Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter, Rāmere (Friday) 11 March

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

Hooray for warm and sunny weather! Doesn't life always feel that much better when the weather is great? It certainly makes life at school feel more 'normal' in these strange times, as we keep all the windows and doors open to support ventilation, kapa haka happens outside, and a variety of music and sport activities are able to be undertaken outside too.

COVID Numbers Update

We have had a further two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our student/staff population since we reported to you yesterday. This brings our total number of school cases to 14. We are also seeing some  people returning to school having completed their isolation periods. Our staff continue to work hard to keep the school programme happening as normally as possible, whilst we make adjustments for the fact that the number of children and staff at school decreases a little bit more each day. Today we had 100 children out of 476 away from school, and four staff isolating at home as either cases or household contacts. The particular staff who are away can change on a daily basis and we don't always know if they will be away for a day or two, or a more extended time. We are fortunate to have a reliable group of relievers we can draw from who know our children and staff and do their best to keep learning going as per the plan. Thank you for keeping children at home when they are not 100% well. 

Upcoming closure of Sandwich Road next week

We have been informed by SIEPP Construction that they will be closing Sandwich Road from Tuesday 15th March for up to a week. This is to undertake work related to the ongoing main water pipeline replacement project that is happening at a variety of locations across the local area.

From Tuesday 15th March, Sandwich Road will be closed to traffic at the Norwood St end, and open ONLY TO RESIDENTS, STAFF and ACCESSIBILITY VEHICLES from the Eastern Tce end.


We understand that this may cause some disruption and change to your normal travel times in the mornings so please do plan ahead and allow extra time. We understand that this work is important to our local community and that it will ensure strong infrastructure going forward.

This is stage one of three upcoming stages of work around the school that will impact on our usual traffic access. All footpath access to school should be available as usual.

Welcomes and a farewell

Staff and tamariki in our Koru New Entrant team were very excited to have Amy Bell join them this week from the University of Canterbury. Amy is studying to become a teacher and has been here for a week of placement and observation as part of her studies. 

Amy Bell

We also welcome Kal Walker to our school staff. Kal joins our teaching assistant team and comes from a background in Early Childhood Education. 

Kal Walker

We will be farewelling Elizabeth Mahy from our staff next week. Elizabeth joined our staff early last year as a teaching assistant and has provided wonderful learning and personal development support for a number of our children over the time she has been here. Elizabeth is leaving us to begin her tertiary study and we wish her all the very best for that journey!

Elizabeth Mahy

Noho ora e te whānau! Stay well!
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Mon 14th Mar - School Photos (Postponed)
Wed 23rd Mar - PTA Meeting 7.30pm - 9.30pm (Green Room)
Wed 30th Mar - BOT Meeting 5.30pm - 7.30pm (Staff Room)
Thu 14th Apr - Last day of Term 1

Term Dates

Click here to view 2022 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Xavier Kelly - Year 6

Xavier, you have had a great start to the year. You persist when things are tricky and your effort and positive attitude to learning has been noticed. You are clearly showing our kete value 'We Love Challenge', and you should be very proud of yourself. Teno pai, Xavier.

School Notices

Postponement of school wide photos

Due to the current high levels of covid cases in the community we have decided to postpone the school photos day planned for the 14th of March.  We will look to rebook this later in the year - potentially Wed 7 Sept 2022, but this will be confirmed at a later date.

Community Dental Service Suspended

The Community Dental Service is suspending some of its services from 5pm Wednesday 9th March 2022 to provide support to the Canterbury health sector in response to Omicron.

They will continue to provide relief of pain clinics by appointment only from Thursday 10th March.  You can access these appointments by calling the Contact Centre on 0800 846 983.

For any dental advice please call the Contact Centre on 0800 846 983.

PTA News

Keep in touch with the PTA

To stay up to date with the PTA, please check out our Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto PTA Facebook page, linked here. Or come along to one of our meetings - all welcome.
 
Meeting dates can be found in the weekly school Newsletter, or on the school calendar - linked here.
These meetings are usually held on a Wednesday night 7.30-9.30pm.

You can email the PTA at pta@beckenham.school.nz

Community Notices

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

Please find the facebook links for these events:
Seaweek: https://fb.me/e/2NIggZW1g 
Global Recycling Day: https://fb.me/e/l7SRroQxN
"2040" Movie Screening: https://fb.me/e/1FC9TKe1x

Community Service Awards & Youth Service Awards

Nominations close 5pm, Thursday 14 April



On behalf of the Spreydon-Cashmere Community Board we wish to advise that nominations are open for the 2022 Community Service and Youth Service Awards.

Community Service Awards are a way of giving well-deserved recognition to people who make our communities better places to live.  They are a way of thanking and honouring volunteers who without pay and little recognition demonstrate dedication and passion, inspiring others to make service a central part of their lives. 

These awards are given to local community members and are intended to give public recognition to those who have contributed significant voluntary service in one or more of the following areas:
  • Physical well-being, eg recreation/sport
  • Children, youth and education
  • Older adults
  • Disability
  • Physical environment
  • Social and economic well-being
  • Cultural, church and community service
Youth Service Awards

Youth Awards are presented in recognition of significant voluntary service by residents aged 25 or under, living in the Spreydon-Cashmere area.  These awards recognize individual effort rather than that of a whole group or organisation.

For more information on the Awards:  ccc.govt.nz/csa

For enquiries: phone Wendy Gunther on 941 5113.

To make a nomination: Complete an online nomination form at:  ccc.govt.nz/csa
Or click on the link to download a printable copy of our nomination guidelines and nomination form.

Nominate now!

Junior rugby registrations are now open for this season - Sydenham Rugby Club


Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 1 Week 6

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 In this post:

  • Tuesday mornings
  • Learning at home
  • Guest speakers

Tuesday Mornings

We are now into a new rhythm on Tuesday mornings, while technology at South is on hold. We received great feedback from the children last week after their first Beckenham science and technology sessions. In science, the children are learning about body systems with links to first aid. In technology, the Year 8s are exploring electronics and robotics. It is great to have Kate join our teaching team for these sessions. The Year 7s are learning about wet felting. 


Year 8s created a foot-operated controller.


Learning at Home

With the current Covid-19 outbreak, attendance numbers at school are down, as was excepted. Our 'learning at home' site is up and running and the children know how to access this via google classroom. 
  • Their literacy work is accessed through their literacy google classroom. 
  • Maths is via MathsWhizz. 
  • There is also a selection of sustainability activities on the learning at home website. 
  • On Kauri google classroom they will find the weekly quiz and a science activity, called 'organ systems'.
If your child has any questions about their learning from home, please get in touch with their home-group teacher. 

Guest Speakers

This week the children will be listening to two highly motivating guest speakers. On Monday and Tuesday we have Attitude.inc coming in to deliver their 'Who am I?' presentation. On Thursday a speaker from 'I Am Hope' will talk with our team. Their presentation has the aim of normalising mental health, encouraging young people to reach out for help, and gives examples of tools to keep themselves well. 

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Rāmere (Friday) 4 March 2022

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

We are very aware of the multiple challenges that are presented to us daily, particularly through the media, with COVID, the Wellington protest, and events unfolding in Ukraine. Protecting our children from some of this media and the adult discussions around it is a positive action that parents can take.

The welfare of our students is always at the top of our minds. With the deeply sad events unfolding in Ukraine, we are aware that this may be having an impact on some of our students, especially those who are from, and/or who have family and friends in Ukraine and Russia. This is also being heavily covered in the media, and the reporting and content has been very harrowing and may cause anxiety for our wider student community. 

Kindness and respect for our students who may have European connections is especially important in these very challenging times. Our school has supports in place for students who may be impacted, and we encourage anyone with concerns about the safety and wellbeing of a student to contact us.

Learning from Home

Over the next few weeks, we do expect that some children will need to begin periods of time where they are Learning At Home, especially if they are Household Contacts. We encourage you to have a look at the Learning At Home Website and familiarise yourself with how it will support your child’s learning if they are isolating/unwell at home. 

There are a range of learning options on the site, some that are digital and others that do not require access to a device to complete. This is particularly true for the NE - Year 4 students. If your child is in Years 5-8, they will be more digitally focused.

Please contact your child’s Homegroup teacher, or the school office, should you need any support with accessing Learning At Home.

It is important that you let us know if your child is at home sick, or if they are learning at home, as this will also determine how their absence is coded.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Mon 14th Mar - School Photos
Wed 23rd Mar - PTA Meeting 7.30pm - 9.30pm (Green Room)
Wed 30th Mar - BOT Meeting 5.30pm - 7.30pm (Staff Room)

Term Dates

Click here to view 2022 term dates.

Click here to follow our school Facebook page.

Citizen of the Week

Bella Toledo-Riveros - Year 8

Bella, you are such a warm and inclusive member of the Kauri hub. Your honesty, compassion and tolerance are widely appreciated by your peers. Bella, you live our values 'We Care' and 'We Make a Difference' in the way that you lift other people up. Thank you for being such an awesome role model. Tu meke Bella!

Sristy Lasiyal - Year 4

Sristy, you have made an outstanding start to the year. You consistently focus on doing the right thing and are an extremely helpful member of the team. You and kind, caring and positive. You are a fantastic role model to others. Well done, Sristy!        

School Notices

Walk or Wheel to School Week - THIS COMING WEEK!

This coming week is "Walk or Wheel Week", which is a fun week that encourages school children and their families to walk, cycle, scoot or skate to school. We hope some of our whānau will take up the wero (challenge) and give it a go! 


If your child walks or wheels to school at least three days next week, they can go into the draw for some spot prizes that have been provided by Christchurch City Council.

COVID-19

As you will have seen in the messages sent out last night and this morning, we now have active cases in our immediate school community. A further case was confirmed after this morning's message went out, bringing our total cases so far to four.

As advised by the Ministry of Education, we are not spending time focussing on where each case is in our school, or who the close contacts might be. We are living with this virus in our community and we are all focussing on behaving in the safest way that we can, wearing masks, distancing, using good hygiene practices, and staying at home when we are not well. We are noticing that a number of people who have developed sore throats and headaches have tested negative for 2 or 3 days before eventually testing positive around day 4 or 5. Even though they had initially tested negative, they still had symptoms so had stayed at home, meaning that the risk of further spread has been minimised..

Kidshealth.org.nz is a great health and wellbeing information website and they have put out a useful video about caring for a child with COVID-19 which you may find helpful.

To help everyone at school, we need you all to:
  • advise us if your child has tested positive for Covid-19, as soon as you can. Call the office on 337 1404 or Sandy (after hours/weekend) on 021 899 429.
  • advise us if you are keeping your child at home for any reason, and what that reason is - e.g. the whole household is in isolation as someone in the household has tested positive; you are keeping your child at home as you believe they have had an exposure with a confirmed case and you are taking a cautious approach to see if your child develops symptoms.
  • if your child has ANY symptoms or is sick in ANY way, please keep them at home and let us know. If your child presents at school with any symptoms, we will call you to come and take them home.
  • send your child to school, if you are confident that they are well and symptom-free.
What we’re doing 
  • School will stay open
  • We will provide Learning At Home as much as we can whilst teachers are still teaching classes at school and staffing allows
  • We have appropriate public health measures and cleaning procedures in place
Symptoms of COVID-19 
  • A new or worsening cough
  • Sneezing and runny nose
  • A fever
  • Temporary loss of smell or altered sense of taste
  • Sore throat
  • Shortness of breath
  • Less common symptoms include diarrhoea, headache, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, malaise, chest pain, abdominal pain, joint pain, or confusion/irritability. 

2022 Music Festival - Representative Group applications now open.



This is to let you know that talented singers and musicians from Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto can now apply for an audition to join a Representative Group - Junior & Senior Choir, Concert Band, Orchestra - for the 2022 Music Festival.

If you and your child have been through this process before, you know the drill, so check out the details for this years' festival and commitments and apply.

If this is new to you and your child, read the information on the festival website first. If you still have questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me to have a chat about the suitability of this opportunity for your child. 

Applications are made online on the Festival website here.

It is important that all of our talented singers and musicians get a chance to not only participate in a life-changing learning opportunity but also to represent Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto while doing it.

Being selected for a Representative Group for the Music Festival is the artistic equivalent of being selected for a Canterbury level sports team; let's make sure the opportunity is not overlooked.

Kindest regards

Sandy Hastings

Mana Ake

Lunch Orders


To see more details on all of our lunch order options, please click here to see the link.

Kauri Leadership Week

Last Friday, as a conclusion to our Kauri Leadership Week, Year 7 & 8 headed for the hills, walking up to Victoria Park and embracing a love of challenge. Our leadership learning has included an inspiring talk from Mark Inglis and two separate leadership days for Year 7 & 8 where the '7 habits of highly effective people' that we have been learning about were put into action. The children had a blast, embraced the challenge of the climb and supported their peers when the going got tough. 

Immediate online positive parenting support offered to all families in Aotearoa

To support mental health, resilience and emotional wellbeing for our tamariki and rangatahi, Ministry of Health are partnering with Whāraurau to offer free online versions of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program® across the country.

Triple P is an evidence-based programme with a long history of successful use in New Zealand. More than 10,000 New Zealand whānau have accessed some type of Triple P support in the areas where it has been available free for the past 10 years, with many turning to online programmes throughout the Covid 19 pandemic. 

There are three free Triple P Online programmes available throughout Aotearoa to help parents and caregivers positively support children to reduce anxiety, build emotional resilience and life skills, and cope with life’s challenges. These programs also help whānau stay calm and optimistic, guide behaviour positively, and encourage children’s learning.

  • FEAR-LESS TRIPLE P ONLINE – for parents and caregivers of children and teenagers (6-14 years) who have significant anxiety.
    This 6-module online course gives parents and caregivers a better understanding of anxiety, gives them skills and strategies to improve children’s coping capacity, and helps parents develop safe, gradual ways for children and teens to face anxiety-provoking situations and overcome their fears. It also helps boost children’s and teenagers’ confidence and problem-solving skills.

  • TRIPLE P ONLINE – positive parenting for those who have toddlers to 12-year-olds.
    This 8-module online course helps parents and caregivers develop a range of positive ways to address child behaviours, promote new skills and help emotional self-regulation, to help them improve family relationships and raise happier, more confident and capable tamariki.
  • TEEN TRIPLE P ONLINE – positive parenting for those who have ‘tweens’ or teenagers – 10-16 years.
    This 6-module online course helps parents and caregivers understand more about pre-teen and teenage development and behaviour, so they can provide the best environment for raising responsible, resilient rangatahi while maintaining close relationships and minimising conflict.
Caregivers can immediately register and begin their free online programmes by visiting www.triplep-parenting.net.nz

Community Notices

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




NEXT CHAPTER PARENTING 

Offering Individual, or group, PARENTING SESSIONS via Zoom. Ten one hourly sessions, weekly at a time convenient to you, available evenings. 

Topics covered include; Communication, Empathy, Setting Limits, Quality Time, Consequences, Choices, Redirection, Pick your battles with your child, Problem Behavior, Praise vs Acknowledgement, Time In vs Time Out, The Pause, Sibling Rivalry, Teenage Boundaries Erickson’s Stages of Growth, Personality Types and how it affects your children.  

WINZ funding assistance where eligible.


Craft Competition for Children's Day

We are pleased to announce that TOCK.earth is co-hosting Christchurch's ONLINE Children's Day. To celebrate this important day we are running a fun activity/competition which your tamariki may like to get involved in at home. The competition is craft based and runs from now until the end of Monday 7th with prizes for the winning entries. 
Here is the link to the post with details on how to enter on our facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/tock.earth or check out the Children's Day page on our website https://tock.earth/childrens-day-2022/

Happy Children's Day.🙂

Ngā mihi nui.

The TOCK Team
www.tock.earth

Cashmere Tech

As a part of Girls and Women’s Month Cashmere Tech are running a Girls Fiesta at Somerfield Park on Friday March 11th!!

We will be celebrating all things Female Football on the day with loads of prizes to be given away. 

Our Women’s Premier League and Reserves players will be there on the day to join in with the fun! 

Details for the Day: 

Date: Friday 11th March 

Times: 4:00pm - 5:15pm - 5th to 12th Grade 
     5:30pm - 6:45pm - 13th to 16th Grade

Where: Somerfield Park 

All players welcome - no registration needed - come have fun and play some football!

Environment Canterbury

Environment Canterbury is consulting on its draft Annual Plan 2022/23 from today Wednesday 2 March to Sunday 3 April 2022.

You may be interested in the proposal for changing bus fare structure. We’re looking at options of either fare-free travel, flat fares or a tertiary student concession. 

We’re also keen to hear views on how we fund flood protection and recovery, and a future rate to accelerate action on climate change.

All information about the proposals and how to have your say can be found at ecan.govt.nz/annualplan22

haveyoursay@ecan.govt.nz


Koru News: Term 1 Week 5, with a Focus on Digitech

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 Kia ora e te whanau,

We hope everything's going well for you all on the home front. Here we are at the end of Week 5 and we've had another very busy, fun and creative fortnight in the Koru team. 

Here's the link through to our Learning At Home page for those of you who might be needing it.

This week, we're going to have a focus on Digitech in our Blog post! So... first of all, what is Digitech? 

Digitech: is a way of expressing problems and formulating solutions in ways that a computer would, and can be integrated into many areas of the curriculum, including Literacy and Maths (for example, to support the learning of heart words, story telling and sequencing, number recognition and counting, etc.).

Introducing Kate...!

Kate is one of the Ōtautahi Outreach facilitators and is working with us in this area of our learning. Kate was born and raised in Ōtautahi locally, and is actually a Beckenham School old girl (the year of '99!). Her background is in ECE teaching, before she 'fell somewhat head first' into Digital Technologies. She spent 2018-2020 on Kia Takatū ā-Matihiko, the Digital Readiness Programme, and now focuses on creating fun and authentic learning experiences in classrooms. We feel incredibly lucky to have Kate working with the Koru team (both teachers and children). Kate is coming to us once a week on Thursday mornings throughout the first two terms of this year.

What does Digitech look like at the New Entrant level?

Digitech can be:

  • easily interwoven throughout play-based learning 
  • integrated throughout such curriculum areas as Literacy, numeracy, Science and Te Ao Māori
  • used to introduce the children to simple elements and concepts of programming, thereby  demystifying the language and terminology which children will encounter later in their learning

  • SO much fun! Believe it or not, it can include opportunities to explore messy play and can also be used outside in the natural environment 

  • used incredibly successfully to support the social competencies of collaboration, communication, well-being, Turangawaewae and problem solving 

What are some of our areas we have focused on in the first 3 weeks of our Digitech learning in the Koru team?

  • Week 3 (Kidbots): We started by introducing the grid and the characters of the 'robot' and the 'programmer' to the tamariki. You can also add a 'tester' but we played the role of the 'tester' collaboratively on this introductory day. Writing a computer program with Kidbots involved: planning what we wanted to do; coding the instructions; testing our code/programme; and debugging our code/programme.
  • Week 4 (Bluebots and Greedy Cat): This week, the focus was on writing a computer programme, with Greedy Cat as a character. The children had to: plan what they were going to do; revisit the story and go over the sequence of kai that Greedy Cat gobbles up; code the instructions, using simple 'forward' 'backwards' and 'turn' blocks to represent their code blocks; test their code/program (tamariki were encouraged to 'test' the program frequently along the way to ensure there were no 'bugs' - when each programme was tested, children were encouraged to 'read' the programme out loud together); debug their code/program (when obstacles were encountered or the code wasn't correct during testing, children 'debugged' their code and then retested). Computers only output exactly what humans input!
  • Week 5: Bluebots and Scratch Jr: This week, we introduced programming using software and bluetooth connectivity. Tamariki were encouraged to programme through the iPad app to a shape and then test and debug their code. (Scratch Jr is block based code for animations and uses visual code and colours as opposed to text, and only works on an iPad.)
Below are some images of your wee ones, hard at work programming and problem solving, using Bluebots and the Scratch Jr. app on the iPads:



















We are incredibly grateful to Kate - her expertise, patience and generosity are second to none! Our heartfelt thanks to you, Kate, for all of the hard work you're putting into working with us all in the Koru team. We appreciate you! 

We do hope you all have a restful and very happy weekend, everyone. We're looking forward to seeing those bright and happy wee faces next week!

Ngā mihi mahana koutou,
Elizabeth, Georgia and Stacey

Kahikatea News Week 5 T1 2022

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Kia ora Koutou!
What a fabulous and busy 5 weeks we have had in team Kahikatea. We have been very impressed with the hard work from all of our Tamariki. Thank you for continuing to support us at this time, especially by keeping up to date with information being shared via HERO. If you are having any trouble with this or you are not recieving notices or news from school please let us know. 

Kete Focus 

This week we have been focusing on using good manners, including waiting for our turn to talk, waiting patiently in a line to wash our hands, saying thank you and being polite to each other. When we do this consistently we are showing our school values: We Care & We Make a Difference. 

You can ask your child/children: how and when do you show your manners at school? 

Kinetic Letters Handwriting Program

We are very excited to be starting our Kinetic Handwriting lessons. Keep an eye out for the Bounce and Skip monkeys as they may come home with your child. If Bounce and Skip come for a visit they will be accompanied by a book with instructions for their visit home.

Jerseys and Hats 

A reminder that as the weather starts to cool down, please ensure that your child’s jersey is clearly named.

Every child is expected to be wearing their hat when they are outside. If your child has lost or misplaced their sunhat please encourage them to look for it here at school first and if it cannot be found please replace it.

Literacy Groups

Our team is in the process of carrying out our assessment schedule for literacy and once completed we will look at our groupings. 

We are continuing to with our oral language programs, shared reading with follow up activities, poetry, writing, spelling, phonemic awareness, handwriting and spelling activities. 

PLEASE NOTE: your child will not bring a decodable text home everyday. These are teaching books which are used many times by the teacher. Only when we know your child can read it fluently and with expression will we send it home. 

CONTINUE to read to your child/children at home, enjoy reading aloud and encourage them to explore books in all forms, such as picutre books, nursery rhymes, poems, non-fiction, chapter books and magazines. 

Contributions

We love having recycling (boxes, newspapers, empty egg cartons ect) for box/construction activities. If you have any spare please send it in with your child - we would greatly appreciate it!

Finally, here are some photos of our hub and our gorgeous tamariki: 
































Arohanui, Team Kahikatea