Friday 15th May 2026 Newsletter

10 hours ago
5 min read

Friday 15th May 2026

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Kia Ora Parents & Whānau,

This week was Support Staff Week, and on Wednesday, we took some time to celebrate our amazing support staff with a morning tea. They do so much behind the scenes to keep our school running smoothly, and it was nice to show them how much we appreciate everything they do for our children and our team.

We’re really looking forward to Cross Country next Friday. Fingers crossed the weather behaves. Thank you for your support in getting your child to the event — it makes such a difference. We’re hoping to see lots of our students qualify for Northern Cross Country on 3rd June, which is always an exciting milestone.

On Monday, our local policeman will be visiting to talk to the whole school about road safety. It’s a great reminder for the children, especially as the mornings and afternoons get darker.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mihi mahana,

Andrea Holt

We would like to warmly welcome Pearl Madrona to

Balfour School. Pearl has recently moved to the Balfour area and has joined Miss Humphrey and the class of Tui. A warm welcome also to Pearl's family to our community.

CLASS CERTIFICATE RECIPIENTS

Robbie - for showing commitment and a positive attitude during

cross country training.

Evie - fo showing outstanding listening skills and using a respectful voice at all times.

Cyra - for being a positive and hardworking student

Addie - for positivity, especially in nurturing and caring for others.

Ellie - for breaking down words into sounds to write them independently

Iyana - for always walking in with a smile in the morning and bringing a warm energy into the classroom.

PRINCIPALS AWARD RECIPIENTS

Isuli - for demonstrating self-control and positive behaviour at all times.

Hazel - for being a positive, cheerful, helpful member of class.

Xavier - for consistently demonstrating kindness and inclusion towards others

LITERACY PACK RECIPIENTS

Congratulations to these students who

received their beginning school literacy packs.

These packs are put together and subsidised for

our school by Rotary International.

Pictured are Iyana, Maggie, Albie, Thea, Mele and Hazel.

CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS - TERM 2

Friday 22nd May - Cross Country

Thursday 28th May - Freeze ya bits off Busking Competition in Gore (more information to follow)

Monday 1st June - No School - King's Birthday

Wednesday 3rd June. - Northern Cross Country

Wednesday 10th June - Firewise

Thursday June 25th - Visit to Riversdale Arts Exhibition

Friday 3rd July - End of term 2

TERM DATES 2026

Friday 3rd July - last day term 2

Monday 20th July. - first day term 3

Friday 25th September. - last day term 3

Monday 12th October - first day term 4

To be confirmed - last day term 4

WAIMEA CROSS COUNTRY

We are looking forward to Waimea Schools cross country event next Friday. All students need to be there before the race start at 1pm. If it is postponed due to weather, we will let you know Friday morning. Below is the race order. Please read the other details at the end of the newsletter.

13 year old girls, 13 year old boys
5 year old girls, 5 year old boys
6 year olds will start as soon as all 5 year olds finish
12 year old girls, 12 year old boys
7 year olds will start as soon as all 6 year olds finish
8 year old girls, 8 year old boys
9 year old girls, 9 year old boys
11 year old girls, 11 year old boys
10 year old girls, 10 year old boys

BOARD VACANCIES

Towards the end of the year, we will have a vacancy on the Board. If you are interested in learning more about what the position involves, or would like to discuss it further, please get in touch with us. We’re happy to answer any questions.

SMART ASSESSMENT TOOL – TRIALLING THIS YEAR

From this term, our teachers will be using the Smart Assessment Tool, a digital platform that gives us clearer, real‑time information about each child’s progress in reading, writing, and maths. It helps teachers identify strengths, track growth over time, and plan next learning steps with greater accuracy. This tool will sit alongside our usual classroom assessments and support us to make well‑informed decisions about teaching and learning.

We are trialling this tool throughout 2026 and we will keep you updated as the year goes on about how it is supporting teaching and learning across the school.

PHOTO PUBLISHING PERMISSION FORM

Can we please have all of these forms returned to the office by next Friday.

Can we please be vigilant in returning forms as it takes up a lot of unnecessary extra admin time for these or any other communication that needs a reply to be followed up.

SWIMMING POOL - KEYS RETURNED TO THE OFFICE PLEASE

The swimming pool is now closed for the season and we would appreciate it if all keys could be returned to the office.

MAINTAINING CLEAR COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

A reminder that all matters relating to your child’s work, behaviour, or welfare should be directed to their class teacher. Support staff are not able to respond to messages or queries outside of school, and all communication should go through the appropriate teaching staff. Thank you for helping us maintain clear and consistent communication channels.

KORIMAKO This week, students completed their SMART assessments. Reading and Mathematics assessments were completed online using Chromebooks, while the Writing assessment was paper-based to allow students enough time to plan and develop their ideas carefully. In Mathematics, we have been learning about transformations, including reflection, translation, and rotation. In Writing, students are continuing to strengthen their persuasive writing skills by focusing on structure and strong arguments. Students are also training hard for our upcoming cross country event next week, with practice sessions taking place every afternoon.

Ngā mihi,

Anish Krishna Korimako Class Teacher

PIWAKAWAKA Kia ora,

This week has flown by! We have been busy with our national assessments this week and the students have worked really hard to do their best. Students are enthusiastic about their training for the Interschool Cross Country Event. In regular class, we are exploring the Oceania region.

Nga mihi

Judy Finlayson.

Piwakawaka Class Teacher

TUI Kia ora whānau,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. This week we have been exploring phonics sounds, focusing on introducing ‘c’, ‘d’ and ‘th’ sounds. With maths we have been focusing on number formation, addition, subtraction, and fractions. With writing we have been focusing on letter formation of ‘u’ and ‘v’, also including the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, and ‘when’ of a sentence. We have also planted the seeds to a plant and will see how they grow over this term as well as practising for cross country next week.

Ngā mihi, Natasha Humphrey

Room Tui Kaiako

HOT CHOCOLATE RECIPIENTS

Apologies for last weeks recipients not being published.

Pictured here are Cooper, Taylor and Ana with Mrs Holt.

This weeks recipients - Xavier, Isuli and Hazel