their business. Advertising will go on-line and on display this week, and paper order forms will go home.

The first $600 they make will go towards our J-Rock expenses. All the rest will go towards the outdoor spaces fundraising project. If you would like to order your cheese rolls on-line, please click this link. 

Many thanks for your support.