Balfron Matters

17 January 2022

Weekly communication for staff

Dear colleagues,

The holiday seems like a distant memory already but it is great to be back into full swing. Thanks for your part in making that happen. We will see the return of some extra-curricular activities for S1-3 this week which is great.

The photo above gives a snap shot of the vastness of the prelims and the busy Games Hall is just one part of the overall logistics. Delivering the entitlement to the pupils with AAA is a challenge given that 1/3 of our learners have additional arrangements. This has meant many displacements, additional rooms for small groups, readers, scribes, invigilators. I know that all of us have helped in one way or another, so thank you for your flexibility. The prelims can bring anxiety to our pupils so having calm and professional staff supporting brings an air of confidence to them.

Thanks particularly to Phil and Lynne who have had a mammoth task in planning, checking and responding to last minute changes. It is fair to say that the prelims have gone very smoothly - this does not happen by chance.

As mentioned in the staff meeting, there is an up-to-date calendar in the annual information folder. Please note it is in spreadsheet format. Susan will be the gatekeeper to this and in due course get the school Glow calendar back up and running.

Here's to another positive week ahead.

Elaine

This week at Balfron High School:

Prelims
Team Meetings
Tuesday 7pm Parent Council
S1 Tracking

A summary of the changes to isolation if you test positive for COVID:

20220107143917395_Changes-to-Self-Isolation-Jan-2022 (1).pdf

Whole Staff Meeting Feedback & Action

School calendar will be updated. Find an overview in the staff - annual info folder.
Pupils who have missed exams - teachers to make alternative arrangements. Please advise your PT and Phil if you need a seat in another exam.
Project leads shared update. You can access Heather's revision videos below. Please feel free to share with your classes.
Key items for inservice days: L&T input, Tri-Learning Launch, Network meetings, LGBT Charter training time
Please save subject choice videos in Google Drive>Shared>BalfronStaff>Course choice subject videos

12/1/22 Staff Meeting

Flashcards.mp4

Revision Clock.mp4

Folding Frenzy.mp4

School social media accounts and general security

As we begin our new term can I remind you of the importance of general security around regularly updating twitter/ social media passwords, ensuring that the following guidelines are followed to ensure each of these accounts are as secure as possible.

Using the following guidance

Do create a password at least 10 characters long. Longer is better.
Do use a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols.
Do use a different password for each website you visit.

With this in mind can I ask that all schools twitter/ social media accounts are updated as a matter of urgency.

CLPL Corner

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Thanks to Karin Figliolini who has brough the follow CLPL opportunities to our attention:

Place2be are offering mental health training again for free

https://www.place2be.org.uk/our-services/services-for-schools/mental-health-champions-foundation-programme/

Also, some short bereavement awareness delivered by CBUK

https://www.childbereavementuk.org/Event/bereavement-awareness-training-secondary-schools-jan

Children’s mental health training course for schools and teachersThis online course enhances professionals’ understanding of children’s mental health and introduces approaches that foster positive wellbeing in schools.

"It's the Most Important Tool for Building Relationships," and Other Insights About Check For Understanding - Teach Like a Champion Yesterday was one of the most intellectually intense days I’ve had in some time, and I came to realize some important things about Check for Understanding. I’m going to try to summarize some of them here. 1) Check for Understanding is quite possibly the single most important group of techniques in terms of building relationships...

Learning, Teaching & Assessment CLPL

Our big focus this year has been on checking for understanding. Here are some resources that help inform our thinking and practice:

In his Teach Like a Champion blog, Doug Lemove discusses why checking for understanding is an important tool for building relationships.

https://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/important-tool-building-relationships-insights-check-understanding/

On the link on the left, Tom Sherrington discusses the importance of 'Turn and Talk' to help learners articulate their thinking and check understanding.

'If they are not using it and saying it, it's unlikely that it will become embedded in their repertoire'