Welcome back and Happy New Year

All children have returned safe and well and glowing from their Christmas break. It was a delight to see everyone at our assembly on Monday, so excited to be back and eager to learn.

We have introduced our China topic throughout the school and it is wonderful to see so much pupil work already evident throughout the school. All children are very eager to learn about Chinese customs and culture and I must say a huge thanks to the parents who have provided resources for us to see and use.

We have arranged a number of events to support this topic and our first is our Tai Chi day which is later this month. All children will get the opportunity to participate in this ancient Chinese art and we are already looking forward to celebrating the Chinese New Year at the end of this month.

This month also sees us begin preparation of Sacraments in Primaries Three, Four, Six and Seven. Our Enrolment Mass will be held on Tuesday 28th January at 7:00pm. Please remember that all children in these classes should attend this Mass with family members. Sponsors for Confirmandi are also welcome to come along if they wish to do so.

We are now beginning our preparations to send Primary Seven to Kilbowie in March. Please remember that there is an information meeting for parents on Wednesday 29th January at 6:30pm.

On Wednesday of next week Primary Five are off to the Science Centre in Glasgow to begin their Clyde in the Classroom programme. We are not charging pupils for this visit and I know that Primary Five will love being involved in this project.

As our term draws to a close I would like to commend all of the children for their very hard work throughout this year. Our Christmas shows were a huge success and all involved had a great time performing for both shows. Packed houses each time meant that the children had a great audience for each performance. Many thanks to all parents too for their commitment in sourcing costumes, materials, props etc. We couldn’t do it without you either.

Parties were great fun and we had a very special visitor to our infant party too! Many thanks to our Parent Council for providing us with gifts from Santa.

We have now packed away all of the tinsel and glitter until next year and are looking forward to returning on 6th January to resume our very hard work. We will be focusing on China and already we have lots of activities planned to bring Chinese life and culture to the children. As you know this will tie in very nicely with the Chinese New Year so be prepared for lots of Dragon Dancing and Lantern Making!

It’s now time for everyone to have a well-earned rest. We all hope that you have a very happy and relaxing Christmas break and I look forward to hearing of Santa’s exploits in the New Year.

Happy Christmas!

This week saw everyone heading out to the Lion King and Wizard of Oz. Primary One pupils loved their visit to Motherwell Civic Theatre – we even saw Max on the stage during the show. A great visit for their first out of school activity.
For the rest of us the journey to Edinburgh Playhouse was outstanding. The breathtaking spectacle of the Lion King had everyone on the edge of their seats and everyone was mesmerised by the show. All of the children were outstanding in their behaviour and this was commented to us by several members of the public. We are very proud of them as ever! A theatre experience that will stay with all of the children for a very long time. Thank goodness we went on Wednesday and not Thursday as we would have had to consider the safety of everyone had it been that day.
Back to this week and, of course, we have our shows – I hope that you are all looking forward to seeing these performances. The children have put such a lot of work into this they are eager to now show you how good they are.
Please remember that lunch on Tuesday is 11:45 – 12:30 to let us get ready for the shows.
I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday and Wednesday.

December
We begin this week with our Advent Service, for the next three Mondays we will prepare for the Christmas Season with a weekly prayer service. Primary 5/6 will lead us this week as we begin ‘The Road to Bethlehem.’
Primary Six pupils were involved in a joint event on Monday with Calderbridge Primary School – Bubblegum and Fluff drama group presented a morning of Christmas craft and activity to begin preparations for the Christmas Season.
This week sees everyone going out to the theatre. It doesn’t seem ten months since I consulted with parents to see if there was agreement about going to the forthcoming production of ‘The Lion King’. Well this Wednesday all of Primary 2-7 will head to the Playhouse in Edinburgh to see this wonderful production – a memory I am sure will stay with the children for ever.
Primary One will visit the Wizard of Oz at Motherwell Civic Centre – I am sure they will love this too.
Please remember that we currently have tickets on sale for our Christmas production on 10th and 11th December. Primary Six and Seven will present the tableau ‘Hosanna Rock’ and Primary One, Two and Three will treat us to their version of Rock the Baby. All of this puts us straight into the Christmas Spirt.
Primary Seven have had a very busy time. They have now completed their Forest School block and have enjoyed their learning in the outdoor environment – despite the cold and the rain! They also attended Ravenscraig Sports Centre on Thursday along with Primary Six to participate in Sportshall Athletics – everyone reported that they had a super afternoon.
Primary Five will begin their swimming block this week – they will spend every Tuesday morning having a swim session and a dry session in Wishaw Sports Centre. I know they will do us proud.

This week we were treated to Primary Four’s wonderful assembly on ‘The Vikings’. They had such a lot to learn and they delivered all of their lines with real confidence. Great information and super singing all round made this a wonderful assembly. Well done Primary Four!

Primary One, Two and Three are sounding great with their Christmas Nativity songs and already I can see that they are going to do a great performance on the night.
Primary Six and Seven know all of their lines and songs for Hosanna Rock and are looking forward to being the support act this time!

Can I remind everyone that now winter is upon us all children should have a warm jacket at school every day – some Primary Sevens were going up into the woods today as part of the Forest School day and even though it was minus 4 degrees some of them hadn’t brought their jackets to school.

Following our in-service day on Monday we will be introducing more outdoor sessions for PE. All teaching staff were engaged in an outdoor session on Monday morning working with a visiting specialist whilst we all had great fun we also learned about a variety of teaching approaches for using the outdoor environment. Even though it was November we were all too warm! We will be increasingly using the outdoor area for all children as the year goes on.

Well done to all of our Primary Sevens who attended St. Aidan’s High School Partnership Evening this week. This is the first major step in their transition process for high school.

This coming week Primary Six will visit St. Mark’s Church with Calderbridge Primary School for a Christmas Drama workshop with the ‘Bubblegum and Fluff’ group. We are very grateful to Mr Austin and St. Mark’s Church for inviting us along to this.

On Thursday of this coming week all pupils in Primary Six and Seven will visit Ravenscraig Sports Centre for a Sportshall Athletics Day where they will experience a range of physical activities. All children should wear casual clothes for this (no football colours please).

As we approach December we are in the midst of preparing for our Christmas Show. Primary Six are excelling themselves with their singing for Hosanna Rock and already all of Primary Seven know their lines. Well done to all of you. The infant classes sound great in their practices!

Primary Two attended a Play Festival in Ravenscraig Sport Centre this week and enjoyed trying out lots of activities with pupils from a number of schools in our area. They had a great time.
Our bakers during Golden Time have been making super cup cakes – smells are delicious in our kitchen area.
In the upper area Rooms 12,13 and 14 have now completed their display of Henry VIII and his six wives – their collage work is wonderful and shows us the order of these wives during this turbulent period in history.

This week coming we have our Partnership Evening in St. Aidan’s High School. All pupils in Primary Seven are invited along on Tuesday evening at 7:00.
Also we have anti bullying week this week and pupils will explore this topic during Health and Wellbeing lessons. Please remember that Monday is an In-service day for staff.

If you are free this evening why not come along to our Parent Council quiz night. It promises to be a fun evening and all money raised will be used to help all children in the school.

Well we have had another very busy week in school. All children are enjoying their respective social subjects topics. All things Egyptian are already emerging in the infant department and Primary Four and Five have created stunning artwork on the Vikings. In the upper area we are being treated to Henry VIII and his six wives! Along with this topic Rooms 12, 13 and 14 were able to link Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot and the persecution of Catholics back in the day.
Primary Seven presented their ‘inventions’ assembly and gave us such a great walk through the ages with lots of reflection on inventions which still impact on our lives. The consensus from everyone was that the ‘wheel’ was the most important – I think the mobile phone came a close second!
On Tuesday of this week Mrs Duffy hosted a regional Eco Meeting. This involved pupils from at least ten other school visiting our grounds, discussing all matters relating to Eco and assisting us in working in our garden area. The Eco team from North Lanarkshire Council who were represented at the meeting commented on how articulate and engaging our pupils were. Well done Rebecca Smith and Iona Durno.
This Monday we will be observing a minute of silence at 11:00 to allow the children to acknowledge the contribution of our war dead. Many children have been buying poppies over the past two weeks.
We have also been gathering in our annual shoebox appeal. We are hoping to top last year’s 140 boxes! This is a tremendous charity and our children love making the boxes up – many thanks to all parents for their assistance with this.
Finally – we know that when our backdrop goes up for our nativity/Christmas show that rehearsals are in full swing. Primary Seven all now know their roles and are busy learning their lines. Primary one, two and three are in great voice during their practices. I do hope you enjoy the finished product in a few weeks’ time.

This week has seen us begin preparations for our Christmas Show. This year we will be presenting two nativities. Primary One, Two and Three will present Rock the Baby and Primary Six and Seven will be presenting Hosanna Rock. As usual there is lots of excitement as we prepare the songs and children audition for the main parts. The suspense is tangible especially in Primary Seven.

I must commend all of the children for their behaviour at our Mass for the feast of All Saints Day. The children’s behaviour was outstanding and their Mass responses and singing was wonderful. Well done boys and girls!

We also welcomed our first batch of parent helpers into school this week to support us and what a great job they have done so far. We are very grateful for their support.

We have some super topics being studied in Social Subjects this term. The infants are finding out all about the Egyptians, Rooms 9 and 10 are looking at the Vikings and Rooms 12-14 are looking at the Tudor/Stuart era. Already there are great plans in place to display this work around the school.

If you happen to be in Morrisons next week please look out for our art display. Our pupils in Rooms 9 and 10 were invited to create firework pictures – they are really beautiful so please have a look if you are in shopping.

Next week we are hosting an Eco meeting for school across Lanarkshire. We have been asked to host this to demonstrate to other schools how we managed to secure our fifth Eco Flag. Mrs Duffy and representatives from our Eco Committee will be presenting at this meeting.

Please remember that our Parent Council are hosting a quiz night on Friday 15th November. I do hope that you will support this evening –last year’s was a great success and great fun too!
Please come along and have a good night (Adults only)

First week of our new term and lots of activity going on in school. This week Primary Seven hosted our Be Safe Be Seen Fashion Show to raise awareness of road safety and travelling safely to school in the winter months. All of the children and teachers had great fun sashaying the catwalk and strutting their stuff to show how much bright clothing can make a difference in the dark. Primary Seven organised this event with Miss McGregor and they did an excellent job.

We also had our first assembly of this year – Primary 6/7 told us all about events in Pompeii as part of their work on natural disasters. They provided a real insight into life in Pompeii and how it was when the disaster struck. Well done Primary 6/7 a great standard to set for our first assembly.

Primary Seven have again been involved in the Forest School even in the wet! They made shelters today and really needed to use them to stay dry in the pouring rain!

Of course we also celebrated Halloween with everyone dressing up and presenting their Halloween songs and poems to the whole school. Primary 1-3 spent the rest of the afternoon in the hall enjoying a great party.

This week we have also welcomed our Quality Improvement Officer Mr Tim Sharpe into school to see how well the children work. He has enjoyed visiting all of the classes and has commented on how impressed he is with our pupils.

Thank you to everyone who purchased books at our bookfayre before we broke up. The children very much enjoyed bookweek and the activities around reading. Pupils in Primary Seven provided story telling sessions every day for our younger pupils and these proved to be very popular.

I can’t believe we’re at the final week of the first term already. Where has the time gone!
Please remember that parent appointments take place this Thursday – please let us know if you can’t manage your allocated time and we will do our best to reschedule your appointment.
While you are in school please take time to go into the infant department and have a look at our butterflies! As part of the habitat topic all of the infant classes have been nurturing caterpillars and observing their transformation. We will be releasing all of them next Friday. All maths and language work will be home with you tomorrow (Monday) please take time to have a look through your child’s work and discuss their progress with them. I am sure they will be able to tell you all about their learning intentions and targets.

This week coming is bookweek and the children will all be given an opportunity to look at the books and I’m sure they’ll then let you know which books they wish to buy. These will be available to buy during our Parents’ Evening on Thursday, also children may purchase during the week if they wish. Primary Two and Three will be visiting Wishaw Library for a storytelling session and Primary One will have a session in school. We are also welcoming visitors from Motherwell Football Club to speak with senior pupils on their favourite books – we don’t know which footballers are coming yet so that will be a great surprise for the children. We are hoping that our Primary Seven pupils will provide a range of lunchtime story sessions throughout the week as part of their buddying programme.

Our Primary Seven have started their Forest School Programme, even though it was a damp day they had made a great start using the school grounds first, they then ventured into the wood to see which part they would use over the coming weeks. Our new concealed access to the woods allowed them a short time to get to know this local environment. They were very eco aware during this session and didn’t leave any trail of their presence. On Friday of this week they will also be attending a Scottish Symphony Orchestra Concert in Glasgow City Halls as part of the Queen’s Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Games. We are very privileged to have been given tickets for this.

As you know all classes have had their photographs taken – these should be with you shortly and if you wish to buy please follow the instructions on the photographer’s leaflet.

Wednesday of this week’s is Flu Vaccination day – if you have returned the pro forma sent out by NHS Lanarkshire your child will receive this at some point during Wednesday.

You will have noticed that we have now raised our brand new Eco Flag. This is the fifth flag we have achieved and we are very proud of everybody in school who has worked so hard to retain this. Special mention must go to Mrs Duffy and Mrs Neilly who have coordinated all of this – our children spoke with Mr McGhee Quality Improvement Officer for all aspects of Science Education last Tuesday and we was very impressed by the submission to Eco Schools Scotland!

Please remember that we finish on Friday at 3:00 and reopen on 21st October at 9:00.