Beckenham School Newsletter, Friday March 31st 2017

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

New House Colours!

We have been consulting with the Student Council and House captains for some months now, about the challenge that the children in Fisher (black) and Tennyson (red) houses face any time that we ask them to dress in 'house colours' as their house colours are the same as our school uniform.

The solution that we have come up with was to change the house colours of Tennyson and Fisher, so that each of our four houses has a colour that is unique, and not part of our uniform colours.

Yesterday we had the exciting moment where the two house captains of Fisher and Tennyson drew their new house colours out of a hat! We had a choice of three colours - green, orange and purple, that were equally appealing to the student body so the way we agreed we would select the colours was through a ballot.

From Term 2, the new house colours will be:
Fisher - Purple
Tennyson - Orange
Heathcote - Yellow
Waimea - Blue
Our next step is to purchase a teardrop flag for each house to use on house occaisions and for when we gather together for house events.

Looking ahead to Term 2

The building work will begin on the hall and foyer from the middle of the school holidays, and the office reception area will also be part of that building area. Jacky and the office reception area will be moving into the Minor Room at the end of this term. We do anticipate that this will be somewhat challenging in terms of space and access and ask for your patience and understanding through this time.

Terms 2 & 3

As we will be into the winter terms and mornings will be colder, we have decided that, for Terms 2 & 3, the Champion St buses will depart at 8:40am from Eastern Tce, rather than at 8:30am. This means that no children need to be at school before 8:30am. The Year 1-4 learning spaces will stay closed until 8:30am to allow teachers preparation time. We ask that you do not drop children at school before this time, as has always been the case prior to the build starting.

Accounts

A statement with Fees and Requests for Contributions for each child has been emailed home today. Please check your inbox carefully - this email will be sent via a different system to the system we use for sending the newsletter - it will come from Beckenham_School@etap.co.nz
We think that some people may be having these emails blocked by their email provider, or that they might go into your spam folders.
Please do check that you have received this, and contact accounts@beckenham.school.nz if you can't locate it.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Thu 6th April
9am-3pm Canterbury Swimming Sports at Selwyn Aquatic Centre in Rolleston
2:15-3pm, Celebration Assembly in school hall.  All Welcome.

Mon 10th April
11:30am - 3pm Pohutukawa Alpine Ice outing

Thursday 13th April
3pm School closes for the end of Term 1

Term 2:
Please note - we have confirmed Monday 1 May as a Teacher ONLY Day.
Term 2 will start on Tuesday 2nd May.

Term Dates

Click here to view the 2016 and 2017 term dates.

Citizens of the Week

Karda Briggs - Year 1

Karda you are a superstar learner and classmate.  You demonstrate your 'I love challenge' attitude by trying new things with increasing confidence and resilience.  Your growing self motivation and positive 'I can' attitude is an inspiration to us all.  Thank you for being a role model for us at learning times when you focus and try your very best. Tino pai Karda.

Annabelle Smith - Year 1

Annie, you are a fantastic learner and friend in Hub 10/11. You have the most beautiful smile, and always look on the bright side of life! You are kind, generous, helpful and always respectful to classmates and adults alike. You put 100% effort into producing top quality work and you are always keen to step up for a challenge. Your attitude is a wonderful example for us all! Thank you for providing sparkle and smiles each and every day for us, Annie. You're a gem!

Sharing our Learning

Kauri Team

Exploring Leadership in Kauri Whanau.

The past month has been a busy and stimulating one for our Year 7 & 8 students. At the end of March we headed off to Wainui for a week full of challenge, fun and bonding. We got all three in bucketloads. Wainui provides so many ways to put ‘we love challenge’ into action. Not that we all ‘loved’ the challenge when it was staring at us in the face, but once we took the plunge, so to speak, the benefits were huge. From soaring on the giant swing, to leaping off rocks high above the ocean, to working with team-mates solving challenges, we embraced the challenge and grew as individuals. For those who weren’t so driven by adrenalin, the challenges came in less confronting forms, such as archery and making bivvies.


On our return to school our focus shifted towards learning about leadership. We are exploring leadership through the lens of the ‘7 habits of highly effective people’ (Stephen and Sean Covey). Week 8 was our leadership week. We immersed ourselves in activities and discussion to develop each of the 7 habits. One of the most powerful learning experiences was listening to and interviewing two inspirational leaders. Mark Inglis had both legs amputated below the knees when he was 23, after being trapped on the top of Aoraki, Mt Cook  for 13 days.  The children listened in awe to the story of his life and were inspired by his proactive attitude. Three days later when they were involved in synergy activities at Spencer Park, one child encouraged another with, ‘You can do it, remember what Mark Ingils told us!’ He left the children with many important messages. These included: you don’t need to be friends with everyone, but you do need to have respect for others; don’t wish for the best, but use what you have and just do it; and your attitude determines your altitude.


The week prior, Ben Atkinson was our guest speaker. I’ll leave it to Sadie McLoughlin to tell you about Ben ...

Ben Atkinson, someone who has sacrificed everything for others. On Monday, I was inspired by this man (as were many others), the man behind ‘Fill Their Lunchbox’. I was inspired by his confidence, and how he was just an ordinary guy, making an extraordinary change in the world. Ben Atkinson is a man who not only knows his many strengths, but embraces his weaknesses.

The social enterprise ‘Fill Their Lunchbox’ was created by Ben. When you buy a lunch, two lunches are made and delivered to the students of low decile schools. Research showed that 28% of kiwi kids lived in poverty, and Ben was not happy about that. Delivering over 616 lunches each week, things started changing. Truancy rates went down. Children behaved better at school.

One thing that REALLY stood out to me was his mindset to think win win. Teaching skills to ex-prisoners from Odyssey House, they helped him by making lunches for deprived children. As well as teaching them skills to use later in life, he gave them a purpose.

The children were fascinated with the fact that, while Ben pays three employees, apart from paying his rent, he doesn’t draw an income. His life is full, he is loving what he is doing, he is making a huge difference, but he doesn’t need money to provide that happiness. We can help Ben to break the poverty cycle, by purchasing a cafe style lunch for ourselves, that also provides two lunches for children in need. Check out https://fill-their-lunchbox.myshopify.com/



Our Year 7 & 8 children are now full of inspiration, experiences and principles. We look forward to watching them bloom into awesome young leaders.  

School Notices

Preparing Your Child for School Seminar

Tuesday May 16th 
7.30 Hillview Christian School Gymnasium
Parents and caregivers of children nearing school are strongly encouraged to come to an evening jampacked with helpful hints and tips of how to interact with preschoolers to maximise learning opportunities in readiness for school. The seminar is being run by Michaela Allen, the Ōpāwaho Learning Cluster leader and supports a pamphlet produced by the cluster  that you will receive at the seminar. The seminar is free but please register using this google form: https://goo.gl/forms/DYXQjYQkyQkaBLbv2
The event is for parents and caregivers of children that attend or are likely to attend an ECE or school in the Ōpāwaho Learning Cluster.

University of Canterbury Kiwi Competitions (Years 5-8) (in place of ICAS)

The University of Canterbury is offering our Year 5-8 children the opportunity to participate in the Great Kiwi English, Mathematics and Science competitions. These competitions will be taking place annually and are designed by New Zealand teachers for New Zealand students based on the New Zealand curriculum.

The competitions are administered by the centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) which is a not-for-profit Centre at the University of Canterbury. The competitions are open to all Year 5-10 students in English, Mathematics and Science. Students can enter in one or more subjects. It provides teachers, parents and students an independent, comprehensive record of a student's performance. Your child’s teacher will supervise the online tests which will take place in the last 2 weeks of Term 2 at school.

Certificates will be sent to all participating students and prizes awarded to top students. These will be supplied by the University of Canterbury. For further information, please consult the CEM website www.cem.canterbury.ac.nz
We have decided to offer  The Kiwi Competitions now at Beckenham School, in place of the  ICAS competitions (which are from the University of New South Wales) which we have participated in the past.

Please click on this link to complete the registration details for your child. Alternatively forms are at the Beckenham and Champion St offices, and teachers will also have a handful of paper copies.
Payment for these competition fees, $8.50 per subject, will need to be paid in full by the last day of Term 1 (Thursday 13 April). You can pay with eftpos at the Beckenham site office or online school's bank account (ASB 12-3148-0131641-000) with the reference ‘KiwiCom’  and child’s name as the code.

Competitions will take place between 26 June-7 July.

PTA News


Sports News

Winter Sport: Coaches Required

Kia ora whānau,

With Term 2 fast approaching, we are starting to organise coaches and managers for our Winter Sport teams. As always, Beckenham School enters teams into the Friday Winter Sports competition, and look forward to travelling to Hagley Park to play against other schools in rugby, football, netball and hockey. To enter as many teams as possible we rely on our supportive community to volunteer to coach/manage sports teams, alongside our staff. If you are keen to support us in this we would love to hear from you. Please email expressions of interest to Jenny at jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz
We look forward to hearing from you!

Jenny and Gayle

Huxter Mountain Bike Relay - 7th April

The Huxter Mountain Bike Relay event is being held at Mcleans Island on Friday the 7th of April. While this event takes place during school hours, the children will remain the responsibility of their parents for the duration of the event. We know of a few children already entered for this event by their parents and a few more children seeking a racing partner. If your child is interested in this event, please email Jenny to be put in touch with another family who are looking to enter. Please also let Jenny know when you have made an entry so that we can provide a Beckenham sports top and mark the child appropriately on the school roll.

Hanmer 4 Hour mountain bike race results

Huge smiles shone through the mud splattered faces at the Hanmer 4 Hour mountain bike race on Saturday. Hebe Butler, Harper Ford and Walter Mclaughlin worked as a team to complete 9 laps of the Super Junior course, while Isaac Macdonald took on the adult course as an individual competitor. All four children embraced ‘We love challenge’ as they braved the increasingly muddy course for four hours. Both the team and Isaac placed third in their respective categories. Tino pai!


Congratulations to Alex Braun who came an impressive 3rd place in the Canterbury Secondary School’s Cross Country Mountain Bike Series on Wednesday the 8th of March.


Staff Profile

Jacky Sargent - Office Administrator

Beckenham School has been a part of my life now for 14 years from when my oldest child Ruby started..she is now 19 and just flown the nest for a gap year in Melbourne. My younger daughter Julia, also attended Beckenham and is now in year 12 at Cashmere High. I commenced working here in 2012 after working as an Occupational Therapist for nearly 20 years...so a definite career change! The Beckenham School community is a very welcoming and inclusive one and I love being a part of it.  I enjoy outdoor activities including, biking, walking and the odd bit of tramping. I also have started blokarting, great fun down at the beach or racing at Wigram. Mark, my husband, sometimes joins me when he isn't sailing, so the competition is a little more intense on those race days!


Community Notices

(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)

Aquagym:

459 Cashel Street, Ph: 3810299.  Learn to Swim and coaching.  Book now for April Holiday Courses & Term 2.  Leaders in Aquatic Education.

Kowhai Team News Update Week 9

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Here are the important things to know for next week...

Circle Time

Our Circle time focus this week has been about kindness. We discussed the ways that we show kindness at school, home or in our wider community. Next week, the children will be actively doing acts of kindness for others. Each child has been given a secret buddy. This is to give the children the chance to be kind to people they’re not already close friends with. We discussed ways that we can show kindness, e.g., be friendly, smile, share, give them a note or drawing, encourage them, tell them something they’re good at, give compliments, doing things without being asked etc. 




Stationery At School

At the beginning of the year, everyone purchased the required stationery for the year ahead. These items are the only stationery the children need to have at school. Special stationery is best to stay at home so it does not get damaged or lost. We want the children to have a happy time at school and sometimes these treasured items can end up getting broken, damaged or lost which can make our tamariki feel sad. We will be sending any special items home this week for safe keeping. 


Inquiry- Top Team Event

As part of our Identity Inquiry, we have decided to celebrate the way in which we live our school values. This coming week, the children will begin to plan a 'Top Team' event. We will be investigating what makes a good game, the value(s) it helps us to grow and how we can modify a game to make it original, challenging and fun. In the last week of the term, the children will run their own, 'Top Team' event with a class from Koru team. We know this will be fun for everyone involved!


Term 2 Parent Help - We Need YOU!

We would love to hear from anyone who would like to offer their services each Friday as part of our Make a Difference (M.A.D) Time. 

THORRINGTON RESTHOME
We have a close relationship with Thorrington Resthome and would love to continue this again this year. We need one parent who would be willing to take 10 children to Thorrington Resthome as a M.A.D Time option.

PIZZA MAKING
Each Friday next term, we would love to provide the children with the opportunity to bake pizzas at school. This would involve helping the children in the kitchen to make the pizza bases, create their pizzas and clean up. If this sounds like you, please contact: paulette.newton@beckenham.school.nz



That's all for now. Have a great weekend ahead!
Kowhai Teaching Team


Kowhai Team News Week 8 Term 1

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This week started off with a a highly engaging show by Elgregoe, using magic and ventriloquism to entertain and teach us how to be caring citizens. He discussed ways that we can each be a HERO at Beckenham School.
Being a HERO

H - Honesty
E - Empathy
R - Resilient
O - Opportunities

You might like to reinforce these concepts at home with your child. We will be revisiting these key ideas and relating them to our School Values here at school.



YEAR 7 LEADERS


On Friday, we were lucky to have the Year 7 students on the Beckenham site to work with children across our team. The focus for the day was to plan and teach a variety of sessions to the children in our hubs as a means of developing their personal leadership skills. We were highly impressed with their organisation and and engagement for all. 




PARENT HELP


We love having parents and caregivers in the classroom to support the children with their learning. This may include reading a book of your choice with an individual or group of children, baking, playing games to help children to learning words or numbers. All these jobs make a huge difference and are an excellent way to show the children how we really do get there together! If you have some free time on a Monday to Thursday between 9:00am and 12:30pm, and would love to get involved, please let your child's point of contact teacher know by either sending us an email or coming in and having a chat. Any help would be greatly appreciated!




GROWING INDEPENDENCE

We believe in having a strong home / school partnership and know that we are lucky to have such a supportive parent community. 
Helping each other with learning
We have been discussing the responsibilities that we all have that help to make our families a great place to be. Many children have commented on the fact that they each have different jobs to do at home, e.g., loading the dishwasher, making their bed, packing their school bag to picking up the dog poo! All of these responsibilities enable us to contribute in meaningful ways.
In Year 3/4, we know the importance of growing student self-management skills to enable children to be successful both at home and at school.  Promoting:
  • Home Learning folders coming to school everyday. We use these folders on a daily basis and it is important for them to be at school so we can monitor home learning, send notices home and set up and celebrate home learning achievements.
  • Water Bottle and Hats. Having our hat and water at school everday so we can play outside and stay hydrated for learning!
  • No Toys. Only bringing items for our learning. We will let you know if your child needs to bring along anything extra. 
Maths Ideas for Parents-  Here is a useful website to understand what we cover in Year 3 / 4 along with  useful maths website link. Make sure you check out the tabs on your bog for useful literacy and numeracy websites.
Year 3 Standards
Year 4 Standards
Maths at Home- Ideas and useful links to websites


CELEBRATING LEARNING

In Hub 5/6, the children have been working on what it means to be a 'Thinker' We decided good thinkers: Focus on what they are doing, they think about options and alternatives, they use a Growth Mindset, 'I can do it!', they use resources wisely and choose activities to extend their understanding or to grow new ideas. This week we have been constructing roller coasters using straws, solving puzzles, investigating patterns and writing poems to name a few. Here we are in action!

Roller Coaster Construction


Solving Addition and Subtraction Problems using Imaging (in our heads)


Completing Design Challenges using Lego

The children in Hubs 7,8,9 have been busy with a poetry competition which was shared with other classrooms. We have written some lovely poems about ourselves. The post cards we have published have created a lovely message.


Putting the Postcard Puzzle Together- Team Work
Problem Solving
Working Together to Solve Addition and Subtraction Maths Problems

KORU HIGHLIGHTS: Term 1 Week 8

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This week started off with a WHIZZ and a BANG! We were joined by Elgregoe, a magician and ventriloquist, who had a special message to share with us about how to stop bullying and be a HERO at Beckenham School.




H - Honesty
E - Empathy
R - Resilient
O - Opportunities






Here are some helpful tips to ensure your child has a successful day at school:

  • Make sure they arrive at school between 8:30am and 8:45am. This ensures they have time to do their morning jobs and say goodbye to you so that they are settled before the bell goes. It is also important that no children are being dropped off at school before 8:30am, unless they have an older sibling who catches the bus to Champion Street.
  • Reading folders need to come to school everyday. Sometimes we need to send important information home and this is the best place to put it to keep it safe on its journey home to you. Having your reading folder at school everyday also ensures children can read their books both at school and home. Increasing your child's reading mileage has a proven positive effect on their reading ability. You can record what books your child is reading at home in the back of their home learning books.
  • Check your child's school bag regularly. Quite often books can mysteriously come out of folders and end up squashed in the bottom of bags or in the more extreme cases, rotten fruit! It's important to check that no nasty surprises are taking up residence in your child's bag for too long.
  • Library folders and library books only need to come to school on a Monday and Friday. This saves you having to remember to pack it each day and ensures you and your child have exciting new books to read together each week.




Koru Whānau will be presenting Beckenham's Celebration Assembly in week 10 - Thursday 6th April 2:15pm





Can you read? Do people often tell you that you're a natural with a pair of scissors? Then this could be the job for you!
We love having parents and caregivers in the classroom to support the children with their learning. This may include reading a book of your choice with a group of children or gluing poems into books. All these jobs make a huge difference and are an excellent way to show the children how we really do get there together! If you have some free time on a Monday to Thursday between 9:00am and 12:30pm, and would love to get involved, please let your child's point of contact teacher know by either sending us an email or coming in and having a chat. 
Any help would be greatly appreciated!



Any good used toys?
We run a fabulous play based Discovery time each morning throughout our Junior School. In the middle school the programme is extended and broadened to cater for older children’s interests and developmental stages. Both programmes provide authentic, rich opportunities for the children to explore, discover and investigate whilst strengthening their essential skills and skills in many areas of the curriculum. We would like to supplement and build the resources that are available to the children at these times. If you have any good, used toys we would really appreciate them at school. The types of things we are looking for are things such as tea sets, dinosaurs, crafting equipment, puppets, trains, cars, blocks, lego etc.  We can give these toys new life and they will certainly make a difference to our children. Please drop the toys into Hub 3 so we can sort and organise storage. Thank you very much for your support.

Pohutukawa Team Newsletter Term 1 Week 8

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Hanmer 4 Hour Mountain Bike Race

On the 18th March, Jenny went to compete in the Hanmer 4 Hour Mountain Bike Race with 3 of our Pohutukawa students. It rained, they got covered in mud, but the smiles kept coming and they kept going. They all had to dig deep at some point during the event, really showing a love of challenge and some real grit. Here are some photos of the day:




Winter Sport: Coaches Required

With Term 2 fast approaching, we are starting to organise coaches and managers for our Winter Sport teams. As always, Beckenham School enters teams into the Friday Winter Sports competition, and look forward to travelling to Hagley Park to play against other schools in rugby, football, netball and hockey. To enter as many teams as possible we rely on our supportive community to volunteer to coach/manage sports teams, alongside our staff. If you are keen to support us in this we would love to hear from you. Please email expressions of interest to Jenny at jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz. We look forward to hearing from you!
At the beginning of Term 2 we will be holding trials. Children who do not make a team or who choose not to participate will remain at school.
Jenny and Gayle

Huxter Mountain Bike Relay

The Huxter Mountain Bike Relay event is being held at Mcleans Island on Friday the 7th of April. While this event takes place during school hours, the children will remain the responsibility of their parents for the duration of the event. We know of a few children already entered for this event by their parents and a few more children seeking a racing partner. If your child is interested in this event, please email Jenny to be put in touch with another family who are looking to enter. Please also let Jenny know when you have made an entry so that we can provide a Beckenham sports top and mark the child appropriately on the school roll.

Alpine Ice - Reminder

As you will be aware we are planning a trip to Alpine Ice as part of our learning about our school values.  This trip will take place on Monday 10th April (week 11).  Thank you to the parents/caregivers that have volunteered to come along to help make this trip possible, we really appreciate it! If you are able to help us, please email your child’s teacher before Monday 3rd April 2017. Please indicate if you have sufficient ice skating experience to be able to help children on the ice or not. Lack of experience won’t rule you out, however we would like to take some parents who are able to assist children on the ice.

Art - Supplies needed

For art this term, the children have been working hard on sculpting clay totem poles. Each child is currently making three sculptures, each representing aspects of their identity. What amazing artists we have in the Pohutukawa Hub! The care and attention to detail the children show when using clay is impressive. Next week, we will begin painting the totem poles. If you have any old shirts, newspapers or egg cartons at home it would be hugely appreciated if you send them along to school with your child next week.

SPCA - Bake Sale

Starfleet Academy is a much anticipated learning opportunity in the Pohutukawa Hub.  It is a time when our students have the opportunity to follow and realise their passions in learning.  Two of our students have used their initiative and have held a bake sale to raise money for the SPCA. Cupcakes and muffins were on sale for a for a gold coin and demand was high! Congratulations on supporting this awesome cause.


P.E. - Striking and Fielding

Our current focus in P.E is striking and fielding alongside team work and tactics. By practising these skills and playing these games, our children are learning the key skills and tactics for games such as Baseball, Cricket and Softball. Here are some of our children in action:



Writing 

In writing our children have produced interesting information reports on a topic of their choice.  Here is a piece on Tui's:

Tui
Do you know that male tui weighs more than the female tui. If you want to know how much both tui weigh then you should read this article. If you do read this report then you will learn lots about tui. You will learn things like what tui eat, what tui look like and what the enemies are. Tui are amazing birds and by the end of this report I think you will agree with me.

 Tuis like to eat lots of different foods. They like to eat nectar from flowers and flax. They also like to eat insects, fruit and small seeds.

 They are lots of different colours depending on the light. They are mostly green, blue, purple and sometimes shades of bronze. The male tui weighs 125g and the female weighs 90g. The tui also have two white tufts on their neck under there chin.

 Stoats, ferrets, rats and possums climb to where the tui have made their nest and steal tuis eggs then eat them. The pests eating the eggs is bad because then New Zealand will have less of these beautiful birds, because the eggs won’t hatch.

 I’ve been writing about tui and I hope you have learned some amazing facts.You’ve learned what tui eat, what their enemies are and my favourite, what they look like! Tui are amazing birds, don’t you think?