Friday 7th August 2026 Newsletter
- 21 hours ago
- 5 min read
Friday 7th August 2026
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Kia Ora Parents & Whānau,
It’s been one of those weeks that has absolutely flown by. The very cold starts have certainly kept us on our toes — Thursday morning even delivered frozen pipes, leaving us without water for the first part of the day. Thank you to the staff and students for your patience while we worked through it.
In classrooms, students are busy preparing their speeches and supporting one another with practice runs and feedback. Korimako will be holding theirs on Monday morning, and it’s been great to see the growing confidence as they get ready to present.
Next Tuesday, two netball teams will be heading to the Netty Festival in Winton. The students are looking forward to representing the school, and we’re grateful to Kath McCallum and Justine Williams for giving up their time to coach and support them. Their commitment makes these opportunities possible.
Wishing you all a happy and safe weekend.
Mihi mahana,
Andrea Holt
VALUES AWARD
The Balfour School Values Award is presented to Kadin McGaughey.
Kadin, you are such a superstar! 🌟
Kadin shows our school values in everything he does. He makes sensible choices, thinks about others, and always tries to do the right thing, even when no one is watching. His honesty and trustworthiness make him a special part of our school.
Kadin is responsible and reliable. He listens, follows the rules, and works hard to finish his learning. He helps make our classroom a friendly, safe place where everyone can do their best.
Every day, Kadin shows kindness, effort, and respect. We are very proud of him and the way he brings our values to life with his actions and his attitude.
All in all, you are a wonderful asset to our school. Keep working hard - you will go far!
Kadin displays all the Balfour School Values:
-Be Respectful / kia whakaute
-Be Positive / kia pai
-Be Honest / kai pono
-Be in Control / keite whakahaere
Thank you, Kadin, for everything you bring to Balfour School.
PRINCIPALS AWARD RECIPIENTS
Harvey - you are a great role model in Tui. You lead by example and you can be trusted to do the right thing!
Charlie D - for excellent learning and progress in Reading, Writing and Maths.
Lydia - for being a thoughtful and supportive friend to a new class member.
CLASS CERTIFICATE RECIPIENTS
Bjorn - for Honesty.
Hazel - for Honesty.
Ellie - for staying focused on a task even when things get hard!
Pourewa - For demonstrating strong mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Robbie - For being honest, responsible, and working hard in class.
Jaylen - for super amazing effort during IDEAL.
Danni - for working hard to learn the sounds that vowels and consonants make.
BIRTHDAYS
Happy birthday wishes this week to Archer. We hope you had a fun birthday celebration.
WELCOME
This week we warmly welcomed Kassandra Juab to Balfour School. Kassandra and her family have recently moved here to Balfour and she joins Mr Krishna and Room Korimako. We also welcome her family to our school community. Today we were to welcome Van Maginn, Van is 5 today but is unfortunatley not well and Kassandra was away today. We will formally welcome them both next week.
CALENDAR OF COMING EVENTS - TERM 3
Monday 10th August - Korimako Class Speeches. (PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE)
Friday 14th August - Piwakawaka and Tui Classes Speeches
Friday 21st August - Teacher Only Day
TERM DATES 2026
Friday 21st August. - Teacher Only Day
Friday 25th September. - last day term 3
Monday 12th October. - Teacher Only Day
Tuesday 13th October. - first day term 4
Monday 14th December - last day of Term 4
BOARD MEETING DATES FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR
TERM 3 TERM 4
9th September 7.00pm 28th October - 7.00pm
2nd December - 7.00pm
HERO COMMUNICATIONS APP
Just a reminder to please download Hero onto your preferred device. Instructions for this were on last week's newsletter and sent via email. We need everybody to have this downloaded by 14th August. As this will be our main way of communicating. Please advise us if you do not have good reception for your device at your house. Any questions please contact the office.
CAMP FUNDRAISERS
We are currently taking orders for 'The Good Oil' to fundraise
for Senior school (Korimako) camp later this year. It is the same oil we sold last year.
Order forms for this will be sent home this afternoon with your child/children.
We will also be selling Whittakers chocolate bars. This is to fundraise for Piwakawaka Camp. These will
come in a box of 36 bars which will be $108 Or you may purchase individually for $3 a bar. These are easily sold, everyone loves chocolate so try your neighbours and extended family etc. We have also included this order form at the end of this newsletter. If you only wish to purchase bars not packs just write bars in the column that says Qty Fundraising packs. All profits from both these fundraisers will go towards lowering the cost of school camp.
KORIMAKO - As we move further into the term, students have continued to show enthusiasm and commitment in their learning. In English, they have been refining their speeches in preparation for the school-based speech competition on Monday, 10th August. This weekend is a great opportunity for students to practise in front of family members, so we encourage parents and caregivers to listen to their speeches and help them with any final improvements.
In Mathematics, we have begun exploring Rational Numbers – Decimals, learning how to convert tenths and hundredths into decimal form. Students have online homework available through the QR codes in their homework books, providing extra practice to reinforce the concepts taught in class. Your support in encouraging your child to complete these activities at home is greatly appreciated.
We are also excited to have two mixed netball teams representing Balfour School at the competition in Winton next Tuesday. We wish all of our players the very best and warmly welcome families to come along and cheer them on.
Wishing everyone a blessed and enjoyable weekend. We look forward to another exciting week of learning and celebrating our students' achievements.
Ngā mihi,
Anish Krishna
Korimako Class Teacher
PIWAKAWAKA Kia ora,
This week in Piwakawaka we have continued reading Wind in the Willows. In maths, Year 4 have started learning about remainders with division. Year 2/3 are exploring area with geoboards.
We have been reviewing our letter sounds, learning about the different syllable types and different letter teams such as r-controlled.
We have begun writing our speeches in preparation for Speech Day. We also combined with Korimako for a large group practice of dance-drama. It was fairly crazy!
Written by everybody in Piwakawaka.
Nga mihi
Judy Finlayson.
Piwakawaka Class Teacher
TUI
Kia ora Whānau,
Despite a bit of sickness floating around, it has been all go in Tui! Regular routines continue in all curriculum areas. Children have been building on their sound knowledge through IDEAL and this is reinforced during reading time. We have been focussing on practising and presenting a poem as part of writing and oral language. In Maths we have been looking at multiplication and dividing into equal groups. We have also looked at Te Whare Tapa Wha and how this connects with Whanau and friendships and our mental wellbeing.
Ngā mihi, Sarah McLean
Room Tui Kaiako
These items of jewellery have been handed into the office. If they are yours please let us know.
