Kahikatea Team Newsletter
Term 1 2019
Kia ora koutou,
Greetings to you all and a very warm welcome to this new year. It is a pleasure to be able to meet with you and your child/children during learning conferences. We are looking forward to a full and flourishing year ahead!
Meet our teaching team:
Amber Donovan
amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz
Jules May
jules.may@beckenham.school.nz
Charlotte Verity
charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz
Anna Reid
ann.reid@beckenham.school.nz
Kristika Burridge
kristika.burridge@beckenham.school.nz
The First Weeks of School
Our focus in the first weeks of school will be about building relationships and getting to know each other. This will include supporting students to become familiar with daily routines including how to use the inside and outside spaces, how to move around safely and sensibly, how we use resources and materials and learning how to work together. Becoming familiar with the sequence of and expectations within a day of learning at school is important for all our tamariki. If you have any questions or concerns please let your child’s home group teacher know.
Daily Routines:
The first bell rings at 8.30am. At our hub entrance there will be a teacher to meet and greet children and families as they arrive. If your child/children arrive before 8.30am they will need to wait outside as this allows time for teachers to prepare for their teaching day.
We encourage you to support your child’s independence by allowing them to carry and unpack their school bag and place it into one of the green or blue cubbies (at the back of the Tahaki Hub).
Lunch boxes, drink bottles and reading folders will be stored inside the hub.
Activities will be set up in hubs at 8.30 each morning. Once your child has put away their things, he/she is welcome to choose an activity or to go outside to play.
All children are to come to their home space at 8.55. If you arrive after this time it is very important that you report to the office to sign in. If you need to collect your child from school during the day you will need to sign them out at the office.
Home Learning
During the first two weeks as our teaching and learning programmes are being established there will be no expectation for our tamariki to be completing home learning tasks. More detailed Information about what our Home Learning will involve will be shared with whanau soon and we will let whanau know how parents can support us within the hub.
Topic
Through a range of learning experiences and across a range of different curriculum areas we will be learning about the concept of Innovation. We look forward to sharing our learning goals for this with you soon.
Parent Help
To help us settle into our learning routines we would appreciate if offers of parent/whanau help are delayed for the first few weeks. If you are happy to work ‘behind the scenes’ to put away reading books etc we would very appreciate that. Please make contact with one of us and we’ll let you know how you can help.
Mini Ball
We are offering our tamariki the opportunity to play mini ball in Terms 1&4 at Pioneer Stadium.
For us to provide this opportunity, we need the help of some wonderful parents who would be keen to coach one of the teams. This would look like providing a training session at school one lunchtime each week and attending the weekly games. I organise the management side of things; sending out game times etc each week.
If you are keen to help, please send me an email ASAP as the games begin early in Term 1. This will enable me to advertise this to the children and organise the teams in the first couple of weeks.
I very much look forward to hearing from you!
Kind regards
Anna Reid -
anna.reid@beckenham.school.nz
Karakia to start the day
This karakia is used across our kura to start the day and for formal gatherings, celebrations and meetings.
“This is an ancient karakia that was used when you were out at sea and a storm was approaching. However, the storm is a metaphor for any life threatening force. It is now widely used at the start of the day or at the start of a meeting”.
Whakataka te hau ki te uru,
Whakataka te hau ki te tonga.
Kia mākinakina ki uta,
Kia mātaratara ki tai.
E hī ake ana te atākura he tio,
he huka, he hauhunga.
Haumi e! Hui e! Tāiki e!
Translation
Cease the winds from the west,
Cease the winds from the south,
Let the breeze blow over the land,
Let the breeze blow over the ocean,
Let the red tipped dawn come with a sharpened air,
A touch of frost, a promise of a glorious day.
We wish you all the best, for a very happy and successful year together!
Arohanui, Kahikatea Team.
