Friday, 23 May 2025

Pōhutukawa News Term 2 Week 4 2025


Kia ora all, 

For the last fortnight the focus certainly has been on whats happening outside of the classroom rather than whats happening in it! Winter Sport has had the children pumped up and ready to go and throw the school Cross country on top of that they have been about ready to explode! The news this week is a lot of sport and some colder weather notices to keep things ticking over. 

Winter Sports

Our first outing yesterday for Winter Sport and it was awesome to see all of the students heading out in their Beckenham colours to represent the school! We had a great time and are looking forward to getting 10 weeks of solid sport in on a Thursday afternoon. We have scheduled in practice times for Wednesday afternoons so please remind students the will need their winter sport equipment on both of those days. 

For those who do not head off site for sport, there are plenty of options at school in the non competitive sports. We had Jump Jam, Dance, Skipping, Korfball, Table Tennis and Badminton on the go! Again, just fantastic to see everyone trying something new or giving something a go, getting active and blowing out the cob webs from being inside on some of these wet  days! 



Cross Country

We were blessed with beautiful sunny, but chilly! weather for this year's Cross Country, and it was so great to see the students out there giving it heaps!  A huge congratulations to all of our students who embraced the opportunity to push themselves and got stuck into the event, it is such a great opportunity to live our value "We Love Challenge". Results of the Cross country will be posted soon to Hero, fingers crossed we could have some amazing representatives form the Pōhutukawa Team heading to Zones! 






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. Slippers are most welcome to be worn inside only as well. We are noticing many students wearing very little in the cold mornings as well. Can you please remind them to be wearing their school polar fleece to keep warm! 

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.

The Pōhutukawa Teaching Team

Chris, Rae, Nick, Gayle, Megan and Georgie

Thursday, 8 May 2025

Pōhutukawa News Term 2 Week 2 2025

 Ngā mihi e te whānau,

Warm greetings to you all. We have had a wonderful 2 weeks back in Pōhutukawa. The weather has been mostly welcoming, apart from the wet blast last week, and the students in great spirits! We've hit the ground running this term (literally) with some Cross Country practice. We all noticed how enthusiastic the students have taken to their practice. long may it last! Please read on for some news from the team, and some updates on the term. Have a great weekend everyone, kia pai ngā rā whakata.

Cross Curriculum Classes

We love alliteration in Pōhutukawa, and our "cool curriculum classes" continue with some changes for Term 2. Gayle is delving into Science and looking at The Human Brain this term, Rae is covering Digital Technology and continuing with Coding. Chris is taking a closer look into Art History with the A-Z of Visual Art, Megan is continuing with well being and Nick with his ever creative take on Digital Technology. There is a lot of learning happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

Winter Sports

Our winter sports programme kicks off in Week 4. Every student has elected to join, and will be involved, in either competitive or non-competitive hockey, netball, or football. We still need parent assistance both on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons (approx. 1:30 pm - 3 pm) to help support our tamariki in the winter sports programme. In particular this year we have a large number of students who have signed up for the football competition and require parent help to make sure every team is supported at their games. If you think you could help us at this time, please get in touch with your home group teacher. Your support is hugely appreciated. We get there together, mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe!

Legacy Dance Group


We are really excited to announce the availability of some hip hop dance classes, run at school for once lunchtime per week during Term 2. These dance sessions are taken by Legacy Dance Studio dance teachers. There will be a Year 3 and 4 class and a Year 5 and 6 class.

All contact information for Legacy Dance Studio can be found on the flyer attached. Please contact Tash at Legacy Dance for more information.


Book Character Day


Time to get creative and dress up as your favourite Book Character! As part of our readathon, we are excited to have a book character dress up day on Friday 16th May. We are looking forward to seeing everyone having fun and getting creative with their characters! I wonder what Cade will be this time around? Remember it is a book character dress up, not a movie dress up. If your unable to dress up, then the school uniform is to be worn, as it is not just a mufti day. 

Have a restful weekend
Nga Mihi

The Pōhutukawa Teaching Team
Chris, Nick, Rae, Gayle, Megan and Georgie