Balmoral School Newsletter - 15 August 2025

Upcoming Events

Te Tumuaki / Principal

Kia ora e te whānau

Learning Through Play is Serious Learning! 

At our school, we harness tamariki's instinct to be playful because it is one of the most potent ways they learn and grow.

Imagine this: a group of children in the sandpit, building a river and watching the water flow. It looks like simple fun, but it's actually complex learning in action — problem-solving, testing ideas, negotiating with others, and making sense of the world. Understanding and guiding this kind of play is a highly skilled teaching practice.

Learning through play isn't just a philosophy — it's a well-researched, intentional approach. Educational thinkers like Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky showed that children learn best when they are active participants in their discovery.

Our teachers carefully observe and listen to your child's interests, connect this data collection to deep educational theories, and guide the tamariki towards new understandings they couldn't reach alone — all linked to the New Zealand Curriculum. Vygotsky called this the "zone of proximal development" — that sweet spot where a child, with a bit of support, can stretch their abilities and make lasting connections.

Play develops the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for problem-solving, planning, self-control, and coordination. Up until about age eight, children are mainly building right-brain skills — empathy, creativity, imagination. These form the foundation for later left-brain reasoning and analytical skills.

That's why a "too much, too soon" approach — with heavy testing and rigid instruction — can backfire. As Kath Murdoch says, "Children deserve time to think, to be in dialogue with teachers and peers, to play, experim,ent and problem solve. Explicit teaching… is used at the point of need."

A thoughtful play-based approach aligns with how young brains develop. It allows tamariki to experiment, process learning through hands-on experiences, and build a strong foundation for abstract thinking later on.

By keeping learning child-centred, meaningful, and connected to real life, we're not just preparing tamariki for the next test — we're preparing them to thrive in a complex world.

We are growing curious, confident, and connected learners who can think critically, work with others, and tackle challenges with creativity and resilience.

As a parent, you can help too. Notice your child's play, listen to their ideas, and ask open-ended questions like, "What will you try next?" or "How did you figure that out?" or What did you do there?— You'll be amazed at the learning happening right before your eyes.

Ngā mihi

Malcolm

School Board Elections

Congratulations to Adrienne Browne, who is our first elected member on the new school Board. 

Parent Election Timetable

This year, our election will be held online.

Meet the Candidates

Your participation in the upcoming board election sends a powerful message to your children about the importance of being actively involved in the democratic process. When they see you engage, they learn a lesson that lasts a lifetime: that their voice matters and that contributing to their community is a fundamental responsibility.

To help our community make an informed decision, we'd like you to come to a ‘Meet the Candidates Evening.' This is your single most important opportunity to hear directly from the 14 candidates who have put themselves forward to serve on our School's Board.

Event Details:

• When: Wednesday, 20th August at 7:00 PM

• Where: The School Auditorium

• Chair: The evening will be chaired by Sonya Singh, a highly respected former chair of our school board.

Event Format: Each of the 14 candidates will be given an initial 90 seconds to answer a key question about their aspirations for our school and our tamariki. Following the presentations, there will be an opportunity for informal discussion and questions.

Your participation is crucial. Let’s show our children what active, engaged citizenship looks like. We look forward to seeing you there.

Milk and Cookies 

On Tuesday evening, our Balmoral School Literacy team hosted a Milk and Cookies event in the school library. It was wonderful to see so many whānau come together to share in the joy of reading. We were especially fortunate to have guest author, illustrator, and Balmoral parent, Toby Morris, join us to read his brand new book Pūkeko Who-Keko?, which had everyone smiling and laughing.

The cosy atmosphere, tasty treats, and shared love of stories made this a special way to celebrate reading and our school community. Thank you to everyone who came along to this event

Milk and Cookies

Primary School News

News from Whānau Koru

A very warm welcome to our newest whānau whose tamariki have started school in the Pīwakawaka class with Niamh Cullen. We are loving getting to know them as they settle into their new learning environment. There are lots of smiles and excitement about learning. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week we had our first cohort visit, including a visit to Field School. These tamariki will start school next week. We had very happy children from across the whole team when they recognised neighbours, pre-school buddies and friends they had made on the big playgrounds after school! We have a really great, welcoming community.

Inquiry- What makes a garden beautiful?

Inquiry learning centred around the seasons in our gardens and our roles and responsibilities in caring for te taiao have led us to thinking about not only spring planting, but how to make the garden area even more beautiful.

We chose an open ended question to provoke thinking. From this we can then start to go deeper, planning more specific lessons. Open, broad questions, to allow thinking and oral language skills to develop, are important in all aspects of learning, they don’t stand alone in Inquiry. Children are supported to share their creative ideas and importantly to use their imagination. They are learning to listen to and consider the different views of classmates as well as to reason and be prepared to change their thinking. To start collecting the diverse, wonderfully imaginative ideas of our 5 and 6 year olds we asked them ‘What makes a garden beautiful?’. 

In our garden, our beautiful garden we see...
Busy bees making honey. -Ray
Some pears on a pear tree. -Lucy

A big beautiful flower in the bushes that are green like nature. -Georgia
A brown slippery worm inside the soil eating the seed. -Pranshi
Oranges ready to fall down. -Lyova

Mushrooms and the sun and the cloud and flowers and a waterfountain and the lady bug. -Maia
A bee collecting pollen. -Marlon

Field School

Tamaraiki and kaiako are excited to be back at Field School. The fences are down and there is a world of learning waiting for us. Observation, recording, curiosity, questioning and talk are provoked by learning opportunities we can offer in play. Our school grounds with its amazing orchard, native tree planting and developing vege and flower gardens, is the most powerful classroom. 

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Intermediate School News

CZ Cross Country  

We started our cross country day by riding the bus to Waiatarua Reserve. We arrived in time to do a walk through of the course and then it was time for the year 8 boys to run. I'm surprised I didn't lose my voice cheering on  the year 8 boys and jokily telling/encouraging them to run faster. Then it was our turn to run. As the ocean of year 8 girls lined up by the start line I began to feel more and more nervous and was wondering what I had gotten myself into. We did a small warm-up and then it was time to run. Not even halfway through our first of three laps more than one girl had lost their shoes to the ankle deep muddy sludge we were running in. After the race, I wanted to go and rest, but no! There were year 7’s that needed our support. The year 7 boys ran really well. Finally it was time for the year 7 girls to run. Once all the races were over, there was a quick prize giving and then we were headed home. Overall, it was a great day, filled with friends, fun, new experiences and lots and lots of mud. The energy there is so positive and it's so cool getting to hang out with and talk to people from different schools all around Auckland; also a little friendly competition never hurt anyone. We were very lucky to have the opportunity to go and I would definitely do it again. 

Everyone ran amazingly well, Flynn Lawry in year 7 has made it to interzones. Congratulations to him and all the runners on the day. 

By Elise Greenwell and Amara Bruns

PTA - Food Drive

Community News