Tuesday 25 February 2020

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 1 Week 4

The past week has involved a number of visits to the Life Education van and art work on our collaborative canvases that we are creating for the Twilight Fair art auction. We were so impressed by the leadership displayed by our house captains and their deputies at our first house games last Friday. Excitement is building for leadership week, next week. Please read on for important details.

Camp Fundraising:

Many thanks to those of you who have offered to help with our camp fundraising. We will be in touch soon. The Comedy evening is set for Saturday May 16th. We will be auctioning a new Mt Bike; details on this will be out by the end of the week.

Our cheese roll fundraiser is underway. There is the potential to raise thousands with this one. We just need lots of orders. Please contact friends and family and collect their orders as well as your own.  We have the manpower (childpower) and the enthusiasm. We just need the orders! Many thanks to those who have already submitted an order. You are welcome to submit another if you manage to get more interest. Please click here to submit your order or use the paper order form which was sent home on Monday.

We have also submitted an application for funding through the Southern Trust. Once we hear back from them, we will be able to let you know the cost of our week in Dunedin / Waihola. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for a big 'yes' for the Southern Trust!

Leadership Week: March 2-6

What you need to know:

Year 7s:

Wear mufti to school for their leadership day on Monday March 2nd.

Year 8s:

Thursday 5th - Friday 6th of March: two day leadership camp, with a sleep over at school on Thursday night.

We would like families of Year 8 children to send along food donations, on Wednesday March 4th, as follows:

Te Maunga (Nicky's home-group) - a packet of breakfast cereal
Te Awa (Megan's home-group) - a bag of fruit
Te Tai and Te Ngahere (Jenny and Hannah's home-groups) - some baking

The cost per child for attending the Year 8 leadership camp is $25.00. Please pay this at the office as soon as possible. This is a cost that is separate to the school donation, as it involves an overnight camp.

Gear list: Your child needs to come to school on Thursday dressed in clothes suitable for physical activity, i.e. track pants or shorts, t-shirt, polypro if cold, a warm top and sports shoes, suitable for running. The following needs to be packed in an overnight bag:

  • Sleeping bag, pillow and something to sleep on, e.g. sleeping mat, stretcher or lilo (please let us know if you need help sourcing something to sleep on)
  • PJs
  • Toilet gear
  • A change of clothes for the next day, again suitable for physical activity

These things should be packed in a day pack:

  • Packed lunch and refillable drink bottle
  • Sunhat
  • Waterproof jacket
  • Optional: camera, cell phone (these will be collected in)

Please make sure asthmatic children have inhalers with them and that medication is in a labeled bag. This needs to be handed to the home-group teacher as soon as your child arrives at school.

On Monday a health profile form was sent home to Year 8 caregivers. Please complete this form and return it to school by Friday of this week.

If you need to contact us outside of school hours or on Friday when we are at Spencer Park, please contact Nicky on 0276229403


House captains in action ...






Sunday 23 February 2020

Delicious Cheese Rolls: Supporting Year 7 & 8 Camp Fundraising

Kia ora everyone,

Year 7 & 8 are heading down to Dunedin for an exiting week of learning at the end of this term. We are kicking our fundraising off with our annual cheese roll business.

We have had fabulous feedback on the quality of our cheese rolls in the past, so you can be guaranteed a tasty product! They do well in the freezer, so this is a good opportunity to stock up for the winter months. Details are in the link below.

Please click on this link to order.  There will also be paper order forms available at the school office.




Thursday 20 February 2020

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 1 Week 3

This week we are full on into our regular programme, having spent the first two weeks running workshops to set up for the year ahead. We were so impressed to see that so many of the children are keeping up to date with timeframes for completing tasks.

Life Education

You will have noticed the Life Education trailer in our car park. Year 7 & 8 home-groups will have four sessions each at Life Ed over this week and next, learning about the impacts of the things that we put into our bodies, with a focus on food, drugs and alcohol.

Maths Whizz

This year we will continue using the online programme Maths Whizz to help students consolidate their maths skills. This is an excellent tutorial programme that will enable students fill any gaps and progress further in their maths learning. As this is new to Year 7's, we want to share the following information so that you can understand how Maths Whizz works. On the link below, you will find several important resources to help you support your child with the curriculum when used at home. Students will get time to use Maths Whizz at school and will most likely earn the required 4 progressions, but some students may choose to continue their progress at home. Please see Megan if you have any queries. Thank you in advance for your support with this.
Maths Whizz Parent Resources

Leadership Week

Our leadership week is just around the corner.

For Year 7 this is a full day of leadership activities on the Monday (March 2) and a day leading in a junior hub on the Thursday or Friday. Year 7 can wear mufti on the Monday.

For Year 8 this is a two day leadership camp on the Thursday and Friday (March 5 and 6). The children sleep over at school on the Thursday night. We will send out a gear list next week. On the Thursday evening we head into town on the public bus. Each child needs to have $2.40 in coins for their bus fare (we will add this to the gear list). We also ask for a food donation:
Te Maunga (Nicky's home-group): a packet of breakfast cereal
Te Awa (Megan's home-group): a bag of fruit
Te Tai and Te Ngahere (Jenny and Hannah's home-groups) some baking

Dunedin Camp

Many thanks to those who indicated they could help out on camp if we were short on numbers. Turns out we have just the right number. The following parents will be joining us on camp: Karen M, Nicola R, Damion T, Miranda K, Belinda M, Juliet L, Katey G, Ewan C and one more to confirm.

Writing

Our current writing topic is to write a description about someone in your Whakapapa. Most children are well underway with this assignment. Over the weekend we will be checking their progress and emailing children (parents will be copied in) who need to catch up. A conversation at home about what to include in their description could be helpful for some.

Wednesday 12 February 2020

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 1 Week 2

We are so impressed with how well our Year 7 & 8s have settled into the new year. Leadership positions have been established and a number of groups are up and running.

Bike raffle for camp

Huge thanks to Liz May, one of our parents, who won a mountain bike and has selected a model / size suitable for Year 5-8 to donate for our camp fundraising. We will be raffling the bike off this term. We would love one parent to volunteer to manage this raffle, with the support of a few senior students to sell tickets before school. Please send me an email if you are happy to take this on. 

Parent help on camp and with fundraising

So far we have 5 parents who care keen to join us on camp. If you would like to come along and have yet to fill in the form, please click on this link.

Kete Blogging

It has been fantastic to see our students starting their kete blogging for the year - we've had quite a few blog posts already and some students are already well on the way to earning a kete badge.

This year, we are trialling making the blogs slightly more public. While the blogs are set as being public, they have also been set so that they do not appear in search engine results (e.g. Google searches) or blogger listings. This will mean that students can email their blog posts to others and parents will be able to more easily see their child's blog. If you have any concerns or wish to discuss this further please email Hannah (hannah.elliott@beckenham.school.nz).

Genius Hour 

This week the children have been formulating ideas for their first Genius Hour project. Some are choosing to work independently, while others are working in a collaborative pair. There is a wide range of interesting projects being developed. We strongly recommend asking your child about their project. Next Tuesday afternoon, the children will pitch their ideas to their homeroom teacher.

Sport

Please, follow this link to indicate if you are able to help out with sport this term. 

The aim of our sports programme is to provide exposure to a range of different sporting pursuits. This allows the children to develop movement skills and sequences in a range of contexts while broadening their horizons and discovering their passions. There are a range of events throughout the year. Some of these involve all the children and there are many additional optional opportunities for those who want to extend themselves. Children who enjoy the competitive element of sport can strive to qualify for zone and Canterbury level competition through Primary School Sport Canterbury. If your child is not able to compete for any reason, there are a myriad of alternative ways to be involved. Inclusive practise is always at the heart of what we do. If there is anything that we can do to make an event more accessible for your child, please get in contact with Jenny or your child’s homeroom teacher.

For some optional events, children interested in competing should enter using a Google form, which is accessed through Google Classroom. We aim for the children to develop independence in entering events and we acknowledge that some children may need support with this. Conversations at home about upcoming optional events that may be of interest, and checking in to ensure that they have entered events you would expect them to, is advisable. I have attached the link to entry forms for both swimming and duathlon so that you can go through the process together if needed.

Term 1
Swimming Sports Thursday 27th February


This is an optional event, which takes place at Wharenui Pool. Children may enter one distance per stroke and as many different strokes as they wish. For example, they may enter 25m freestyle and 50m backstroke, but may not enter the 25m and 50m backstroke. The children enter this event via a Google form. This form has been made available to them through Google Classroom. Follow this link to get to the entry form. 

Duathlon

Participating in the school duathlon is a fantastic way of showing our school value, ‘We love challenge’. It involves a run around the block, a bike around the park (2 slalom laps for Year 7/8), followed by a second lap of running around the block. The sense of achievement when crossing the finish line makes the hard work worth while. Children need to provide their own bike for this event. Here is the link to the Google form for entries.

Extra-Curricular Sports - Mountain Biking

There are two mountain biking relays that have been very popular in previous years. While these events are promoted by Beckenham te Kura O Pūroto and we are proud for the children to represent our kura, the responsibility of the transport and supervision of children at both events is with the caregiver. Entry for both of these events is done by the caregiver on the event’s website. Follow the link below. Please contact Jenny if you have any questions about either of these events. Email confirmation of your entry to Jenny.

Huxster Mountain Bike Relay - 4th March

Held at Mclean’s Island, this event is a super fun event where children strive to complete as many laps of the course as they can in the time, (1.5 hours for Year 5/6 and 3 hours for Year 7/8). Year 5/6 children must compete in a team of two, while Year 7/8 have the option of doing the event as an individual or in a pair. Children should be confident controlling the speed and direction of their bike on beginner level single track.

Note: This event is much earlier in the term than it previously has been.
Due to its popularity, this event is now being held over two days. Children from Beckenham should enter the South and Mid Canterbury zoned event on the 4th of March.

Hanmer 4 Hour Mountain Bike Relay - 21st March

This event features a variety of options for many age groups. The Super Juniors (6 to 11 years) do a very friendly course through the Heritage Forest. This incorporates a green level single track. Every child must have their own tail end charlie, (an adult riding with them) on every lap. This is a fantastic entry into mountain bike racing for those children who are comfortable controlling their speed and direction on trails similar to those at McLean’s Island and Bottle Lake. Children aged 11 years plus ride the same course as the adults, (and at the same time). This course has more climbing and more technical riding, (think Loess Rider or an easy blue level trail). Children should be confident mountain bikers on easy blue trails. Children compete in a team of up to 4 children.

Tuesday 4 February 2020

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 1 Week 1

It was lovely to welcome everyone to our Intermediate Hub for 2020 yesterday. There was plenty of enthusiasm, lots of smiles and eager anticipation for the learning journey ahead. We were also very appreciative of the new air conditioning - very!

Camp: 

As we mentioned at learning conferences, we have camp coming up in week 9 of this term, March 30th - April 3rd. We are seeking offers of parent / caregiver help for joining us on camp and also for help with two fundraising projects. Please click this link to indicate how you can get involved.

Swimming Sports:

Our school swimming sports, an optional event, will be held on Thursday February 27th. Jenny has shared a google form with the children via google classroom for them to submit their entries.

Forms and Devices:

We are excited to see the large number of children who have indicated they will bring a device to school for learning this year. This morning we got a number of children set up on the school network. We really want to get this all sorted by Friday, so if your child is yet to do so please encourage them to bring their device tomorrow, Wednesday, and see Hannah before school to get it linked to our school network. Once their device is set up, it needs to come to school every day.

A reminder to get all forms signed and returned to school this week: Cyber-safety, Bus permission and BYOD. Many thanks to the large number of people who got this sorted at learning conferences.

If you missed out on a copy of our start of year newsletter (paper copy), please let me know and I will make sure one is sent home to you.

Remember to be at school before 8:30 on Tuesdays in time to catch the bus for Technology.