Our students have had a very busy term and are now in the middle of creating their first PBL project of the year - working on an exhibit to show their Turangawaewae.

All 9 classes had really successful camps to Waihola CYC. The weather was fantastic for sleeping in tents and plenty of outdoor opportunities. The Year 7 team certainly displayed the Balmac school value of perseverance when they tackled the 12km Taieri River track. For some classes the day they did the tramp it was 28 degrees! Other activities included using portable camp cookers, an epic Zip line through the bush, archery and rifle shooting, loads of team building challenges, watersliding in the warm sun and geocaching. All classes had exceptional parent/whanau help and we cannot thank you enough for giving up your time to help out at these camps. 

After our initial beginning of the year getting to know our students and heading off to our Year 7 camp at Waihola, classes have turned their focus into our term one integrated theme which includes our literacy focus of Mātauranga - using some amazing resources created by Sir Ian Taylor and his design team on the history of early Polynesian migration to New Zealand through to looking at innovation, design, technology and design of our modern day sailors with the latest Americas cup. Alongside this we have been planning and working on ideas for our Tūrangawaewae exhibition including a visit to Toitu museum to be inspired by stories of the past. The date for this will be on Wednesday April 14th from 3pm to 6pm in Block One for our community and  whanau to visit. Further details will be shared closer to the time. We have also been lucky to have Amadeo working in our classrooms with his unique and inspiring science lessons to support our programmes. We were lucky enough to have him also attend our Year 7 class camps to run a light show and recently working with our classes at Moana pool to look at boat building and aerodynamics. 

We continue our work on the Balmac way with a focus on teamwork and working collaboratively - one of our Balmacewen Super Skills. In class, students have completed a number of activities to reinforce the skills needed to work with others - from memory games, physical challenges and STEM challenge activities. 

Thank you again to all of our parents and caregivers who continue to support our class programmes and activities. 

Lisa Dixon

On behalf of the Year 7 Team.