Feb 2018: Special Bulletin – Farewell to a dear friend of the school

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With the fondest memories of a dear friend and colleague

Kia ora koutou

As many of you may have read on the school, or neighbourhood Facebook pages, we heard the very sad news last week of the passing of Caroline Radcliffe, a very dear and loved colleague and friend of the Beckenham School community.


Caroline began her association with Beckenham School when she attended here as a child herself. She then sent her four daughters to the school, and then began working here in the office as the school secretary, a position she held for 30 years.

Caroline was the welcoming face that greeted everyone who came into the school, managing to get a laugh and a smile from even the most serious.

Along with her wicked sense of humour, she was renowned for her fabulous sense of style. She always looked immaculate, and ran many fashion shows at Beckenham as fundraisers.

Her bright lipstick and immaculately polished, extra-long nails, were legendary!

On her last day at Beckenham, we had a special "Glam up your nails" day - in honour of this gorgeous lady and her nails!


Caroline retired from Beckenham in October 2012 and moved to Blenheim with her husband Mike.

She passed away on Tuesday of last week, with her family around her.

A memorial service for Caroline will be held at 2pm this Friday 23rd February, at Lamb and Hayward, Wairakei Road. To all attending this service - you are encouraged to "Glam up your nails and lips" in honour of Caro.

At school this Friday, we will be encouraging those who remember Caroline, to 'glam up their nails' and put on their brightest lipstick, as a salute to this special lady. This will particularly apply to our staff and our Year 6, 7 & 8 children who were just 5, 6 & 7 year olds at the time that Caroline retired.

We will be flying our New Zealand flag at half mast on Friday, in memory of Caroline.

Koru Term 1 Weeks 1 & 2

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Welcome Back!

Learning Conferences

It was wonderful to have such a large turnout to our Learning Conferences held earlier this Term. We appreciate your time to connect with us at school - setting our children up for a great start to the year.

Fill your Cup

We have enjoyed seeing the cups return, overflowing with some wonderful sharing. it is not too late to bring your cup - it is a great way to get to know each other.

Paint shirts 

Do you have any old, large shirts or t-shirts at home? We are hoping to have a collection of paint shirts for art. Please send in any spare old shirts that you don't need to be returned. Please don't name. Thanks.

Your Help 

Do you work or dabble in art, design or advertising?  Would you be interested in helping design our wellbeing definition? This will be central to our student wellbeing strategy this year....and beyond! Please contact me if you can help. Many thanks, Charlotte (charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz)

Reading 

We are excited about starting our reading programme from Wednesday next week. (New Entrant may be arrange differently). We have working through shared big books or poems to familiarise the children with our reading protocols and allow for assessment. Please enjoy reading these with your child, supporting them as they need. Your child will start bringing take-home books at their level after week 3.

Home Learning

We are in the process of a school-wide review of our Home Learning protocols. In the meantime your children will bring their reading book and Home Learning Book home every day in their reading folder. There is a tip sheet to help with the reading as well as a reading log that you can complete. 

Discovery Learning - Play Based

Our tamariki have embraced learning through discovery. They are getting to know other children in their group as well as to feel settled as they start the school year.
The following link provides some great information for parents and caregivers about our children's play-based urges (schema).  Nature Play

Would you like to come and share an aspect of your profession or an interest during Discovery Learning, e.g. yoga, art or an outdoor activity? Sessions run between 9.15 and 10.15, and we can support you with materials and resources. Please email Charlotte if you are interested. Thankyou.

Enjoy these photos of our children - doing what they do best!

We need your help!

Koru West Wing would love to start up a wood working play area. If you any tools like hammers, saws, hand held drills, nails, screws and screwdrivers - we would love to gather these in to create the area. Also any off cuts of timber and plumbing that are spare at your place. Dorinda will be collecting these donations.







































Fairness

We have had wonderfully rich talks about this picture - see what things your children notice - it's really fascinating! What 'box' does your child need to learn?

Kōwhai Newsl Week 2 Term 1

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We have had an amazing first two weeks back at school. The weather has been perfect, the children have been enthusiastic and the teachers have enjoyed getting to know the students in Kōwhai hub. As always, there is a lot happening, and a lot to look forward to during the first term.




 Problem Solving in Maths
We have begun teaching our problem style approach in maths this week.  This has required the children to work in co-operative whānau groups with 3-4 children. We have had an emphasis on what effective group work looks and sounds like and it has been exciting to see the children participate in rich mathematical discussions as they share or question the ideas that are shared when solving the problem. 
Here are examples of some of the group thinking.












Life Education / Inquiry Learning
Next week, it is our turn to visit the Life Education van. Each class will have two lessons with the focus being on friendship, showing empathy and how we communicate with others. These are all important concepts to explore, especially at the beginning of a new year at school and supports our current class teaching around feelings and emotions.



 Buddies
We began buddies last week with some of the children in Kauri Whanau. Most of the big buddies had 2-3 children. The focus of our sessions has been to get to know each other with the creation of fortune tellers and buddy posters. 
Literacy
This week we began our writing programme and we have been highly impressed with the quality of writing being produced by the children in our team. This often occurs when parents read books regularly to children as this exposes them to wonderful language.  It also enables them to hear how reading should sound as well as promoting a love of reading. Keep up the great work! 
The focus next week is on establishing our reading programme across the team. We will be developing the necessary routines for reading where the children will read in a variety of ways: reading by themselves, reading to a buddy, listening to reading, playing reading/literacy games and even visiting our new school library! FYI-Home Learning will begin in week 4 with books being sent home then. 
Learning Conferences
We would like to say a huge thank you to all the families who were able to attend a learning conference at the start of this term. As a teaching team this has enabled us to learn more about your child and how we can meet their needs this year. We really enjoyed meeting you all and are looking forward to the year ahead with your whānau.  We are always available through email and are very happy to meet  to discuss anything that arises. If you haven't done so yet, please take the time to fill in the google form which was sent out in the last newsletter via this link.  This feedback is really valuable for us as a school.

 Discovery Learning

Each day we begin with Discovery Time. This time provides the children with the opportunity to work together and to learn through play and exploration. It has been great to see the children problem solving, exercising their creativity, working together and developing their communication skills. We have learnt many things about the children through our conversations and observations which will be reflected in our teaching approaches with them. Here are some photos of the children in action.



 Wellbeing at Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto
Do you work or dabble in art, design or advertising?  Would you be interested in helping design our wellbeing definition? This will be central to our student wellbeing strategy this year....and beyond! Please contact me if you can help. Many thanks, Charlotte (charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz)


School Fair
The P.T.A. is working very hard to organise the school fair. Please mark your calendars- Friday 23rd March 2018 will be our first TWILIGHT FAIR since 2014. The P.T.A. are calling all Artists, Musicians, business owners & generous soles…..as they are on the hunt for donations of prizes, vouchers, cash, food, services & acts to help us to create an amazing Twilight Fair

If you are a business/person that can help, please click on the link for more detailed information: https://goo.gl/forms/UXBCuV3Z4iURxLhB3
All funds raised from the Twilight Fair will be added to the PTA ‘OUTDOOR SPACES’ FUND.
Dates for the Diary:
Wed 21 Feb - Walk or Wheel Safely to School
Wed 14 Mar - Kowhai Top Team Afternoon (We do need parent help for this event)
Fri 16 Mar- Storylines Festival- Visiting author to our team

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



2018 Week 2 in Pōhutukawa

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Week 2


What a fabulous first week we have had back at school. The weather has been perfect, the children have been enthusiastic and the teachers have enjoyed getting to know the students in Pōhutukawa hub. As always, there is lots happening, and lots to look forward to during the first term.

Every Friday morning for six weeks this term, coaches from Canterbury Basketball are supporting our PE/sports programme, by teaching basketball skills and rules. This started in week one, with the students enjoying the quick paced, active sessions. Basketball is a sport which is becoming more and more popular, so we are very pleased to be able to provide the students with expert coaching in this manner.

Beginning this week, the Life Education van is at school. Each class will visit the van, and Harold, for two sessions. Our focus for these two sessions are friendship, showing empathy and the impacts of our decisions, which are all important concepts to explore, especially at the beginning of a new year at school.

Our major topic for this term is sustainability. We kicked this off by watching the Lorax, which highlighted the importance of looking after the environment and our natural resources. We will continue working on these themes during the week within reading, writing and art. To help us with our art, we would love any donations of wool or newspaper please.  As a further motivation, we have planned a beach clean up trip. We will be visiting New Brighton Beach on Monday 26 February. The buses will pick us up at school at 10am and we will be returning before 3pm. We will require latex gloves and rubbish bags (both supermarket and big black bags) for picking up litter. If you have a surplus of any of these items, it would be great if you could send them to school with your child. We will not be picking up anything which puts your child at risk. We require adult help to make this excursion possible. Please email Tracy if you are able to join us on this fabulous day out.
tracy.inwood@beckenham.school.nz

On Thursday 8 March, the Pōhutukawa whanau will be visiting Rapaki Marae. This is a fabulous opportunity for our tamariki to experience a powhiri and to hear local history about our surrounding environment. We will also be exploring around the marae and Rapaki Bay. We will be leaving school at 9:30am, and returning to school before 3pm. We require adult help to make this excursion possible. Please email Tracy if you are able to enjoy the day out with us.
tracy.inwood@beckenham.school.nz

Have you heard about our new home group names? In the past, the four classes have been called rooms 14, 15, 21 and 22. This is historical, and related to the classrooms the year 5 and 6 classes used to be in. Now that we are in our new learning spaces, those numbers didn’t seem very logical, so now we are very happy to announce we have new home group names. Tracy’s home group is Beach (formerly R14), Gayle’s home group is Alpine (formerly R15), Nick’s home group is Jungle (formerly R21) and Katie’s home group is Lake (formerly R22). This may be tricky to remember initially, although the students seem to have got it sorted already!

We intend to have some water fun on Tuesday afternoon with the slip and slides, so long as the weather forecast stays sunny! If your child would like to participate in this they may bring along togs and a towel. If they would rather not, they will be able to play on the big adventure playground. The children must change back into their school uniform and put on footwear before leaving school.



Thank you to the families who were able to attend a learning conference with their child’s home group teacher. We appreciate having the time to be able to learn more about your child and family. It certainly gives everyone a head start when beginning the year of learning. We are always available through email, and are very happy to make an appointment to discuss any concerns.






Kauri Whānau Update: Term 1 Week 2

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There was an awesome positive vibe buzzing through the Kauri hub last week, as our year in the Intermediate Hub got underway for 2018. Please read the important messages below about what is coming up this week.


Maths Challenge Badges and Science Badges: 

If your child would like to work on a Maths Achievement Challenge or Science Badge this term, please check out the links below and email one of us with their order. We will send away the first order for the year this coming Friday. These badges count towards the 'We Love Learning' kete award.
Science Badges
Maths Achievement Challenge
Hannah: hannah.elliott@beckenham.school.nz
Jenny: jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz
Nicky: nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz


Technology:

Technology gets underway this week. On the notice board in our hub are group lists; these include the technology they will be learning about this term. Please make sure your child is at school by 8:30am on Tuesday.  Mrs Lynch, the fabric teacher who will be working with a Year 7 group this term has asked for and surplus clean fabric, zips, cottons, threads that parents no longer need.


Maths Club:

This year we will be running a maths club from 8:20 to 8:50 on a Wednesday morning in our breakout space. The purpose of this club is to extend our more able mathematicians. We will be working on the Otago Problem Solving Competition and solving Cantamath problems. If your child is interested, make sure they are at school by 8:20 this Wednesday. 


Leadership:

We have a vast number of applications for leadership positions. Children should hear about their roles by the middle of the week, then training will get underway. Children generally get two or three leadership positions.


Learning in our hub this week:

Each home-group will have three Life Education visits this week. Our focus is looking at empathy and understanding, to support our leadership programme. Due to these sessions, we will be fairly home-group based this week, however maths and reading groups will get underway on Wednesday and we start our writing programme with our first writing motivation on Tuesday afternoon.


Basic Facts Support:

If your child needs to work on their basic multiplication facts, we have put together a pack of worksheets that they can make use of at home. If you would like a copy of this pack, please send an email request to your child's home-group teacher. This would be a great SMART goal to work towards for the 'We Love Learning' kete award.

Gardening Request:

If you have any spare gardening gloves lying around home, Hannah would love to use these for her gardening passion group. Please send any you can spare along to school.


Swimming Sports:

We are delighted to have just under 80 children entered for our School Swimming Sports, which will be held at Wharenui Pool next Thursday. For each stroke the children have had the option to compete in either a 25 m or 50 m event. Only swimmers from 50 m events have the opportunity to qualify for zones. Please discuss with your child the events that they have entered to ensure that they are appropriate for your child’s ability. We would love to see you on poolside cheering on our competitors as they demonstrate a love of challenge.
To support the running of the event, we are looking for some amazing parent helpers to assist us with a few jobs on the day. If you are willing and available to help out, please email Jenny on jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz.  

Below are some pictures from last week. Highlights included passion sessions starting on Thursday and basketball on Friday.


Music Creation Passion

Code Club

Passion photography explored camera angles.

Buddy time with Year 3 & 4.

Basketball sessions got underway with three awesome coaches.