Another fabulous week for so many reasons.

Monday evening firstly our teaching staff and then our parents were treated to a fantastic numeracy workshop providing practical ideas and suggestions to inspire and motivate young people in number work. A huge thanks to Mr Tom Renwick, whose work is renowned around Scotland, for two most interesting and useful talks. By Tuesday morning the evidence of his work was all around our school. Ask your child about “Target Ten” and “The Numeracy Map”…Be Inspired.

Also on Monday evening our Parent Council welcomed a number of new members, it is great to see so many of our parents interested in taking an active part in the life of our school community. Our Parent Council offers such wonderful support to our school and nursery and more specifically to me as head teacher, I am indebted to them for all they do. Thanks to all who came along, new and ‘nearly new’ members.

Wednesday was a very exciting day, a day to celebrate. Two of our P7 pupils along with Mrs Campbell and Mrs McCulloch set off for Wormit Primary in Fife to collect our Digital Schools Award. After a somewhat ‘adventurous’ journey our representatives arrived safely in Fife. Here’s some fab photos of all the action.

Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science presented the first primary schools in Scotland to achieve ‘Digital School’ status with their award 22/2/17 at Wormit Primary School.

“Digital skills are an integral part of our everyday lives, and as such it is absolutely essential that we give young people the opportunities to understand and use them properly. The Digital Schools Awards Programme is a fantastic example of industry supporting education in Scotland and helping ensure our young people develop the skills and opportunities to flourish.’ Shirley Ann Somerville quote.

The first 21 schools who received the award were invited to the ceremony.

OLGA Cathedral were awarded status on 30th November 2016 becoming the 4th in Scotland and first in North Lanarkshire. Mr Lee Dunne validation officer who visited our school was present at the ceremony along with Alan Armstrong from Education Scotland, Anna Marie Wheelan and Jane Grey from Hewlett Packard who sponsor the award.

Schools were highly commended for the integration of digital technology in learning and teaching.

As you can see this is a most prestigious award and we are honoured to receive it in recognition of how we use technology to enhance teaching and learning in our school community. Well done to our wonderful ambassadors on the day.

Wednesday morning and afternoon our pre-school nursery children’s parents all enjoyed a workshop detailing the programme we have outlined to prepare our youngest pupils for school in August. My thanks to Mrs MM Murphy and Mrs MC Duffy for preparing and presenting these workshops.

Our Confirmandi were treated to a wonderful learning experience on Wednesday morning when we welcomed a number of S6 pupils from Our Lady’s High who came along to discuss with our children the importance of this forthcoming sacrament and to provide re-assuring practical advice for moving onto high school. Our oldest pupils thoroughly enjoyed this unique experience. A huge thanks to the pupils from OLHS and to Mr Damien McHugh, OLHS for facilitating this for our pupils.

Friday arrived dry and sunny, what a lovely day for a coffee morning, here’s some of the photos of the action. Well done to P7 on this their last ever coffee morning, they did us proud! Coffee morning raised an incredible ￡504.00. Thanks to all who came along.

At this coffee morning we welcomed two very special guests. Quinn Tominey and Leah Jane Loose came to join us. Don’t think they’re quite ready for cake just yet!

Our congratulations to Mrs Tominey and Mrs Loose who have recently given birth to their lovely daughters, it was great to see them both looking so well and so happy.

Friday was a very busy day most especially in P4/5 where Mrs Carr and her pupils held a ‘table top’ event. This is where each of the pupils, working in small groups present their research to their own classmates and other pupils and staff around the school. I was delighted to attend, what a fabulous experience. I was most impressed by both the quality and quantity of work these young people have put into this most worthwhile topic ‘The Rainforest’. The depth and range of research was amazing and the children’s own presentation and critique of their work admirable. Well done P4/5 and Mrs Carr, great work.

It’s not every class who has their very own tiger protecting their entrance!!!

Also on Friday our school band gave their very first public appearance following their very first rehearsal! WOW, this was incredible. Well done to all of our young musicians and  Mr Cruikshank for all their work. I look forward to our Magical Musical Morning, it promises to be a great show.

Meanwhile, there’s still some very strange goings on in our nursery…There’s aliens afoot!

As promised last week it is now the turn of the afternoon children to showcase how well they have been looking after their Aliens and teaching them all about planet Earth. The Aliens have experienced a range of sports from tennis, football, rugby and swimming. They have been at the car wash, in the park and at the shops. They have been learning to play the drums and keyboard. They have even been introduced to our newborn Earthlings which made them a little homesick. But don’t worry Daniel let them look at their planet through his telescope and the home sickness subsided. Please have a look at the fantastic adventures our Aliens have been having.

The groups have been out and about visiting the local traffic lights and have taken their group Aliens with them to help them learn all about road safety. This will continue next week. Look out for the pics of these adventures coming soon.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read our Blog, all comments most welcome.

Mrs Shields