Message from the Principal

As we move towards the middle weeks of our biggest term of the school year, there is a great deal happening across Balmoral. Thank you to all parents and carers who have been confirming their Student Learning Conference appointments for Tuesday 11 August. These conversations remain an important opportunity for students, families and teachers to connect around learning, progress and next steps. Earlier this week we have made some appointments available with the relevant Year Level Deputy Principals for parent to connect in during these conferences, parents are welcome to make booking if they wisht to confirm or review supports offered to students.

In addition, our Year 10 SET Plan interviews are occurring next week as students begin to tentatively confirm their Year 11 pathway subjects in preparation for 2027. We also have our Year 11 Camp beginning on Tuesday, with four days of leadership, learning and impact ahead for our senior students.

Book Week is also just around the corner, with this year’s theme inviting students to dress as their favourite childhood character.

Next week also marks an exciting moment for Balmoral, with our story of leading a transformative school culture being published on the Learner First website, providing educators across the globe with an opportunity to connect with our improvement and development story. Many thanks to our valued partners, staff and, importantly, student voices who have been pivotal in shaping both our work and the story we are sharing.

Joanne McEachen, Founder of Learner First, reflected on our journey since 2023, most recently and in her communication with me she described our journey as “genuinely inspiring” and recognised the authentic way agency, belonging and innovation have become visible and measurable outcomes across our school community. Her reflection also highlighted the philosophy underpinning our work: agency for all learners, not just students. This is a powerful acknowledgement of the collective commitment of our staff, students and community to making improvement sustainable and meaningful.

This week, we continued that commitment through our focus on reading fluency and literacy across the curriculum. We welcomed colleagues from Stretton State College for instructional rounds focused on explicit reading instruction and the practices supporting students to become more confident and capable readers.

Our work is continuing through the DIBELS reading program in Year 7, helping us identify students’ reading needs, strengthen fluency and monitor impact over time. Importantly, this work extends beyond English. Across Junior Secondary, teachers are increasingly supporting students to unpack the vocabulary, language, and text structures specific to their subjects.

The instructional rounds highlighted practices including choral reading, teacher-led text unpacking, explicit reading and comprehension strategies, and targeted instruction in literal, inferential and interpretative comprehension. Teachers are scaffolding students from words and word groups through to paragraphs, text types and whole texts, while recognising the value of students engaging with complex texts in a supported environment to develop independence and mastery.

Our focus remains clear: to ensure all students can read and write at the level required to succeed in their grade and subject areas. This is an important part of our ongoing work to strengthen learning impact for every student at Balmoral.

Have a wonderful weekend as we look forward to a vibrant week 4 of term 3.

Timothy Barraud

Principal