Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto School Newsletter Rāmere (Friday) 23 September, 2022

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

DISCO Fever is here! Great to hear the excitement around the hubs today as children prepare for their Disco later in the day. A huge thank-you to our PTA for the work and organisation that goes into this event for our tamariki.

Funding Changes

As you will have probably heard on the news over the past 24 hours, schools around the country have received their staffing and funding information for 2023. Whilst there have been no changes to the staffing formulas, there has been a major overhaul of parts of the operational funding formulas with the removal of the 'decile' system and the introduction of an Equity Index number (EQI). The EQI is designed to be more nuanced and to reflect better the actual needs of the children enrolled at a school. Whilst the news headlines you will read state that over 80% of schools will receive more funding as a result of this new formula, unfortunately, that is not the case for our school. This makes our need for your donation payment much more pressing, as we aim to provide quality learning experiences without adding additional requests for contribution for each activity.

Staffing for 2023 - Get your 3 or 4 year old enrolled now!



For us to get an accurate picture of our staffing needs for next year, we do need to know about EVERY child who intends to start at school during 2023 as soon as possible, so that we can inform the Ministry of Education of our actual enrolment numbers for next year. To ensure we are given the staffing we need from the Ministry of Education for the year ahead, we need to have accurate pre-enrolment numbers.

To enrol your child, please click on the link to our website enrolment page (linked here), and download the enrolment form. Alternatively, you can email office@beckenham.school.nz and request a form to be emailed out, or printed out and sent to you. We do need all 2023 enrolments in by the end of Week 2 next term, please.

It is never too early to enrol your child! We are happy to accept enrolment forms for ALL preschool children who live in zone.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Mon 26 Sep - Public holiday - Queen Elizabeth II memorial (School Closed)
Wed 28 Sep - PTA Meeting (7.30-9.30pm in the Green Room)
Thu 29 Sep - Parent Evening with Cashmere High School Principal (6-7.15pm Staffroom)
Fri 30 Sep - Last day of Term 3
Mon 17 Oct - First day of Term 4
Mon 24 Oct - Labour Day - (School Closed)
Tue 25 Oct - Netsafe Workshop for all whānau - St Martins School, 7pm
Fri 11 Nov - Canterbury Anniversary Day - (School Closed)
Thu 15 Dec - Last day of Term 4 - School closes 12:30pm

Term Dates

Kahikatea News Term 3 Week 9

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Kia ora e te whānau,

It is amazing to think we are already coming to the end of Term 3. This term has been jam-packed with incredible learning and lots of fun in the Kahikatea Hub.

Cooperation

Our word of the week was cooperation. We talked about how cooperation means working together to get things done. To be good at cooperating with others, you need to be a good team member. 

We found that when we cooperated we could get much further across the slack line, than when we tried it by ourselves!


Some of our home groups also demonstrated cooperation when doing Story Champs. We helped one another to re-tell stories and use 'Champ Checks' (a checklist) to see if we could remember all of the parts. We also worked on remembering and using 'sparkle words' (new, interesting vocabulary).





Swimming

In Term 4, all of our Kahikatea tamariki will be participating in a water safety programme at Pioneer Pool. These lessons are based on the principles of water skills and safety. These lessons do not replace or replicate swimming lessons. This is an opportunity to learn water safety. The students will have eight lessons starting on Monday 31st October, running through until Thursday 10th November.

A survey will be sent out to you soon regarding your child's confidence in swimming. This will also include an opportunity to indicate your availability for parent help. Parents are not required to get in the water and we will meet you at Pioneer as we arrive.

Learning Through Play

The tamariki have continued to show a range of skills and interests during our Learning Through Play sessions. The tamariki continue to challenge themselves, problem solve, and express themselves creatively and imaginatively. The kaiako and tamariki all look forward to these weekly sessions.

Check out some pictures of what we have been getting up to below:











Waiata

Over the last couple of weeks we have started to end our days as an entire hub in the Theatre for singing. It is such a great way to finish off the day for everyone and we love learning new songs.


Box Construction

We are on the hunt for some boxes and containers for our box construction creations during earning Through Play. Some ideas of what we are looking for:

  • biscuit, cracker, muesli bar boxes
  • cereal and shoe boxes
  • yoghurt pottles and containers

Request for Paint Shirts/Tops

We are also on the hunt for any old children's t-shirts or small adult-sized short-sleeved shirts for us to use during art activities. If you have any that you could spare, please bring them into the hub.

Athletics Day

We are about to begin training for Athletics Day Please ensure that your children are coming to school with appropriate footwear.

Sun Hats

Coming into Term 4 please remember that your children will need their sunhats at school.


Have a great final week at school and a safe and happy holiday break.

Ngā mihi nui,

Team Kahikatea


Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 9

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It has been another busy fortnight at our kura! We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures and learning. Have a safe and happy holiday time and thank you for your ongoing support.

Handwriting 

All Kōwhai teachers have undertaken in-depth training on the Kinetic Letters handwriting programme, and we're now implementing this daily with our students. These sessions include: 

  • core and upper body strength exercises
  • finger dexterity exercises and pencil grip practise 
  • letter formation, using the letter family groups 

Safe Play 

Playing outside games safely and kindly has been an area of learning for many ākonga of late. This includes choosing kind thoughts, kind actions and kind words. This has been the case with football, cricket and Four Square games. We are noticing and celebrating all the kindness we see...that is a key part of our school value, We Get There Together! 

Enjoy watching and discussing this video at home. 

Athletics 

We have LOVED our athletics practises which started this week! Groups will participate in training sessions for sprint/running, shot put, high jump, discus and long jump. Warming up and down with stretches are also important elements of our learning. Athletics will take place on 26 October 2022, weather conducive. We will advise further details as they come to hand. Please ensure your child has good running shoes at school every day. Thanks a million :-) 

Hats 

Hats will be back on our heads to protect us from the sun from the start of Term 4. Please hunt your child's hat out ready to go in their school bag. Sunscreen is also recommended and can be applied before school. 

Assembly 

Congratulations to our Kete certificate recipients and thanks to Harriet for her informative cultural presentation on France and our awesome presenters, Lily and Paige.

Swimming 

In weeks 3 and 4 next term, we will participate in water safety sessions at Pioneer Pool. We will be in touch early next term with further information and to seek parent helpers (thanks in advance to those who can assist!).

Discovery Photos

Some of our Discovery sessions have had a values focus, in line with a Student Council promotion of the school values. We have been noticing our ākonga demonstrating each value, and commenting or praising them accordingly. Recently, we had a We Love Challenge task which involved designing a boat, and options included:

  • Make a boat to hold the most weight and still float 
  • Build a boat that will move by itself 
  • Create a boat entirely from natural material
The students learnt so much, working together or independently, developing and testing out their ideas, making adjustments, solving problems and being creative in their design approach.














Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto School Newsletter Rāmere (Friday) 16 September, 2022

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

A reminder to all that this Monday the 19th of September, the school will be CLOSED to all students, while our kaimahi (staff) participate in a Staff Only Day of professional learning and development. We will be continuing to develop our understanding of  "Trauma Informed Practice", as well as working on moderation of assessment, use of HERO and preparation for end-of-year reports.

From Wednesday to Friday of this last week, I was at our new conference centre, Te Pai, attending the annual New Zealand Principals' Federation Conference with over 860 other primary principals from around New Zealand. It was a huge privilege to be able to host this event in Christchurch for the first time in over 12 years, and to be able to showcase our amazing new convention centre and increasingly re-built city. We were challenged by numerous speakers, including a youth panel that included past-student, Lucy Gray, to consider the impacts and reach of our leadership. Each speaker gave us a new 'wero' or challenge to strive for better outcomes in terms of equity, excellence, inclusion, sustainability and wellbeing.

We are delighted to welcome Megan Harris back onto our staff. Megan was a teacher in our Year 7/8 team a number of years ago, and has recently returned from a time in Dunedin. Megan is currently working in the Kahikatea team.


Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Mon 19 Sep - Staff Only Day (School Closed)
Thu 22 Sep - BOT Meeting (5.30-7.30pm - te Rūma Kaimahi - Staffroom)
Fri 23 Sep - PTA Disco - Gold Coin entry
Mon 26 Sep - Public holiday - Queen Elizabeth II memorial (School Closed)
Wed 28 Sep - PTA Meeting (7.30-9.30pm in the Green Room)
Thu 29 Sep - Parent Evening with Cashmere High School Principal (6-7.15pm Staffroom)
Fri 30 Sep - Last day of Term 3
Mon 17 Oct - First day of Term 4
Mon 24 Oct - Labour Day - (School Closed)
Tue 25 Oct - Netsafe Workshop for all whānau - St Martins School, 7pm
Fri 11 Nov - Canterbury Anniversary Day - (School Closed)
Thu 15 Dec - Last day of Term 4 - School closes 12:30pm
Mon 

Term Dates

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 8

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 In this post:

  • Cashmere High
  • Quiz Night
  • Speech Competition
  • Sports Results
  • Relationships and Sexuality



Year 8s to Cashmere High School


Please take note of the details above re the CHS principal, Joe Eccleton, coming to Beckenham to speak with our Year 8 whānau in the last week of term. 

If your child is enrolled at Cashmere High for 2023, you will have received information about their pre-enrolement testing on Tuesday September 27th. We will be talking with the children about the entrance testing and passing on some tips and advice this coming week. On the day of the testing, the children make their own way to Cashmere High and back to school afterwards. We ask that they are back at Beckenham by 1:20 at the latest.


Quiz Night

On Saturday October 29th we are holding a Comedy Quiz Night to raise funds for our Year 7 & 8 Wainui Camp which takes place early next year. If you have been to one of our comedy quiz nights before, you will know they are so much fun and that tickets sell out pretty fast. Tickets will go on sale in the last week of this term. 

At the quiz night we will be auctioning off grocery hampers. We ask that every Year 6 and 7 family donate a luxury non-perishable grocery item for the hamper. Please send these along to school before the end of this term. We will be collecting items in a box in the Kauri hub. Please encourage your child to bring their item ASAP and mark their name off the list when they deposit their item in the box.



Speech Competition

We were treated to an entertaining speech competition on Friday morning. This year the children wrote story-telling speeches and we listened to fractured fairy-tales with interesting twists, original stories and recounts of personal experiences. All were very entertaining. Special congratulations go to our place-getters.

Year 7:
  • First place: Christopher
  • Second place: Ashlyn
  • Third place: Luka
Year 8:
  • First place: Fergus
  • Second place: Lola
  • Third place: Richelle
We wish Christopher and Fergus all the best for the South Zone Speech Competition which will be held early next term. The date is yet to be confirmed.

Sports Update

On Thursday we had a netball team and a hockey team at the Canterbury Winter Tournament. A huge thanks to the parents who coached and managed these teams. Both groups had a fabulous day of competition with the netball team coming 5th and the hockey team 9th, both in competitions of over 30 teams.  Their sportsmanship, as well as their teamwork and skill, were top notch!

Next week we have teams competing at Koru Games in ultimate frisbee, touch, hockey and volleyball. Once again, many thanks to the parents who are giving up their time to coach and support these teams. Koru Games runs from Tuesday to Thursday and includes Year 7 & 8 teams from across the South Island.


Relationships and Sexuality Education

We will be keeping you informed as we work our way through the Relationships and Sexuality Education curriculum on the content of our lessons. 

Our first session focused on creating shared expectations for these lessons. The children identified what would make them feel safe during these conversations, which included sentiments such as respecting everyone’s contributions and questions, laughing along with someone, not at them, and being mindful of your own boundaries and the boundaries of others. 

Rights and Responsibilities
We reflected on how our rights and responsibilities changed as we matured. The children thought about what rights and responsibilities they would have in the future and how some of these would occur automatically while others would occur according to individual readiness. 

Stereotypes
In these sessions we identified the different stereotypes that we see in society today and how these have changed over time. We also looked at how stereotypes may be reinforced in the media and how these are being broken down. We talked about the influences that stereotypes have on people's lives and how can can stand up to these and be our own person. 

Body Image
In these sessions, we sought to normalise body image worries and explored the media’s role in promoting unrealistic body ideals. We looked at before and after photos that demonstrated how a person’s appearance could be drastically altered through photoshopping, camera angles, lighting and so on. The message: these models don’t look like this in real life. We shared some examples of companies that are engaging in more honest representation in their marketing campaigns. The children were encouraged to adopt the following mindset.
  • Think and talk positively about your body and about the appearance of others
  • Don’t judge others on their appearance - call out those that do
  • Eat a variety of foods that fuel and sustain your body
  • Focus on what your body can do rather than what it looks like