Before We Move Forward, Let’s Look Back…

Before we start to post about what is happening moving forward, we felt it was important to capture the progress to now. Below are all the updates from July 2016 to now, and we will be posting a new update before the end of term.

Whilst we were hoping that the building programme would begin this term, we have been advised that the earliest it will now start is the beginning of Term 4. The Board are determined that we will not begin moving students and teachers to the Champion St site until we are guaranteed that work will begin here at school. We do not want to be moving off-site and have nothing happen for a long period of time. We will keep you posted.

We are extremely pleased to be able to advise that the building consent for our building programme was lodged with Council this week. Given that the original date for this was supposed to be February, this feels like it is a significant milestone.

We are now in a position to be able to share with you the plans for the building, along with a new (still draft) programme time frame. We will relaunch the 'building blog' and get information up on there next week.

During the two afternoons of learning conferences (2pm-6:30pm Tuesday 30 August and 2pm-7:30pm Thursday 1 September) we will have displays set up in the hall for parents to visit before/after learning conferences, to see plans of the new building design and to talk to Sandy and Michelle, along with (as available) Board members, staff from the Ministry of Education, and the project management team, about the designs, the building process and the decanting logistics.

Following the learning conference week, we will then hold meetings for further discussion and sharing of information that may be more specific to particular year groups.

Whilst Learning Conferences are on (on Tuesday from 2-6:30pm and Thursday from 2-7:30pm) there will be a display in the hall that we encourage everyone to come and look at to find out about the building programme and what is planned for our school.

As was noted in the last newsletter, we are now able to share the designs with you, and have a sense of the likely timeframe of the project. We will have representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Project Team and the Design Team in attendance at various times throughout the two sessions to answer your questions.

We are re-activating the Building Blog - which has been renamed 'Beckenham School Moving Foward' and we will be regularly publishing to this blog as new information about the building process comes to hand. We are very excited that the process which, held up for most of this year, has now reached a point where action is about to happen, and we have information to share with you.

At this stage (still not 100% confirmed, but looking probable) our Year 5-8 students will be moving to Champion St on the last day of this term, with our fully fledged start at Champion St being from the first day of Term 4.

We have plans to take our Y5/6 and Y7/8 students over in the next couple of weeks for a visit, and to then have all of the Y5-8 students there on the final day of this term, along with a picnic lunch that Y5-8 parents will be welcome to attend. More information will come out about the details of this next week.

We are also planning to have a meeting for parents of Year 5-8 students here at school on Wednesday 14 September at 7:30pm to talk through the details of the move.

During Term 4, once we are up and running, we will arrange a time for the Year 4 students and their families to visit Champion St in preparation for them being Year 5's there for the first three terms of 2017.

At this stage, the unconfirmed start date for demolition is the first week of the school holidays. It isn't yet confirmed as we are still waiting on two key items - the building consent and the acceptance of the builder's price by the Ministry. We have always said that we won't be moving children off-site until the start date had been finalised, and this is still the case. At the same time, we are hopeful that this start date will be confirmed and all of the plans below are working towards it and assume that it will be so.

Some of you may have noticed that the library has been closed for the last couple of weeks as Anne has been busy boxing up the books for 'yet another' move! As we are going to be needing every classroom space, Tony and Anne have been very busy re-purposing the dental clinic and this is currently being turned into a fabulous 'Junior Library' for our Year 1-4 students.

The 'Senior Library' is sitting in banana boxes, waiting to be shifted over to Champion Street where a cosy room there is being prepared for it to be reinstated.

Assuming that the start date is confirmed for the holidays, we need to move the Year 3/4 classes into new spaces so that the demolition and building programme will be able to move ahead. These moves are currently planned for the last two days of this term, ready to start properly on the first day of Term 4 in the new spaces.

(Anna and Rebekah's building) is not being demolished. However, it is going to be quite cut off from the rest of the school during the building process, and was originally down for demolition. We have managed to negotiate with the Ministry a sensible and positive community outcome where the Ministry signs over these buildings to BOSCO, finally providing BOSCO with a permanent home that will be much better suited to their size and operation than the hall foyer!

Anna, Rebekah and the children from Hub 8/9 will move into Rooms 21/22 which they are looking forward to very much as the rooms are bigger and lighter.

Rather than being demolished, it has been decided by the Ministry that Hubs 5/6/7 can be relocated to Hornby High School and this is pencilled in to happen on Wed 28 September.

Gayle and the children of Hub 7 will be moving to Room 19 which has been the home of the library this year.

Paulette and Mike, and the children of Hub 5/6 are moving into the staffroom! This space has great potential as a learning environment, with three quite distinct spaces that can be opened up or closed off and, of course, includes a kitchen! Michelle and I are very excited about being so close and involved in the learning in Hub 5/6.

"But where are the staff going" I hear you ask! As we will only have half the number of staff on site, we are moving the comfy chairs to the hall foyer for morning tea and lunches and we will hold meetings as needed in a classroom space after school. The staff workroom will move into Michelle's old office and these spaces should work well for us.

Every day there is some further work being done at Champion Street as we prepare to move there with our Year 5-8 students next term.

This week we welcomed James Beauchamp to our staff - James is going to be working part-time at Champion St (and sometimes at Beckenham) assisting with maintenance and grounds work and helping in other ways where he is needed.

Some other very exciting news this week was that Class* Furniture Solutions have offered to put brand new furniture into the learning spaces at Champion St for us! They would like the opportunity to be able to show prospective buyers (other principals usually) what the furniture looks like in a real school setting, and the Ministry suggested that Beckenham School @ Champion St would be a great place to do that in! Nicky, Susan and the teams are busy selecting furniture at the moment so that it will be delivered ready for when we start in Term 4.

We have invited all the parents of our Year 5-8 students to attend a meeting in the hall next Wednesday, 14 September, from 7:30pm, to learn more about the logistics and details of the move to Champion St.

We are taking the Year 5/6 students over for a short visit this Friday afternoon, and the Year 7/8 students will visit on Tuesday afternoon next week. At this stage, all going well we will have all of the Year 5-8 students at Champion St on the last day of term - ready to begin in earnest on the first day of Term 4.

So... as you can see, there is a LOT going on at the moment and its very exciting to think that, after nearly three years of talking about it and planning, the building project might actually begin!

A big 'Thank you' to all of the Y5-8 parents who attended the meeting on Wednesday evening to find out about the logistics of the move to Champion St. We are feeling very excited about the changes ahead, and confident that we have the plans in place to make this move to Champion St a very successful and positive learning experience for everyone. This weekend I will be updating the slideshow that I shared on Wednesday, and will then post it up on the website for everyone to view by Monday.

At this stage, next Friday (23 September) will be our Y5-8's first day at Champion St. We would like to invite all of the Y5-8 parents and caregivers to join us at 102 Champion St from 12:30-1:30pm on that Friday for a sausage sizzle and to have a look around the site. The children will then spend from 1:30-2:30pm in class, and bus back to school for the 3pm finish.

We are still waiting for final confirmation from the Ministry of Education that they have signed off the contract with the builder. As soon as we have this we will be able to confirm all of the plans that are currently pending. We are very hopeful that this will be confirmed this coming Tuesday.

As the contract hasn't yet been confirmed, we haven't yet had a chance to meet with the builder and the site foreman to confirm all of their site plans, and agree on the final details of the health and safety plans for our building site. This will be our first priority as soon as the contract is signed.

Once we have had this meeting, we will be able to let you all know what these details will be. There will be areas that will be fenced off and limitations on the access points into and out of the school grounds. Ensuring that our junior students can move safely and easily around the school will be a priority.

The building project finally has the GREEN LIGHT and it is all about to begin. What a busy and exciting week it has been - with today being spectacular from start to finish. The moving trucks arrived at 8am, and by midday all of the items being moved to Champion Street for our Year 5-8 classes had been safely delivered. Our Year 5-8 students took part in a might Quiz in the hall whilst the packers were doing their work.

The afternoon saw the whole school disappear into the hall for an AMAZING Talent Quest. Congratulations to all of the finalists - Tamsin, Ailie and I were the judges and we had the very toughest job of the whole day!

At the same time, Paulette and Michelle were directing the moving team once again, moving all of the Year 3/4 classes into their new learning spaces.

The staff have all put in very long hours this week - it was always going to be needed - and we are really looking forward to our first day in our new learning spaces, at Champion St and at Beckenham, tomorrow, before everyone takes a well-deserved break for the holidays.

Year 7/8 students start the day tomorrow by going to South Intermediate for technology - the bus will be leaving at 8:55am.

Year 5/6 students need to be at school at the normal time, and to meet in Hub 14/15.

Assembly will be in the hall for everyone at 9:15am.

At 10am, the Year 5/6 students will make their way to Champion St by bus.

Parents and whānau of our Year 5-8 students are invited to join us at Champion St from 12:30-1:30pm for a barbeque lunch. (Please park on the street, being aware of residents' driveway access)

The Year 5-8 students will all bus back to school to be ready to go home at 3pm.

To make life easier (we hope) we have decided to stick with the learning hub names that children and teachers have been using all year, even though the rooms themselves might be different.

This is particularly important if you are ordering lunch through LunchOnline - if you have the wrong room number in their system - your lunch might get delivered to the wrong site!

So - parents please double check your LunchOnline account and make sure that you have the correct room down for your child - especially in Year 3/4 - as follows:

Mike/Paulette/Gayle - Hub 5/6 (working in the staffroom)

Gayle - Hub 7 (working in Room 19)

Anna/Rebekah - Hub 8/9 (working in Rooms 21/22)

Thank you all for your patience and support with the building process so far. It has been a very slow journey to date, but now that we are actually underway, we are very hopeful that it will be a more streamlined process.

I expect to have pre-site meetings with the building team very early next week, and will then be able to put out information before school starts about what to expect when you return.

I know that there is much interest in the community about seeing the classrooms that are being relocated leave - so I will email out a schedule for that when it is confirmed.

Best wishes to all for a restful holiday. We are very excited about seeing you all again, to what will look like quite a different school for everyone, on Monday 10th October.

As you will be aware, we are now officially building and all of the planning and organisation that has been going on is now a reality.

The safety and wellbeing of everyone is our priority for tomorrow, over everything else. If we can have a clear understanding of plans and expectations for moving safely around both sites, and for the bussing back and forth to Champion St, we will set the term up for safety and success.

This is a lengthy email as there is a lot of very important information that we need you to have. Please do read it carefully.

Getting in and out of the Beckenham site

Below is a map of the school, showing access points into the school (Beckenham flags) and access routes around the school (in green).

We will have the four new school flags flying at the four access points to the school tomorrow morning. These points are:

Sandwich Road - the main entrance at the crossing/flagpole
Sandwich Road - at the Dental Clinic
Eastern Tce - via the driveway by Hub8/9 (old R21/22)
Norwood St Park entrance (or any entrance via park) - through into the junior playground or behind Hub 8/9

Fences and Building Site

The fences that are up today (Sunday) are not quite what will be up once the building gets going. We are expecting the demolition of the old Intermediate Hub to happen one day this coming week, and then the 'normal' fencing and access routes will be in place at that time. In the interim, we will be working closely with the Site Manager to ensure that safety and access are prioritised.

Yes - this is going to take a little bit of getting used to as routes are very specific and have changed since last term.
Hub 1/2/3/4 and Hub 10/11 students should have no major changes.
Hub 12/13 children will need to access their rooms through the staff car park fenced off access path.
For Hub 8/9 and Hub 7, the best access in the morning and afternoon (if you are coming in the main Sandwich Road entrance) will be to go through the junior playground, onto the park and then down to your classrooms.

It is very important to remember that none of us have ANY permission to cross fences into the building site - we should consider that this is NO LONGER part of our school. We have no authority over the building site areas - they are now the responsibility of HRS, as is the Health and Safety of anyone who is inside the fenced area.
There will be an Assembly at 9:30am on Monday morning for EVERYONE at the Beckenham Site, to talk about Health and Safety and access around our site. Following this, teachers will be walking their classes around the site and reminding them where they are/are not allowed to go, and which routes they need to take to get there.

In the mornings we need the Y5-8 students to access the buses on Eastern Tce by staying out of the school site, except for those children who come in the Norwood St park entrance, who will then go across to Hub 8/9 (old 21/22), around the back new path and down the driveway to the buses.
Children who arrive at school via Sandwich Rd will be asked to stay on the footpath and walk down to Eastern Tce that way.
The same will apply in the afternoons when Y5-8 students disembark their buses. If they need to go to BOSCO, they should go onto the park, then in to BOSCO via the entrance by the junior playground. If they need to meet a sibling, they should either go through the park to the Junior playground, or around the road, up Sandwich Road and meet them at the flagpole or bike area.
Y5-8 students who bike or scooter to school need to lock their bikes/scooters in the bike stand area, then walk back out onto Sandwich Road and around to the bus on Eastern Tce, and use the same route in the afternoon.

To ensure safety of all of the children we are planning to keep all the children in two spaces at break times - the park (for Year 3/4 only), and the junior playground for all children. There will be teachers on duty during morning tea and lunchtime in both those spaces.

We are not certain that the access to the new BOSCO rooms (the old Room 8/9) will be ready by 7am tomorrow, so please take your morning BOSCO children to the Hall (via the junior playground doors). If their rooms are accessible, staff will escort them over. If not, they will meet in the hall for the morning session.
At 3pm BOSCO staff will collect children from Hubs 10,11,12 & 13, and will meet Y1-4 children BOSCO children outside Hub 1-4 and escorting them to the BOSCO rooms. We expect the access to BOSCO to be ready for the afternoon session.
Please do not park in the staff car park when dropping or collecting children from BOSCO.

For logistical reasons, we have changed the time of Assemblies to be on Thursday afternoons. Children from Champion St will bus over earlier and come in directly to assembly and children at the Beckenham site will pack up before coming over to assembly, so that they are ready to pick up their bags when assembly ends at 3pm, and go home. This coming Thursday we will start with our traditional Welcome Assembly (2:15pm) and this will be immediately followed by our normal Celebration Assembly which will be led by the Kauri (Y7/8) team.
Prior to the assembly, the PTA are holding a Welcome afternoon tea in the hall foyer at 1:30pm - new families are particularly encouraged to attend.

We will have a trial evacuation at both sites on Monday 17th October.

The phone number for Champion St is an extension of the phones at Beckenham. That means that you still call the Beckenham number 337 1404 and ask to be put through to someone at Champion St. Teachers' email addresses have not changed.

A reminder that these will be leaving at 8:30am sharp. We expect the buses to be arriving at 8:15am, so students need to check in with one of the teachers on duty, then get onto their appropriate bus, checking in with their particular bus monitor as they get on. (They should get to know this drill pretty quickly).

During school time, no vehicles should come onto the school site. A small number of vehicles will be able to park in the driveway and the rest will need to park on the OPPOSITE side of Champion Street to the school entrance (to leave the school side for the afternoon buses.)

If you are dropping your child off, or picking them up early at Champion St, the same digital sign-in/out process applies at the Champion St reception area. Please ensure that this is always followed.

The Ferndale taxi bus will be parking on Sandwich Road, near the dental clinic and students will enter and exit the site via the Dental Clinic steps. Tony Lee will be putting cones out for the van each day so please ensure that you do not park in this spot - Thank you.

As you will see on the access plan, the staff car park has become a primary access route for students and staff, and now only has 5 staff parks remaining in it. Please DO NOT walk through the staff car park at any time as this creates significant risk for children who will copy this behaviour.
Staff have been asked to park on the south side of Sandwich Road, leaving the north (school) side of Sandwich Road available for parents to drop off children. WE STRONGLY URGE those of you who can, to walk to school or to plan your journey earlier and park in adjacent streets including Birdwood Ave and Martin Ave. If you are using Sandwich Road, we would encourage you to pull up - kiss goodbye, drop off - and drive away, so that we can minimise the traffic build up.
Please note that parking on Eastern Tce (from Sandwich Road to the Ponds) will be restricted to buses only on the school side, and there are NO PARKING signs on the river side. It is critical that these restrictions are followed, to ensure that children are not crossing between cars and buses, and to allow for safe movement of traffic on Eastern Tce when the buses are there.

Tomorrow morning, Michelle Maule will be on Eastern Tce helping with the Champion St buses, Cath Barrie will be on Sandwich Rd at the flagpole entrance assisting foot traffic and I will be on the park access point. Our job is to check that all of the access points are working for everyone, and to help anyone who might be unsure about where to go.

Finally I would like to acknowledge the very hard work of staff, the Board of Trustees, and our Project Team, both at the end of last term and, for many, during the holidays, preparing at both sites to ensure that this coming term goes smoothly.

We are VERY excited about the fact that the builders are on site and our building programme is underway and we want to ensure that they can get on with their jobs, and we can get on with learning, each without interruption.
Your help and support through this period is very much appreciated. If you have any questions, please email me in the first instance and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.
principal@beckenham.school.nz

What a very busy start to the term it has been so far!

It has been the most different start to a school term that any of us have ever had! We did promise that we wouldn't start bussing our children to Champion St until we could guarantee that there would be building action starting at Beckenham and that promise has certainly been fulfilled.
Our senior students have begun working at the new site and they are loving the experience!

Some quotes from the Year 5-8 students about the new learning environment include:

This week at our Beckenham site it has been extremely busy with the demolition of the Intermediate Hub happening from Monday. The building took two days to remove, and they are now finishing off the removal of the foundations.

HRS have shared a plan (above), which has been published as a a maildrop for local residents, outlining the arrangements that are being set up next week for access to the two building sites through the park entrance at Norwood St. The large green boxes on the plan are 'student crossings' with gates that will be able to be opened and closed to students at appropriate times, to ensure that vehicles travelling along the access are always kept separate from students who need to cross.

We are looking for a parent who would like to be our official ‘rebuild photographer’ and document the rebuild over the next 18 months through pictures. We envisage this involving taking half a dozen photos from specific points around the school a couple of times a week. This will then allow us to display photos for our community, and capture the changing school environment for posterity. If this sounds like you, please contact me through principal@beckenham.school.nz or leave a message at the office.

Thank you all for your patience and willingness to go the extra distance, quite literally, as you walk further from cars and find new routes around the school to find your child's class and to access BOSCO in the new home in the old R8/9.
It's been a fairly exhausting week for staff, and very exciting at the same time, to see this journey finally started.

21 October 2016

Thank you to all of those who turned out, at very short notice and in threatening weather, for the 'Ground Breaking' Ceremony that we held this morning at 8:10am. Our site is officially in 'building' mode now - rather than just 'relocation and demolition' so we have entered another exciting phase.

We are looking forward to the fencing of the access road on the edge of the park being completed on Tuesday. The gate system will then be put in so that access and separation of vehicles and pedestrians is assured.

I hope that you all enjoy the long weekend - we look forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday.

Another week of the term has gone by and we are settling in to our new 'normal', both at the Beckenham and the Champion St sites.

Today we saw the large oak tree adjacent to Hub 11 get felled. Several of the classes were able to stand on the park and watch. Whilst it is always very sad to see a mature specimen tree go, it wasn't very healthy due to its roots being significantly compromised over the years of being too close to a building and paving. We are very thankful for the shade that it has provide our children for many years. We have ensured that the large logs are retained to be used in landscaping.

You can watch it below:

Year 4 parents should have received an email this week, inviting you to visit our site at 102 Champion St next Wednesday, 9th November from 7-8pm for a familiarisation meeting.

If you have any particular questions you would like addressed at that meeting, please email them to me at principal@beckenham.school.nz or give me a call before then.