{"id":5706,"date":"2017-04-13T19:28:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T07:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beckenham.school.nz\/?guid=e4018bb1ca1fb6bb28f8929cc9728943"},"modified":"2017-04-13T19:28:24","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T07:28:24","slug":"beckenham-school-newsletter-april-13th-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beckenham.school.nz\/index.php\/newsletters\/beckenham-school-newsletter-april-13th-2017\/5706","title":{"rendered":"Beckenham School Newsletter April 13th 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Principal's Patch<\/h2>

Kia ora koutou<\/h3>We feel some sense of achievement, having made it successfully through our second term of building work, with smiles intact and learning continuing on pretty much as usual.

Building update:<\/h4>Today has seen the office move to the Minor Room , where it will be for Term 2. The hall, hall foyer and office reception will be part of the building site now, until the end of Term 3. The hall is being partially reclad (at the park end) where it is a leaky building. The foyer is getting a new front - windows and double doors to create a more welcoming entrance to the hall, and a new roof across the foyer and office reception area (which is being retained as an additional multi-purpose space).

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The bike stands area will be relocated during the holidays to the Sandwich Road side of Rooms 1-4. Eventually we will put new fencing around this area. For Term 2, it will have temporary fencing.

The staffroom has been relocated from the hall foyer to Room 13 (behind Tony's garage).

For those of you watching the progress on the new buildings, you will have noticed the the West Hub (next to the Toy Library) is looking very smart with windows and doors now in, including the lovely red and yellow windows. The internal work happening in this building is massive with numerous different tradesmen (yes - sadly there haven't been any female tradies on site yet) working on their various trades at the same time. The East Hub has made a major transformational leap this week, going from a concrete pad on Monday morning, to a building with a roof by lunchtime today.
During the holidays, the diggers will be digging a stormwater pit in the junior grass area. This will be filled with a special stormwater retention system, and then reseeded. We do anticipate that this area will be partially fenced off for most of Term 2 whilst the grass is regrown.

Parking <\/b>continues to be a real challenge and we thank you very much for your patience, and for being prepared to park and walk during this time.
We are continuing to have challenges each day around 2:55pm with the buses not having quite enough turning space from Martin Ave into Eastern Tce, causing additional congestion. If parents could refrain from parking on the river side of Eastern Tce in this spot, it would be a huge help.
The same goes for where the buses park on Eastern Tce. Please remember that BOTH sides of the road are NO PARKING so that our children can get on and off the buses safely, and traffic can continue to move along this area.

Welcome to our new Executive Officer<\/h4>We look forward to properly welcoming Vicki Renwick<\/b> to our team at the start of next term. Vicki will be joining our Administration Team to take over the payroll, accounting and minor property management work. Vicki has 12 years of experience in working in primary schools doing this work already and we are looking forward to having her on our team. She has been in doing some hours over the last couple of weeks to support the handover, and is excited about starting full-time next term.

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Vicki Renwick - New Executive Officer<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

Getting going in Term 2<\/h4>Please remember that Term 2 begins on TUESDAY 2nd May<\/b> as we have a staff professional development day at Champion St on Monday 1st.
BOSCO<\/a> are taking bookings for this day for those families who need it. This day does not count as part of our number of days we are required to be open - as we have accounted for this day in the total number of days we will have been open for the year.

As we are going into winter, and the buses to Champion St are running very smoothly, we have adjusted the departure time from Eastern Tce each morning to 8:40am.
This means that no children should be at school before 8:30am please<\/b>. This particularly applies to children in Years 1-4. The teachers will not necessarily be in the classrooms before 8:30am and, if they are, they do need that time for preparation. We will call you, if children are arriving at school too early. BOSCO<\/a> may be able to assist in the morning, if you need to drop children off before 8:30am.

Learning Conferences<\/h4>These will be happening in Week 2<\/b> of the term. A separate email was sent out today about how to book these. Please check it carefully, and book straight away, to get a time that will work for you.

Contacting Teachers and Getting Messages to your child... 
<\/a><\/div><\/h4>We are becoming aware that text messaging teachers is on the increase. Whilst this can be a very handy way of communicating with people, we would request that text messaging is not your primary form of communication with your child's teachers. There are many reasons why we request this: