Christmas Shows
A reminder both the dress rehearsal and main performance of the Christmas shows will take place on Monday 16th December. The dress rehearsal will start at 9.30 and the afternoon performance will begin at 1.30. If you have tickets for either performance we will look forward to seeing you then!
Party Day
No need for uniform on Friday 20th, children can come to school in their party clothes!
Polite Reminder
We are asking for a donation of £10 per child towards the cost of the panto trip on 11th December. Please pay for your child when you are able by using the ipayimpact fund called ‘Byre Panto’ – the fund will stay open until the date of the performance.
Mrs Mitchell
We are happy to welcome Mrs Mitchell to our schools on Monday 9th December. She is very much looking forward to meeting everyone in our school communities!
Pantomime Trip
Thank you to every one who has paid for the panto trip. If you haven’t done yet, please do so before 11th December using the ipayimpact fund called ‘Byre Panto’ – the fund will stay open until the date of the performance. If you want to order a cold packed lunch for your child for this date please order on iPayimpact.
Internet Safety Information
This advice is relevant to all parents and particularly to those whose children have a smart phone or are in the upper school.
Staying-Safe-Online-Advice-for-Parents-and-Carers
Moving to Secondary School – guide for parents
Money Matters:
Please click here to see the Money Matters poster: Money Matters November Dates 1
Please make sure you have all the dates for this busy term:
Wednesday 11th December
Whole School going to St Andrews Byre Theatre Panto – Beauty and the Beast
The bus will leave at 9am and return in time for a late lunch. You will need to order a cold school lunch in advance or send your child with a packed lunch. All children should take a water bottle and snack for the interval. Please make the contribution of £10 per child on iPayImpact when you can. This contribution covers roughly half of the cost of the trip and we are very grateful to Parent Council who are paying the rest from their funds.
Friday 13th December
All children will bring a wrapped gift home for their parents.
Monday 16th December
Nursery-P7 Christmas Show
Each family can buy 2 tickets for the show (£2 each). We can’t offer more than two tickets per family due to the capacity of the hall. But each family will also be able to purchase 2 tickets for the dress rehearsal in the morning (£1 each) so a total of 4 people per family can see the show if they want. Please note that we can’t make an exception for parents who live apart – if this is true for your family, please decide together about buying the tickets and who will go to each performance.
Friday 20th December
Party Day – no need for uniform, come to school in your party clothes.
Remembrance
Poppies will be on sale at the school office all of next week. Send your child with a coin if you’d like them to buy one.
Toy Drive
Balmerino Primary will be a collection point for this year’s Toy Drive which will run between 1st November—30th November. We will be collecting gifts for boys & girls ages between 0-18. Gifts must be NEW and UNWRAPPED. Donations can be handed in at the school office and will then be collected and distributed to Children and Families in need.
Girls Football
Parent Council Minutes
Cupar Youth Musical Theatre presents;
Alice in Wonderland – click here for details
Upcoming dates:
Tuesday 29th October
P1-7 parents invited into school to join in with some literacy and numeracy learning with their child – 2-3pm
Thursday 31st October
All children invited to come to school in costume.
Pumpkin Competition – bring a decorated pumpkin to school and a £1 contribution to school funds
Friday 15th November
Inset Day 3 – School Closed to pupils for staff development
Wednesday 11th December
Whole School (Nursery and P1-7) going to St Andrews Byre Theatre Panto – Beauty and the Beast
The bus will leave at 9am and return in time for a late lunch. You will need to order a cold school lunch in advance or send your child with a packed lunch. All P1-7 children should take a water bottle and snack for the interval. Nursery staff will take water and a snack for their children.
We are asking for a donation of £10 per child towards the cost of the trip. Please pay for your child when you are able by using the ipayimpact fund called ‘Byre Panto’ – the fund will stay open until the date of the performance.
P7 Transition Information
Click here for a reminder of the up coming open evenings
P7 children have brought this poster home but I sharing it again here just in case it hasn’t made it out of the schoolbag:
Poster Youth ambassadors Poster Nov 25th
Halloween Safety Information
Bonfire Night Safety Information
Poetry Competition
Newport-on-News in conjunction with The Newport Podcast and The Rio are looking for entries to our Newport Poetry Competition and we wondered if the children at school would like to take part. I have attached a poster for your information. It can be in any form, long or short, a sonnet or a limerick. If we get more than 20 entries, we will publish them in a special book. We will also read them out on the podcast (or you can read your own) and have a special evening at The Rio where we can read them out.
All ages and prizes will be given out.
It just has to have a connection to Newport or Wormit
All entries to newportontaytv@gmail.com or hand into The Rio.
If you would like any further information, please contact Simon at newportontaytv@gmail.com
Message from Active Schools
Calling all local dancers! Starting this Thursday 31st, Halloween Day, from 16:00 – 17:00, we’re offering a FREE 4-week dance class for kids! They’ll explore a variety of dance styles including Lyrical, Highland, Ballet, and Hip-Hop!
📅 Every Thursday (October 31st – November 28th) | 15:45 – 16:45
📍 Hosted by the University Dance Club at Saints Sports
💃 Open to all skill levels!
Bookings can be made via telephone on 01334 462190 or emailing the reception team at Sportsreception@st-andrews.ac.uk
The University Dance Club can’t wait to see them shine on the dance floor! Limited spaces available – Sign up now!
Lego Club at the Library
The Decider Skills – Parents and Carers Workshop
This workshop is for parents and carers of children and young people aged 8 years and over. The aim of this workshop is to learn fun filled strategies, based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy skills to support your child or young person’s mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/2ib1FySHgf
Fife Council Funded Course
This term our assemblies have focussed on the theme of Anti-Bullying. Our current policy is available here:
Everything within these policies remains relevant but our work this term has introduced a few new ideas which I am keen to share with you.
Firstly, as has been the case since its launch in Dec 2021, the most important part of our Anti-Bullying work is Stand Up – Get Help!: click here to read in full.
Stand Up – Get Help! creates an ethos where asking for help with friendships is part of the expectation of our school. Please encourage your child to ask for help if they are worried about friendships or come to us on their behalf to let us know if there is a problem. If you know about issues at an early stage, they can usually be nipped in the bud before anyone starts to feel as if they are being bullied.
Our School Values of Friendship, Inclusion and Respect help us to be an anti-bullying school:
Friendship – not everyone is your friend – particularly as you get older, you don’t have something in common with all your peers. BUT, we do treat everyone with friendship at our school – we let them join in (inclusion) and we respect them.
THINK before you speak:
For example:
The Golden Rule:
If we keep the golden rule, we don’t retaliate when someone is unkind are hurts us. If we don’t like it we don’t do it back. This doesn’t mean that you need to put up with someone being unkind – you can stick up for yourself by using Stand-Up Get Up! Or stick up for friends by asking someone to stop or by asking for help.
All the major world religions and atheism and humanism have a version of the Golden Rule.
At assembly last week, I asked the children what do we do at our school to help us be a zero-bullying school. They gave all of the above examples which shows me that they understand these principles well. I would ask you to also discuss them at home.
Later this year, we will carry out a formal review of our anti-bullying policy and will include these new ideas brought by the children as well as seeking your feedback.
Please don’t hesitate to come to me sooner if you have any questions or concerns or if you are worried in any way about your child’s friendships or happiness.
Lucy Jess
Taybridgehead Foodbank Collection
We will once again this year be collecting donations for the Taybridgehead Foodbank. The food bank is seeking donations of “food, toiletries and any other consumables that would help with making life that bit better for someone. We do ask that they be of a good standard as well as having a ‘use by’ date that permits us to distribute them.”
Donations can be left/gathered at the school office. They will be collected and delivered for pick up at Wormit Primary School in time for the end of term service on 4th October.
Message from Parent Council
To all parents of the school and nursery – Balmerino Primary Parent Council invite you to join our upcoming meeting, if you have any points which you would like to be raised at the meeting please email in advance to pcbalmerino@gmail.com
We really hope you can join us.
Date: 27th September
Time: 9am
Location: Balmerino Primary School
Agenda
Parent Council Photo
Tesco will coming out to take a publicity photo following the grant they having given for the school library. If you would like your child to be included in this photo, please let parent council know by email to: pcbalmerino@gmail.com
**Reminder** Harvest Day – 11th September
In previous years we have celebrated Apple Day but this year we are broadening the theme to Harvest Day.
The learning on the day will focus on food technology, food and health, the child’s right to nutritious food, food journeys and sharing.
Each class will make soup from the selection of vegetables brought in by the children.
Each child will bring home something made from the school apples as well as a bag of freshly picked apples.
School Library
The Parent Council are launching an exciting project to set up a school library. I am delighted to be able to tell you that they have successfully received a grant of £1500 from Tesco which will allow the library to be really fantastic. Well done!
The library will give leadership opportunities for children as well as a chance for all children to borrow books to take home. It will enhance reading for enjoyment across the whole school. To run this project, we are looking for Parent Volunteers to join a library committee – the committee member will help keep the library tidy, read stories and/or help the children borrow books. Please email me at lucy.jess@fife.gov.uk if you could get involved – it won’t be a big time commitment and we would be grateful for your help. All volunteers will undertake a PVG check before working with children on their own and we will give guidance and support to you all.
Neurodevelopmental Pathway in Fife
The ND Pathway is the route we now use in Fife to support children who might be developing differently from their peers. the pathway puts a focus on support ahead of assessment. If you child has already been referred for an assessment of neurodiversity and it was accepted, they will move onto this pathway. If you have concerns about your child’s development, social skill, communication or learning then you will be interested in finding out more about the ND pathway.
Please click here to read about the new Fife Neurodevelopmental Pathway
We always encourage you to discuss concerns with us at school. We can help you access support and our assessment in school is a key part of any assessment process. We can identify dyslexia and dyscalculia in school following a period of assessment and observation. Other neuro-diversities are identified through the ND pathway. Not every child with a neurodiversity needs an assessment, often putting supports and strategies in place is enough. If you ever have any concerns about your child’s development, please raise them with us and I would strongly recommend you go to one of the upcoming ND Pathway Roadshows.
Harvest Day – 11th September
In previous years we have celebrated Apple Day but this year we are broadening the theme to Harvest Day.
The learning on the day will focus on food technology, food and health, the child’s right to nutritious food, food journeys and sharing.
Each class will make soup from the selection of vegetables brought in by the children.
Each child will bring home something made from the school apples as well as a bag of freshly picked apples.
Summer Reading Challenge
It’s not too late!
Newport Library is open tomorrow from 10-1pm. If your child has finished reading their six books, they can collect their medal and certificate and get entered into our finishers prize draw to win one of seven £20 Amazon vouchers or an author visit to the school during Book Week Scotland!
If your child did complete the reading challenge, please encourage them to bring their medal into school so that we can celebrate their success.
Borrow Audio Books Online for Free
Listening to audio books is a great way to explore stories as a family. Fife Libraries provide audio books for free through the Libby App. Click here for more details.
School Library
The Parent Council are launching an exciting project to set up a school library. This will give leadership opportunities for children as well as a chance for all children to borrow books to take home. It will enhance reading for enjoyment across the whole school. To run this project, we are looking for Parent Volunteers to join a library committee – the committee member will help keep the library tidy, read stories and/or help the children borrow books. Please email me at lucy.jess@fife.gov.uk if you could get involved – it won’t be a big time commitment and we would be grateful for your help. All volunteers will undertake a PVG check before working with children on their own and we will give guidance and support to you all.
Message from Active Schools
Active Schools are currently running a volunteer recruitment drive within the Madras College Cluster, in which we are looking for volunteers to support us in the delivery and support of Extra Curricular sporting activity.
As you may be aware Active Schools Fife aim to provide more quality opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity before, during lunchtime and after the school day and develop effective pathways between schools and sports clubs in the local community. We are currently striving to recruit volunteers both with or without experience in sport within the Madras College Cluster.
It is important to us to have volunteers input into your school where appropriate to provide a sense of belonging within the school and community.
This year we aim to:
– Increase the number of extra-curricular opportunities within our cluster schools.
– Consider targeted provision that best suits your schools needs.
Could you be a volunteer?
There are a number of different roles volunteers can carry out. These include – coaching, assisting the delivery of activity sessions, supporting events, refereeing, admin, marketing and mini bus driving. Training and support will be provided and volunteers with Active Schools have opportunities to learn new skills, gain experience and often qualifications. You can decide how often you would like to volunteer, we are flexible in our approach and we will work around your availability.
If you have a keen interest in a specific sport or just sport in general please fill out the below application form to begin your volunteering journey at your local primary school or at Madras College.
https://forms.office.com/e/VMFPQYkQ7G
Thank you,
Madison Garland
Active Schools Coordinator
Madras College Cluster
e: madison.garland@fife.gov.uk
