Welcome back.

It is two weeks since our last blog and consequently I have lots to tell you about.

To ensure clarity of information I have posted Lenten Charities and Young Leaders under separate headings.

This week in school at our Monday morning assembly we celebrated Catholic Education Week. Each of our classes brought forward examples of their work all of which ‘Proclaimed The Joy of The Gospel’ – the theme of Catholic Education Week. The range and quality of work produced is exceptional, I am delighted to showcase such originality and depth of spirituality on our good work wall. Photographs included at end of blog. As always I congratulate our pupils and staff on their commitment and dedication to our Faith.

On Tuesday Primary 5b and Miss Mooty visited The Mission Centre. Whilst there the children entertained the residents, made (and enjoyed eating) pancakes and spent some quality time listening to the stories of our elders. A wonderful example of living history. Well done Primary 5b & Miss Mooty.

Wednesday we celebrated the beginning of the season of Lent, a time of reflection of ourselves and preparation for the great feast of Easter. All children attended Mass in Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Church at 10am. Our children participated enthusiastically in all parts of the Mass, spoken and sung. Their behaviour was exemplary, and commented upon most favourably by many of the parishioners. I am immensely proud to be able to show our church community the excellent standards of our children’s spiritual development. A huge thanks to all parents and friends of the school who assisted with walking our upper school children to and from the church. Thanks also to the local police for their escort ensuring a safe passage for all.

Our daily Lenten Mass at 8.15am has been most well attended on both Thursday and Friday of this week. I have set a personal challenge to each of our children to aspire to participating in at least one of these morning Masses throughout the season of Lent. please encourage your child(ren) to attend. As always we welcome everyone in our school and church community to join us in prayer. Mass is held in the school library Monday through to Thursday each week during Lent at 8.15am. All P6 & P7 pupils are encouraged to volunteer to read at these Masses.

Also on Thursday our school was delighted to welcome His Lordship Bishop Toal. Bishop Toal spent the whole morning with us taking time to speak to each of our Confirmation classes and also some of our Reconciliation children. I am indebted to His Lordship for taking such a chunk of time out of his extremely busy schedule to speak with our children. Each of our Confirmandi appreciated the importance of this visit and were honoured to be able to listen to and question Bishop Toal.

Friday saw the first of our Lenten Charity events (listed separately). Crazy hair day! Great fun was had by all, thanks to all pupils and staff for their active participation – much appreciated.

Our wonderful pitch facility was well utilised on Friday by a number of local school football teams. Knowetop Primary, Muir Street Primary, Ladywell Primary and our own school teams all enjoyed a number of fabulous football games. A huge thanks to Mr McBirnie (Willie the football man) for his organisation of all of this work. Mr McBirnie is a volunteer in both Firpark and O.L.G.A Cathedral schools – he gives freely of his time and his skill to benefit all children in our campus. We are very lucky to have such a person working with our children. Thanks Willie!

Meanwhile, down in the icy depth of the nursery, here’s Mrs Murphy’s gossip…..

A quick update from the last two short weeks. The igloo has now been completed and sits proud of place in the story corner. The children are using it as a quiet place to read stories. The children decorated the wall behind the igloo with all the information they gathered about Arctic animals. Pippa the polar bear has taken up residence on top of the igloo. A big thank you goes to Hugh Devine a Grandad who gave up his time to help build it. The children took part in a group activity to create their own Golden Characters to remind them of the Golden Nursery Rules. Their creations can be seen as you enter the playroom.

Brilliant Bluebells – Made Tidy Tom a Superhero who helps the children to tidy up. Fantastic Foxgloves- Made Listening Louie to help them to learn when to talk and when to listen.

Happy Heathers – Made Sharing Shelley who helps them to share and take turns. Super Snowdrops – Made Caring Cara who helps care for the toys and all her friends at nursery.

Terrific Thistles – Made Walking Willie Wonka who helps them to walk in the playroom and throughout the school. These characters can be used at home please feel free to use them.

On Monday the children were introduced to The Challenge of the Week this is a new initiative to encourage perseverance “If at first you don’t succeed try try again” The children are given a different challenge each week set by Larry the Leprachaun, if they succed they get a gold sticker and if they have tried really hard they get a green sticker. Each week the challenge will change look out for those stickers. On Tuesday the children had some delicious pancakes with a choice of spreads. Gong Hey Fat Choy! This week the children have been learning all about China and Chinese New Year. The home corner was turned into the Hup Lee restaurant and the children got busy role playing waiters, customers and chefs. They explored real noodles chopsticks and used string to create their own noodles. How imaginative! In snack they have prepared and tasted chicken noodle soup, chicken curry, sweet and sour dips and prawn crackers. In the story corner they read the story of Nian the dragon and discovered why the colours red and gold are significant in Chinese culture. They made their own menus for the restaurant using Chinese writing.

In the numeracy area they created their own Chinese numberline which can be seen displayed on the maths wall. They played Chinese counting games on the SmartBoard and watched the story of the dragon dance. The children went to the gym hall where they re-enacted the dragon dance and used the twirling ribbons to dance to Chinese music. In art they made Chinese flags, lanterns and Chinese hats which can be seen hanging in the playroom. Outdoors they went on a Chinese treasure hunt looking for pandas and red envelopes full of Chinese yen.

On Thursday Barbara from the ABC music programme visited, this is a great resource that the nursery will be using on a regular basis in the near future. Barbara provided a variety of activities for each group and commented on how attentive the children were throughout the activities.

Forest Kindergarten On Wednesday the children on the first block got a sneaky peak at the site in the Greenlink. The children have been preparing for their trips to the forest over the last few weeks and the preparation paid off. The children set off with the new nursery waterproofs and backpacks provided by the fundraising committee. They were led by Freddie the fox, Bertie the badger and the Keeper of the forest. The children followed all of the saftey rules they had learned and explored the forest with a great sense of freedom. The photographs say it all. The first official block starts on 4/3/15. Every pre-school child will have the opportunity to take part in a four week block. A short presentation about the benefits of the Forest Kindergarten approach will take place at the pre-school workshops this coming Wednesday.