Balmoral School Newsletter - 27 June 2025

Te Tumuaki / Principal

Kia ora e te whānau

Over the past few decades, researchers have gained significant insights into how children learn to read. While we've long known that reading involves sounding out words and understanding language, new findings show that it's far more complex. It encompasses vocabulary, memory, attention, motivation, and even the ability to step into someone else’s shoes.

A recent research article, The Science of Reading Progresses (2024), encourages teachers (and all of us) to think bigger and broader when it comes to reading. It's not just about phonics or comprehension—"it’s about helping children become confident, curious, engaged, and thoughtful readers."

This comprehensive research underpins our school's own approach to teaching and learning in reading. No matter what the marketers and smooth talkers may tell you, there is no "silver bullet" approach but rather a complex array of many parts of a puzzle.

Currently, our community is raising money through "Bars for Books." A beautifully thought-out, well-curated library with a dedicated librarian and an abundance of excellent books is also a key component of a school's literacy program. So, please keep selling for all of our tamariki!

So, what else can parents do to support their child in their reading?

If you do just one thing these holidays to support your child’s reading, make it this: Unplug and read together.

• For younger tamariki, snuggle up and read aloud.

• For older ones, pick a family novel (like Harry Potter)—take turns reading aloud, chat about the story, and enjoy quality time together. Cold winter nights are perfect for this.

It’s one of the most powerful (and enjoyable!) ways you can support your child’s learning. Have a lovely holiday.

Ngā mihi

Malcolm

Castles, A., Rastle, K., Nation, K., & Reilly, D. (2024). The science of reading progresses: Communicating advances beyond the simple view of reading. Reading Research Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.477

School Board Elections

In September, we are holding our school board elections. Kyle MacDonald, our Presiding Member, and Sarah Jack (Deputy PM) are available to talk to anyone interested in standing. They are also available to discuss questions regarding the Board, such as time commitment, skills, and attitudes. 

Sonya Singh, a previous Board member who served for ten years on our Board and nearly nine as our chair, is also available to talk to. She has extensive knowledge of school governance.

Contact details

Kyle MacDonald: kyle@psychotherapy.nz 

Sarah Jack: sarah.c.jack@gmail.com 

Sonya Singh: Sonyaboardelection@balmoral.school.nz

Board Elections: Parent & Staff Election Timetable

This year, our election will be held online. Please ensure your email addresses are up to date to enable you to participate. 

Mātariki dawn celebration 

It was wonderful to see so many members of our school whānau gather in the middle courts yesterday, for our annual Mātariki celebration. The Kapa Haka group and the tamariki who spoke at the event did a superb job in explaining the meaning behind Mātariki and performing some of their Kapa Haka pieces.

Huge thanks to Lauren for all of the organisation and to the teachers for being at school early to help set-up and support this event, and for the planned activities for the children to enjoy until school officially started. We appreciate your mahi!

Zespri AIMS Games

Entries have just closed for the 2025 intermediate-aged tournament in Tauranga, running from August 30 to September 5, with an impressive 14,022 athletes registered. This marks an increase of over 1,000 competitors compared to the record-breaking 2024 Games, which set participation records in several of the 27 sporting disciplines and drew 431 schools from New Zealand and the South Pacific, up from 395 schools the previous year.  

The first tournament after COVID-19 had just over 10,000 entries, so the increase of 4000 registrations in just three years demonstrates how quickly NZ Intermediate Schools have recovered from the pandemic's impact. 

This year, Balmoral Intermediate has over 40 tamariki participating in Boys' Football, Netball, Girls' Futsal, Basketball, Badminton, Gymnastics, Sailing, and Swimming. We look forward to hearing about their successes during their week in Tauranga. We also wish them all the best for their training and fundraising in the coming months.

Primary School News

News from Whānau Hiringa

Whānau Hiringa have been learning about farming practices and the role they play in the journey of food. As part of this, we read an article about the weather patterns and environmental factors that are negatively impacting the future of New Zealand farms. This was a starting point to create some art expressing our ideas about what a healthy, thriving farm would look like. We then placed another piece of art over half of it to show the potential environmental damage that might occur.

We have also investigated the maramataka (Māori lunar calendar) and how it promotes respecting the natural cycles of the earth in relation to planting and harvesting food.

The students have enjoyed expressing their ideas through drama, visual art, poems and other creative means and we look forward to seeing what next term brings. 

Isobel - I have learnt about the food that comes from farms. I enjoyed painting our lush farms and then showing how they might transition during a drought.

Grace - We are making a multi-media image of Tupuānuku, a star from the Matariki cluster that is related to underground kai. I enjoy Inquiry because I can work with others to create something.

Rocky - I enjoy that we do art as part of our Inquiry learning. I am currently using pastel to make an image of Tupuānuku. It is great that we get to choose what we use to create our images.

Elliot - We painted our ideas of a lush farm, I then showed what it would look like with a drought. I really enjoy doing art tasks and I always get excited when I see Inquiry is on our timetable for the day!

A word about camp….

By Georgina and Jason

We enjoyed camp because of all of the activities that we did, especially the flying kiwi and the crate stacking. There was also an extra activity, it was the MUDSLIDE!

Each night we had a different meal. My favourites were nachos and butter chicken, you could pick what you wanted on your plate! One night we had a movie night and another night we had a quiz. The first night we went to the campfire and told jokes to the crowd. A big thank you to all the parent helpers, our teachers and Katy and Dan for making camp such a great experience.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou

Whānau Hiringa

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Intermediate School News

Showquest 2025

Here are a few photos from last week's amazing Showquest day. From the lighting to the stage management to the performance, we were incredibly proud of everyone who took part. Thank you to all the teachers who helped, particularly Alex for helping the band write and perform an original song on the night, and especially Lily for EVERYTHING! We look forward to doing it all again next year. You will be able to read a report about the whole Showquest experience in next term's issue of Kawepūrongo.

CZ Hockey

On Tuesday, 17 June, 11 participants (Esme, Riya, Aisha, Elise, Lila, Georgie, Jewel, Antonia, Bella, Amelie and Rikisha - Kirat was unwell but supported us from afar) and 2 giant bags travelled to the CZ Girls Hockey Tournament. The day was brisk, but the cloudless sky promised a stunner of a day to debut our hockey skills.

We played 5 games against 5 tough opponents: ANI, Marist, Waikowhai, Pasadena and Royal Oak. Seeing our progress in each match was impressive. We began as outright beginners and finished the competition as a cohesive team that hungrily attacked the ball.

Highlights

• Progressing each game and adding new, more complicated skills, like how to strike the ball instead of dragging it!
• Being awarded our first Penalty Corner (PC) was exciting!
• Massive shout-out to our Goalies - Amelie, Aisha, Elise, Riya, Georgie - who played with determination and awesomeness in the hot and probably very sticky goalie kit!
• Going from being scared to trap the ball to having skills to control the ball
• Taking off our uncomfortable shin pads at the end of the day and seeing all the sweat!
• Sharing fries with the team and eating lollies on the way home whilst playing “Yellow Car” 
• The sportsmanship and camaraderie of the team grew throughout the day. It was also fun knocking sticks with the opposition at the end of the game

Thank you to Dean Franklin and Camille Smylie, who helped transport and manage the team over the day.

Sports Leagues

Netball Y3-6 Junior Tournament
Year 5 Mawhero entered this tournament in June. This was a great opportunity for our junior teams to get some extra game time in. They had a very successful day, winning all their games.

Netball Y7
If you have a child in Y7 that would like to play netball in Term 3, please email me.

Netball Y0-2
Registrations are open for Term 3 Netball. Please click into the form via the website for more information.  All Y3-8 do not need to re-register. 
https://www.balmoral.school.nz/netball

Flippaball Y4-6
Registration is still open for Term 3 flippaball. We need a few more players to make up our teams. No experience is necessary. The only requirement is to be able to swim 25m. There is no separate practice as training is before each game. Please register via the link:
https://www.balmoral.school.nz/flippaball-yr46

Basketball Y5-8
Term 3 registration is still open. We need a few more players to make up our Y5/6 teams. Please enter using the link below. More information is on the registration form.
https://www.balmoral.school.nz/basketball

If you have any questions, please contact me
Meredith Hughes
sport@balmoral.school.nz

AIMS Fundraising

Our teams are working hard to fund their trip to Tauranga for AIMS, Australasia’s largest junior sporting event. We are taking four teams: Netball, Boys Football, Basketball, and Girls Futsal. Alongside these teams, we have a number of individuals also competing in Badminton, Swimming, Sailing, and Gymnastics. 

Every bit of support helps. If you would like to contribute, please click one of the links below to order and show your support! We are selling Samosas, Pies, Protein Bars, and a movie night (SAVE THE DATE).

Community News

National Youth Theatre is proud to present the spectacular production of Seussical, based on the immortal works of Dr Seuss. 

Seussical brings to life the beloved Dr Seuss characters, including Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie La Bird and, of course, the Cat in the Hat. These characters and stories weave together in a whimsical and wacky musical extravaganza, played out against an uplifting score, and highlighting the show's universal messages of love and acceptance - reminding us all that "a person's a person, no matter how small." 

Bright, bold, and bursting with heart SEUSSICAL is a musical adventure like no other. Recommended for ages 3 to 103!

Performances: at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre

Friday 27 June, 7 pm

Saturday 28 June, 1:30 pm and 7 pm

Sunday 29 June, 1:30 pm

Tickets from Ticketmaster, click here