Tena koutou, Malo e lelei, Kia orana, Fakalofa lahi atu, Bula vinaka, Ciao, Namaste, Al Salaam a’alaykum, Ni hao, Merhaba, Konnichiwa, Hola, Annyong hasayo, Greetings

Balmoral School Newsletter Te Kura o te Roto a Rangi 19 Brixton Road, Mt Eden Auckland 1024

Phone 638 7960 Fax 630 1944 Email office@balmoral.school.nz

w w w . b a l m o r a l . s c h o o l . n z

Vision To value diversity and to develop curious, confident

and connected learners.

Primary Dates to Diary FiaFia Night Thursday 7 December, 6pm (Hall)

Primary Picnic Day Friday 8 December (Cornwall Park)

Library Books Returned Friday 8 December Year 6 Poroporoaki Tuesday 12 December, 9:30am Year 6 Pool Party Tuesday 12 December, 5:30 – 6:30am Meet new teacher Friday 15 December, 10am School Closes Friday 15 December, 1pm

2018 School Opens Tuesday 30 January 2018 Canteen Days Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Tena koutou e te whanau, he mihi nui kia koutou katoa

As this is our last newsletter of the year I would like to wish you all the best for the festive season. To all those students leaving our school at the end of the year I do wish you all the best for the future. To those families returning to Balmoral School we all look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 30 January 2018. I also wish to thank the following teachers and support staff who are leaving at the end of this year. Nicky Bunz, Rosalie Sinclair, Carl Pynenburg, Gillian

Appleby, Kate Watson and Rebecca Wharton leave from our teaching staff. Glenda McLuckie and Kelee Hackett leave from our Learning Support Team. I wish them all the best for the future and appreciate their contribution to our school community. “Meri Kirihimete me te Hape Nū Ia” ki ngā iwi me ngā hapū katoa Malcolm Milner Principal (Te Tumuaki)

School Fair

Many thanks to all the members of our community who helped out at the school fair on Saturday 18 November. It was a a fun filled day for friends, family and the wider community. The key organisers work extremely hard to keep costs down. This effort certainly paid off and we raised a significant amount of money to invest in our capital purchases next year. I would also like to acknowledge the huge amount of work by our key organisers Deb Campbell and Kristen de Monchy who were the main driving force behind this event.

School Canteen

Please note school canteen closes for the year on Friday 1 December and reopens Wednesday 7 February 2018.

Kids 4 Kids Concert Trusts Arena

On Tuesday 21st November the 67 members of our Kids 4 Kids Choir took a bendy bus to the Trusts Arena for a dress rehearsal for our Kids 4 Kids concert. The show was called ‘KIWI AS’ and we had spent a good part of the year preparing for the 19 New Zealand songs we were about to perform. Our two amazing music directors, Chris Lamsam and Brooke Baker, and our hosts, Nathan King and Jackie Clarke rehearsed us, actions and all, for our evening concert. Each school was allowed to provide 4 pre-auditioned students to audition for special solo parts in the evening performance. Everyone sung so beautifully, but Balmoral stood out from the crowd; three of our four soloists who auditioned were accepted for the 7 solo parts! Wow! Jackson Boswell opened the show with a fantastic rap in the ‘Kids 4 Kids Anthem’, Marli Comer sang a beautiful solo in ‘Love Love Love’ and Emma Newland did an epic narration of the ‘The Wonkey Donkey’ with Jackie Clarke; each song was backed by the wonderful Kids 4 Kids choir.

They did us so proud and we cheered them on like we had been chosen for the parts ourselves! Our whole choir represented Balmoral School so well, with incredible singing, enthusiasm and behaviour. Sarah might have even had tears in her eyes at a few points, she was so proud! Go Balmoral. You were impressive!

Balmoral School Redevelopment

The BoT have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which outlines how the school and the MoE will interact throughout the rebuild. The Board have also agreed to the Master Plan. This means that the design phase is now underway. This week representative teachers from the primary and intermediate school met the architects separately to ensure that we develop flexible learning spaces to further enable what and how we teach. We have also received plans for the location of the remaining four relocatables which we will use throughout the build process. These plans are currently with the Auckland Council awaiting consent.

News from the Primary School

Kia ora e te Whānau o Te Roto a Rangi As the school year comes to an end, there is much to stand back and reflect upon. It has been another year where children, and adults, have been encouraged to be curious, ask questions, to make mistakes and then to learn from them. It has been great to see real shifts in mindset and the positive effect this has had on learning attitudes across the school. Developing inquiry learning has been a huge focus this year and I hope that you have seen this through conversations with your children, from your time in their classroom and from the wonderful dance performances the children

have produced this year. We thank you for your ongoing support of your child’s learning. With only two weeks of school left, there is still lots to fit in! We are looking forward to the school picnic, athletics with Koru and Mahira and to celebrating with the Year 6s at their Poroporoaki. Thanks to the Primary team for their continued hard work and commitment to our students. Wishing you all a restful and very happy holidays!

Ngā mihi

Katy and the Primary Team

Class Organisation

As a result of the current large number of year three students, we will be running one composite Yr3 and 4 class next year. This will allow the class sizes in Whetu to remain low at the start of the year. This will mean that there will be three Year 3 classes, one Yr3/4 class and three Year 4 classes.

Composite classes have run successfully in Whetu in many previous years. Teachers plan for and work with the children in front of them, regardless of their year level, and this is the same in a composite classroom.

A number of factors have been taken into account when forming this class such as age, relationships, gender, equitability and attitudes towards learning. The teachers in Whetu and Mahira have taken a great deal of time and consideration in forming this class in order to best meet the needs of the children.

PTA News

Balmoral Spring Festival goes off

Wow – we made a massive $50,000 at the Balmoral Spring Festival! What a great result. A huge thanks to everyone who helped out in anyway - whether you made cakes; staffed stalls; cooked anything from curries to sausages to dumplings; made crafts; played music; filled jolly jars; packed down marquees and then packed them back up again; or turned-up enjoyed yourself and spent money on the day! A truly successful festival only happens when everyone pitches in to make it work, so many thanks for the part you played. We had an amazing fun-filled day and managed to make a huge amount for the school. The total the Balmoral School PTA has now raised for the school this year stands at an incredible $110,000!! Finally, a big thanks to the Balmoral PTA leadership team, who have lived and breathed the Spring Festival for the past term. Your commitment and energy has been unwavering and incredible. Thank you Kristen de Monchy, Debbie Campbell, Louise Garbett and Sasha Halstead. A special thanks also to Anna Morton for all the hard work with the sponsorship.

Thank you to our sponsors:

We’d like to say a huge thank you to our sponsors and supporters for helping to make the Balmoral Spring Festival such a success! A special thanks to our sponsors:

• Lindesay Construction • Anna Copeland at Barfoot & Thompson Mt Eden • The Finance Marshall • ANZ • The Tile People

And a big thank you to all those other individuals and businesses that supported us:

• Commonsense Organic • Countdown • Image Centre Group • Hellers Sausages • Bakers Delight • Aotearoa Martial Arts Academy • All Blacks • Health and Sports Gym • Michael Overend Photography • Hello Saturday • SKIDS • Active Plus Physio • Eat Auckland • My Food Bag • Farro • McDonalds Balmoral • Clip n Climb • Trent Bray Swim School • Snowie • The Dance Studio • Virtual Flight • Rapid Crossfit • Heritage Anchorage Resort Taupo • Te Puia Rotorua • Skyline Gondola and Luge Rotorua • Malcolm Milner • Think Water • Jones Road Cider • The Hangman • Pak n Save

Get your Everyday Easy Eats Christmas supplies now!

Our awesome Balmoral School cookbook, Everyday Easy Eats makes the perfect Christmas present! Get your copies at the school office - they’re only $25 each or you can get two for $40. What a bargain! If you want to order a number of copies, contact Louise on: louisegarbetto@gmail.com

Community News