If you or any families you know are struggling for presents this Christmas please head along to the amazing annual Toy Appeal at The Masonic Hall, London Road, Kilmarnock between 10.30am-4pm tomorrow and Thursday.

A reminder that our P1-3 Christmas show takes place tomorrow at 2pm, with doors opening at 1.30pm for refreshments. We are asking for as many P1-3 pupils to be in school tomorrow to help make our show the best it can be as it is almost a sell out!

Our evening performance, which  is sold out, takes place on Thursday night at 6pm, with doors opening at 5.30pm for refreshments.

We are  asking for all pupils involved in the show to be in school no later than 5.30pm on Thursday evening.

Thank you

We are delighted to let you know we will be serving tea and coffee prior to  both of our show performances. 

Doors open 30 mins before each performance….so 1.30pm tomorrow and 5.30pm on Thursday.

Please bring some change with you as there will also be juice and sweetie bags on sale, as well as some of our class Christmas crafts.

Enjoy the show!

A reminder that our Reverse Advent Calendar initiative is already up and running for this year.

We are asking kindly for any donations you can possibly manage, no matter how small, for this wonderful cause. All items collected will be added to the St. Matthew’s Food Bank to help local families this Christmas. 

Items can be brought into school between now and the last week in December.

**Please do not hand in perishable foods, thank you**

Here is a list of the types of items you can hand in:

Dance Fest 2024 Application

Staff Dance Group Application

Youth Dance Application 2024

This Friday, 15th December

This Friday is our Christmas lunch 🍗 and Christmas Jumper Day!

if you don’t have a Christmas jumper, please let us know as we have a small supply for borrowing in school 🎅🎄

P4  have distributed boxes to each class for collecting donations for the Reverse Advent Calendar. 🎁🎄

We are kindly asking for any donations you can manage, for this wonderful cause. All items collected will be added to St. Matthew’s foodbank to help local families this Christmas.

Items can be brought into school between now and the last week in December. ( Please do not hand in perishable foods)

Thank you.

Primary 4 have been really enjoying their visits to Crossgates.

Today, we presented the residents and staff with an Advent wreath. During a previous visit the children, residents and staff designed handprints, we used these to create a joint Advent Wreath to remind everyone of the lovely friendships that we have built with our new Crossgates friends.  We have one in our classroom and there is now one displayed in Crossgates. 🎄

Today we enjoyed making Christmas themed play-doh creations. We shared stories and had lots of fun and laughter with our new friends.

A reminder that tickets are available through Parentpay for this year’s Nativity,  “The Magical Christmas Journey” which will be performed by our wonderful P1,2,and 3 pupils.

Although there is no cost attached to the  tickets, we would delighted if you could made a dontation via Parentpay. Our suggested donation is £2.

We are limiting our tickets to 4 per family for the moment.

Thank you 

A reminder that our Reverse Advent Calendar initiative is already up and running for this year.

We are asking kindly for any donations you can possibly manage, no matter how small, for this wonderful cause. All items collected will be added to the St. Matthew’s Food Bank to help local families this Christmas. 

Items can be brought into school between now and the last week in December.

**Please do not hand in perishable foods, thank you**

Here is a list of the types of items you can hand in:

We would like to say a big “Thank You” to everyone who helped make our Christmas Fayre on Friday night a wonderful success….FOMC, all our parent, staff  and pupil helpers, our amazing choir who opened the Fayre and to everyone who braved the weather  to come and support us!

We were overwhelmed by your kind  donations of tombola, bottle stall items and home baking.

We do not have an exact total amount raised at the moment, however it looks as if it may be in region of £2000!

We are aware of a slight issue only with some users when paying for multiple Nativity Tickets on Parentpay.

If you are having issues please follow this:

1. Select your performance (evening/afternoon) and your ticket amount (max of 2 for each performance at the moment).
2. If your payment amount shows more than it should be don’t worry, simply continue to add your tickets to your basket and then view basket. You will see your amount has been amended accordingly.
3. Continue to payment.😊

If you can possibly hand in any items of home baking  for the Christmas Fayre by the end of today.

Thank you

All our classes have been working very hard making their Christmas crafts to sell at tomorrow’s Christmas Fayre.

Here is a sneak preview of what each class will be selling:

P4 have been enjoying their role as ‘Missio Champions’ within the school.

As we all get ready for the beginning of Advent, P4 put together and distributed some fun Advent activities for all the classes.

We also gave everyone a Missio Advent Calendar to remind us all of the importance of keeping Jesus at the centre of our Advent Journey.

We hope that everyone has a wonderful and prayerful Advent.

P4

Advent calendar

There will be a change to tomorrow’s lunch as follows:

Lentil Soup, Pepperoni Pizza, Quorn Chow Mein, Gammon and cheese roll.

Thursday’s lunch menu has also been changed as follows:

Vegetable soup, Chicken curry, Vegan sausage roll and beans, Gammon and chees roll.

A reminder that tomorrow is a Dress Down Day.

Please bring with you anything you can manage to donate for our Christmas Fayre  which is next week.

Lauren, Vivienne, Judyta and Rhianna from P6  recently attended the Grand Hall for the annual Day of Dance.

They had a great day and did a wonderful job in representing our school!

***Raffle Closing Wednesday 29th November and the lucky winner will be announced on Friday 1st December***

Don’t miss out on winning a fabulous prize in our November raffle!

Tickets are £1 for 5 and can be purchased on Parentpay now!

The Scottish Government are currently consulting on the delivery of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenting within Scottish schools. 

You can read about the proposed content and delivery via the link shown below, and I would strongly encourage you to do so.   

Delivery of relationships, sexual health and parenthood education in Scottish schools: draft guidance – gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

In addition, and perhaps of greater accessibility/ease of reading, Parents/Carers may find that the RSHP website provides a clearer insight into the content often recommended for delivery against the above guidance. 

At Primary School age, the curriculum is at Early to Second Level. 

Early Level 

First level 

Second Level    

As a Catholic faith-based school there are elements of the proposed content linked to the guidance that may, depending upon individual perception, sit in direct contrast to the faith dynamic of our provision, which naturally permeates our ethos and delivery.   

We absolutely understand and welcome the fact that not all of our pupils are Catholics, but also recognise strongly that all families sending their children to our school respect and understand our ethos, and the central role that faith plays in the wider life of the school and in our daily practice. 

Given that parents/carers are the first educators of their children, I feel it is imperative that you are fully aware of the above consultation and are encouraged to submit a response. 

The previous version of the guidance was very clear in acknowledging the rights of Catholic schools to deliver Catholic teaching on aspects of human relationship and sexual development. The revised guidance has removed this reference.  

Encouraging parents/carers to do so is also strongly advocated for by the Scottish Catholic Education Service (SCES) and the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. 

SCES, on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference has produced a briefing paper for the consideration of parents/carers who have elected to send their children to Catholic schools. This briefing paper is attached for your information. 

SCES has also produced a supporting consultation return that you may, if you see fit, elect to refer to prior to making a response. Both of these items have been combined in the attachment provided.

As with any consultation, parents/carers are free to respond in full, in part or not at all. However, parent/carer voice is extremely important and central to the education of children in schools across Scotland. I sincerely and strongly encourage you to try to complete a response prior to the consultation deadline of Thursday 23^rd November. Responses can be submitted via this link: 

Consultation Response 

Parents/Carers wishing to make a response by post can do so by submitting a response to: 

RSHP Teaching Guidance Consultation 

Area 2B North 

Victoria Quay 

EDINBURGH 

EH6 6QQ 

It is my understanding that responses need not address every question within the consultation. I am to understand that some parents/carers are electing to respond to questions one and six specifically. It is for individual parents/carers to determine whether or not they wish to respond in full or in part.  

Thank you for your support in this matter. 

Kind regards

Andrea Fergusson

Briefing Paper and Letter Template For RSHP consultation (1).pdf

Reminder that dogs are not allowed to be in school grounds at any time whether they are on a lead or being carried.

Thank you for your continued support with this matter.

Mrs Fergusson

Tempest will be in school on Monday 20th November for individual and family photographs (if requested) to be taken.

Thankyou

TeamMC

Our classes are having their photographs taken this week for our “Class Christmas Calendars”. We will be taking orders for these at our Christmas Fayre on 1st December.  If you do not wish your child to be in their class photograph, please contact the school office asap.

Thank you