Kauri Whanau: Term 1 Week 3

Camp: 

Two weeks from now we will be knee deep in adventure at Wainui! Excitement is definitely building. On Monday this week we sent home a paper notice which included a gear list and medical form. Please get the medical form filled in and returned by this Friday (Feb 17th). I will include the notice and gear list at the end of this post. Two parents have already volunteered to make a pasta bake dish for our first dinner at camp; we just need 8 more volunteers. Please email me if you can help out: nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz. All ingredients will be provided.

Swimming Sports:

Swimming Sports 23rd February at Wharenui Pool. We are delighted to have received lots of entries for Swimming Sports this year from the Pohutukawa and Kauri Hubs, with 80 children participating across a range of events.

On the day:

• All participants must be wearing their togs under their uniform before they get on the bus. They will not be able to change at Wharenui Pool. There will be time to change after the event.

• The children will have an early lunch at Champion Street before boarding the buses for Wharenui pool at 12 midday.

• Please ensure your child has a good lunch and a water bottle with them for the day.

• We are aiming for a 12.30 start and will then run through all events (which are organised by age and distance) for each stroke. There will be a House Relay as a finale. The order of events are as follows: Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, 75m Medley, House Relay.  

• We welcome you to join us and support our swimmers. We will have a space for spectators on poolside opposite the children, (who will be sitting in house groups). To support us in running this event, we ask that you stay on the side allocated for spectators.   

• If you would like to pick up your child after the event at Wharenui Pool, please ensure that you check them out with a teacher.  

We are looking for some amazing parent helpers to assist us with a few jobs on the day. If you are willing and available to help out then please email Jenny on jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz.  

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Jenny or Gayle.

BYOD:

With a number of families considering purchasing a device for their children to use at school, you may be interested in checking out Cashmere High School's BYOD recommendations: http://www.cashmere.school.nz/our-school/byod.html

House Warming:

Our house captains and deputies are currently organising activities for our first house event this Friday afternoon. All children will return to Beckenham for this event which starts at 2pm.

Home-learning:

A reminder that maths home learning is due in this Friday.

Passion Friday:

Passion Friday kicked off last week. Here are some photos...

Photographers in action downloading and commenting on their photos, which explored different camera angles.

Code club, learning the proper way to code.

Who new that wedding could be such fun?

Planning our approach to J-Rock.

Wainui Camp Notice:

Where: Wainui on Banks Peninsula. We will be travelling by bus and private car, as opposed to two buses. This helps to keep costs down.

When: Monday Feb 27 until Friday the March 3.

Required from you: Please complete the attached Health Profile and return it to school by this Friday, Feb 17th. Parent helpers also need to complete one of these forms.

Parent helpers: We now have enough parent helpers. Many thanks to those who have offered to join us for a fun filled week: Rebecca Hindin, Simon Kingham, Bryan Pratt, Wayne Reddecliffe, Karen Stevens, Ian Newton, Shaun Ryan, Hugh Reynolds and Tamsin Hardwick. We will see you at our meeting next Monday at 5:30pm in the Beckenham staffroom.

Help required: We are looking for 10 parents who would be happy to make up a pasta bake dish for our first meal on camp. We will send home bags of  ingredients next Friday. Please email Nicky if you can help with this. nicky.dunlop@beckenham.school.nz.

Activities: There are a wide range of activities on offer, during which the children will learn new skills, take risks and develop teamwork. The children have made activity choices and we are currently confirming these.

Cost: The cost of Wainui camp works out at $175 per child. This takes into account fundraising profits from the sale of photo-books at the end of last year. As the Student Account statements are not due to go out until after camp as taken place, we would encourage anyone wanting to pay prior to camp (or in installments) to please use "Yr 7/8 Camp" and your child's name as the reference for payments direct to the school's bank account and/or letting the office know when paying via eftpos.  If you have any questions regarding payment, please contact Tracy Dunn at  accounts@beckenham.school.nz.

Baking: We would like all children to bring some baking to camp, for our morning and afternoon teas. This will be collected when they arrive at school on Monday, before getting on the bus. If you would like the baking container back, please make sure it is named.

Gear: Please carefully check through the gear list on the next page, that Wainui has provided. Key items include: a raincoat (activities go ahead despite the weather), thermal tops and bottoms, sunhats and beanies ( we need to be ready for all weathers) and an old pair of closed toe shoes ( old sports shoes) for water activities. We don’t want you to feel you need to buy items for camp; we would rather help you to borrow.

Wainui Camp Gear List

Please ensure all of the items below are named. Gear needs to be packed into a sturdy bag.

• Warm Sleeping Bag or Bedding
• Pillow
• Pyjamas
• Toiletries: Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Soap, Shampoo etc.
• Beach Towel and Bath Towel
• Plate, Bowl, Mug, Cutlery (named and in a bag)
• Waterproof Jacket
• Warm Polar Fleece or Woollen Jumpers
• T-Shirts
•  Jerseys
• Shorts
• Trousers
• Socks
• Underwear
• Thermals / Base Layer (polypropylene or wool) for Coasteering/ Kayaking
• Swimming Togs
• Warm Hat / Beanie
• Sunscreen
• Sunglasses
• Sun Hat
• Trainers or Boots for Land Activities
• Sturdy, closed toe footwear for water activities (old trainers are ideal, no thin neoprene shoes)
• Torch
• Small Backpack
• Water Bottle
• Any Required Medication
• Plastic bags for transporting wet kit home

Optional Items

• Camera
• Wetsuit. (Wainui provide wetsuits for coasteering.  Children will need to wear shorts over the top of these wetsuits.)

Not Recommended

Cellphones / electronic items (if taken, these will be collected on arrival), jewellery or money.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us. There will be another notice next week with final details.