I hope this brief update finds you well. We're looking forward to welcoming our seniors back to school next week at the end of exam leave. Hopefully the key info in this update is useful and a helpful reminder of the plans for next week in particular.
Staffing Update
- We recently appointed Mrs Wilson who will replace Mr Leslie as PT Modern Languages from August. Our pupil panel were key to making this appointment and were delighted when we informed them we agreed with their preferred candidate! Mrs Wilson brings a wealth of experience as a classroom practitioner, QS (formerly SQA) visiting examiner and leading Modern Languages within her current school in Edinburgh.
- We are pleased that Mrs Ross will be joining us as our new School Technician.
- We successfully recruited to our PT Creative Industries post this week. Mrs Brown will join us for the new session. Mr Giove (PTC) and Mrs Brown (PT) will lead the faculty together.
- Ms Mitchell (Biology) will be staying with us next session.
Exam Leave/Timetable Change/Leavers
Just a reminder that learners who are returning to school after exam leave will do so on Tuesday 2nd June for the start of the new timetable. All other pupils (current S1 - S3) will move up a year and will also begin their new timetable on this date. Paper copies of timetables were issued to learners yesterday in classes. If your child was absent, they should collect their timetable from reception when they return to school. Communication from Mrs Brawley and Mr Booth has been shared with families this week. Please help us to make sure your child is aware of the arrangements for their new timetable.
School Leavers
As many pupils plan to leave Balwearie after exams there are a couple of things that are required of them. Any pupil leaving is required to complete a Leavers Form. This is a digital form and can be found on our school website - Balwearie High School - Leaver Form 2025-2026
All leavers are also required to hand back their Fife Council issued iPad. Pupils are asked to hand in their iPad, and accessories, to the school reception on the day of their final exam or assessment. Along with the iPad, pupils need to hand back the charger, cable and case in good and full working order. In line with the parent and carer agreement, where there has been any damage or loss of these, we will require the following costs to be met.
School Dress Code Expectations
Many of our young people arrive in school wearing appropriate school uniform, however we are increasingly seeing more occasions where young people do not dress in any item of clothing that makes them identifiable as a Balwearie High School pupil. We encourage wearing school uniform to help with a sense of belonging, positive ethos and community. It is also a good way to promote equity across our school population, ensuring families can all access appropriate clothing for school and learning without the need to purchase expensive branded clothing that not all families can afford. It also helps support our overall safety in school as staff are quickly identifiable by their school lanyards and pupils by their school uniform.
We've relaxed our dress code to ensure it's as inclusive as possible, but we do expect all learners to arrive in school wearing something that identifies them as a Balwearie pupil for the reasons above. The cheapest option remains a white school shirt/polo shirt with a school tie. Ties are given free of charge to all S1 pupils and can also be purchased from iPay Impact if a replacement is required. We will have our school uniform shop open over summer (details will be shared in due course) where families can drop in and pick up uniform items free of charge, or for a donation if preferred - everyone is welcome to use this facility. We will be carrying out a review of our dress code next session and will seek your views as well as pupil views on this. For now, you can find all our dress code information on the school website. Please support us by ensuring your child(ren) arrive at school dressed appropriately and ready to learn.
Celebrating Success
Each year we look forward to recognising and celebrating the academic successes of our learners at our formal awards ceremonies (see information below). Throughout the year we recognise and celebrate the wider achievements of learners through updates, social media and assemblies. One area of focus for us next session and beyond us how we capture and recognise more of the incredible things our learners do. Miss Grigor and Miss Purves are leading work with a group of staff as part of our improvement groups and next session we will begin to roll out a range of ways to gather achievements and share them with the school community, we have already gained some insight from our staff and young people on how they would like to engage with this.
Over the final few weeks of term we will hold our formal awards ceremonies. The Senior Awards will take place on Wednesday 10th June, a little earlier this year due to some renovation work taking place in the Assembly Hall over the summer.
We are altering the format of our BGE awards this session. Rather than have an awards assembly, we have listened to the feedback from Parents, Staff and Young people and this year we will be holding celebration breakfasts for each of the year groups.
Over the course of next week we will be emailing out notifications of award winners and finer details of the awards ceremonies. Keep an eye on your emails!
Parent/Carer Official Roles
I'm pleased to confirm the following Office Bearers for the Parent/Carer Voice will be in place for next session:
- Chairs: Lorraine Inglis & Joanna Mitchell
- Secretary: Catherine Lindow
- Treasurer: Jane Gregson
- Lottery Administrator: Joanna Mitchell
- Lottery Assistant: Laura Morris
The Parent/Carer Voice do tremendous work raising funds to support lots of great work in school that might not otherwise be possible. If you'd like to contribute to the PCV but not necessarily as a member (though new members are always welcome!), you might want to consider signing up for the Balwearie Lottery. If you would like to support and sign up for the lottery - click here
Previous funds have supported music equipment, sports equipment, art & design materials, trips, extra-curricular activities, school clubs and so much more.
Previous meeting minutes are available to read here.
If you would like to support and sign up for the lottery - click here
If you would like to find out more about the Parent & Carer Voice - click here
If you'd like to leave any feedback related to this update, please use the form below.