This has been a great week in school, we have benefitted from 19 S4 students from Our Lady’s High School for work experience. 14 of the pupils were placed in classes with 5 being gamefully employed in the nursery. All 19 of the students were excellent role models for our pupils, they behaved impeccably and worked really hard throughout the week engaging fully with their classes and groups. It was lovely to welcome back 17 of our former pupils who have continued on their educational journey with a positive attitude to learning and a super work ethos. Having an excellent start to their education has obviously been a tremendous influence!!!

Tuesday of this week our P7 pupils all enjoyed their first taste of Our Lady’s High School, this was a most successful venture with all of our pupils returning to school looking forward to the challenge ahead in high school. Meanwhile our 4 Taylor High future students continue to enjoy their weekly visits to high school.

Wednesday evening our fabulous Fundraisers held their second meeting of the year, we continue to say a huge thanks to all who assist in our school. Our parental partnership is sector leading and has a huge impact on our children’s learning.

SAVE THE DATE: Next Fundraisers venture: Tuesday 19th November BINGO evening, come along and join in the fun. Tickets cost £1 and refreshments are included. We are looking for donations of raffle prizes – If you can help please hand in donations to the school office. You can do this as you come to buy your bingo tickets!!

BAG 2 SCHOOL….Coming Soon. Wednesday 27th November is our bi-annual Bag 2 School collection. Time to clear out all the old clothing, bags, shoes, textiles, bedding etc etc. Bags can be delivered throughout the week beginning 25th November and/or throughout school disco scheduled for Tuesday 26th November. Another FREE event organised by our Fabulous Fundraisers.

Bag 2 School bags will be issued on Monday 11th November (apologies to Fundraisers I promised to do this Last Wednesday and forgot : (     The problem with having an aging HT.

The last two days of the week saw P7 pupils all enjoy a workshop on WWII at Motherwell Heritage Centre. This was an excellent culmination of a most popular and successful learning experience. Thanks to parent helpers who volunteered to accompany our children and staff on the journey.

This Monday we look forward to welcoming back Mrs Campbell, Mrs Murphy and Mrs Blaney.

Now….What’s happening down in the nursery…….here’s Mrs Murphy’s story this week:
We were joined this week by 5 girls from Our lady’s High school for their work experience programme. They were a valuable asset to the busy week we had and the children will no doubt miss them as will the staff for their ICT skills.

This week in nursery we celebrated Guy Fawkes night with a BANG!

•    The children made a GUY from old clothes which they stuffed with newspaper and made his face out of a balloon. They put him in a wheelbarrow, made a “penny for the guy” sign and went out and about in the local community. They had a fantastic experience and loved every minute of it. Outside this week the children have been exploring our new fort and our new boat.
•    In the Maths area the children are learning all about 2D shapes. They made firework pictures using squares, circles, rectangles and triangles. Some of these pictures can be seen on the maths wall.
•    In the science area an experiment was carried out using small blue crystals, the children slowly added water to the crystals and immediately they started to expand. The children left them overnight and when they checked them the next day they had grown even more. They explored them by smelling, touching squeezing and bouncing them. The children spent a long time at this activity and some of the language they used to describe their findings will be placed on the science wall this week. Hours of endless fun a must for every child’s stocking this Christmas!
•    The sensory area has had a makeover and the children are having fun exploring all things new.
•    The Farmer’s Shop has also had a complete makeover as it has been turned into a cafe and is now using all the produce from the farmers shop in its meals. The children made cakes along with some of the girls from the high school to sell in the shop. Look out for the menu coming soon.
•    Over in the art area the children made sparklers and firework pictures using the sponge stampers.
•    In the writing area the children were busy using all things related to ICT. They drew pictures on the smart board of fireworks and printed them off. They used the camera to take pictures of what their friends were drawing.
•    The Mini Movers programme continued with the children learning all about healthy heart and lungs.

As always any comments, thoughts, ideas on any aspect of our school please let me know, feel free to leave a comment on my weekly blog. Thanks for reading.

Mrs Shields