Friday 6th November 2026 Newsletter
Friday 6th November 2026
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Kia Ora Parents & Whānau,
It has been a very quiet week at Balfour School, with most of our Korimako students away enjoying camp in Dunedin.
A huge thank you to all of our parent volunteers who generously gave up their time to support the camp. Your help was greatly appreciated and helped make the experience such a success. Thank you also to Mrs Schriek for giving up her evenings to accompany the students and ensure everyone was well cared for throughout the trip.
A special thank you must go to Mr Krishna, who planned what several students described as the "best ever camp"! He invested an enormous amount of time and effort into creating an unforgettable experience. Judging by the number of students who said they did not want to come home, I think it is safe to say it was a great success!
Highlights of the week included a sleepover at the Otago Museum and a night walk, a tour of Forsyth Barr Stadium, a surf day at the beach, a city tour featuring Baldwin Street, a walk to Tunnel Beach, and a visit to historic Olveston House.
On Monday, our Year 6 students will travel to Mossburn to take part in the Northern Cup. They will compete in four sports: football, cricket, Ki-o-Rahi, and air hockey. We wish them all the very best and look forward to hearing how they get on.
Wednesday was Tonga National Day, and we marked the occasion by raising the Tongan flag and listening to the national anthem.
Looking ahead, we are excited to welcome the return of swimming lessons next week, as well as visits from Stu Brown and the team at Active Southland.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Mihi mahana,
Andrea Holt
PRINCIPAL'S AWARD
Donnalily - for thinking ahead of what needs to be done, using your initiative and offering to do tasks, being aware of how important the unseen jobs are in keeping things running smoothly.
Lennox - for working really hard to navigate positive choices around your actions in class. Your intentional effort to concentrate and stay focused in class continues to develop positively.
CLASS CERTIFICATES
George - for very good work in Maths and all-round attention.
Charlie - for great maths progress and learning.
Van - you are becoming increasingly independent with your writing. You are fearlessly giving new words a go all by yourself.
Maggie - for trying really hard to remember all the good things that writers do! (Maggie was absent for Photo)
PARKING OUTSIDE SCHOOL
A friendly reminder to all parents, caregivers and visitors that the bus bays must remain clear between 8:00am and 9:00am, and between 2:00pm and 3:00pm each school day. These areas are designated for school buses during student arrival and departure times. Please do not park or stop in the bus bays during these times, even for a short period. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us keep our students safe and traffic flowing smoothly.
CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS - TERM 4
Tuesday 24th November - Production 1pm and 5.30pm
Tuesday 1st December - Production reserve date
2nd - 4th December - Y3/4 camp - Omaui
Monday 14th December - Leavers ceremony
Monday 14th December - School closes 12.15pm
TERM DATES 2026
Monday 14th December - last day of Term 4
Tuesday 2nd February 2027 - Beginning of term 1
BOARD MEETING DATES FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR
TERM 4. - 9th December - 7.00pm
BALFOUR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY POOL
Would you like to be a Friend of the Balfour Community Pool?
For many years, our pool has served as a safe and enjoyable place for the students of Balfour School and local families to swim during the summer months.
We have been fortunate to have had a full enclosure upgrade funded by the Ministry of Education back in 2025, which has safeguarded its potential for many years to come. However, the equipment running our pool is old and in desperate need of replacement.
As a valuable and locally enjoyed fixture of Balfour, we are looking for community partnerships to keep our gates open and help fund the upkeep of our facilities.
We would love to partner with sponsors to help cover some of the costs of running our pool. Your contribution would go directly toward pool expenses, such as chemical, equipment upgrades and maintenance.
To be a sponsor you don’t need to be a business. You may just be a community focused local who would like to help keep our Pool open for many years ahead.
We have 3 tiers of sponsorship available. Including a one off donation. If you would like to know more, please get in touch with Kate Eaton by emailing, texting/calling. ewl.balfouroffice@gmail.com
As a thank you for your kind donation, your name will feature on our
“Friends of the Balfour Community Pool” board that will be proudly displayed inside the pool enclosure.
BUS CHANGE REMINDER - PLEASE READ
To help ensure your child's bus arrangements are communicated safely and in a timely manner, please do not email bus changes to the school. Emails are not always checked during the afternoon and there is a risk that important messages may be missed. If your child has a change to their usual bus plans, please send a text message or phone the school office instead. This ensures we receive the information promptly and can pass it on to the appropriate staff member before the end of the day. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us keep all students safe and accounted for at dismissal time.
BUS CHANGE / EMERGENCY CONTACT FORM
This form was emailed and sent on Hero to all parents at the beginning of last week. We require this to be filled out at the beginning of each term and returned to school even if there is no change from last term. Can you please get these back in next week.
ASSEMBLY
Assembly is held on Friday mornings at 9.00am. Everyone is welcome.
You will receive a text message if your child is receiving a certificate, except if it is for a birthday certificate where we will presume you know they will automatically be receiving a certificate.
When we message to tell you your child is receiving a certificate can you please keep it as a surprise for them. Thank you in advance.
RECYCLED UNIFORMS
Recycled Uniforms Available
We have the following recycled school uniform items available:
2 × Size 8 Polo Shirts
3 × Size 8 Hoodies
If you are interested or would like more information, please contact the school office.
KORIMAKO -
KORIMAKOS REFLECTION ON SCHOOL CAMP
The morning of camp had arrived, and all the students were buzzing. We loaded the cars and set off on the long journey to Dunedin. Our car was bursting with music and fun all the way to Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. We huffed and puffed our way to the top, took some photos and practically flew back down!
Once we were back in the car, we worked on our worksheet. Soon after, we arrived at the museum, unloaded our stuff and got ready to explore. We went into a gigantic dome to watch a movie about alien life. After the movie, we explored the galleries, got to hold fossils and learnt about extinct animals. The museum also had a playroom with a huge slide and lots of interactive games. Then we went into the lab and used clay to make our own fossils.
For dinner, we had yummy pizza with slices as big as my face! Later, we went on a night walk, and Riley told us a scary story about a pirate. We were all frightened, even if the boys won’t admit it. I had an awesome time!
By Everly
The Year 5 and 6 students went on a school trip to Dunedin. One of my favourite parts was swimming at St Kilda Beach. Our instructors, Logan and Amelia, taught us a lot about how the ocean behaves and how to use a rescue boat. Afterwards, we played games on the sand and went back to the surf club for morning tea.
After morning tea, we returned to the beach, and Amelia and Logan split us into groups. I was with Robbie, Emma and Jacob. Amelia asked us to build a sand sculpture, like a mermaid or a sandcastle. Our group decided to build a pirate ship with an octopus guarding its jewellery. The treasure was a hair tie we found and a seashell! Afterwards, we headed back to the motel.
By Kassandra
My favourite part of school camp was visiting the museum. I loved exploring the Animal Attic, looking at the fossils and seeing the mummy. I also enjoyed the scavenger hunt and the night walk.
My second favourite part was Tunnel Beach, where we saw a sea lion! We also got to go into the coaches’ box at the stadium and made it all the way to the top of Baldwin Street.
My third favourite part was visiting Olveston. We got to explore three floors of the house, and I wondered what was on the fourth floor.
I’ll always remember this school camp!
By Charlotte
One of my favourite places on our Dunedin trip was Wal’s Plant Land. We went there after visiting Olveston. We could buy something from the shop, play mini golf or try the driving range. Most of us chose the driving range, including me.
I missed most of the balls at first, but I kept trying and started to hit them. The furthest I hit a ball was 70 metres!
When we finished, we went to the gift shop and got ice cream. Even the parents had some! Once everyone had finished, we headed back to school.
By Emma
Ngā mihi,
Anish Krishna
Korimako Class Teacher
PIWAKAWAKA Kia ora,
This week in Piwakawaka, we have finished our SMART assessments, and Ms. Fin. has been taking us aside for our reading tests. In iDeal we have learnt about the ou/ow sounds and the 'th' digraph. In Math, we have been completing graphs before learning about negative numbers and more fraction practice. Mrs. Douglas taught us on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we went swimming and did lots of lengths of the pool. Today is Gumboot Friday. We have also been painting our props and practising for our production.
Nga Mihi, Judy Finlayson and Piwakawaka.
Nga Mihi,
Judy Finlayson and Piwakawaka students.
TUI
Kia ora Whanau
What a week! Another weekend is upon us.
Reading and iDeal continue as per usual. It is great to see the number of children trying really hard to get their reading and spelling words done each night.
Maths - we will be looking at mass and capacity for the next couple of weeks and continuing to revise and practice our basic facts
Production: We are practicing our songs and starting to think about the finer details in our performance. Still finishing off some of our props. Haven't heard from anyone re costumes so assuming this is going well.
Writing - the children did some writing samples this week to help us with report writing. For fun today we published some writing that we did about ice-cream.
Lunchboxes - Just a really friendly reminder and I'm coming from a place of care, can we please make sure that lunchboxes contain a really good balance of fruit/veges, sandwiches/wraps/toasties/pita pockets/rice/meat etc or something like that. And of course, the odd special treat.
Wishing everyone a happy weekend.
Jill Robb & Sarah McLean
Room Tui
HOT CHOCOLATE RECIPIENTS
Due to a technical issue with photo storage we were unable to publish last week's photo but here it is!
Iyana, Addie and Toretto
This weeks Principal's award recipients with Mrs Holt enjoying their Hot Chocolate.
Lennox and Donnalily
