Pōhutukawa Team News Term 4 Week 4 2026

 Kia ora koutou, 

It's been a busy few weeks in Pōhutukawa, with plenty of learning, new experiences and exciting activities happening across the hub!

SMART Assessments 

Over the past few weeks, our tamariki have been getting familiar with SMART, the new nationwide assessment platform. Students have been completing online assessments in Maths, Reading and Writing. It has been a new experience for everyone, and we are proud of the way our students have approached these assessments, showing perseverance and giving them their best effort. Feedback has been that students prefer the new system, which is a positive! 

Kapa Haka Performance 

A huge congratulations to our tamariki who performed at assembly! Students proudly shared two pieces, a waiata and a haka. It was wonderful to see their confidence, enthusiasm and pride as they performed in front of their peers and whānau. Ka rawe, Pōhutukawa!

Pōhutukawa Takes on the South Island Nationals for Jump Jam!

For the first time ever, a group of our talented Year 5/6 students represented Beckenham at the National South Islands Jump Jam Competition, held at Cashmere High School Performing Arts Centre last Saturday.

The team took to the stage with confidence and enthusiasm, delivering an outstanding performance. Their hard work, dedication and commitment to rehearsals certainly paid off, and they should be incredibly proud of what they achieved.

The team was awarded three Merit Certificates for their outstanding Technical Execution, Presentation and Costumes – a fantastic achievement!

Kate is incredibly proud of the team and the way they represented our school. It was wonderful to see their hard work come together on such a big stage. Ka pai tō mahi, team! What an amazing experience and achievement!

Scientists in Action! 

There has been plenty of hands-on learning happening across the class, where we have been busy exploring the wonderful world of science!

We started by investigating the proteins that make up milk, learning about what milk contains before having a go at making our own. Some brave scientists even volunteered for a taste test!

We also had lots of fun making flubber, exploring the science behind how different substances react when mixed together. We learnt that adding an activator causes the long polymer chains in glue to link together, changing the mixture from a runny liquid into a stretchy, squishy substance!

Our scientific investigations haven't stopped there. We have also made our own glow worms and are currently growing crystals, observing how they form and change over time.

It has been fantastic to see the curiosity, questioning and excitement from our young scientists as they make predictions, experiment and discover new things!

Potting Day

A huge thank you to everyone who pitched in for our mammoth potting day! Thanks to our amazing Beckenham students, fantastic volunteers and the generous support of Jamie Stevenson and our sponsors ACCOR, we successfully potted up around 900 native seedlings for the Trees for Survival initiative. As the saying goes, "Many hands make light work" and "We get there together!" your helping hands made a massive difference. We are now officially set up and ready for our next round of native tree planting in Canterbury! We also had an absolute blast sprucing up our garden area! It’s looking fantastic, fully refreshed, and ready to thrive for the upcoming summer growing season. Thank you again to everyone who brought their hard work and great energy!

Sun Hats

With the warmer weather arriving, a friendly reminder that all students need to bring their sun hats to school each day. Hats are an important part of keeping our tamariki safe while enjoying time outdoors. Please help your child remember to pack their named hat each morning.

Student Council Fun Run – Friday 27 November 

Our Student Council are continuing their mahi to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters Christchurch as part of our Shaun the Sheep art project.

This term, the Student Council are organising a sponsored Fun Run on Friday 27 November, from 12:00–12:40 pm. Please note that this date has been brought forward by one week.

Students who wish to participate can sign up and gather sponsors who will donate based on the number of laps they complete around the school field in 30 minutes. Running or walking are both welcome!

Whānau are also more than welcome to join their children on the day. There will hopefully be some exciting spot prizes up for grabs too!

Participation is completely optional, but we would love to see as many tamariki involved as possible in supporting this wonderful cause.

Click here to sign your child up for the Fun Run!

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. We are looking forward to another exciting few weeks of learning in Pōhutukawa!

Ngā mihi,
The Pōhutukawa Team

Pōhutukawa Team News Term 4 Week 2 2026

 

Kia ora koutou,

What a fantastic start to Term 4 Pōhutukawa has had! The students have transitioned well into the new term, are working hard and consistently demonstrating the Beckenham Kete Values.

As we are now in Term 4, a reminder that students are expected to wear their school hats whenever they are outside. These must be plain red or plain black, wide-brimmed or bucket hats. We also have sunscreen available in the hub for students to apply.

Term 4 is a busy one, with lots of exciting things happening! Here is a list of events coming up over the next few weeks.

Week Two

• Athletics Day (Friday)

Week Three

• Labour Day – no school (Monday)

• Pōhutukawa Kapa Haka performance at Celebration Assembly (Friday, 9:45 am)

• Jump Jam Competition Team – Nationals performance (Saturday)

Week Four

• South Zones Athletics (Monday)

• Choir Music Festival rehearsal (Friday)

On Wednesday, we held two athletics events: the middle-distance event at school and the long jump at Hillview School. Pōhutukawa students did exceptionally well, and they should be very proud of their efforts!

In class, students have been completing a range of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) activities. They have really enjoyed these tasks, and it has been fantastic to see them collaborating, sharing ideas and letting their creativity shine.

Growing Pastures in Chloe’s CCC! In Chloe’s CCC, we have been learning all about pastures and the important role they play in farming. We discovered that pastures are fields of plants grown for grazing animals and that they contain much more than just grass! We learnt that good-quality pastures are essential for keeping cows healthy and helping them produce plenty of milk. To put our learning into action, we planted our very own pastures for our cows! We are growing a mixture of rocket, alfalfa, amaranth and wheatgrass. We are looking forward to watching our pastures grow and seeing how the different plants develop!

Over the weekend, some of our students participated in the Crater Rim Trail Run. Well done to everyone who took part!

Ngā mihi,
Pōhutukawa Team

Ngā mihi,
Pōhutukawa Team

Pōhutukawa Team News Term 3 Week 10 2026

Kia ora Whānau,

What an incredible finish to the term! Over the past fortnight, the Pōhutukawa Team has been buzzing with talent, brave public speaking, and hard work as the students pushed themselves to finish the term on a high note.

Here is a look at what we've been up to.

Speech Competition

We held our speech finals, and the level of confidence and argument on display was outstanding. A massive congratulations to Luna, who took out first place. Public speaking is no easy feat, especially when taking a stand on an issue, so a huge shout-out to every single student who gave it a go. We are so proud of your effort!

Beckenham's Got Talent

The talent across our team has been on full display! A huge congratulations to Aubrey, Beckett, Ruby, Mia, Ethan, Laurence, Louis, Felix, and Kit for making it through to the Beckenham's Got Talent competition on Friday. We have been so excited to support them as they step into the spotlight!

Planting at the Ponds

Our students headed down to the ponds this week to get their hands dirty for a great cause! They worked hard putting new plants in the ground to help care for our local ecosystem, showing fantastic teamwork and pride in looking after our environment.

Sunhats for Next Term

Sunhats will be needed for outdoor play next term as the weather warms up. Please make sure your child has a clearly named hat ready in their bag so they can safely enjoy the sunshine.

Important Reminders and Happy Holidays!

With the final bell for the term just around the corner, we want to say a big thank you for all your support over the last ten weeks. We hope you and your tamariki get to enjoy a relaxing, safe, and well-deserved holiday break together.

Enjoy the break, stay safe, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed for Term 4!

Warm regards,

The Pōhutukawa Team

Pōhutukawa Team News Term 3 Week 8 2026

 

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

Read on for news and information about what has been happening around the hub in the last two weeks!. Have a great weekend everyone, kia pai ngā rā whakata.

Wow what a busy time we have had in the Pōhutukawa team! Over the last few weeks we have done Cycle Safe, Food for Thought Programme, Special Visit from Ross Meder (Volunteer Ambulance Officer), Kiwi Competition, Beckenham's got talent and many more! 

In class we have been learning about Body Systems. We got our hands on some clay and made some brains! What a fun wee hands on activity to focus in on the main component of our bodies here are some pictures of the creative outcome. 

Operation! 

We have begun the task of building our own version of the game Operation. We will be doing our own copper wiring, wiring it all up together and connecting it all to LED lights and a battery pack. This is how were getting on so far. 

Student Council News

On Sept 18th, next Friday, the Student Council has organised a Heritage Day to celebrate our diverse cultures. Children are invited to come to school dressed in something to represent their family's heritage. This could be a costume, something special about the country or simply wear the colours from the country's flag. Please bring a gold coin for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is an organisation that helps children and young people build confidence, resilience and positive relationships through mentoring.

The programme matches young people with caring adult or older-youth mentors who spend regular time together, talking, sharing activities and simply being there. These supportive relationships can make a real difference to a young person’s sense of belonging, self-confidence and ability to navigate life’s challenges.

Privacy and Social Media

Actively managing your tamariki’s privacy settings on the social networks they use can go a long way

towards keeping control of their personal information.

Any information that is easily available online, whether it’s an email address, date of birth, or pictures,

could end up causing harm if it gets into the wrong hands.

To help you navigate privacy on social media, Netsafe has put together a guide on

How to Use Privacy Settings on Social Networks. 

Have a lovely weekend, Ngā mihi nui. Kia Kaha.

The Pōhutukawa Teaching Team

Chris, Chloe, Nick, Kate, Rae, Megan and Laura

Pōhutukawa Team News Term 3 Week 6 2026

 

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

It's been great to see us starting to get back to our usual numbers here at kura after a few weeks of sickness throughout the team. Thank you again, whānau, for keeping tamariki at home who are unwell during this season of coughs and colds. It was just wonderful to see the sun out last! and have everyone outside being active and playing sports. Let's hope for some more sunshine! We also have the Duathlon coming up this Wednesday.Term 3 continues to be a busy and exciting term!

Christchurch City Council Cycle Safe Programme

Our Year 6 students recently completed the popular Cycle Safe programme, and what a success it was! Despite battling some challenging Christchurch winds, our tamariki showed fantastic resilience and determination as they mastered essential riding skills.

After practicing their control and signaling on site, the students put their training to the test by cycling out on the live roads around the Beckenham neighbourhood. A massive thank you to the awesome instructors from the Christchurch City Council team for their expert guidance, patience, and high energy. Our kids learned so much and had an absolute blast! ka rawe, Year 6!

Some feedback from the students:

L said - "They were very good at explaining what we were doing and very clear. They led by example. They showed us how to turn."

E said - " I know how to indicate when I turn right and it was a lot of fun!"

M said - "I learned road rules I never knew, especially the give way one off a side road."

Volley Ball Tournament: Selwyn Sport Centre, Rolleston

What an incredible day of volleyball! Our Year 5/6 Beckenham teams served up an absolute masterclass at the recent tournament, showing outstanding grit, growth, and team spirit.

As the tournament progressed, the kids adapted brilliantly, learning new skills on the fly, sharpening their rotation, and working seamlessly as a team. Their hard work paid off in the ultimate showcase: an all-Beckenham final battling it out for both 1st and 2nd place!

A massive thank you to our amazing coaches and parents, whose guidance and energy kept the players inspired all day long. Congratulations to all of our fantastic tamariki for representing Beckenham with so much enthusiasm and heart!

The bus may have been late and it was trying to rain but that didn't dampen our spirits! 

Food for thought Programme

Our first sessions in the Food for Thought programme got under way today for four of five of our home groups. We looked at different types of vegetables, fruits, grains, proteins and milk products and what they are good for for our bodies. We had a good time working through an interactive quiz and learnt the colours of different foods and how they help different areas of health for the body. 

It was great to see students engaging in the topic and comparing liked foods with their peers. Lots of conversation around healthy foods and fast foods as well! We look forward to continuing these sessions throughout the week and having our supermarket visits on Thursday and Friday!

Inquiry Unit

Our current inquiry focus is on body systems. We have looked at flowers, mushrooms and now we are moving into the human body.

We were extremely fortunate to have Ross, Kate's dad, come and visit us with his torso skeleton and fully articulated skeleton to help in the understanding of body systems.

He focused on the following:

• The human respiratory system includes the trachea, lungs, diaphragm, ribs, and intercostal muscles. The structure of each part supports its role in breathing (e.g. the ribs form a protective cage, while the diaphragm and intercostal muscles draw air into the chest cavity).

• The human circulatory system moves blood around the body and includes the heart, blood, and blood vessels. The structure of these parts relates to their function.

• The digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems work together to supply oxygen, water, and nutrients to the human body.

Duathlon

Concentration, stickability, grit and a desire to do their best! All words that describe the supreme effort our duathletes showed on Wednesday afternoon.

Kapa Haka

Finishing on a high note! It was absolutley fabulous to see Franklin having a super time at Kapa Haka. 

Have a fabulous fortnight, until next time

The Pōhutukawa Teaching Team

Rae, Chris, Chloe, Nick, and Kate