Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Newsletter Thursday 12 November 2020

The weather for the long weekend is looking amazing... keep the hats and sunblock on and I hope you all get some time to relax and slow down just a little, before the Christmas rush is completely upon us!

Due to the limitations of COVID lockdowns and restrictions on assemblies, our new Kapa Haka tutor, Whaea Cath has had quite a challenging time getting regular sessions with all of our groups this year.  and in the latter few weeks we made the call to focus her time on preparations with Te Whānau Mahi Tahi for the recent Cultural Festival performance. On top of that, there have been extra events this term for most team, due to postponements from lockdowns. For that reason, we have made the decision not to try and hold a kapa haka concert this year. We do expect to return to holding some sort of end of year celebration of Kapa Haka next year.

Ngā mihi nui

Fri 4 Dec: Year 3/4 Noho Kura (sleepover at school!)

Wed 9 Dec: Junior Athletic Sports from 1:30pm (NE - Year 4)

Thu 10 Dec: Kahikatea Pool and Picnic day at Waltham Pool

Fri 11 Dec: Final Celebration Assembly 09:15am

Fri 11 Dec: Y7/8 trip to Corsair Bay 11-3pm

Mon14 Dec: Y7/8 Walk to Victoria Park

Tue 15 Dec: Year 8 Leavers Graduation 11am - Invited whānau only

Wed 16 Dec: - 12:30pm - School finishes for the year.

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto has an optional Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programme for students in Years 5-8. This programme is very popular and has been in operation since 2014. If you want to find out more about our BYOD programme including the rationale, digital citizenship practices and device responsibilities, please visit our BYOD website and come along to our information evening on Wednesday, 18 November from 7-8 pm, in the Kōwhai Hub. If you plan to attend this meeting, please RSVP here.

 

The evening is optional and is aimed particularly at parents of current Year 4-7 students who are considering taking up BYOD next year but have not yet made the decision. The information evening will give you a chance to hear about our BYOD programme and ask questions about how it works. 

We generally recommend that families who want to participate in the BYOD programme purchase a Chromebook for their child to bring school. We are currently changing our BYOD provider and will send out a Chromebook offer, with prices, closer to the end of the year.

With the introduction of the new Digital Technologies strand of the Technology Curriculum this year, ensuring that every child has access to a device becomes more important than ever before.

If you have any timepieces that you could donate to school eg clocks, watches, pocket watches, digital or analog, working or not, we would love to have them at school for a special interest area in one of our rooms.  Please bring them to the office.

A number of whānau have already made great use of the Mana Ake “drop-ins” that are available on Wednesday mornings from 8:30 – 9:30am. 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 88t39. Alternatively, you can contact Jacky in the office and she will make a booking for you.

The weather didn’t make it easy for us this year. And we got there in the end! Our athletics events for Years 5 to 8 took place over three days as weather permitted. We were so impressed by the way the children adapted to the changes as they were made. We get there together! 

Something else that impressed us during the week was the way that the children supported and encouraged each other. On Tuesday loud eruptions of cheering could be heard from the hall as the children celebrated every person’s high jump effort. Many times over the three days, we saw children sharing advice and words of encouragement. During Thursday’s mid-distance, friends ran alongside some of the runners with words and sometimes even songs of encouragement. 

Congratulations to our Athletics Champions for 2020

These champions are based on a scoring system that takes into account placings across all the events.

Year 5 Champions: Jayde Inglis and Archie Arnott

Year 6 Champions: Billy Murfin, Caitlyn McIntosh and Petra Cooper

Year 7 Champions: Zoe Clarke and Jonty Mitchell

Year 8 Champions: Thomas Lyall and Grace Monk

We had a fantastic day at Hansen’s Park on Monday where just over 60 tamariki represented our kura at Zone Athletics. As usual, the children did us all proud, putting our school values at the fore as they competed in track and field events. I noticed many of our children helping out at events that their friends were competing in, which was great to see. Tino pai! 

Congratulations to all our competitors.

The following children have qualified to represent our zone and kura at Canterbury Athletics at Ngā Puna Wai on Wednesday the 2nd of December.

Ava Howard - 1st long jump

Billy Murfin- 1st 60 m and 2nd long jump

Caitlin McIntosh - 2nd 60 m

Grace Monk - 1st high jump

Jonty Mitchell - 1st long jump and 1st 60 m

JJ Mathias - 2nd 60 m

Lucky Lasiyal - 2nd 1200 m

Zoe Clarke - 2nd high jump

Congratulations to Abby, Fergus, Emma, Cooper, Zoe and Thomas who competed in Canterbury Swimming Championships. This event was a postponement date from Term 1. 

Swimming at Canterbury level is a huge achievement and the children all did amazingly well against very tough competition. 

Special mention goes to Thomas Lyall who placed 3rd in the 50 m Backstroke. 

Congratulations to Morgan Lee who has been making a name for himself in Gravity Canterbury’s downhill events. Morgan placed third in his first competitive outing at the Novice Downhill and then returned a couple of weeks later to take third again in the first race of the Summer Series in the under 13 category. Wananae!

Thank you to 'The Perfect Line' for the photo. 

Studio One Performing Arts, your local dance school, is currently giving Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary 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

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