Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 4 Week 1

We hope that the holidays have been good at your place. It's time to dig out that sun hat ready for the new school term, when spring returns on Monday. Read on for some important messages and a brief glimpse at what lies in store for this term.

Headphones:

It is important that every child has their headphones or earbuds at school from the first week back. A stationery check, especially pencil, eraser, ruler, glue-stick and pen, would also be appreciated. Please check that the sunhat is packed too.

Missing a lunchbox?

We have a collection of lunch containers at school. The food remnants have been removed and they have been washed. If you spot one of yours in this photo, please remind your child to collect it, on Monday, from the maker-space.

Writer’s Club

Following the success of Maths Club on a Wednesday morning, we are offering an extension group for writers for the duration of Term 4. This is an optional group session that will meet on Friday mornings at 8:20 in the Breakout Space. Maths club will continue as usual on a Wednesday morning at 8:20.

2019 Leaders:

Early in term four, we appoint house captains and student council executive positions for the following year. This is so that these 11 children can attend a leadership training afternoon in mid November.  Their roles will not start until 2019. On Tuesday, we will explain the application process to the children. This will include filling in a form and a group interview. Applications will close on October 26th. If a child would like to be considered for a house captain position, they need to be aware that they may need to change houses for their final year at Beckenham. 

For your diary:

Oct 22:  Labour day (school closed)
Oct 24: Volleyball league begins
Nov 1:  School athletic sports
Nov 2: Long jump at Hillview
Nov 7:  Summer tournament
Nov 12: Zone athletics
Nov 13: Top Team (parent helpers required)
Nov 14: 'Be Inspired' leadership course for 2019 House captains and student council exec.
Nov 16: Show day (School closed)
Nov 26: Staff only day
Nov 28: Canterbury triathlon
Dec 5: Canterbury athletics
Dec 10: Kauri production. All Year 7 & 8 students will be required at school for this evening show.
Dec 12: Kauri production. All Year 7 & 8 students will be required at school for this evening show.
Dec 14: Trip to Corsair Bay (parent helpers required)
Dec 17: Walk to Victoria Park (parent helpers required)
Dec 19: Year 8 Graduation Assembly, starting at 11am. Year 8s finish school following luncheon.
Dec 20: Final day for Year 1-7. School closes at 12:30.
We have one more trip that is yet to be confirmed and will tell you about that one next week.

Parent help required:

As you can see it is a rather busy term! We have at least three events that can only go ahead with parent support: Top Team afternoon on November 13, Corsair Bay trip from 11am on December 14 and our Walk to Victoria Park from 10am on December 17. Please click here to find out more and let us know where you can help. 

Upcoming sports events

Wednesday the 24th October - Kiwi Volleyball Year 7/8 league starts

Continuing our newly found love of volleyball, we have two teams entered into this after school league which runs for 7 weeks at Hillview Christian School.

Thursday the 1st November - School Athletics

The children will compete in Mid Distance, Sprints, Shotput, Discus and High Jump. We started our training for this event at the end of last term.

Friday the 2nd of November - Long Jump

Our long jump event will be held at Hillview Christian School again this year. This will be an optional event for the children. Children enter this event by completing a Google Form that is shared on Google Classroom.

Wednesday the 7th of November - Summer Tournament

We are putting together teams in touch, orienteering, tennis and slow pitch this week. Children who are interested will need to complete a Google Form. Many thanks to the parents who have volunteered to take a team.

Monday the 12th of November - Zone Athletics

Qualifying children will travel by bus to Hansen Park to compete against our neighbouring schools.

Wednesday the 28th - Canterbury Triathalon

This is a fantastic event held at Pegasus, involving a swim in the lake, a bike and a run round the lake. This is an optional event for children with a good level of fitness who want to embrace an extra challenge. Children have had an amazing time at this event in the past.

Wednesday the 5th of December - Canterbury Athletics

There is a change of venue for this event this year. Children who qualify for Canterbury’s will be amoung the first to enjoy the new facilities at Nga Puna Wai.

We are looking for some adult helpers for the above athletics events. If you are available to help out at any event, please, email Jenny.

Mountain Biking Passion

Organisation for our mountain biking passion is well underway. If your child is part of this passion group and you have not yet completed the google form, please do so asap.
We are still looking for an additional parent to come with us to Halswell Quarry on Thursday the 25th of October. This is more about transporting bikes, we have plenty of adults on bikes to run the session and just need to get the children to the tracks. A non-biking parent would be just fine.