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!




Kahikatea News Week 9 Term 1

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Kia ora koutou!

What a wonderful nine weeks we have had in team Kahikatea! We have been so proud of the hard work from all of the tamariki in our hub. Thank you for continuing to support us at this time, especially by keeping up to date with information being shared via HERO and by keeping your children at home when they are unwell.


A Week in the Life of a Kahikatea Learner

Below is an example of a typical week in the life of a Kahikatea learner. You may wish to talk about this with your child/ren. Some questions to prompt discussion could include:
- What is your favourite time of the day at school?
- Who do you enjoy playing with during morning tea and lunchtime?
- Which time of the day do you feel you learn the best? Why do you think this is?
- What is your favourite learning area? Why?
- What have you learned so far about being sustainable?
- What have you been learning in Structured Literacy?
- What have you been learning about during Maths?



Learning At Home

Here is the Learning at Home link for those of you who may need to use it. We are adding and updating our content every so often. This includes activities for Learning Through Play, Maths, and Literacy. If you child completes learning when at home, they can share what they have done via Seesaw. We would love to see the wonderful work that they are doing at home! If completing activities isn't achievable for any reason, then that is absolutely fine too.


Kinetic Letters Handwriting Programme

We have loved getting our Kinetic Handwriting lessons up and running. Thank you for the care that tamariki have shown Bounce and Skip when they come to your place for a sleepover. The excitement of the children when they get to take the monkeys home is delightful.





Sustainability

It has been wonderful to address our concept-based curriculum theme of Sustainability in Kahikatea in the past week. By the end of this term, all children would have had a lesson about taking care of our outdoor equipment, indoor equipment, water conservation, and how to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Dolls

One of the most popular toys played with during Learning Through Play is our dolls. We are on the hunt for more dolls, furniture for the dolls house, etc. to build upon what we already have.


Reminders

Please name your child's lunchbox (including any small containers), drink bottle, sunhat, and school jersey. Please also remind your child/ren to please keep their shoes on at school. Children who do take their shoes off are encouraged to place them on one of the shoe racks in the hub and to put their socks inside their shoes.


Library

Amber and Krystals home groups go to the library on Tuesdays, and Katie and Emma's home groups go to the library on Thursdays. Please ensrue that you child has their library folder with them on their allocated day.








That's all for now! Thank you for your ongoing support. Please feel free to get in touch via your child's teacher via email anytime.

Team Kahikatea

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

Kauri Whānau Update: Term 1 Week 9

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In the post

  • If away
  • Kauri Learning
  • Supporting your child's maths learning
  • Basketball
  • Outdoor education
  • Technology photos

If away

Many thanks to those families who are letting the school know when you are isolating. We would also like to know if a child tests positive. Can you please keep us up to date with your situation by emailing or calling Jacky or Reihana in the office? 


Kauri Learning

Learning in the Kauri hub is ticking along nicely, despite substantial numbers of children being away. A reminder that if your child is at home unwell, or isolating then learning can be accessed via Google Classroom (literacy and Kauri classrooms), Maths-Whizz and activities outlined on our learning at home page. It has been great to see children and parents emailing home-group or maths teachers when they have questions. It is also good to see children using their at-home learning time as an opportunity to get some blogging done for their kete badges.


Supporting your child's maths learning

  • We operate a basic facts programme at school which sees the children learning about and practising sets of basic facts each week. This looks different for each child, based on where they are at. In the early stages are addition and subtraction facts, through to multiplication and division facts, and on to finding factors of a number, converting between fractions, decimals and percentages and many other facts in between. We teach understanding of these facts in class and make connections between the facts and key maths concepts. For example, knowing the lowest common multiple is needed to add fractions with different demoninators. 

    The children have a basic facts tracker that indicates what they have achieved and four areas that they are working on. In the next week we will photocopy each child's tracker and send this home, so that you can see what they are working on. Practising these facts at home each week will greatly help their progress with acquiring mastery of basic facts. Below is a video of a strategy that is a great quick daily practice for learning times tables. A few children are using this at home each day and they are making great progress. 

  • Children should also be spending 30 minutes at home working on Maths Whizz each week.


Basketball

In the anticipation of the basketball competition at Pioneer going ahead next term, we need to start putting teams together. If your child is interested in playing basketball, they need to fill in the form on Kauri Google Classroom.  The competition runs after school on a Monday or Friday afternoon with 30 min games falling between 3:30 and 6pm. 


Outdoor Education

With camp not happening this year, we are looking at having outdoor education opportunities each term. We are starting to look at options for a term 2 experience and will provide more details once we have something booked. 

Looking ahead to term 3, we have booked in our ski day at Mt Hutt on Thursday September 1st. Now we just need to keep fingers and toes crossed that the Covid situation settles down enough so that the trip can go ahead. Early next term we will put out a form asking for parent help with this trip.


Technology Photos















Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter, Rāmere (Friday) 25 March

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

It was lovely to get back to school on Wednesday out of my week in isolation as a household contact of someone with Covid! 

This week has seen a little more progress on the fencing project, with new posts going in around the netball court by the Kōmanawa building. we expect this next section of fencing to be completed by the end of next week.

Roadworks continue next week

We have spoken with the team who are working on the new water pipes on Birdwood Ave and Sandwich Road, and they expect Sandwich Road to continue to be a one-way street for all of next week. Thank you for adjusting your pick-up and drop-off plans to accommodate these roadworks, and keep our children safe.

COVID-19 update

Since we reported to you on Tuesday 22 March, we have had another 8 cases of Covid confirmed across the school. We continue to see people returning to school having completed their period of isolation, whilst others go into isolation, mostly as household contacts. We have had more staff needing to isolate as well, accounting for a number of relievers in the school.



Attendance across the school since our first Covid case 3 weeks ago has gone from around 88%, to 77% at the end of this week. In conversations with principals of other Christchurch schools, daily attendance is mostly varying between around 60-80% at the moment. Given we might be getting to the peak of COVID, we hope to see this attendance rate climb back up again by the end of this term and in Term 2. Saying that, we continue to appreciate you keeping sick children at home!

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Wed 30th Mar - BOT Meeting 5.30pm - 7.30pm (Staff Room)
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

Madeleine Dougherty - Year 6

Madeleine, you are a great example of someone who demonstrates all our school values. You always take up the challenge to further your own learning, and your love of learning absolutely shines through. You contribute in many ways to our school community. Kai pai to mahi!

School Notices

No Coffee Cart next week - Nicola is not available

Paying your school Donation

Thank you to all of those people who have logged into their HERO via their browser or app, clicked on 'Finance' and have paid, or made contributions towards, their school donation for 2022.
 

Claiming back 33% of your School Donations and Contributions from the IRD

Just a reminder that if you make payments towards this year’s School donation before 31st March it will appear on your Donation receipt for the current financial year and you may be eligible to claim back 33.33 cents for every dollar you donate to the school. 


You are now able to produce your own Tax Donation Receipt from your Hero Login, from the tax year ending 31st March 2022. You will need to do this by signing in through your browser, not in the app.

Please follow this link for instructions. Your receipt will be downloaded to your device for you to print or attach to your online IRD donation claim.

For receipts for previous years, you will still need to contact Rachel Higginson by emailing accounts@beckenham.school.nz to request a tax receipt.

There is a limit of 4 tax years for claiming so this means you are currently able to claim for:

2018 tax year (ending 31 March 2019)
2019 tax year (ending 31 March 2020)
2020 tax year (ending 31 March 2021)
2021 tax year (ending 31 March 2022)

Scholastic Book Club

Thinking about our environment and the amount of paper waste that occurs we are no longer issuing Scholastic Book Club brochures to students. You can however view the Scholastic Book Club brochure online and place your order as usual. You can access the brochure via the link below:


If you would like a paper copy, please contact the Office and we can organise this for you.

Library Books Still Missing

Our library books are still missing and we would really love to get them back. Please can you check your home bookcase, in bags, under the bed - or any other place books tend to wander. Or, if we have lent you one of these wonderful books could you kindly return them back to our library or email the Office (office@beckenham.school.nz) saying you would like to keep them a little longer. Thank you!
Hey Warrior - Book Title

Hey Awesome - Book Title

What To Do When Your Temper Flares - Book Title

BOT Update

From time to time we will ask you to review one of our policies that come up on our review cycle. The policy for parental review this term is the School Closure Policy. 
You will find it on School Docs site using this link.

You will need to log in using the Username: beckenham and the Password: pride

We have now found that the best way to give Feedback really simply is done by clicking the green speech bubble.
From here, you will be taken to this form (pictured below) where you can give feedback. This may include things you think need to be added, considered, or altered. We really appreciate you taking a few moments to give feedback on our School Policies.
Please note: it is vitally important that the school has all of your up to date information, if in the case of an emergency (or school closure) we have to contact you urgently. If you have had any changes within the last year, or since enrolment, PLEASE email us at office@beckenham.school.nz and update your address, living arrangements, email address, contact phone numbers - including place of work and work contact details. We may have the correct details already - but it pays to double-check this!

Congratulations to some past Beckenham students!

The cast for the 2022 Cashmere High school production, Jesus Christ Superstar, has been announced. It was fantastic to see so many of our past Beckenham students getting involved and being given both leading roles, and parts in the Ensemble. We counted 5/9 lead roles being past Beckenhan ākonga! Congratulations to these talented young people! Isaac Macdonald, Sadie McLoughlin, Ben Evans, Juliette Gray, Georgina Cockfield, Sophia Brown, Morvern McDaid, Nathan Salgado, Fynn Skelton and  Hannah Winchester

BOSCO NEWS

Bookings are now open for the School Holiday programme at BOSCO


For more information, call 0276456632, or email office@bosco.org.nz

Book now at bosco.aimyplus.com

Community Notices

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


Be sure to click on the event details below so you can stay notified about these upcoming events. 

April 2nd: Fossil Fools Day - https://fb.me/e/1vv02W0H6

April 9th: All About BUGS - https://fb.me/e/6m4VbVHXW

April 16th: Easter Upcycle Workshop - https://fb.me/e/2hZ32Fdg7

April 23rd: Upcycle Fabric Workshop - https://fb.me/e/3cU6Dp0No

April 30th: "2040" Movie Screenings - https://fb.me/e/1FC9TKe1x