Snapshots from the week
The Balmoral Debating Team
Our Balmoral debaters continue to showcase their critical thinking, teamwork, and public speaking skills in another exciting week of competitions!
This round saw our Year 10.1 team put up a strong fight against Lourdes Hill but unfortunately fell short, while Year 10.2 secured a well-earned victory over Mansfield. Meanwhile, our Year 8 team triumphed against San Sisto, demonstrating impressive argumentation and confidence.
With the Year 7 and Year 9 teams preparing for their upcoming debates before the end of term, we look forward to seeing more great performances from our students. Congratulations to all our debaters for their dedication and passion—keep up the fantastic work!
NAPLAN 2025
This year’s NAPLAN assessments presented unique challenges due to disruptions caused by the recent cyclone, requiring a rescheduled testing program. Despite these unexpected changes, our students demonstrated remarkable resilience and determination to complete their assessments.
A huge thank you goes to our dedicated staff for their efforts in coordinating the adjustments, our students for their patience and perseverance, and our parents for their ongoing support. This flexibility and cooperation ensured a smooth and successful delivery of the program.
Well done to everyone involved!
The Resilience Project and the Student Resilience Survey
Resilience and wellbeing are key factors to ensure a happy and fulfilling future for our young people.
Balmoral SHS is proud to partner with The Resilience Project to assist our school community in the wellbeing journey. In order to gain an accurate understanding of our students’ strengths and challenges, we will be conducting the Student Resilience Survey developed by Resilient Youth Australia and the University of South Australia. In recent years, more than 900,000 young people aged between 7–19 have been surveyed, across 3,500 schools globally. The results have been used to make informed and practical decisions about targeted resilience initiatives.
The Student Resilience Survey will be administered to students online during class. It typically takes 30–50 minutes to complete the survey. Participation is voluntary and anonymous.
The data from the survey will be reported in aggregate descriptive form only, by year level and gender. No individual student responses can be identified.
The results will provide valuable information to help us create and maintain the best culture of wellbeing and resilience that we can.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s participation in this survey, please contact Mrs. Leanne McFie on lmcfi1@eq.edu.au. We thank you for your support.
Alumni Spotlight: Jack Hill
From Balmoral to Marine Ranger! 🌊🌿
We love hearing success stories from our graduates! Jack Hill, a Year 12 student from the Class of 2024, has landed his dream job as a Marine Ranger with the Department of Environment and Science, Qld Parks and Wildlife Service at Manly.
Jack’s journey started back in Year 10 when he completed his work experience at Springbrook National Park. With a passion for conservation, strong academics, and even a boating license, he stood out as the top candidate among hundreds of applicants.
Jack has also been accepted into Environmental Science at UQ, which he plans to start next year. A special thanks to Miss Lamont for sending Jack the job opportunity before she left Balmoral—just another example of how our teachers go above and beyond.
Congratulations, Jack! We can’t wait to see where your journey takes you next. 🚀🌏
International PI Day!
🥧🔢 Happy International Pi Day! 🔢🥧
On Friday, March 14th, Maths classes across the school, including our wonderful factuly of maths and science (see below) celebrated the most famous number in mathematics—π (pi) = 3.14159…! 🎉 Students who recited 25 or more digits of this irrational number earned themselves a delicious pie.
For one Year 10 student, 25 digits just wasn’t enough! Hungry for more Pi, Cami recited an incredible 345 digits, setting a new record for Balmoral! 👏🎉
Fantastic work, Cami! Here she is with Ms Gunner (HOD Mathematics) and Ms Bell.
How many digits of Pi can you remember? Better yet… what’s your favourite kind of pie? 😆🥧
Alliance Breakfast
Our School Captains recently attended the Public School's Alliance Breakfast where they met School Captains from other Brisbane schools, listened to the inspirational TV veteran Leigh Sales AM and were treated to a delicious breakfast.
"Leigh's anecdotes and lessons from her 30+ years in journalism and current work at the ABC were truly motivating and Jasmine and I were honoured to represent Balmoral at this amazing event."
Brian Arseneau, School Captain.
Hospitality Highlights
Huge thanks to our amazing Year 11 Hospitality students (and Ms. Greenwood & Ms. Rose) for serving up an incredible staff lunch in M Block!
From perfectly crafted Club Sandwiches to top-tier hospitality, they absolutely nailed it. 🔥
Engineering in action
Our Engineering students explored stress in structures, learning how compression and tension impact real-world designs.
Through hands-on projects, they put theory to the test, gaining valuable insights into the forces that shape the world around us!
The Learner First
The Balmoral Leadership team recently hosted the first HOD collaborative session with The Learner First cluster teams.
Faculty leaders of English Maths and Science engaged in understanding and reflecting on assessment tasks with the purpose of strengthening collaborative pedagogical partnerships between the four cluster schools to enhance student learning and academic outcomes. It was a hugely successful day which highlighted the valuable and innovative curriculum work our Balmoral learning teams are delivering in classrooms.
