Kauri Whānau Update: Term 2, Week 2

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IN THIS POST:

  • Hagley College
  • Quiz Night
  • Uniform
  • Cross Country
  • Pics from EOTC last term


Info from Hagley College:

We have an Open Evening coming up on Wednesday 29 May, starting in the Auripo Auditorium with presentations at 4.30 pm, 5.30 pm and 6.30 pm. Each presentation will contain the same information and will be followed by a chance to look around the College and meet some of our staff and students. BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL – interested parents/whānau should head to https://www.hagley.school.nz/enrolment/year-9-enrolment/ to book their seats if they wish to attend one of the presentation sessions.

Applications for Year 9 2025 will open online from 20 May, and close at midday on 27 June. Important information for students and whānau is available here: https://www.hagley.school.nz/enrolment/year-9-enrolment/.

 

Our 2025 Junior College Lookbook is available to download here: https://www.hagley.school.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2025_Junior_Prospectus-web.pdf



Quiz Night:

A huge thanks to Nicky for the amazing organisation of the school quiz night which was held last night. Such a great event and I am sure we raised a lot of much needed $$$ to go towards the Kauri ski trip in Term 3. 




Uniform:
 A reminder of correct school uniform, we are monortoring this closely as a team. As the weather is getting colder we are seeing many non uniform hoodies and jackets creeping in. Support from home is much appreciated. LINK to uniform outline on our website.


Cross Country:
Jenny has been busy organising this whole school event for Tuesday 14th May, we have been busy training! Nothing better than a jog on a crisp winter morning. We encourage students' to wear house colour T-Shirts on Tuesday.







Photo Dump-Term 1 EOTC:Waka on Avon, Rutherfords' Den, Adrenaline Forest!



















































Koru News: 10/05/2024 Term 2 Week 2

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Kia ora e te Whānau,

Welcome back to Term 2! We would also like to warmly welcome Korra, Hailey, Vincent, Archie, Elsa, Sadie, Manaia, Aurora, Marnie, Angus and Alma who have started school this term. We have got a busy term ahead of us with lots of exciting things to look forward to. Below are lots of dates and events for Term 2, there will be more information closer to the time for these.

Term 2:
  • Cross Country; Tuesday 14th May, the junior races start from 2.15pm on the field. Children will need suitable shoes, a water bottle, and they can wear House Tops.
  • Readathon PTA Fundraiser; 6-17th June
  • Book Character dress up day; Friday 24th May
  • Staff Only Day (school closed); Friday 31st May
  • King's Birthday (school closed); Monday 3rd June
  • School Disco; 2:00-2:45pm Friday 7th June
  • Learning Conferences; Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th June
  • NZ Opera; whole school performance in our Hall; Thursday 13th June
  • Koru trip to the Christchurch Art Gallery; Monday 24th June  
  • Matariki Evening at school; Tuesday 25th June 5:30-7:00pm
  • Matariki (school closed); Friday 28th June
Morning routines:
We are so proud to see the children showing We Love Challenge by carrying their own bags; putting their lunch box and drink bottles on the shelves; putting their Literacy folders in the group boxes and then settling down quietly into a game or activity each morning! 
We thank all the Whānau for the quick and calm 'good byes' in the morning. As we get more children starting school, sometimes we notice it feeling very overwhelming and busy with so many people in the Hub before school, it is really helpful when you say goodbye and leave your child with us, leaving them to have some fun with their new school friends.

House Groups:
Our Koru children have all been allocated a 'House' to belong to: Fisher, Heathcote, Tennyson and Waimea. Children from the same family/whānau are put into the same house. Each house has its own 'chant' and tamariki learn this, so they can participate in the house chant at sports and special events, and in Celebration Assemblies, if it is their house that has won the House Points for that fortnight! You can find the House Chants here, and other are also videos that you can share with your child to help them learn their house chant. Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe! We Get There Together!

Some Reminders:

Friendship List: If you would like your name and contact details to be added to our Koru Team Friendship List, please email Georgia by Wednesday the 15th of May. Georgia will update the list and share it with you. If your name is already on the list, please don't worry about contacting Georgia again.
georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz

Lunchboxes: A few reminders about your child's lunchboxes:
  • Please ensure your child is only bringing water to school (no juice or other drinks)
  • It is also important to help teach your child how to open and close their lunch boxes, so they can do this independently at the start and end of eating times
  • It would be great if you could also either pre-cut or teach your child how to open packets in their lunchboxes (for example potato sticks, chip bags, twisty yoghurt pouches, muesli bars etc.)
Thank you for your help and co-operation with this!

Science: 
On Wednesday, we had Ben Kennedy, a volcano expert, come and talk to the tamariki in the Koru team. Ben works at the University of Canterbury and is absolutely passionate about his chosen subject! He showed us his 'pet' rock collection, which represented the lava from various types of volcanic eruptions. We passed the rocks around and were able to see and feel many differences between each of them. Ben taught the children about words such as magma, lava, extinct, dormant and active. 



We then all went outside where Ben's student, Jonathan, set up two different experiments for us: one to demonstrate the slow progress that lava makes as it flows down a mountainside and the second, to demonstrate what happens when there is more gas present and lava 'bombs' are created and then shoot up and out of the volcano, often landing some distance from the volcano itself. 





Our first two weeks:
Here are some pictures to show what we have been up to for our first couple of weeks this term, during Learning Through Play and Kinetic Letters with Bounce and Skip.











We hope you have a fabulous weekend and look forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Ngā mihi nui,
Stacey, Georgia, and Elizabeth


Kōwhai News Term 2 Week 2

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Kia ora whānau,

Welcome back to Term 2! We have an exciting term ahead of us with lots of exciting things planned, starting with our whole school cross country event next Tuesday. We have been practising every day since the start of term and the children are raring to go!

Cross Country

The weather is looking good for next Tuesday afternoon (14th May) so fingers crossed our Cross Country goes ahead! The Year 4 children are due to start at 2:15 followed by the Year 3 children approximately 10 minutes later. Please make sure that your child has a fleece to wear on the day while they are waiting to take part and after their turn. They will also need a drink bottle. We look forward to seeing you there if you are able to make it.

Health

For the first half of this term, we are focusing on health and healthy living for our Inquiry. We are looking at the importance of drinking water, physical exercise, sleep and eating the right foods. For one activity, we are planning our own healthy lunchboxes! Check out these balanced lunchbox ideas here. 

There is lots more great information about health and children on the Health Info website, including breakfast ideas, keeping active and snack foods.



Staying Safe Online

As our tamariki spend more time online, it’s important parents and whānau help them stay safe. Now is a great time to talk to them about how we use the internet and digital technology.

Netsafe has created an Online Safety Parent Toolkit so parents, families and whānau have all the information they need to talk about online safety.


If you or anyone in your whānau needs support, you can contact Netsafe.


Discovery

Discovery continues to be the highlight of our the week for our tamariki. They have been really excited about creating robots out of cardboard boxes, learning how to finger knit and making mosaic patterns with chalk and masking tape in the playground outside. See the photos below:
















Kahikatea News Term 2 Week 2

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Kia ora e te whānau mā,What a lovely two weeks back at school for Term 2. Our tamariki have settled in so well with the routines, we have loved the big smiles and warm greetings each day. We would like to send a big thank you to our parents and caregivers as you have made such a difference by setting your child/ren up for success in the morning transition. He waka eke noa - We get there together!Cross CountryA quick reminder that Cross Country will take place on Tuesday, 14th May. The junior races will start from 2.15pm on the field. Please ensure that your child/ren will have their drink bottles, running shoes, and pants, shorts or leggings appropriate for running. They have the option to wear their house shirt.Our tamariki have been training hard for this event and shown our value 'We Love Challenge'. Ka mau te wehi - way to go!School PhotosThank you to our whānau and caregivers for preparing your child/ren for school photos. Everyone came to their photo session with great pride and a big smile. We are excited to show their photos to you when they are available.Naming Uniforms and BelongingsPlease make sure that your child's clothing items, drink bottles, and lunchboxes are properly named. We have had quite a few tamariki losing their tops, jerseys and shoes. You are welcome to have a look in the hub and at the lost property after school should any of their belongings have gone missing.Paper Making and RecyclingLast week, Sarah and Quynh's homegroups had a great time experimenting with paper making! They learnt about the value of recycling, and how used paper can have a second life.









"We made paper out of used bits of paper."
"It was tickly and weird."
"It was squishy!"
"We put our hand on the bit of paper."
"We kept on pushing it."
"Mine was like a pancake!"
"I got heaps of little paper and squished it and we leave it for 24 hours."
"I liked pushing it, it was so fun."
"I made a love heart."
"I loved squishing the paper!"

Learning Through Play

We had scarf dancing as one of the options for LTP last week. Our tamariki had so much fun following and creating movements. Also, a big thank you to one of our parents for donating baby dolls, they were the most popular option during LTP.








Have a fabulous weekend!

Amber, Tracey, Sarah, Megan, Lisa and Quynh

Pōhutukawa Update, Term 2, Week 1

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Ngā mihi e te whānau,

Warm greetings to you all. We have had a wonderful week back in Pōhutukawa. The weather has been mostly welcoming, and the students in great spirits! We've hit the ground running this term (literally) with some Cross Country practice. We all noticed how enthusiastic the students have taken to their practice, as you can see from the photos. Long may it last! Please read on for some news from the team, and some updates on the term. Have a great weekend everyone, kia pai ngā rā whakata.

Food for Thought

We are excited to be working with House of Science again this term! Please watch this video to give you an overview of what House of Science is all about.

Each home group has just completed the first round of hands-on, practical experiment-based scientific workshops focused on the concept of ‘food science’. We learned that each ingredient in a product formula or recipe adds different functionality. Adding or removing an ingredient can alter the structure, texture, colour and taste of food. Some of the questions the students investigated were: What is curdled milk? What does it look like? What does it feel like? What is the difference between baking powder and baking soda? How do you add or remove moisture from food? How do salt and sugar absorb moisture?

The activities in this kit allow students to explore the answers to these, and many more, questions in a hands-on engaging way. Lots of mess, but lots of fun too! We hope you enjoy the photos of our scientists in action.

Cross Curriculum Classes

We love alliteration in Pōhutukawa, and our "cool curriculum classes" continue with some changes for Term 2. Gayle is continuing with Visual Art this term, Rae is covering Digital Technology and continuing with Coding. Steve is delving into Health/Hauora with a look at the mātauranga Māori concept of ‘mana’ and how we can support it. Megan is continuing with the Learning Languages area of the curriculum and teaching French, German, and Spanish. There is a lot of learning happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Winter Sports

Our winter sports programme kicks off in Week 5. Every student has elected to join, and will be involved, in either competitive or non-competitive hockey, netball, or football. We still need parent assistance both on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (approx. 1:30 pm - 3 pm) to help support our tamariki in the winter sports programme. In particular this year we have a large number of students who have signed up for the football competition and require parent help to make sure every team is supported at their games. If you think you could help us at this time, please get in touch with your home group teacher. Your support is hugely appreciated. We get there together, mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe!