Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 4 Week 5

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 In this post:

  • Coming up
  • Relationships and Sexuality
  • Top Team
  • Congratulations

Coming up:

We are down to the last three and a bit weeks of 2021 at school and it feels like the time is racing by! Here is a rundown on what lies ahead in the next few weeks.
Week 6:
  • Tuesday, Nov 23 and Thursday, Nov 25: Learning conferences. School will finish at 2pm on these days. See the school newsletter for details on booking a conference and after-school care.
Week 8:
  • Tuesday, Dec 7: the last technology session.
  • Thursday, Dec 9th: Corsair Bay trip. Many thanks to the parents who have signed up to help with this. If you would like to join us and have yet to fill in the form, click here.
Week 9:
  • Monday, December 13th: Year 8 pool and pizza party. Liz May has kindly offered us the use of their pool; we will send address details out the week before. This event runs from 4pm until 6pm.
  • Tuesday, Dec 14th: Year 8 Graduation. This year we will be live-streaming graduation as, due to Level 2 restrictions, parents sadly are unable to attend. Year 8s will finish school after lunch that will follow graduation.
  • Wednesday, December 15th will be the last morning for Year 1-7.
  • We are also organising two high school transition events for our Year 8s. Firstly, a 'high school hacks' session, with a group of Year 9s returning to share their advice. Near the end of the term, the 24/7 youth workers and a couple of ex-Beckenham seniors from Cashmere High will be hosting an afternoon of information and fun. 

Relationships and Sexuality:

Over the past two weeks we have been exploring relationships. Next week we finish this topic off and move on to 'growing and changing'. This topic includes discussing changes at puberty, the reproductive system and conception.

Top Team:

With so much canceled recently, due to Covid, it was exciting to be able to gather on the field to enjoy the fun and team spirit of Top Team. Many thanks to the parents and teens who helped with the running of this event. Check out the end of this post for photos and a movie.

Congratulations:

Well done to our zone athletics team who competed last Monday at Hansen Park. See the newsletter for details about results and the exciting Year 7 relay race.

Over the past two Fridays, we have presented the literacy and drama Year 8 awards at our celebration assemblies. Below are the citations.

The Literacy Cup was jointly awarded to Fergus McMillian and Grace Howard. 

Fergus, any teacher who has ever taught you will know that wherever you are, there will undoubtedly be a book close at hand. There is being an avid reader and then there is being an avid reader to the Fergus Mcmillan degree. As a result, you have a deep understanding of what the reader needs and what makes writing effective. As a writer, you use your extensive vocabulary and creative mind to craft texts with the reader in mind. Your writing is deliberate, controlled and complex. I’m going to miss reading your stories next year. 

Grace, through your love of literature, you have acquired an extensive understanding of what it means to captivate an audience and what makes a truly successful writer. You have the ability to transport your reader to new worlds with your bank of rich vocabulary and your precise use of language features within your crafted texts. With these talents, you have been rewarded with incredible results, most notably through your participation in ‘The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition’ where you have been awarded with both silver and gold merits. Grace, you have a wonderfully sophisticated mind and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you. 

The  Radcliffe Award for Special Contribution to Drama was jointly awarded to Syesha Mee and Jalori Mathias.

JJ, I have been so impressed with your leadership and maturity in helping lead your Theatre Sports team this year. You are so calm, cool and collected and have the patience of a saint. You have embraced your love for drama and music with your whole heart. You have sought opportunities outside of school to help you gain more skills with something you obviously love doing. You have the confidence and the drive to do great things JJ, so keep nurturing your ‘theatre wings’ and fly!

Syesha, you have been a committed member of Theatre Sports for two years. As a Year 7, you watched, learned all you could and developed your drama skills. As a Year 8, you helped lead a team, stayed 100% committed to our team and made all of us laugh with your offbeat characters. You always stepped up, Syesha, and because of that you will be an important part of any drama/theatre group that you are a part of in the future.  I will miss your leadership skills next year. Congratulations Syesha!


















































Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Friday 19 November 2021

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

This is a shorter newsletter than usual, as you will have already received at least two important emails/posts separately through HERO this afternoon - if you haven't seen these already, please do look for them.

One is about how to access your child's report through HERO. These went live just aftr 3pm this afternoon.

The other is an important update about our end-of-year celebrations.

Learning Conferences next week

A reminder that this coming week, school finishes at 2pm on Tuesday 23rd AND Thursday25th to allow for Learning Conferences.

If you are NOT able to collect your child at 2pm, please let Jacky in the office know and we will keep them in the staffroom waiting for you until 3pm. If you want your child to walk home, and they don't usually do that, please also let the office know that, so we don't worry if they disappear and we can't find them! 

To book a Learning Conference with your child's home group teacher, please go to  www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and use the code wwwsx 

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki 

Important Dates

Upcoming Events

Tue 23 Nov - School finishes at 2pm - Learning Conferences
Wed 24 Nov - PTA Meeting 7.30pm - 9.30pm
Thu 25 Nov - School finishes at 2pm - Learning Conferences
Fri 3rd Dec - Book Character & Rainbow Diversity Day - Bring a gold coin

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 & 2022 term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Eva Bethwaite - Year 3

Eva, you are a magnificent role model in our hub. You are always extremely positive, kind, caring and thoughtful. You always put your best effort into learning and are an outstanding helper. Thank you for always demonstrating our school values in everything that you do. Eva, you are a star!

School Notices

Senior Jackets (Year 7 & 8 students)

Students who will be in Kauri in 2022 are eligible to wear the senior jacket.  This is an optional item of uniform.
Senior jackets are only available from Mainland Uniforms,  189 Peterborough Street, Christchurch. Here is the link for their website:
As with all items of uniform please ensure it is labelled prior to your student wearing it to school.

HERO Notifications

To choose how you receive your HERO notifications, including important updates and newsletters. Please follow the below instructions:

1. Sign into your HERO app, which will take you to the home page that looks like this:


2. Click on the circle or photo in the top right corner, which will open a drop down menu.
3. Then, select edit profile.




4. Scroll down to the 'My Devices' section, which will look like this:


5. From here you can choose your notification preferences:

Mana Ake Drop Ins

A number of whānau have already made great use of the Mana Ake “drop-ins”. Sessions are now on Tuesdays from 9:30 - 10:30 for parents, starting on November 2nd. These drop-in sessions are here to provide parents with an opportunity to have a private, informal conversation around the well being of their child with one of our Mana Ake workers (kaimahi). If you feel like you would like to attend a drop-in session, please book in a time via the link here: Mana Ake booking  The code to use is yj2ed. Alternatively, you can contact Jacky in the office and she will make a booking for you.

Book Character & Rainbow Diversity Day! Friday 3 December

Get excited because Student Council and Diversity Group are teaming up to bring you an exciting, new mufti day. Just like we did in term 1 when we did “Purple day and Lots Of Socks day’ we are combining our fundraising efforts to support the Child Cancer Foundation and Qtopia. 



We are giving you the option of wearing the book character costume that you didn’t get to wear during lockdown, OR dressing up in something rainbow coloured to support the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate diversity. It is a fundraiser so it would be greatly appreciated if everyone could bring a gold coin donation. The day that this will be on is Friday the 3rd of December.

Sports News

Zone Athletics

We had a glorious day for our Year 7/8 Zone Athletics at Hansen's Park on Monday. To meet Covid restrictions meant that we had to run a very different event than we usually would with a smaller number of competitors and no spectators and it was really good to be able to keep this event on our calendar after so many cancellations. Thank you to the parents who provided transport and helped with the running of an event. 

I was really impressed with how our Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto team conducted themselves at this event. They kept on top of the timetable, got themselves to their events on time, gave their all during their event and encouraged others while spectating between their events. 


'We love challenge' was the theme of the day. There were many impressive results and children who achieved personal bests over the course of the day. An event that warrants a particular mention was the Year 7 mixed relay. We always get the inside lane which can be a tricky place to start as it gives the impression that you are way behind the pack. This didn't phase Caitlin in the slightest. "It will just make me work harder!" And what a fantastic start she made too! The hand over to Soriel went smoothly and he rocketed up the far straight. Bella took the baton next, giving it all she had and holding our position in the pack, which was now second. Another smooth hand over to Billy who accelerated down the final 100 metres to cross the line first. It looked like a clear win but unfortunately, a dog had interfered with a St Martins runner, who had until that point been in the lead. A rerun of the event was required. The BTKP children had just given that race their everything and now needed to do it all over again. They took it on the chin, determined to prove themselves and win fair and square. Nau mai te wero! The second time around went just as smoothly as the first. A strong start from Caitlin, gains made by Soriel and Bella, and as the runners came around the final corner, Billy dug deep and found the speed needed to cross the line first. 

Results

Year 7
Lola - 2nd 60m, 1st discus, 3rd shot put
Caitlin - 2nd 100m
Keanna - 3rd high jump
Billy - 1st long jump, 1st 60m
Mixed Relay (Caitlin, Soriel, Bella and Billy) - 1st

Year 8
Molly - 1st long jump
Ava - 2nd long jump
Cooper - 1st discus, 1st 100m, 3rd high jump, 
Jonty - 2nd long jump, 3rd 60m
JJ - 2nd 100m
Mahli - 3rd high jump
Mixed Relay (JJ, Mahli, Jonty, Cooper) - 3rd


Unfortunately, there is no Canterbury level competition this year due to our current alert level. 

Sports Uniforms

The only children who still require a sports top are the Year 3/4 mini ball teams. Please, could you check at home for any sports uniforms that your child may have and return them to the office as soon as possible. 

PTA News

Weetbix Kids TRYathlon

The Weetbix TRYathlon is on (fingers crossed!) next year, Sunday 6th of March in the morning at Jellie Park. If you have a child aged 6 or older who is keen to get involved you can easily register them online at https://tryathlon.co.nz/locations/christchurch/ and join our school group by searching “Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto”.

There will be a gazebo for the kids to hang out in and a BBQ cooking well deserved sausages on the day. It’ll be a great day family day out and something to look forward to for next year!

Salami Collection

Please note that pick up is from Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto at the following times:

Thursday 9th December 2021
  • 9.00 - 10.00am
  • 2.30 - 3.30pm
Friday 10th December 2021
  • 9.00 - 10.00am
  • 2.30 - 3.30pm
Thank you for placing your order, your support is as always really appreciated. 

PTA roles for 2022

Our parents association plays such a vital role in our school- it’s our job to help raise funds, and also to advise and create events that build a strong school community. With several key members leaving next year, the time has come to ask new and interested Beckenham families to bring their fresh ideas and love for our community to join us. We particularly need people to volunteer for some key roles within the PTA. You are welcome to come to our next meeting just to see if this is something you could be a part of in 2022, or please message here to discuss or ask questions about the committee or the roles we need to fill for next year.
We’d love to have Beckenham families on board to help grow our kura funds and community events- please do get in touch. 2022 is going to be a big one for our little school!

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.

The PTA bank account is 12-3148-0244558-00.

Community Notices

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

Opportunity for Ōtautahi Rangatahi 12-24 years old!

End of year recruitment is open! Check out the information below or apply now!


The Christchurch Youth Council (CYC) open night is at YCD (Youth & Cultural Development), 301 Cashel Street. This is an opportunity for any young person to come along and find out more about what CYC is and who is within the organisation already.

If you have any questions, please email us at chchyouthcouncil@gmail.com, or message our Facebook.

Law change that impacts tamariki and whānau

Huntsbury Community Preschool

Huntsbury Community Preschool is offering FREE FEES for two-year-olds who enrol and start their sessions with us in Term 4 of 2021.  Conditions apply, phone 03 332 6001 or email: info@huntsbury-preschool.org.nz for more details if you'd like to secure a place in this limited-availability promotion!



Kahikatea Newsletter Week 5 Term 4

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Kia ora koutou, It has been a busy couple of weeks for the Kahikatea team! A big highlight was our Year 0 to 4 athletics last week, which included adapted long jump, shotput, hurdles and relays. 
All our tamariki participated in each event with their house group, and it was wonderful to see our kete values in action!










As always, our hub has been a hive of activity. Here are some pictures to show you some of the things we have been up to during Learning Through Play.
























That's all for now!

Team Kahikatea

amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz
lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz
charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz
katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Thursday 11 November 2021

Posted on by

Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

With this week just gone having being a short week, I postponed the newsletter completion to Saturday when the weather was forecast to be less pleasant and hence find myself now looking out the window at the wet and grey day outside. I hope that many of you managed to enjoy the stunning day yesterday. I tried my hand at surfcasting out at Birdlings Flat - with no success, but enjoyed lots of sun and relaxation in trying!

Progress and Achievement updates - Reports via HERO

As we have previously noted, our move to HERO was to also provide a new, online portal for the ongoing reporting to whānau on your child's progress and achievement. We expect to open this portal to you this coming Friday, 19th November. During the week ahead, we will provide specific information on how to access and read the information in the portal. It will help if you have viewed the report information before you come to Learning Conferences the following week.

In the meantime, if you haven't yet logged onto HERO, please try and do that before Friday 19th. 
For information on how to download the app, click here.
For more detailed information on how to log into HERO - click here.


When you log into the app, you will need to select "NEW USER" and use the email address that you have provided to us that we use to email newsletters etc to you for. If we do not hold an email address for you, you will not be able to log into HERO. 

If you would like someone to call you to talk you through the process, please email Reihana - reihana.dougherty@beckenham.school.nz

Learning Conferences

Learning Conferences will be happening the week after next, on Tuesday 23rd November and Thursday 25th November. School will finish at 2pm on both days to facilitate these.

Please log onto www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and use the code wwwsx to book your learning conference with your child's home group teacher.




COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate - update

As I have mentioned in a previous newsletter, the government has mandated that all adults who work and or volunteer to provide any services in schools throughout New Zealand are now required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. We have been working to support our staff and other support providers to ensure that we can meet the requirements of this mandate. The mandate comes into effect at 11:59pm on Monday 15th November. Our Board of Trustees can assure our community that we are ready to be fully compliant with the requirements of this mandate.
These requirements also apply to members of our community who come on site to support our students, including whānau who help with playground duty, trips and learning within the school. Thank you to everyone who has already provided us with the information we requested.
We get there together - to ensure the safest learning environment for our tamariki.

Ngā mihi mahana
Sandy Hastings
Tumuaki - Principal

Important Dates

Upcoming Events:

Week 5:
Mon 15 Nov - Zone Athletics

Week 6:
Tue 23 Nov - Learning Conferences (2.15 - 7.30pm) SCHOOL FINISHES AT 2pm
Wed 24 Nov - PTA Meeting (7.30 - 9.30pm, all welcome) 
Thu 25 Nov - Learning Conferences (2.15 - 7.30pm) SCHOOL FINISHES at 2pm
Fri 26 Nov - Celebration Assembly (12.00 - 12.30pm)

Term Dates

Click here to view 2021 & 2022  term dates.

Citizen of the Week

Willow Day - Year 6

Willow, you are such a positive and hard-working student. You put a huge effort into your learning and show great persistence when the learning is challenging. You are an extremely reliable and trustworthy leader, helping to make a difference at our school. Ka pai to mahi, Willow. You are a star!

School Notices

Theatre Sports

Congratulations to our 2 Theatre Sports team who competed on Saturday in The Court Theatre annual competition. They were stars and displayed our school values to a tee! They were up against some tough competition (Year 9's and 10's), but this didn't stop them from 'improv-ing' their hearts out! Well done to: JJ Mathias, Connor Colquhoun, Fergus Macmillan, Emma Reedy, Lachy Mcleod, Zoe Winsor, Luisa Jose, Katya Atlas, Rory Price, Syesha Mee and Oliver Mclachlan. 


ESOL over the past few weeks...

Sunflowers have been the theme for our students. They have planted seeds and we are discussing and awaiting germination!





The students learned about the life-cycle of the sunflower plant and associated vocabulary.

Mana Ake Drop Ins

A number of whānau have already made great use of the Mana Ake “drop-ins”. Sessions are now on Tuesdays from 9:30 - 10:30 for parents, starting on November 2nd. These drop-in sessions are here to provide parents with an opportunity to have a private, informal conversation around the well being of their child with one of our Mana Ake workers (kaimahi). If you feel like you would like to attend a drop-in session, please book in a time via the link here: Mana Ake booking  The code to use is yj2ed. Alternatively, you can contact Jacky in the office and she will make a booking for you.

Book Character & Rainbow Diversity Day!

Get excited because Student Council and Diversity Group are teaming up to bring you an exciting, new mufti day. Just like we did in term 1 when we did “Purple day and Lots Of Socks day’ we are combining our fundraising efforts to support the Child Cancer Foundation and Qtopia. We are giving you the option of wearing the book character costume that you didn’t get to wear during lockdown, or dressing up in something rainbow coloured to support the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate diversity. It is a fundraiser so it would be greatly appreciated if everyone could bring a gold coin donation. The day that this will be on is Friday the 3rd of December.

-The Student Council and Diversity Group

Sports News

Today we had a fabulous Junior Athletics event on the park with a lot of fun, laughter, and both serious and not-so-serious competition! interrupted momentarily by a false alarm and fire evacuation, and fabulous none-the-less!



PTA News

Weetbix Kids TRYathlon

The Weetbix TRYathlon is on (fingers crossed!) next year, Sunday 6th of March in the morning at Jellie Park. If you have a child aged 6 or older who is keen to get involved you can easily register them online at https://tryathlon.co.nz/locations/christchurch/ and join our school group by searching “Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto”.

There will be a gazebo for the kids to hang out in and a BBQ cooking well deserved sausages on the day.
It’ll be a great day family day out and something to look forward to for next year!

Salami Collection

Please note that pick up is from Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto at the following times:

Thursday 9th December 2021
  • 9.00 - 10.00am
  • 2.30 - 3.30pm
  •   Friday 10th December 2021
  • 9.00 - 10.00am
  • 2.30 - 3.30pm
Thank you for placing your order, your support is as always really appreciated. 

Please make sure you have paid online if that was how you decided to pay, as we cannot place the order if payment has not been received.

Our account is 12-3148-0244558-00.

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.

BOT Update

Māori Educational Success - Policy Review

From time to time we will be asking you to review one of our policies that come up on our review cycle. The policy for parental review this term is the Māori Educational Success policy. 

You will find it on School Docs at this link. 


Username: beckenham
Password: pride


Click on Current Review, and then the Policy name - on the right you will see which Policies are available for review by Parents. Then simply follow the directions to submit feedback.

Feedback is encouraged, and most welcomed.

Community Notices

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

A Beckenham Kindy Announcement

We are sad to announce that after 23 years at Beckenham Kindy Helen Peters is retiring.  Helen’s compassion and wisdom has been an amazing asset to the kindy.  She has helped countless kids settle into kindy and find a place of belonging. 

Due to alert levels we are unable to give Helen the proper shindig she deserves.  Instead we would like to invite all current and former pupils, to come and say Haere ra during Helens last week with us.  You are welcome to drop by between 9-230 from Monday 13th dec through to Wednesday 22nd dec.

If you have any stories, pictures or words of thanks for Helen we are going to collate these into a book.  Please send these to rach.boulton@gmail.com by the 14 Dec with the childs name and the last year they attended kindy. 

We are also collecting a koha to get something special for Helen.  If you would like to contribute, drop to George at Kindy or Rachel at 116 Fisher Ave, or contact the email address above.

Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 4

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 Kia ora whānau, 

This term is just whizzing by! We had a fantastic Junior Athletics Day today, with the students participating in Discus, Sack Races, High Jump, Egg and Spoon races, and Javelin. This year we were unable to have our whole school house relays so we held a Kōwhai house relay. It was a very exciting race!

The students all showed our school values today, especially We Get There Together and We Love Challenge today. We are so proud of them. 

Here are some photos from the Kōwhai Athletics Day:

































We hope you have a lovely long weekend. 

Ngā mihi, 

The Kōwhai team - Laura, Quyhn, Nick, Meagan and Rowe