Principal Update

Message from the Principal

An Exceptional Start to 2026

What an outstanding return to the school year we have experienced at Balmoral State High School. Week 1 of 2026 has been defined by energy, optimism, and a strong sense of momentum across our learning community.

We are delighted to welcome additional enrolments across all year levels and extend a warm welcome to our new families joining Balmoral this year. It has also been wonderful to reconnect with students returning to us after extended overseas experiences, bringing with them new perspectives and global insights that enrich our school community.

This term, we are also proud to welcome a few international students from Japan, Brazil, Cambodia, China, and Germany. It has been a pleasure connecting with these students as they share their early experiences of living in Brisbane and exploring the Balmoral surrounds. A clear highlight for many has been Brisbane’s 50-cent public transport fares, which have made navigating the city both accessible and exciting as they settle into life in Queensland.

During our lead-in professional development days, staff reflected on our exceptional academic outcomes from 2025. We proudly celebrated two Year 12 students who received QCAA commendations for outstanding academic achievement in their selected subject fields. In addition, many Year 12 students secured early university offers, with confirmations received prior to the extended break—an outstanding reflection of their commitment and capability.

For our students in Years 7–10, studying the Australian Curriculum, 2025 marked the most successful academic year in Balmoral’s history. With our deliberate focus on incremental academic growth—particularly stretching students from a relative B to A standard—over 65% of students achieved a B–A standard in both Mathematics and English. Importantly, many other students demonstrated significant personal growth in relative achievement from Semester 1 to Semester 2. This year we will continue to enhance our curriculum program and our approach to innovating our curriculum and assessment design to cater for multiple ways of supporting students to demonstrate evidence of their personal achievement. 

We continue to prioritise student engagement and the importance of students owning their learning behaviours through Balmoral’s adaptation of Amy Berry’s Engagement Continuum. This work is now embedded as part of our learning foundations and culture and has seen our staff receive national recognition for implementing research-informed practice grounded in student agency and improved learning impact.

Attendance remains a strong focus for our school in 2026. We are committed to eliminating barriers for individual students and providing personalised support plans to help all students achieve 95% attendance. Every 70-minute live lesson matters. While digital platforms such as Microsoft Teams provide valuable support, they capture only part of the learning—missing the rich collaboration, discussion, and feedback that occur in real time.

As we embark on an exciting 2026 school year, I look forward to sharing further updates on facility improvements, targeted investments, and enhancements that continue to support every student to excel and to inspire a personal vision of their own excellence.

I thank our students, staff, and families for the exceptional start to the year and look forward to what we will achieve together.

Regards,

Timothy Barraud

Principal