Pōhutukawa News - Week 4, Term 2, 2021

 Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all.

Another busy week in the books! We finished the week on a bit of a wet and cold note, although it did give the tamariki a chance for an indoor-only Learning Through Play session to wind up our week. These sessions are such a nice way for us to spend each Friday afternoon as the students explore, experiment, discover, and solve problems in imaginative and playful ways. As teachers, we really enjoy guiding the children and encouraging them to display the key competencies in authentic and student-centred ways. 

House Points

This week we've been excited to reintroduce the use of House Points at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto. We will have a fortnightly values focus, and house points are being given out to children who specifically display this value. The points accumulate in teams in a running tally and will culminate in a shield presentation at waiata assembly for the winning house every second Friday. Each morning excitement abounds as the tally is shared in the Daily Notices. Our focus for this fortnight is our kete value of 'We Care'. 

Teachers, kaiako, are on the lookout for our values in action in the playground, in the classroom and around the Hub. Happily, we have already noticed a huge lift in tamariki showing awareness of this important value. We encourage you to talk about this initiative at home over the next week or so, reflecting on how we can all show that 'We Care' in our daily lives. Arohaina te tangata me te taiao, we care for people and our environment.

Winter Sports

Our winter sports programme kicks off next week. Every student has elected to join, and will be involved in either competitive or development hockey, netball or football. We are still looking for parent assistance on Wednesday afternoons from 2pm - 3pm to help support our tamariki in the development groups. No expertise in any of these sports is required. All we would ask is to support the children in running some skills based activities with the support of our teachers. If you think you could help us at this time, please get in touch with your child/ren's home group teacher. Your support would be hugely appreciated.

Information for Competitive Winter Sport players

Competitive winter sport starts next Thursday and will run for ten weeks.

Children who are not in a competitive team will choose from three options back at school. 

Outcome

The desired outcome of our winter sport programme is to provide an opportunity for interested children to play sport. The primary aim is for children to have an enjoyable experience. It is awesome that we have children trying a sport for the first time or joining a team in a sport that isn’t what they would usually play on a Saturday morning. To accommodate for potential variance of ability, adults are instructed to be flexible and make adaptations to the game as necessary. 

Sportsmanship

We set high expectations for our tamariki around sportsmanship. A model we often use is The 3 Rs:

Respect for my team

Respect for the opposition

Respect for the referee and the rules of the game

Game Locations

Most games start at 1:45 and children should be back at school for 3:00. 

Hockey - Beckenham Park (The 7/8 A grade team will play at Sydenham Park on turf) 

Football - Hansens Park 

Netball - a variety of local schools. 

All travelling teams will be walking to their game, (the ⅞ A grade hockey team will travel by car). They will be accompanied by teaching staff and/or parents. A huge thank you to the parents who have volunteered their time for this. 

Covid- 19 Guidelines

All schools will be keeping records of children and adults at each location in case we need to do contact tracing. 

Safety Gear and uniforms

Uniforms will be issued by Anne Chin at the library. Instructions will be given via the daily notices. 

Essential safety gear

Hockey - mouth guard and shin guards are essential

Football - shin guards and football boots.

Netball - short nails and no jewellery.

If your child needs shin guards or football boots, these can be lent out from school if required. Hockey players will also be able to borrow a hockey stick if needed. 

ALL CHILDREN WHO CARRY PERSONAL MEDICATION, SUCH AS AN ASMTHA INHALER MUST CARRY THIS WITH THEM TO THEIR GAME. ANY MEDICATION USUALLY HELD AT THE OFFICE WILL BE COLLECTED BY A TEACHER.

If you have any questions, you can contact myself or the teacher in charge of the sport that your child is playing. 

Football - Jenny and Steve

Hockey - Gayle

Netball - Caitlin and Anna