Dates for your diary

• 7th February – Last date to bring in your Dog Poo House Competition Entry – Click here for details
• 8th February – P1 Health Check

Polite Reminder

Please make sure your child has outdoor trainers with them on PE days so that they can work on the pitch. We have no indoor facility at present until the repairs on the hall are complete. Children should have kit in school every day so that we can deliver outdoors to suit the weather.

Outdoor Learning

There will be no woods trips until we can assess the storm damage. The Nursery garden is in use but the school garden is out of bounds until work cam be done to make a section of the roof (and the chimney) safe following storm damage.

Message from Active Schools

At Assembly today we introduced our first target day. All P1-7s have brought home their Big Picture Targets for this term today and they are available on Seesaw.  The Targets are the broad areas your child will be working to. I have asked the children to imagine they are standing at the foot of a mountain, the target is the top of the mountain. They can’t get there in one stride, they need to take lots of steps. Each lesson at school is a step towards their target. Their steps in learning will be shared regularly on Seesaw – there will be a piece of work shared about once per week to let you see their progress in school.

We celebrated stars who have been living our values of perseverance, effort, respect and personal achievement. Well done Lexi, Sophie and Holly S.

We have celebrated some Stars today who have been living our values of Respect, Perseverance and Teamwork. Well done to Scott, Mya, Lachlan and Owen.

I have also introduce a House Competition today. The aim of the Competition is to produce work which can be displayed in the village to support local dog walkers to pick up after their dog and keep the pitch clean.

The rules of the competition are:

• You should work on your entry at home but you can take paper from school to use.
• Your entry should be on A4 paper and have your name and house on the back.
• You can work on your own or do a family entry (with a brother or sister).
• Parents can advise but it should be the child’s own work – it is the content that is most important. If your child’s is the winning entry we can help with presentation and spelling before it is published, if needed.
• Entries must come into school at 9am on 7th February at the latest.

There are two tasks and your child can choose which one they do:

1. Design a poster with a bright and colourful picture and a slogan encouraging dog walkers to pick up.
2. Write a persuasive letter asking Dog Walkers to pick up after their pet and giving suggestions for ways to make sure they do. Start it ‘Dear Gauldry Dog Walkers’ and end it ‘From the children at Balmerino Primary School’

All children who submit an entry will win points for their house and those whose entries are picked to be displayed in the village will win extra points. The village hall committee are going to help us select the entries to display.

Deadline for Nursery Applications

If your child was born between 1^st March 2018 and 28^th February 2020 and you want them to attend Nursery during the next school year, you should apply by 31^st January 2022. More information is available here: Starting Nursery | Balmerino Primary School (glowscotland.org.uk) If you don’t apply by this date, your will be a late application and you are less likely to get your first choice of setting.

P1/2 Outdoor Learning

P1/2 will restart their trips to the woods each Monday from this Monday coming (24^th Jan). Please send your child to school in their woods clothes and with a pair of shoes they can wear inside. They need to wear warm layers and waterproofs with wellies or sturdy shoes.

Well done to our Star Pupils – Isla-Rose, Evie and Luca – they have been living our school values of enthusiasm, independence and effort.

At Assembly today, I spoke to the children about the problem of dog poo on the pitch.  We have begun to notice this as a bit of a problem during PE lessons and would like to try to help. I have asked all children to have a think about what we could to help dog walkers be able to pick up after their dog on the pitch.  I have asked them to think about what advice we could give dog walkers or anything else we could do. They are going to talk about this in class this week but it would also be great if you could discuss it at home. Those who own dogs are well placed to share ideas with us. We are going to revisit this next week and then launch a competition/campaign.

Happy New Year and Welcome to the first Information Sheet of 2022.

Date for your diary:

• There will be a Rag Bag Collection on 3rd February, please look out for the bags coming home.
• 8^th February – P1 Health Check – please return your form as soon as possible.
• Thursday 20^th January is the last day for the Dalguise 2^nd Please pay through iPayImpact or contact us for help if you can’t pay that way.

Message from Active Schools

As you may know Active Schools provide a range of opportunities for children to participate in sport and physical activities before school, during lunchtime and after school. We also provide opportunities and activities with local sports clubs and activity providers evenings, weekends and during school holidays and in-service days.

If you would like to receive and keep up to date with these activities and programmes please sign up to our newsletter here.

Kind regards

Madison Garland 
Active Schools

Destination Judo Introductory Offer (sent by Active Schools)

Destination Judo is the biggest junior judo school in the UK. Over the years, and with the support of Active Schools, we’ve established a very successful network of judo clubs in Fife.   
We’d like to announce a special New Year offer for families in Fife:  a starter package of 1 month’s free judo in January, for all of our clubs in Fife.  The offer will run throughout January allowing kids to try out our sport  with no commitment. Triallists can wear tracksuits bottoms and t-shirts to start – and we’ll supply everything else they need.
At the end of the block, they’ll be offered the chance to enrol and, on enrolment, will qualify for a free judo kit worth £40.
Please find out more about our clubs and our sport on www.destinationjudo.com. The site also has our contact details. When booking in please state that you want to take advantage of this Active Schools offer. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Destination Judo Team

0131 467 9054

info@destinationjudo.com

Nursery Enrolments

Nursery Enrolments for session 2022-23 are now live. More information is available here: Starting Nursery

Primary 1 Enrolments

Primary 1 Enrolments for session 2022-23 go live on Monday 17^th. More information is available here: Starting P1 . You have to enrol your child for P1 even if they attend our Nursery – they don’t move on automatically.

Covid Information

I am keeping the Covid procedures page on the website up to date with changing information. I hope it will prove a useful reference point for parents and staff.: Covid-19 Procedures

We celebrated four stars at Assembly today, they have been living our values of respect, effort, perseverance and achievment. Well done to Isla G, Lilly, Jess and Jackson.

We held our assembly virtually today, using the cameras and microphones the Parent Council bought us last year.

We discussed our Charity Day on Friday. All children are invited to leave their uniform at home and wear a Christmas or favourite jumper. We are asking each child for a donation of £2 if possible and a donation for the food bank.

We discussed the work of Save the Children and the Foodbank in supporting children’s rights to Nutritious Food, an Education, Shelter and Protection from the effects of war (articles 24, 27, 28 and 38 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child).

Our stars have been living our school values of perseverance, effort, curiosity, enthusiasm, inclusion, friendship and respect. Well done to: Howie, Ola, Holly K. Emily W, Emily B and Edith.

Christmas Charity Day

10th December – no need to wear uniform, come in a Christmas or favourite jumper. We are inviting each children to bring in a contribution of £2 by today and an item for the Wormit Foodbank. You can send the £2 in with your child (preferably in an envelope with their name on). Half of the collection will go to Save the Children and the Remainder will go to school fund to help us pay for our Christmas Activities.

Wednesday 8th December

If your child is going to have a Christmas Lunch, you must order by today using the iPayImpact system. The lunch is on 15th December but we need orders by 8th. If you don’t order by 8th, your child will need to bring a packed lunch on 15th even if they usually take a school lunch.

Stakeholder Feedback

I would like to share three pieces of feedback about the work of the school:

Click Here to read the report of our recent Learning Partnership visit.

Click Here to read the feedback from a recent parental survey.

Click Here to read the feedback from a recent pupil wellbeing survey.

The Relationships and Behaviour Policy and Anti-Bullying Policies are now finalised and available on the website.

P7 Parents

The Community Council are looking for youth ambassadors.  More information is available here: Youth ambassador poster. If your child is interested in being involved, you can contact the council directly using the details on the form.

Gauldry in Bloom Festive Afternoon and Light Switch on

Saturday 4th December 3-4.30pm at the Morison Duncan Hall. Children are bringing home a flier in their bags with more details.

Christmas Woodland Club

I am advertising this on behalf of Chris Childe.