Pōhutukawa Update, Term 4, Week 8

 

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

We are now racing towards the end of the school year with 3 and a half weeks to go until the finish line! In keeping with that analogy we are just one week away from our trip to the  MASH Tough Kid Challenge fun run on Wednesday, December 6. Thank you very much to those parents who have offered to join us on the trip. We will be speaking to the tamariki more about the trip this week, and also sending out more information in a separate post. Please read on for some very important updates for you to discuss with your tamariki. We hope you also enjoy some photos, and a link to a news article featuring some of our akonga that is just awesome, tau ke!

Road Patrol

For our Year 6's, being a member of the Road Patrol is one of the key ways they can show leadership in our senior school. It is also a wonderful way to hone time-management skills, and perform a valuable service for both our kura and the community; rain, hail, or shine! It was great to have our Year 5 patrollers out completing their training with Constable Meg last week, and they are now on patrol before and after school until the end of the year. Thank you for your support in ensuring they are aware of their days on patrol.

We would also like to take this chance to acknowledge our Year 6 Road Patrol members for their service this year in keeping everyone safe at the crossing. Ngā mihi ki a koutou mo tō mahi, thank you all for your hard work.

Cycle Safe and Homelink Road Safety

It's been rawe, awesome to see our Year 6 tamariki out there on their bikes and embracing challenges with the Cycle Safe team from the CCC. Nau mai te wero!

It's always such a beneficial programme for our Year 6's to learn the benefits of cycling and how to ride with confidence and be road-wise. This year they were lucky to have the additional opportunity to sit in the cab of a large truck to get a front-seat view of a driver's blind spots when driving a large vehicle, and thinking about the implications of that when they are on a bike; a very cool experience!

In addition to Cycle Safe, all students have also been working through a Homelink Road Safety book in class. Home Link Road Safety introduced this programme for teachers to use in schools. The major emphasis of the programme is the pedestrian area, which accounts for approximately 50% of injuries to children on our roads. The following is a message to whānau from Homelink:

"It is unfortunately still true that road crashes are the number one killer of children in New Zealand. The Traffic environment was designed by and for adults. It is an adult responsibility to keep children safe. For that reason, Homesafe Educational Resources Ltd. and local sponsors are enabling the message to be taken from the schools into homes. Homelink will assist parents and caregivers in the development of safe road practices. Together we make a difference."

It would be a great idea to follow up on these important lessons with your tamariki at home as well to ask them what they learned and what they might need to remember about road safety.

Transition Visits

As busy as it is at the end of the year, we are also preparing our students for next year with 'Transition Visits'. For the past few weeks, we have been giving our incoming 2024 Year 5's a chance to be with the 2024 Year 6's as a cohort and have some Learning Through Play sessions together. This week our outgoing Year 6's will be spending the afternoon with next year's Year 8 students to get a taste of life in the intermediate Hub. These visits are a really valuable chance for the tamariki to get a feel for the learning environment, reconnect with some of their friends, and also get answers to some questions they may have about 2024. We encourage you to talk with your tamariki about these visits and start the conversations about 2024 if you feel they're ready. Any momentum we can build now to set everyone up for a successful start to next year is valuable indeed. Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe, we are all rowing the waka together.

Kaitiaki Crew News Article

How wonderful, miharo to see the members of our hardworking and passionate Kaitiaki Crew given their 'moment in the sun' this week with the publication of an online news article on Newsline. The article, titled 'Beckenham Students Nurturing Nature' is about our ongoing partnership with the Council Community Partnerships Rangers and Community Waterways Partnership.  It's a wonderful way to promote and celebrate the taonga of our spring-fed ponds for which our school is named, and recognise the mahi of some of our dedicated 'kaitiaki'. Nā mātou he rereke te ao, the world is different because of us! You can read the article here.

Kia pai te wīki,

The Pōhutukawa Team

Pōhutukawa Update, Term 4, Week 6

 

Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all

The first half of the term has sailed past us, and this week you will receive the end-of-year school report for your tamariki. We encourage you to take the time to sit down and read through this with them and celebrate the successes they have had. The General Comment and Learning Posts are from the homegroup teacher and are written directly to your child as a celebration of their work. The report is a wonderful opportunity to read and reflect on 2023 as well as look ahead to next year, be they staying in Pōhutukawa or moving on, and start to think about and discuss together some goals and aspirations they may have for 2024. If you have anything you'd like to discuss please send your home group teacher an email to arrange a time for a call, or to come in for a kōrero, a chat. We have a lot of fantastic things to look forward to as we approach the end of the school year. Please read on for some very important information regarding some education outside of the classroom that requires your attention.

Polynesian Navigators Inquiry and Minecraft Education 

This term for our Inquiry topic we have been learning about how Polynesian navigators used (and still use) mātauranga, knowledge passed down through generations, such as the movement of stars, tide and wind patterns, and of bird migrations to help them safely sail the vast Moana Nui a Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean.

In keeping with our concept of Innovation, we are also taking a deep dive into the amazing boat-building technology of the Polynesians, specifically the waka hourua, the great double-hulled waka that brought the first people to Aotearoa. Students have been exploring how to use Minecraft Education as a tool for designing and building a waka hourua. We look forward to sharing some of the end-results of the learning, soon

There has been so much learning happening for everyone around this fascinating topic already, and we encourage you to ask the students what they now understand about the technology and navigation of the early Polynesian people, He taonga te ako - the treasure is learning.

Kōtuitui Football Update

Over the past 3 weeks the students have been enjoying the Kōtuitui football programme coordinated by New Zealand Football. It's been wonderful to see all the students participating in the sport and developing their skills under the guidance of a coach from Mainland Football. We hope you enjoy some photos of the sessions.

Parent Help Needed - MASH Tough Kid - (Delivered by Primary Sports Canterbury)

On Wednesday 6th December from 12 pm - 3 pm, the Pōhutukawa team will be traveling to South Brighton Domain to take part in a fun-filled obstacle course along with other schools from all around the Canterbury region. MASH Tough Kid is an urban-style obstacle course for primary & intermediate-aged students. Obstacles include tire runs, hurdle jumps, water slides, hay bale climbs, and more. This will be a fantastic way to celebrate the end of a wonderful year with the tamariki, which has indeed had its challenges.

 Our focus for the trip will be on participation and will be doing everything we can to support all the tamariki to partake in the course up to wherever their point of challenge lies. Here is a short introductory video that we watched with the tamariki today to whet their appetite.

For this trip to go ahead, we will need the support of whānau. If you can come along and help us on the day, please email your home group teacher. Thank you in advance for the tautoko, support to ensure this is an awesome end-of-year celebration for all. We look forward to hearing from you!

Year 6 whānau (only) - Cycle Safe begins next week

Next week all of our Year 6 students will be taking part in the Cycle Safe Programme at school, which entails them riding their bikes around Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto, and on local roads, whilst supervised.

Your child will be participating in this course during one of the following three sessions:

Session 1 - Monday 20th November & Tuesday 21st November

Session 2 - Wednesday 22nd November & Thursday 23rd November 

Session 3 - Friday 24th November & Monday 27th November

Your child/ren will be bringing a notice home this week outlining the session/dates that they will be participating.

On these days, students should bring the following to school:

• Their bicycle (in good working order)

• Their helmet (in good working order)

• A lock to secure these items to the school bike racks                                                                                                                                   

Please ensure that your child comes to school on these days wearing suitable clothing for the weather.

If it rains and it is unsuitable for the children to go out on their cycles, the remaining sessions will be classroom-based.  

For those who do not have their own, a number of bicycles and helmets are available through the programme.

Have a great week, kia pai te wiki.

The Pōhutukawa Team