The second part of our week has been devoted to our youngest pupils. Our nursery children. They really impressed, enthralled and melted the hearts of each and every person who came along to see their fabulous show.

A snowman at sunset was truly beautiful and extremely entertaining. The children (50 in the morning and a further 50 in the afternoon) gave magnificent performances. A huge thanks to our wonderful nursery pupils, their very proud (and rightly so) parents & carers, our Primary 6 buddies and our dedicated, talented staff. A great time was had by all.

A wee snapshot of the fun – watch out for flying snowballs!]

Thanks also to all those parents/carers who volunteered to speak to Inspector Kara Doonan from Care Commission who will inspect our excellent nursery this coming week. Your continued support, encouragement and active participation in all we do in our nursery is greatly appreciated.

Here’s Mrs MM Murphy’s resume of the whole week…
What a fantastic week in nursery. The children performed outstandingly on Thursday in front of a huge audience.

In the lead up to the show ‘The Snowman at Sunset’ the children have been able to identify the characters and the events that take place in the story. They have being roleplaying the different characters and have expanded their vocabulary through the show songs.

In numeracy the children have responded to a range of mathematical language that they have been using throughout the show. Positional and directional language such as up, down, over, through, next, behind, beside and in front of.

In drama all the children have experienced the excitement of participating and performing in front of an audience. Their confidence has increased and they had so much fun performing for their families. A few budding actors have been spotted!!!

It was fantastic to see how confidently the children celebrated all of their achievements with their friends and families.

What a FAB week!

As always, thanks for reading.

Mrs Shields

 

A little different approach this week.

The first part of our week has been dominated by our wonderful Upper School Carol concert entitled ‘Bells Ring Out’. And ring out they most certainly did!

Both afternoon and evening performances were a colourful delight of vibrant song and verse. The children had great fun re-telling the great story of Christmas in this entertaining, memorable manner. A huge thanks to all Primary 4, 5, 6 & 7 pupils who performed magnificently. Thanks also to every member of our school staff who work so tirelessly to ensure every child in our school has such a wealth of opportunity to develop and display their many talents and skills. We have a fabulous team of staff in our school and nursery – we are truly blessed.

Grateful thanks to all of our children, parents and staff who demonstrated their wonderful commitment to our school community by encouraging and supporting our children to come out in the evening to perform at night (the night time performances always have a unique, magical quality). I appreciate our chlldren and their families lead very busy lives (as do our staff) but to have almost every child in our upper school, their families and nearly every staff member come along in the evening is testimony to the excellence within our school. I am indebted to you all.

Thanks, once again, to Mr John Quinn who so kindly volunteered to photograph this wonderful event…

Please tell us your views, we’d LOVE to hear from you……go on….go on…..

COMING SOON……Snowman at Sunset…….The magnificent nursery pupils and staff in their magnificent performances….Photographs this weekend.

Wee reminder Nursery Show….Thursday 10th December 10.00am and 2.00pm….Come along, you’ll be enchanted.

Mrs Shields

I begin this week’s Blog with a sad note. Mrs Laird is not currently with us at school as her mum sadly died last Saturday. As a community of faith and love we extend our deepest sympathy to Mrs Laird and all the family. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

 

This week in school has been dominated by our 203 wonderful infant children. All of our Primary One, Two and Three children performed magnificently on Tuesday (for all of the upper school) and Wednesday for their families. They were outstanding. A fabulous hour long show where we listened to the Word of God in a colourful, tuneful, entertaining manner.

A HUGE thanks to all involved, our incredible support staff who can take a simple piece of cardboard and create a magnificent costume. Our teaching staff who have been actively leading and participating in all rehearsals, supporting and encouraging the talents and skills of our youngest school pupils and a special mention for Mrs McCoy who, once again, wowed us all with her brilliance. Biggest thanks has to go to all 203 children who participated so fully and were incredible. I am so very proud of each and every one of them – I’m sure their families are even more proud.

Enough said, thanks to Mrs Kirstie Harrison, classroom assistant, and Mr John Quinn, Grace and Amanda’s dad, we can show you in beautiful colour….

Meanwhile…..Down in the Nursery….It’s all happening. here’s Mrs MM Murphy’s weekly update:

What a busy week at nursery this week! It all started on Monday with a Scottish Hoolie to celebrate St Andrew’s Day.

The children had the opportunity to taste haggis, neeps and tatties, shortbread and good old Scottish water in the snack area.

Outdoors all children got the chance to take part in a group Welly Wanging activity where they had to throw the welly forwards then backwards.

In the story corner he children listened to the story Katie’s Moose which contained words such as guy sair, hod yer whist along with a range of other Scottish words.

In the art area they painted tartan following the directions up, down and across.

As we recovered from our party the children began to decorate the playroom for Christmas and turned the house corner into an Elves workshop.

Over in the numeracy area they used the snowflake numberline to sequence what number came before and after.

In the writing area the children have been busy writing their letters to Santa. If you need any hints please have a look at their requests on the big display in the nursery.

Outdoors they have been painting and decorating Robins to hang on the tree in the garden. They listened to the instructions and placed the wings, beak and mouth in the correct position.

The practice for our forthcoming nursery show continues and the children are looking forward to showcasing this next week. Please ensure that all clothing requests are in by Monday.

The show will take place on Thursday 10/12/15 at 10am and 2pm. Please note that there is no restriction on the number of adults when it comes to the nursery show. All are welcome.

 

 

This week’s Blog begins with a wee reminder of a very busy time ahead.

As we begin the Season of Advent in preparation for the great celebration of Christmas we will have a weekly Advent Mass in school at 8.15am on Tuesday mornings. Mass will be celebrated in our school library. Please encourage all children to attend, this is a wonderful way to prepare for the birth of Christ. Thanks in advance to our P7 pupils who have volunteered to read at these Masses.

Please note this is a change of day to what we normally have. This is to ensure we have the opportunity for four school Masses during the season of Advent.

Advent Mass – Tuesday mornings 8.15am in our school library. Come along and join us a a community of faith and learning.

A wee reminder of what’s on during the next few weeks in the run up to Christmas – don’t want anyone missing out on any of the fun!

 

Wednesday 2nd December Primary 1-3 Nativity @ 10.00am & 1.45pm
Friday 4th December Interim Reports issued to Parents/Carers
Tuesday 8th December Primary 4-7 Christmas Concert @ 1.45pm & 7.00pm
Thursday 10th December Christmas Dinner for Pupils
Nursery Christmas Concerts @ 10.00am & 2.00pm
Friday 11th December School Feast Day Mass in Cathedral Church @ 10.00am
Tuesday 15th December Party Day
Wednesday 16th December Choir singing in Diocesan Carol Concert
Friday 18th December Pantomime for pupils
Monday 21st December Nursery Party Day
Tuesday 22nd December Pantomime for pupils – last day of term
Please note, we will not print tickets for any of our Christmas Concerts, in an effort to be more eco friendly. Each child is allocated 2 seats per performance. We ask that all parents/families respect this seat allocation.

Now back to November.

This week in school has been filled with rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals. I’m sure very household is singing along to all of our Christmas musical extravaganzas which are coming very soon. Please continue to encourage your children to learn all words and actions and do feel free to join in.

On Tuesday evening every child in our school was invited along to our Touch of Tartan Discos, provided, free of charge, by our Fabulous Fundraisers. A huge thanks to all parents and staff who came along to assist with supervision and dance the night away. Great fun was had by all and, as always, big thanks to Mr David Cluckie, our resident DJ who always makes each of our discos great fun and very interactive.

Thanks also to all who contributed to our bi-annual Bag2school collection. On Wednesday morning our ECO Committee used their muscle power to load up the van. We are delighted with the great amount of clothing etc which was provided. Watch his space for details of how much we raised and how each of our children will benefit from this additional money.

Speaking of money…..

As detailed at the beginning of the Blog, we are approaching our Festive season during which our children have a number of special treats, including not one but two Pantomimes, Infant Nativity, Upper School Show and Class Parties. All of these activities come at a cost to our school. Due to the generosity of all of our Parent Forum we are able to greatly reduce the cost to each family. Shortly you will receive a letter requesting a donation of £5 per child to help cover the costs of each of our activities. This £5 will cover the cost of both Pantomimes, the cost of producing Infant and Upper School Shows, delicious goodies and prizes for our class parties. I am delighted we can keep this cost so low, again HUGE thanks to everyone for their continued support of all we do in school and the generosity displayed throughout the year. Our children are very fortunate to benefit from such contributions.

Last week I told of my adventures in the jungle – oops – forest with our nursery children. This week a great number of our nursery parents had opportunity to enjoy this unique learning experience. One parent kindly emailed to say how much she, and her daughter, had enjoyed this experience, I wanted to share this with you..

Hi there

I attended the Forest Graduation at the nursery on Wednesday afternoon and thought I would send a wee email to say how impressed I was with it all. I didn’t know what to expect and I was very pleasantly surprised. Mrs Murphy and Miss MacMullen have did a fantastic job with it. It was really well organised and they were prepared for any weather and any mishap! The kids (and adults) had a great time and I loved seeing the kids showing us the fun they have been having over the last few weeks.

I’ve lived in Motherwell all my life had no idea that area of woodland was there. We are hoping to continue my daughter’s  Forest trips and make it a regular family outing

Thanks again

Here’s some photos which capture the forest fun:

Meanwhile, here’s what else is on-going in our fabulous nursery….

This week in nursery we have been learning all about Scotland in the lead up to our St Andrew’s Day Hoolie which will take place on Monday. Session times as normal.

 

 

In the art area they have been extremely busy painting and making Scottish flags using collage. The children have been discussing the shapes and colours in the flag. They have also been weaving their very own tartan. A fantastic activity to improve their fine motor skills. By the end of the week the children had created Edinburgh castle and the bride of Nessie their very own take on the myth using junk. Please take a look at their great work displayed in the art area. They explored blue water in the water tray and dry and cooked porridge in the smaller trays. Exploring the smell and texture of both.

 

Over in the numeracy area they have continued to explore directional language using the Bee Bots learning new mathematical language through play. On the Smartboard they have been looking at the map of Scotland to see where they live and using Google maps to find their own houses.

 

In the snack area they have been discussing a variety of different Scottish foods and they made their own shopping list choosing what they wanted to taste at the Hoolie.

 

In literacy they have been reading Scottish stories and singing some traditional Scottish songs which they will have a chance to sing on the day. They have written some Scottish words and these can be seen on the Scottish wall in the nursery, please take a look as they may bring back memories when you were a bairn!

 

Outdoors the children have been playing a variety of positional games using the outdoor equipment. They have been going under the fort, up the steps, over the tyres, down the slide and through the dark den.

 

On Wednesday the first Forest Kindergarten graduation of this year took place down in the forest site. This was well attended by parents and grandparents who all took part in the experience. The children were very proud to show their families their very own forest and how they could take on the responsibilities that they had been learning over the last 6 weeks. All of the children have learned and gained something from their experiences in the forest. These unique sessions have given the children the opportunity to learn through play in their local woodland. The children love the freedom they are given to explore using their multiple senses in a stimulating outdoor environment. They have learned to work together as a team and share the load, being the leader, the back marker, the counter, the sign carrier and the responsibility of taking the Keeper of the Forest to the site. On arrival they showed their parents/carers the boundaries and worked together to create base camp. They have learned the importance of keeping safe while managing their own risks and challenging their own abilities and problem solving skills. Their confidence in exploring trees, using the hammock and the rope swing has grown over the weeks and they can now make their own rope swing. They have looked closely at nature, the shapes colours and smells and they have embraced nature by respecting the forest creatures, returning anything that they have found and scrutinised under the magnifying glass to where they found them. They have searched for signs of nocturnal animals and used the environment and ropes to create a nightline. Before leaving the nursery the children were asked what they wanted to show their parents and the rope swing and nightline were the most popular. When they got to the forest they set up the nightline and encouraged their parents to take part blindfolded of course. The children instructed and directed them using a range of mathematical language. Great fun was had by all! Unfortunately due to a technical hiccup the photographs of the graduation will not be available until next week.

Last Monday one of the children told how her whole family had visited the site last weekend as she wanted to show her big sister where it was. She was able to direct them to the forest unaided, she followed all the signs that she recognised on the way. Her story can be seen on the Forest Kindergarten wall in the cloakroom please have a read. Please feel free to visit the forest site again to encourage and give your child the opportunity to share their newfound knowledge and skills with you.

 

As always, thanks for reading. It’d be lovely to hear from you, please feel free to comment.

Mrs Shields

 

A most eventful four days in school and nursery.

I have to begin by telling you of my new adventure this week. On Wednesday I had the privilege of accompanying our AM nursery children on their weekly trip to Forest Kindergarten. This was a fabulous experience. I am so incredibly in awe of the organization and commitment of our early years staff.

Mrs MM Murphy (the Forest Guru), Miss MacMullen (her trusty colleague) 10 young nursery pupils and myself all left the lovely warm, cozy nursery to face and embrace the great outdoors. All children and adults were equipped with waterproof outerwear, footwear and rucksacks with all of our resources. This has to be one of the most rewarding learning experiences I have ever witnessed. The children absolutely love their big adventures and what a fabulous way to learn.

The learning focus for last Wednesday was positional language. Using trees, rope and a blindfold the children created a route and then guided each other around it – absolutely brilliant, the language of mathematics resounded around the forest – Forward, Turn, Up, Down, Through, Under, Over…..’Duck!!!” Following lots of tree climbing, bug finding and spider watching – all enhanced with our torches and magnifying glasses –  we all enjoyed hot chocolate back at our ‘base camp’.

We had a super forest visit and I can’t wait to return (maybe when it’s not quite so wet).

Huge thanks to Mrs Murphy and the nursery staff who have overtaken every aspect of health and safety and created a truly unique outdoor learning environment right in the heart of Motherwell.

Coming soon….video footage of Forest Kindergarten

WATCH THIS SPACE

 

 

 

Monday of this week was an In-Service Day. Our school hosted an authority wide presentation on Raisin Attainment in North Lanarkshire. All staff from school and nursery attended the training and benefitted from learning about ‘Growth Mindset’. Watch out for an opportunity for you, as parents, to come along to school and learn all about Growth Mindset. (September 2016).

Tuesday evening we hosted another very well attended and successful parent and child sacramental meeting/workshop for our P4 children who are preparing for the Sacrament of First Holy Communion this coming year. Thanks again to Mgr. Millar and Fr. Martin for their invaluable input and dedication to our children’s spiritual journey.

Wednesday of this week P7 pupils enjoyed the benefits of a workshop on substance misuse. Many thanks to Miss green who organized this session, a very valuable lesson for our most senior pupils.

Friday morning was our Primary 4 coffee Morning, always a very exciting morning for our Primary 4 pupils as this is the first time they host such an event in school. Big thanks to everyone who came along and a HUGE thanks to our ever faithful coffee morning ladies without whom we could not host such events. I am indebted to them. We raised an amazing £448.58

If you’d like to come along and help at our next coffee morning it is scheduled for Friday 4^th March 2016 – plenty of advance notice!

Coupled with all of the above we continue to offer a wide range of lunchtime and after school clubs which I am delighted to say are always really well attended and enjoyed by all of our children.

Our school and nursery are such vibrant learning hubs, it is fabulous.

 

Here’s the rest of the gossip from the nursery…….

 

 

A short week in nursery but a very busy one. Our Christmas show practice continues.

The show preparation covers the four capacities of the Curriculum for Excellence.

Participating in the show improves confidence and helps our early learners to become (Confident Individuals)

The learning that takes part e.g positional and directional language, round the show helps them to become (Succcessful Learners)

Their contribution to the show from their singing, dancing and overall participation helps them become (Effective Contributors)

The responsibility they have while making their own props and learning the words of the songs helps them to become (Responsible Individuals).

The importance of road safety continues throughout the nursery and the children have continued to role-play the lollipop person and pedestrian over in the construction area.

In Expressive arts the children created the STOP sign and painted the traffic light colours in the correct order. They continued to sequence this using playdough.

Outside the children discussed how to create a dark den, they gathered the resources and helped to make it using the boat. They then explored with a range of torches and glowsticks. They then used the torches to read the story ‘The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark’

In literacy the children were finding out facts about nocturnal animals and by the end of the week they had started to learn about all the names for the different parts of a book. E.g spine, blurb etc.

In numeracy they continued to complete the road safety jigsaws and used the animals to match the colours in the traffic lights.

Over in the snack area they made traffic light kebabs sequencing the traffic light colours correctly.

I am going to begin at the end this week!

On Friday morning Primary Six, performed an outstanding display of on-going class work through the medium of song, dance, verse and fun.

Their assembly based around electricity was indeed electrifying – they were amazing. They taught us all about the history of electricity, the plethora of uses nowadays and the plan for sustainability in the future. An enormous thanks has to go to their teachers; Mrs Laird, Miss Stack and Miss Donnelly along with Mrs McCoy, not forgetting our wonderful support staff who truly do ‘support’ all aspects of our children’s learning.

The ladies began this assembly journey with a blank sheet of paper and together scripted an incredible learning experience which was greatly enjoyed by the audience and the participants. I am so very proud of each and every one of our Primary Six pupils for their magnificent performances. Well done and thank you to all involved.

On top of all this wonderful Primary Six work, within our school we have enjoyed a most successful week.

Friday also saw P7 pupils visit Mission Place to entertain the elderly residents. The children shared songs from their recent assembly based around World War II. This was a wonderful culmination of the children’s recent class work and a wonderful way to share their learning. The elderly residents treated the children to stories and songs of their own, reminiscing of a time gone by. A fabulous learning experience for all. Thanks to Mrs Carr for organising this visit, thanks also to the parents who came along to assist with supervision. Here’s some photographs and videos of their visit.

 

 

 

 

Monday evening we held our Annual General Meeting (AGM) for our Parent Council, soon you will receive information in respect of vacancies within the Council. I urge you to consider participating to our school through this platform. I am delighted our Office Bearers have committed to another year:

Mr Gerry Bonnar                               Chairperson

Mr Ian Munro                                    Vice Chairperson

Mrs Mary Frances Verrecchia          Treasurer

Mrs Julie McManus                          Church Representative

We are currently looking to employ a clerk to the Council who would be willing to come along and take a minute of each meeting and distribute these minutes via email to Council members. If this is something you would consider please contact me at the school. There is a small payment provided for the Clerk.

Tuesday evening we held our first ever parent & pupil workshop for sacramental preparation, Mgr Millar introduced the evening with a prayer and then worked with all of our Primary 3 children. Meanwhile Fr. Martin Delaney presented to our P3 parents and carers. This workshop was very well attended, thanks to all who came along. Both adults and children have given extremely positive feedback on the content and delivery of this meeting/workshop.

This Tuesday we look forward to welcoming our P4 parents and pupils preparing for the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist.

On-going in school now are a variety of rehearsals for our forthcoming Christmas Nativity and Show. Please encourage your child(ren) to learn their songwords and speaking parts (where applicable). Why not learn the songs alongside your child(ren) and you can join in on the day!

A wee reminder there is NO school on Monday for the children. It is an authority wide In-Service Day. No child in North Lanarkshire should attend school on Monday 16^th November. We look forward to welcoming our children back to school on Tuesday 17^th November.

Meanwhile our nursery has enjoyed a fantastic week, read on…..

A very busy week in the nursery.

The children continue to learn about Road Safety and Dark/Light.

Outdoors the children have been out and about on road safety walks. They made a big set of traffic lights and role-played outside with it. On Thursday before the big storm we had to batten down the hatches. The children got busy tidying up the garden and cutting back our giant sunflowers that have exceeded our expectations. Next year we will have to enter them into a competition!

After cutting them down the children brought the big heads indoors to look at them closely and experiment with them. They removed the seeds and used their senses to explore them. They then went on to draw pictures of the sunflowers and even named the different parts. The children wanted to display their hard work, So they took down the big display and have put up their findings for all to see. Please take time to look at their display.

Over in the construction area the children have been role-playing the lollipop person and workmen. They have used the lollipop they made to take turns and are enjoying the high vis vests and work clothes.

In the home corner the children have been sequencing dark and night. They have provided lots of information about their daytime and nighttime routines. These are displayed within the area. By the end of the week they decided to change the corner into night and day. Look out for lots of role-play and discussion next week.

Over in the literacy area the children have been discovering all about nocturnal animals. They have been listening to stories and facts about a range of different nightime animals and their findings are displayed on the wall. Look closely as there is a mole living in a hole on the wall.
In music they continue to sing the songs and prepare for the Christmas show.

The children have been extremely busy in the art area where they have created their own zebra crossing, painted traffic lights using the correct colours and sequence and made traffic light playdough. They even made twinkling stars for the night display. Phew all in a weeks work. It is very busy being an early learner.

Week 4 in the forest and on our way to the forest the children noticed that they could hardly see the path because it was covered in a carpet of leaves. However the children used other signs that they recognised to help them find their way. The children continue to work well together carrying out the important jobs they have to do. They continue to explore the natural surroundings, identifying a range of insects using the picture cards. They used the rope swing in different ways this week as their confidence grows. They also put up the hammock and took it down all by themselves highlighting their problem solving skills. This task also needed a great deal of balancing skill as the hammock is tied to a branch. Have a look at the pictures to help you work out how they did it.

On Thursday and Friday the children had the opportunity to watch the P6 assembly and as ever were a great audience. The children looked closely to see if they recognised their P6 buddies all dressed up. Well done to our P6 buddies and to all of our nursery children who are lucky to have these opportunities and to be a part of an excellent school.

 

As always,thanks for taking the time to read all about our fabulous boys and girls. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Mrs Shields

 

 

We welcome this month of November remembering all those who have died and praying especially for them throughout the month.

Our assembly on Monday morning focused on this month ahead and the forthcoming Remembrance Sunday.

Following assembly on Monday we enjoyed a visit from our new Continuous Improvement Officers (CIO formerly QIO). Mrs Morag Hay and Mr. Philip McGhee have both been assigned to our school. We treated them to a tour of the school and nursery and they were most impressed, both by our children, staff and our beautiful building. We look forward to working with Mrs Hay and Mr. McGhee in the coming months and years.

Monday morning we also welcomed ten 4^th year students from Our Lady’s High for a week of work experience. All ten students have enjoyed a very busy, varied week and have been a great help and support throughout the school. I have already emailed Mrs Sinclair (HT of Our Lady’s High) to say how impressed everyone in school is with the young people. Congratulations to all 10 students, and on behalf of our school community – thank you.

Tuesday morning brought a visit from The Warburton’s Lorry – a unique learning experience for our pupils. On the bus they learned about road safety, safety on cycles all through the medium of the Warburton’s lorry. We all enjoyed the free bread too!

Wednesday of this week Mollie Jeffrey represented our school in NLC Schools Swimming Championships – well done Mollie.

Friday our Primary Two pupils excelled themselves in preparing and leading our Mass for The Holy Souls. A super reflection on the good work on-going in classes for our children’s spiritual development. Well done Primary two. Our Mass was beautiful and spiritually uplifting. Thanks also to the large number of parents and parishioners who came along to join our celebration. A lovely end to a most successful week.

Friday evening our Fundraisers once again, excelled themselves hosting a fabulous Ladies Night. Thanks to all who came along to support this event and provided such fantastic raffle prizes. We raised an AMAZING £1051.00, brilliant.

Throughout the week our come Clubbing @ Cathedral continues to blossom. This term our pupils have opportunity to take part in a wide range of wider school activities including: Walking Club (lunchtime), Rosary Club (lunch time), Rugby, basketball, Football, Choir, Solo Singing (lunch time), Christmas Activities, Cross Country Bag Making etc etc…. and endless list. A HUGE thanks has to go to all adults involved in providing these additional activities for our children. Included in this are parents, former parents, Early Years Staff, Active Schools Staff, teachers, support staff, management team….in short EVERYONE has a role to play in our school and all do this at lunchtime and after school on a voluntary basis simply to ensure the best educational experience for all of our children.

A very exciting event in our nursery this week, not just our children celebrating – our staff too.

Congratulations to Mrs murphy and Mrs Kinnear who both celebrated their graduations this week. We are delighted for them and well chuffed!.

The ladies in their finery.

 

And from the nursery…….

In preparation for road safety week the children have been discussing road safety and how to stay safe on Bonfire night.

In the literacy area they have been getting to know Ziggy our road safety alien. They have been following his adventures through story books and on the Smartboard and have began to make a Ziggy display.

They also told stories of how they kept safe when they were out for their Hallowe’en and drew firework pictures using chalk and pastels.

Outside they have made their own STOP and GO signs and roleplayed using the cars and the signs to practice Stop and Go. The children continue to discuss Autumn and have expanded the Autumn matching game with a new gathering of leaves.

In numeracy they had the opportunity to complete the road safety jigsaw puzzles. They discussed the colours relating to the lollipop lady and her lollipop and they painted the characters for the display. They also used the numberline to sequence the leaves biggest to smallest.

In Science they weighed a range of Autumn objects to discover which were the heaviest and which were the lightest.

In snack they made Bonfire sparklers using chocolate fingers and sparkles. They went off with a Bang!

The children have transformed the house corner into a Dark and Light den. They have been reading the story ‘Can’t You Sleep Little Bear’ and roleplaying the story using the props. They have discussed how to help the little bear by coming up with ideas about what to use to make it light e.g Lanterns, night lights and torches. They have also watched the story on the SmartBoard. They used chalk to create the nightime scene from the story.

In expressive arts its been a busy week with the children making paintings from chestnut rolling. They made rockets from a range of collage and painted sparkly firework pictures. They also made ther own traffic light pictures using the art sponges.

In health and wellbeing the majority of the children took part in an activity that promoted the importance of handwashing. They used glitter to show how germs can get on your hands and the glitter was hard to get off so they had to wash their hands thoroughly. This was a very popular activity with a powerful messdage.

Week 3 in the forest and the children are showing that they are able to set up their base camp with very little support. They can carry out their responsibilities and are eager to do so. They are becoming more confident in exploring the environment and are thriving from the experience. This week they made a rope swing, a shelter, done some bark rubbings, measured the size of the slugs using a stick and caught the leaves falling down from the trees. Please take a look at their adventures showcased each week in th floorbook in the cloakroom.

 

 

In preparation for road safety week the children have been discussing road safety and how to stay safe on Bonfire night.

In the literacy area they have been getting to know Ziggy our road safety alien. They have been following his adventures through story books and on the Smartboard and have began to make a Ziggy display.

They also told stories of how they kept safe when they were out for their Hallowe’en and drew firework pictures using chalk and pastels.

Outside they have made their own STOP and GO signs and roleplayed using the cars and the signs to practice Stop and Go. The children continue to discuss Autumn and have expanded the Autumn matching game with a new gathering of leaves.

In numeracy they had the opportunity to complete the road safety jigsaw puzzles. They discussed the colours relating to the lollipop lady and her lollipop and they painted the characters for the display. They also used the numberline to sequence the leaves biggest to smallest.

In Science they weighed a range of Autumn objects to discover which were the heaviest and which were the lightest.

In snack they made Bonfire sparklers using chocolate fingers and sparkles. They went off with a Bang!

The children have transformed the house corner into a Dark and Light den. They have been reading the story ‘Can’t You Sleep Little Bear’ and roleplaying the story using the props. They have discussed how to help the little bear by coming up with ideas about what to use to make it light e.g Lanterns, night lights and torches. They have also watched the story on the SmartBoard. They used chalk to create the nightime scene from the story.

In expressive arts its been a busy week with the children making paintings from chestnut rolling. They made rockets from a range of collage and painted sparkly firework pictures. They also made ther own traffic light pictures using the art sponges.

In health and wellbeing the majority of the children took part in an activity that promoted the importance of handwashing. They used glitter to show how germs can get on your hands and the glitter was hard to get off so they had to wash their hands thoroughly. This was a very popular activity with a powerful messdage.

Week 3 in the forest and the children are showing that they are able to set up their base camp with very little support. They can carry out their responsibilities and are eager to do so. They are becoming more confident in exploring the environment and are thriving from the experience. This week they made a rope swing, a shelter, done some bark rubbings, measured the size of the slugs using a stick and caught the leaves falling down from the trees. Please take a look at their adventures showcased each week in the floorbook in the cloakroom.

As always

Thanks for reading, we got a comment last week. Let’s double it this week!

Mrs Shields

 

 

 

 

It worked !!!!! The bands in the dining hall are a success (phew). We are delighted it has proved so successful, long may it continue.

Our Monday morning assembly this week focused on how we can best help our local community. Mr David Shaw from Motherwell Food Bank joined us and provided a most stimulating presentation to the children. Thanks to all who have responded in kind by donating non-perishable foodstuffs to help those in our local community who are in great need of assistance.

 

Tuesday dawned with our school and health personnel working together to ensure a safe and healthy winter for our children. Staff from NHS spent the day in school administering flu vaccine. NHS staff commented most favourably about our children, their manners, their mature approach and their lovely smart uniforms. Well done boys and girls.

 

Tuesday evening our P7 parents came along to the school in great number for a presentation regarding our new relationships programme for P7 pupils ‘God’s Loving Plan’ as directed by Scottish catholic Education Service. Parents also had the opportunity to learn about their children’s next big step – High School. Mrs Sinclair & Mr McQuillan from OLHS joined us to speak to parents and provide a very practical guide to High School. Our P7 pupils will enjoy their first visit this session this coming Tuesday – we wish you luck Primary 7.

 

Wednesday evening our Fabulous Fundraisers met to discuss our forthcoming Ladies Night. This is our second ladies Night (the first one last year was fab). Let’s hope for continued success. Tickets are available from front office priced at £5. Ladies Night is in St. Bride’s Hall on Friday 6^th November. Hope to see you there.

This is an expample of the type of resources our children have because of the good work of our Fundraisers. We have recently purchased a box of wet play/golden time games for every class – £1400. A huge thanks to all who contributed.

 

Thursday I met with NLC personnel to measure up for our forthcoming Teaching Kitchen – we look forward to having this brand new facility in our school to allow all of our pupils, staff and parents the opportunity to develop our culinary skills. More information after Christmas when we hope our kitchen will be fully functional.

 

In this most exciting week in school and nursery lots of talk has been around dressing up and Hallowe’en. We have reminded all children of the importance of safety and caution if ‘going out for Hallowe’en’. All classes have discussed how best to ensure we remain safe, the importance of not going into strangers houses and always be accompanied by a responsible adult. Our week ended with a fabulous Hallowe’en Parade thoroughly enjoyed by all. Thanks to parents, pupils and staff for their on-going enthusiasm and active participation. Great to see our school and nursery come together in such a happy, fun way.

 

There have been lots of Spooky things happening in nursery this week:

 

In literacy the children have been writing spooky words from the story ‘Room on the Broom’. They made a cauldron with spooky words on it for their party activity. In music the children continued to sing Hallowe’en songs.

Over in numeracy the children matched number to quantity using pumpkins and pumpkin seeds and in science they experimented by filling a baby bath with water then added a variety of different sized pumpkins to see which ones sank or floated.

In expressive arts they made skeleton hand prints and explored the gooey slime in the water tray. They made black spooky playdough and used the Hallowe’en cutters to make witches, cats and bats.

Outdoors they explored the Autumn numberline and matched the leaves in the tray to the correct colour. You may have noticed that our Golden Superhero characters have appeard outside on the wall this is to help the children remember their nursery rules outside.

Over in the snack area the children took part in an Autumn vegetable naming game. They then used the vegetables to make Autumn soup. It was thumbs up from the children and Mrs Duffy when they finally got to taste the soup they prepared. As the week progressed the children started to make their snacks for their party. They made spiders, witches hats and bats nests.

Wednesday saw our 2nd visit to the forest. The rain was relentless but it did not effect the children who continued to explore the forest site and had great fun. The photographs speak for themselves. There is no such thing as bad weather only unsuitable clothing.

On Wednesday we also said goodbye to Mrs Keenan as she left to go on her maternity leave. The children presented her with a beautiful present and a card that they had made in the forest. Needless to say a few tears were shed. We wish her all the best and can’t wait to meet her little bundle when the stork brings it!

On Friday great fun was had by all as the children took part in all things spooky. The party got under way with a game of Pass the Pumpkin, musical bumps and dancing. They then had the opportunity to visit 5 different activities. These were:

 

• Pin the nose on the pumpkin.
• Match the spooky words to the pictures on the cauldron.
• Marshmallow ghosts.
• Spooky feely tubs.
• Spooky story.

 

The children all went home exhausted as did the staff.

A wee pictorial whizz around the wonderful nursery experience this week.

As always, thanks for reading. Please leave a comment, it’d be nice to know you are out there.

Mrs Shields

This week we welcomed everyone back to school and nursery following a very restful October break. Our Monday morning assembly was filled with a sea of vibrant faces all looking forward to the challenge and opportunities ahead in this forthcoming term.

 

Dining Hall Changes

Our first mission was to discuss with our children forthcoming changes to our dining hall. The menu choices remain the same but they are now colour coded. Our children have been asked to come to school aware of what is on the menu that day and having already made their decision about their choices for lunch. As they self-registrate in class they will also indicate if they are having a school lunch and which colour band of choice they are selecting. Following this information being relayed to the kitchen (via email to the office) – this we do already, Karen Jackson our dining hall supervisor will place the correct number of each colour of band into a box – one box per class. Before lunch Karen will deliver the bands to each classroom where the teacher will distribute as per the morning choices.

On entering the dining hall the children will be guided to their specific colour of queue. Here they will place their band in a tub and collect their tray (colours will also match) as they approach the servery the children will go directly to the till which is the same as their chosen band colour, be given their lunch and then sit with their friends.

Much of this is already in place, the only difference is children will be required to make their choices by the beginning of the school day and they will approach the till which is of their chosen band. Band colours can be the same or different each day depending on children’s choice. This new system should assist with efficiency and appropriate provision of food. Bands will be sterilised each day and Karen Jackson will collect class boxes each day in preparation for the next.

One further change is that children are no longer permitted to only choose soup as their meal, soup must be eaten either with a main course or a sandwich. All children were issued with copies of the menu choices early last week. A copy is also available on line.

We intend to begin the new band system this coming Wednesday, I’ll let you know in next week’s Blog how it all goes.

Tuesday of this week we met with our Parish Priest, Mgr Millar, and our Primary Three and Four parents to begin our consultative partnership in preparation for the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion. We held our meeting in St. Bride’s Hall and I was delighted to see such a full house. Attendance at this meeting was most encouraging – thanks to all who took the time to come along. We have now arranged a further meeting for P3 parents and children on Tuesday 10th November at 6.30pm in our school hall and for P4 parents and children on Tuesday 17th November at 6.30pm in our school hall. Please make every effort to attend these meetings with your children. Working together with our parents and our clergy ensures we give our children’s spiritual development the importance it deserves. I look forward to meeting with you all again on these dates. A separate letter will be issued to ascertain definitive numbers.

Wednesday of this week our young leaders training continued with Jenny our active sports co-ordinator (who is fab) and our primary 7 trainees (who are also fab). We look forward to our young leaders beginning their clubs in the very near future. Watch out for Michael McGill and his jiving club – I want to join!

Thursday and Friday were dominated by an excellent learning experience for every single child in our school and nursery. Primary 5 took us all on a journey of discovery through Ancient Egypt. Along the way they lost Mrs Duffy, found mummies, filled canopic jars, entertained us with sand dancers, snake charmers and sooooooo much more. I cannot praise Primary 5 pupils, parents and staff highly enough. I am awestruck by the creativity within our school, both young and not so young. This was an outstanding assembly which captivated all who had the privilege of being in the audience, fantastic work. A huge thanks to you, the parents for being so active in your involvement in your childrens learning, to the wonderful staff; Mrs McCarthy, Mrs McCulloch, Miss Mooty, Mrs McCoy and Mrs Rice, but most of all thanks to our incredibly talented, enthusiastic Primary 5 pupils who are amazing.

Here’s a couple of photos as to what happened after the assembly………..

 

Also on Friday we hosted a football festival on our wonderful outdoor pitch. Eight schools attended and all enjoyed many exciting games of football. Mr McBirnie (AKA Wullie the football man) had everything all organised and ready for the teams – take a look at the impressive kit ready for our young players. How professional are we??????

 

Meanwhile our youngest pupils in the nursery have had a fabulous week, so exciting and again with opportunities for all parents to take an active part in their childrens learning. Here’s Mrs Murphy with the whole story:

The children have been learning all about Autumn and the biggest Autumn celebration ‘Halloween’ They have been bringing leaves, twigs and acorns in for the Autumn display that is expanding every day.

Outdoors some of the children went on an Autumn walk to collect leaves to make leaf rubbings. These walks will continue next week. In the nursery garden the children explored dried leaves in the big tray and were using their senses to describe the texture and sounds they made. They made a bird feeder from junk and painted still pictures of the big tree in the school grounds.

In the literacy area they have been reading ‘Room on the Broom’ and drawing pictures and sequencing the story. They painted the witch from the story and their had work can be seen displayed in the literacy area.
In music they have been singing Halloween songs.

Over in the numeracy area they played an Autumn matching game on the SmartBoard and used leaves that they found on their way to nursery to match number to quantity.

In expressive arts the children painted pictures using the leaves as brushes and made collage pictures using the leaves they collected on their walk. They explored the leaves and twigs in the water tray.

In snack the children discussed what kind of foods they would like to eat in Autumn. Soup was very popular so the children will be making Autumn soup next week.

The children wanted to make a Haunted House so they got busy turning the hairdressers into a Spooky house. They used lots of spooky decorations to create it. Look out for some spooky food in it next week!

The first Forest Kindergarten session started on Wednesday. These sessions will continue for 6 weeks. All the children’s adventures will be recorded in the Forest Kindergarten floorbook and this will be displayed in the cloakroom each week. Please take a minute to see what they get up to on these visits.

On Thursday we were delighted with the support we received from parents/carers who turned up in their droves to see the children graduate from the Mini Movers programme. A big thank you goes to Nicky and Craig the two coaches who have delivered these sessions to the children in a child friendly and age appropriate way. The children have learned all about healthy eating, their bodies and how to keep safe in the sun. The physical side of the programme concentrated on balancing, hand to eye co-ordination and motor skills using footballs. The children were fantastic they listened and followed all the instructions given by the coaches. Each child received a bag, a water bottle and a certificate. Each child in the nursery has benefited from this programme in some way. Parents could not believe how much the children had picked up in such a small space of time. The feedback from parents/carers has been very positive. Thank you for completing the evaluation sheets which will be forwarded to the coaches next week.

Mrs Murphy took ‘hunner’s (her words) of photographs this week. We’ve tried to provide a selection of both AM and PM pupils.

What an incredible week, it has been brilliant. Here’s to another next week.

As always, please feel free to comment, we’d love to hear your views.

Mrs Shields

REMEMBER REMEMBER – Parent Evening Tuesday 6th October for both school and nursery.

A ‘warm’ welcome to October. What a fantastic week in school and nursery with everyone enjoying some much awaited sunshine. Outdoor learning has been a huge focus this week with many of our lessons happening outdoors, making best use of our magnificent facilities.

Just in case you haven’t heard……I’m back. A HUGE thanks to Mrs Campbell, Mrs Duffy, Mrs McCoy and all our wonderful staff who have worked so hard in my absence to ensure our school and nursery continue on their journey to excellence with every child having their individual needs recognised and overtaken. A special mention for Mrs Campbell who has been holding down both my Head Teacher post and her own Depute Head Teacher post, I am indebted to her.

Big thanks also to everyone for my magnificent welcome back, especially Primary Seven and their teachers who provided such a colourful welcome in the form of 500 balloons which coered every available inch of my office – look out for the photograph on the front of our October newsletter. It was a brilliant return to school – I am delighted to be fit enough to return to work.

This was a short week in school and nursery but still lots happening.

After school on Tuesday our pupils enjoyed the Rugby club, lead by Mr Cuthbert (Jayden’s dad). Thanks to Mr Cuthbert for taking the time to share his talent and skills with our pupils. Soctland team of the future.

Continuing on our sporting theme, On Thursday Jenny, our Active Schools Co-ordinator, continued coaching our Young Leaders from P7. This is a magnificent initiative whereby P7 pupils are trianed to lead lunchtime clubs for our younger pupils. This was a most successful venture last year and we look forward to its continued success. Go Jenny – She is a star!

Even the nursery pupils are entering our Health and Well being genre through Mini Movers which is on-going in the nursery just now.

What a fit school we are – and well done to Miss McMullen, Mrs Blaney and Miss Love who all ran in the Great Glasgow Run this morning.

In Primary 7c  the fabulous song-writing project continues, can’t wait to hear their song. This project will culminate with a concert in North Lanarkshire in March 2016 – more details to follow nearer the time.

Friday was a day for us staff to work with those in our local area. Mrs Duffy attended Early Years Cluster Meeting and Mrs Cambell & I attended our Primary / Secondary Cluster meeting at Our Lady’s High. We are very keen to ensure our pupils and staff have opportunity to come together and work building a spirit of community and friendship throughout Motherwell.

For those who have been part of our school for a wee while you will be pleased to know Mrs Mary Mullen, former DHT, became a granny. Mrs Laura Irwin (AKA Mary’s daughter) and one of our teaching staff gave birth to baby Joseph Gordon William Irwin (to be known as Joe) last Sunday morning. We extend our sincere congratulations to the whole family.

Meanwhile…..Down in our excellent nursery there’s lots going on. Here’s Mrs Murphy to tell us all about it.

A short week in nursery but as always a busy week. The weather has been so good this week that the children had ice cream as a treat for their snack outside. Who would have thought we would be having ice cream in October!

The children have been discussing what they see in their local community on their way to nursery and most of the children have had the opportunity to go out and about exploring the area. From this they have been busy learning and creating through a variety of different activities.

In literacy they have been looking at and identifying environmental print. The “All About Me” wall has been transformed into an interactive wall where the children can identify signs, symbols and words that they are familiar with. Take a look and see if you can identify them too!

The house corner has been transformed into a hairdressers and the children have been roleplaying taking appointments, styling, serving the customers snacks and taking the money for the service. Prices stand at £5 per style but you need to book in advance as its a very busy hairdressers. All styles catered for!
On Friday some of the children visited a real hairdressers to look at what really happens in a busy hairdressers. Take a look at the photographs of their visit. These visits will continue from Tuesday onwards to give other children the chance to visit a real hairdressers.

At the beginning of the week the children went on a walk to collect Autumn leaves looking at their shape, colour, texture and sound they make as they dry out. We are looking for other signs of Autumn for our forthcoming Autumn display. If you see any conkers pine cones etc we will gladly add them to our display.

In the expressive arts area the children have been busy designing a junk model of the buildings of the whole school campus. They took a photograph of the building and used this to create their model. This is displayed in the art area. Please take a look at their hard work which took them all week to complete. The previous week they made a model of things they see on their way to nursery. This is also displayed in the art area.

After a discussion with all children it was decided that to help with our Golden nursery Rules the children would take ownership of a superhero/princess character. The children chose their characters and the most popular ones have now been created and each group have a particular character of their own. They have been busy decorating them all week. Hopefully they will be on display for parents night so you can see the work that the children have put into them. The characters are as follows:

Tidy Tinkerbell – Happy Heathers

Listening Luigi – Brilliant Bluebells

Busy Belle – Super Snowdrops

Sharing Sheriff Cally- Terrific Thistles

Walking Woody – Fantastic Foxgloves

Caring Captain America and Running Raphael (outdoors only) are two additional characters that the children came up with so all children will have a chance to create these specific characters.

From this the children have been looking at superheroes comic books and princess stories in the story corner.

In numeracy they have been building up their own superhero jigsaws and by the end of the week they have made their own superhero city over in the construction area. This area is tucked away so please take the opportunity to visit it on parents night. It looks fantastic.

Week 4 of the mini movers programme and this week the children were given a bear to dress to take to the beach. The children have been learning all about their bodies and the importance of keeping safe in the sun. Outside they roleplayed characters from Toy Story and Superheroes which is perfect as this is what the children have been discussing as above. These activities are improving their hand to eye co-ordination and ball skills. The mini movers graduation will take place after the October break and each child was given a letter with information for parents regarding this.

The photographic evidence…