Dates for your diary

P3/4 will be going to Brownie Woods every Wednesday afternoon from now on. Please send suitable clothes and footwear for the weather conditions – they will change into them before they go.

P1/2 will be going to Waterloo Woods every Monday afternoon from now on. They should come to school wearing clothes that are suitable for the woods and their usual school shoes. Please send them with wellies or boots to change into before they go.

We don’t need you to sign a permission slip for woods trips as we have permission for local outings from you. But if you have any concerns or would like to withdraw your child, please contact me directly at lucy.jess@fife.gov.uk.

Ragbag

Please drop your filled ragbag by the recycling bins at the village hall on the morning of 9th September.

Seesaw

At the start of next week, a permission slip will come home to allow us to set your child up for the new school year on Seesaw which is a platform to aid home-school communication and support family learning. Please complete and return it as soon as possible so that we can get Seesaw up and running.

A glimpse inside school…

We miss being able to invite parents into school so this is an opportunity to see your child’s learning environment. It would be good to talk to them about the photos and see if they can tell you about their learning.

P5/6/7 have been learning about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and have made this charter to support rights at school. We talked about this at assembly on Wednesday and the other primary classes will be doing the same task. P5/6/7 have led the way!

P1/2 have been learning about themselves. They did self-portraits on the first day and a finger print study when learning about similarities and differences. Can you spot some colour monsters on the wall? These show the children’s feelings from the first week – this work was linked to the book ‘The Colour Monster’.

There has been a lot of interest in the work bench in Nursery so the staff have created a second one in the garden so that this play can extend outdoors. They have also set up an outdoor numeracy and literacy area.

 

P3/4 have started an artist study on Van Gogh. They have been learning all about verbs, adjectives and nouns this week using their reading books and ‘Handa’s Surprise’. In Science they have been learning about what needs electricity to make it work and there has been lots of good discussion about cars and lots in interest in the new charging point by the village hall. Everyone is really enjoying the class novel ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.

There are two weeks to complete this challenge. It is for pupils at Balmerino Primary School. You can work as a family to do the challenge. The oldest child in each family is bringing home a matchbox today. The challenge is to put as many different items into the matchbox as you can. You want to look for things that are as small as possible but you can only put in one of each item. For example, you can put in one grain of rice but not a spoonful!

Bring your matchbox back into school on Friday 10th September. Write your name(s) on the box and write on the number of items that are inside. Everyone who brings their box in will win points for their house and the winning box will earn extra points.

Nursery children aren’t in a house – they will join one with their older siblings and buddies when they come into P1 next year. But they can still join in the competition for fun.

Good Luck and Enjoy!

(Thank you to P3/4 who helped write the instructions in this post)

Dates for the Year

We are all hoping that this year will be more predictable than last and so we have set as many dates as we can for the school year. These dates are now available on the calendar page of the website which you can reach using the menu above or follow this link:

Calendar

Staffing News

Mrs Dowie (supply PSA) was successful at interview today and will be remaining with her in her current hours up until the summer holidays at least.

Restrictions Easing

We are able to ease our restrictions on keeping classes separate and you will likely start to hear your child talking about playing with children from other classes over the coming week. Any parent who has concerns about this easement should contact Mrs Jess directly.

The majority of Covid mitigations remain in place and we do need to ask you to continue to be vigilant of symptoms in your household.  If your child develops any of the following symptoms they must not come to school. They and all other members of the family should stay at home as soon as their symptoms start, self-isolate, and take a PCR test. Find out more on NHS Inform. The symptoms of coronavirus (Covid-19) are:

• a new continuous cough and/or
• a high temperature and/or
• a loss of, or change in, taste or smell (anosmia).

If you or your children test positive, Test and Protect will contact you to provide tailored advice on what to do. This advice is an extract from Fife Council’s FAQs on Schools and Covid.

Click here to read the full version of Fife’s FAQs on Schools and Covid

Message from the Office

Please return Data Capture Forms and General Permissions Forms as soon as possible. P1-7 Flu forms by 3rd September, please. Don’t forget to send any Ragbag contributions on the morning of 9th September – please place them by the recycling bins at the village hall. Many thanks.

Saturday Rugby

Madrascals Rugby is back and looking forward to welcoming new members to their Saturday morning fun training sessions.  Led by teams of experienced and friendly coaches, everybody from P1 – P7 is welcome to come along.  Free taster sessions are being held at Station Park, the home of Madras Rugby Club, on Saturday 28 August and Saturday 4 September.  There is no need to book ahead, just turn up ready to play and have fun! The times for each session are:

P1 – P2 11:00 – 12:00

P3 – P7 10:30 – 12:00

Any questions should be directed to: madrascals.convenor@gmail.com

Welcome to our first weekly newsletter of the new school term and the first using this new format.

Please feel free to contact me with feedback, queries and concerns.

Lucy Jess (lucy.jess@fife.gov.uk)

New Website

This newsletter is part of our school website. If you haven’t already done so, please take time to explore the links above to find information about the school.

Forms for the Office – check you have got these from your child’s bag!

P1-7 parents, please return your child’s Flu Vaccine consent form by 3rd September. P2-7 Parents, please return the data check form as soon as possible. All Parents, please return the general permissions form as soon as possible.

Rag Bag

Please send suitable donations into school in the bag provided on 9th September. This is a great fundraiser for the school so please support us if you can.

PE Kit

P1/2 children should bring their PE kit on a Tuesday and Friday each day this term. They will change in school but then come home in their kit. P3-7 children should have a kit in school everyday at the moment. Thank you for your support.

Staffing

Click Here to see a full list of current staffing from session 2021/22. Then use the back button to return to this page.

Gauldry Gala

The Morison Duncan Hall Committee are organising a Gala to be held on Saturday 4th September. The Historical Enactment group will be hosting an archery tuition session on Saturday morning. This will be led by qualified and experienced instructors and is open to pupils of Primary school age. Those who take part in this will be invited to act as an “army” during one of the afternoon sessions. Bows and arrows will NOT be required for this!  More details will follow.

Entries are invited for the Primary schools’ Baking Competition. Pupils are invited to bake either 3 Gingerbread People or 3 Butterfly Cakes.  Entries (on a plate please) should be brought to the hall on Saturday morning between 9.30 and 10.30 with a note of the details (including age) of the baker. Judging will take place at 11am.  This competition is open to pupils of both Balmerino and Wormit schools.

Can You Help?

Miss Diplexcito is introducing loose parts play to her classroom. Click Here if you’d like to learn more. She would be pleased to have donations of small objects, for example:

• corks
• bottle lids
• curtain rings
• dolly pegs
• shells
• washers, nuts and bolts
• pinecones
• feathers

 

Message regarding Beavers/Cubs/Scouts

I have been asked to share the following message. Please contact Jonny Tepp directly (details below) if you are interested:

As we move out of lockdown things are becoming more normal and in many areas Scout, Cubs and Beaver Groups are now operating where there are parents and volunteers willing to lead activity.

I am writing this to all parents and contacts of the group to update and ask for help or suggestions.

Please read to the end of this email – I would be happy to chat with anyone individually so please get in touch!

The Group relies on volunteers.

We have a good Scout hut recently redecorated, a good stock of equipment, and a healthy financial situation.

We have a set of annual accounts, a hut risk assessment, and safety certificates, and insurance in place.

We subscribe to Online Scout Manager to help us administer scouting locally.

Ideally a Scout Group needs the following in addition to a meeting place to operate

A Group Scout Leader – currently me Jonny Tepp

A Parents Committee (min Chair – vacant, Treasurer – Eddie Dunkerley, Secretary – Vacant)

Section Leaders ? (Scout Section has been meeting and led by John Innes, Cubs & Beaver Sections currently inactive)

Section Assistants ? (Scout Section has been meeting, Cubs & Beaver Section inactive)

The Group Scout Leader has an overall responsibility for Scouting and needs a committee Chair that he/she can work with.

The Parent Committee can probably do most of their work through zoom or email.

They are legally the trustees if the 34th Fife Scout Group SC032710. They need to hold an AGM and take responsibility for the Scout Hut and group finances/accounts and for meeting the requirements of OSCR (the Office for the Scottish Charity Register).

They are required to be ‘appointed’ by the Scouts Association for which they need to apply, get child protection CVG check, and complete an online intro to Scouting module to ensure they understand the fundamentals of scouting (all this probably takes 2-3 hours to complete).

Section/Assistant Leaders are the lynchpin of Scouting as they deliver activities aligned to the National Scouting programme.

They are required to be ‘appointed’ by the Scouts Association for which they need to apply and be interviewed after get child protection CVG check and completing online training. In addition to the intro to Scouting module there are modules on child safeguarding, and data protection (all this probably takes 4-5 hours to complete).

Leaders develop and deliver the programme week by week which is essentially one of encouraging fun learning by doing outdoors as much as Scottish weather allows! In my experience (and we are all different) to run a weekly programme required a commitment from me of about 4 hours per week (2 hours prep, 2 ours at the Hut)

There are plenty if resources out there providing a menu of material so that the challenge is identifying activities that you will enjoy and feel able to deliver (classic activities which I have enjoyed include)

Beavers, Cubs & Scouts

• Camping
• Cooking
• Fires
• Singing!
• Knots and ‘Pioneering’
• Hiking
• Map reading
• Codes
• Problem solving
• Games!
• Visits to Observatories, Boat trips, Skating,

Camping for ‘new leaders’ is done at national camping centres where trained leaders can deliver activities that you might not be qualified to do. If you stay in Scouting for any period of time you can develop or get accredited to deliver different activities.

I have knowledge of how Scouting and Scout group admin works which I am willing to share.

I am happy to keep supporting the local scout group in any way I can and to ‘oversee’ scouting by making sure that we as far as possible adhere to the expectations of the Scout Association

I live near to the hut and so have been happy over the years to ensure that the hut is looked after (with help obviously).

HOWEVER, I cannot do this alone and I cannot run the programme of activity that needs leaders with energy and enthusiasm for our young people.

If any of this sounds like fun to you, albeit hard work, get in touch and let’s talk!

Jonty

GSL 34th Fife SC032710

 

Welcome to our new school website. Watch out for our weekly newsletters appearing here. They will also be sent to parents, carers and staff by email, usually on a Friday.