This week’s Blog begins with a wee reminder of a very busy time ahead.

As we begin the Season of Advent in preparation for the great celebration of Christmas we will have a weekly Advent Mass in school at 8.15am on Tuesday mornings. Mass will be celebrated in our school library. Please encourage all children to attend, this is a wonderful way to prepare for the birth of Christ. Thanks in advance to our P7 pupils who have volunteered to read at these Masses.

Please note this is a change of day to what we normally have. This is to ensure we have the opportunity for four school Masses during the season of Advent.

Advent Mass – Tuesday mornings 8.15am in our school library. Come along and join us a a community of faith and learning.

A wee reminder of what’s on during the next few weeks in the run up to Christmas – don’t want anyone missing out on any of the fun!

 

Wednesday 2nd December Primary 1-3 Nativity @ 10.00am & 1.45pm
Friday 4th December Interim Reports issued to Parents/Carers
Tuesday 8th December Primary 4-7 Christmas Concert @ 1.45pm & 7.00pm
Thursday 10th December Christmas Dinner for Pupils
Nursery Christmas Concerts @ 10.00am & 2.00pm
Friday 11th December School Feast Day Mass in Cathedral Church @ 10.00am
Tuesday 15th December Party Day
Wednesday 16th December Choir singing in Diocesan Carol Concert
Friday 18th December Pantomime for pupils
Monday 21st December Nursery Party Day
Tuesday 22nd December Pantomime for pupils – last day of term
Please note, we will not print tickets for any of our Christmas Concerts, in an effort to be more eco friendly. Each child is allocated 2 seats per performance. We ask that all parents/families respect this seat allocation.

Now back to November.

This week in school has been filled with rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals. I’m sure very household is singing along to all of our Christmas musical extravaganzas which are coming very soon. Please continue to encourage your children to learn all words and actions and do feel free to join in.

On Tuesday evening every child in our school was invited along to our Touch of Tartan Discos, provided, free of charge, by our Fabulous Fundraisers. A huge thanks to all parents and staff who came along to assist with supervision and dance the night away. Great fun was had by all and, as always, big thanks to Mr David Cluckie, our resident DJ who always makes each of our discos great fun and very interactive.

Thanks also to all who contributed to our bi-annual Bag2school collection. On Wednesday morning our ECO Committee used their muscle power to load up the van. We are delighted with the great amount of clothing etc which was provided. Watch his space for details of how much we raised and how each of our children will benefit from this additional money.

Speaking of money…..

As detailed at the beginning of the Blog, we are approaching our Festive season during which our children have a number of special treats, including not one but two Pantomimes, Infant Nativity, Upper School Show and Class Parties. All of these activities come at a cost to our school. Due to the generosity of all of our Parent Forum we are able to greatly reduce the cost to each family. Shortly you will receive a letter requesting a donation of £5 per child to help cover the costs of each of our activities. This £5 will cover the cost of both Pantomimes, the cost of producing Infant and Upper School Shows, delicious goodies and prizes for our class parties. I am delighted we can keep this cost so low, again HUGE thanks to everyone for their continued support of all we do in school and the generosity displayed throughout the year. Our children are very fortunate to benefit from such contributions.

Last week I told of my adventures in the jungle – oops – forest with our nursery children. This week a great number of our nursery parents had opportunity to enjoy this unique learning experience. One parent kindly emailed to say how much she, and her daughter, had enjoyed this experience, I wanted to share this with you..

Hi there

I attended the Forest Graduation at the nursery on Wednesday afternoon and thought I would send a wee email to say how impressed I was with it all. I didn’t know what to expect and I was very pleasantly surprised. Mrs Murphy and Miss MacMullen have did a fantastic job with it. It was really well organised and they were prepared for any weather and any mishap! The kids (and adults) had a great time and I loved seeing the kids showing us the fun they have been having over the last few weeks.

I’ve lived in Motherwell all my life had no idea that area of woodland was there. We are hoping to continue my daughter’s  Forest trips and make it a regular family outing

Thanks again

Here’s some photos which capture the forest fun:

Meanwhile, here’s what else is on-going in our fabulous nursery….

This week in nursery we have been learning all about Scotland in the lead up to our St Andrew’s Day Hoolie which will take place on Monday. Session times as normal.

 

 

In the art area they have been extremely busy painting and making Scottish flags using collage. The children have been discussing the shapes and colours in the flag. They have also been weaving their very own tartan. A fantastic activity to improve their fine motor skills. By the end of the week the children had created Edinburgh castle and the bride of Nessie their very own take on the myth using junk. Please take a look at their great work displayed in the art area. They explored blue water in the water tray and dry and cooked porridge in the smaller trays. Exploring the smell and texture of both.

 

Over in the numeracy area they have continued to explore directional language using the Bee Bots learning new mathematical language through play. On the Smartboard they have been looking at the map of Scotland to see where they live and using Google maps to find their own houses.

 

In the snack area they have been discussing a variety of different Scottish foods and they made their own shopping list choosing what they wanted to taste at the Hoolie.

 

In literacy they have been reading Scottish stories and singing some traditional Scottish songs which they will have a chance to sing on the day. They have written some Scottish words and these can be seen on the Scottish wall in the nursery, please take a look as they may bring back memories when you were a bairn!

 

Outdoors the children have been playing a variety of positional games using the outdoor equipment. They have been going under the fort, up the steps, over the tyres, down the slide and through the dark den.

 

On Wednesday the first Forest Kindergarten graduation of this year took place down in the forest site. This was well attended by parents and grandparents who all took part in the experience. The children were very proud to show their families their very own forest and how they could take on the responsibilities that they had been learning over the last 6 weeks. All of the children have learned and gained something from their experiences in the forest. These unique sessions have given the children the opportunity to learn through play in their local woodland. The children love the freedom they are given to explore using their multiple senses in a stimulating outdoor environment. They have learned to work together as a team and share the load, being the leader, the back marker, the counter, the sign carrier and the responsibility of taking the Keeper of the Forest to the site. On arrival they showed their parents/carers the boundaries and worked together to create base camp. They have learned the importance of keeping safe while managing their own risks and challenging their own abilities and problem solving skills. Their confidence in exploring trees, using the hammock and the rope swing has grown over the weeks and they can now make their own rope swing. They have looked closely at nature, the shapes colours and smells and they have embraced nature by respecting the forest creatures, returning anything that they have found and scrutinised under the magnifying glass to where they found them. They have searched for signs of nocturnal animals and used the environment and ropes to create a nightline. Before leaving the nursery the children were asked what they wanted to show their parents and the rope swing and nightline were the most popular. When they got to the forest they set up the nightline and encouraged their parents to take part blindfolded of course. The children instructed and directed them using a range of mathematical language. Great fun was had by all! Unfortunately due to a technical hiccup the photographs of the graduation will not be available until next week.

Last Monday one of the children told how her whole family had visited the site last weekend as she wanted to show her big sister where it was. She was able to direct them to the forest unaided, she followed all the signs that she recognised on the way. Her story can be seen on the Forest Kindergarten wall in the cloakroom please have a read. Please feel free to visit the forest site again to encourage and give your child the opportunity to share their newfound knowledge and skills with you.

 

As always, thanks for reading. It’d be lovely to hear from you, please feel free to comment.

Mrs Shields