Pōhutukawa Update, Term 4, Week 10

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Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all

It's that time of the year when we reflect with the tamariki and enjoy the last few days together as a 2023 cohort. Our trip to Tough Kid last week was a wonderful way to celebrate with everyone by being part of a festive occasion full of colour, with lots of dancing, singing, and an exciting and challenging obstacle course! Thanks once again to all of the whānau who supported the trip. We hope you enjoy the musical movie montage we made of the day. Beckenham students also feature pretty prominently in the promo video for Tough Kid made by Sports Canterbury, which can be viewed here.

Looking ahead to next week and the last day and a half of school, we will enjoy seeing the Year 8's Graduation Assembly on Monday, before saying farewell to 2023 and meeting our 2024 home groups on Tuesday. We will also be getting the water slide out on Monday afternoon, and doing some water play activities on the Park. Any children who want to bring their togs and towel to school and Monday can participate. Those who'd prefer to stay cool and dry can do so, too.

Finally, you'll have noticed that your child has started to bring home some of their books, extra stationery, and other belongings. If you know that your child still has a lot of stuff to bring home next week, it may be a good idea for them to bring an extra bag to school.  

Thank you to you all for a wonderful year, we hope you all enjoy a safe and relaxing summer with your families. We wish you a happy holidays. Ngā mihi o te tau hou, happy new year to you all.

The Pōhutukawa Team

Koru Team News: Term 4, Week 10

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 Kia ora, e te whānau,

As our year is coming to an end, we have some exciting things coming up! We have lots of fun things planned for our last week and a bit! A reminder that on the final day of school, Tuesday, 19th December, our tamariki will meet their 2024 Home Group teacher and school will finish at 12:30p.m. 

Teddy Bears' Picnic:

On Monday, December 18th, we are planning to hold a fun Teddy Bears' picnic, followed by games, out in Beckenham Park.

At 1:20 p.m., children will wash their hands, put their hats on, collect their lunches, drink bottles and soft toys, and we'll head out to have lunch under the big trees near the Big Adventure playground. 

Once they have finished eating, children will be able to choose from a variety of games options: parachute games, Duck, Duck, Goose or playing on the Big Adventure playground. Games will be organised by some of our Year 7 students.

Please ensure that your child has the following items on Monday, December 18th:

  • their lunchbox (it would be better not to order lunch for your child that day)
  • their drink bottle
  • their hat
  • their favourite soft toy (teddy bear or other).

We're looking forward to a lovely, fun afternoon on the second to last day of the school year! 

Kapa Haka performance:

On Friday of Week 9, our children put on a performance to showcase some waiata we have been learning with Whaea Cath. Below are some photos of the wonderful afternoon showcase. Thank you to all those who attended!








Have a wonderful week ahead!

Ngā mihi mahana, 
Georgia, Stacey, Elizabeth and Sarah


Kahikatea News Term 4 Week 9

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Kia ora e te whānau,

What a wonderful and action-packed couple of weeks we have had!

Transition Visits

With 2024 around the corner, we had the first of our transition visits this week. Our year 2s visited Kōwhai, and our year 1s made new connections with our Koru visitors in the Kahikatea hub. There were lots of creative activities on offer and many smiles seen.










Cinderella

An absolute highlight of our week was seeing the Southern Ballet performance, 'Cinderella'. What a fantastic experience. We went on the bus to the beautiful Isaac Theatre Royal, were shown to our seats by the ushers, and watched an amazing range of dances.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos of the performance, but following are some pictures of our adventure, and words about our favourite parts.


















What was your favourite part of the Cinderella performance?

"All the gowns!" - Maya
"The drama of the stepsisters!" - Sandi
"Cinderella!" - Alexa
"When Cinderella was dancing with the prince." - Mia-Grace
"The part at the end and all of the cool ballet moves." - Nellie
"They had a lot of dances. The finale!" - Casey
"The bit at the end when they gathered around and did lots of cool stuff." - Reuben
"Cinderella was pretty!" - Ivy
"When she was cleaning the floor." - Freddie
"When Cinderella danced with the prince." - Maeve
"When they went up the stairs." - Maeve
"The dancer with the white tights - they had great moves!" - Jackson
"The acting!" - Henry
"When there was the ending - the last song was nice." - James
"All of it!" - Aya
"The dance with the tassels." - Ethan
"The black costume dance." - Florence
"The start because it was funny." - June
"When the boy and girl danced together." - Ellie and Heidi

Notices/ Reminders
  • This was the last week of the year for decodable books to be sent home for the year. Please send any books (including library books) back to school
  • Please send your learner along to school with a reusable bag so that we can start sending workbooks home next week
  • You are most welcome to attend our final Celebration Assembly for the year. This is at 9:45 on the 15th December
  • Our last day of the year is Tuesday 19th December- finishing at 12:30

What a pleasure it has been to work with our amazing Kahikatea tamariki this year. We have really appreciated all of our whānau support too. Have a wonderful summer break, and we look forward to seeing all of our fabulous Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto learners back in 2024!

-Team Kahikatea
Katie, Krystal, Amber, Quynh and Lisa

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto School Newsletter, Rāmere (Friday) 8 December, 2023

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

On Monday and Tuesday at 7pm the Year 7 & 8 production of 'Oh The Places You'll Go' will hit the Beckenham stage. Everyone is welcome to come along and see the fun unfold. It is a show with something to please everyone, singing, dancing, dramatic speaking, even percussion with basketballs. The show runs for about 45 mins and is suitable for all ages. Entry is by gold coin donation, no tickets need to be purchased. Pop it in y our diary and we look forward to seeing you at the performance!

Year 5/6 are Tough Kids!

This week the Pōhutukawa team had the amazing opportunity to participate in the Tough Kids Challenge at South New Brighton. It was a wonderful way to pull-together the concepts of perseverance and 'getting there together' and have a lot of fun at the same time! Thanks to the PTA for providing funding for the buses.

A Year 7/8 Passions project...

One of the options for our Year 7 &.8 passion programme this term has been to make mosaiced fairy doors. The wonderful Heather Fear has guided us through the process. The St Martins Menz Shed generously cut, sanded, hinged and painted the wooden doors. The children have learned a lot about how to piece a mosaic together and their results are gorgeous works of art.



Ngā mihi nui

Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

(you can also find the Community Calendar on our website here)

Mon 11 Dec - 7-8pm Kauri Production, in the Hall
Tue 12 Dec - 7-8pm Kauri Production, in the Hall
Fri 15 Dec - Final Celebration Assembly, 9:45am, in the Hall
Mon 18 Dec - Year 8 Graduation, 11am-12pm
Mon 18 Dec - Year 8 Leavers' Lunch 12:30-1:30pm
Tue 19 Dec - Last Day of Term 4, School finishes at 12.30pm

2024
Tue 30 Jan - Learning Conferences
Wed 31 Jan - Learning Conferences
Thu 1 Feb - Classes begin

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

Citizen of the Week

Thomas McConnochie - Year 5

Thomas your love of learning is shining through. Your curiosity to make sense of the world around you stands you in good stead for the future. You put heaps of effort into increasing your knowledge and skills by asking questions and practising new concepts. Ka rawe, Thomas.

School Notices

Please return all Sports Uniforms, Library Books and reading books this week!

We would like your help in getting all sports uniforms and school books returned before the end of the school year, ready for stocktake. Library books and Sports uniforms can be returned to the boxes in the doorway between the library and office. Reading books can be returned to hubs. Many thanks!

Guidelines for Lockdown/Shelter in Place

In light of the recent email threats that some schools in the North Island have received during the past couple of weeks, we thought it timely to re-share this information...

If a situation arises that people need to remain inside for safety, Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto has two levels, Shelter in Place and Lockdown. 

A Shelter in Place directive is issued when the threat is external and not directed at the school. For example, the school may activate the Shelter in Place plan if there is a report of a swarm of wasps, toxic smoke from a nearby fire, or active armed defender in the community (but not in or near the school grounds).

A Lockdown instruction will be less commonly used and is only likely to be issued if the threat is directly to the school or in the school grounds. This will generally happen on instruction from Police.

LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES FOR PARENTS
Lockdown procedures are determined by Police advice and require the cooperation of students, staff and parents. We ask all parents to please follow the protocol outlined below to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

When the school goes into lockdown, all parents will be notified via both a text message (via Hero) and HERO App alert (which will generate an email for those who don’t use the app). Please ensure the contact details the school holds for your child’s caregivers are current.
The school will continue to communicate through these channels, plus on the school Facebook page.
Students will not have access to laptops or other devices during a lockdown situation. This is for their own protection until the school ascertains the severity of the situation in consultation with the Police.
School phones may not be manned, so please do not try and contact the school, or your child. All information will be sent to you through the channels outlined above as soon as it becomes available. We will be doing the best that we can do to keep everyone informed. 
The school will remain in lockdown until advised by the Police or other authorised personnel that it is safe to be lifted.
Please do not, under any circumstances, come to the school until you are advised it is safe for you to do so. You may be putting yourself and others in danger.
Once the lockdown is over, parents will be contacted immediately.

Thank you for your understanding and for taking the time to familiarise yourself with this protocol as we work together in an emergency situation to keep everyone safe.

Mana Ake Parent programmes for 2024... 

The 'Tuning into Teens' programme would be especially relevant and they are offering a Zoom option for early next year - so sign up now to ensure you get a place!



Staff Celebrations

Farewell to Jeanette - an opportunity to contribute...

Our wonderful teaching assistant, Jeanette Amies, is retiring after 18 years service at our kura.  During this time Jeanette has worked with hundreds of our akonga over many, many hours!
We will be celebrating Jeanette's time with us over the coming days including a whole staff breakfast where we will present Jeanette with a gift from our Board and Staff.
Kerilea is making a special book for Jeanette with photos, staff memories and whanau comments.  If you would like to contribute a photo or comment to the book please email your contributions to Kerilea by this coming Tuesday (12th) afternoon.
kerilea.quinn@beckenham.school.nz

Congratulations to Anna McNeill and Georgia McKenna who have just completed their first two years of teaching, and have achieved their full teacher registration. We are immensely proud of their hard work and dedication to our children's learning, and to developing their practice. It was a real treat to be able to celebrate their success last week at a special ceremony. Our young teachers are the future of our education system and we feel very privileged to have the opportunity to support them as they begin their careers!

Anna M & Georgia

Congratulations also to Elizabeth Drummond who is completing 28 years of full-time teaching at Beckenham this year, and is stepping back from full-time work at the end of the year. On Monday we had a lovely celebration assembly just for Elizabeth, which was an opportunity to express to her how much her dedication has meant to our community over this time. Elizabeth will be back in the latter part of next year to take a NE class as numbers grow.

Elizabeth and Andrew, her husband,who is holding the words of a beautiful waiata that Te Whānau sung to her.

Community Notices

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







Kauri Whānau Update: Term 4, Week 9

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 In this post:

  • Production Key Reminders
  • EOTC in Week 10
  • Pool Party
  • Uniform Reminder
  • Relationships and Sexuality
  • Week 10 Overview

Production Reminders

We had our dress rehearsals this week, including one on Thursday afternoon to the whole school. The performance is continuing to look great, and we look forward to sharing it with whānau and friends on Monday and Tuesday evening next week. Key points to note are as follows:
  • There will be two performances, Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th of December. Both start at 7pm.
  • Entry is by gold coin donation at the door.
  • The sound and lighting team will need to be at school for setup by 6.30pm.
  • All other students need to be in the hub, in costume and having been fed by 6.40pm.


EOTC in Week 10

Wednesday December 13th: Vic Park Walk

This event involves leaving school by 10am to walk to Victoria Park where we students will take part in some game and activities before returning to school by 3pm. Parts of the walk are quite steep, so good walking shoes (and some fitness) will be required. On Monday we will send out a social story that we will have shared with the students. It would be good to review this at home.

For this trip children will need:
  • Sunhat
  • Sunscreen
  • Backpack
  • Water bottle and lunch
  • Good walking shoes
  • A warm jacket or raincoat
    Activewear can also be worn instead of uniform on Wednesday.

    Thursday December 14th: Cass Bay Trip

    We will leave school by 11am and once at Cass Bay, students can swim, explore, chill, and play in the environment. There will be a guided walk to neighbouring Corsair Bay for those interested. On Monday we will send out a social story that we will have shared with the students. It would be good to review this at home.

    For this trip children will need:
    • To wear school uniform
    • Sunhat
    • Sunscreen
    • Water bottle and lunch (they can arrange a shared lunch with friends, and this would need to be nut free)
    • Togs and towel (best to wear togs under their uniform)
    • A warm jacket
    • Optional: wetsuit, book, game (non-electronic), drawing book, sunglasses
    Phones will be left at school. We will be leaving school at 11am and will be back by 3pm. 

    Previously this has been at Corsair bay, with a walk to Cass bay. We have switched this around due to water quality advice.

    Year 8 Pool Party

    We have booked Waltham Pool and two BBQ spots for Wednesday from 4.00 - 6.00pm for our Year 8 pool party. Children are to bring a water bottle (no fizzy drinks), their togs, towel, sunhat, and sunscreen. We will provide the sausages, bread, and sauce alongside various alternate dietary options.
    If we are not contacted, we will assume that children are being collected at 6pm. If other arrangements are made, please let the homegroup teacher know.

    The cost of entry to the pool is $2, and it is an additional $2 for the hydroslide. A teacher will collect this from students on entry.

    Uniform Reminder

    For the last full week of school, we would like to remind all students to keep their uniform and senior jackets in pristine condition. Year 8s might like to bring a spare school shirt to have signed by their peers. This is not to be worn. Students also need to provide their own pen for signing.

    Relationships and Sexuality

    This week, the homegroups have been talking about intimacy and what this means within the context of different relationships (friends, family, romantic). Some groups have discussed consent and what this means. We also have had an activity which has discussed same and different gender relationships. We have also covered some discussion around communication modes and styles. Finally, some groups have also covered the changes that happen at puberty.

    As always, if you have any questions please contact the homegroup teacher in the first instance.

    Week 10 Overview

    Monday 11th - Production performance (7pm)
    Monday 12th - Technology, Production performance (7pm)
    Wednesday 13th - Victoria Park Walk, Year 8 Pool Party
    Thursday 14th - Cass Bay Trip
    Friday 15th - Final celebration assembly