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.

Another busy week here in St. Aidan’s. The nominations for our Parent Council closed at 3:00 pm on Friday and we are delighted that we now have 19 new members. The first meeting of our new Parent Council body will be on Tuesday October 1st at 7:00pm.
Our curriculum information evening was extremely well attended and we are very grateful for the positive feedback we received from everyone. Thank you to all who came along to find out about the curriculum this year. Our workshops were a great success.
Well done to Jay Hamilton who won a skateboard in our recent Pirate Themed lunch on Thursday. All classes have, as usual been very busy in school this week.
Primary Seven recently represented our school at the annual Diocesan Mass in Carfin Grotto and their behaviour was outstanding. Well done boys and girls I know we are going to have a fantastic year with you as you are such a responsible group. We are all very proud of you.
Our Primary One have been very busy – already they are beginning to write in sentences – fantastic work we can hardly believe that they have only been with us for such a short time.
We are delighted that already our pupils in the infant department can say a greeting and their name in French – tres bien fait!
Primary Four pupils paid a visit to St. Aidan’s Church with Mrs Donnelly to have a look at the altar as they have been learning about Mass in class and Primary Five have created a fantastic San Francisco earthquake as part of their Natural Disasters topic. Please look out for this at Parents’ Night.
Primary Six/Seven are very busy preparing for our first assembly of this year I know that Mr McKenna has a great assembly planned and as usual the boys and girls will deliver this with great confidence.
We have recently issued the letters for your parent appointment on 10th October. Please remember to return your letter to your child’s teacher
Finally we have Mr John Wilson coming into school this Thursday to take class photographs. Only pupils in Primary One will have an individual photograph as the rest of the school had this done last year and we try to keep costs down by having these every other year. If you wish to buy the photographs Mr Wilson will provide details for you.

I hope you have all had a chance to see our new signage on our front doors – we are very happy with it!

This week we have seen lots of outdoor activity in Primary 1-3 where they have been using our outdoor environment to explore and investigate homes and habitats.  We have also taken delivery of our butterfly kits for the infant department.  I know the infant classes are going to have great fun seeing the changes taking place and the butterflies emerging into their new habitats.  Look out for our photographs on this shortly!

Primary Four have done a variety of science investigations, including making their own clouds and thermometers.  Well done Primary Four.

We had our second Kodaly session which all of Primary Five pupils enjoyed – I know they are going to make a beautiful sound with Mrs McGregor leading them.

Our choir had their first session which included our new Primary Five choir members and what a beautiful sound they made and so soon.

Primary Six and seven have been busy researching lots of information about their natural disasters topic and you will be able to see the fruits of this very soon at our ‘meet the teacher’ evening.

This week coming Primary Seven will attend Carfin Grotto for the annual Diocesan School Mass.

Can I also remind everyone to return their letters indicating attendance at our ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening which is on 18^th September.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Well we have had a very busy time in school.  Primary one pupils have been very busy learning their first sounds and numbers and what a great job they have done. 

We all went to Mass on Friday for the feast of our Patron Saint and the children’s behaviour, responses and singing was outstanding.  Well done boys and girls!

Our pupils in Primary one to three have been very busy looking at homes and habitats and have been enjoying the play area which has been set up in the infant department.

Primary 4-7 have been eagerly researching natural disasters.  They have all ben finding out about tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, droughts and a whole host of other events.  They are really enjoying this topic and we are beginning to see lots of written work and research emerging so soon – well done.

Mrs Quinn has been very busy with her science classes who have all been investigating materials – even Primary One.

We are delighted that everyone has started the term with such hard work and excellent behaviour.  I know that you will all be really proud of them – as we are here in school.

It was great to welcome everyone back to school today.  The children are all glowing after our warm summer and they all look fantastic in their new uniforms.  Our new Primary One children have settled in beautifully and we are all looking forward to working hard and achieving much success this term.  Please check my blog every Friday for an update of events each week and an outline of the week ahead.

Here’s to a great year for everybody.

Well we have had a very busy time in school.  Primary one pupils have been very busy learning their first sounds and numbers and what a great job they have done. 

We all went to Mass on Friday for the feast of our Patron Saint and the children’s behaviour, responses and singing was outstanding.  Well done boys and girls!

Our pupils in Primary one to three have been very busy looking at homes and habitats and have been enjoying the play area which has been set up in the infant department.

Primary 4-7 have been eagerly researching natural disasters.  They have all ben finding out about tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, droughts and a whole host of other events.  They are really enjoying this topic and we are beginning to see lots of written work and research emerging so soon – well done.

Mrs Quinn has been very busy with her science classes who have all been investigating materials – even Primary One.

We are delighted that everyone has started the term with such hard work and excellent behaviour.  I know that you will all be really proud of them – as we are here in school.