Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 10

Kia ora e te whānau! Welcome to the Kōwhai team's week 10 blog.

Hats     

We are now starting to prepare for Term 4 and we are back to wearing hats outside at all times. Please could you ensure that your child has a named hat ready for the first day of Term 4 as they will not be able to participate in outdoor activities without it. Thank you so much for your support with this.

Willowbank

This week we have focused on our fabulous trip to Willowbank. It was a perfect sunny day and we all had a marvellous time. After arriving at Willowbank, the students had morning tea in the barn at the farmyard. We then set off on our fantastic adventure looking at all Willowbank had to offer. Everyone was very respectful of other visitors and the animals and as you can see from the photos below, there was a lot to see and enjoy.

Athletics Day

On Thursday 24th October next term (Week 2), we will be running a whole school Athletics Day to which you are welcome to come and support your child/children. There will be more information to follow next term.

Structured Literacy Books

Finally, we are needing all the structured literacy books that have been sent home to be handed back ready for next term. Please make sure that all of them are returned as soon as you can.

Thank You

We would like to take the opportunity to thank your children for all their hard work this term. It has been a busy time but there has been a lot of fantastic learning along the way. Thank you to you as parents and caregivers for all you do to support us and your children. We get there together!

Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 8

 Kia ora e te whānau! Welcome to the Kōwhai team's week 8 blog.

World Culture Inquiry

During term 3, Kōwhai students have been learning about countries from around the world. Each homegroup has looked at flags and greetings. It has been great to hear students using some of these greetings during our morning roll call! In recent weeks, students chose a country that they were particularly interested in and conducted research to learn more. They gathered this information, recorded it, and then presented it in a poster or slideshow. We are very impressed with how much effort was put into this project and it was wonderful to witness the passion and excitement for learning about different cultures!

Here are some examples of the finished posters:

Willowbank

A reminder about our upcoming Willowbank trip which is taking place on the 20/09/2025 (Week 9, Friday). This week we have shared the social story with students. If you are interested to know more about this trip or think it would be helpful to discuss this at home with your child, here is the social story. 

Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to help with this trip. If you are a parent helper, your child's homegroup teacher will be in touch in the coming week. 

Uniform 

Over the past few weeks, we have noticed that some students have been wearing non-uniform clothes and footwear to school. While we understand that this is sometimes for a good reason, it is important that, where possible, students are following the dress code for Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto. If your child is wearing non-uniform clothes to school, please send an email or note to the homegroup teacher. For more information about school uniforms, please visit this link. Thank you for supporting your child to wear the correct uniform.

Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori

Next week Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto will be celebrating Te Wiki o te reo Māori (Māori Language Week).

Māori Language Week, Te Wiki o te Reo  Māori, is a time for all New Zealanders to celebrate and encourage the use of te reo Māori in the classroom, home, workplace, community and beyond. 

With over 900,000 Māori living in New Zealand and thousands more living in nearby islands and countries, te reo Māori is highly important and valued. Māori Language Week is celebrated through speaking, song, dance, cultural displays and community events. The overarching theme for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks is sustainability. 

When was Māori Language Week created?

Māori Language Week commemorates the presentation of the Māori Language Petition to parliament on 14th September 1972. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori has taken place every year since 1975. It is an opportunity to celebrate, promote and help revitalise the language across Aotearoa.

What is Te Reo Māori?

Te reo Māori is the second most widely spoken language in New Zealand. It was recognised as an official language in 1987.

Like any language, te reo Māori has a lot of interesting characteristics that make it stand out. Unlike the English Alphabet, which has 26 letters, the Māori alphabet has 15 letters or distinct sounds.

• Five vowels: a, e, i, o, u
• Eight consonants: h, k, m, n, p, r, t, w
• Two digraphs (two letters that combine to represent one sound): wh, ng

Short vowel sounds are pronounced as follows:	Long vowel sounds are pronounced as follows:
a as in about	ā as in fast
e as in enter	ē as in led
i as in eat	ī as in peek
o as in awful	ō as in worn
u as in to	ū as in moon

 

Māori Language Week gives all Kiwis an opportunity to learn some basic Māori words and phrases. It gives students who speak Māori the opportunity to further celebrate and share their knowledge in the classroom. There are also community events that take place across New Zealand to celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.

For more information about how you and your whānau (family) can support Te Wiki o te reo Māori, please visit this website.

Reference - https://www.twinkl.co.nz/event/maori-language-week-2024

Contact Details

This is just a reminder that, if there are any changes to your contact details, please let the office know as soon as possible so we have the up-to-date information to hand. Thank you!

Staying Safe Online: Scams

People in New Zealand are losing millions of dollars to scammers each year – and this is just the figures reported to Netsafe so the actual figure is likely much higher!

It’s important that you and your tamariki know what to look out for to avoid scams. Netsafe have put their best advice together to help you stay safe online and stay away from scams.

Read their scam tips here. 

Have a great weekend. 

Ngā mihi nui, 

The Kōwhai Team. 

Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 6

Kia ora whānau,

The term is progressing rapidly and we are extremely busy with our learning. Here is an update on some of the things we have been doing.

Inquiry

For Inquiry, we are now focusing on learning about world cultures and everyone has chosen a country they are interested in to research and will then create a presentation of facts and information about that country. This may be a leaflet, a poster or a digital representation. Some of the things we have been finding out about are flags, languages, climate, population, animals and food and drink. The children are really engaged in this topic and are learning valuable research skills, looking for and locating relevant information online. Below you can see some of the children making flags from different countries using mini construction bricks.

Writing

We are focusing on descriptive writing over the next few weeks, using our five senses to describe a scene. What do we see, hear, smell, feel and taste? In this way, we can create a piece of writing with lots of rich language which creates a moment in time that we really feel part of. We started with describing ice cream which involved having a taste tester that was very much enjoyed by everyone and really helped to motivate the descriptive writers in us!

Willowbank Trip

As you will know, we are preparing to go on a trip to Willowbank on Friday 20th September as part of our inquiry on world cultures. Thank you to all the offers of parent help! We now have more than enough which is fantastic. Here is a link to our social story for this trip. Please do take your time to go through this with your child/children.

Cyber Safety

Staying Safe Online: Bullying

One in five young people in New Zealand have been the target of online bullying – it can happen to anyone, and

it can be hard for parents and whānau to deal with. Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto takes online bullying seriously

and would encourage you to chat to your tamariki’s teacher if you have any concerns about online bullying.

Visit Netsafe’s Online Bullying Advice for Parents to read more.