Balfron Matters
Monday 15 April 2024
Weekly communication for staff
Dear colleagues,
Welcome back! I hope that you had an enjoyable and restful break. The final week prior to study leave is always a busy one. Just a reminder that the plan is:
Wednesday 17: Senior Prefect Graduation Rehearsal, period 5
Thursday 18: S6 breakfast (atrium) and then Final Countdown (theatre) until 11am - all welcome if free
Graduation 6pm for 630pm start
Friday 19: S1-5 on timetable as normal
S6 Study Leave starts
Monday 22: S4-6 Study Leave
It has been a positive transition over the last few years but please join the leadership team in keeping an eye out and ear to the ground for any shenanigans. If you are free and able to join us this week in the corridors, balconies and generally out and about, it would be much appreciated.
Priorities for this term are:
Improving learning & Teaching by
planning and delivering our first Learning Festival on 3rd May
completing and sharing observations from Tri-Learning visits
conducting Open Doors across the school
collating and reviewing observation feedback to inform planning
PTs & Working Group leads participating in Osiris Collaborative Leadership CLPL
Improving wellbeing & Inclusion by
providing staff with follow-up CPI training (tbc)
Improving Attainment & Achievement by
ensuring all pupils have the maximum qualifications (all levels) prior to term end (target unfinished internal assessments)
following up all leavers' destinations
reviewing and acting on Insight leaver data
amending tracking & Monitoring approach following PT feedback
Improve our curriculum by
delivering increased depth in new S3 curriculum plan
preparation for new SCQF courses & pathways for 2024-25
review S1-3 courses in preparation for earlier timetable change in 2025
Reviewing SIP/TIP progress and impact and begin planning for 2024-25
Congratulations to our junior rugby squads pictured above. They have qualified for the next round of the Glasgow Warriors national schools tournament. It is brilliant to see the continued success of our rugby players, particularly the girls. Nella Jonsson, Eve MacKay and Lucy Ronald have all been selected for the Scottish U16 programme. In hockey, Rohan Marwaha was selected to play for Scotland against Germany over the holiday.
Massive congratulations to Marie-Claire Maxwell who has been selected again for the Scottish Womens 27s Touch Rugby Squad. This selection will see Marie Claire playing in the World Cup. Please join me in congratulating M-C and getting behind the squad during the July tournament in England.
Elaine
This week at Balfron High:
Team Meetings
Mon:
Tues: Home Economics Interviews
Wed:
Thurs: S6 - The Final Countdown
Staff Book Club, 1pm
Fri: Maths Interviews
S6 Study Leave starts
Notice Boards
Assembly Update on Charities Week
The last week of term at Balfron
Pics from the last week of term include:
Struan Ferguson & Jack Brown deliver tiny houses as part of their FA construction course
George Thomson - Young Ambassador, S1/2 rugby referee, 1st recipient of the Active Stirling Delivery Hoody
S3 Sports Leaders delivering activities to our associate primary pupils
S1 STEM and CuriousCity, turning their sustainable city planning into models, maps, storyboards & digital worlds
Pupils in Flexible Learning make pizza and create Easter flowers and eggs
William O'Keefe wins the Owen Britton memorial debate
Debate Teams - Harry, William, Jasper and Owen after the contentious and interesting Owen Britton Debate
S1/2 Winning rugby squads at Glasgow Warriors
S5/5 pupils (Murrin, Tes and Robyn) deliver to S1 girls on being period protected
Our poly tunnel is getting ready for some new planning - thanks Amanda Quinn and Flexible Learning
Alastair and David after their fire walk with our partners at Changing Lives Malawi
Murrin Thomson and Emma Harvey (Youth Services) - Murrin wins the Easter Giveaway competition
S2 YPI winners - supporting Strathcarron Hospice
Please take photos and share with me directly or through Twitter (with pupils' permission). Let's recognise and celebrate all the good stuff. We will also share in the Parent Noticeboard. #wearebalfron
Walking on hot coals, the movies
...so that's what 350 degrees F feels like....
How far would you go to raise money for a good cause? It was impressive to see David and Alistair walk on hot coals to riase money for the upcoming Zanzibar expedition and to support our partners, Changing Lives Malawi. in the end, a very worthwhile £927.93 was raised - massive well done. That certainly was impressive!
And the prep for this crazy activity....?
Our Young People & Mobile Phones
Much work has been done to listen, survey and understand all staekholders' views while considering best practice for our young people. Thank you for your feedback on the draft policy. I will certainly add something to clarify that headphones are a distraction and should not be worn in class.
The policy is out to parents for consultation and feedback. Meanwhile, we depend on eachother for consistency and support. Here are some key things in our practice that should be in place to support maximum focus:
Ensure mobile phones are away in class
If a young person is given permission to go to the toilet, they should not take their phone
Headphones should be out of ears in class
02:00 Mrs Reid (Modern Studies & Sociology Teacher) shares some compelling research highlighting the impact of phone use on young people. She shares the data we collected from teachers' views at Balfron.
12:39 Murrin Thompson (Head Prefect) provides our pupils' views having conducted focus groups on mobile phone use.
18:33 Andy Hancock is a parent of two boys at Balfron. He shares some of the survey data that we have collected around our young peoples' experiences, provides a parent's perspective and shares some tips on controls and resources that might support phone management and discussion with your children.
29:55 Finally I share an overview of our approach at Balfron High to date.
CLPL Corner
Lunch N Learn This Term
Thanks for the fantastic turn out at lunch n learn this term. It was a pleasure to deliver the course on Generative Learning to so many enthusiastic learners!
The course content can be viewed below:
Recent learning at lunch n learn
L&T Book Club March-June
A group of us met last week to choose a book, and once again,
Making Every Lesson Count
was the winner!
There are lots of copies of this book in our school, so if you want to join us please do.
We will meet every third Monday lunchtime to discuss a chapter
If you have a copy and aren't actively reading it, please can you give it to me so I can redistribute - thanks!
SQA Calendar for Coursework and Assignments 2023-24
The Brew Box ☕
It will be open at break & lunch to pupils as follows, staff are always welcome to come along and enjoy a coffee and the chat.
Monday S1 & S6
Tuesday S2 & S6
Wednesday S3 & S6
Thursday S4 & S6
Friday S5 & S6
February is LGBT History Month
Thanks to Ansley and Andrew for organising activities as follows:
from the 1st Feb until Purple Friday, house competition to cover the most miles in aid of LGBT visibility
w/b 5th Feb LGBT icons form class activity
Friday 23rd Purple Friday, wear purple accessories to raise money
Learning & Teaching Updates
Updated padlet:
L&T Resources
Lots and lots (and lots) of new links have been added to the resource padlet around the themes of our working groups. Click below to access.
BHS L&T Toolkit
GLOW tile
This is now a tile on the glow BHS landing page - look out for it!
Powering up our seniors for successful studying
Quick links for form and class resourcing
Our Priorities for improvement 2023-24
Increased consistency in Learning & Teaching
Improved Wellbeing & Inclusion of all young people
Increased offer in Curriculum
Increased Attainment & Achievement
Increased influence of Pupil Voice on Improvement
Assemblies January- March 2024
CLPL opportunities
Digital CLPL
always available through the links below:
Below is a link to Dougie's Tech Tips Play list. Always worth a look - great tip on getting rid of adverts from presentations using YouTube this week.
![](https://www.google.com/images/icons/product/drive-32.png)
Teachers Guide to the BHS Study Planner - 3 min watch
![](https://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/material/product/1x/docs_32dp.png)
BHS senior study planner
e-sgoil weekly online supported study timetable
One portal to hold all information
![](https://www.google.com/images/icons/product/drive-32.png)
Useful Links