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Posted on 14 August, 202614 August, 2026 by Kendall Skelton

Kia Ora e te Whānau,

The term is well underway now! The Koru children, new and old, are doing a wonderful job engaging in their learning and showing our school values throughout the day, in a variety of different contexts.

Cricket

For the last three weeks, Nicola and Kendall's Home Groups have had Dan from Canterbury Cricket come to school to teach us some cricket skills. We have had a great time having a go at batting, bowling and fielding. This week we put all our skills together to play a game of cricket!

Beckenham PTA Disco

How wonderful to have the disco to look forward to on Friday, the 21st of August! We are very excited and can’t wait to see the children all having a boogie.

Disco Times: Koru and Kahikatea: 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Please feel free to send your child to school wearing their disco outfit at the start of the day. If you feel that their outfit may get damaged, please send it along in a named bag. The teachers will help your child to change into their dancing clothes after Big Play.

Teachers will collect gold coin donations at the start of the day. Please note that no food will be sold at the disco; however, your child will receive a small container of popcorn. If you would prefer that your child doesn’t have the popcorn, please contact your child’s Home Group teacher and let them know.

Please contact your child's Home Group teacher if you have any questions about the disco.

Photo Gallery

Reminders:

Spare Clothes - keeping a set of spare clothes (including underwear and socks) is really helpful while the weather is still wet. It is a great idea for children to wear gumboots to school on wet days. These can be left by the door when they are in the classroom, and socks or slippers worn inside.

Up Coming Dates:

Saturday 15th August - PTA Bingo Night

Friday 21st August - PTA Disco

Friday 4th September - Staff Only Day, School Closed

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Koru Team

Pōhutukawa Team News Term 3 Week 4 2026

Posted on 14 August, 202614 August, 2026 by Chloe Wilson

What a busy couple of weeks we’ve had in Pōhutukawa!

We kicked things off with a very exciting snowfall in Christchurch! There was plenty of excitement as the flakes started falling, with lots of children heading outside to catch snowflakes, enjoy the moment and hope that just maybe enough would settle for a snowball or two! It certainly made for a memorable school day and sparked lots of conversations throughout the hub.

Investigations, curiosity and hands-on learning.

In Chloe’s CCC class, students have been exploring their senses. One investigation involved smelling a range of mystery scents, trying to identify what they were and grouping scents that had something in common. It was interesting to see how strongly our sense of smell can connect to memories! Some smells were quickly described as smelling like “Grandma’s bathroom” “Nanna’s clothes” or “My shampoo”, which led to some great conversations about why certain smells can feel so familiar.

We then put our noses and taste buds to the test with a jelly bean challenge! Students had to try to identify the flavour using smell first, before tasting it to see if their prediction was correct. This proved much trickier than we expected and gave us plenty to think about when it comes to how our senses work together.

Our Science learning has been just as hands-on. Students have been getting their dissection tools out and taking a closer look at the structures of living things. We started by dissecting mushrooms, identifying features such as the cap, gills and stem and exploring how mushrooms reproduce. We then moved on to flowers, carefully pulling them apart to identify the different parts involved in plant reproduction. The big question now is… what will we dissect next?

Maths Challenge Competition

Seven of our Year 5/6 students headed to St Martins School to take part in the Te Mana Raupō Maths Challenge. Our teams were amazing and were fantastic ambassadors for Beckenham! The challenge certainly put their mathematical thinking to the test, with questions taken from previous Year 7 Cantamaths challenges. Our Year 5/6 students successfully worked their way through all of the questions and received an Honourable Mention certificate in recognition of their achievement as the first Year 5/6 team. A fantastic effort, particularly when tackling problems designed for older students!

Cultural Presentation

We also had a very special moment at our Celebration Assembly, with Mihi-Rose sharing an amazing presentation about her Māori culture. She spoke to everyone about her culture and then was joined by her dad, Ranui, who played the guitar while Mihi-Rose sang Taku Raumiri waiata for everyone. It was a beautiful way for her to share something important to her and her whānau with our school community. Ka rawe, Mihi-Rose!

Cricket Workshop

We’ve also wrapped up our cricket workshops this week after three weeks of learning and fun. Students have been developing their throwing, catching, batting and bowling skills, including learning how to bowl correctly. It has been great to see their skills and confidence develop across the three sessions.

A fantastic couple of weeks filled with plenty of opportunities to wonder, investigate, explore and learn by doing!

Kauri Term 3 Week 4 Blog

Posted on 12 August, 202612 August, 2026 by Hugo

Kauri Term 3 Week 4 Blog

Kia ora koutou,

What a busy and productive couple of weeks it has been in the Kauri Hub! There has been plenty of learning, creativity and fun happening across the hub.

We have had our first session preparing for our ski trip in Week 7, with students getting organised and excited for the adventure ahead. Our Cantamath projects have been completed. The students certainly used brilliant minds, showing fantastic mathematical thinking and creativity.

In writing, we have been creating exciting narratives filled with suspense, action and interesting characters. It has been great to see students developing their ideas and bringing their stories to life.

Winter Sport continues to be a highlight each Thursday, with plenty of energy, teamwork and fun on the fields. A reminder that our last Winter Sport session will be in Week 6.

Our Passions sessions have also been a real highlight, with students getting stuck into cooking, movie-making, board games and buddy activities. There is so much enthusiasm and creativity being fostered, and it has been fantastic to see students sharing their interests, learning new skills and working together.

Art

We have been offering Art sessions twice a week in Term 3. The students were able to choose Mosaics - dry fit and gluing, Anime sketching, Mixed Media techniques, or Layered Art. We have some very talented artists on our team. Here are some pictures of the Mosaics being created.

Cantamaths Projects

Here are a few photos of Kauri’s maths projects. The projects chosen to go to Cantamaths will be delivered to their location on Tuesday. Well done team!

Te Mana Raupō Maths Challenge

Our maths team represented our kura with pride at the maths competition on Tuesday. The Year 8 children came second. They got all the questions correct. There was also a fun challenge after their break. They were given number/letter problems to solve. Ka pai to our mathematicians!

PSC Indoor Volleyball Tournament at Parakiore

Our volleyball team had a blast at the tournament on Monday. Although they didn’t place, they were energetic and proud of their achievements.

Upcoming Dates:

Term 3

Week 5: Wednesday: Cantamath Competition (4:00-7:00)

Thursday: Winter Sport

Friday: School Disco 4:30-5:30 (Year 5-8)

Week 6: Wednesday: Year 5-8 School Duathlon (12:00-3:00) Beckenham Park

Friday: Celebration Assembly

Ngā mihi,

Hugo, Kate McG, Sarah A, Megan C and Megan H

Kahikatea Team 2026-08-02 09:22:36

Posted on 2 August, 20262 August, 2026 by Sarah Spence

Kia ora te whānau,

We hope you have managed to stay warm this chilly week!

Term 3 has started off with a flurry of activities and the tamariki have got straight back into the swing of learning. They are so familiar with our routines and daily tasks by term three it doesn't take very long at all for everyone to settle into their roles and begin engaging in their learning. Here are just a few photos of all the wonderful learning which has occurred this week!

Recorder sessions - This term our tamariki have a wonderful opportunity to engage on a weekly basis with Rachel our visiting music teacher. Every Wednesday they get to learn how to play the recorder through tuition, games and playing the instrument. The tamariki really enjoyed this activity, and we look forward to seeing them grow in confidence and skills as the weeks progress.

Cricket - Another exciting addition to our timetable in weeks 2,3 and 4 of this term is the opportunity to learn about cricket and how to play. Canterbury Cricket have provided some wonderful coaches who are supporting our tamariki to gain a love of the sport and pick up some new skills through games and practice. It was fabulous seeing how engaged the tamariki were, trying out something new and showing great sportsmanship.

Numicon - Numicon continues to be a very popular mode of learning in the Kahikatea hub. This week our focus has been based around the concept of measurement and in particular, centimeters and how we use estimating when we are comparing and ordering objects. The tamariki have been engaged and focused in their learning.

Learning Through Play - Learning Through Play is a very important part of our curriculum in the Kahikatea hub and is something our tamariki look forward to every week. This week we focused on International Friendship Day by creating friendship bracelets, a joint art project, and we talked about what it means to be a good friend.

Reminder - Scooter-athlon

Next week, our Kahikatea Team will take part in an exciting Scooter-athlon on Friday 7th August from 1:30 pm – 3.00 pm. Parents are invited to come along and cheer on the tamariki.

The Scooter-athlon will follow a run → scooter → run format, giving students the chance to experience a fun, active, multi-stage race. Students are encouraged to wear their House T-Shirts, bring their own scooter and helmet, wear closed-toe shoes, and follow safety rules. Year 7/8 students will act as marshals to help run the event safely. Please note: If it is raining, the Scooter-athlon will be postponed. Any changes will be shared with parents via Hero.

Please let your classroom teacher know if your child does not have a scooter or if you have a spare one you are happy to lend. Your child will need to provide their own helmet. We can’t wait to see the tamariki scoot, run, and have fun – nau mai te wero! We love challenge!

Koru Team News: Term 3 Week 2

Posted on 31 July, 202631 July, 2026 by Unknown

Kia ora, e te whānau,

A very warm welcome (back) to you all, and we especially welcome the families of our newest tamariki. The children have settled beautifully, and we are truly impressed with the way the older children are showing such care and kindness towards the children who had their first day at school last week.

We have a busy term ahead, and will be keeping you up to date with our whiteboard notices, as well as through our blog posts. Also, please make sure you read our school newsletters as they are sent out to you via Hero. Another way to keep up to date is by checking our school website where you can find our school calendar. Here you will find all the details you will need to know, about what's coming up in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Matariki Evening:

Thank you to those of you who were able to attend our Matariki Evening during the first week of term. What a fabulous event, with a wonderful selection of workshops on offer (see photos below). This evening was coordinated superbly by Kate Meder from our Pōhutukawa team. Thank you so much for a truly wonderful evening, Kate.

What's coming up:

On Friday, August 7th, a 'Scooter-athlon' is being held at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto. This will involve Koru team tamariki running a short distance, scooting around a course which will be well-marked for the children and finishing with another short run. Teachers will take their Home Groups out to walk the course, prior to the event itself. There will be several marshalls at points around the course, to ensure that children follow the correct route. The running parts of the course are in the park, and the scooting part is around the edge of our junior playground and also includes the courtyard area on the river side of the hall.

If you happen to have a spare scooter and helmet, we would be very grateful if you were willing to lend them for use during the event. Please see your child's Home Group teacher if this is the case.

If your child would like to participate, however doesn't have a scooter and a helmet, please let your child's Home Group teacher know and we will endeavour to match your child with a spare scooter and helmet.

Please note that this is a fun event and there is no compulsion for children to participate.

Those children participating will do so in house groups: