Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 3

Kia ora whānau!

Welcome to our very first blog of the year. We have had a great start to the term with the children getting to know each other and all the staff in the Kōwhai team. We have had lots of fun doing Discovery every day and also cooling down in the afternoons doing water play (see photos below). We have also been learning how to log on to the Chromebooks and how to access the online resources that we have in the Kōwhai team.

Resources

We are on the lookout for spare electronic parts for children to deconstruct. The children have been loving taking bits of machinery apart and discovering how they have been put together, learning lots along the way.

We are also needing more cardboard boxes for construction. The children have been creating all sorts of things with cardboard boxes of all different sizes such as houses, monsters and cars and we are now in need of more boxes such as toothpaste boxes, tissue boxes, chocolate boxes, muesli bar boxes and so on. If you have any that you are willing to donate to the school, please bring them in and deliver them to your child's homegroup teacher. Thank you so much!

Access To The School

We would like to encourage you to access the school grounds by the park side or the main Sandwich Road entrance by the flag. The BOSCO gate access is meant for BOSCO use only before and after school and remains locked at all other times. Thank you for your understanding and support with this.

Top Team

We have organised a Top Team event for our Kōwhai children this term which is very exciting! Weather permitting, the event will take place on Friday 7th March in the afternoon and the children will be taking part in all sorts of fun activities. Just a heads up that there will be some water activities involved so please make sure your child has a change of clothes (including shoes) in their bag and a towel to dry off after the event. 

We also require 11 parent helpers for this event to ensure it runs successfully. You would need to arrive at school before the Top Team briefing at 1:10pm and the event will finish around 2:55pm. It will involve running an activity station, explaining the activity to the children and generally overseeing it. If you are keen to help, please let your child's homegroup teacher know and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Staying Safe Online

As our tamariki spend more time online, it’s important parents and whānau help them stay safe. Now is a great time to talk to them about how we use the internet and digital technology.
Netsafe has created an Online Safety Parent Toolkit so parents, families and whānau have
all the information they need to talk about online safety.
If you or anyone in your whānau needs support, you can contact Netsafe.

Photos

Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 10

Kia ora whānau,

We are now at the end of the school year of 2025 and what a year we have had! We just wanted to thank you for all the support you have given us over the year. We couldn't do this without you!

We have ended the year with lots of fun celebrations and events and below are some photos for you to enjoy.

Hut Day

Hut Day was a real success. It was great to see all the children working together and problem solving in order to make their ideal huts.

Peter Pan Ballet

The Peter Pan Ballet was a brilliant performance and the children just loved it. It was an amazing experience just to go into the old theatre which is so beautifully done up. Some of the children were also extremely excited to go on a double decker bus to get there!

Kind Donation

The Kōwhai team were very lucky to receive a kind donation from parents of Beckenham to pay towards something fun for the children. So everyone got a giant bubble wand and had lots of fun, blowing bubbles all over the park!

Finally, we say farewell to Nick who is moving on to Pōhutukawa. We will miss you in the team! We also farewell Tracey who has been an amazing support in Kōwhai, working with all the tamariki across the team as well as taking target literacy groups. Lastly, we farewell Krystal who is moving to Selwyn House School. We wish you all the best and hope that you will keep in touch. 

To all the Kōwhai whānau, we hope you all have an amazing holiday break and we look forward to seeing you back again at the beginning of 2025!