Term 2 Week 1 in Pōhutukawa

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Kia ora and welcome to term 2. Let's hope that the dry, sunny weather lasts for a wee bit longer! Hats are no longer needed this term, so it would be a good reminder to your child to bring it home to throw in the wash!

We have lots of exciting things happening in Pōhutukawa, as always! This week we have been involved with trials for winter sports teams. This can be a tricky time for some children as we often have many children trialling for a spot in two teams. We are restricted to entering only two teams by Primary Sports Canterbury. We are entering teams for football, hockey, rugby and netball. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to help out with our winter sports teams, either as a coach or a manager. To enable us to send as many children as possible to Hagley Park on a Friday afternoon we rely on our community for help, and we really appreciate those adults who are available. Winter sport starts on Friday of week 3, 18 May. The Sushi Factory, which is the lunch supplier on Friday will be delivering orders by 12 noon starting week 3. This will mean that children attending winter sport will still be able to order their lunch and eat it before they leave.

On Tuesday we will be running a writing motivation for the hub. For writing the children will be writing an information report on a country, or place they are keen to find out more about. To kick this off they will be 'visiting' four countries - Japan, Hawaii (USA), Italy and France. Each child will have a passport, and will be required to find out information about each country. There will be opportunities to taste food or drink from each country, and we are encouraging the children to dress up in clothing from any country. The dressing up is optional, and is not an opportunity for a mufti afternoon! If the children would like to dress up they are to bring their clothes to school in their bag, and then get changed at lunchtime. Some children have asked if they can bring items or food from home connected to the four countries they are visiting. So long as they have permission from home, this would be fine. We hope this fun afternoon will promote lots of engaging writing.

We have be training for cross country since last term. It is really great to see the students set individual goals regarding their cross country running. The actual cross country race is next Thursday, 10 May. The whole school will be involved in this event. The students will be eating early at 12:15pm. We have a briefing at 1:30pm. At 1:40pm the Year 8 and 7 students will be running, and then the Year 6 and 5 students will race. Then the Year 3 and 4 students run, in that order. The boys and girls will be running together, and will be recorded separately. Everyone will get a place card for their finishing position. The top six for the year 5 girls, boys, year 6 girls and boys will be representing our school in the zones. Everyone who participates will earn a house point. If a child is unable to participate due to an injury or for medical reasons, they will be expected to have a signed note from home stating the reason. Good luck to all of our runners.

Today after our welcome assembly, a group of Kauri girls promoted the 40 Hour Famine to the year 5-8 students. This year the money raised by this fundraising will go to South Sudan, particularly helping many refugees. One of our values at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto is 'We make a difference'. It was explained to us today that we can make a difference by supporting people doing the 40 Hour Famine, or by taking part. Packs were given out at lunchtime today to interested students. The following information has been taken from the 40 Hour Famine website, where more information can be found:

Thousands of young lives have been affected by conflict, drought and famine in South Sudan. Children have fled for their lives across the border to Uganda, becoming refugees. They have travelled a long distance, many without parents or families. While we can’t rewind the past, we can help restart their future.

Let's make a difference for South Sudanese children in Uganda.

While our overarching topic this term is 'Sustaining our wellbeing', our focus for the first part of the term is sleep. Over the next few weeks our classes will be taking part in Yes, I can! Sleep. This is a learning unit based around sleep and finding ways to improve your own sleep. Research has shown that as little as 10 minutes of lost sleep a night can lead to symptoms similar to ADHD. Our school is doing this unit in partnership with the University of Canterbury to try to improve the duration and quality of children’s sleep. We would like to equip children with the knowledge and skills required to make positive changes to their own sleep.

The tamariki will have the opportunity to learn about sleep. They will conduct their own research and present their information in unique ways. Together we will learn about the benefits of sleep and positive sleep hygiene. Tamariki will then be given the opportunity to monitor both the duration and quality of their sleep. They will be given a clock to put near their bed so that they can track the duration of their sleep. During this time, we encourage you to talk to your child about sleep and support them if they would lie to make small changes to their sleep environment and routines.

If you would like sleep support or to share your own knowledge on sleep, please join the parent Facebook group….
Yes, I can! Parent Page

We have loved seeing your little darlings back at school, and look forward to the fun and learning to be had in the rest of the term.

Tracy, Katie, Nick and Gayle

Get Your Comedy Evening Tickets Now!

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On Saturday May 19th, our very own funny man, Mr Jarred Skelton and friends, will be on stage in the Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto hall. Jarred and his friends have entertained us in previous years and we can guarantee plenty of giggles and side splitting laughter. This stuff is great for your well-being, so grab some friends, buys your tickets and book that babysitter...

Click here to book your Comedy Evening Tickets.


Proceeds go towards the Year 7 & 8 Dunedin Camp. We've been there and done that and it was awesome! Now we just need to finish the fundraising to pay all the bills. We have worked hard to make this camp affordable for our families. Please support this fun night out.


Kauri Student Response Needed

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Many thanks to those who have already asked their children to fill in the forms for passion choices and Dunedin camp feedback. There are also some who have yet to fill in their winter sport choices. Please check with your children and get them to fill in the following, if they haven't already done so:

We'd appreciate these done ASAP. Those who don't will be asked to do this as soon as they get to school on Monday. If we got this info by tomorrow, Friday, it would really help with our planning. 

Many thanks.

Kauri Whānau: Important Holiday Messages

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We are hoping that everyone has caught up on sleep post camp and that the holidays are going well.

Please get your children to ...

We have two forms that we would appreciate your child completing over the next couple of days.

We are planning to put together a Dunedin camp photo book. This will be a great way to preserve the memories of our fabulous week down south. In the children's survey form there is a box to tick if you would be interested in purchasing a photo book. As well as photos, it will also include writing from the children. Cost will be around $25. At this stage we are just after an indication of numbers. An official order form will come later.

Reading and Maths Groups

This term we will be using a different approach to reading and accordingly have adjusted our reading groups. After gathering student voice about maths, we have also made some changes to maths groups for this coming term. Please remind your child to check the groups display as soon as they arrive at school on Monday.


High School Information

This is the term that we get lots of information about high schools and open days / evenings. We have set up a display in the maker space to share information that we receive.

Currently there are brochures and letters to take from Shirley Boys' High School. Shirley Boys' have a community open night on Thursday May 24th from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. There are also parent information evenings run by John Laurenson, the school principal, on 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of May, from 6:00 - 7:30pm.

Missing anything?

In the maker space we have laid out all of the unclaimed items from camp. We also have a number of baking containers. Please check the photos below to see if any of your child's property needs collecting on Monday. We are happy to make a future camp supply of any unwanted tea towels.