Kauri Whānau Update: Term 3 Week 7

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 In this post:

  • Ski trip
  • Choice 
  • Playground
  • Save the Date Year 8
  • Passions

Ski Trip

A huge thanks to our fabulous parent crew who supported all of our tamariki to have a fabulous day on the snow. Despite the soggy start at school, we were greeted by calm blue skies when we arrived. The children were fabulous. They followed all of the instructions that were drilled into them before we left, enabling the day to flow smoothly. So many children made so much progress; we were super proud of their achievements and attitude. We have a huge collection of photos which the children can access from home to show you. The media team are also working on a video which we will share soon. 



Choice

This week each homeroom had two sessions with Constable Meg as part of our teaching and learning around making positive choices around drug use. The children have been learning about the different levels of harm that can be caused by drug abuse and the laws and regulations that exist in our country. The children approached this learning with maturity and posed lots of questions for Constable Meg to answer. Constable Meg encouraged the children to talk openly about what they had been learning with whānau.

Another key message from Constable Meg was about how to react if friends were doing something that they felt was unsafe or could become unsafe: get yourself away from the situation. We know that as children enter their preeteen and teenage years, the perception of what your peers think of you has a huge impact on behaviour and that walking away from your friends takes a lot of courage. We thought we would share a useful strategy with you that you can set up with your child to help them make positive choices when with their friends. How it works is that you agree upon a code word between you and your child. This could be anything from 'bananas' to just an 'x'. If your child is ever in a situation where they feel uncomfortable, they text you the code word. On receiving this text, the parent calls their child and says that they need to pick them up and bring them home. The child can outwardly express their disappointment or frustration about this and save face in front of their friends. We thought that this was a strategy that might come in handy at some point during your child's journey into adulthood. 

Playground

Happy first day of Spring! We have been loving this wonderful weather this week and want to make a special mention of all the great lunchtime activities that have been happening. Many students have been playing football with the younger kids and lots of Koru games practises have been happening. We'd love to see this enthusiasm for active play continue. 







Save the Date Year 8

If your child is off to Cashmere High next year, you will want to mark the evening of Wednesday, September 13th from 6pm in your diary. That is the evening that Beckenham Whānau are invited to Cahsmere High to meet with the principal and have your questions answered. More details will be coming to you directly from Cashmere.


Passions

We are fully into the swing of our Friday afternoon passions for Term 3. It has been wonderful having Kate Allan come in to take a coding passion. Here are some photos from our 'paper mache clocks' and 'clay' passions. Lots of wonderful learning and fun being had! 









Kahikatea News Week 7 Term 3

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Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to Spring! It has been wonderful to have warmer days and to see the sun shining this week!


Keeping Ourselves Safe

This week Kahikatea students have learned about:

Unwanted Behaviour or Touch

  • Students need to know that they can stop touching or behaviour that is inappropriate, that worries or confuses them, or makes them feel unsafe.
  • Students need to be able to say “no” confidently, move away, and report what has happened.

Secrets and Tricks

  • Identify the difference between good surprises and bad secrets
  • Identify the adults they trust about bad secrets
  • Explain safe practices for trick situations, including online.
This Brian and Bobby video has been a really helpful resource for our tamariki.

Last week during our lessons with Constable Meg we all watched this video about Consent (link). We encourage you to watch this too when you have time.

Word of the Week: Friendship

This week we have been learning about friendships and practicing being a good friend. Good friends have several common character traits. By intentionally practicing these qualities, you can help your child learn to be a better friend. 

Here are some friendly character traits you can work on:
  • Taking turns
  • Offering encouragement
  • Sharing
  • Being patient
  • Including others

Mathematics

This week teachers have been completing the JAM test (Junior Asssessment for Maths) so classes have been combined. Some of the topics we have covered during this time include Skip Counting, Time, and Mathematical Art.

Here are some photos of our tamariki enjoying some different maths this week:















Chess Fun! 

Every morning a group of Kahikatea students gather in the nook to play games of chess. Anyone is welcome to play and we encourage those of you whose children like to play or would like to learn how to play chess to check out this cool link: ChessPlus


We hope you are having an enjoyable weekend.

Team Kahikatea



Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Rāmere (Friday) 1 Sep 2023

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Looking ahead to 2024...


It is that time of the year when we are thinking about the needs of our school for 2024. Our roll determines our staffing, so, like every school, we need to have as much clarity around our numbers as possible.
If you currently have a child in Year 6, please fill out this survey so that we know about your intentions for your child for 2024. We expect that most Year 6 children will be returning, and we do ask that ALL Year 6 families fill this survey out.

Enrolling pre-schoolers for next year...!

If you have a pre-schooler in your home, it is never too early to get them enrolled! We are very happy to hold your child's enrolment in our system well in advance as this ensures that we are planning with the best possible information about our predicted numbers.
Please see Jacky or Reihana in the office for an enrolment form, or download an enrolment form from our website.


Please pass this on to anyone with a 3-4 year old in our neighbourhood... we are working on our staffing for 2024 and we really do need to know who to expect!

Ask them to contact our office for an enrolment form - office@beckenham.school.nz
or download an enrolment form from our website.

Relief Teachers

If you know a fabulous teacher who may be interested in becoming a Preferred Reliever at our school, please have them check out the vacancies information on our website. 

We are always looking for quality relievers to add to our relievers list. For any information or pātai (questions) on this process, please email Reihana: reihana.dougherty@beckenham.school.nz

Ngā mihi nui

Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

NB: You can find our Community Calendar on our school website. You can embed this calendar into your own digital calendar and stay up-to-date with events and information.

Wed 6 Sep - Strum Strike Blow - Wolfbrook Arena, 7:00pm - 8:15pm
Fri 8 Sep - 10am Celebration Assembly
Fri 8 Sep - PTA Calendar Art order forms sent home
Wed 13 Sep - Year 5-8 Choir - Music Festival Rehearsal
Thu 14 Sep - am - Year 8 entrance testing at Cashmere High
Fri 15 Sep - School Photos
Wed 20 Sep - 5:30pm - BOT Meeting - Staffroom
Fri 22 Sep - Final day for PTA Calendar Art orders
Fri 22 Sep - 10am Celebration Assembly
Fri 22 Sep - 1:45pm Beckenham's Got Talent!
Fri 22 Sep - Final day of Term 3

Term Dates: Click here to view 2023 & 2024 term dates

Citizen of the Week

Abigail Blencowe - Year 6

Abie, thank you for being such a caring and conscientious team member. You take pride in your school work and quietly go about the business of making a positive difference to our team through your actions. You show integrity in all that you do. We notice this, and we appreciate it - and you - very much. Kei runga noa atu koe!

School Notices

Head Lice

We have had a few instances of head lice reported across different hubs.  Please check your children for evidence of head lice and treat them accordingly.  
If you are unsure of how to check and treat for head lice please contact Zoom Pharmacy on 0508 966 622, zoompharmacy.co.nz/mas or mas@zoompharmacy.co.nz.  This service is free both for consultation and for some medications, including head lice.

Kauri Speech Competition

In an enriching term of speech crafting, children in the Kauri hub have written captivating speeches that have enthralled us all. Last week we had our speech finals, held in front of whānau and the entire hub. It was great to hear so many wonderfully diverse and articulate speeches. Securing victory for year 8 was Christopher McCracken-Shannon, followed by Cian Scott and Ella Coleman. In year 7, Harriet Parawa emerged as the winner, with Finn Brietmeyer and Bobby MacDonald in second and third respectively. A huge thank you to our judges, Jo Smith, and Lucy, a former Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto student. Congratulations to all the speech finalists and a big thank you for all the effort Kauri students put into writing their speeches.

Year 7/8 Ski Trip

Our ski day had a rather damp start as we gathered in the school car park in driving rain at 5:50 am on Monday. We reached the Mt Hutt car park two hours later under a brilliant blue sky and surrounded by sparkling snow. It was going to be a great day! The children whisked through ski hire and into their two-hour lessons. Their perseverance and great listening paid off. By 11 am they were armed with the skills they needed to go it alone. It was a day of digging deep, embracing challenge and reaping the benefits. Lots of fun was had skiing with friends, being guided down new slopes by our wonderful adult team of helpers and simply enjoying the ambience of being in the mountains. By 4pm everyone was bundled into buses and cars for the journey home, where stories were shared and a bit of napping took place. It was an awesome day and we can't wait to do it all again next year!

Staff Profiles

Introducing Laura Cortes

We have been incredibly fortunate to have Laura join the Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto kaimahi this term, as a Teaching Assistant, supporting our tamariki across the school.    

A bit about Laura... "I'm Colombian, a nature lover, avid dancer, and traveler. Media producer by profession, plus 5 years working as a Learning Assistant. Excited to join this school and city, ready to share my passions and skills."

Community Notices

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


Pōhutukawa Update, Term 3, Week 7

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Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all

We hope you all had a lovely weekend. Please read on for more very important information regarding our Keeping Ourselves Safe Programme, and some updates from the Pōhutukawa team. Have a great week, everyone, kia pai te wiki.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

Thank you for the feedback about the Keeping Ourselves Safe activities that we sent home last week. These are such important topics to be discussed at home, too. We are continuing with the programme at kura this week, having our final session with Constable Meg today and having further lessons throughout the week.

One of the main messages of the programme is to encourage children to first identify and then take action in unsafe situations. The more conversations that the tamariki can have with trusted adults about this, the more confident they can be if they do find themselves in an unsafe or uncomfortable situation. Please find below 2 more 'homework activities' from the Keeping Ourselves Programme to do at home as a family. The first is a checklist from the 'Confident Me' lesson, and the second is a list of situations in which they could use the 'stop, walk, talk', strategy. 

Homework Activity: Confident Me

As part of Keeping Ourselves Safe, your child has been learning to value themselves and to be
confident. We have also talked about our feelings and how we can express these safely.
These skills help to keep children safe because:
● people who want to harm children are less likely to target a confident, assertive child
● being able to identify their feelings and tell people how they feel can help children to keep
safe and ask for help.

Please help your child to complete the following checklist. Ask them questions about what they have learned. 

Confident Me Checklist:

I feel confident talking to my teacher

I feel confident answering the phone

I can say how I'm feeling

I can say 2 positive things about myself

I know how to make safe decisions

I know who to ring in an emergency

Homework Activity: Safe or Unsafe

As part of Keeping Ourselves Safe we talked in the classroom about how to identify potentially
unsafe situations involving people.

● This could be people that children are with all the time, those they meet in the real world, or
people that they meet online in the digital world.

Your child learnt how to use Stop, Walk, Talk when they feel unsafe.
● Talk to your child about situations that make them feel unsafe.
● Respect your child’s right to say no to touch or behaviour that they don’t like.
● Help them keep safe online.


Consider making a rule that children’s cell phones are stored/charged in your bedroom overnight.
This means children cannot be contacted, coerced into meeting someone outside, or bullied, at night.
Please help your child with the following activities.


1. Ask them to explain Stop, Walk, Talk to you and to tell you when they might use it.
2. Ask them to demonstrate how they would use Stop, Walk, Talk in each of the following
situations:
● Someone pushes you out of a line at school.
● Someone you have just met online asks for your address and a photo.
● A family friend kisses you on the mouth.
● You get a friend request from someone you don’t know.

Create a Culture Inquiry

As part of this year's concept of Innovation, students have been investigating how to create a unique culture by naming and designing the following: physical features of their country, flag, food, language, clothing, holidays, government, Laws and Consequences, sport, school, and artworks. It's proving to be a very popular project, with students even asking to work on their 'Create a Culture' booklets during wet break times. The next step will be for them to choose a way to display their 'Create a Culture' project. They have been given the task of choosing a non-digital form of presentation, such as (but not limited to) a poster, diorama, mobile, or brochure. Students are more than welcome to bring in any resources from home that may help them with their projects. Thank you for your support with this.

Winter Sports

Finally, we just wanted to once again express our sincere gratitude to all the parents who have helped make our Winter Sports Programme a success again this year - it simply couldn't happen without your support! We were fortunate to have some lovely weather over the past 2 Thursday afternoons, and the smiles on the faces of the tamariki at the end were ka rawe, awesome. 

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Rāmere (Friday) 25 Aug 2023

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Keeping all of our children safe is a shared responsibility of us at school, of all of our families, and of our wider community. We need to work together to help them develop the skills and strategies they need to engage in safe and positive relationships with others, and to know how to deal with challenges safely and constructively.

Reporting harmful online content or behaviour

If your children use online social media platforms, would you please talk with them and remind them that posting photos or videos of other people, without their consent or knowledge, is not OK. We are also doing this at school. This is particularly important if the purpose of the post is to make fun of, ridicule, or diminish the mana of another person. Our children have enough to manage in terms of learning how to negotiate appropriate face-to-face interactions, without having to deal with the knowledge that people are talking about them in negative ways online. This is behaviour that can cause lasting and serious harm, particularly for our young people.

A reminder again that anyone can report any concerning content that they see to the platform itself, and also to Netsafe by clicking here.

Thank you all for your support in this. We Get There Together! If the adults in our community are aligned in the conversations and expectations that we all have of our children, that will be hugely supportive of all our tamariki.

Consent for Kids - Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS).

As part of the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme that is being taught across the school, there are discussions happening about consent. Our children need to be empowered to say 'no' to touch, behaviour, or words that worry or confuse them or that they don't want.
This video has been used for some of the classes and you might find it useful to watch. It's under 3 minutes long.



Ngā mihi nui

Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

NB: You can find our Community Calendar on our school website. You can embed this calendar into your own digital calendar and stay up-to-date with events and information.

Mon 28 Aug - Year 7/8 Ski Trip (5:50am start time)
Wed 6 Sep - Strum Strike Blow - Wolfbrook Arena
Fri 8 Sep - 10am Celebration Assembly
Fri 8 Sep - PTA Calendar Art order forms sent home
Wed 13 Sep - Year 5-8 Choir - Music Festival Rehearsal
Thu 14 Sep - am - Year 8 entrance testing at Cashmere High
Fri 15 Sep - School Photos
Wed 20 Sep - 5:30pm - BOT Meeting - Staffroom
Fri 22 Sep - Final day for PTA Calendar Art orders
Fri 22 Sep - 10am Celebration Assembly
Fri 22 Sep - 1:45pm Beckenham's Got Talent!
Fri 22 Sep - Final day of Term 3

Term Dates: Click here to view 2023 & 2024 term dates

Citizen of the Week

Scarlett Aitken- Year 8

Scarlett, you have made exceptional growth as a leader within the Kauri hub this year. You have continuously taken on increased responsibilities and been involved in many ways. You have shown improvement in class due to your focus and determination to improve, especially in mathematics! You are a remarkable team player with a positive attitude which we see on the basketball court. Ka pai tō mahi!

School Notices

Scholastic Book Club - Issue 6 Out Now

Please click the link here to view and order from the Scholastic Book Club

Sports News

Duathlon

Thank you to everyone who played a part in organising and running our school duathlon this week. It was really appreciated the way we pulled together to make this event happen. There were lots of moments for children to feel success through participation, leadership and camaraderie. 

BOT Update

Policy Review

From time to time we ask you to review one of our policies that come up on our review cycle. A policy for whānau review is the Māori Educational Success, and the Inclusive Education policy. You will find it under Current Review on School Docs at this link. 

The login details are:
Username: Beckenham  Password: pride 

Instructions for reviewers:

Follow the link to the policy.
Read the policy.
Click the 'Start Review' icon at the right-hand top corner of the page. A new screen will appear.
Select your role (board member, staff member, or parent/caregiver) from the drop-down list.
Enter your name (optional).
Submit your ratings and comments.
If you don't have internet access, school office staff can easily provide you with printed copies of the policy and the review form. 

Helplines: 

1737 - free text and phone counselling 24/7 
Youthline – 0800 376 633 or free text 234 
Depression Helpline – 0800 111 757 or free text 4202
Anxiety New Zealand - 0800 269 4389
What's Up – 0800 942 8787 (5–18 year olds).
thelowdown.co.nz –or email team@thelowdown.co.nz or free text 5626

Community Notices

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

Enrol To Vote

The General Election is on 14 October 2023. To vote, you need to be enrolled and your details need to be up to date.

It's easy to enrol, check or update your details online: vote.nz/enrol

More information and additional resources are available on the Electoral Commission's website here: https://vote.nz/2023-general-election/resources/resources-to-share-with-your-community

Beckenham Tennis Club



Luminaires Charitable Trust brings to the stage
Beauty Within the Beast
A tale as old as time, with a twist or two

A not very princessy Princess Charlie becomes caught up in a battle between the Fairies of Winter and Spring, resulting in Charlie being cursed to be a Beast for all time unless true love can be found. 

In the Village of Tawdryville, Beauty and her energetic siblings farewell their Papa who is called away to last minute business. Papa gets caught up in the fairy battle and is forced to take shelter in a seemingly empty castle.

And so, the classic tale of old plays out with many comical twists along the way. Featuring a hilarious youth cast of fairies, hobgoblins, bickering sisters, talking cutlery and much more! Will the fairies ever resolve their differences? Will Beauty’s love and friendship be enough to help the Beast become Charlie again? 

Tickets $11-$25 McCombs PAC, Cashmere High 

During the next school holidays Thursday 5th - Sunday 8th October