Two short weeks in school punctuated with a long weekend. Last week we were delighted to attend OLHS Senior Phase Awards Ceremony, it was great to see so many of our former pupils continue to excel in a wide range of subjects as they continue their educational journey through High School. Well done to all who achieved awards and attained excellent exam results. It was an added bonus to find two second year pupils, both former OLGA Cathedral girls, leading the whole ceremony. A special congratulations to Ellie Hutchison and Sophie Benham. Both girls spoke eloquently and with super confidence.
On this day we celebrated our Primary One Blessing with Fr. Chromy. Our P1 pupils excelled themselves with their beautiful attentiveness during the Blessing, their wonderful behaviour and superb singing. Already we can see this year group forming together and becoming firm friends. Thanks to Fr. Chromy for a lovely Blessing ceremony. Thanks also to all parents, carers and friends of P1 who came along on the day.
Thursday of last week we ended on a wonderful journey across the world. Primary 7 pupils presented the first assembly of the year, and what an outstanding assembly to begin our year. Every P7 pupil was actively engaged throughout as they sang, danced and ‘partied’ their way around the world (all at the expense of MY budget!!!!). It was an amazing display of confident young people secure in their learning and proudly sharing their knowledge to a wide and varied audience. Well done and HUGE congratulations to our P7 pupils, I’m so very proud of each and every one of you. Photographs will be on display in classes at Parent Evening on Tuesday. We must recognise the dedication and hard work of our P7 staff, teaching and support staff who worked tirelessly to ensure this was an assembly to remember. It was brilliant. I never cease to be amazed at the talents of our staff and pupils, they are exceptional.
At this assembly we also said a fond farewell to Mrs Cunningham, our senior clerical assistant. Mrs Cunningham has been part of our school community since 2005. We thank her for all her work in school and wish her a long and happy retirement.
Wednesday of this week our P7 pupils enjoyed a beautiful experience of Quiet Prayer with Fr. Brogan. All pupils benefited from time to reflect in a peaceful, prayerful atmosphere. Thanks to our P7 staff for taking time to prepare for this and to Fr. Brogan for working with our pupils and staff.
Primary 6 are busy preparing for their assembly, again, based around the wonderful learning taking place in class. P6 are studying ‘extreme weather’. Last week they were asked to prepare 3d models/constructions to present to the class. What a wonderful display of experiential learning from Primary 6. We are so proud of your work. Excellent effort from all pupils (maybe with a wee bit of help from mums and dads too). Here’s some photographs of their work. You’ll get a closer look at Parent Evening on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, our youngest pupils are busy, busy, busy……
This week as we come to the end of our mini topic ‘Nursery rules/routines’ the children have been reflecting on what they have been learning about.
In Literacy they have been scribing a range of words to go along with the photographs that depict the nursery outdoor routine where promoting independence is our focus. Have a look at the photographs or the display to see their hard work.
As we listen and talk together the children have been discussing their favourite foods while role-playing in the home corner.
In ICT they have been taking turns to draw pictures of themselves on the big screen. These have been printed out and will be in their special books for parents night.
Autumn has arrived and the children have been exploring the whole campus looking for signs of Autumn and have gathered a variety of coloured leaves which have been placed in the sand tray. They have been using the tongs to pick up the leaves, pine cones and corks. This helps to improve their fine motor skills.
The children have been discussing Autumn colours and have used them to paint Autumn pictures with brushes and leaves.
In snack the children have been discussing and drawing their favourite foods from ice cream to tattie scones!
The last tots tennis session took place on Wednesday where the focus this week was on quick reaction. The children worked with a partner while playing these fun learning games. This has been an excellent programme delivered by the Tennis development officer form NLC.
The children have improved their hand to eye coordination using the tennis balls, bouncing and catching. Some children were successful in hitting the ball with the racquet. No mean feat! A big thank you to Emma the coach who over the 4 weeks built up a good relationship with the children through a range of fun games.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read our Blog, please leave a comment or two.
Mrs Shields
