The summer vacation is fast approaching as we near the completion of another very successful year here at Our Lady of the Missions School. This final newsletter is a roundup of major events that have taken place in this last term.
Sacramental Preparations and Celebrations
May was a beautiful month here in our school as the Primary 4 and Primary 7 pupils celebrated the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation in our local parishes and also in St Mirin’s Cathedral in Paisley. The events were very moving and spiritually uplifting. A very big thank you to the staff and to Fr Hill, Fr Burke and Fr Duggan for being very supportive in assisting with the preparation and in officiating at the various ceremonies. Thank you also to parents and sponsors who continue to assist the children in living out their Faith on a daily basis.
The children will enjoy an afternoon of celebration next Monday. Cake and juice will be provided thanks to the Parent Staff Association who also provided beautiful commemorative certificates for the First Communicants and Confirmandi.
Pope Francis Faith Awards
Congratulations to the Primary 7 pupils who received their Pope Francis Faith Award certificates. The Bishop’s Conference of Scotland initiated this award designed to help children to show ‘signs of love’ in their daily lives and to be active members of their local Church. Our Primary 6 pupils have already enrolled and are on their way to receiving this award at the end of their Primary 7 year.
Charity Fund Raising
Once again the children and their families have been extremely generous in supporting fund raising events on behalf of various charities. The most recent ‘Day of Many Colours’ raised £395.12 for Missionary Children – ‘Missio Scotland’. We have also donated approximately £7,500 to a number of charities including MacMillan Cancer Support, SCIAF, the Xaverian Fathers and towards the cost of the purchase of a powered wheelchair for a child.
Rights Respecting School, Fair Trade and Green Flag StatusThrough Inter Disciplinary Learning approaches and the advancement of wider aspects of school life the staff and children have been busy looking at global citizenship and sustainability issues. In recognition of their work focusing on rights and responsibilities the children have become more aware of their place in society and the contributions they can make both locally and globally in relation to fairness, equality and respect for the dignity of all people.
This worked is also recognised through the award of Fair Trade and Green Flag Status to the school and once assessed hopefully the award of Rights Respecting School.
The recent ‘Rice Challenge’ contributed to further awareness-raising amongst our school community and saw 413 kg of rice being sold.
St Conval’s House sold the most rice with103 kg being sold. On Friday of this week a Malawian farmer is coming into the school to present a certificate. The money raised will allow five children in Malawi to go to high school for a year. Well done to Mrs Cumming PT and everyone involved.
Health Week
Our Pupil Health Committee was instrumental through
Mrs Cochrane PT in organising our Health Week. Pupils were encouraged to become more active through the Walk to School initiative. Many health professionals including parents visited classes and talked to pupils about healthy lifestyles.
Judo, tennis, karate, yoga and gymnastics taster sessions were delivered. Multi-sports was offered by students from Hutchieson’s Grammar and our Active School’s Coordinator Kerry Comerford organised a day of fun sporting activities.
Marie Clare James came from the Chefs at School initiative and led a fish workshop for Primary 3 pupils. Primary 4 and Primary 5 pupils sampled porridge oats from Hamlyn’s Oats and Primary 5 also made fajitas supported by Quality Meats Scotland.
We also launched our involvement with Wholefoods Schools to Market project which will continue next session with children designing, creating and marketing their own jams and chutneys.
All in all a very busy and highly successful Health Week.
Extra Curricular Activities
The children have benefitted from an extended range of after school clubs including gardening, tennis, cooking, gymnastics, young leaders, skiing, hockey, judo, badminton, netball, dance and football and of course choir. There has been success at the cross country championships, tennis finals and Cluster netball tournaments in addition to the highly successful Matthew Carney Tournament at which St Fillan’s Primary were awarded the tournament shield and Ben Meehan in Primary 7 was awarded the Matthew Carney Trophy for sportsmanship.
Almost all of our Primary 6 pupils were successful in their recent cycling proficiency assessment which took place after many weeks of bikeability training led by trained members of staff and coordinated by Mrs Wright, Senior Clerical Assistant here in the school office. A great effort in bringing all of these activities and opportunities to our pupils. A very big thank you to everyone for volunteering and to our Active Schools Coordinator for her assistance in organising many of these activities alongside Mrs Cochrane PT, the teaching staff and of course our office staff.
Parent Staff Association The PSA has been involved in organising a variety of fund raising and social events for the school community including more recently the Family Ceilidh and the highly successful Summer Fete.
A small team of dedicated committee members and additional volunteers have worked tirelessly on behalf of the children to raise funds which have been used this year towards, The Science Festival, Christmas parties, buses for educational visits, new multi-active projectors, ice-cream for Sports Day, First Communion and Confirmation Certificates and celebratory cakes, Bibles for Primary 7 leavers and the band and buffet for the Primary 7 Leavers’ Ceilidh. Once again a very successful year.
The PSA are looking for new members. They meet on the first Tuesday of each month to organise their activities and are also keen to have a list of volunteers to help at organised events. Please offer the PSA committee your support in the new session…
On behalf of the school community I would like to offer our sincerest thanks to the PSA for the great work that they do on behalf of the entire school community.
We look forward to assisting the PSA in raising funds next session to redevelop and landscape the outdoor spaces between the main building and the Junior Department.
Parent Council
A special thanks to the members of the Parent Council who have met regularly this session and worked on behalf of the wider parent forum. The main areas of focus this session have been the link corridor and future landscaping issues, traffic management, healthy food choices in the dining hall and the ‘School to Market’, Wholefoods initiative. Communication and increased parental involvement and awareness in school developments have also been a key area which the Parent Council has supported the school in taking forward. The recent uniform sale in support of Dressing for Excellence also helped to raise funds towards future landscaping projects. Once again can I offer my sincere thanks and gratitude to the members of the Parent Council who also work voluntarily on behalf of the whole school community.
Parent Helpers
This year we have enjoyed the support of many parents who have assisted in school trips, school events, coaching football teams, escorting pupils to Mass and musical events. We couldn’t do it without you!
Staffing
On behalf of everyone associated with Our Lady of the Missions Primary School, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs McArdle who has been a Pupil Support Assistant with us for nearly 15 years. She has given loyal and dedicated service. We wish Mrs McArdle well for a long and happy retirement.
Our janitor Michelle Gillan is leaving to take up post in the early years sector. We thank her for assisting with the smooth transition into the junior department this session. We wish her well for the future.
We thank Miss Carroll who has been with us as a Class Teacher for nearly three years as she moves on to pastures new and wish her every success in her career.
Good luck also to Miss Jackson who has completed a very successful year as a newly qualified teacher and is leaving to work as a member of the National Evangelical Team in Ireland.
Congratulations to Miss Walker who has been given a permanent appointment to the school and Miss Ward who is now a member of East Renfrewshire permanent supply pool.
Congratulations to Mrs Cochrane who has been appointed Acting Depute Head teacher and to Miss Kane and Miss Cummins who have been appointed Acting Principal Teachers here in Our Lady of the Missions Primary.
We welcome back Mrs Haveron from maternity leave to teach Primary 6d.
Miss McKenna is returning to teach Primary 4d and so too is Miss Currie who will assist with Support for Learning.
Mrs Caroline Parfery is joining us as a clerical assistant and will be a welcome addition to the school office.
Primary 7 Leavers
Our very best wishes are extended to the boys and girls of Primary 7 as they get ready to move onto high school. The session will end on a very busy note with Leavers’ Mass, A Day at the Movies and a Ceilidh next Monday evening here in the school hall. The year group has been wonderful to work with and a joy to teach. They have enhanced the ethos of the school and have always represented the school to the highest of standards.
Reminders
School Meals
Parents of pupils in P4 – P7 should make regular top ups to their child’s account in order to stay in credit. If you receive a text alert then you have gone into deficit and should lodge money within 24 hours. This will help the school office staff by reducing their workload and also allow the school to keep the school meals account balanced.
Any outstanding debt should be repaid by the end of term.
Holidays and In-service
School stops for summer vacation on Wednesday 24th June at 1.00pm.
School re-opens to staff on Tuesday 11th August and Wednesday 12th August for In-service. Pupils return on Thursday 13th August at 9.00am.
Primary 1 – First Day 13th August Arrangements
Our new Primary 1 pupils are due to arrive in phases during the first morning:
P1a & P1c 9.10am
P1b, P1d & P1e 9.30am
As Head Teacher I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff for their tremendous dedication and professionalism this session.
On behalf of the staff here at Our Lady of the Missions I would like to thank all of our parents for your continued support. We hope that everyone has a very happy and enjoyable summer vacation and we look forward to continued success in the new session.
