Balmoral School Newsletter - 31 May 2024
Acting Principal
Kia ora e te whānau
As we reach the mid-point of Term 2, it seems a good time to pause and reflect on the term so far, and there has been much to celebrate.
We have acknowledged our incredible support staff, participated in numerous sporting events, had visits from a published author, walked the red carpet for book character day, supported Pink Shirt day, and continued with our education outside of the classroom through Year 8 camp, a visit to Maungawhau and attending the Writer’s festival, to name just a few events!
We reported wonderful progress and achievement to the Board following analysis of the Years 4- 8 Progressive Achievement Tests (PATs) undertaken in Term 1. All of these year groups showed higher rates of achievement compared to the National reference group and demonstrated very good progress. It was also fabulous to hear from a parent that a number of our students, who are now in Year 9 at MAGs, have been awarded a Junior Excellence Award for personal excellence.
This week, we celebrated Samaon langauge week with some of our older children reading "Lavalava" to the Primary classes. Please have a look at the photos of this special time in Mahira's news this week.
We hope you are able to enjoy the long weekend with your whānau,
Kia pai tō rā whakatā
Nāku noa, nā
Katy
Save the date
Matariki dawn celebration - Wednesday 26th June
Pasifika Celebration Evening
At the Pasifika pizza party we invited family, friends and more to come and gather up for a pizza night. We came and there were a lot of new faces and we obviously ate pizza. We also ate a traditional food called suafa'i. It's a famous food in Samoa and it was delicious and a great food choice. We played games in the gym together and made good friends with new people. We had a great time together reuniting with old friends that used to come to Balmoral School and also families. Kalesita and Norman did a fantastic speech in front of everyone and then her mum came in and did the lotū ( prayer ) for the food before we ate. Kalesita did her speech in tongan and Norman did his in samoan. We had a splendid time together and hopefully we will have another one later in the year.
By Lagitau,Capri and Bella.
Primary School News
Mahira to Maungawhau
We had a wonderful trip to Maungawhau on a beautiful sunny autumn morning a couple of weeks ago. This was to complement our Inquiry study. The children went in search of whau trees, kumara pits, the crater (Mataoho’s food bowl). We had been reading the story of Mataoho who was a giant who came to Aotearoa in a waka from his warm Pacific Island. We have discovered that he was cold and he asked the Maori Goddess Mahuika to warm him up. She created volcanoes, some of which we were able to see from the summit of Maungawhau. In the myth the crater became his food bowl with its volcanic soil to grow food. The children are now working with Sarah, the music teacher, to create a soundscape around the story. In the Hub we have been starting to develop some movement that we can use with the soundscape.
There was much excitement in the Hub last week around books. Last Friday was the book character parade. The Hub was awash with all sorts of book characters - see separate story in the newsletter. Earlier in the week we were fortunate to have an author and illustrator visit as part of the launch of their book - ‘A Teaspoon of Light’. It is written by Peter O’Connor and illustrated by Nisaluk Chantanakom. The read aloud session was an interactive session involving the children too. After the reading there was time for the children to read and share the books that they are writing as part of our writing programme with our guests.
This term our maths has been about fractions. The children have been learning about equal sharing and the notion that as the denominator gets bigger the size of the fraction gets smaller. Most of them have worked out that they would prefer half a chocolate bar, compared to a quarter of one. One day we made fairy bread where the children had to decide how many equal pieces they were cutting it into and what this fraction was called.
This week is Samoan Language Week. We had some Year 8 children come and read us a Samoan book and talk to us about Samoa. We have been drawing some Samoan designs. Myra and Yuguo were doing very close looking as they drew their patterns. Also our playdough table grew some gorgeous tropical flowers.
Samoan Language Week in Mahira
Book Character Parade
Last Friday the Primary school was awash with characters from picture books, chapter books and non fiction books, in fact any type of book you can think of. The children had put their imagination to good use to create some amazing costumes and settings. We had Harry Potter characters, Where’s Wally, Princesses, Witches, Fairies, Sharks, The Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts, Change E from the Chinese myth (The Woman in the Moon), Things One and Two, Superheroes, the Blue and Red Crayons to mention a few. A forest appeared too, complete with birds! We even had Marmaduke Duck with his jar of marmalade and characters from Fairy Tales.
After the parade there was a special assembly where the focus was on books. Children read excerpts from Alice in Wonderland, The Cat in the Hat and Percy Jackson, the Lightning Thief.
A very special guest at assembly was Mary from the Dorothy Butler Children’s Bookshop. She read Dazzlehands by Sacha Cotter and Josh Morgan to the whole Primary School, ably assisted by Liz who was suitably attired. Thanks to the bookshop for generous prizes.
Thanks to all our whānau who helped in some form to make this such a successful celebration of the world of books.
We were lucky enough to have Peter O’Connor come to talk to us about his new book ‘A Teaspoon of Light’. He spoke of the characters in the book and told us that they were his friends and family. It took him 5 years to make the whole book, which is a long time. You do have to have neat writing to write a book and get the words and illustrations just right. It can be hard to match the illustrations with the words.
He has written over a hundred books and writing the teaspoon of light was the hardest! Nis the illustrator had to sketch the pictures quite a few times, and once she got it perfect she coloured them in. The publisher had to like the illustrations otherwise Nis would have had to start all over again!
There were only 350 words in the book, which does sound like a lot, but it isn’t compared to the other school books Peter writes. He found writing this shorter book harder than writing his longer books. ‘A teaspoon of light’ is about when you are feeling down there is always a spark of light that can bring you back up. The teaspoons of light is something that makes you feel better, and that could be your family, your friends, or even the sound of running water (if it makes you feel better). We enjoyed hearing about it.
By Kiri Taylor and Leo Fergurson, Y3.
Intermediate School News
The Writers festival
On May 14th 2024 20 intermediates went to the writers festival. It was held at Aotea center. There were 4 authors speaking that day, David Hill, Rachael king, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Maryam Master.
Our first speaker/author of the day was Maryam. Maryam has written 2 books; No words, and Exit through the gift shop. Maryam was raised in Iran. She lived there happily and carefree until around the age of 9. That was until the Islamic revolution started up. Maryam was from a minority religion and was actively being hunted down. This caused her family to leave and move to Australia at the age of 9. Maryam continued her childhood in Australia and grew up to be a screenwriter and playwright. She then moved to writing. The book No words was about her experience though those hard times with her family, her other book is about a girl with a terminal illness (you can find all her books in our school library).
Our 2nd speaker/author of the day was Rachel King. Rachel King is an outstanding author from Aotearoa she has 4 books (two young readers and two adult reader books) Grimmelings - the book she decided to speak about, is based on Scottish culture and myths. Rachael has always been interested in horses and Scottish mythology. That’s why she decided to write the Grimmelings, it is a fantastic novel and we suggest you have a look.
After her we had a short lunch break to eat and get our books signed, all of which are in the library right now!
The next on the list is Selina Tusitala Marsh. You may know her as she is the famous author who wrote Mop Head! She has also spoken at our school multiple times. Selina Tusitala Marsh chose to speak about her newest book, 'Wot knot you got?'. It is part of the mop head series which consists of 3 books. Wot knot you got is a fantastic book focusing on the struggles and problems of life and how to resolve them. It's all about untying that knot blocking you off from society. Selena is an amazing author and was also the first Pasifika woman to become appointed as New Zealand's poet Laureate. Most of her books are in the library and you should go check them out next time you're there!
Our last author for the day was David Hill. David Hill was most definitely the oldest author there! However despite his age he managed to keep me and many others captivated into his speech. David Hill covered many of his books but the one he went most in depth into was Below. Below is about these two teens, a type of frenemies. When one of them dares the other to go into a newly constructed cave the other can't decline. This is when disaster strikes. The entrance collapses and water starts slowly seeping in. Drip by drip. Can they make it out? This was such an interesting topic for a book. I feel like most authors don't even have this topic as an afterthought. That is what makes me love David Hill. His topics are so different from others and they really leave me flipping page after page. He's had the most experience and it really shines through in his writing.
In all, we had an awesome time and it was really interesting! I hope some of you guys think about going next year! All the authors had such thought through presentations and it's definitely worth your money!
Written by Violet and Amelia
Jace got the opportunity to work on stage with Selina Tusitala Marsh!
FOR THE LOVE OF FOOTBALL
CZ Girls
We had such a great time during the football tournament, all the parents were so kind and so supportive when we lost our games and when we won our games. There was such a crowd in all our games. We had so much fun moving around the field and joking around with each other and relaxing in the sun. Some people in our team didn't really know how to play but then they got the hang of it and started looking like pros. We had penalties and we were so close, but we lost. We stayed positive. in the end we came 7th place and we were all happy and I could tell everyone's smiles were filled with joy.
- Sonia-Jae and Edie
CZ Yr7 Boys
We had really close games, against some very competitive teams, Including ANI and Kowhai. We were proud of the football we played, keeping the scores close right up until the final whistle. We were up against some tough competition but pulled together as a team to play a clean game and some great football. Our skills shone through with some great defensive plays and a penalty from Seb and a halfway free kick goal from Harry. We appreciated Lily’s coaching and keeping our spirits up. Our motto for the day was “For the love of Football”
- Lachie, Harry, George, Leo, Neil and James
CZ Yr8 Boys
The year 8 boys football team took part in the Central Zone Tournament this week along with 14 other schools. The level of competition was high across all the teams on the day and Balmoral held their own against all the teams they faced.
The team started off with a couple of strong wins against Ponsonby Intermediate (4-0) and Wesley (5-1) followed by a hard fought win against Waiheke (1-0). Our final pool match was against Remuera Intermediate which we narrowly lost 1-0. The team just missed out on making the semi finals on goal difference by 2 goals and made the playoff for 5th and 6th.
The playoff for 5th and 6th was somewhat of a local derby playing against Kowhai Intermediate which the team won 1-0 to finish a respectable 5th. Over the course of the day the team only let in 2 goals and produced some truly spectacular goals.
All the boys showed great sportsmanship and support for each being excellent representatives for the school. I have no doubt they will learn from this experience and approach AIMS with a good idea of what it takes to succeed in tournament football. Well done Y8 Boys Football.
