This week has been dominated by enrolment. It was our first opportunity to welcome our newest pupils to our school. Enrolment took place each  afternoon. It was lovely to welcome many ‘well kent’ wee faces (from our nursery) and some new ones too, all can be assured of a warm, friendly welcome to school. August seems a long way away but I’m sure you’ll agree time passes very quickly.

If you know of anyone who is within our catchment area and has not yet enrolled their child for next session please encourage them to come along to school as soon as possible.

Also this week we have welcomed another ‘newbie’ to our school. Fr. Chromy came along on Tuesday to enrol our P3 pupils with their parents and carers in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Our P3 children were delighted to be the first to show off their wonderful behaviour and active participation to Fr. Chromy. He was very impressed. A huge thanks to Fr. Chromy for taking the time to come to school to enrol our pupils in this important step in their spiritual development. Thanks also to Miss Cawley who provided a most insightful and practical guide to helping your child prepare for the Sacrament, such a well attended workshop. Thanks to all who took the time to come along and support our pupils, we are encouraged and inspired by your involvement.

Tuesday evening our enrolment continued with our P6 & P7 pupils coming along to O.L.G.A Cathedral Church for their enrolment Mass. Once again, as a school, we are so grateful for the active participation of our parents and carers, our children’s learning is greatly enhanced by your dedication to all we do in our school community. We enjoyed a beautiful Mass with all of our Confirmandi pupils and staff actively participating in the Mass alongside our parents, carers and our Parish community. Fr. Chromy was left in no doubt of the commitment of all in our school community to ensuring we provide the best possible spiritual journey for our young people and their families. Once again, thanks to all who came along and a huge thanks to Fr. Chromy for his time and effort to very quickly become a member of our school community of faith and learning.

A wee reminder: Workshops planned for this coming Tuesday evening for P3, P6 & P7 will no longer take place. Fr. Chromy has opted to wait to get to know everyone first of all.

Wednesday of this week we welcomed Mr Peter Martin to our school. Peter is a much sought after speaker, well that’s one of his many roles. Peter is probably best known as a TV and radio sports presenter who has interviewed almost every famous footballer ever! He has an impressive line up of interviewees. I am incredibly grateful to Peter for taking time out of his busy filming schedule to come and motivate and inspire our Confirmandi. He gave a fabulous presentation to our pupils, speaking eloquently and with such passion for success, we were all inspired.

Big thanks to Mrs Cathy Munro who facilitated this visit, Peter is her wee brother!

Here’s Peter in action:

As a wee added extra Peter has invited our pupils to come along to his studio and watch the filming in action, what a fabulous opportunity. Our grateful thanks to Peter for his generosity of time. Watch this space for studio photos when we send 15-20 of our children along.

On Thursday and Friday of this week each of our pupils enjoyed a wonderful, insightful talk from SSPCA personnel. Our children learned of the importance of looking after our animals both at home and in the wild. A very exciting learning experience. Many thanks to SSPCA personnel who came along to deliver theses talks. A very busy 2 days going round all of our classes.

COMING SOON: Please note, this coming Friday we have a ‘High Viz Day’. Letters are being issued on Monday. On Friday we invite all pupils to come along wearing their brightest and boldest clothes. We have a planned ‘fashion’ parade on Friday afternoon. Maybe best you have your sunglasses handy for next week’s blog ‘BRIGHT, COLOURFUL, REFLECTIVE’ photos coming up!

Meanwhile, although many of them have been busy enrolling in ‘the big school’ they still have found time to enjoy a super week in nursery. Here’s all the gossip from Mrs M M Murphy.

On Monday the children arrived to discover that over the weekend an Alien Space ship had landed in the nursery. Ten little Aliens appeared speaking in a strange accent. The Aliens came with a bag, a toothbrush, a book about Space and a special letter for the children to ask if they could visit each child at home to learn all about planet Earth.

The children didn’t know their names so each group decided to name their Alien.

AM PM
Brilliant Bluebells Spud Zig Zag

Fantastic Foxgloves Spacegirl Cruz

Happy Heathers Pixie Sweetie

Super Snowdrops Starlight Mac

Terrific Thistles Rainbow Sweetpea

Each child will take their new friend home for 2 nights and can record their adventures in the little book. Already the children who have taken them home have recorded their visits and sent in some fabulous photographs as evidence. These Aliens have already learned lots about our Planet and how we live.

Back in the playroom the children have been super busy roleplaying Aliens and Spacemen with the new costumes.

In Literacy they painted the planets onto the big display, they scribed the names of the planets, sun, moon and stars. They made a literacy rocket with a range of Space words and painted their own underpants to go with ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ display. They made shape rockets and scribed their names on each square. These are also displayed so please have a look.

In Numeracy the children have been using the big SmartBoard to complete a range of planet and Space jigsaws. Some of these have been quite tricky but the children have taken on the challenge and persevered to complete them.
They used 3d shapes to build their own rockets and used the big waffles and worked together to build and blast off their creation. They used the props to sing some Space related number songs and played a total eclipse shape game.
In Science they did an experiment outside with a rocket. They did a big countdown to help it blast into Space.

In snack the children have made Alien biscuits, Minion cakes, and planet pizzas. They have been busy role-playing in Mission control counting 10 – Blast Off.

Outdoors they have changed the fort into a Space station and made the Solar System. They scribed the words for this and used the Space numberline to identify the numbers. They also made shape rockets and Aliens to hang on the tree. They used the tyres as planets and played the meteor game.
They made Alien ice cubes and when they melted they found a spaceship hidden in the bottom of it. The children described what the ice cubes felt like.

In art the children used various art materials to make their own shape Alien faces. They used the junk to complete the controls for the Space station and made rockets, Spaceships and jet packs for the Spacemen. They role-played with them throughout the playroom. They used playdough to make stars, planets and the moon.

The ‘Growing Together Learning Forever’ parental workshop got underway on Wednesday. There are still a few spaces available, if you are interested please speak to Mrs Little who is delivering the programme.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read all about our wonderful school community. We look forward to your comments.

Mrs Shields