Monday 14th November brought great excitement to our Primary Seven pupils as they headed off for a week long adventure at Kilbowie Outdoor Centre in Oban. And what a week they enjoyed. Here’s what the children (and adults) thought in words and in pictures:

Robbie Nugent: ‘My favourite activities were; skiing, climbing, gorge walking, orienteering, tree climbing and safari. I think I’ve come back a better person. My Kilbowie experience was brilliant.’

Martin Speirs: ‘Kilbowie is a wonderful experience, it made me smile.’

Sophie Benham: ‘I had great fun in all the activities. It was exhausting in all ways. The disco was a laugh, I will remember this trip forever.’

Kian Scullion: ‘The overall word for Kilbowie was exhilarating, it was s great experience.’

Mrs Murphy: ‘ Loved the experience, some activities took me out of my comfort zone. Please Mrs Shields can I go back again?’

Liam Kelly: ‘The Kilbowie experience was an opportunity to do  things you’ve never done before. I enjoyed gorge walking and hillwalking most of all. Kilbowie was very good and I would 100% go again. It has made me a lot more confident.’

Darci O’Neill: ‘Kilbowie was amazing, I really enjoyed safari. Kilbowie made me realise how fantastic outdoors is. I feel more confident that I tried the hard stuff. I loved the disco, it was amazing.’

Sophie White : ‘I enjoyed skiing but it hard.’

Roksanna Sykula: ‘ I enjoyed rock climbing but it was scary!.’

Megan McPhee: ‘ My Kilbowie experience was AMAZING! I enjoyed night line and gorge walking. I will remember this trip forever.’

Destiny Eriugo: ‘My experience in Kilbowie was amazing we had so much fun. I loved sitting in the lounge and having a laugh with all my friends.’

Matthew Munro: ‘ The views at the hillwalking were awesome.’

Reece Quinn: ‘Our instructor was very funny and the best.’

Dylan Beggs: ‘ Kilbowie was friendly and green. The food was very good.’

Miss Love: ‘ Kilbowie was THE BEST! and I fulfilled my dream of being a DJ.’

Ellie Hutchison: ‘ My Kilbowie experience was exhilarating. We did at least 2 activities a day but my favourite was probably the activity we did on the first day, sailing. The trip was exciting but exhausting. I will remember this for the rest of my life.’

Dylan McBride: ‘I was scared at hillwalking but it was spectacular.’

Samantha McVey: ‘Kilbowie was amazing, I loved everything about it. My room was ‘the bomb’ with Carlina, Abbie & Kayla. My favourite thing to do was skiing.’

Klaudia Koziol: ‘My week at Kilbowie was amazing. I really enjoyed it and I wish I could go again.’

Katie McLaughlan: ‘ It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.’

Connor Marshall: ‘My Kilbowie experience was amazing. I enjoyed gorge walking and skiing the most. I also really liked canoeing and kayaking. Kilbowie has made me feel more confident.’

Carlina McCarthy: ‘ My Kilbowie experience was really fun, it made me more confident. The safari was my favourite we got to touch dead animals. At the disco we had a great laugh and jumped up and down to great songs that DJ Love put on. I Kilbowie.’

Mrs McCoy: ‘ I had an absolute ball, thank you.’

A HUGE well done to all involved, you are amazing.

Mrs Shields

PS: Yes Mrs Campbell. You CAN go next time : )     MAYBE!

 

 

 

 

What an exciting week. Look what our school has been awarded:

The School Sport Award is a national initiative that is designed to encourage schools to continuously improve physical education and sport. The Award also encourages sporting links between schools and the communities around them.

There are currently 158 Gold Schools, 281 Silver and 92 Bronze across Scotland.

To achieve a Bronze or Silver sportscotland School Sport Award, schools self-assess their current practice. However, to gain Gold status an extensive external assessment is also carried out by an independent panel of experts.

As you can imagine we are absolutely delighted to have achieved Gold status. A HUGE well done to all involved. Special thanks to Mrs Marie Clare Duffy, Principal Teacher and sports guru & Miss Jenny Thomson our incredibly active Active Schools Co-ordinator. Their work has been invaluable to our award achievement. Biggest thanks is of course to our wonderful pupils who ensure they embrace all opportunities to participate in, lead and enjoy sports of all kinds in our school community. Well done boys and girls this is YOUR award.

This week our Primary Seven pupils have thoroughly enjoyed a week of outdoor activities and adventures at Kilbowie Outdoor Centre in Oban. Many thanks to our staff who gave so willingly of their own time to accompany the children.

Mrs McCoy, Mrs Shevlin, Mrs Stevenson, Miss Love & Mrs Murphy (from the nursery)

A separate blog will be published dedicated to Kilbowie photographs and adventures.

Whilst Primary Seven has been away our Primary Six pupils have rives to the challenge of being our school leaders this week, well done to them, this is a great rehearsal for next year.

Anti-bullying has been a big focus this week, not just in our school but at a national level. Throughout the week the Health Committee has been challenging our pupils to participate in events and learning opportunities which promotes our Zero Tolerance approach to bullying.

On Friday of this week we held a ‘wear blue; day to show your support for our anti-bullying initiative. Thanks to all for their active participation. Also on Friday big thanks to ‘Gill’ (Mrs Loose’s big sister) who came along to school and provided insightful and enjoyable anti-bullying workshops for our older pupils. This was a great way to get the zero tolerance message across.

Thanks for reading.

Mrs Shields

PS: Nursery blog coming soon……

PPS: Kilbowie blog also coming soon…….

 

An assembly with a difference this week. Monday morning our committees overtook the majority of our assembly.

First of all our Health Committee launched their annual ‘Anti-Bullying Week’ challenge to us all. The children are asked to design and produce an anti-bullying poster to be displayed around our school reminding everyone of our commitment to ensure everyone in our school feels safe and happy at school.

This coming Friday our children are asked to wear something blue as a reminder of our commitment.

Our grateful thanks to Mrs Loose, Miss Love and the Committee for all their work.

Here’s the Health Committee in action.

Following this our Enterprise Committee launched their new ‘Lucky Bag’ initiative, where children from nursery through to P7 have opportunity to purchase Lucky Bags with the proceeds going to a charity of the children’s choice. Thanks to Miss Cawley, Miss Cassidy and all the Enterprise Team.

The Lucky Bags have been on sale all week long during morning interval.

Our week ended with a wonderful P6 Coffee Morning, our second this year. Thanks once again to the fabulous coffee morning ladies and gents who give so freely of their time, we are indebted to you all. Thanks also to all who contributed in any way to our coffee morning, your support is greatly appreciated.

Thanks also to Mr Eddie McMahon, Aidan’s dad, who has prepared our outside grounds for our forthcoming Trim trail….The Excitement Mounts!

Meanwhile, our youngest pupils have enjoyed a very busy week. Here’s all the gossip:

This week the children have all been out and about on a range of public transport. They have been on the minibus, the local bus and they have been on a few train jouneys to Bellshill and Hamilton. This has been in response to the children’s interest in transport. Have a look at the fun they have had on their journeys.

Back in the nursery the children used a mindmap to recall what they had seen when they visited the market stall in the town last week. From this they have created their own market stall in the nursery. Healthy fruit and veg all round. This gives the children the opportunity to role-play various roles such as the customer and the market seller.

In Literacy they have been singing lots of Autumn songs and discussing the changes of the season. They have been listening to the story of the ‘Owl Babies’ and recalling it. They have used the puppets and the puppet theatre to re-enact the story.

In art they have been using the leaves that they have been bringing in as paint brushes and they have been doing some leaf rubbings while looking closely at the different parts of the leaves. They decorated pine cones with Autumn colours and used shire-seal to preserve their leaf prints.

In Science the children were exploring the local environment to gain an understanding in the difference in the weather and how it effects our environment. The children used their senses to describe what they could see, feel and touch. After collecting the Autumn leaves the children matched them to the correct tree. Their findings can be found in the Science area in the nursery.

Down in the forest the children have been using the tools to whittle tier branches. They listened carefully and followed the safety instructions. The children discussed Autumn and had great fun with the abundance of leaves on the forest floor.

A major breakthrough in the ‘Play on Pedals’ programme this week. Two children can now ride their bikes unaided.

On returning to the nursery the children discovered a red box hidden in the bushes. They opened it up and their was a Reindeer and a letter along with a booklet. The Reindeer’s name was Sven and he had some sad news for the children. He told them that he was very good friends with Rudolph but unfortunately Rudolph was very sick, he obviously has that bad cough that everyone seems to have just now. Rudolph is so sick that he might not be able to drive the sleigh on Christmas Eve. So he asked the children to put on a show that would make Rudolph feel better. The children all agreed that they would try their best to make Rudolph better.

It just gets better and better, well done to all in our excellent nursery.

Thanks for reading. Let us know what you think.

Mrs Shields

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Morning and our assembly was quite simply fantastic.

Our CaFi Council led us through our new Campus Initiative. The First Minister’s Reading Challenge.

Here’s the background:

The First Minister launched the Reading Challenge for Pupils in P4-7. We have differentiated the reading passports and will involve our whole school community (Nursery to Primary 7). Developed by the Scottish Government and delivered by Scottish Book Trust in association with an Advisory Group, the project aims to make reading fun for children.

The First Minister’s Reading Challenge is an inclusive and flexible project which challenges schools to do three things: create and embed a reading culture in school; work in partnership with libraries and communities to deepen engagement with reading; and celebrate pupils individual reading journeys.

Pupils will receive a personal reading passport to record books which they have read and will write a short book review on completion of each book. Please support and encourage your child to successfully record their reading journey this session.

Our children led launch was superb, here’s the photographs.

Thanks to all in our CaFi Council so ably led by Mrs Marie Clare Duffy in partnership with Mr Stephen Cotter (Principal Teacher Firpark Primary). A huge thanks to Primary 6 who performed one of their songs from their assembly on Books – Books Glorious Books –

Thanks also to Mr McBirnie (Willie the football coach), Mr Ian Bulloch (Our Big Friendly Janny), Mrs Margaret Cunningham (our ever efficient Office Manager) and Mrs Lorraine Campbell (our DHT and resident Harry Potter expert) for their fabulous input.

Tuesday morning we were delighted and honoured to share the great feast day of All Saints with the parishioners of Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Parish. Our pupils excelled themselves in their presentation, behaviour, respect for and participation in the Mass. A huge well done to our Primary Four pupils who led the liturgy with reverence and prayer. Once again, I am so very proud of all in our school, they are a credit to our school, their parents and the parish community.

We were delighted to welcome 21 S4 and S6 pupils from Our Lady’s High School who requested to fulfill their work experience with us. As expected, the young people conducted themselves in a most mature manner representing their school in magnificent manner. It was a delight to have them in school and nursery and I hope we have inspired some to take forward teaching as a career choice, a worthy profession. Thanks to the young people for all their work and effort throughout the week.

Say Cheese – Thursday was school photograph day, big smiles, shiny faces and fancy ‘hairdoos’ all round. Nursery children and their school siblings will have their photographs taken this coming Thursday.

Meanwhile our nursery continues to impress with their diverse learning experiences, here’s what’s been happening:

This has been a very active week in nursery. The children have been out and about in the local community looking for signs of Autumn and en route discovered different forms of transport and people working in the local community. They have visited the fruit and veg stall, the train station and have had fun catching, kicking and looking closely at the Autumn leaves on the ground. They discovered a silver birch tree near the Aquatec. They met the Postman, a Window Cleaner, a Taxi Driver and a Train Driver who showed the children his cab and the controls. Have a look at all the photographs of their fab experiences. The children brought lots of leaves back for the Science area.

Back in the playroom the children created an Autumn sign using Autumn colours and used the collected leaves to match the size and colours. They looked closely at the veins in the leaves and even looked at their own veins on their arms and discussed what they were for.

In literacy the children recalled their Hallowe’en stories and discussed Bonfire night. They scribed some firework words for the big display.

In art they made fabulous firework pictures using bottle mops and made sparklers with straw and glitter.

In snack they made pumpkin soup and Autumn soup they prepared the vegetables using the poptato peelers a skill that they had learned in the forest. They made a tasting graph using a happy face and a sad face to determine who liked the soup and who didn’t. On Friday they made edible sparklers. Yum Yum!

The Play and Pedals programme continues as the children get to grips with their balancing skills. Please take a moment to look at the floorbook in the cloakroom.

Down in the forest this week block 2 continues with the children learning how to make a ropeswing. They also saw Autumn close up as theu were able to catch the leaves falling off the trees. They used the fallen leaves to create hedgehog pictures. Again all these fabulous experiences are caught on camera and can be viewed in the floorbook in the cloakroom.

And now in glorious technicolour:

Another fabulous week, thanks for reading.

Let us know what you think, we’d love to hear your comments.

Mrs Shields

 

 

 

 

What a fabulous week, it’s been so productive and such great fun. Here’s Why…..

Monday Forgewood Charities confirmed our funding for our Trim trail and it is now on order. Thanks in advance to Mr Eddie McMahon (Aidan’s dad) who has agreed to prepare the ground for us ( free of charge), we are so grateful for his help and expertise.

Tuesday our netball team had their first ever coaching session with Marcus and on Friday they participated in their first ever League challenge, winning 3 out of 4 matches – how incredible is that!

Friday saw our footballers ‘do us proud’  too by also winning 3 out of 4 games in their League challenge.

However, most importantly, all in attendance spoke so highly of our children’s sportsmanship, their friendliness and their excellent manners. I’m so proud of you all boys and girls, be very proud of yourselves. Great ambassadors for our school community. Thanks to all of our support staff and parents who came along to help (and cheer).

Monday saw our Entrepreneurs go off in search of goodies to make their ‘Lucky Bags’. Watch this space for some fun early Christmas gifts coming soon.

Our Cross Country Runners started their training again this Monday, come rain, come shine they’ll be out there getting fit and having fun.

Tuesday evening we welcomed Mrs Sinclair and Mr McQuillan from OLHS who came along to give our Primary Seven parents and pupils at taste of what’s to come. Primary 7 look forward to their first day visit this coming Wednesday, we wish them well. Thanks to all who came along on Tuesday evening. Your continued involvement in your child’s education is so important to their success.

Friday was our annual Hallowe’en Parade, and what fun we had. As a school community we danced, sang and enjoyed each others company, a wonderful way to build community and friendship, great fun too!

Here’s the photographs courtesy of Mrs Harrison – thanks Kirstie.

And here’s what’s been happening in our wonderful nursery:

It has been a SPOOKY week in nursery with the children preparing for their Hallowe’en party on Friday. The children helped to decorate the playroom, they made bats, handprint ghosts and pumpkins using their knuckles. These can all be seen displayed in the nursery.

In snack they made ghost biscuits and cakes for the party and explored witch’s brew.

In numeracy they played a matching pairs Hallowe’en game and watched some spooky stories on the SmartBoard.
In literacy they read scary stories and drew pictures of the characters from the stories. They sang a range of Hallowe’en songs throughout the week.

Outside they conducted a floating and sinking experiment involving different sized pumpkins and they made a graph of their findings which is displayed on the Science wall.

Outwith all of the Ghoulish goings on we had a visit from Sarah the ABC music co-ordinator who introduced the children to some new games and resources that the staff can use in the future to enhance the children’s learning through music.

Also this week our new ‘Play on Pedals’ initiative started lead by Mrs Duffy and Mrs Imray. This is a 6 week block where the children will learn how to use a balance bike, learn the names of the different parts of a bike and how to maintain them.

The 2nd block of Forest Kindergarten started on Wednesday. This block will be lead by Mrs Little and Miss MacMullen. Please check out the photographs on the forest wall in the cloakroom and in the floorbook situated also in the cloakroom.

The party was a huge success. The children had Spooky snack, dooked for apples, played a trick or treat game, they played pass the pumpkin, pumpkin bowling and even exploded some rocket ghosts outside. Have a look at the photographs to see how much fun they had.

Next week our lending library will start back up so look out for your child’s own book bag on their peg at the end of the session.

Mrs Shields Happy Hallowe’en

 

 

REMEMBER REMEMBER: Tuesday 11th October – Parent Evening, look forward to seeing you there.

This week has been incredibly busy……..are you surprised?

Let’s begin at the end, and what an end to the week it was.

Our week ended on a very high note with our Primary Three Assembly, this was a wonderful, colourful, musical display of the learning on-going in P3. The theme was all based around Spain, and what a lot they have learned.  Absolutely superb. Huge thanks to all who contributed to this brilliant performance:

Miss Cawley, Mrs Gillies, Mrs Murphy, Mrs McCoy, Mrs Campbell, Mrs McAllister, Miss Coupar and all of our support staff but most of all HUGE thanks to our fantastic Primary Three children, they are exceptional.

Muy bien Primary Three.

Here’s a wee sneaky peek at their photographs:

Tuesday we hosted a ‘Be Bright Be Seen’ Day. This involved children from P4 to P7 all having opportunity to learn about appropriate clothing to wear on darker evenings and road safety in respect of lorries on the road.

Our grateful thanks to Mrs. Carr, Claire Brady & our ibike crew and to Eddie & Willie the lorry drivers from GIST.

Here’s a snippet of the action:

On Wednesday Primary 7 all headed off shopping to Asda as part of their ‘Chocolate’ topic, provided with a budget they had to make very sensible, informed purchasing options which will allow them to create their delicious inventions. I look forward to the tasting sessions.

The staff of Asda commented on our children’s’ excellent manners and their motivated approach to their learning. Well done Primary Seven, you set a fabulous example for all in our school community. Thanks also to staff and parent helpers for accompanying the children.

Throughout the week after school our staff has been very busy learning new skills; Monday saw 16 of our staff involved in the first of two Rainbow training sessions. This programme is designed to equip staff with the tools to help bereaved children, a most worthwhile in-service. My thanks to Mrs. Susan Murphy who acts as our rainbows co-ordinator.

Tuesday afternoon Mrs. McCulloch, with the help of some P7 volunteers, had our staff “Glowing”. GLOW is the technological wizardry within which our Authority shares good practice and allows our children to move forward in technological educational advances.

Grateful thanks to Mrs. McCulloch and her band of merry helpers:

Christopher Lyon, Joseph Moore, Martyna Fereniec, Roksana Sykula, Matthew Munro, Katie McLaughlan, Anthony Devine, Reece Quinn & Kian Scullion

This week we say a fond ‘temporary’ farewell to Mrs Tominey as she leaves to begin her maternity leave. Thanks to Mrs. Tominey for all her work in school, we’ll miss you.

We look forward to meeting Mrs Tominey’s new addition to the family and wish them all good health and every happiness.

So, if you think what you’ve read above was exciting wait till you see what our youngest pupils has been getting up to in the nursery……amazing experiences for our littlest pupils.

You’ve seen the photographs now read all about it.

This week in nursery the children are still focusing on the nursery rules. After each group creating their own well known Golden rule character they showcased their designs to all of the nursery children. We used the characters to play games in the gym hall to raise awareness and recap on the characters and the rules that they stand for. The children are learning a song to help them remember the rules and have created books to read in the story corner and smaller individual books to take home to introduce the rules to their parents who can adopt them and use them at home. Our Golden Characters are mounted on the wall and will remain there as a visual to encourage the children to follow the rules.

Outdoors they have turned the shed into Tidy Thomas and are busy creating Percy to keep Tidy Thomas company.

In addition to this the children have been looking at a range of patterns. They have been using the peg boards to follow shape/colour patterns and creating their very own patterns. They have been playing Silly Socks which helps them to name and identify a variety of patterns.

In art they used the sponges to make spotty patterns and 3d shapes to make colourful patterns.

In snack they used different fruits and followed the fruit pattern. The children continue to use real food in the house corner and role-play making the dinner and washing and drying the dishes. Life long skills.

In the forest this week the children used the tools to make sticks to toast their marshmallows on. The children gathered sticks and bricks to make a boundary for sitting round the fire. The children were so excited about making a fire and they all listened well to the safety instructions. All children enjoyed the experience of the camp fire especially the toasted marshmallows.

What a lot of fabulous learning, well done everyone.

An Extra Slice:

Before we go, a wee update on our MacMillan Coffee Morning. The staff raised an incredible £500. Once again, well done to all involved most especially Miss Cawley and The Enterprise Team.

Mrs Shields

 

Look what’s coming to our play-yard very, very soon!

Our children’s health and well being is extremely important to us and what better way to encourage fitness, agility and fun than a wonderful ‘trim trail’. The cost of the above is ￡15439.00.

Working together in Motherwell as a community dedicated to ensuring the best for our children we have managed to raise the required funding 😀

Our grateful thanks and appreciation is extended to:

Forgewood Charities who have pledged to match  up to ￡7500 pound per pound to our own funding

Our fabulous Fundraisers who donated ￡2000 and then last night at our Ladies Night raised an additional ￡1216.00. HUGE thanks to all who came along and supported this event, a great night was had by all.

Yourselves for raising an amazing ￡3000 through our Move a Mile in Motherwell sponsored event last session

To everyone who contributes to our school and nursery in any way as the remaining funding will come from our school and nursery funds.

We are incredibly indebted to everyone who has made this excellent learning opportunity possible. Can’t wait to try it out!

Health & Safety Matters:

As with all equipment in our yard and in our school community a full risk assessment will carried out prior to use. Initially we will incorporate the Trim Trail into our P.E Programme ensuring all children are taught how to use the equipment safely and fairly.

Once we are satisfied our children are fully informed on best use of equipment we will introduce it into our playtime and lunchtime activities. There will be a table in the centre of the Trim trail (not identified on the drawing) where a member of support staff will be based to provide supervision.

We love our children to have fun and adventures but our primary focus is safety.

Also on Friday our school staff participated in MacMillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. Grateful thanks to all staff in our community for donations of raffles, delicious home baking and super sweeties. Thanks also to a large number of local businesses who gave so generously to our school community.

Biggest thanks has to go to our Enterprise Committee, under the guidance of Miss Cawley for all their wonderful efforts preparing and organising Friday’s Coffee Morning. Well done to all involved.

Hope to get some photographs on the Blog very soon.

On Thursday of this week P4 & P5 were enthralled by a presentation from Mr Ted Scanlon, giving valuable insight into the life of a child growing up in Brasil. This complements the work on Brasil on-going in the classes.

Continuing with this theme P4a enjoyed a unique P.E this week, here’s what Mrs McDerment and her lovely class have been up to:

As part of our Paralympics topic during PE the children have been participating in a variety of sports using eye masks to emulate loss of sight and sitting on the floor also to gain an understanding of mobility issues faced by wheelchair users. Here’s some photographs taken by the children, of the children.

Well done Primary 4a Mrs McDerment and Miss McLean.

Meanwhile, there’s a very tasty topic on-going in Primary 7. Mrs McCulloch and Primary 7b are busy conducting market research on a subject dear to our hearts – CHOCOLATE.

P7b created an on-line survey for all and invited children across the school to come to their class and compelte.

Here are some pictures from their afternoon and the link  to the survey.

The children completed the survey online and then investigated Glow with their P7 partner.

They seemed to really enjoy it.

Every week I am overwhelmed by the huge range of learning activities our children have opportunity to experience. What a motivating and inspiring way to learn.

Well done to all children who participated, to Primary 7b and Mrs McCulloch.

Coupled with all of the above, our excellent nursery continues to develop our youngest children, providing a huge variety of active, fun learning experiences for those not yet old enough for school. Here’s all the gossip from Mrs Margaret Mary Murphy:
Last week the children were busy in the junk modelling area making a range of flats and houses. These are displayed as you enter the playroom. The children planned what they wanted to build and what junk they would need to source to create their buildings. They used visuals to help them build their models.

The children have been recording their daily routines in the numeracy area and have created a body collage of different body parts for the ‘I am Unique’ display. Please check it out and see if you recognise your own children from it. The children have been taking part in activities where they have to name different body parts and loved creating the unique body.

Before the long weekend the children chose the characters to help them remember the nursery Golden Rules.

The Bluebells opted for Tidy Thomas the Tank Engine.

Thistles – Lady from Lady and the Tramp.

Heathers – Sharing Shimmer from Shimmer and Shine

Snowdrops – Walking Woody from Toy Story

Foxgloves – Caring Cinderella.

This week the children have been busy creating and decorating their specific character. Next week each group will showcase their hard work to the whole nursery. Look out for the finished product next week. To remind them of the Golden rules the children have been learning a song that is about each Golden Character.
In the house corner the children have been setting the table and using their senses while preparing the fruit and veg. They have been matching the placemats to the coloured cutlery and have ben washing and drying the dishes.

Last week in the forest the children had the opportunity to use tools to make musical instruments from wood. This activity was very popular and required a lot of listening to instructions and concentration while using the tools. This week the children discovered sparkly glitter at the forest entrance and went on to discover 5 small numbered doors. After much excitement the children decided that the doors belonged to fairies and went on a fairy hunt working with a partner to match the fairy stickers. Great fun was had by all.

How fabulous does that sound? Wish I’d been there!

Mrs Shields

 

 

 

 

Our week in school has been dominated by three very exciting events.

Firstly on Monday of this week we took delivery of our new toys and games for our yard. Our Fabulous Fundraisers have purchased £1222.48 worth of games for our yard – we are indebted to them.

Our Pupils of the Week (two weeks ago), following consultation with their classes chose the toys they would like to have in their yard. On Wednesday of this week our current Pupils of the Week demonstrated to the whole school community how to play fairly and safely with all of the toys and games.

Finally on Friday once all was set up and ready for action our games came into play.

Huge thanks to Mr Bulloch and Mrs Duffy our wonderful Janitors who blew up the space hoppers, put together the pedal power walkers, tied all the stilt strings, placed all the toys in their new storage and got new padlocks for our outside sheds. (I think Mr Bulloch and Mrs Duffy had a wee go at playing with all the toys whilst they were doing this – and why not)

What fun was had by all……

Once again enormous thanks to our Fabulous Fundraisers and all who support our school events. Without your generosity and support we could not provide such great resources for our children. It is wonderful to see games and toys chosen by our children for our children being enjoyed by all. Well done boys and girls.

Would you like to support our fabulous Fundraisers? Now is your chance:

Ladies Night Friday 30th September in St. Bride’s Hall. 7.30pm till late. Come along and dance the night away, a great way to spend a Friday Evening. Why not bring some friends too?

Tickets available from Fundraisers or from school office priced at £5. A light buffet is included in the price.

Also, join up to our 200 Club. The cost is £10 per year with prize draws taking place at each of our stage assemblies throughout the year. You have 6 chances left to win. Prizes were £60, £25 and £15. Forms available from school office.

On Thursday of this week Primary 5a and Primary 4/5 all enjoyed a very exciting visit to The Emirates Arena to see The Davis Cup and watch some professional tennis players prepare. Proudly wearing their Davis Cup T Shirts and accompanied by 9 parent helpers (we are so grateful to you all) the children all enjoyed a wonderful sporting day. Both Mrs Irwin and Mrs Carr, class teachers, commented on what a great day our children experienced and both were immensely proud of our children’s exemplary behaviour. Well done to all involved. Huge thanks also to Jenny Thompson (AKA Jenny Duracell) our fabulous Active Sports Co-ordinator and to Mrs Marie Clare Duffy who organised this event and entered our school to be part of this unique experience.

Also on Friday we had our first Coffee Morning of the year. Primary 5 played host to this most enjoyable event. Grateful thanks to all who came along, to all who baked and provided delicious cakes etc and to all who contributed to our raffle either by donating prizes or purchasing tickets – or both!

We raised and incredible £683.48. As always we are indebted to our coffee morning ladies and gentlemen who organise all the resources the tables and the children! What a fabulous amount of money raised – brilliant.

Here’s all the action:

And now for our wonderful nursery, as always, our youngest pupils have enjoyed a fabulous week learning, exploring and enjoying. Here’s all the gossip from Mrs MM Murphy our Lead Early Years Practitioner.

This week in nursery the children continue to discuss their families and home lives. In the house corner they have been using a house template to draw all of the people/pets who live in their house. These will be displayed next week in the house corner.

In construction they have been using their imaginations to create people/robots/animals using a range of construction and in Science they have been putting the skeleton jigsaw together while discussing the different names of the parts of the body.

In art they have been looking at their facial features and creating them using playdough.

Outdoors they have been chalking around each other and comparing sizes. They also drew round some of the staff.

In music they have been participating in a range of songs about body parts and how to use them through the ABC music programme.

The children visited the gym hall for the first time this year and took part in energetic games and exercises, helping them to get fit and use different parts of their bodies.

Down in the forest the children discovered lots of slugs and decided to have a slug race. They named them Usain, Rocky, Chase and Marshall. Towards the end of the race a wriggly worm AKA Joey entered the race and pipped everyone at the post. The children were very excited.
They also used the rope to make a rope swing this week and discovered a great branch for swinging on.

That’s all folks!

Another exciting week.

Let us know your thoughts, please. We’ve not had any comments for weeks: (

Mrs Shields

 

This week our nursery dominate our Blog, here’s Mrs MM Murphy’s review of a fabulous week:

In nursery this we we continue with our ‘All About Me’ topic. The children have been using the interactive wall in the maths area to put the appropriate body parts/clothing on the person. This has proved a huge fun activity that the children have excelled at boosting their confidence in participating on an individual basis.

After the self portraits last week it was the turn of the staffs.The children have been describing their own individual keyworkers and have painted some fine portraits of them all. The rogues gallery will be available for all to see next week.

Outdoors the focus this week was on promoting independence. The children have been putting on their jackets, wellies and shoes all by themselves. Have a look at the photographs of how confident they have become dressing themselves. At the end of the week they harvested the broad beans that they planted last term. They touched, smelled, tasted and measured them. They all took one home for tea.

In snack the children chose their favourite fruit to make their own kebabs. They then threaded the fruit onto the cocktail stick developing their fine motor skills.

In Literacy the children continue to listen to stories about families and home. They have drawn pictures of their own houses which will be displayed in the nursery next week.

The 1st Forest Kindergarten block started on Wednesday and will continue for 6 weeks. The children are learning to work together as a team in the forest and new friendships are already forming. Please have a look at the floorbook in the cloakroom and the forest display to see all the adventures they are having.

 

Meanwhile in school we’ve all enjoyed a very busy week.

Monday we welcomed three MEduc 2 student teachers to our school, all three girls are enjoying an exciting learning experience. I am indebted to our staff who always welcome student teachers with open arms, I cannot think of a better school in which to learn your craft. Our staff are experts in their field and thoroughly enjoy working with new teachers in training, we love to learn from our newest recruits.

Tuesday we welcomed a large number of parents/carers to our school for Meet The Teacher Evening, I am delighted with the number of parents/carers who came along to demonstrate their commitment to working with our staff to ensure the best educational experience for all of our children. Thanks to all teaching staff for overtaking Homework Workshops in their individual classes, a personal touch which was warmly received by parents/carers.

Wednesday we issued our ‘rough guide to homework’. This leaflet is the result of consultation between all staff looking at the progression of homework skills, the variety of homework activities and the relevance of such activities. I trust you find this booklet interesting and a useful tool. As always, with every aspect of school life, we welcome and encourage you to provide us with feedback. We are in the business of continuous improvement, to do this we need to know your thoughts and opinions. Please let me know your thoughts on Meet The teacher Evening and the rough guide to homework.

Thursday and Friday I was out of school attending CHAPS, an annual conference for Catholic primary Headteachers. Consequently I missed our Primary Six assembly : (

I’m so sorry Primary Six, I do not like missing such events in our school. However, Mrs Campbell arranged for the assembly to be recorded – I look forward to seeing all the action on Monday.

Further details and photographs of Primary Six Assembly to follow.

REMINDER:

Monday – Parent Council Meeting Monday Evening 7pm in staffroom

Tuesday – Primary 7 Kilbowie Meeting at Tuesday Evening 6pm in dining hall

Wednesday – Mass of Thanksgiving for Mr Michael McGrath, former director of Scottish Catholic Education Service, at 7.00pm in Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Church. All Welcome.

 

As always, thanks for reading and please leave a comment.

Mrs Shields

REMINDER: Meet The Teacher Evening Tuesday 6th September, 6.00pm.

Homework workshops begin in classes at 6.15pm.

We look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday.

And now for the Blog.

This week I thought you’d like a wee look at some of our Good Work which was presented to our school community at Monday morning assembly. You can see the work ranging from Primary One through to Primary Seven:

And here are the nominees for Pupil of the Week:

What a great start to the session for our successful nominees, well done.

This week we have also enjoyed a beautiful Mass led by our Primary Seven pupils. Well done to all involved, most particularly our readers & offertory procession:

Christopher Lyon & Katie McLaughlan

Stephen Lochrie & Darci O’Neill

Luke Gillespie, Alexander McKay, Mollie Jeffrey & Samantha McVey

Not forgetting our faithful servers:

Matthew Munro, Emma Maughan & Abbie Maughan

A special mention to all of our school pupils who, as always, were exemplary in their participation and their manners. A wonderful example to set for our newest Primary One pupils.

It was lovely to welcome the parishioners of our church, thank you for coming to join us.

Meanwhile down in the nursery…..

This week in nursery we have been concentrating on friendship, sharing, turntaking and listening. We have been learning lots of information that the children have provided about themselves. Please take a look on our ‘This is Me’ wall display as you enter the nursery to discover the fabulous facts the children have been sharing with the staff and their new friends. You will also find an array of self portraits throughout the playroom which the children have created with the use of a mirror.

Each group has worked out the tallest to the smallest in the group and have made coloured graphs of their findings which are displayed in the numeracy area.

The snack area has been busy as the children have been discussing their favourite foods and drawing them on paper plates. These have been turned into a giant plate on the big dinner table in the home corner.

The children have been listening to stories about caring and friendship. This will continue next week.

Out in the garden the weather was on our side and the children discovered a full family of slugs living there, they got up close and personal to them, watching them leave a trail of slime behind. They then drew pictures of the slugs, look out for these next week in the Science area.

The obstacle course has proved an excellent way to help new friends and wait in turn to have a go.
The first Forest Kindergarten block will start on 7/9/16. The children have been preparing all week for their trip to the forest.

And now in glorious technicolour.

Another fabulous week.

Thanks for reading.

Mrs Shields