Kia ora, talofa, malo e lelei, namaste, kia orana, fakalofa lahi atu

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
www.balmoral.school.nz
Vision
To value diversity and to develop curious, confident and connected learners.
Friday, July 29, 2016
Intermediate Dates to Diary
MAGS Open Evening for 2017
Monday 1 August
Pasifika Fono
Monday 1 August at 6.30pm
Intermediate Open Morning
Wednesday 3 August 9.15am – 12.30pm
Year 7 and 8 Cross Country
Wednesday 3 August 1.45pm
Intermediate Open Evening
Wednesday 3 August 6.00pm - 7.30pm
PTA Meeting
Tuesday 9th August at 7.30pm
Farmers Market
Friday 12 August at 3pm
BoT Meeting
Tuesday 16 August at 7.30pm
PTA Quiz Night
Saturday 20 August Evening
Year 7 and 8 Mathex
Thursday 25 August Evening
Arts Festival
Wednesday 31 – Friday 2 September
AIMS Games Tauranga
Sunday 4 Sept - Friday 9 September
Tongan Language Evening
Wednesday 7 September
PTA Meeting
Tuesday 13 September at 7.30pm
PTA Nosey Neighbours
Tuesday 17 September
Term 3 Ends
Friday 23 September at 3.00pm
Canteen Days
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Tena koutou e te whanau, he mihi nui kia koutou katoa
Dear Parents, Whānau and Caregivers
This week you will have received a written report on your child's learning for the first half of
the year. To support the report, many of you attended a conference with your child and
their teacher. At the last count we had over 860 bookings for interviews, from 591 parents,
with 45 teachers.
This process is an important part of the learning cycle at our school and it gives both
pupils and teachers the opportunity to celebrate children's achievements and identify
future growth for the remainder of the year.
Parents and students can sometimes be upset about a grade received on a report.
Interesting research from Carol Dweck and Growth Mindset states that the way parents
react to these marks, can have a profound impact on children. Researchers surveyed 160
different parents online to find out how they would respond to their child coming home
with a disappointing mark. Those who saw failure as negative were more likely to worry
about their child’s abilities in that subject or to comfort their child about not being
talented in all subjects. But parents who saw failure as an opportunity were more likely to
ask their child what they learned from the grade, what they still can learn and whether
asking the teacher for help would be useful.
Whether your child is doing well at school, is struggling on something or has setbacks,
don’t focus on their abilities, focus on what they can learn from it. The statement ‘You are
not there yet’ is the most important thing to say to ensure all our students have the
opportunity to develop a Growth Mindset.
If you were unable to make the conferences this week please contact your child's
teacher to make another appointment.
Kia pai to mutunga wiki (Have a good weekend)
Naku noa
Malcolm Milner
Principal (Te Tumuaki)
Whakatau
On Monday morning we held our first whakatau at Balmoral School. A whakatau is a
traditional Māori welcome; whakatau literally means to settle. This ceremony is our way of
welcoming new students and staff, along with their families and whanau, into the
Balmoral School community.
The whakatau is an important part of our school vision about embracing the bi-cultural
nature of our society. Many thanks to those families who attended, to Rob Taku for
coming on with the manuhiri (visitors) and to our school pupils who supported the
speakers with their waiata.
We hope to hold more of these whakatau in the future.
Yong Zhao Talks About Education
A number of times I have had the opportunity to listen to Oregon Professor Yong Zhao
critique the education policies in America, Britain, Australia, China and New Zealand.
Yong Zhao’s interest in education stems from the belief that we need to develop creative
critical thinkers. He challenges educators to create young people who can believe that a
better world is possible. Furthermore, he believes that the hierarchical structures today are
developed by officials who are removed from the very people involved most in
education (pupils and teachers), and that these officials attempt to control schools
through a vast web of procedures, targets and measurements such as National
Standards. He also thinks that these standards or tests are a hindrance to our pupils and
their future.
Professor Yong Zhao was in New Zealand these holidays and spoke to a number of
teachers. An article about his ideas can be found here on Stuff and his full speech here.
Reports Home
This year your child’s school report was sent home in paper form on Tuesday 26 July. All
parents should also be able to access their child’s report online through our school
website.
This will be the last time we send home a paper report.
Attendance Online
In addition to receiving your child’s report online, you are now able to see their
attendance record. We use codes set out by the Ministry of Education to define reasons
for absences. An explanation of the codes is below:
Code
Definitions
P
Students who are present in class
E
Unjustified absence for a full day where absence is either unexplained or
reason is not justified. e.g. truant, spending day with family members, etc.
G
Family term time holiday.
Q
Camp or school trip.
?
Unexplained absence.
D
Medical / dentist appointment
M
Illness or medical condition.
Unplanned absences such as a bus breakdown, accident, road closure,
extreme weather conditions, etc.
J
Planned non-attendance such as national/local representation in a
sporting or cultural event in New Zealand or overseas.
Bereavement, visiting an ill relative, exceptional family circumstances.
Dogs at School
At the end of last term, a number of parents raised an issue with me that a parent had
their dog at school, and it was not on a lead. Early this term, a dog that was not on a lead
jumped up and scratched a person. This is unacceptable in our school.
As a school we encourage parents to bring their dogs onto school grounds. Therefore it is
essential that parents who walk their dogs to school behave responsibly and ensure that
their dog is on a lead and under the control of their owner at all times.
If your dog is one that barks a lot, is young or jumps up at people, we ask that you do not
bring them onto our school grounds. Also, please keep dogs away from areas where
there is lot of noise and movement such as directly outside classrooms at 3pm.
We expect dogs to be on a lead at all times in our school, even outside of school hours.
Dogs are not allowed to run free in our school. The Board of Trustees would not like to
have to ban all dogs at all times from our school grounds.
If we are all considerate and behave as responsible dog owners we can ensure that dogs
can continue to frequent our school grounds.
Intermediate Sports News
Balmoral Intermediate Swim Team
The Balmoral Intermediate Swim team competed in the 5th and final round of the
Auckland Swim Association Intermediate Swim League Competition held on Saturday 2
July.
This round was worth double points and Balmoral went into it in third place after
accumulating 646 points from the previous three competition rounds - only 6 points
behind the second placed ANI team.
The team all swam so well. Everyone enjoyed this extremely exciting final. There was great
determination in their swimming and there has definitely been improvement since round
one. Each and every member of the team put 100% into their races which resulted in fast
times, great finishes and our best team result yet. Balmoral finished first in the Final round
which elevated them to second overall for the Term 2 League Competition.
ASA Intermediate Swim League Results after five rounds of competition:
1st Ponsonby
1,101 pts
2nd Balmoral
1,088 pts
3rd ANI
1,066 pts
The Team:
Yr 7 Girls
Lara Grozev
Caitlyn Mossman
Sarah Brinck
Lucy Hocquard
Ava Paynter
Zoe Broad
Yr 7 Boys
Sam Taylor Sinclair
Callum Wishart
Oliver Restall
Harry Searle
Yr8 Girls
Isla Marsh
Ella Mitchell
Jade Robertson
Grace Cox
Yr 8 Boys
Oscar Mossman
Justin Hemara
Community News
A V ISUA L EX TRAVA GA NZ A THAT
D RAW S A RTISTS A N D A RT LOV ERS
TO GETHER IN THE STUN N IN G
MAGS
HISTO RICA L SETTIN G O F MO UN T
FI N E
A RT
SH OW
A L B ERT GRA MMA R SCHO O L .
Saturday 20 August 10am - 7.30pm
Sunday 21 August 9am - 3pm
Free admission both days with a café open
onsite. Visit www.magsartshow.co.nz for
more information.
Mt Albert
Albert
Mt
AN AFTERNOON WITH ANDY GRIFFITHS
Andy Griffiths is one of New Zealand's most popular children’s authors, best known
for The Treehouse series and the JUST! books, created with illustrator Terry Denton.
Over the last 20 years, Andy’s books have been New York Times bestsellers, adapted
for the stage and television and won more than 50 Australian children’s choice
awards. Andy, a passionate advocate for literacy, is an ambassador for The
Indigenous Literacy Foundation and The Pyjama Foundation.
Join us to celebrate the release of Andy's latest book, The 78-Storey Treehouse.
Andy and Terry have added 13 new levels, including a drive-thru car wash, a
combining machine, a scribbletorium, an All-Ball sports stadium, Andyland,
Terrytown, a high-security potato chip storage facility and an open-air movie
theatre.
Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up! Take a tour of the new 78-storey
treehouse with Andy Griffiths as your guide.
A range of Andy's books will be available for purchase and there will be a book
signing after the event.
4:15pm, Wednesday 14 September
Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls Grammar
16 Howe Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland
Tickets on sale via eventfinda
Children under 12: $7, AWF Patrons & Friends: $10, General: $15
P O Box 41 092, St Lukes, Auckland
Entrance off Cornwallis Street
Phone: 815 2227 Fax: 815 3523
Welcome to Mt Albert Ramblers Softball Club Inc. We are located at Warren Freer
Park, Cornwallis Street (opposite the carpark), St Lukes. We are a very family
orientated club with many 3rd or 4th generation players in our membership.
The age groups are U6/8/10 for t-ball, with U11/12 being non-competition junior
softball and U13/15/17 for competition junior softball.
T-Ball practice is on a Wednesday evening between 5pm and 6:30pm @ Warren
Freer Park. We have a sausage sizzle on these evenings run by the parents and the
clubrooms are open. All T-Ball games are played on a Saturday morning at Fowlds
Park (Rocky Nock Ave, Mt Albert) @ 9:00am.
Junior Softball is played throughout the Auckland area from Meadowlands Park,
Howick to Starling Park, Swanson and out to White Park, Papatoetoe. Our home
park is Warren Freer Park with our overflow fields being either Fowlds Park,
Western Springs or War Memorial Park, Mt Roskill located on May Road or off
Gifford Ave
JUNIOR REGISTRATIONS FOR 2016/17 SEASON
You are invited to register for season 2016/17. If you are a returning Ramblers junior
softball player, then you should have received an email inviting you to register again.
You can access through the following links;
Junior Softball - http://www.sportsground.co.nz/ramblersoftball/72058/3 Returning
players
Junior Softball - http://www.sportsground.co.nz/ramblersoftball/72058/4 New players
T-Ball - http://www.sportsground.co.nz/ramblersoftball/72058/2 Returning t-ball players
T-Ball - http://www.sportsground.co.nz/ramblersoftball/72058/5 New t-ball players
719 Mt Eden Road, Auckland
Debbie Walsh
Children’s Clinical Naturopath
Bachelor of Natural Medicine
Medical Herbalist
Nutritional Therapist
‘Supporting best-possible health outcomes
for children and young people’
General Health  Chronic Conditions  Allergies  Food Intolerances  Anxiety
Disorders  Learning and Behavioural disorders
Phone: 021 441 220
www.thriveclinic.co.nz