What a busy couple of weeks we have enjoyed.

Going back to a week past on Friday when our Annual joint Football Awards ceremony took place. Here’s Mrs Duffy’s report of the event:

On Friday afternoon 90 pupils of our P5, P6 and P7 pupils from Cathedral and Firpark Primary attended a Football Award Ceremony. It really was a ceremony of two halves!

The children all scored and were presented with certificates by local footballer Grant Gillespie who currently plays with Hamilton Accies. He commented most favourably on the positive attitude of our players and excellent behaviour of all children involved.

‘Willie the football man’ our Coach awarded three trophies:

Player of the Year- John Cunningham

ACE Player of the Year- Jarek Konarski

Girl Player of the Year- Laura Findlay

We are delighted with the skill and sportsmanship of all our children who attend our Friday Football Sessions. Our wonderful pupils are consistently displaying positive attitudes, high levels of commitment and skill in weekly training sessions. They are totally ACE in their:

A – Attitude

C- Commitment

E – Effort

Whilst this was on-going in the hall Primary 5b were very busy upstairs in our new Teaching Kitchen enjoying a “Bake Off’. This was a super event inspired by the novel ‘Danny The Champion of The World’. It was a bake off between Mrs McCarthy and Mrs Miller (Maria’s Gran) – the aim of the day to discover ‘Who makes the best pancakes in the world?”. The judges, all of P5b ably led by Mary Berry (aka Maria Moss) and Paul Hollywood (aka Ryan Winton) tasted their way through a wonderful morning. A huge thanks to Mrs Miller and Mrs McCarthy for their wonderful work. Here’s the action in glorious technicolour:

Last Monday our assembly had a distinctive ‘Carnival’ atmopshere as our Health Committee, under the guidance of Mrs Loose, Miss Love aned Mrs Duffy, launched our Race To Rio. This will be the theme for our forthcoming three day event (Monday 13th, Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th). Three days devoted to health and fitness. All children will be in House Groups with representation from P1 through to P7 in every one of the 12 teams. Each Team is named after one of the participating countries. Here’s the Grand Launch:

Also on Monday our Primary 7 pupils were treated to a wonderful day Retreat in St Bride’s Hall and in The Cathedral Church. Our P7 pupils spoke so enthusiastically of this day, they enjoyed games on the grass, Morning Mass, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and the opportunity to attend Confession. A huge thanks to Mgr. Millar and Fr. Martin who organised the whole day. Big thanks also to Mrs Lindsay and Mrs Dailey who provided the ‘most delicious lunch ever’ – quote from P7s!

Here’s a wee look at the day:

We have all been enjoying the beautiful weather of late and it has been a great opportunity to make good use of our lovely awning to provide some much needed shade. This next couple of photogaphs show just how lovely our school surroundings are for our children, we are truly blessed to have such wonderful facilities. The gentlemen from Forgewood Charity who provided the awning were most impressed when they came for a photoshoot the other day. The photographs show the view from our upper school classroom windows with an early bird pupil enjoying some early morning sunshine.

On Thursday we held our annual Magical Musical Morning, and magical it most certainly was! A separate blog has been published detailing all the action.

Friday of this week we held one of the highlights of our school year – Primary One Assembly, and what a highlight it was. Primary One sang, danced, talked, rapped their way through their whole first year at school. It was truly amazing. Every child in P1 had a very important role to play in this assembly and they did so with style and panache! It was such fabulous entertainment which gave enveryone a chance to reflect on a most successful year. Once again our thanks to Mr John Quinn who came along and photographed the event for us. All 140 photographs can be found by following this link:
http://johnquinn.zenfolio.com/p22723676

Here’s a wee taster:

Also on Friday we enjoyed a wonderful Race Night in St. Bride’s Hall. Once again our Fabulous Fundraisers excelled. The total amount raised was £2780.67! MAGNIFICENT!

I know I say it often but I cannot thank our Fundraisers and all who support our school enough. We have a wonderful school and nursery where every day we aim to provide the best possible education for each and every one of our 605 pupils. This journey is greatly aided by the work and resources provided by all who help and support us in such a wide variety of ways. Thanks to you all.

 

Meanwhile, as if this is not enough! Our nursery boys and girls have been very busy. Here’s all the gossip from Mrs Margaret Mary Murphy:

HUGE congratulations to Mrs Murphy who today (Sunday) completed her 10th 10k run for charity – Go Mrs Murphy!
A beautiful sunny week in nursery with the children accessing all activities on offer outside.

Our plant pots have been filled with soil and the children have planted a range of flowers which have been carefully grown from seeds by Davy (a past Grandpa) who always supplies the nursery garden each year with a variety of blooms. A big thank you to Davy again this year for his support and advice. The children have been kept busy this week with watering and caring for the plants. The garden needed a big clean up at the end of the week due to all the activities going on.

In numeracy the children have been busy matching and sorting lots of different coloured and shape flowers and in Science they have been discussing the different parts of the flower and sequencing the growing cycle.

The story corner was popular outside on the big cushions.The children have been listening to sea creature stories in the sunshine and recalling the story of the ‘Rainbow Fish’ They have created a big fish which is surrounded by quotes and parts of the story they have recalled in their own words. This will displayed in the cloakroom next week, so look out for it.

The children have been very creative in the Expressive Arts area. They have made starfish using the playdough, used collage to make their own Rainbow Fish from the story which are now hanging from the seaweed and handprint crabs created on a beach scene which will continue next week. They used junk to make fish and sharks which they have proudly displayed near the ‘Under the Sea’ wall. The children have been in the junk modelling area making a range of models. Our junk is running low and the children are waiting patiently to make some boats that they can put into the water tray to see if they will float or sink. If anyone has any junk they want to offload please don’t hesitate to bring it in as it will be put to good use. (butter tubs make great boats).

A very large colourful puffer fish has been created using plastic cups and rainbow tissue paper. The children spent a long time making this and It now hangs pride of place in the playroom.

Snack has been flying off the plates this week. The sun has certainly wetted the children’s appetites. Salmon sandwiches were devoured. Fish and flower shaped toast disappeared in a flash and the fruit was as popular as ever. Ice poles all round to keep everyone cool in the heat.

Graduation practice continues. The words have been sent home for one of the songs that the children have chosen to sing at their graduation, please help your child learn all of the words for their BIG day. The nursery staff as always appreciate your continued support.

A wee reminder.

On Tuesday the final Forest Kindergarten graduation will take place in the forest for the full session. This gives the children the opportunity to showcase what they have learned and the new skills that they have developed during the 6 week experience. Please join the children to celebrate their successes.
Refreshments will be provided.

Wednesday is our Big Bonanza Day where the afternoon children will come to nursery for the full day and experience a variety of activities. Fingers crossed for good weather! Sunscreen should be applied before coming to nursery in the morning and will be reapplied at lunchtime if required. The children will have lunch in their groups with their keyworkers, please remember to bring a packed lunch for your child and register in the library in the school.

On Thursday the morning children will have their sports day, again hats and sunscreen are a must.

And now in glorious technicolour….

As always, thanks for reading. We look forward to hearing your views and comments.

Mrs Shields