Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter, Rāpare (Thursday) 14 April

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Today is the last day of Term 1, with Good Friday tomorrow marking both the start of the long Easter weekend and the school holidays.

Term 2 Starts on TUESDAY 3rd May

Please remember that the Monday after the school holidays will be a Staff Only Day for our Kura. Term 2 will start again on Tuesday 3rd May. We look forward to seeing everyone back after the holidays.

Covid-19 Update

Note that numbers may be different to previous graphs, as we do get historical cases reported.

After hitting a peak last week and again early this week, we have had no new cases of Covid-19 reported to us in the past two days. That is great news, and brings our rolling 7-day average from its highest point on Monday of 4.9, to a clearly dropping 2.7 today.
Attendance was also at a term low last week, only getting to 72% on three days. It was good to see that we were back up to 77% for most of this week.

We still need you to let us know if any of our children test positive during the holidays, please.
If your child tests positive, please email me (principal@beckenham.school.nz) with their name, and the date they either started symptoms or tested positive. We will be forwarding numbers to the Ministry of Education through the holidays.

Moving to Orange!!!

As you will be aware, the whole country is now working at the Orange Traffic Light setting. 



This means that we are very pleased to be able to welcome whānau back into the school grounds, for the first time properly since August last year! No more dropping and collecting at the gate (unless, of course, that is still working for you!) Masks won't be required when outside, although you are welcome to wear them if you choose to. 

At Orange, we ask you to wait outside, well away from the hub entrances when dropping and picking up children. A teacher from each hub will be available to greet you outside the hub in the mornings, and teachers will walk out with children in the afternoons. 

All children will finish school at 3pm again!

Whilst the mandate for mask-wearing in schools has been lifted, schools are being encouraged to consider the needs of their community and put appropriate local guidelines in place.

At Beckenham, we believe that masks have been one of the best tools available to us for limiting the spread of Covid-19 at school, and keeping our staff and our children as safe as we can. We are also aware that further waves of Covid-19 are expected, and that NZ is going into its first influenza winter in three years. We know that many families are also now travelling both within NZ and even outside NZ.


For these reasons, we have decided to continue with our status quo on mask-wearing inside our buildings. This means that children in Year 3/4 are strongly encouraged to wear a mask inside, and that our Year 5-8 children should continue wearing masks inside, as they have done so capably this term. Our staff will also continue to wear masks inside. 

We know that this cautious approach has served us well so far, and we will review this during Term 2, as we get a better picture of case numbers in our school community.

Welcome Back to Nicola Reddecliffe

We are very pleased to confirm that Nicola Reddecliffe will be rejoining ourstaff in the New Entrant Koru Team from the beginning of Term 2. Nicola is well-known to many of you, both as a parent and member of the PTA, as well as having been a teacher in the Koru Team last year. Welcome back, Nicola!


Welcome to Maisie Bowden

Maisie has been working as a casual Teaching Assistant for most of the first term. She began just doing a few hours of back-up work, and has quickly become a regular and indispensable part of our team! We love having Maisie on our staff, and thought it was time we introduced her to you properly! Maisie also works at BOSCO so is well-known by our students, and will be known to some of you as well.


From all of us on the staff, to all of you and your whānau... thank you for your continuing support of us all in the work we do with your children. This term has been really challenging, and we have made it through with your support. We are all going to be taking a well-needed break over the next two weeks, and we wish you and your families a safe and relaxing break too.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Thu 14th Apr - Last day of Term 1
Fri 15th Apr - Good Friday (School Closed)

Term 2

Note that Monday 2nd May is a Staff Only Day (School Closed)
Tue 3rd May - First day of Term 2 
Wed 25th May - BOT Meeting 5.30PM - 7.30PM
Wed 25th May - PTA Meeting 7.30PM - 9.30PM

Term Dates

Click here to view 2022 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Skye Langer - Year 4

Skye Langer, you are a fabulous model of all our school values. You show incredible focus and persistence in learning. You keep trying through challenging ideas or material, and you honestly and openly reflect on your learning.  You have a growth mindset and encourage all those around you to do the same. Being an expert on a number of subjects, you share your knowledge and creativity with those around you, such as in your comic club group! You make a difference by noticing and helping around the hub, and supporting others when they need it. You are a welcoming peer who greets others with a smile and an open mind. Skye - thanks for being your amazing self! 

School Notices

Farewell to Constable Ross Mitchell

Yesterday we had the sad honour of farewelling Constable Ross Mitchell who is retiring from his role as School Community Officer with the NZ Police. Ross has been in this role for over 11 years, and has worked in our school training Road Patrollers, and supporting our teachers with Health and Wellbeing programmes of 'Keeping Ourselves Safe' and 'D.A.R.E.' during that time. Ross has been a person who has built his work on building relationships with our tamariki, showing them that the police are there to support, help and protect our community.


It was a fabulous opportunity for our senior kapa haka students to use their skills to show Ross how much they all appreciate his contribution. He was very moved by the haka they did for him. We acknowledge Ross's contribution to our school and wish him all the very best in his new role leading the hardware department at Mitre 10 Mega in Hornby. Do say 'Hi' to him if you see him there!

Community Dental Service - Dental Care During the School Holidays

The Community Dental Service will be providing urgent and relief of pain appointments during the school break at:
  • Aranui Community Dental Clinic, 240 Breezes Road, Christchurch
  • Hornby Community Dental Clinic, 2 Hei Hei Road, Christchurch
You can access these appointments by calling our Contact Centre on 0800 846 983.
For any dental advice please call the Contact Centre on 0800 846 983 or email commdental@cdhb.health.nz

Lost Property

As always, there is a collection of large and small items, along with various unnamed uniform items at school, awaiting their owners to come and claim them.
These three, precious items, are sitting in the office - the earring found in the playground today, whilst Peter Rabbit and the glasses have been there for a few days. Please come and claim them next term, if they are yours!

BOSCO

If you are looking for AWESOME Easter fun for your kids this holiday – look no further! BOSCO has an exciting April Holiday programme planned, filled with activities to keep all ages entertained so YOU don’t have to. We have Suzie the magnificent performer coming to us, House of Bricks, a dance instructor to teach us a few dance moves and so much more! You will not want to miss out on all our baking, crafts and special days that we have planned like pyjama day, circus day, wizard day and definitely not the BIGGEST EASTER EGG HUNT EVER! So, if this sounds like something you are interested in, email Juanita at office@bosco.org.nz or book online via Aimy Plus. See you there!

Community Notices

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

Hockey

Southern United hockey looking for players keen to try goalkeeping

Are you athletic with quick reactions? If you are, you could be an amazing hockey goalkeeper. Southern United Hockey Club are on the hunt for more goalkeepers for their Year 7 and 8 teams. Specialist coaching and development opportunities will be offered to all interested goalkeepers. Contact juniors@suhc.co.nz for more information.

Cashmere Technical Football Club Holiday Fun Programme

Earth Day competition which TOCK

Pebbles Montesorri Cashmere

Pebbles Montessori Cashmere have limited spaces available in our nursery for under 2 years. Currently we have all day Mondays and Fridays plus every afternoon. Please contact us to find out more information and to arrange a visit admin@pebblespreschool.nz.


Free Family Event - The Cashmere Club

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 11

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Kia ora tātou,

It has been another busy fortnight, and our students have continued to amaze us with their passion and energy for learning. Well done to all our tamariki! Thanks again to all whānau for your ongoing support. We wish you a relaxing, healthy and fun holiday period. 

Park Detectives 

The Christchurch City Council Outdoor Education Team visited us over the past fortnight, and helped us learn more about birds, bugs and trees down at our local ponds. The children completed a 'what I already know' and 'what I'd like to learn more about' brainstorm before we completed the sessions. We had lots of fun talking about birds, bugs and trees. Here are some of the key terms we learnt. Why not ask your child about them at home and see what they recall? 

  • Decomposition 
  • Seed Dispersal
  • Pollination
  • Photosynthesis
We hope to undertake more inquiry learning about our environment over the next term. A big thanks to our parent helpers too!















Discovery Time: Gardening Group 

We have been observing and discussing how different plants grow, using their roots and petals and leaves to get nutrition from soil and sunlight. We have looked at bulbs, seeds and root systems and had fun planting beans and daffodil bulbs.








Discovery: Learning social skills through sport

We have an eager group of cricket players this term. The group love sharing their ideas about the rules, and making sure play is fair. They take turns and talk through decisions on scoring. They love to encourage each other.




More Discovery Fun...










Wellbeing: Special Spaces 

This week, we've talked about special places that help our wellbeing. We identified places at school and outside of school, and shared how we feel in these places. Our feelings included calm, happy, safe, joy-filled and loved.




Kauri Whānau Update: Term 1 Week 11

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 In this post:

  • Smart watches
  • Arrival time at school
  • Tech at South - first day
  • PB4L
  • 40 Hour Famine
  • Sport

Term 1 2022, has certainly been different to what usually happens in our Year 7 & 8 hub. We have been so impressed with how your children have responded to these differences and cancellations, that have been caused by the pandemic. It has also been a tiring term with the wearing of masks and lots of illness. The holiday has been well earned by everyone. We wish your whānau a safe and happy two weeks and look forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday, May 3rd. Please note that Monday is a staff only day.


Smartwatches

As smartwatches are communication devices, they are not something that our tamariki can have on them during the school day. If a smartwatch comes to school, it will be treated as a phone and need to be handed into the phone box for safekeeping at the start of each day. This is in line with our school ICT agreement.


Arrival time at school

We have noticed a number of children arriving at school very early. This can cause some issues before school. Children should not be at school before 8:30. There are two exceptions for this: on Tuesdays, children can arrive at 8:25 for technology, and on Thursdays, Maths Club children arrive at 8:20.


Technology at South

We are looking forward to travelling to South Intermediate for technology classes from the first day of term two. Unless we contact you to say otherwise, children need to be at school by 8:30 on the first day of term two, Tuesday, May 3rd. 


Positive Behaviour For Learning

We use our PB4L lessons to address any current happenings, concerns or work-ons within our hub. In the past few weeks we have been noticing a trend of students leaving the hub to eat during learning time so we have highlighted the importance of eating a well-balanced, nutritious diet, largely focusing on the food pyramid and what impact each type of macronutrient has on our brain. In addition to this, we have been learning about Ramadan and what this looks like for learners within our kura over the next month. It has been a fantastic way to celebrate our cultural diversity and to reinforce global citizenship. 


Sport

Our sports leaders, Billy and Zoe, have put hours of time into planning a sports event for our hub this term. Despite the weather causing a change of timeframe, our tamariki thoroughly enjoyed playing korfball, spikeball, Kiorahi, Ultimate and T-ball. The encouragement of others and positive sportsmanship have been fabulous to see.

Please click this link to find out about sport in term 2 and indicate if you can help out.

Cross Country: Week 2 Term 2

We are really excited to get back into sports again in term 2.

In term 2 we have cross country on the Tuesday of week 2 for year 5 - 8 children. Inclusion is always a priority as we plan this event and COVID 19 provides another consideration. 

We know that many children will be thrilled about sporting activities resuming. We are also conscious that for people who have had Covid-19, the return to physical activities needs to be done carefully. Taking time to fully recover from Covid-19 and the effect of Long Covidare at the forefront of our minds as we plan our school cross country.  

Participating in our cross country sees many children embracing challenge and pushing the boundaries of their physical endurance. For a healthy, prepared body, this is a great thing. For a body that is recovering from illness, this can impact recovery. 

If your child has returned to school after being absent with Covid 19, we advise that they do not participate in a competitive manner. Instead, our recommendation is that your child walks the course or participates as an event helper. We know that this will be disappointing for some. The final decision on your child’s readiness for cross country at this time is ultimately one for you to make together as a whānau. If you decide your child should not participate in running the cross country for a medical reason (including recovering from having Covid-19), please email their homeroom teacher. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that your child is running/walking cross country on the Tuesday of week 2. 

If your child is well and healthy and intends to participate competitively in cross country, some running practice over the holidays would be a great idea. 


Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter, Rāmere (Friday) 8 April

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou



Ramadan is an important time in the Muslim calendar. For 2022, it runs from the 1st of April to the 1st of May. We have a number of Muslim whānau in our school and we wish them all the very best for this time.

Go! Dan! Go!

A group of Kōwhai children sent a video in to support Dan Carter in his kick-a-thon goal of raising money for UNICEF. They were spotted in the live stream last night! If you want to contribute to Dan's fundraising effort, you can do that by clicking this link.


COVID Update

Since we last reported to you on Tuesday, we have only had 2 cases a day for the rest of this week. We continue to have a number of students and staff isolating at home, either with COVID or as household contacts. We are hopeful that the spike of cases we saw early this week is our 'peak' and that we will now start dropping cases. We do want to get everyone through to the start of the school holidays as healthy as possible and hope that the holidays will be the 'circuit breaker' that we all need. 


We are also hopeful that this coming Thursday's cabinet announcement will see a shift to Orange before school returns for Term 2, which will allow us to make some much-awaited changes to our daily operations. As soon as we know more, we will let you know!

Please remember that our term finishes next Thursday 14th April.
Term 2 starts on TUESDAY 3rd May as we will be having a Staff Only Day on the Monday.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Thu 14th Apr - Last day of Term 1
Fri 15th Apr - Good Friday (School Closed)

Term 2

Note that Monday 2nd May is a Staff Only Day (School Closed)
Tue 3rd May - First day of Term 2 

Term Dates

Click here to view 2022 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Thomas O'Beirne - Year 4

Thomas, you excel at demonstrating our school values. You always show perseverance when facing a new challenge in your learning. You are kind and caring to others, and have a great sense of humour. We love your creative ideas in your writing as well as your funny stories. Thank you for showing We Get There Together and We Love Learning in many ways. Tino pai, Thomas!  

Louie de Clifford - Year 8

Louie you exemplify our school values. You are kind, creative, and loyal. You are personable and quick to lend a hand, and this makes a positive difference in our hub. Thank you for the leadership you show in technology and for being a stunning role model for others. Louie, you get stuck right into learning tasks, demonstrating a love of learning and challenge. Tino pai, Louie!

School Notices

Accessing your child's 2021 report through Hero

In 2021 your child's end of year report was generated through Hero and opened to you through your Hero log in. This was the first time we utilised Hero for this.
As we prepare for the next round of reporting at the end of Term 2, 2022, we have turned the report function on your Hero account off as of Thursday 31st March. You will still have access to the other functions on Hero that you can currently use. 

The purpose of turning the report off is to allow the teachers time to begin working on the next report for your child. Access will be turned on again at the end of Term 2 (we will let you know when), and you will then be able to access their new report, along with any previous achievement information.

We will also provide you with support on how to access the report when the time comes.

Diversity Day

It was wonderful to see our ākonga show up to school as their wonderful selves, just with a little more color today! We are lucky to have such an inclusive and diverse school that celebrates all communities. Our student council were very proud to have raised $360 for Qtopia, an organisation that supports the LGBTQ+ community. Diversity Day was a symbol of recognition of all the different people our Kura has brought together!!


Community Dental Service - Dental Care During the School Holidays

The Community Dental Service will be providing urgent and relief of pain appointments during the school break at:
  • Aranui Community Dental Clinic, 240 Breezes Road, Christchurch
  • Hornby Community Dental Clinic, 2 Hei Hei Road, Christchurch
You can access these appointments by calling our Contact Centre on 0800 846 983.
For any dental advice please call the Contact Centre on 0800 846 983 or email commdental@cdhb.health.nz

Sports News

Congratulations to...

The children in this photo were the inaugural recipients of the 'cricket certificates' that are going to be given out regularly to celebrate great skills and sportsmanship at breaktime cricket that is held on the field each day for Year 5-8 students (weather permitting). Thanks to Kingston for coming up with this great idea to promote cricket behaviour that supports our school values!
Thanks to Paul for his huge enthusiasm for supporting our tamariki in cricket at break times, and to Dave for also lending his support on the days he is here.

Year 5/6 Netball

Any student keen to play netball on Friday afternoon at Hagley courts needs to complete the google form sent out earlier this week OR email carolynaitken1974@gmail.com as soon as possible to allow us to sort teams. There is limited spots so this is only an expression of interest.

BOSCO

If you are looking for AWESOME Easter fun for your kids this holiday – look no further! BOSCO has an exciting April Holiday programme planned, filled with activities to keep all ages entertained so YOU don’t have to. We have Suzie the magnificent performer coming to us, House of Bricks, a dance instructor to teach us a few dance moves and so much more! You will not want to miss out on all our baking, crafts and special days that we have planned like pyjama day, circus day, wizard day and definitely not the BIGGEST EASTER EGG HUNT EVER! So, if this sounds like something you are interested in, email Juanita at office@bosco.org.nz or book online via Aimy Plus. See you there!

Community Notices

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

Cashmere Club

Elements Nature Based Play 

After a crazy term of uncertainty how about having your children active & creative in nature next school holidays.  Think huts, trees, tools, arts n crafts with time and space to be a kid.  Elements has a great mix of planned experiences and play throughout our programmes.  In the April School holidays Elements is offering ‘Natures Challenges’ & ‘Myths n Monsters’, for ages 5-13yrs on a Cashmere farm.
See our website https://www.elementsnature.co.nz/  or facebook page https://www.facebook.com/elementsprogrammes/ to see what we get up to.  Bookings are through https://elements.aimyplus.com 
For more info email elementsprogrammes@gmail.com

Studio One Performing Arts, your local dance school, is currently giving Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary and Acro lessons in your area. The school’s director is teacher, choreographer & ex-ballet dancer Patricia Paul A.R.A.D. (London). Ballet lessons from 3 years through to Advanced, and all levels in Jazz and Contemporary starting from age 7. For all enquiries please phone 372-9191 or email info@studioone.co.nz

METHVEN SCARECROW TRAIL

Fantastic, fun, school holiday activity!

The trail begins Saturday April 16th. Maps go on sale at Methven I Hub and for $10 (cash only) and the trail begins at the I Hub.

Don't forget to like the Scarecrow Trail FB page if possible - this is where we post messages and the results - https://www.facebook.com/MethvenScarecrowTrail/

Art Classes for Children

Is your child passionate about art? Would they like to extend their creativity through learning a range of new art skills and techniques? Maybe Kat's holiday painting workshops or after-school art classes are just what you've been looking for. Kat's Art Studio is located at 171 Waltham Rd. Art tutor Katrina is a professional artist and tutor who has over 10yrs experience teaching children art. For more details, please visit www.katsartstudio.co.nz


Snow Gear Sale

This winter St Martins Scouts are having a second-hand snow gear sale to fundraise.

Saturday 7th May 9am-3pm
St Martins Scout Den, 297 Centaurus Road, Christchurch

Come and grab some bargains on skis, snowboards, boots, jackets, pants, gloves, goggles and other winter gear.    If you have gear to sell, bring it along Friday 6th May, 2pm to 6pm.     Either donate it to the group or we'll sell on your behalf for 30% of the sale price.

https://www.smartscouts.co.nz/snow/

Click here to go to the Facebook Event

TIMA - School Holiday Programs for Tamariki and Rangatahi with a disability





Playball

AUDITION NOTICE!!

Luminaires are seeking talented actors, singers, dancers and even cheerleaders for our July 2022 Kidsfest Show - Monty Python's Spamalot Young@Part!!    Ages 8-18

Fill in the online form to register for your audition.    https://forms.gle/59FEvyskBQVYL5nj8

You can follow us on social media for updates:
https://www.facebook.com/LuminairesCharitableTrust
https://www.instagram.com/luminairescharitabletrust/




https://www.canterburyvolleyball.org/school-holiday-programme

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 9

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We are nearing the end of term now and we have a wonderful trip to the ponds coming up where we will be learning to be Park Detectives! We will be finding out about bugs, birds and trees in our local area which will be very exciting. Thank you to all the parents who have offered to help on these trips. We couldn't do this without you.



Discovery

During Discovery over the last couple of weeks, the children have been exploring their passions and pursuing their ideas which has led to some amazing creations. Some children have been making popsicle stick puppets and then they decided to make different clothes for their puppets and even opened up a shop selling caps, pants, tops and so one. They showed great initiative!



Writing

For writing, some children have been focusing on debating and they have come up with some amazing arguments. Which is better, TV or books? What do you think? Why?





Maths

During maths, we are doing lots of basic facts practice and we have been working hard on our problem solving, working on open-ended questions which could have various different answers. Tricky! Take a look at one of the problems. How would you solve it. How many different ways could you solve it?


We also love our Move 'n' Prove problems when we have to decide which answer out of 4 different answers is the right one and we also give a reasons for our thinking. Is a, b, c or d the right answer? Why do you think that?



Sustaining Relationships

In the afternoons, we have been continuing with our co-operative activites such as drawing a scene or a world in a group and doing a Lego challenge, building something (e.g., a robot) in 10 minutes together as a group. We have also tried doing picture postcards when the children had to work in groups to create a soundless scene like a supermarket or a playground and everyone else had to guess what was happening. It has been lots of fun as well as a great opportunity for the children to work with different peers, learning how to share their ideas and negotiate their way to succeeding in any given task.






Wellbeing

This week for wellbeing learning, we've talked about problem-solving strategies. We've shared some of the problems we've encountered, such as not being able to find a playmate or being worried about something. We also listened to a story about problem solving or getting over setbacks: What to do with a problem.

We talked about strategies we could use, and made a personal brainstorm of these strategies. Ideas included: 
* Talk to a friend or adult 
* Take some time out to relax (worries)
* Make a different choice or choose to focus on something else

Kete Certificates

This week's kete certificate recipients are Dylan, Seb, Mietta, Bryn, Billy, Max, Pippa, Amelia and Banuja. Congratulations on being role models and showing the school values!

Diversity Day

Next Friday, is Diversity Day when the children can come to school in the Diversity Flag colours or any colours they associate with their country of origin (gold coin donation). Our Student Council representatives (Matthew, Ruvi and Tom) and some dedicated helpers have been working hard this week on creating some posters for this event. Each team has created part of a whole message, advertising the day. Below are the parts that Kòwhai were given to paint. What do you think the whole message is? Find out next week!