Kahikatea Newsletter Term 4 Week 1

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PTA Tip Top Fundraiser


The PTA are working hard to try and fill all the shifts for the Tip Top Ice Cream sales fundraiser at the A&P Show in November. Please click on this link to find more information and book a slot: Tip Top A&P Show Fundraiser

Hats


To keep our children safe during the summer months we ask that all children wear a bully brimmed sunhat while outside during learning or play time. This will become compulsory from Week 2 of this term. Children who do not have a sunhat, will be asked to play in the shade during break times. Please support your child in remembering to bring their sunhat.



Art Gallery Visits

Thank you to all the parents and caregivers who have offered to help for this exciting trip. If you can help please hand in the parent help slip to your child's point of contact teacher as soon as possible.


Scooters and bikes

Please continue to remind your children about walking their scooters and bikes in and out of our school grounds. As we have limited space now, it is highly important that we keep each other safe. 



Topic Focus


We are experiencing a lot of change currently at Beckenham School, which has led us to explore the concept of adaptability. The children will gain understandings of how things can adapt in response to change. This week we have adapted to our new environment at school. Some children have adapted to an older brother or sister learning at a different site by being more independent. We have adapted too, by following new rules about where we can and can't play and by taking extra care of each other on the playground. 

We will be looking at adaptations in different contexts too. We will be exploring how we adapt to the different seasons and our new understandings will be presented in a wearable arts performance. To be successful at this we will work with materials, adapting them to suit a new purpose while following the technology process from design to completion. 

Character Poems

Last term we created poems using language features such as metaphors and similes to help us describe a person we know. 

Gail

Gail is like a panda. Cuddly and quiet.
She is blue. She calms everyone down.
Gail is like a silky dress. She is so pretty.
She is a soft blanket. Warm and comfy.
Gail is like an artist. She does awesome paintings.
She is sweet like chocolate cake. 

By a collaborative group of Hub 3 and 4 writers  

Jenny

My teacher Jenny is like a butterfly. Sweet and beautiful.
She is bright yellow like the sun.
Jenny is like a computer. She knows everything.
Jenny is fast on her bike so she is a professional biker.
She is sweet like honey.

By Oliver

Michelle

Michelle is like a wild wolf. She goes around the school to help.
She is white and silver. She's beautiful.
Michelle is like a fairy. She is smart.
Michelle is like candy floss. She's sweet.
I love her!

By Saxon


Kauri Update: Term 4 Week 1 / 2

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We have swept into term 4, embracing the newness and the challenges with smiles and enthusiasm.

This week...

Life at Champion Street:

Busing to school has quickly become with new norm. No one has missed the bus and behaviour has been pleasing. We are loving the new furniture and the children have quickly adapted to the new environment.

Writing:

We kicked the week off with a birthday party, or rather three birthday parties, for our writing motivation. The children have planned / or are planning, a piece of descriptive writing with a twist. This writing will be due at the end of week three.

Ready for another piece of chocolate.

Home-learning:

This was given out on Monday. Hopefully it is underway at your place.

Sunhats:

This term all children need named school sunhats. If your child needs to purchase a new one, they can do this at the school office after school.

Climate Change:

We have started our learning about climate change by viewing and discussing 'An Inconvenient Truth'. Discussion has included talk around the fact that there is more than one opinion about why our climate is changing and this movie presents one of these opinions.

Next week...

Athletic sports:

Our sports day is next Thursday, October 20th. As we will be holding this at Beckenham Park, we won't be going to Champion Street this day. Children will need to be at school by 8:50, not 8:30. Before school, they can play in the park. When the bell rings, Year 5-8 will gather in the hall. Parents are most welcome to come and watch during the day. Tracy will send out a programme next week.


New Zealand Playhouse Performance:

On Monday we will be returning to Beckenham straight after lunch, in time to see the New Zealand Playhouse travelling performance: 'The Fairest Of Them All.'  $4.50 will be added to your account, as a donation for this performance.

Coming soon...

Week 4:  Thursday November 3rd, are will spend the day in town, including an art session at the museum.
               Sexuality Road lessons begin

Week 5: Wednesday November 9th, zone sports at Hansen's Park
               Thursday November 10th, Rapaki Marae visit

Coming later...

'A very Kauri Christmas' performing arts evening, Top Team, Victoria Park walk, day trip to Corsair Bay, first aid training and more. A calendar of Kauri events will come out next week.

Lunchtime on the first day of term.

There she goes...

Congratulations to our newest Gold Leaders.





Art Gallery outing

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Dear whanau,
In Weeks 3 and 4 of this term, each of the classes in Kahikatea are going to be participating in an art lesson run by the Gallery Educator from Te Puna o Waiwhetu. The lesson is entitled ‘Clay Beasts’. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?!
Classes are booked in for their lessons as follows:
  • Room 1  departing school at 9:30 a.m. and returning to school by 1:30 p.m. on Friday 28th October
  • Room 2  departing school at 10:45 a.m. and returning to school by 2:30 p.m. on Friday 28th October
  • Room 4  departing school at 10:45 a.m. and returning to school by 2:30 p.m. on Thursday 3rd November
  • Room 3  departing school at 10:45 a.m. and returning to school by 2:30 p.m. on Friday 4th November.
We will need several parent helpers to accompany each class. Hopefully the times which you will see above, will give you a reasonably clear idea about just how much time you will need to commit, when considering parent helping on this excursion. Each class will be away from school for about 4 hours. This time will need to be somewhat flexible as the travel time is an estimate.
The cost of this trip is between $5 and $10 per child and a request for this donation will be added to your school account once the cost of the bus trip has been confirmed.
If the weather, on the day of your child’s outing, is looking inclement, we shall adjust our timing to include the Gallery lesson only, and shall let parent helpers know as soon as we are able that morning.
PARENT HELP:
Please complete the parent help form which will come home with your child tomorrow, and return it to school as soon as possible.  
Kind regards,
Amy, Amber, Dorinda, Jenny, and Gail  

Upcoming Events

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Welcome to Term 4!

It was lovely to see the sun shining today as we began our first full day at our new site. The bus trip to Champion Street went very smoothly and the children were relaxed and happy in the new hubs.  

Food For Thought

This free programme begins tomorrow.  Each home group will have two lessons about healthy eating. On Thursday we will be walking to Richmond Street New World to continue learning reading food labels for healthy eating.

The times for these visits has changed:

Hub 14/15:
Leaving school at 9am. 
Supermarket visit 9.30 to 10.30
Arriving back to school 11am

Hub 21/22:
Leaving school at 10.30am.
Supermarket visit  11.00 to 12.00
Arriving back to school 12.30

We urgently need more parent support  for our walk from Champion Street to Richmond Street New World. If you can help please email your child's home group teacher as soon as possible.

Thank you to the parents who have already offered to help. 
 
YEAR 5 -8 SEXUALITY EDUCATION
We advised you last term that, as part of our health curriculum, Teams Pōhutukawa and Kauri will be teaching sexuality education this term, beginning next week.
We are holding a parent evening  this 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.

Working Together in the New Hub

Making Name Tags for our new Tote Trays



Important Update for the beginning of Term 4, 2016

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Important Update for the beginning of Term 4, 2016

Kia ora koutou

As you will be aware, we are now officially building and all of the planning and organisation that has been going on is now a reality.

The safety and wellbeing of everyone is our priority for tomorrow, over everything else. If we can have a clear understanding of plans and expectations for moving safely around both sites, and for the bussing back and forth to Champion St, we will set the term up for safety and success.

This is a lengthy email as there is a lot of very important information that we need you to have. Please do read it carefully.

Getting in and out of the Beckenham site

Below is a map of the school, showing access points into the school (Beckenham flags) and access routes around the school (in green).


We will have the four new school flags flying at the four access points to the school tomorrow morning. These points are:

Sandwich Road - the main entrance at the crossing/flagpole
Sandwich Road - at the Dental Clinic
Eastern Tce - via the driveway by Hub8/9 (old R21/22)
Norwood St Park entrance (or any entrance via park) - through into the junior playground or behind Hub 8/9



Fences and Building Site

The fences that are up today (Sunday) are not quite what will be up once the building gets going. We are expecting the demolition of the old Intermediate Hub to happen one day this coming week, and then the 'normal' fencing and access routes will be in place at that time. In the interim, we will be working closely with the Site Manager to ensure that safety and access are prioritised.

Moving around the Beckenham site

Yes - this is going to take a little bit of getting used to as routes are very specific and have changed since last term.
Hub 1/2/3/4 and Hub 10/11 students should have no major changes.
Hub 12/13 children will need to access their rooms through the staff car park fenced off access path.
For Hub 8/9 and Hub 7, the best access in the morning and afternoon (if you are coming in the main Sandwich Road entrance) will be to go through the junior playground, onto the park and then down to your classrooms.

It is very important to remember that none of us have ANY permission to cross fences into the building site - we should consider that this is NO LONGER part of our school. We have no authority over the building site areas - they are now the responsibility of HRS, as is the Health and Safety of anyone who is inside the fenced area.
There will be an Assembly at 9:30am on Monday morning for EVERYONE at the Beckenham Site, to talk about Health and Safety and access around our site. Following this, teachers will be walking their classes around the site and reminding them where they are/are not allowed to go, and which routes they need to take to get there.

Y5-8 students at Beckenham site

In the mornings we need the Y5-8 students to access the buses on Eastern Tce by staying out of the school site, except for those children who come in the Norwood St park entrance, who will then go across to Hub 8/9 (old 21/22), around the back new path and down the driveway to the buses.
Children who arrive at school via Sandwich Rd will be asked to stay on the footpath and walk down to Eastern Tce that way.
The same will apply in the afternoons when Y5-8 students disembark their buses. If they need to go to BOSCO, they should go onto the park, then in to BOSCO via the entrance by the junior playground. If they need to meet a sibling, they should either go through the park to the Junior playground, or around the road, up Sandwich Road and meet them at the flagpole or bike area.
Y5-8 students who bike or scooter to school need to lock their bikes/scooters in the bike stand area, then walk back out onto Sandwich Road and around to the bus on Eastern Tce, and use the same route in the afternoon.

Morning tea and Lunchtime at Beckenham

To ensure safety of all of the children we are planning to keep all the children in two spaces at break times - the park (for Year 3/4 only), and the junior playground for all children. There will be teachers on duty during morning tea and lunchtime in both those spaces.

BOSCO

We are not certain that the access to the new BOSCO rooms (the old Room 8/9) will be ready by 7am tomorrow, so please take your morning BOSCO children to the Hall (via the junior playground doors). If their rooms are accessible, staff will escort them over. If not, they will meet in the hall for the morning session.
At 3pm BOSCO staff will collect children from Hubs 10,11,12 & 13, and will meet Y1-4 children BOSCO children outside Hub 1-4 and escorting them to the BOSCO rooms. We expect the access to BOSCO to be ready for the afternoon session.
Please do not park in the staff car park when dropping or collecting children from BOSCO.

Assembly this Thursday

For logistical reasons, we have changed the time of Assemblies to be on Thursday afternoons. Children from Champion St will bus over earlier and come in directly to assembly and children at the Beckenham site will pack up before coming over to assembly, so that they are ready to pick up their bags when assembly ends at 3pm, and go home. This coming Thursday we will start with our traditional Welcome Assembly (2:15pm) and this will be immediately followed by our normal Celebration Assembly which will be led by the Kauri (Y7/8) team.
Prior to the assembly, the PTA are holding a Welcome afternoon tea in the hall foyer at 1:30pm - new families are particularly encouraged to attend.

Emergency Evacuations

We will have a trial evacuation at both sites on Monday 17th October.

Contacting Champion St

The phone number for Champion St is an extension of the phones at Beckenham. That means that you still call the Beckenham number 337 1404 and ask to be put through to someone at Champion St. Teachers' email addresses have not changed.

Buses to Champion St

A reminder that these will be leaving at 8:30am sharp. We expect the buses to be arriving at 8:15am, so students need to check in with one of the teachers on duty, then get onto their appropriate bus, checking in with their particular bus monitor as they get on. (They should get to know this drill pretty quickly).

Vehicles at Champion St

During school time, no vehicles should come onto the school site. A small number of vehicles will be able to park in the driveway and the rest will need to park on the OPPOSITE side of Champion Street to the school entrance (to leave the school side for the afternoon buses.)

Parent Drop-Off/Pick-up at Champion St

If you are dropping your child off, or picking them up early at Champion St, the same digital sign-in/out process applies at the Champion St reception area. Please ensure that this is always followed.

Ferndale Taxi bus

The Ferndale taxi bus will be parking on Sandwich Road, near the dental clinic and students will enter and exit the site via the Dental Clinic steps. Tony Lee will be putting cones out for the van each day so please ensure that you do not park in this spot - Thank you.

Traffic and Parking at Beckenham

As you will see on the access plan, the staff car park has become a primary access route for students and staff, and now only has 5 staff parks remaining in it. Please DO NOT walk through the staff car park at any time as this creates significant risk for children who will copy this behaviour.
Staff have been asked to park on the south side of Sandwich Road, leaving the north (school) side of Sandwich Road available for parents to drop off children. WE STRONGLY URGE those of you who can, to walk to school or to plan your journey earlier and park in adjacent streets including Birdwood Ave and Martin Ave. If you are using Sandwich Road, we would encourage you to pull up - kiss goodbye, drop off - and drive away, so that we can minimise the traffic build up.
Please note that parking on Eastern Tce (from Sandwich Road to the Ponds) will be restricted to buses only on the school side, and there are NO PARKING signs on the river side. It is critical that these restrictions are followed, to ensure that children are not crossing between cars and buses, and to allow for safe movement of traffic on Eastern Tce when the buses are there.

Tomorrow morning, Michelle Maule will be on Eastern Tce helping with the Champion St buses, Cath Barrie will be on Sandwich Rd at the flagpole entrance assisting foot traffic and I will be on the park access point. Our job is to check that all of the access points are working for everyone, and to help anyone who might be unsure about where to go.

Finally I would like to acknowledge the very hard work of staff, the Board of Trustees, and our Project Team, both at the end of last term and, for many, during the holidays, preparing at both sites to ensure that this coming term goes smoothly.

Thank you for reading to the end of this important newsletter!

We are VERY excited about the fact that the builders are on site and our building programme is underway and we want to ensure that they can get on with their jobs, and we can get on with learning, each without interruption.
Your help and support through this period is very much appreciated. If you have any questions, please email me in the first instance and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.
principal@beckenham.school.nz

Regards
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki