Kauri Whānau Update: Term 2, Week 6

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Kauri Whānau Update: Term 2, Week 6

 

IN THIS POST:

  • Reports
  • Learning Conferences
  • Online Safety 
  • Disco

Reports:
Student school reports went live on Friday and we hope you have all had a chance to read and look through. There has been a lot of hard work and progress made by our Senior students in the first half of the year and the school reports reflect and celebrate this. If you have any questions don't hestitate to ask your childs' homegroup teacher at our learning conferences.

Learning Conferences:
These are happening this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Appointments are 15mins long and can be made online. You will meet with your child's homegroup teacher, this will include a discussion of the school, any questions you may have and a general check in. We look forward to seeing you!

Online Safety: Gaming

Eighty percent of tamariki in New Zealand aged 8-17 have played games online. Games can have many benefits: entertainment, social opportunities, coordination development, problem-solving and multitasking skills. But, most of all, gaming is popular because it’s fun. 


But games can be tough for parents and whānau to navigate. How much gaming is too much? How do I make sure my tamariki aren’t seeing inappropriate content or chatting in-game with strangers?


Today we’re sharing Netsafe’s Online Gaming Whānau Toolkit so you have all the resources you need to keep your kids safe. 


YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/rPN_ev1RSDQ


Disco:
What a great night we had on Friday at the Senior disco! Everyone looked stunning and there were some extraordinary dance moves!
























Pōhutukawa Update, Term 2, Week 6

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Ngā mihi e te whanau, warm greetings to you all. We've been lucky with some amazing weather for the start of our Winter Sports programme, with all of our students receiving netball, football, and hockey coaching and tautoko, support from our parent coaches and Year 8 student leaders on Tuesday afternoons. We have more than 70 students participating in the South Zone competition and proudly representing Beckenham. A huge mihi, thanks to the amazing parents who are helping out on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. We couldn't have that number of students involved in the inter-school competition without your help and support. We hope you all enjoy the photos. Please read on for some important updates - including a revised date for the Food for Thought programme and our visit to St. Martins New World.

New dates for Food for Thought and Parent Help Required

The Food for Thought programme has been rescheduled to take place in Week 8 on the 17th, 18th and 19th of June. Food for Thought is a free nutrition education programme offered to all New Zealand primary schools, and provides Year 5 and 6 classes with three Nutrition Sessions with a qualified nutritionist. This will be an invaluable learning experience for the tamariki who always learn so much about nutrition from this programme. It will also be a golden opportunity to ask questions around the dinner table about what the tamariki have learned in this programme and about the new knowledge they have acquired about sustaining their health. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Parent help will be required for our trip to New World on Wednesday 19th June.

Each Home Group will walk to and from New World and receive an in-store lesson to consolidate what they have learned from the programme over the previous 2 days. The schedule is as follows: 

Steve's home group: 8:30 am - 11:00 am

Gayle's home group: 9:30 am - 12:00 pm

Megan's home group: 10:30 am - 1:00 pm

Rae's home group 11:30 am - 2:00 pm

If you think you may be able to help out at any of these times, please get in touch with your child's home group teacher. It is possible to accompany your child with a buddy with your buddy and a different home group depending on the time you are available. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Have a great weekend everybody,

The Pōhutukawa Team

Kahikatea News Week 6 Term 2

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Discos! Discos! Discos!

Big Big thanks to all our parent helpers who made the DISCO possible.








Identity

You may have noticed a whole lot of waka going up in our homerooms. Tamariki (children) have been working on a hoe (oar) that expresses how they contribute to class. This shows our school value of Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe, 'We Get There Together'.




Salt painting

Sarah and Quynh’s homeroom explored salt painting. This process involves the pulling (osmosis) property of liquid on salt. It was challenging to get the picture you wanted as you were limited by the materials. Our tamariki showed patience working together and demonstrated our school value of Nau mai te wero, 'We Love Challenge'.






Arts- Music

Last Friday some of our tamariki (children) enjoyed a music session with Ferndale ākonga (students). Both parties had a brilliant time - we are so lucky to spend time with our Ferndale friends





Cyber Safety - Gaming

Eighty percent of tamariki in New Zealand aged 8-17 have played games online. Games can have many benefits: entertainment, social opportunities, coordination development, problem-solving and multitasking skills. But, most of all, gaming is popular because it’s fun. But games can be tough for parents and whānau to navigate. How much gaming is too much? How do I make sure my tamariki aren’t seeing inappropriate content or chatting in-game with strangers?
Today we’re sharing Netsafe’s Online Gaming Whānau ToolkitNetsafe’s Online Gaming Whānau Toolkit so you have all the resources you need to keep your kids safe.


LiteracyEncourage your tamariki on their reading journey through reading and storytelling. Every child is given reading books to take home for home reading.


Mathematics

We are currently exploring and developing an understanding of time through a unit of work called How Long Now?


Dear parents and whānau,

This week we have been exploring time and learning to tell time to an hour and a half-hour. We have also been looking at different sorts of clocks. Please support your child in drawing pictures or taking photos of clocks in your home and community (for example, watches, appliance clocks, novelty clocks, clock radios). Another way you can support your child's learning is by talking about the time when certain things happen, especially if it is on the hour or half hour. For example: "Look! It's 8 o'clock, time for bed" or "It's 5:30, time for tea".

In addition to this, we always appr

Also, we are always helping our children to consolidate their number knowledge. Any card and board games are a fun way to reinforce this learning. For example memory, fish, old maid, snap, stop the bus. 



ResilienceThis week uur PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) focus has been on Resilience. Here are the links from our daily notices:

Resilience Song

Building Resilience: Character


Teaching Assistant 

We are fortunate to have a trainee Teaching Assistant joining our team. 

Sanduni 


Hi everyone 

My name is Sanduni and I’m from Sri Lanka. We moved to 

New Zealand 8 years ago with my husband Harsha and my 6-month-old son Sedas. My son is now 9 years old and studies at Beckenham School in year 5. I have another daughter too. I love to dance and teach traditional dancing to Sri Lankan kids in Christchurch. 

I will start studying a teacher aide course this year 

because I love to help children like you improve their 

learning skills. I'm so excited to start my first day next week. Thank you very much to all the teachers who have allowed me to visit their classrooms. See you all on Monday morning. 

Sanduni 








Koru Team News: Term 2 Week 6 (07/06/2024)

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 Kia ora e te whānau,

We have made it halfway through our second term of the year! We hope you are all managing to stay clear of the winter bugs which are starting to circulate. We'd like to share a warm welcome to Bruno who started school with us on Tuesday. Bruno has a big brother in the Kōwhai team, so we welcome Bruno's family to the Koru team!

If your child started during Term 1, they will be receiving a Mid Year report. These have beem sent out today, so please check Hero to view this. We have had a busy last few weeks, and still have some exciting upcoming events. Below are the important dates:

  • Learning Conferences (next week); 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
  • Hillview Cross Country Zones; Tuesday 2nd July (Anna Reid will have been in contact if this applies to your child)
  • Last day of Term 2: Friday 5th July
  • First day of Term 3: Monday 22nd July
Morning routines:
We are so proud to see the children continuing to show '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!

Lunchbox Reminders:
  • 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!

Word of the Week:
Each week, we have a school-wide word of the week that we discuss, watch videos about, and try to implement throughout the day. The words we have had so far this term include:
  • Upstander: Standing up for others in situations that aren't right, and supporting others who may need your help
  • Honesty: Being truthful in what we say and do 
  • Inclusion: Making others feel a part of something and including others in your activities/games. 
  • Kindness: The quality of being considerate, friendly, and generous.
  • Respect: Accepting others for who they are, even when they are different from who you are, or don't agree with you. 
  • Resilience: Bouncing back from challenges and trying again. 
Our Koru tamariki are becoming very knowledgeable about these words! Have a look at some of the awesome photos of our tamariki showing our "Word of the Week" and our school kete values:






















Disco:
Today, we celebrated our school PTA Disco. Our tamariki had some awesome outfits, and showed off their amazing dance moves. Have a look at some photos showing the fun we had:








Learning Conferences:
A reminder we have Learning Conferences coming up next week. If your child started at the beginning of the year, the Learning Conferences are optional if you would like to chat with your child's homegroup teacher about their mid year reports. If your child started at the beginning of Term 2, we recommend you booking a Learning Conference time so that your child's homegroup teacher can discuss their transition with you. School will be finishing at 1:30pm. Please refer to the School-wide newsletter from last week for more information about this, and for how to book a learning conference. 

Reminder - Art Gallery Trip: We are still in need of some parent helpers for our Art Gallery Trip. If you are able to be help for this trip, please email your child's home group teacher. Thank you to those who have already done this. 

Staying Safe Online: Bullying

One in five young people in New Zealand have been the target of online bullying – it can happen to anyone, and it can be hard for parents and whānau to deal with. Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto takes online bullying seriously and would encourage you to chat to your tamariki’s teacher if you have any concerns about online bullying.


Visit Netsafe’s Online Bullying Advice for Parents to read more.



We hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and stay warm!

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Georgia, Stacey, and Elizabeth

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz
georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz
elizabethgail.drummond@beckenham.school.nz










Kōwhai News Term 2 Week 6

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Kia ora e te whānau! Welcome to the Kōwhai team's Week 6 blog! 

Learning Conferences 


A reminder that learning conferences are taking place next week. Conferences will start at 1.45pm on both days. To support the availability of staff for these conferences, we ask for children to please be collected from school on both days at 1.30pm. Supervision will be available until 3pm for a small group of children. More information about this will come out to you via Hero next week. These conferences will be an important opportunity to connect with your child's teacher and learn more about your child's learning progress and achievement. Your child attends the learning conference with you.


Please book a learning conference for each of your children by clicking on this link and enter the code usvg6 and follow the instructions. 


We recommend not booking time slots back-to-back, in case meetings run over the allocated time.


If you need any assistance to book a conference, please contact Jacky in the office on 03 337 1404 or office@beckenham.school.nz


Pepeha


For Inquiry this term, we are exploring our Tūrangawaewae (standing place) through pepeha. 


A pepeha is a way to introduce yourself and it is an important aspect of Māori culture. It tells a story of the places and people we are connected to. In a pepeha, you explain where you come from and often make connections with a mountain, river, canoe and family. It also includes things that make us who we are such as our history, culture, and whakapapa. Creating a pepeha as part of a class activity, is also a fantastic way to allow Kōwhai students to understand this aspect of Māori culture, while introducing themselves to their classmates.


The template students will be using for their pepeha will vary depending on whether they are Māori or non-Māori. Please contact your child's homeroom teacher if you have any questions about this. 


Ball Games


Our students have recently started learning exciting new ball games, including Over and Under, Tunnel Ball, Captain Ball, and Leader Ball. These activities are not only fun but also help build teamwork and coordination skills. Towards the end of the term, they will have the opportunity to showcase their skills in a friendly tournament with all the Kōwhai classes. We can't wait to see their sportsmanship in action!





Recorder


This term, the Kōwhai team have started recorder lessons on a Tuesday afternoon. So far 4 out of 5 classes have had 2 lessons. The students have been making fantastic progress! They've been learning to read music and have successfully mastered playing the notes A and B. It's wonderful to see their enthusiasm and dedication as they develop their musical skills. 




Farewell to Charlotte 


Next week, we will be farewelling the wonderful Charlotte Verity who is moving on to another kura (school). During her time at Beckenham Te Kura, Charlotte has made a positive difference to not only the children she has taught but to all the staff who have been fortunate to work alongside her. We will be sad to see her go and wish Charlotte all the very best with this new adventure.


Online Safety: Gaming 


Eighty percent of tamariki in New Zealand aged 8-17 have played games online. Games can have many benefits: entertainment, social opportunities, coordination development, problem-solving and multitasking skills. But, most of all, gaming is popular because it’s fun. 


Games, however, can be tough for parents and whānau to navigate. How much gaming is too much? How do I make sure my tamariki aren’t seeing inappropriate content or chatting in-game with strangers?


Today we’re sharing Netsafe’s Online Gaming Whānau Toolkit so you have all the resources you need to keep your kids safe. 


YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/rPN_ev1RSDQ



Have a great weekend!