Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all on this chilly Friday. The grey day was certainly made more colourful with all of the creative Book Day costumes! The Media Team has been busy today taking photos of the array of characters, so keep an eye on Hero for those. Thank you for reading on as we have a lot of news to share, as well as some upcoming events.
Food for Thought update... and a "Super" Special Guest
As we posted on Hero earlier in the week, the Food for Thought program that we had planned to do this week was unfortunately cancelled due to their instructor being unwell. We are looking to rebook the program for later in the term, and will keep you all posted. Thank you again to the parents who had initially given up their time to come and support the trip. We do hope you can come along if it goes ahead next month.
As it turned out there was a silver lining to this cloud, as we were lucky to have a visit from Jon Nabbs - a self-described 'life enthusiast' who came to talk to us all about his incredible endeavours. Jon enthralled the students (and teachers too) with stories of running across Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, a journey of approximately 8,000Km (around 195 marathons), with winter temperatures as low as -50 degrees Celsius!
Jon also shared that the motivation for his journey is to raise money in support of child cancer patients across New Zealand and Canada to have access to services so they can continue to feel in his words "they have some control as they fight a fight they shouldn't have to fight". His talk was a wonderful example of our 'We Make a Difference' value for the kids, and we're sure they will remember the story of the muesli bar and the grizzly bear for the rest of their lives!
Jon is currently attempting a Guinness World Record for the fastest person to run the length of Aotearoa, and is again using this as a chance to raise money and awareness for children fighting cancer. We will be following his journey, and we wish him all the very best! Nau mai te wero, Jon.
You can find out more, donate, and follow his journey on his website https://www.jonnabbs.com/ and also watch the clip that he shared with the students by clicking here.
Winter Sports
Starting next week, we will be running our winter sports programme on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The tamariki will be either participating in non-competitive or competitive hockey, netball, or football.
Non-competitive sports will take place at school on Tuesday afternoons and will be supported by the Year 8 Sport Leaders.
Competitive sports teams will play in the South Zone Winter Sports competition on Thursday afternoons. If your child is on one of these teams, you will soon receive a Hero post with all of the information you need to know. Students who are not on a competitive team will be doing alternative sports programme here at school.
Cross Country
We were blessed with beautiful weather for this year's Cross Country, and it was so great to see the students out there giving it heaps! Amazing also to have the chance to send 24 of our keen bean runners to the Zones. A huge congratulations to all of our students who embraced the chilly challenge on Wednesday morning at the Zone Cross Country. It's a big achievement to qualify for this race, and the nervous excitement that accompanies the build-up is such a great opportunity to live our value 'We Love Challenge'. Well done to all of the competitors for representing Beckenham so admirably, and a special congratulations to Laura, Lily, Jayme, Max, and Haydn, who will be representing our kura at the Canterbury Cross Country next month. A massive achievement! Watch this space...
Latin American and Pasifika Musical Extravaganza
Yesterday the students were treated to an eclectic performance of Latin American Music by a visiting musician, supported wonderfully by our very own budding musicians Ben and Noah . The concert ebbed and flowed as the audience listened to, and sometimes participated in musical numbers from Chile, Brazil, Samoa, Aotearoa... and more. What a wonderful way to show 'We Love Challenge' for Ben and Noah who embraced the challenge of getting up in front of their peers with very little preparation to perform. Tau ke, awesome.
Muddy Months
As we head into winter we are noticing the inevitable increase of muddy shoes and clothes as students come back from play and lunch, having played sports and games on the Park. We will be asking students to take off muddy shoes before entering the Hub and lining them up neatly outside the door. We are lucky to have wonderful underfloor heating in the classrooms, so feet stay nice and warm, and as an added benefit our carpet stays mud-free! In addition to this, we suggest that if your child is coming home with very muddy clothes, please consider supplying them with a spare pair of school shorts and a spare school top for them to change into once they finish their games. We appreciate your support with this.
Have a great weekend everyone, whatever you get up to. Kia pai tō rā whakatā.
