Headteacher Update
As we reach the end of Term 1, I wanted to share some some school news, share some pupil success and make sure that everyone is aware of some important upcoming dates.
Throughout Term one Mrs Farmer has been acting as S4 Depute Headteacher and Miss Grigor as Acting Principal Teacher of Home Economics. I want to thank both of them for doing such an excellent job over the term.
Today we say goodbye to Mrs Brown from the Design & Technology Department who leaves us after 15 years. Mrs Brown is moving to be a teacher of the deaf with the Support for Learners Service and will be working with young people across Fife. She will be missed by both learners and staff but we wish her all the best in her new role.
We welcome a few new faces to Balwearie after the holidays. Mrs Lascelles has been appointed a new Teacher of DAS, Mr Moodie joins the school Technician Team, Miss Gassner has been appointed as our new teacher of PE, but will not be joining us until January and Mrs Alison Mitchell will be joining us as our new Headteacher at the start of the new Term.
School events during term 1
Big Scottish Breakfast
On 13 September we held our "Big Scottish Breakfast" Fundraising Event in support of the STV Children's Appeal. We raised over £300 for the appeal. Our Senior Hospitality Learners catered for a staff breakfast event that ran alongside our usual universal Breakfast Club for all our learners. STV sent a camera and some presenters so keep an eye our for us on social media and on the TV when the appeal show is aired in November.
Staff vs Pupils Football
For the first time since COVID we saw the return of the staff versus pupils football match. On the 20 of September a team of youthful, fit and agile pupils took on a ramshackle staff team. After a very tense and very close 30 minutes there was nothing to separate the teams until, against all the odds, our staff team were victorious after sudden death penalties. Mr Hannah's cat-like reflexes in goals proving to be the difference.
£350 was raised for our Young Enterprise Programme.
Dress Down Day
Rights Respecting School - Article 28
Today (6 October) we held a Dress Down Day to raise money for Oxfam and their project to provide access to education for all. So far we have raised £880.69. Well done to the Rights Respecting School Ambassadors who organised the day and chose the focus for their fundraising.
Wider Achievement
This session we are hoping to improve the way that we collect information on pupils' achievement both in school and outside of school. Balwearie is about more than just exam grades and test scores and we want to make sure that all pupil achievement is celebrated.
Recently I was in contact with you all asking for any information about achievements that we may not be aware of that have happened outside of school. It give me great pleasure to share the following success with you. As a reminder, if you have any success that you would like to share with us, please do so using the following link - https://forms.office.com/e/VtLHFiSUAB
Upcoming Dates
You will have received an email earlier this term regarding some important dates for the school session. As a reminder they are included below. They are available on our school website and also in the calendar function within our school app.