Selwyn College is apparently well known for being a bit alternative, and I've heard people say "Oh,…read morea Selwyn girl/boy", but not having grown up in Auckland I have zero pre-conceptions of what this means. What I do know about Selwyn is that they have one of the best programmes of night and weekend adult classes in the city. Unfortunately they once had a much bigger programme but it's been reduced now most of them are now no longer Government funded. Anyway, the class I did here was an introductory sewing class. Our tutor was really great; instead of having a fixed idea of what she wanted to teach, everyone bought their own project and she would talk us through it individually, and work with us to help us sew and learn new techniques. It was totally accessible for beginners, but there were some more experienced sewers in the class and they also seemed to get value out of it. I'm still not a great sewer, but that's more because I don't practice it rather than any other reason!

Good for confidence building in learners in an inclusive environment. Happy for the quality and…read moreeffort in looking after my daughter's learning. Highly recommended for high achievers.

There is no special plan for international students with a low language level who enter from the…read moremiddle of the academic year, except to put the child in the classroom until after a long period of mental pressure and self-confidence damage, the child learns the language by himself. The teacher's behavior was very immature towards the new child. The school staff were arrogant and rude and behaved very badly on registration day. I do not recommend it at all. After 3 month my daughter doesnt like school forever

Balmoral School is really two schools; Balmoral Primary and Balmoral Intermediate. They share some…read moreof the resources obviously but are otherwise quite separate from each other. I can't say much about the Primary school other than everyone I know whose children have attended have been very happy with it and I've never heard a bad word said about either the Primary or Intermediate. My daughter is in her first year of Intermediate here and has so far been very happy. It's a small school compared to other central suburb middle schools which is an advantage or disadvantage depending on your thinking. True, the extra-curricular opportunities are not as many as varied as say, ANI, but children are constantly encouraged to bring their ideas for clubs and groups to the principals to be implemented. I like that they study Philosophy for Children which really encourages kids to delve into their own thinking and opinions on things (most recently the controversial Samoa Air price-by-weight decision). Overall, Balmoral Intermediate is about creating independent thinking and personal learning responsibility amongst the pupils, in readiness for the big step of secondary school. I also like that there's a mixture of socio-economic groups amongst the families here which works against the culture of entitlement becoming prevalent at some of our city's more affluent schools. Obviously it's an issue of where you live but I am very pleased with our experience at Balmoral School so far and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is struggling with the decision of where to live based on school zones - an unfortunate reality for parents of school aged children in Auckland, like it or not.