Kahikatea News Term 2 Week 5

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 Kia ora e te whānau, 

We are halfway through the term already! We have been having a blast in the Kahikatea Hub, and we have some exciting events coming up soon for our tamariki.

Digital Tech with Kate

We have had the amazing opportunity of having Kate, from Digital Future Aotearoa, come and spend some time with small groups. She has been working on building tech and coding skills during our Wednesday Learning Through Play Sessions. Kate and the students have been working with Blue Bots and Spheros. Here are some lovely photos of the tamariki enjoying themselves. 


  





Positive Behaviour for Learning

As part of our school-wide Positive Behaviour 4 Learning (PB4L) program, we have been focusing on a Word of the Week. This week our word is KINDNESS, and all Kahikatea learners have spent time in their homegroups discussing what this words means to them and how they can demonstrate kindness.

Last week the word was RESPECT. Katie's homegroup produced some fantastic writing on what respect meant to them, and some students shared their writing with the students from Koru, Kahikatea and Kowhai during our Junior School Assembly last Friday. They did a wonderful job, and we were all very proud!



Mathematics Focus

This term, alongside our work on number, addition and subtraction, we have been focusing on problem solving during our mathematics lessons. We have been working on solving open-ended problems where there can be more than one solution. We have been working in groups, as well as independently, to solve these problems. Below is one of the problems that we have worked on. We used the visit from Bob Bickerton to form a real-life application to the problem.



Winter Clothing

As the weather starts to get colder, we are seeing lots of our tamariki dressed in lovely warm coats, jerseys, beanies and gloves. This is fantastic and it keeps them nice and warm. Please ensure that all items of your child's clothing are clearly named to assist in the event of an item being lost or misplaced.

Up coming Events:

Cross Country

Our Junior Cross Country is taking place on Tuesday June 14th. It is an event for students in New Entrants up to Year 4.

Some important points about the event:
  • parents are welcome to join us at this event on June 14th.
  • the afternoon will start at 1:00 p.m., with the oldest year group levels running first, on through to the New Entrants towards the end of the afternoon
  • practices will be taking place regularly between now and the Cross Country event: if you wish your child to be exempt from practices due to health reasons, please email your child's HG teacher as soon as possible to let them know
  • please send your child to school in appropriate footwear for daily running practices
  • please ensure that your child has their water bottle at school each day, including on the day of the event
  • children will be able to wear their house T-shirts on the day of the Cross Country
  • the postponement date for our Cross Country is Monday, June 20th.

The Christchurch Antarctic Centre

We are very excited to be visiting The Christchurch Antarctic Centre on the 23rd June. 
Thank you to all those parent/whanau who have volunteered to assist. We now have sufficient numbers of parent/whanau helpers. Thanks everyone! 

Katie and Emma's home groups will leave school at 9am and return by 12:15pm, and Amber and Krystal's home groups will leave school at 11:45am and return by 3pm.

Please ensure that your child is dressed in their school uniform and wear warm, comfortable footwear.


That's all for now,

The Kahikatea Team

amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz,  katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz, krystal.hunt@beckenham.school.nz, emma.hayes-smith@beckenham.school.nz
lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz,


 



















Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Rāmere (Friday) 3 June 2022

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Principal's Patch

Talofa tagata uma!

Learning Conferences coming up in Week 10 on the 4th and 6th of July

Teachers are currently writing reports in HERO and these will be made available to you on Friday 1st July. Learning Conferences will happen the following week, and school will finish at 2pm on Monday 4th and Wednesday 6th of July to allow time for these.
A booking system for learning conferences will be in next weeks newsletter.

Messaging Teachers

If you need to get a message to school about a child's absence (or any other important message) please ALWAYS contact the office either by email or by phone. Please do NOT text teachers as they may be away, or may not check their phone and then your message doesn't get through.

office@beckenham.school.nz
03 337 1404
Text only - 02102794107

Winter footwear options

With winter here, we encourage children to wear gumboots to school (especially on particularly rainy days, and to have a pair of slippers or an extra pair of socks in their bag for wearing in the hub. 

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Term 2 Dates

Monday 6 June - Queen's Birthday - School closed
Wednesday 22 June - Whānau Hui & Hāngī
Wednesday 22 June - PTA Meeting (7.30-8.30PM in the Green Room)
Friday 24 June - Matariki - School closed
Monday 4 July - school closes at 2pm for Learning Conferences
Wednesday 6 July - school closes at 2pm for Learning Conferences
Friday 8 July - Last day of Term 2

Citizen of the Week

Lillie Neame - Year 8

Lillie, you are a ray of sunshine within Kauri hub! You wear a smile wherever you go and as a learner, you show fantastic determination and drive. Not only this, but you are also an incredible friend to so many and we admire the way you are so inclusive of everybody around you. Pai tō mahi Lillie.  

School Notices

Toys and trading cards at school

We have noticed an increase in children bringing both toys, and trading cards (especially Pokemon cards) to school recently. We know that all of these items are extremely precious and that if they get lost, or accidentally given away or misplaced, it causes very real distress.

Our policy ​has always been to ask that toys (including trading cards) are left at home. 


Talking with your child about 'stranger danger'

For many years the rule for children has been "Don't talk to strangers". The messaging to children has changed over the last few years to focus on "Adults who can help us". As part of the Keeping Ourselves Safe Programme (New Zealand Police), there is a lesson with the children about Adults Who Help. The lesson covers:
  • Children need to learn who they can trust to help them if they are scared or worried about something, or if they feel unsafe. 
  • This person may well be someone they know, but they may also need to ask someone they don’t know for help. 
  • It is also important that children, and the people they live with, work together to develop safety rules and strategies that will help children keep themselves safe.   
As a whānau, these conversations are important to have with your children. The Kiwi Families website (click here for the link) has a page to support caregivers on how to talk with your child about strangers. This page may help you decide what are the key things you want your child to know if they are interacting with someone they don't know. ​

Sushi Meets Dumplings Lunch Order

Lost Property

Please take a look at the below images to see if they belong to your child. These items are in the Lost Property. This is out on the Library Deck during school hours.

In addition to this, we have a large watch collection building in the office from this year and last, as well as glasses - both prescription and sunnies. Please feel welcome to pop in to the Office to check if we have yours/your tamariki.

Kupu Māori o te wiki

whakapono: believe

PTA News

DJ Needed



The PTA would absolutely love to chat to any of our school parents who would be keen to volunteer their evening to help us DJ the school disco on Friday 5 August. Sound system & play-lists will be provided- we just need the support of an enthusiastic & knowledgeable parent to make this happen! We would be very grateful for the help.
Please email PTA@beckenham.school.nz

Hāngī Fundraiser (Matariki)


The PTA is having a hāngī immediately following the whānau hui at kura (school) on the 22nd of June at 6.30pm. Matariki is the start of the Māori new year and a time of reflection, connection and planning for the year ahead.
We would like to celebrate with you and your whānau with a hāngī and sharing kai (food) together. 

YOU NEED TO PRE-ORDER HĀNGĪ ($15 each). Be quick as portions sold fast last year. We only have 120 servings available.
 Please order through the link below:

Our traditional hāngī will come in their own individually wrapped trays and will all be cooked together in a big kai cooker. We will have the traditional hāngī which includes meat, vegetables, and stuffing. We are also offering a gluten-free option and a vegetarian option. These portions can usually feed an adult and a child.

Thank you for your support!

BOT Update

School Board of Trustee Elections 2022

Nomination round

Our kura will be undertaking a parent election for 3 School Board vacancies. This process will start with the issuing of nomination papers to our caregiver community by Friday 15th July 2022.

We have employed CES to undertake the election process on our behalf. This year with legislative change, our nomination form and full instruction on how to place your nomination into our own School’s Election website will be emailed to you if we have your email address in our database or you will receive it by post if we don’t have your email in our database.

Nomination papers will also be available at the school office. The school will send those on to CES for processing upon receipt from candidates. 

Nominations close on Wednesday 3rd August at 12 noon.
Election day is Wednesday 7th September.

We look forward to your participation in this process.

"I am enjoying my time on the BoT. It gives me an opportunity to give something back to the community. It offers me an insight as to how the school is run. I have had the opportunity to offer a different perspective and have had the chance to hear others' perspectives as well. I have learnt a lot and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I encourage other parents to consider if this is something they could also do." - Matthew Macdonald, Current Board Chair

Community Notices

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

Cashmere High School Open Day – Cancelled

Due to staff absences we are unable to host our Open Day 9 June 2022. This is very disappointing for us as our Open Day is a wonderful opportunity to welcome our community to Cashmere High School.

We are investigating ways in which we can provide families with information about our school.



Clothing Sale - at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Hall




Swords, spam, cheerleaders, spam, singing, spam and did I mention spam - a lot?

The best Kidsfest activity this July is the hilarious kids version of the broadway hit musical MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT YOUNG@PART.

Specifically adapted by Eric Idle for kids to perform to kids, this wonderfully wacky adventure of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table is based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  There’s outstanding singing, dancing, prancing with coconuts, French taunting and of course the Knights of Ni! As the Knights journey on their search for the holy grail they come to realise that the grail is about finding that thing that truly feeds your soul. From swords to cheerleaders there’s something for everyone in this one hour adaption.

You’d be crazy to miss it!.  Tickets $15. At Nasda Theatre during Kidfest these July Holidays!

Bookings https://events.humanitix.com/spamalot-young-part


Marching Canterbury

Don’t knock the sport of Marching, until you try it!

We cater for all ages 4yrs- 30yrs+ We are currently looking for more members to join our teams.

Marching encourages teamwork, discipline, and friendship. It’s great for coordination, posture and brain development. If you would like to see what we are all about and give it a go, get in touch with us at Publicitymarchingcanterbury@gmail.com or Kylie Dowers 021930434.

We have teams in all areas of Christchurch.

Kōwhai News Term 2 Week 5

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Kia ora e te whānau / Talofa lava,

Happy Samoan Language Week! / Manuia le vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa!

We have enjoyed learning a few Samoan phrases and greetings this week. Did you know that there is an ancient pyramid in Sāmoa?

Discovery

We have been continuing to do a lot of purposeful Learning Through Play activities such as Stop Motion Animation, making our own Top Trump cards and creating world flags.










Mask Reminder

Please remember to send your child to school with a named mask each day, as we have now run out of child-sized masks. Please also encourage them to re-use and look after their masks to make sure we are staying environmentally friendly.

Frost Dragon Spelling Book

We sent this home last term as something you can use to practise reading and spelling at home with your child. It is a valuable resource for revisiting what they have been learning at school. Please make sure to use it when you can.

Please contact your child's homegroup teacher if you would like to have another copy or would like information on which stage your child is at for Structured Literacy.

Junior School Cross Country - Tuesday 14th June

Some important points to remember:

  • Parents/Caregivers are welcome to join us at this event on June 14th.
  • The afternoon will start at 1:00 p.m., with the oldest year group levels running first, on through to the New Entrants towards the end of the afternoon.
  • Practices will be taking place regularly between now and the Cross Country event: if you wish your child to be exempt from practices due to health reasons, please email your child's HG teacher as soon as possible to let them know.
  • Please send your child to school in appropriate footwear for daily running practices.
  • Please ensure that your child has their water bottle at school each day, including on the day of the event.
  • Children will be able to wear their house T-shirts on the day of the Cross Country
  • The postponement date for our Cross Country is Monday, June 20th.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you on the day of the Junior School Cross Country.

Junior Celebration Assembly

We had our second Junior Celebration Assembly last Friday. Congratulations to the students who received their Citizen of the Week and Kete certificates!




We wish you a fun and relaxing long weekend. 

Fa'afetai lava,

The Kōwhai Team.

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 2 Week 5

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 In this post

  • Winter sport begins
  • Cross country video
  • Cashmere High open day
  • Ski Day Term 3 - parent help request
  • Cheese Roll fundraiser
  • VelocityKarts photos

Winter Sport

Our local competitive winter sports programme gets underway this Thursday. Many thanks to the parents who have put up their hands to be involved. This opportunity could not go ahead without you. 

Cross Country

Our cross country event took place three weeks ago, with many children really taking on the challenge and pushing to give their very best. Well done to our zone competitors who gave their all at Hansens Park last week.

This video of the school event has been put together by Keira from our media team.



Cashmere High Open Day

Cashmere High School has their open day on June 9th. Check out this timeline for 2023 enrolments.

Ski Day Term 3

We are very much looking forward to taking the team to Mt Hutt for a day in the snow, especially after Covid cancelled this trip last year. We are all booked in for Thursday, September 1st. If you would like to join us on this trip as a helper, either on skis or on foot, please fill in this form. 

Cheese Rolls

With a number of outdoor trips this year, we need to raise some funds. Later this term we will be rolling out our very popular cheese rolls. Order forms will come out next week. The children are the workforce for this fundraiser, with guidance from a small group of parents. Our making day is scheduled for Wednesday, June 29th. If you are able to help by supplying equipment, ordering or picking up ingredients or helping on the day, please fill in this form.

VelocityKarts

Lots of fun was had at VelocityKarts in week 3. The highlight for many was the thrill of the blokarting, with human foosball a close second. It was fabulous to see our tamariki embracing this new challenge with huge smiles and whoops of joy. A huge thanks to the parents who joined us on these days. 























Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Rāmere (Friday) 27 May, 2022

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

What a frosty start it was today, and what a lovely day it turned into!


We are getting back into a routine of having regular assemblies again each week. It is really great to be able to be rebuilding our sense of family and community, after having spent so long working just within individual hubs.

Whānau Hui and Hāngi - Wed 22 June from 5pm

Please make sure you get this date into your diaries! At 5pm on Wednesday 22nd June we will be having a Whānau Hui. We will meet with a welcome in the hall from Te Whānau Mahi Tahi (masks on please) and then families will be invited to go to a hub and participate in some learning activities about Matariki. At 6:15pm, you are invited to come back to the hall and we will finish the hui with a performance from our Pōhutukawa and Kōwhai kapa haka rōpū. 
Those who are not staying for hāngi will be able to go home around 6:30pm, whilst those who have ordered hāngi will stay on. 

Hāngi order forms will be available next week. There will only be 120 serves of Hāngi available, so if you want to order hāngi you will need to get your order in quickly.

New Entrant Enrolments

Enrolments for the rest of the year - Do you, or one of your neighbours, have a pre-schooler who is turning 5 and wanting to start school this year? If you haven't yet enrolled them, please pop into the office and get an enrolment form, or download one from our website and fill it out and send it into the office, as soon as possible. We need to be able to accurately predict enrolment numbers to ensure we have the appropriate staffing ready.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Term 2 Dates

Wednesday 25 May - Zone Cross Country at Hansen's Park
Wednesday 25 May - BOT Meeting - 5.30-7.30PM in te Rūma Kaimahi (the Staff Room)
Wednesday 25 May - PTA Meeting - 7.30-9.30PM in the Green Room
Monday 6 June - Queen's Birthday - School closed
Wednesday 22 June - Whānau Hui & Hangi
Friday 24 June - Matariki - School closed
Friday 8 July - Last day of Term 2

Citizen of the Week

Mitch Welch - Year 6

Mitch, you make a difference through your actions. You are a great communicator and show that we can all work together to be successful. Your kind and caring nature shines through in your compassion for others and in how you take care of our environment at Beckenham. "Nā koe he rereke te Ao", the world is different because of you!

School Notices

Winter Bugs

As we head into Winter, and in a Covid environment, we see an increase in sickness, including Head colds. If your child is unwell please keep them at home to recover. If a child becomes unwell at school during the day, we will contact whānau to arrange for the child to be collected. The Covid-19  practices we have in place will also support our school community with remaining as well as possible over winter.

Long COVID in children

Long COVID describes the symptoms that continue or develop after the initial COVID-19 symptoms.
 
This is usually longer than 12 weeks after a person is first infected.
 
Most people with COVID-19 recover completely and return to normal health. People usually recover from COVID-19 after two to six weeks and many make a full recovery within 12 weeks.
 
KidsHealth has provided some useful information about COVID-19 symptoms in children which you can see summarised here (and read more in the links below):
  • for most children with mild COVID-19, they will be back to normal within a week. A small number of children might take up to two weeks to feel back to normal
  • most children with COVID-19 will have a mild illness and get better quickly
  • for a child or young person to have a diagnosis of a post-COVID-19 condition (long COVID) their symptoms need to be having an impact on their everyday functioning and cannot be explained by another condition
  • nearly all children will fully recover and return to normal health
  • scientists and health professionals are still learning about long COVID, but studies so far have found:
    • children are much less likely to have long COVID than adults
    • children recover faster than adults
    • it mostly affects children over the age of 10 – it's very rare in younger children.
Further information is also available on the KidsHealth website, including caring for a child with COVID-19.

Masks Reminder

At Beckenham we are still seeing the benefits of continued mask wearing and we are asking everyone  - staff, whānau and students (Year 3/4 and older) to continue to wear masks when indoors at school

We know that Cashmere High School has had another peak of cases in the past week, and with many families having children at both schools, we just want to continue to be as safe as we can.

We no longer have any child-sized masks available at school, so we do need you to send your child to school with a named mask each day, please.


Update from SIEPP about Roadworks on Eastern Tce

We received this email from SIEPP this week to share with you:
I want to update you on the works we are currently doing on Eastern Terrace with the water main renewal. Works have been taking longer than we had initially planned there due to having to deal with existing contaminated ground in the road where we are installing the pipe. Currently, we are up to the Fisher Ave end of Beckenham Park and are continuing to install the pipe towards Tennyson Ave. We are now coming up to a section of the road that has been identified as having traces of asbestos within it. Due to the health risks of asbestos, we need to follow strict precautions while excavating the material that has been identified as at risk. While completing these works we will need to set up an asbestos containment zone within our site. Anyone working within the at-risk area will be required to wear full hazmat suits with face masks and gloves. We will have decontamination zones to ensure that all of the material is contained within our work site.

I just wanted to let you know that this work is upcoming so that the school community understands what is happening when they see it commencing. The work we are doing is very low risk as there has only been a small amount of asbestos traces found in the ground and it can be easily contained. However, we must follow all of the required protocols for obvious reasons. We will put black polythene around our fences to make it harder for pedestrians to see in but will also have asbestos warning signs on the fences.

The asbestos area is from the end of Beckenham Park through to Fisher Ave and we plan on doing this work for aproximately 3 weeks.

Apologies from Nic in the Coffee Cart

She won't be available this coming Monday 30 May

PTA News

Last orders for peanut butter TODAY! 

There are 3 Products available:

750g Super Crunchy Peanut Butter
750g Smooth Peanut Butter
500g Everything Butter

Jars cost $11 each $11 a jar (we get $3). 

Please click the link (before midnight tonight) to get your jar!

Community Notices

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

FluTracking NZ

With the relaxing of COVID-19 control measures and the reopening of borders, we’re expecting a resurgence of flu in 2022.

We need more participants around New Zealand to help us track the impact of both flu and COVID-19 in our local community.

Please consider giving 20 seconds a week to reply to a survey and help NZ track flu and COVID-19. In return, you will receive a weekly report and a map of respiratory illness in our community!
Click on this link to find out more and sign up!
https://info.flutracking.net/

Thanks for your time and support.

Flutracking New Zealand
https://info.flutracking.net/
Public Health Group
Population Health and Prevention
Ministry of Health


Rhyme and Reason


Jemma and Nick Smithson, (parents of Bryn (Kowhai) and Elsie (Kahikatea)) are excited to share with the community the opening of their new preschool Rhyme and Reason in Opawa. Community open days are scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, so come on down to view their renovated and newly fitted our Early Childhood Centre.

Parliament and its grounds are a place for everyone to share and enjoy, and we are excited to share a creative way for our tamariki to connect to Parliament.

Tell any tamariki you know that Parliament is putting the call out for wild, fun, and creative ideas for how the Parliamentary grounds could be an even more welcoming place!

With this new activity, we want to know what tamariki would do if they were in charge! Would they add another playground? Or cover the lawn with pink flowers? Or maybe add in more statues of people or things that inspire them!

Bring a vision to life and encourage them to design their own Parliament grounds using either the template on the other side of this sheet or freestyle it completely with their own ideas! Your work will be displayed in Parliament and shared with all who work and visit here – and who knows you may even get a special shout out from the Speaker!

Encourage any tamariki you know to take part – it’s easy!

Just follow this link, and use the template provided or create their own design.  Please send their mahi by Thursday 23 June 2022 to the Education Team at: Education Team, Level 11, TSB Building, 147 Lambton Quay, or by emailing to DesignParliamentGrounds@parliament.govt.nz.

We look forward to seeing what they create!