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| Balgreen Road, EH11 3AT, UK Edinburgh
+44 (0)131 337 6066
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| Welcome to the Balgreen School! |
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| Balgreen is a non-denominational primary school which takes boys and girls from Primary 1 through to Primary 7. Our building is of traditional design and forms a rectangle, in the centre of which there is a large garden area. We have classrooms which are able to take a maximum of 30 pupils, and an assembly hall which also serves as our gymnasium and dining area. The school also has a medical room which is used by the Doctor and Nurse; a library; a television/audio-visual/music room and the daytime use of Tynecastle Club hut. |
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There are two playground areas, one of which contains an astro-turf pitch used during the school day for games activities and after school hours until 5.00 p.m. for certain curricular sports. This facility is jointly owned by The City of Edinburgh Council and Tynecastle Club who use it at other times. Saughton Park can also serve as a playing field. Balgreen library adjoins the school, a facility the children are encouraged to use.
In August 2001 we were delighted to welcome a new initiative (in partnership with Murrayburn Primary School) called Place to Be. The Place to Be is a ground-breaking initiative that helps children deal with the kind of difficulties they experience during their school years. These range from the everyday problems with friends, family or school, to more serious difficulties such as divorce, bullying, low self-esteem, loss or bereavement.
The Place to Be set up a special room in school equipped with art and play materials. They then train, supervise and manage volunteer therapists and counsellors to work with the children weekly, both individually and in groups. Children are referred to The Place to Be by teachers or parents/carers or they can refer themselves to the Place to Talk, a weekly drop-in service.
From January 2007 a new initiative, A Place for Parents will be available at Balgreen. A Place for Parents is for the parents and carers of children who have attended The Place2Be. It offers parents a time and place to explore and express their thoughts and feelings about themselves and their children with a Parent Worker.
Click on the Place to Be link below for more information |
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There follows a brief description of the school's curriculum. For various reasons, changes can and do occur from time to time and therefore methods and content may alter from those described. At the moment, and for some years to come, focus will be on the National 5 - 14 programme of development.
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LANGUAGE: The development of each child's language is pursued through a programme of language work involving listening, speaking, writing and reading. Early reading material is based on the children's natural language, progressing through a graded reading programme.
The school uses the principles of the Early Literacy Programme guidelines as outlined by City of Edinburgh Education Department.
Oxford Reading Scheme is now used throughout the infant department, along with Sunshine Books and Link-up. Ginn, All Aboard and Kingscourt reading programmes are used in P4-7.
Writing forms an important part of the overall development and the child will follow a programme which will start with simple stories and will lead on to many different forms of writing activites.
The child's reading, writing, listening and speaking are all linked and from early on, using appropriate fiction and non-fiction he/she learns skills of comprehension and reference to help understand more of what is read and to assist in looking for information. Alongside, this will develop the necessary skills of spelling, punctuation, language structure and handwriting, each at a level appropriate to the child's needs. Much emphasis will be laid on speaking and discussion. Dramatic activities may also play a large part in this programme. |
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MATHS: At Balgreen the children's Mathematical ability is developed in the four areas of: Information Handling; Shape, Position and Movement; Number Money and Measurement and Problem Solving. A large emphasis is put on developing the children's mental mathematical abilities and this is pursued using a wide variety of methods and materials. The main textbook used by Balgreen at present is Heinemann Mathematics, which is used in conjunction with The City of Edinburgh Council 5-14 Mathematics Programme of Study. |
This is a term embracing History, Geography and Social Studies and is based on first hand observation and practical experience of the environment accessible to the pupil. Work is usually presented in the form of a class project and many studies involve a trip or visit so that classroom studies can be made more meaningful and "brought to life".
Science and Technology are taught through separate Programmes of Study.
From a knowledge of their own area, the children go on to study other environments of the country and the world, both past and present. The children are encouraged to find out and record information for themselves. There is therefore a need for good reference books and that is why we have set up a new Teaching Library where relevant books are available.
An extensive teachers' resource room has been set up with videos, tapes, maps, computer programmes and charts. The school has a systematic programme of Environmental Studies that emphasises man's responses to and interaction with his environment.
From P1 to P2 Topics are chosen to support interests and basic learning needs. Recurring topics are often those for which practical material and direct experience is available. The school is at present reviewing its policy and adding to its resources in the light of the new 5-14 Environmental Studies which recommends a variety of topics to be experienced from P1 - P7. The programme tries to ensure that by P7 the children will have had experience of a wide variety of topics, balanced throughout the curriculum.
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MODERN LANGUAGES: For the past few years Balgreen, along with other city primary schools, has been involved in a National initiative to introducing P6 and P7 children to French. The children have lessons once or twice a week with the emphasis on Oral work and fun games to introduce the new language. These lessons are taken by teachers who have undergone specialist training and by a French specialist from Tynecastle High School.
EXPRESSIVE ARTS: The Expressive Arts is a term encompassing the four areas of: Art & Design, Drama, Music and Physical Education. We are fortunate at Balgreen to have the expertise of a visiting Music Specialist and a visiting PE Specialist, both for two and a half days a week. Brass and Violin Specialists also teach groups of children.
Our class teachers teach lessons in all four areas in order to give our children a varied and balanced experience.
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The school is presently very well served by a variety of after school clubs, available to different age groups of children. At present these include Chess, Netball, Football, Basketball, Tag Rugby and Dance. Clubs that take place during school time include activities like Cross Country and Choir. |
With a major focus this year of becoming a 'Health Promoting School', please find below documents decribing the Health programme for the P1-3 (Infants) and P4-7 (Junior) years. Just click them to view! | |
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Parents Association
Every parent of a pupil at Balgreen is automatically a member of the Association. The Association committee meet on the first Tuesday of each month of the school calendar to discuss ways in which the Association can assist the school experience for all children.
The PA organises such events as school discos, spooky-do, santa drive and is hugely involved in the very successful bi-annual Fun Night, where the whole school community comes together on a Friday evening with the emphasis very much on fun. Over the years the PA has raised an enormous amount of money for the school and just recently funded new strips for the school basketball and football teams. If you would be interested in helping on the committee please get in touch with the present chairperson via the school office.
Chairperson : Trish Burton Vice Chair : Carol OConnor
Secretary : Susan Rodgers Treasurer : Gill Sutton
Staff Representatives : Jane Mawdsley
Parent Members : Janice Pennycook, Cathie Simpson, Trish Ritchie, Wilma Lyndesay, Susan Diotaiuti, Margaret Tunnah, Yvonne Boxall
Parent Forum
As a result of the Parental Involvement Bill, the School Board has been disbanded and parents are now all members of the Parent Forum for Balgreen School. This means that parents can expect:
+ Information about what their child is learning
+ Advice on how to support their child's learning
+ Information about opportunities to be involved in the school
+ A say in selecting the Parent Council.
We are now in the process of setting up a Parent Council for Balgreen, which combines the work of the School Board and the Parents Association.
The role of the Parent Council is to:
+ Represent the views of all parents
+ Support the school in its work with pupils
+ Report back to the Parent Forum.
We have prepared a draft constitution which has been sent to parents for their consideration. We currently await feedback from parents to the draft. We are particularly keen to have suggestions for election of parent members, should any year group have more than one volunteer. We also need a title for the new council and would like our parents to play an active part in choosing the name.
It is intended that we hold the first AGM of the Parent Council in late August or early September. The date is still to be confirmed.
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