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 April9am-3pm Canterbury Swimming Sports at Selwyn Aquatic Centre in Rolleston
2:15-3pm, Celebration Assembly in school hall. All Welcome.
Mon 10th April11:30am - 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 GymnasiumParents 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/DYXQjYQkyQkaBLbv2The 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.nzWe 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.nzWe 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.
