Dear Parent /Carer

At this time every year, once pupils have received their SQA examination results we usually invite pupils wishing to change subject into school to renegotiate their curriculum for the new session.

However, given the current circumstances we will now do this remotely.

All renegotiation will now take place via telephone interview. Your son/daughter should not come into school. The school office will be busy preparing for teachers & pupils returning to school next week and will not be in a position to receive telephone calls.

When your son/daughter receives their results and wishes to discuss the possibility of changing options then please contact us ASAP to request a telephone interview either through the following options.

They can either email the school mail at:

schoolmail@st-ninians.e-renfrew.sch.uk

They must include their name alpha class and name of pastoral teacher

or

They can reply to the message on pastoral class Microsoft teams.

Furthermore if you have any queries regarding results or possible appeals please use the link on the school website. This will take you to an online form that has been set up and which will be checked regularly by Senior Management. This will allow them to contact you directly and identify the appropriate course of action.

Good Luck

Your examination results will arrive on 4th August by post; and by text or email if you have signed up to MySQA. Please call your school if you do not receive your results by 1pm on 4th August. The SQA’s Candidate Advice Line (0345 279 1000) and Skills Development Scotland Exam Results Helpline (0808 100 8000) can provide advice from 8am on 4th August.

Post Certification Reviews

Your school will review how final grades compared to those estimated and check school based evidence that could support an appeal. Pastoral staff are also aware of all outstanding College or University conditional offers and will consider Priority Post Certification Reviews where possible. School staff will contact you directly if they would like to appeal on your behalf.
Post Certification Reviews require your approval and can only be requested by the school. How we identify and process Post Certification Reviews is summarised in our ‘leaflet for parents and candidates’.

leaflet for parents and candidates

‘Surely, nothing can come between God’s love for us and ourselves, God’s love made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord’.

This is Paul’s message in the second reading for this Sunday’s Mass
One way we witness God’s love is through him feeding us, as we pray in the Psalm; God is the one who always provides for our needs. In the gospel, we see Jesus who at times takes the initiative, and heals those who are sick, while at other times waits for the disciples to point out that the people were hungry and needed feeding. Was Jesus not aware of this? Did he really need to make use of the five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men, together with their women and children?

God invites our participation in his ministry, even if this is poor and weak, so that, as the Church prays in the third preface of the Sundays in Ordinary Time, ‘… the cause of our downfall might become the means of our salvation.’ By surrendering their five loaves of bread and two fish, the apostles made it possible for Jesus to feed the whole crowd. Jesus also asked the disciples to minister to the people by handing out the loaves and fishes to those waiting to be fed.

Joseph De Piro, was a priest and missionary, who founded ‘The Missionary Society of St. Paul. He was dynamic and regardless of his many weaknesses, still offered himself to minister to God’s people. God called Joseph De Piro to serve a large variety of ministries; at one moment, he was involved in around fifty-four activities. Yet, De Piro was quite limited both physically and academically. Moreover, in the discernment exercises he did to determine two fundamental decisions in his life, he admitted that he was a sinner.

God does not choose those who are spiritually good and physically able to carry out his mission. He often calls those who recognise their limitations. Once they surrender to his call and allow Him to mould them, God equips and strengthens them to carry out his mission.

This week I had the joy of helping to administer confessions on the Mercy Bus – it was back on the bus to spread the Joy of the Gospel. The friends of Divine Mercy Scotland were taking the Mercy Bus back out on the road. The response has been overwhelming. Pope Francis said ‘the way of the Church is precisely to leave her four walls behind and to go out in search of those who are distant, those essentially on the outskirts of life. It is to adopt fully God’s own approach.’ The FODMS are obeying that invitation in taking the church to the people. Everyone is welcome to come along and visit our ‘Church on wheels’!

Pope Francis is telling us not all are going to Mass, therefore we have to go out and evangelise to them – to go to the streets, shopping centres and bring the message of Christ to all peoples. The bus offers the Sacrament of Confessions, confidential chats, hospitality (Hope) and Prayer.

The people are needing something different. Evangelising is showing God’s love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. There is nothing complicated in this! – it is simple, tangible and understandable. Welcoming God’s mercy back into your life. Nothing is impossible to God. Mercy is an expression of God’s unconditional love. But let’s remember – We don’t deserve mercy but God wills it for us.

Please look after yourselves and your families. You are in my prayers and thoughts.

The gift of Wisdom

Just a wee quick thought for this Sunday – The Gospel gives us some images which helps us grasp something of the wonder of the Kingdom of God – the merchant looking for fine pearls, and when he finds one of great value, he goes back sells everything he has and buys it! The greatest treasure we have is the gift of our faith – a faith which has been handed down from our families – or something God has instil in us – but do we recognise it as one of the most precise gifts God has given us? With this virus it is a great opportunity to see and value and cherish what we have in faith. Keep nourishing your faith and don’t be afraid to share it with others!!

Then we hear in the first reading from the book of Kings – The Lord says to Solomon in a dream – ask whatever you like and I will give it to you – anything – he didn’t ask for power, nor money, nor position. No nothing like that! He says – I’ve watched my Father and seen how powerfully skilled in leadership he is, so can I get a heart to understand how to discern between good and bad. That is all he asks for – he is aware of the role he is going to undertake and so the Lord responds, but he actually responds immediately to give him a heart wise and shrewd as none before or none after! That a response from Solomon and indeed what a gracious response from the Lord.

Can we be that selfless?

Can we be that thoughtful to think of others before ourselves?

In the early Church and today, this is seen as the work of the people of God, the baptised: to pray for the world and the needs of others. Then we go beyond ourselves and our own interests, reaching out and opening up, rather than being closed in on ourselves. Let us pray for a heart like King Solomon – so whatever role we undertake in life, God will give us a heart to understand how to discern between good and bad.

I hope you take time to relax during these summer days

Changing the World

In 2009, the first Darkness into Light event in aid of Pieta House took place in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. Around 400 people walked the 5Km course that year to raise funds for the suicide prevention charity. In Scotland this event took place around the Hydro in Glasgow around 2014 with 400 people walking. Fast forward to May last year, and more than 130,000 people took part in 150 Darkness into Light events across Scotland and worldwide. Many of us will know someone who took part, or we may have got involved ourselves this year. As the crucial message of hope and solidarity filters out from these events, who knows how many lives have been saved or transformed over the years?

Darkness into Light is a great example of a movement which has grown from a small seed of an idea into a major force for good. The parable of the mustard seed, which we hear today, shows us that fantastic things can emerge from the most modest of beginnings, ‘The smallest of all the seeds’ The disciples who first heard Jesus were ordinary people – not the religious leaders of the time or those in positions of power or influence. But they were the seeds from which the Church would grow down through the years.

Each act of kindness or forgiveness, each time we spread the Good News of Jesus in our own way, we are hastening the spread of God’s kingdom. These seeds grow and multiply, and bear fruit even if we cannot see the results. We can’t change the world in one go – but we can change our world. Together, as a people of faith, hope and love, we will grow with the love of God the Father, the Grace of Jesus, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the maternal guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the intercession of St Joseph and all the Saints.