What a week!
We were proud to welcome Lord Michael Bates to our school. Lord Bates came along with SCIAF representatives to recognise the generosity of our school community over the last 26 years. The statement below can be found on North Lanarkshire’s Website. There is further publicity in local and national press, on SCIAF’s Facebook & Twitter pages.
Motherwell school celebrates 26 years of Wee Box campaign success
Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School’s backing for SCIAF’s Lent appeal praised
.jpg "SCIAF visit to Cathedral primary school 2018")
SCIAF’s WEE BOX BIG CHANGE Lent appeal this year raised a fantastic £3,198,056 for the charity’s life-changing work with people devastated by hunger, poverty, war and natural disasters in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Lord Bates of the Department for International Development (DFID) visited pupils and staff at Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School in Motherwell who have raised over £1,000 for the appeal by running Crazy Hair Days, Pyjama Parties and other fundraising activities.
Maria Shields, Head Teacher of Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School & Nursery Class, said: “We are delighted to support the work of SCIAF. Our school community is known for our generosity of spirit and thinking of others less fortunate than ourselves.
“Our Lenten charity fundraising provides a platform to demonstrate our Faith in action.
“The whole school is committed to continuing the long standing dedication to the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund and I am immensely proud of all in our school community who, through their actions and prayers, fulfil our school motto: ‘Living to Learn Learning to Live’.”
Cathedral primary has been supporting SCIAF for 26 years and raised £35,500 in total.
During the visit the Minister met SCIAF staff to learn more about the charity’s work with poor families in Cambodia – who had featured in this year’s appeal – and others around the world who received practical help so they can grow more food, earn an income, learn new skills, live in peace, and get emergency aid when disasters strike.
Fabulous recognition for all in our school community. Here’s a selection of photographs taken on the day:
This week we welcomed our youngest and newest pupils as our nursery inductions took place on Wednesday. We were delighted to welcome so many younger siblings of children in our school and some happy new faces too. We look forward to the children joining our nursery once they turn ‘ a big 3’.
Friday Football – Due to family circumstances Mr McBirnie, our football coach, is not with us at present. Please keep Mr McBirnie, his wife and family in your thoughts and prayers.
On Thursday of this week Mrs Helen O’Rourke was appointed Senior Clerical Assistant in our school. Mrs O’Rourke will replace Mrs Margaret Cunningham.
Mrs Cunningham has been a faithful member of our school team since May 2005 ( a long time). She has decided to retire from the service to enjoy a, well earned, life of leisure and pleasure. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Cunningham for all her work in our school community. Mrs Cunningham will leave us on Thursday 20th September.
Meanwhile……as well as welcoming our youngest and newest pupils here’s what else has been happening in our wonderful nursery.
Our new children continue to learn our nursery rules/routines with the help of their buddies.
The new children have been learning the group welcome songs and have been helping to complete the daily calendar each day.
Outdoors – We have been promoting independence while getting ready to go outdoors and coming back in.
In art the buddies have been reminding the new children that they have to wear aprons during water play.
In construction and other areas of the nursery we continue to promote sharing and turntaking and have been awarding stickers for both.
The puppet theatre has been put to good use as children take turns to act out stories using the puppets.
At the writing table they have been busy drawing pictures and with a little reinforcement are putting the lids back on the pens.
The children have been learning the snack routine during their visits to the snack table. They are already starting to tidy up the leftovers.
The SmartBoard has been put to good use this week as the children are listening to sharing/caring songs and stories.
To help the children understand the nursery routines they have been using the interactive game on the SmartBoard and a visual board to discuss their very own morning routines. This will continue next week with nighttime routines.
The nursery French sessions have begun led by Madame Ali. These will continue throughout the year.
Our first ‘Play on Pedals’ group has already started with the Super Snowdrops learning bike skills through practice, games and stories. This year each pre-school child will have this opportunity led by their very own keyworker as all keyworkers have now been trained in this fabulous initiative. Their cycling adventures and progress will be recorded in their group floorbook.
On Wednesday we held our 2nd successful induction and welcomed the children who will be joining us over the next few months. We look forward to meeting them all again.
As always, thanks for reading. Please leave a comment or two.
Mrs Shields
