A warm welcome to our first Blog of 2018. A new year filled with lots of opportunities to grow, improve and enjoy.

This Monday we will officially launch our new App; OLGA Cathedral App

You can download the App free to you android or iphone or any other tablet/device. This will allow you ( and anyone else who has an interest in our school community), to keep in touch with all that’s happening in our school community. I encourage you to download the App and have a look. The App is recommended for adults and children alike. Our newsletter, being issued on Monday (on web page just now) will give you more detailed information.

This first week back at school began with some not so good news. On Friday 5th January we had some unwelcome visitors to our school who broke in through the dining hall window, caused vandalism to kitchen and some of our ground floor classrooms. The thieves left with a number of laptops and ipads. Anyone with any information about this is encouraged to contact Motherwell Police.

On Tuesday we were saddened to hear of the death of Canon Noel Carey, former administrator of O.L.G.A Cathedral Church and a great friend a supporter of our school. Our Monday morning assembly will focus on praying for the repose of the soul of this wonderful gentleman.

Throughout the week our children have become more and more excited about all the great opportunities ahead this term.

Each class will benefit from a P.E. specialist, Mr Mark McLaughlin. Mr McLaughlin will cover a range of P.E topics and will also take an after school club specialising in handball.

Primary Three will begin their intensive preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We have a workshop and Enrolment Service planned for Tuesday 23rd January. Workshop at 1.30pm and Enrolment Service at 2.15pm.

Our Primary Seven pupils are gearing up for Kilbowie on 12th March, always a highlight of P7. A meeting will be held this coming Tuesday at 6pm in our school hall.

Primary Five pupils are preparing to nurture and grow some lovely little fish as Clyde in The Classroom programme begins. All P5 pupils will have opportunity to spend a day at Glasgow Science Centre learning about the life cycle of fish and being instructed on how best to nurture and grow our own.

Primary Two boys and girls began auditioning for our ‘Baby Choir’ with Mrs Wilkinson on Friday, currently our ‘Baby Choir’ has P3 pupils we look forward to expanding to accommodate our P2 boys and girls.

Primary Four pupils have been singing and dancing throughout the week as they prepare for their forthcoming Assembly.

Our P5,P6 & P7 pupils have been auditioning for parts in our forthcoming bi-annual school show – Aladdin. All pupils from P5 through to P7 will have a very important role in our show, we look forward to this with great excitement. Keep your diaries clear for 28th and 29th March.

As you can see from the above we have a very busy term ahead, we look forward to sharing all of our experiences with you.

Meanwhile, our youngest pupils also have a very exciting week ahead. As you will have seen from the front page of our website next week is enrolment week for our new P1 in August of this year. All of our pre-school nursery pupils will be enrolling for their primary schools this coming week.

Also in the nursery over this last week Mrs MM Murphy has been busy documenting all their great work, here’s the latest:

A big welcome back to all our nursery children especially all our new recruits.
News just in! The show raffle and the sale of the picture frames boosted the nursery fund by £420. As always each child in the nursery will benefit from the generosity of all our parents and carers. A huge thank you for your continued support.

This week the children have been discussing all the fun they had in the snow over the holidays and from this the children have decided to learn all about Winter and animals who live in snowy places.

The children discussed what clothing they have to wear in Winter and shared their knowledge with their group friends.

Outdoors they went on an ice hunt and discovered lots of different shaped ice in the garden. They filled a bucket full of water and left it out overnight to see what would happen. The next day they discovered that it had turned to ice.

The ice experiment continued in the watertray in the art area. The children filled different shaped vessels with water, food colouring and sparkles. They placed them in the freezer overnight. Then placed them in the water tray to see how long it took for each shape to melt. Their findings have been recorded.
They also made fake snow using cornflour and shaving foam and had messy fun exploring all the different textures.

In the story corner they have been listening to a story all about snowy animals. After the story the children had the opportunity to make Polar bear faces using textured collage and paint. These will be displayed next week.

Over in the writing area the children have been recalling the fun they had during the snowy weather and have been drawing pictures to go with their stories. These are all displayed on the wall in the corner of the nursery. Please take a moment to have a look.

In numeracy they have been dressing the snowmen while discussing what keeps you warm in Winter. They have matching number to quantity by drawing the number of buttons written on the snowman’s hat.

In snack they have been measuring the ingredients to make shortbread cookies. The aroma of baking cookies filled the air. Yum Yum!

As always, thank you for taking the time to read our Blog, it would be great to hear your thoughts.

Please leave a comment, or two!

Mrs Shields