Primary Seven, this has been a fabulous week to end your primary career.

On behalf of all the staff in the school I would like to say thank you to each of you for giving us seven years of excellent learning and commitment to our school. As a year group you have been so rewarding to work with and have greatly enhanced our school. We wish you all continued success in High School and we hope each of you fulfils you hopes dreams and ambitions. We’ll miss you.

Monday Tuesday and Wednesday………The best ever sports experience.

Three days of fun, fitness and fresh air. Absolutely FANTASTIC.

Huge thanks to Mrs Marie Clare Duffy who co-ordinated, planned and organised all of the events throughout the three days. A magnificent feat of sporting brilliance.

Our children had a fabulous time working in teams, aiming for individual success and encouraging and supporting their friends and fellow pupils.

I cannot put into words how amazing these three days were for all who participated. We used every single corner of our facilities both indoor and outdoor to enjoy jumping, running, skipping, sliding, leaping, climbing, throwing, hopping and most of all smiling!

Special thanks to Mrs McLaughlan and Primary Seven who provided healthy, refreshing treats for all. I can confidently say they were delicious – I speak from first hand experience ; )

The photographs give a much more accurate picture of our three days than I could provide with words.

Moving on to our wonderful Leaver’s Mass and Graduation Ceremony.

Our grateful thanks to Mgr Millar, Deacon Tom and Fr Benedict who came along to concelebrate this beautiful, uplifting Mass.

Following our Mass we distributed our Alms Giving to our various charities. Our pupils, parents and staff have raised an incredible £9300 over this last year – what a wonderful display of generosity and kindness to others all around the world and here at home in Scotland. So many needy people, young and old, have benefited in so many ways from the generosity of our school and nursery community. Here’s  a breakdown of the various charities and some photogrpahs of our recipients recieving their cheques.

• SCIAF ~ £1500
• St Andrew’s Hospice ~ £1500
• Missio ~ £1000
• Gorsilaure ~ £1000
• Let the Children Live ~ £200
• Lepra ~ £200
• Wayside Club ~ £200
• Lanarkshire Cancer Care ~ £200
• NL 2017 ~ £200

We also sent 63 food hampers to people in need in the local area of Motherwell, raised £1600.00 for the people of Nepal and following a most successful coffee morning donated £1720.46 to MacMillan Cancer Care.

Moving on in our ceremony our Parent Forum wished to say a goodbye and thank you to Mrs mary McDonald, who has taught at our school for over 31 years and will retire this coming Thursday.

Here’s a very happy Mrs McDonald receiving her gift from Mrs Ann Munro, Chairperson of our wonderful fundraising committee.

The next step in our graduation ceremony was our presentation of our annual awards. In truth, every single P7 child deserves recognition of their work and their commitment to our school. However we have tomake some difficult decisons and select winners.

The awards are:

Pope Francis Award

Kieran Allan, Christopher Blaney, Niall Burke, Joe Chambers, Johnny Devine

Kamila Firmanty, Mark Fitzpatrick, Mia Gallacher, Hannah Gallagher,

Wiktoria Gorska, Lucy Haggarty, Ciaran Hendry, Caris Hunter, Daniel Inyang,

Alisha Kearney, Olivia Latimer, Paul Murphy, Megan Owens, Keira Rieley,

Luke Robertson, Finn Ross, Lucy Tougher-Mitchell, Nathan Walker, Keara Watson

Public Speaking Award

Joe Chambers

Academic Excellence

Mark Fitzpatrick & Sophie Galloway

 Endeavour Award

Lucy Haggarty & Finn Ross

Sportsmanship Award

Liam Knox & Joey Leach

Yeomanry Memorial Award

Lucy Tougher-Mitchell & Eilis McNally

Winning House: Carey

House Captain – Hannah Gallagher

Vice Captain – Sophie Galloway

 David Colville Award

Ciaran Hendry

Merit Awards Runner Up for David Colville Award

Joe Chambers, Ciaran Hendry, Caris Hunter & Olivia Latimer,

And finally we said a fond farewell to some fabulous parents who have been stalwart in their commitment and support throughout many years. Their youngest children now leave us to go to High School.

We also said a fond farewell to Robert Dalzell our Quality Improvement Officer as he moves to oversee some new schools in the Cumbernauld area.

And now here’s a flavour of the more informal part of our morning.

A fabulous end to a wonderful year. We wish all of our P7 pupils continued success in this next most imporant step in their educational career.

Thanks to everyone in our school community. Together we have formed an excellent community of faith and learning, enjoy a relaxing summer holiday and I look forward to a most successful 2015 – 2016 ahead.

Mrs Shields