Balmoral School Newsletter - 2 May 2025 - Co

Upcoming Events

Te Tumuaki / Principal

Kia ora e te whānau

Welcome back to Term Two!

We have a vibrant term ahead, and we are kicking off today with the Colour Run. I hope everyone can join in this fun activity organised by our PTA. A big thank you to our ākonga and their whānau for their fundraising efforts, as well as to the PTA and their dedicated helpers who have worked hard to make this event both enjoyable and financially beneficial for our school. All funds raised will directly support our students' learning.

This term is packed with exciting events, including the Year 5/6 camp next week and the Year 8 camp starting on May 20th. These opportunities require significant effort from our staff in planning and preparation and a high level of support from our community in organising their children and providing parent helpers for supervision.

Later in May, we have our second Ministry-directed Maths PLD day for teachers to deepen their understanding of the mathematics curriculum. We've strategically scheduled this back-to-back with the King's Birthday, allowing families to enjoy an extended long weekend.

We also look forward to celebrating Matariki on June 20th, and around that time, we will also be organising a Matariki event at school.

In addition to all these events, we also have twenty six league teams (in basketball, flippa ball, minipolo, waterpolo, netball), coordinated by the school as well as the normal primary and intermediate inter-school zone teams and a number of AIMS Games Teams beginning training. Thanks to all those parents who have stepped up to be coaches and managers; the other children and their parents very much appreciate the generosity of time you have given them.  

I look forward to your and your child's participation in this wide variety of community events.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Ngā mihi

Malcolm

School Closed Friday 30th May

Teachers will participate in a Professional Development (PD) day around the Curriculum refresh of Mathematics. This is the second of two Ministry of Education-directed Professional Learning days for Maths. 

We will send information about the Village Trust after-school care programme later.

School is closed for the children on this day.

Primary School News

News from Whānau Hiringa

Recently, Hub 13 and Hub 14 students have been exploring ideas about the journey of food. They began by summarising the journey using just one word, some examples were cycle, evolution, nature, grow and processed.

Students then used a range of art mediums, including clay,  to bring these words to life. There was a lot of creativity and problem solving displayed during this activity.

They also drew and labelled the journey of a particular food, most showing either a farm to supermarket or farm to table connection. Students then combined into groups explained their work to each other and chose one journey to act out. 

Both Hubs are now starting to look at how food items can be used in multiple ways as well as the environmental and human factors that impact on the journey of food.

Students have enjoyed the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding creatively and have embraced the chance to work with a range of peers on these activities. We look forward to seeing where their questions lead us.

Hub 13

Inquiry:

Violet/Georgina/Rosie: We have been learning about the journey of food; where it starts, ends and the stages it goes through. It doesn’t always finish at the shops or your house. We have enjoyed using the art materials and doing drama to represent our thinking around this.

Eddie: I enjoyed making clay structures to represent my ideas around the journey of food. 

Chester: I enjoyed thinking about all of the different foods and the journey they might go through. I wonder how people were originally able to tell what was safe to eat?

Chloe: I enjoyed using the art materials to explain my thinking about the journey food takes.

Zoe: I really liked working with the clay last term and planning my work about the journey of food. We also learnt that some bugs can be eaten and I thought that was very interesting.

Hub 14

Arlo: I liked building an egg out of lego to show how food changes. I like inquiry because it’s interesting. 

Shawn: I enjoyed inquiry a lot, especially the painting. 

T: I made intestines out of lego and wire, and I enjoyed making the wire the most because it was a different material. I also made a picture of cornflour to show different products made from corn.

My New Gallery

Intermediate School News

Let's Get Reading!

At assembly this morning, our Year 8 Book Ambassadors, Tomas, Will and Nina shared the first reading challenge of the year.

Starting on Monday for two weeks is the 'Read Your Height In Pages' challenge. This involves everyone reading the number of centimetres they are in pages in the next two weeks. On Monday at lunchtime there will be measuring stations in the Hall for those who need to find out their height. Once people have completed the challenge they will find a book checker who will ask a few questions about the book.

If we can get 75% of the Intermediate, including the teachers, completing the challenge within two weeks we will have a movie afternoon. 

Let's get reading!

Community News