Balfron Matters
Monday 21 August 2023
Weekly communication for staff
Dear colleagues,
I hope that you have had a great first week and that our new staff are settling in really well.
I know that the inservice days were particularly busy. It is a massive challenge to address everything that is required . We changed a few things based on your previous feedback. Please take a minute to complete this evaluation. It will influence future improvements.
A huge priority and investment this session is our continued focus on pedagogy. Thanks to Michelle for her sage and inspirational ideas that have shaped the plan. We have three sessions before the October holiday ear-marked for working groups. the first one is next Thursday (31st August). Staff will be given information about the groups and be invited to choose one to join. All staff are expected to contribute to one group.
We have built up a great L&T padlet that has links to a huge amount of really great CLPL. Do check it out prior to the working group. It may provide some inspiration and ideas.
I have created an new Parent Noticeboard. Parents and carers will be reminded of the link every week. If you have anything that you would like to add to this padlet, please email the details to Kelly Marie in the school office.
Here is a link to the SIP 23-24. This is in draft. Please let me know if there is an inaccuracy or an addition to make. You will note the new format that shows the whole school and each team's plan on a tab of the same spreadsheet. It is designed to be a working document. This will allow us to filter across the school to review work done in a particular area. Team plans should be put onto this format by 22 September. Thanks for your input with that.
I was pleased to hear that our S1s have settled reasonably well. Moving to high school is a massive change for our younger pupils and being in a bigger environment is a huge challenge for some. I know you will support hem with this.
David is putting a supervision rota together for the atrium. As you know we have a new format for young people to buy food and refreshments. Given the change and thevolume of pupils that use the facility, your help with supervision is very much appreciated. Similarly, in order to offer access to the astro to pupils at breaks, Neil is putting a rota together for supervision. Again, your support of this is very much appreciated - particularly bu young people.
As mentioned last week, I have an appointment on Tuesday 22nd that will help inform planning for school, acting opportunities and cover. There has been much for the SLT to deal with beyond the normal running of the school already. They are a person down, so please give them your full support and understanding.
Finally, please ensure that you hold young people in classes until the bell unless they have an exceptional circumstance that the pupil support team have alerted us to.
Many thanks for your hard work and professionalism. Have a great week.
Elaine
This week at Balfron High:
Team Meetings
Mon: Endrick House Assembly
Tues:
Wed: Lomond House Assembly
Thurs: Campsie House Assembly
P5 H&S Team meeting
Fri: Freshers' Fayre
Inservice Day Evaluation
Inservice Day Slides - A reminder
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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
New for session 23/24
Learning & Teaching Working Groups
As highlighted by Michelle at the in service day, all teaching staff will have the opportunity to sign up for a working group of their choice. The working groups are all focussed around learning & teaching - you may recognise the headings as from Quality Indicator 2.3. We have eleven Working Group Lead teachers who will lead their groups to plan, develop and evaluate their professional learning within an area of their interest.
We will celebrate our learning in a Pedagogy Festival, at April In service 2024.
The groups and their leads are as follows:
Climate for Learning - Routines and Relationships for inclusive, productive learning environments - Connor H, Andrew L & Shari L
Digital Technology - Exploring technologies to enhance learning experiences - Dougie S & Cari M
Lesson Structure - What we do and how we keep can doing it even better - Pam G & Fiona F
Meeting Learners Needs - Exploring the practices that make our lessons more accessible - Nicola D & Oonagh M
Formative Assessment - Developing our feedback loops and increasing challenge - Andrew B & Alistair B
Assemblies - August-October 2023
CLPL Corner
CLPL opportunities
Leadership courses for session 23/24
Sign up now!
There are a number of fully funder professional learning programmes available from Education Scotland for next session. Applications are now open. Of particular interest, I wanted to highlight the Educator Leadership Programme (ELP):
Have a look at these enquiry posters from our 2022-23 ELP Cohort: ELP 22/23 | Flickr and our 2021-22 TLP Cohort: TLP 21/22 | Flickr
There is also a wee Blog post that tells you a bit more about the programme. So if these posters or the Blog inspired you then why not join our growing community by signing up here.
For aspiring middle leaders, applications are open to the Aspiring to Middle Leadership course.
For Middle Leaders, applications are currently open for Middle Leaders Leading Change – Education Scotland (Rona Grant) has written about the programme here and for even more inspiration; have a look at her brilliant February Blog post: Middle Leadership Glue (education.gov.scot).
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.
External CLPL
BHS Professional Learning Notice board.
Search. Click. Book
Powering up our seniors for successful studying
Study Skills Resources
National weekly study sessions: https://www.e-sgoil.com/
BHS Study techniques website: https://sites.google.com/stirlingschools.net/bhs-study-skills/home
NeLO Learning Spaces: https://www.thinglink.com/card/1421866155961745410
Achieve: https://achieve.hashtag-learning.co.uk/user-start/?next=/
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Teachers Guide to the BHS Study Planner - 3 min watch
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BHS senior study planner
e-sgoil weekly online supported study timetable
One portal to hold all information
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Health & Wellbeing - Counselling for staff
Did you know counselling is available through Stirling Council?
Employee Counselling is available through our Occupational Health provider, People Asset Management (PAM)
There are a few ways employees can request Counselling.
Stuart Shaw on shaws@stirling.gov.uk
Contact hr@stirling.gov.uk
Call Ann at PAM on 0800 882 4102
If you want some more information about counselling, what to expect or looking for self-help resources then please pop in and see Karin Figliolini or drop her an email.
Useful Links