Monday 15 April 2013

Week 12 Update

Phew, we have nearly made it to the end of a rather long term. This week we have a big focus on J-Rock, finalising choreography and practise, practise, practise. Thanks to those of you who have offered to source costumes. Any child who is unable to arrange their own costume, needs to let their teacher know by the end of term so that we have a complete list for the crew who are sourcing costumes. Please make sure you have set aside May 20 and 21st on your calendar, we should know this week the exact day of the performance.

Sport: Our summer sport options of bowls, gym and mountain biking come to an end this week. The school cross country is in the second week of term 2, so it would be great if children could put in some training runs over the holidays. Friday winter sport gets underway mid-way through term 2. If you are able to help out with coaching a rugby, football, hockey or netball team, please let Bruce Rodger know ASAP. The number of teams we can enter is dependent on the number of coaches we can get.

Home Learning: Friday is the final due date for home learning this term. Those children who have always met home learning deadlines will be rewarded with an 'attitude afternoon' on Friday. Thanks to those of you who have already filled in the home learning survey that was emailed out on Saturday. If you haven't yet completed this, please take a couple of minutes to fill it in before the end of Tuesday. Home learning will be reviewed at Learning Conferences in the first week of term 2. We plan to send home an options sheet before then so that you can discuss any changes you and your child would like to make to their home learning plan before the conference.

Learning Conferences: Thanks to those who have already booked a learning conference for week one next term. If you are having trouble logging in to School-links, please give Jacky a call in the office.

Friday 5 April 2013

Week 11 Update

What an action packed two weeks we have had in the Intermediate Team.

 Leadership week was a huge success. The Year 7s had lots of fun learning about 'Be Proactive', 'Put first things first', 'Think win-win' and "Synergize'; 4 of the 7 habits of highly effective people. On the Thursday they went off to be leaders in the Junior classes. What fabulous feedback we have had from the teachers, here's just a sample...

  • 'Absolutely lovely boys - I will have them back anytime!'  
  • 'In the class as a helper he was positive and willingly helped the children. the kids loved his easy going and helpful manner! I thought he was totally AWESOME!'
  • 'Confident, well-organised, used her initiative, eager to help, related well to the younger children, innovative and engaging group activity'




Year 8 Leadership Camp was also a wonderful time. The Year 8s stepped up and made the most of the opportunities to practice the '7 habits' and had lots of fun in the process.

On Thursday we had a unique musical experience with Rhythm Interactive. After an hour of drumming, the majority of the team were still fully engaged. If was high energy, fun, loud and tested our persistence.


Friday was duathlon day. We had one of the best participation rates we have seen from Year 7 & 8 at this event. We were especially impressed with those who knew they wouldn't win, but just wanted to challenge themselves - fabulous attitude and effort. Also a big thanks to the lap counters, course marshals and photographers, who stepped up to this leadership challenge and contributed to the success of the event. 


No time to rest, our next challenge is J-Rock. This will be our major focus for the next four weeks. If anyone has time to help with sourcing or making costumes, please send me an email nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz so that we can put a team together get the costume ball rolling. We are still after a person with woodwork skills to construct our 'giant wooden man', again please email if you can help out.

Writers' Workshop: Recording studio day is Monday April 15th, leaving school at 3pm sharp. A notice will come home early next week with more details. We couldn't find a day that was perfect for everyone, but hope that all will be able to take part in this exciting experience. 

In the next week ... we are looking forward to hearing the band children play for us on Wednesday morning and good luck to the swimmers competing at the Canterbury Champs on Thursday.