Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Building and moving update

The building project finally has the GREEN LIGHT and it is all about to begin. What a busy and exciting week it has been - with today being spectacular from start to finish. The moving trucks arrived at 8am, and by midday all of the items being moved to Champion Street for our Year 5-8 classes had been safely delivered. Our Year 5-8 students took part in a might Quiz in the hall whilst the packers were doing their work.



The afternoon saw the whole school disappear into the hall for an AMAZING Talent Quest. Congratulations to all of the finalists - Tamsin, Ailie and I were the judges and we had the very toughest job of the whole day!

At the same time, Paulette and Michelle were directing the moving team once again, moving all of the Year 3/4 classes into their new learning spaces.
The staff have all put in very long hours this week - it was always going to be needed - and we are really looking forward to our first day in our new learning spaces, at Champion St and at Beckenham, tomorrow, before everyone takes a well-deserved break for the holidays.

Year 7/8 students start the day tomorrow by going to South Intermediate for technology - the bus will be leaving at 8:55am.
Year 5/6 students need to be at school at the normal time, and to meet in Hub 14/15.
Assembly will be in the hall for everyone at 9:15am.
At 10am, the Year 5/6 students will make their way to Champion St by bus.
Parents and whānau of our Year 5-8 students are invited to join us at Champion St from 12:30-1:30pm for a barbeque lunch. (Please park on the street, being aware of residents' driveway access)
The Year 5-8 students will all bus back to school to be ready to go home at 3pm.

To make life easier (we hope) we have decided to stick with the learning hub names that children and teachers have been using all year, even though the rooms themselves might be different.
This is particularly important if you are ordering lunch through LunchOnline - if you have the wrong room number in their system - your lunch might get delivered to the wrong site!

So - parents please double check your LunchOnline account and make sure that you have the correct room down for your child - especially in Year 3/4 - as follows:

Mike/Paulette/Gayle - Hub 5/6 (working in the staffroom)
Gayle - Hub 7 (working in Room 19)
Anna/Rebekah - Hub 8/9 (working in Rooms 21/22)

Thank you all for your patience and support with the building process so far. It has been a very slow journey to date, but now that we are actually underway, we are very hopeful that it will be a more streamlined process.

I expect to have pre-site meetings with the building team very early next week, and will then be able to put out information before school starts about what to expect when you return.
I know that there is much interest in the community about seeing the classrooms that are being relocated leave - so I will email out a schedule for that when it is confirmed.

Best wishes to all for a restful holiday. We are very excited about seeing you all again, to what will look like quite a different school for everyone, on Monday 10th October.

Ka kite anō
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki

Citizen of the Week

Name - Emma Kneale Year - 4

Emma, you are a shining example of an independent and self-motivated learner. You always strive to do your personal best and you set and achieve your learning goals. We love how you lead by example by consistently making great choices and 'doing the right thing' in our hub. You have a creative imagination and kind and caring nature that sees you having many friends and we feel very fortunate to have you in our team. Tino pai!

Sharing our Learning

Pohutukawa Team

Last Thursday the sun rose with a smile on its face as it saw the awesome event at Beckenham School. It was the culmination of hours of innovation, enterprise and hard work - the Pōhutukawa market day.


All term we had been learning about different countries in Asia. Many of our families come from Asian families and they were able to share their culture with us. Groups of children formed small businesses. They researched the food and culture of their chosen country to create a product. They worked together to design packaging, create advertisements, conduct surveys and make prototypes. Shopping lists were written. Ingredients were purchased. Then began the hard work of making amazing products to sell.

Thank you everyone for the support you gave to us. It was wonderful to see you lining up before school to buy market day tickets. It was even more wonderful to see you at the market, buying our products and enjoying the wonderful market atmosphere. Thank you also to our lovely parents who supported us by helping with making products and by donating extra ingredients.

The market was a financial success. Once we had deducted the ingredients we made a profit which will be used to reduce the cost of our camp at Living Springs next term.

YEAR 5 -8 SEXUALITY EDUCATION

As part of our health curriculum, Teams Pōhutukawa and Kauri will be teaching sexuality education in Term 4.
We are holding a parent evening on Thursday 13 October at 6.30pm in the hall foyer.  Paul Scammell from Family Planning will explain the programme based on the resource THE SEXUALITY ROADSHOW.
If you have any questions or concerns about the programme this will be an excellent opportunity to find out more.
This is a parent only evening, however we can organise a separate room for your child to watch a DVD if you are unable to organise a babysitter. Please let the office know if you would like to take us up on this offer.

Staff News:

We are thrilled for Amanda McLean and her partner who are expecting their first baby in the new year. Amanda is one of the NE teachers in Hub 10/11. Amanda will be taking next year off as she takes on the new challenge and joy of motherhood.

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Update on the Building Programme, and the move to Champion St

A big 'Thank you' to all of the Y5-8 parents who attended the meeting on Wednesday evening to find out about the logistics of the move to Champion St. We are feeling very excited about the changes ahead, and confident that we have the plans in place to make this move to Champion St a very successful and positive learning experience for everyone. This weekend I will be updating the slideshow that I shared on Wednesday, and will then post it up on the website for everyone to view by Monday.

At this stage, next Friday (23 September) will be our Y5-8's first day at Champion St. We would like to invite all of the Y5-8 parents and caregivers to join us at 102 Champion St from 12:30-1:30pm on that Friday for a sausage sizzle and to have a look around the site. The children will then spend from 1:30-2:30pm in class, and bus back to school for the 3pm finish.

We are still waiting for final confirmation from the Ministry of Education that they have signed off the contract with the builder. As soon as we have this we will be able to confirm all of the plans that are currently pending. We are very hopeful that this will be confirmed this coming Tuesday.

As the contract hasn't yet been confirmed, we haven't yet had a chance to meet with the builder and the site foreman to confirm all of their site plans, and agree on the final details of the health and safety plans for our building site. This will be our first priority as soon as the contract is signed.

Once we have had this meeting, we will be able to let you all know what these details will be. There will be areas that will be fenced off and limitations on the access points into and out of the school grounds. Ensuring that our junior students can move safely and easily around the school will be a priority.

Changes in the office:

The Board of Trustees have recently accepted the resignation of Audrey Cooper as our Executive Officer. Audrey has served the school tirelessly for over 32 years, first as a Teacher Aide and then moving into the office. She has seen several principals and many hundreds of children and families come through the school. Her own granddaughters still attend Beckenham School. Audrey is will finish her full-time role next Friday, however, she has agreed to stay on in a part-time role (completing payroll activities to ensure our staff get paid via the beast that is NOVOPAY) until the end of the year. We will farewell and thank her properly at that time.

Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki

Citizen of the Week

Name - Rekha Thony Year 6

Rekha, you are such a conscientious, hardworking student. You diligently complete every learning task to the best of your ability. You embrace leadership opportunities and help others in your own quiet and thoughtful way. We know that we can rely on you whenever there is a job to be done and we enjoy your ready smile and your generous personality. Thank you for making our hub a better place.

Sharing our Learning

Kauri Team

One of the key skills that workers of the future will need is flexibility: the ability to cope with change. Our Year 5 - 8 students are on the cusp of embracing change as our building project is about to begin.  Over the past week, both Pōhutukawa and Kauri have visited Beckenham @ Champion Street. The classrooms look different, the playground looks different, how we get to school will be different, however what we do in our classrooms will be essentially the same. There is definitely a buzz of excitement and there are lots of questions. We love it when students ask questions. Questions show that they are using their deep thinking skills. Kauri whānau had a great time exploring the Champion Street site. Great trees, lots of court space, a new configuration of classrooms and new opportunities to embrace. Our passion choices for next term will include a gardening club, to make the most of the garden beds right beside our hub.

One of our current passion groups are enthusiastically painting their kiwiana murals. We hope to have these finished and up on the exterior walls of the Champion St buildings before the end of term. There is lots of change to embrace and we are doing this with enthusiasm and a ‘glass half full’ attitude. Bring on term four, we can’t wait!

Celebrating recent successes in Year 7 & 8:

As usual, we have been very busy in and out of the classroom in Year 7 & 8.
Te Whānau Mahi Tahi were awe-inspiring at last week’s Cultural Festival.
Oskar and Jordan did a fabulous job of representing Beckenham at the south zone speech finals last week.
Two weeks ago our Year 7 and our Year 8 Cantamath teams were placed in the top 10% of schools in Canterbury, both scoring 100%.
Dom, Isaac, Kaia, Hannah, Oakley and Alex displayed their science projects at the Canterbury Science Fair last weekend. Special congratulations to Kaia for receiving the prize for excellent use of statistics in a science project.

School Notices

Mobile Phone Recycling Appeal
This week is Conservation week in New Zealand - the overarching theme for Conservation Week is 'Healthy Nature Healthy People'.  It encourages people to become aware of the link between a healthy natural environment and their own health. By providing environmentally responsible recycling we are all helping to divert phones and accessories away from our landfills, keeping our environment healthy and protecting our future. Please support this great cause and bring any old mobile phones to the school office.

Dental Care over the School Holidays
The Community Dental Service will operate an emergency service over the school holidays.
This service is to provide relief of pain only and will not undertake ‘routine’ treatment. The
service will be available each working day from 8:30am until 12:30pm from the Hillmorton
Hospital site.
Monday, 26 th September to Friday, 30 th September 2016 (excluding weekends)
and Monday, 3 rd October to Thursday, 6 th October 2016 (excluding weekends)
This service will operate by appointment only and if we are unable to see your child,
alternative options will be given. If your child has dental pain as a result of an accident please
contact your dentist in the first instance.
You can phone and make an appointment for the emergency clinic by ringing 0800 846 983.

Sports News

Four of our yr 5/6 girls took up the opportunity to attend a workshop organised by Mainland
Football as part of the FIFA 'Live your Goals Week' which is promoting girls football in New Zealand during September.  The session involved various football skills and games as well as the opportunity to chat with some of our Football Ferns and get autographs!

PTA News

The PTA needs YOU!

For the last FOUR years we have been lucky enough to sell Tip Top packaged ice creams at the A & P Show across the three days it is open. We provide the labour & in exchange we keep the profit on every ice cream sold. Over one hot Show Week we have managed to raise $13,000 profit. Last year the weather gods were unkind but we still managed to raise a profit of $7,500. This is the MAJOR fundraiser for the PTA in 2016. All funds raised will go into the growing 'Outdoor Spaces' fund. This fund will be used to landscape & create outdoor spaces for the children to play in after the school has been rebuilt. Currently the MOE have allocated NO budget towards this. If you can help with this fundraiser in any way please click on this link. We need 80+ helpers across the three days. Extended family, friends & ex-students are welcome to help.
Thanks for your support & you will enjoy FREE entry to the Show the day you help with a chance to shop, connect with the school community & have lots of FUN!!!
Tip Top A & P Show Fundraiser offer to help

Community Notices

The Mother Earth Little Garden Task Force: One lucky school is going to win all the equipment they need to turn their New world Little Garden into a big garden.  The prize is worth $5000 and includes plants, gardening equipment, soil and vegetable beds. Any school in NZ can be nominated for this prize.  Plus, everyone who enters the competition by nominating their school will be in with a chance to win one of 10 goody baskets from Mother Earth $100
How to enter:
1. Purchase any Mother earth product from New World between 12 Sept & 14 October.
2. Photograph the store receipt.
3. Email your photo of the receipt along with the name of the school and town and your contact details to: littlegarden@mothereath.co.nz

JUNIOR SATURDAY CRICKET - register now!!!!!
Last summer the number of teams competing in Junior Cricket in Christchurch rocketed up by 37 teams, in addition to playing in teams, many of the Clubs around Christchurch run development programmes pre-competition for children to learn Cricket skills before they are included in teams.  To find out details of you local club go to this webpage for all the contact details you are after.
The playing season starts on the 15th of October with team entries from clubs due from clubs by the 28th of September so the clock is ticking - get involved.
ChCh Junior Cricket Association
The Christchurch Junior Cricket Association is affiliated the Canterbury Cricket and works for its members - the Cricket Clubs of Christchurch - to promote and organise Junior Cricket up until Year 8 at School.
Kore School holiday Sailing Programme:
KORE are running sailing programmes throughout the holidays at Lake Pegasus and Roto Kohatu reserve.
Join one of our groups or get a group together for even more fun.
Our courses are over 5 sessions of 2 hours running Monday to Friday each week of the holidays.
Contact us for details info@kore.co.nz, www.kore.co.nz or KORE sailing on Facebook.
Book online on our Coachseek page.After school programmes start on October 11th.

SUMMER FOOTBALL - HALSWELL UNITED AFC
Football continues through the Summer all at Halswell Domain.
We have programmes for First Kicks / Fun Football (4-8 year olds), Halswell Skill Centres (8-12 year olds), Halswell GIRLS ONLY HUB (5-12 year olds)
& we have kick arounds for 13 years + to Senior players play every Wednesday too.
Information and Registration: http:/
/www.hawkfootball.org.nz/summer
QUESTIONS?: Email: Sam Bunn (General Manager)  huafcGM@gmail.com  (ph: 0277 748 232)

The New Zealand Ice Figure Skating Championships 2016 will be held in Christchurch from 11-14 October between 3pm-7pm each day.
The two figure skating clubs in Christchurch, Centarus Ice Skating Club and the Canterbury Masters Figure Skating Club, will be co-hosting this event at the Alpine Sports Ice Centre on Brougham Street.
The championships will include the same ice skating events that you are used to seeing as part of the Olympic Winter Games with ladies and men’s singles, pairs and ice dance.  It will also include synchronised skating with teams of up to 16 skaters on the ice at one time.
Entry is $2 per adult $5 per family per day.
Hope to see you there!

The Christchurch Boys' Choir is an auditioned choir made up of boys with treble (unbroken) voice from all schools around the city. We provide boys with opportunities to perform in a choir of a high standard and also to tour around the country, performing in many remarkable venues.
We are auditioning for the choir on Wednesday 28th September from 2:30pm at STAC and are reaching out to all schools in the Christchurch community to provide boys with the opportunity to audition. Any boys who want to audition need to email me at musicaldirector@christchurchboyschoir.co.nz to book an audition time.