ena 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 Primary

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.

Friday 15 November

Primary Dates to Diary

Kids4Kids Rehearsal Tuesday 19 November 9-1pm

Kids4Kids Performance Tuesday 19 November 7pm

BoT Meeting Tuesday 19 @ 7.30pm

Primary Assembly Friday 22 November 9.15am

Mahira Fun Athletics Morning Thursday 5 December

Primary Assembly Friday 6 December 9.15am

Fia Fia Night Wednesday 11 December

Canteen last day for the year Thursday 12 December

Hiringa Poroporoaki Thursday 12 December

Primary Picnic Friday 13 December

Last day of term 4 Thursday 19 December 1pm

Please check the calendar on our school website (www.balmoral.school.nz ) for up-to-date

events and times.

Primary Whanau Blogs

Koru https://koruspace.blogspot.com/

Mahira http://mahirasyndicate.blogspot.co.nz/

Whetu http://fabulouswhetu.blogspot.co.nz/

Hiringa https://hiringabalmoral.blogspot.co.nz/

Canteen Days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday only

Canteen closes for the year 12/12/2019

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

Dear Parents, Whānau and Caregivers

One change in our role over the last five years has been the growth of social media and its

influence on children’s and adult behaviour. While there are many positives about the

introduction of technology there are many negatives.

Early last week an app was brought to the schools attention called Tellonym. This app

operates as a texting app but it is more insidious than this in that people can post

anonymously. Some of the things we saw written on this app were certainly unacceptable

and just outright hurtful. There was very little compassion, empathy or dignity shown.

Netsafe is a very useful website to keep the parents informed about what is happening.

Netsafe says this about anonymous

1. BE NICE: If you’re sending feedback on an anonymous feedback app, be constructive

and positive in what you say – honesty doesn’t have to be cruel or mean. Remember to

treat others as you would wish to be treated – and to always think before you hit ‘send’.

2. GET PREPARED: Before you install a new app, think about how the benefits of it as well as

how you’ll deal with negative, mean or abusive comments. Consider whether it’s worth the

potential stress. If you don’t think you’re ready to have to deal with any potential abuse or

negativity, don’t install it.

3. KEEP IT FRIENDS ONLY: Only share the details of your anonymous feedback account with

people that you know and trust. Do not share them publicly – remember that places like

your Insta bio are visible even if your profile is set to private. If the app allows it, set up your

account so that people cannot find your account via the search functionality.

4. BLOCK ABUSERS: If someone has been writing mean or hurtful comments, use the ‘report’

or ‘block’ function (if the app has one) to stop the abuse from happening again.

5. DELETE THE APP: If it all gets too much, and you’re receiving hurtful comments, then

delete the app off your phone. If it’s left you feeling bad then speak to someone you trust.

6. GET HELP: If you are receiving abusive messages and harassment on any app or platform

you can contact Netsafe for help. Text ‘Netsafe’ to 4282 or make a report using their online

report form.

I would encourage you to regularly visit Netsafe to keep abreast of the latest

developments in technology. Also remember you are entitled to report abusive online

behaviour to Netsafe.

Our school tries to also keep abreast of what happens. We teach our students about cyber

safety. This term our Year 5-8 are participating in sexuality education which has an

important component of safety online.

Kia pai to mutunga wiki (Have a good weekend)  Naku noa

Malcolm Milner Te Tumuaki

Teaching and Learning in a Modern Classroom

Over the last 8 years our staff have worked alongside Dr Murray Gadd in their classrooms to

develop their skill in the teaching of reading and writing. This process has been deliberate

and longitudinal to ensure that we get permanent change. Murray will continue to work in

our school so that we are continually improving what we are doing based on the latest

research.

Last month Murray visited with a Swedish teacher Maarten Koops. Maarten was on a

scholarship to look at writing. He undertook observations of writing lessons in 14 Year 3-10

classrooms and interviewed teachers and students as part of these observations. Here is a

link to his observations and would give you a valuable insight into writing lessons in a

modern environment. Please read this short blog post.

Red Room Poetry Competition

In 2019, Poetry Object reached more people

than ever before! In 240 schools and 414

classrooms across Australia and New Zealand,

students and teachers discovered new ways to

write poems about objects they hold dear.

From over 2350 submissions, two of our pupils

reached the shortlist of 51 outstanding poems.

Ashton with his poem 'Shells' and Spencer with

his poem 'Cold Air' have both made it to this

level of the competition!

You can now participate in the Peoples Choice

Award which closes on Monday 18 November.

So you only have two more days to choose your

favourite poems from the shortlist! Spread the

word amongst your friends and whanau. The top

people's choice poems will receive special

awards from Red Room Poetry in recognition of

their work.

Vote in the people's choice award

Read the shortlist

Staff Leaving in 2019

Staffing at our school, remains very fluid. There continues to be extremely high numbers of

positions advertised which creates a lot of choice for job seekers.

In the last three months we have received resignations from the following teaching staff.

We wish them all the best for 2020.

• Congratulations to Andrew who has resigned after fifteen years work at Balmoral to take

up a leadership role in West Auckland. This is a significant number of years work serving

the Balmoral community and we will recognise this appropriately.

Other resignations we have received are

• Michelle Deacon who is looking forward to other teaching career options.

• Emma has resigned and accepted a position in Tauranga

• Madeline Henty has resigned and is travelling to the UK

• Krysten has obtained a teaching position at Meadowbank School

We will farewell these staff over the next month.

Staffing Changes for 2020

Congratulations to Stephanie Slaven who will be the Whānau Leader leading (Hiringa) our

Year 5/6 syndicate in 2020.

I would also like to welcome Cynthia Tian (Year ¾), Kylie Hogg (Year 5/6), Dale

Mahlagwai (Year 7).

The school currently has one vacancy in Year 5/6. This position is advertised and closes on

Monday 25th November.

Classroom Organisation for 2020

The school takes great care in the placement of individual children.

Class placement cannot be based on friendships or parent requests so please do not ask

for this. This year we are using a computer programme to create our classes for 2020 based

on some strict criteria.  

Each class is formed with careful consideration of the following information: 

• attitudes/work habits 

• relationships  with others

• range of abilities 

• recommendations of previous teacher 

• equity balance 

This structure is so that we can provide the best conditions for children and teachers alike to

ensure learning is maximised. 

All classes will be mixed up to go to the next teacher. 

The Principal or Associate Principal has the prerogative to move a child if the needs of that

child or teacher are not being met.  

Property Update

Last night we held our Roof Shout for the important milestone of the roof being completed

on the gymnasium. This celebration is an old tradition in New Zealand and it was lovely to

be able to share as a community. Thanks to Kristen and our supportive PTA who managed

to rearrange their lives to make this happen on a work day. They served up over 550

sausages and 750 iceblocks. There were many happy children and parents after school

yesterday.

Sustainability at Balmoral School

Farmers Market

On Friday 1 November the Eco Warriors helped organise the Balmoral School Farmers' Market. A big

crowd was treated to an amazing variety of products made by students, teachers and parents.

Together we were able to raise $1755 dollars which we used to adopt three kākāpō, and make a

donation to help bring children to the Zealandia ecosanctuary. Thank you to everyone who came

to the market or helped out.

Colgate Community Garden Challenge

Vote to win for our school www.Terracycle.com

Old toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes were sent off to be recycled this week.

This was for the Colgate Community Garden Challenge. The school now stands

the chance to win a recycled garden. Vote for Balmoral School at

www.Terracycle.com to increase our chances to win.

Ngā mihi nui from Whānau Koru

Things are ever changing in Whānau Koru. We continue to welcome new tamariki and are currently having visits from tamariki who will begin their Balmoral School journey from the beginning of next year. This is a really good chance for us to talk about some of our school values: Manaaki, Respect: We are all different. We show tolerance, understanding, care for

others, ourselves and our environment.

Tō tātou, Inclusiveness: In this place each of us is an integral part and we are welcoming. We work as a team and learn together, including everyone and valuing

our diversities. We know we belong. We get to do this daily when we join together for our karakia and talk about manaakitanga-all its many manifestations in a classroom environment but also as a way of being. When we have new class members or visitors there is never any shortage of buddy offers or invitations to play.

Writing in Play

As well as guided writing groups (instructional groups) children are experimenting with their growing literacy knowledge in Play. These acts of writing are self-initiated and purposeful and arise from the authentic contexts which children are exploring or inquiring in Play. We see children integrating explicit writing strategies that have been introduced by the teacher, including Phonics, as well as children drawing on their experiences in the world-shopping lists, writing down café orders, making signs about their creations, cards and letters to whanau and friends.

Children are intrinsically motivated to write in Play. They have time to plan, to

process and prioritise and draw on their working memory, all part of

developing executive functioning skills. They are problem solving

independently, setting personal goals and working to achieve them with time

and reduced pressure. This is a deeply creative process.

We are racing towards the end of the school year now.

Huge thanks and gratitude to our parent community for your help, support and friendship.

We couldn’t do it without you! Best wishes from us all.

Community Notices

Book Donations Needed

Please support the #KiwiChristmasBooks

campaign being run by one of our school

parents by donating a book to this worthy

cause:

Kia ora Balmoral friends and family,

I am helping to collect new New Zealand

books for kiwi kids in need of some help this

Christmas and I’d love your support. Next time

you are in a bookshop or online, please buy an

extra book (children’s, middle grade, YA,

picture books, chapter books - all welcome) to

donate.

All books will be delivered to the Auckland City

Mission and the Auckland Women’s Refuge

who will distribute them as Christmas presents

amongst the young people whose families are

using their services this festive season.

Please, no second-hand books; these kids are generally having a pretty rough time and

deserve something shiny and new, and please choose a book by a New Zealand writer or

illustrator if you can so that we can support local authors, publishers and booksellers too.

You can drop your donation into the box at the school office between now and Friday,

December 13th.

No need to wrap the books, as the agencies need to know what books they are

distributing, but if you would also like to donate a roll of wrapping paper, they would very

much appreciate that too!

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

Kim O'Hara

(Mum of Ruby in Rm 15 and Eddy in Rm 26)

#KiwiChristmasBooks