Message from the Principal

Welcome back to Term 4

There is something special about the beginning of a final term. The year has gathered momentum, the finish line is becoming visible, and we have an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come before focusing on where we are going next.

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of speaking to our Year 12 students at their final assembly with the entire Balmoral community.

I reminded them that this is their last quarter.

Their break mattered. They have had the opportunity to switch off, spend time with people who matter, get some sleep and step away from the demands of school.

But now it is time to lock in and go the distance.

I used the Brisbane Lions as an analogy. When they reach the last quarter, they do not look at the scoreboard and decide they have done enough. They do not drift towards the finish.

They lock in.
They stay connected.
They look after each other.
They respond to pressure.
And they go the distance.

That is what I want for our Year 12 students this term. Not just a strong finish, but a connected one. One where they continue to challenge themselves, support each other and make the most of the final opportunities they have as Balmoral learners.

Importantly, this message extends well beyond Year 12.

A culture that is becoming visible

Over the past three years, we have been working deliberately to make that vision visible in the everyday experience of our students.

This has required more than introducing new programs or initiatives. It has required a commitment to consistent practice.

From 2025 to 2026, we have continued to strengthen the practices we believe make the greatest difference to learning. Knowing our learners. Connecting before content. Building strong learning relationships. Developing learner agency. Encouraging reflection. Challenging thinking. Using a common language to help students understand and take greater ownership of their engagement.

Our latest student feedback provides encouraging evidence of the impact.

When compared with our Term 2, 2025 results, positive responses have increased by more than 20 percentage points across all six common questions.

Our students are honest in their feedback, and we value that. We know that sustainable improvement comes through listening carefully to our students, identifying where we can improve and then consistently working on those areas over time.

77.5% of students now agree that their classroom is a welcoming place where teachers help them connect with learning and others. That is an increase of 34 percentage points.
56.8% agree that their teachers care if they are absent, an increase of 25 percentage points.
65.3% agree that their teachers notice and acknowledge when they try their best, up 24 percentage points.
We are also seeing significant growth in the quality of the learning relationship.
59.4% of students agree that their teachers see them as individual learners, an increase of 23 percentage points.
74.5% agree that their teachers encourage them to reflect on what they are learning, up 22 percentage points.
And 68.3% agree that their teachers ask questions that challenge them to think more deeply, an increase of 23 percentage points.

These are significant shifts and provide strong evidence of improvement in our learning culture.

Consistency is making a difference

Improvement at this scale does not come from one initiative or one individual.

It comes from a school community becoming increasingly consistent in the things that matter.

Our Balmoral Engagement Accelerator has been a significant part of this journey. We have deliberately moved our focus beyond simply asking students to participate and towards developing learners who can recognise where they are in their learning, reflect on their engagement and take greater ownership of what comes next.

Our language of Participate, Invest, Drive and Innovate has provided students with a way to understand their learning behaviours and consider how they can move forward.

But language only becomes powerful when it is consistently used and reinforced.

That is the work we have been doing from 2025 to 2026, and it will continue to be a focus for us. We want students to be increasingly able to identify their own level of engagement, understand what it means and recognise what they can do to move forward.

This work is also receiving recognition beyond Balmoral. Next week, our staff have been invited to share our engagement journey and our work supporting students to own their level of engagement with more than 500 delegates during an upcoming professional learning segment with Amy Berry.

It is a wonderful opportunity to share what our students and staff have been building together.

Agency in action

Our commitment to learner agency is also evident in the way we are working with our Year 12 students.

We have made deliberate changes this year to provide our senior students with additional personal study time and greater opportunity to prepare for their final external examinations.

At the same time, we are continuing to give our students a genuine voice in how they finish their Balmoral journey.

I have been working directly with the Year 12 leadership team on the activities and experiences they would like to complete during their final week.

Since my time at Balmoral, this has been a co-designed process. We want the final week to be meaningful to this cohort, reflect their experience and provide opportunities to celebrate their journey together.

At the same time, our responsibility is to ensure that plans are reasonable, purposeful and aligned with the expectations of our school community.

Our team will continue to work alongside the student leaders to shape those plans.

This is Agency in action. It is about giving students voice, establishing clear parameters, listening carefully and supporting them to make good decisions.

Looking forward

There is much to be proud of as we enter the final term of the year.

For our Year 12 students, that means locking in and going the distance.

For every learner, it means continuing to develop the confidence and capability to move from participating to investing, from investing to driving and ultimately towards becoming learners who can shape their own futures.

For our staff, it means continuing to refine our collective practice and remain committed to the small things we do consistently that make a significant difference over time.

And for our community, it means continuing to work together around a shared ambition for every learner.

Consistent practice. Greater learner agency. Stronger learning relationships. Better outcomes.

This is how we continue to Inspire Excellence at Balmoral.

A personal note

I will be taking five days of long service leave next week to travel to Melbourne with my family.

Thank you to Kellie Baumgart, who will step into the role of Acting Principal, Leanne McFie as Acting Deputy Principal, and Trevor Buckingham as Acting Middle School Head of Department across those five days.

I look forward to sharing further updates as Term 4 progresses.

Timothy Barraud

Principal