Those people lucky enough to attend our Nursery Christmas Show will recognise my title – this has become the latest favourite phrase amongst all in school.
This was a truly magical week. Beginning on Monday with our upper school dress rehearsals followed by our performances on Tuesday. A what fabulous performances they were. A HUGE congratulations to all P4, P5,P6 & P7 pupils and staff who brought the true meaning of Christmas in an upbeat, light-hearted, musical delight. Thanks to all who participated and all who came along to see, hear and dance along at the shows. Fr Millar gave us a great compliment – he said in 35 years of attending Christmas concerts this was the best he had ever attended : )
Thanks also to all parents who took the time to ensure the children were safely escorted to and from the concert on Tuesday evening, almost 95% of our upper school attended in the evening demonstrating the great commitment they have to our school. Thanks also to all of the staff who managed to come along, upper school, lower school, nursery and support staff. What a fabulous team we have.
On that note, Wednesday saw the class teacher interviews take place. I am delighted to tell you Mrs Leanne Tominey and Mrs Nicola McLaughlan were our successful candidates. Congratulations to them both, they interviewed extremely well and are both excellent practitioners.
Mrs McLaughlan will overtake P6b from January 2014 whilst Mrs Tominey will overtake P2c as from this Monday. On Monday we welcome Mrs Keenan back from maternity leave as nursery teacher. From January Mrs Keenan will job share in the nursery with Miss Stephanie Love (currently P6b), Miss Love will work in nursery Thursday and Friday each week. The first part of the week Miss Love will overtake the vacancy left by Mrs McLaughlan in P5b, job sharing with Mrs Murphy. Mrs Carr will overtake Mrs Laird’s maternity leave but will remain in P2a, this minimises any disruption to teaching and learning for our children.
Thursday brought our nursery dress rehearsals with Friday being the shows. Both shows were truly memorable, our nursery children performed with gusto and enthusiasm and were ably assisted by our Kiddie Choir, well dome to everyone in our nursery young and not so young for a fantastic show. Congratulations and thanks also to P6 buddies who were a tremendous help both behind scene and on stage. Thanks also to P5 pupils for assisting with decor.
Throughout all of our 3 shows our support staff have worked tirelessly to ensure every child had an appropriate costume, our stage had a fabulous backdrop and all were in the right place at the right time. We are truly blessed with our support staff, I am indebted to them.
Whilst all of this is on-going we have not forgotten the importance of our children having opportunity to spiritually prepare for Christmas. Throughout last week and this coming week our upper school children have all celebrated the sacrament of Reconciliation. My thanks to Fr. Millar and Canon O’Mahoney for taking the time to come to school to ensure all have this opportunity.
This coming week will be a busy lead up to Christmas:
Monday – Comfy Monday – our Advent Appeal in aid of Philippians & Upper school confessions
Tuesday – Aladdin Pantomime in the morning followed by party afternoon – Children should come to school dressed in party clothes on Tuesday morning
Wednesday – Advent Mass at 8.15am – in drama room – all welcome. In the evening our Choir will perform alongside Diocesan Choir at the annual carol Concert in Cathedral Church – please come along. Tickets (priced at £4 with money going to charity) are available from school office or at the door on the evening.
Thursday – A wee quiet day….aaaaaaah HOPEFULLY
Friday – Jack and The Beanstalk Pantomime. School closes at 2.30pm
Reports from the nursery this week from Mrs Margaret Mary Murphy…
What a fantastic week the children have had at nursery culminating in an excellent performance of Ralph the Reindeer.
Through the preparations for the show there has been a great deal of learning going on.
In the literacy area the children have had the chance to explore real and imaginary situations and characters through the story of Ralph and have explored different ways of recording their ideas and information.
In the numeracy area they have investigated different objects and shapes and used their creative imaginations to make the presents and some props for the show.
Over in the performance area in the far corner of the nursery there is a display of the children’s work and some evidence showing how Ralph was brought to life. Please feel free to wander round and see all the great work the children have produced.
Through expressive arts the children have experienced the energy and excitement in presenting and participating in a performance. They have enjoyed singing and playing along to music of different styles using an assortment of musical instruments.
Health and Wellbeing has also been a huge part of the learning. The children have discussed how to keep their bodies healthy and how not to spread germs. They all agreed that they don’t want to catch a cold like Rudolph especially at Christmas!
Finally a huge thanks to all of the talented children in our nursery who took part in the show. On the day of the show a little Elf called JJ visited them and sprinkled magic dust to help them perform. Shh! it was just glitter and it worked a treat. They all had a fantastic experience and the smiles on their faces said it all! The reaction of the audience inspired them and made their performance a huge success. Feedback from parents/carers has all been extremely positive.
Here are a few of the comments received.
“How did they remember their lines at that age” “Excellent thought last years was brilliant but that topped it” “How did you get them to do the actions, I can’t believe my son would have the confidence to say his lines”
“Absolutely blown away thought she would not do anything and she loved it and smiled all the way through” “He wants to do it all over again” “Loved it best one I have ever seen” “The costumes were that good it took me ages to spot my son”
“She was the cutest snowman I have ever seen”
A reminder that Monday is Comfy Monday and everyone can come to nursery wearing their pyjamas and they can bring a teddy bear with them if they want to.
Magic Daze will entertain the children on Tuesday.
Thursday is the nursery Christmas party. Please note this is a normal session for everyone.
Friday is our ‘deep clean’ day, although Nursery is open for those who require children to come along, where possible it would be a great help if children could remain at home.
The nursery staff would all like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for their support this year and hope everyone has a Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. See you all in 2014!
May I take this opportunity to wish everyone in our school community a Happy and Holy Christmas and a prosperous New Year ahead.
Blog will return in the New Year.
Mrs Shields
