A warm welcome to any new parents/carers to our school community, and a warm welcome back to all those faithful ‘Blog’ readers.

I would like to begin with a HUGE thank you to each and every one of our parent/carers. Our pupils look magnificent in full school uniform, timekeeping has been great this week with very few latecomers and attendance has been excellent, a fabulous start. Long may it continue.

Our first week back has been very busy with lots of hard work on-going in classes.

On Monday we held our first full school assembly (although Primary One will not be joining us until next week). At this assembly we also welcomed three visitors from Korea:

Jeong-eun, Soo-jin and Sun-mo. Three female primary school teachers from South Korea. Our visitors were incredibly impressed by the excellent behaviour, manners and friendliness of our pupils. They remarked on the superb behaviour and attention shown in assembly. Throughout the day our visitors enjoyed a guided tour from our P7 pupils and some time in a variety of classes, including our wonderful nursery. Our P7 pupils also hosted lunch and entertained our visitors with anecdotes of all that happens in our school. This visit was arranged through Mr Philip McGhee, one of our Continuous Improvement Officers, Philip sent an email following the visit; please see below:

Just a formal thanks to you and all of your staff for being outstanding hosts to our South Korean visitors (at very short notice!).

As you know Jeong-eun, Soo-jin and Sun-mo, were very impressed with the school and in particular your pupils. They were very envious of your school but in particular your staff and frequently mentioned the support provided by the additional staff. As they mentioned they were very impressed with the working ethos in the classroom and the qualities of the teachers in their preparation and influence on the children. They thought this was conveyed through the behaviour and attentiveness of the pupils  which they expressed as ‘your pupils being totally focussed and responsive to every word the teacher  had to say’. In light of our perception of the high standards of teaching in Korea and other Asian countries I think this is very high praise indeed.

They were extremely grateful for your warm and engaging hospitality and through the experience of your school  they are confident it will help them become better primary teachers. They left on the train to London after a fleeting visit, with, in their own words, great memories and  an awesome impression of our lovely small town (!), Scotland and education system.

Your staff and pupils should be proud to have made such an overwhelming impact on our visitors in such a short period of time.

High praise indeed, a wonderful way to begin our school year. Wonder if there’s any chance of a reciprocal visit?

Photographs below show our wonderful P7 volunteers with the beautiful gifts from our very grateful visitors. Well done to our fabulous volunteers, they were excellent tour guides and great lunchtime hosts.

On Wednesday we introduced our new P1 pupils to the concept of weekly school assemblies. Ably assisted by P2, 3, 4 (and a few P5) pupils we discussed our Good Work Wall, Pupil of The Week and what happens each Monday. P1 seemed very impressed and we look forward to welcoming them on Monday morning.

Thursday we ‘sang’ a warm welcome back to Mrs Sally Wilkinson. Mrs Wilkinson will be with us every Thursday working with P5 pupils on Kodaly,re-forming our much loved, and eagerly anticipated, ‘Boys Choir – Only Boys Allowed and recruiting for new starts from P2 and P3 for our Baby Choir. Exciting times ahead. Once a fortnight Mrs Wilkinson will also work with P6 pupils and staff building on the good work from last year continuing their Kodaly journey. Mrs Wilkinson is funded through our Pupil Equity Funding. Mrs Wilkinson will also be running a family music group after school. More details coming soon.

Friday we were delighted to welcome back Lisa Roebuck. Lisa is our Community Learning Development worker, she has great plans to work with many of our families throughout the year ahead, again, building on the great work from last session.

Meanwhile, it is still all very exciting in our wonderful nursery.

Here’s Mrs MM Murphy with all the news:

It was great to see all our returning children looking happy and healthy after their long break.

A big Welcome to our new children who have been joining us over the course of the week. Our pre-school children are enjoying the big responsibility of being a buddy to the new children and are proudly wearing their group buddy badges which helps our new children identify them. They have taken on this responsibility as ever with great gusto. The new children having being exploring their new surroundings with the help of their buddies. Can you spot the buddy badges in the photographs.
We are happy to welcome back Mrs Denise Higgins every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Mrs Higgins will be working in the infant department in school and in the nursery on Mondays only as part of our PEF plan. In addition we welcome new Early Learning Practitioners Andrea Ure and Jodie McCluskey to our nursery team. Many congratulations to Miss Andrea MacMullen who commences in her new post as our Lead Graduate Practitioner. We wish her every success in this new venture in our nursery!

As you know, our fabulous Forest Kindergarten was nominated for an award from the Scotland’s Finest Woods Award scheme. Mrs Murphy and Mrs Little attended an award ceremony with our green fingered Grandy and some pupils. We are delighted to announce this most successful initiative within our nursery was such a huge success we were awarded second place at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh in June last session. Quite an achievement, so much so Mrs Murphy and our nursery were mentioned in the Scottish Parliament!! The plaque presented takes pride of place in the nursery foyer.

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As always, thanks for taking the time to read our weekly blog, comments are always welcome.

Mrs Shields

Our last Blog of the year and what a fantastic way to finish the year:

Firstly HUGE congratulations to all in our wonderful nursery who won a well deserved ‘Runner Up’ place in Scotland’s Finest Woods Award. We were the only ‘urban’ town based nursery to reach the finals.

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We are so very proud of all in our nursery who have inspired and motivated all of our youngest pupils, our nursery staff, our school teaching staff and a number of parents/carers to explore a wonderful world of learning in the great outdoors. Mrs Margaret Mary Murphy ( pioneer of Forest Kindergarten in our nursery and school) and Mrs Mary Little attended the Royal Highland Show yesterday  in Edinburgh along with two of our forest stars and ‘grandy’! A great day was had by all and we proudly left with our Runner Up wooden plaque, a fabulous wooden microscope (for studying the ‘beasties’) a cheque for £250 and HUGE SMILES. A very proud day indeed.

More smiles all round on Thursday as we celebrated our annual Leaver’s Mass and Primary 7 Graduation. More very proud, memorable moments. Our primary seven pupils have been great ambassadors for our school, setting a very high standard in academic achievement, spiritual development and social and emotional growth. The Mass was beautiful with our whole school coming together to celebrate with our P7s. Well done to all in Primary Seven, we wish you the very best of everything in the years to come.

A number of children were recognised for their individual achievements:

David Colville Medal
Marc Findlay & Esme Colenso

George Smith Award for Endeavour
Aidan Murphy & Morgan Rotchford

Yeomanry Memorial Award for Citizenship
Jeffthan Ofosuhene & Sophie McCool

Morgan Sindall for Sportsmanship
Ryan Winton & Ellie O’Sullivan

Pat Connelly Award for Academic Excellence
Katie Hendry (P7a)
Abigail Reddington (P7b)
Thomas Colenso (P7c)

A lovely morning was enjoyed by all, thanks to all who came along to celebrate with our young people. Here’s a wee flavour of all the fun!

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At our Leaver’s Mass we also presented our Charities Cheques.  Throughout the year, most specifically during the season of Lent our whole school community come together to raise funds to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Our children are renound for their generosity and this year is no different, we have donated a tremendous amount of money throughout the year. At our Mass we presented cheques to St. Andrew’s Hospice , SCIAF, MISSIO, Gorsilaure, Lanarkshire Cancer Care, Let The Children Live Foundation, Lepra & Cathedral Soup Kitchen.

In addition we have contributed to £1300 being raised for Christian Aid through our choir singing at a local concert, working with our friends and neighbours in Firpark Primary together we have raised £1600.00 through our joint campus MacMillan Cancer Care Coffee morning. Our school is also now a partnership school with our local foodbank sending a huge range of required food stuff & toiletries to our locale. Wow! Well done boys and girls, what fantastic citizens you are helping those less fortunate both at home and abroad. Here are the presentations:

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Thursday afternoon we celebrated more sporting success with our P7 boys football team who were victorious in the Active Schools Football League. Champions all round.

Finally on Friday we began our 3 Day Event, and what an opening ceremony. Our pupils danced, spun, tumbled, sang and impressed everyone with their skills and talents. We all enjoyed a fabulous day on Friday. Huge thanks to our Health Committee for all their work, to Mrs Duffy, Mrs Loose, Miss Love and all of our support staff who worked tirelessly to ensure all was organised and ready for the day. Thanks also to all classes and teachers who actively participated in all of the fun and to our wonderful group of parent helpers who assisted on Friday. Mr John Quinn came along to photograph the events, we’ll get a link to the photographs to you via our APP.

Now, you may think it’s all over……it’s not!

Monday and Tuesday we will enjoy a whole range of sporting activities and medal winning opportunities. Such great work in our school and such a super way to end what has been a most successful and productive year.

As always, thanks for reading our Blog, I wish you all a lovely summer.

Mrs Shields – A VERY PROUD Head Teacher

 

This week has been dominated by the wonderful display of learning from our Primary One pupils. Primary One Assembly is always a highlight of our year, and this year was no different. Our youngest school pupils danced, sang, recited and thoroughly enjoyed displaying such a wide range of talents and skills. Assemblies are such a wonderful platform to disseminate excellent learning in a meaningful and memorable manner.

Primary One were amazing, the hall was filled with thrilled parents and wider family, extremely proud staff and very happy Primary One pupils. It truly was a wonderful morning. A HUGE thanks to all involved, in particular Mrs McCarthy, Mrs McLaughlan, Mrs Shevlin, Miss Falconer, Miss Bain, Mrs McCoy and Mrs Campbell, to all parents and carers but most of all to our fine young pupils who are all stars.

Thursday of this week we were very disappointed when the National Schools Mass celebrating 100 years of Catholic Education has to be cancelled. The extreme weather forced organisers to, quite rightly, err on the side of caution and cancel the Mass scheduled to take place at Falkirk Stadium. Well done to Primary Seven for all their preparation and hard work, it will not go to waste. We now look forward to our annual Leaver’s Mass this coming Thursday. An opportunity for Primary Seven to shine and for all in our school community to demonstrate their support and encouragement for our P7 leavers.

On Monday our girls football teams took part in the inter schools competition, held on our pitch. Well done to our girls team who did us proud, not only through their football skills but by their excellent behaviour and the warm welcome they extended to all visiting schools. Thank you girls.

Meanwhile….the excitement continues in our wonderful nursery:

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Last Friday our pre-school children celebrated their graduation from nursery to BIG school literary with A BANG! Each child was interviewed on the big graduation chair by Mrs Shields and asked what they wanted to be when they were all grown up. A slideshow of their chosen professions played alongside. The children sang their hearts out and made their parents very proud. The children chose some of their songs from previous topics and ‘Jump Start Johnny’ for their finale. The children asked if their parents/carers and visitors could join in. This was a fabulous ending to a wonderful performance.
As we say goodbye to our pre-school children we also said goodbye to our butterflies this week which had emerged from their cocoons on Monday. We released them back into their natural habitat to start the cycle all over again. The butterflies circled the nursery before heading off into the sunset. The children have thoroughly enjoyed taking care of and observing this fabulous natural transformation.

As we near the end of term can all lending library books be returned to the bookcase in the cloakroom. Thank You in advance.

This week our primary seven pupils headed off for their two day visit to High School. I am delighted to report Mr Lang, DHT at Our Lady’s High commented:

‘The P7s were fantastic and I think they had a great time’

I’m happy to confirm they did indeed have a great time and came back to our school filled with enthusiasm and excitement for their new educational venture in August. Well done primary seven.

Whilst the P7s were away those of us back at OLGA Cathedral had a wee change over time too. On Tuesday afternoon there was great excitement as our pupils all got to visit their new classrooms and spend time with their proposed new teacher.  Our boys and girls (and teachers) all enjoyed a lovely afternoon exploring their new ‘island’ and getting to know their teachers. Please note there may be a change or two to this arrangement due to further staffing developments., on Thursday of this week Miss Melissa Forsyth came to visit our school, Miss Forsyth will join us as a class teacher next session, we welcome her to our school community.

Wednesday was all change for our nursery as they enjoyed their annual BIG BONANZA DAY and what a day it was, here’s Mrs Murphy to tell us all about it:

This week has been a superb week at nursery with the weather being outstanding. Big Bonanza Day on Wednesday was a huge success with the afternoon children taking part in the following races, egg and spoon, sack race, wheelbarrow race and 3 legged races. While the morning children had fun at the beach party. Face painting, beat the goalie, Hula music, ice cream and the big bouncy castle. Please have a look at all the different events the children experienced this wee. All the children had a wonderful time and went home happy and very tired. As did the staff!

A little reminder. The morning children will take part in their sports day on Tuesday.

Photographs of our graduation will follow next week.

A huge thanks to Mrs Marie Clare Dufy, DHT for organising all of the events, to our fabulous nursery staff and to their ‘special helpers’ on the day. Mrs Murphy, Mrs McDerment, Mrs McCulloch & Mrs Munro, all of whom are normally based in primary 7! All change for the day indeed. A special thanks also to Shane, Oliwier and Andrew our 3 primary seven pupils who are off to neighbouring High Schools and were great helpers on Bonanza Day.

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Meanwhile on Friday, as Mrs Murphy mentioned, our proud pre-schoolers graduated from our nursery, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. What a fabulous celebration we enjoyed both AM and PM. Well done to all of our nursery graduates, you are wonderful. Photographs and a full run down coming next week.

We look forward to our final few weeks in school, please keep in touch and let us know your thoughts and opinions.

Mrs Shields

The month of June marks our final few weeks of term and brings many of our successful activities to a close for this session.

Last week our penultimate group of Primary 3 ‘Dolphins’ earned their lovely trophies having completed a 6 week water confidence programme. This has been a most successful initiative, recognised not only by ourselves but by North Lanarkshire Council being shortlisted for an Excellence and Equity Award.

Our final set of ‘Dolphins’ for this session are already underway, we look forward to continuing this initiative next session with our new Primary 3 pupils. Grateful thanks to Mrs Webster, HT Firpark, for agreeing to allow us to use her fabulous pool.

Here are the proud ‘Dolphins’ receiving their trophies:

Throughout the year we have raised a tremendous amount of money for a whole raft of charities, coupled with this fundraising we also work closely with Motherwell Foodbank. Most recently David Shaw, from Motherwell Food Bank, asked us to organise a collection of toiletries as they were very short. Without hesitation our Enterprise Committee got to work and organised a whole school and nursery collection, well done and thank you to all who contributed, all pupils and staff got involved in this donation. Here are the Enterprise Committee delivering the goods to David.

Last week our winners of 1+2 Modern Languages Awards attended the Awards Ceremony in Airdrie, photographs were published on our App. Alongside the winners there were a number of pupils who were recognised for their great work throughout the year and their commitment to learning a new language, or two! Here they are with their certificates, proud as punch and rightly so!

Our Fabulous Fundraisers work tirelessly throughout they year to raise funds for all in our school community. One great addition has been a wide range of outdoor toys, chosen by the children for the children. As you can see from the photographs below our pupils are thoroughly enjoying being active in the playyard. Our thanks to our newly formed ‘Playground Patrol’ who have taken responsibility for ensuring toys are safely stacked away after each break. Great work from our newest Pupil Voice Committee.

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On Thursday of this week we enjoyed our annual Magical Musical Morning where we showcase the incredible range of musical talent and skills being fostered in our school. This was a super morning which left everyone, performers and audience alike, feeling extremely proud of our musicality. Thanks to all who are involved in our music tuition, a great job well done. Special thanks to our wonderful pupils to who give so much of their own time to rehearse and practice, it has certainly paid off!

Photographs of the Magical Musical Morning will be published on our school App.

Last week we were delighted to welcome our 60 new Primary One pupils for August and their parents to our school. The children enjoyed 2 separate sessions in class with their teachers and we provided parents with a ‘snaphot’ of Primary one, a tour of the school, a look at our whole school programme and an opportunity to come together, have a coffee and a chat. Two lovely days in school. We look forward to welcoming our newest boys and girls in August. To ensure we capture parental views we used our App to create a survey and asked each of our new parents to tell us what they thought. 17 out of 60 families responded, we are delighted with the results and will publish all on our App in the coming week.

We hope to take our App surveys forward as a method of self-evaluation allowing all parents and pupils to have their views heard and their opinion shared.

Meanwhile down in the nursery, Mrs Murphy has all the gossip…….

We welcomed the children back after a lovely sunny weekend and we discovered our special little visitors. Five very hungry caterpillars had arrived in their special tub with their special food. The children were introduced to them and have been studying their growth each day using the magnifying glasses.

In the story corner they listened to the story of the ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’ using the puppet book and recalled the amount and variety of food he ate. They have watched the metamorphosis on the Smartboard and have been amazed at the transformation from ‘creepy crawlies’ to beautiful butterfly. They also used a visual butterfly and placed the shapes of their choice to make a symmetrical pattern.

Outdoors the children went on a caterpillar hunt and found two little caterpillars and a huge snail. They quickly gathered some leaves and some fruit and put them in a box to observe. They made a chart of what fruit/leaves they preferred. They put the snail carefully on a bit of black card and followed it’s trail. They then released them back into their natural habitat.

In snack they made a mindmap of all the things the ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’ ate. Watch out next week as they try out some of this food.

In the art area they made paper chain caterpillars and painted paper plates to create a big caterpillar display for the wall. This depicts what the caterpillar had each day to eat. Please stop and have a look at their hard work. Finally they made symmetrical butterflies using paint on one side and folding it over to create their own patterned butterfly.

On Wednesday we welcomed some of the lovely children who will join us next term. They all enjoyed exploring the nursery garden and some didn’t want to go home. Always a good sign!

A little reminder. Wednesday 6/6/18 is ‘BIG BONANZA DAY’ when the afternoon children attend nursery all day. Don’t forget the packed lunches!

Our big finale for our pre-school children takes place on Friday 8/6/18. Please remember to bring your tissues as graduation always brings a tear to the eye.

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As always, thanks for taking the time to read our Blog, please leave a comment or two.

Mrs Shields

 

 

Monday:

Our Monday morning assembly was one of thanksgiving. We gathered in prayer to give thanks God for the beautiful celebrations of First Holy Communion on Saturday and Sunday. Over the weekend 64 of our Primary 4 pupils received Jesus in this special way for the very first time. Huge thanks to the large number of staff who attended over the weekend, to our clergy; Fr. Chromy, Fr. Martin & Canon O’Mahoney, to our parents for their ongoing commitment to Catholic Education and the celebration of the Sacraments, finally, and most importantly thanks to our Primary 4 First Communicants.

Tuesday:

Mrs Carr accompanied a number of our pupils to annual Tour Series Cycling in Motherwell. Mrs Carr reports:

‘For the 4th year in a row, Motherwell was host to the OVO Tour Series, a professional road race for top cyclists from all over Europe. Once again, pupils from local primary schools who had completed Bikeability 1, were invited to come along and have the opportunity to cycle 2 laps of the 1.2km street circuit before the professional races began.

Some of our cyclists jumped at the chance of taking part and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They had a great time cycling the course and taking part in the training activities that followed. As you would expect, they were a credit to themselves and to the school. Thanks also to Mrs Munro for accompanying the children.’

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Wednesday:

On Wednesday we came together for a fabulous presentation from our newly elected ‘Playground Patrol’ under the guidance of Miss Love, Principal Teacher. The Playground Patrol presented to the whole school offering tips and guidance on how to make best use of our wonderful new set of toys for our yard. This was a super presentation engaging all in the hall. Our pupils learned how to stay safe and achieve maximum fun. A big thanks to all concerned and a HUGE thanks to our Fabulous Fundraisers who provided funding for the toys – to the tune of £1600.00

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Thursday:

We awoke to blue skies and sunshine and wide smiles from all on P3a & P3b who spent a wonderful day at Stirling Castle learning about historical events, knights and castles. A wonderful learning experience and great fun too.

Also on Thursday a group of our P7 pupils who have been participating in ‘Lift Off’ Programme with Our Lady’s High School joined in the celebration of being part of Lift Off Award at Excellence and Equity Awards Ceremony. Well done to all concerned. Lift Off is part of our excellent transition work ensuring a smooth and happy transition for all pupils.

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Within our own school on this day our Primary Seven pupils were introduced to ‘Christian Meditation’ a unique approach to allowing God to enter into our lives and creating calm in our very busy world. Our thanks to Mrs Pat Hay who volunteered to lead our children and staff in this prayerful meditation. We look forward to further input from Mrs Hay across our school in the new session.

Friday:

What an end to our week Primary two treated us all to an ‘awesome’ assembly all about Pirates. We learned so much about the lives of pirates and all on board the boats. This was a super, fun filled assembly enjoyed by all in the audience but, more importantly, thoroughly enjoyed by all in Primary 2.

Congratulations and well done to all staff concerned: Mrs Laird, Miss Falconer, Miss Cawley, Mrs Devanney, Mrs Murphy, Mrs McCoy and Mrs Campbell.

As always, our biggest vote of thanks goes to our wonderful Primary 2 pupils who sang, danced and performed brilliantly. We are all very proud of our P2 pupils.

Meanwhile down in the nursery…….

 

The weather has been very kind to all of us this week and the children have been exploring the garden with great enthusiasm. The watering cans in the garden have been put to good use as the children continue to look after the flowers and the vegetables that they have planted. Some of the children have reported back with details of their beanstalks that they took home to care for.
A little reminder our garden is a suntrap and sunscreen should be applied before coming to nursery.

We continue with our ‘New Beginnings’ topic. The children have been viewing the mini vegeatable garden window to watch the growth of their carrots, spring onions and radishes. They have been learning all about the importance of sun and water to help their plants grow and have been naming the different parts of a flower. Some children have been discussing the insects that visit the flowers. Watch out next week as we are hoping to have some of these visitors delivered to the nursery.

In the art area the children continue to explore shapes and this week have used the shape boats in the watertray and a range of shapes in the sand. Outdoors they painted a collage with the big 3d shapes.

In numeracy each group made their own Giant’s castle from different shapes and counted the various shapes used. They continue to use the 3d shapes cards to sort and match.

Our graduation preparations continue each day.

We had an impromptu visit from Inspector John our local Policeman who chatted to all the children about his job. He was very concerned that one of the children had lost his hat the day before and recorded the loss in his little black book. Mrs Murphy came under suspicion as she had given it to another child. Unfortunately with her memory not being so good she was classed as an unreliable witness. John showed all the children his different hats, vests and his handcuffs. He answered some questions about his job and left the children some equipment to use for their graduations pictures. Thanks to Inspector John for popping in.

Our new Forest Kindergarten Family bag is proving a BIG hit with some of our families who have been exploring some local woodland using the resources provided. The feedback has been very positive.

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As always, thanks for taking the time to read our Blog, please leave a comment or two.

Mrs Shields

Primary 5c & Miss Coughlan were successful winners in the North Lanarkshire Excellence and Equity Awards, winning in the category of ‘Going The Extra Mile’. A fantastic achievement, well done to all in the class and a huge thanks to Miss Coughlan who really did ‘go the extra mile’.

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Congratulations also to our other 3 projects who achieved nomination to the short list, an achievement in itself. We were a very proud school on Wednesday evening at the awards ceremony.

Tuesday was an In Service day where all of our staff was trained in Solihull Approach, a nurturing health & well being programme. Usually this is a day off school for all pupils, however, some of our wonderful boys and girls agreed to give of their own time to represent our school at North Lanarkshire Leadership Festival. Working with pupils from OLHS, Braidhurst High and Muir St. Primary they formed a ‘one off’ choir. Have a look at photographs of the children performing on our school App.

A word of thanks and praise to our whole school who represented us so well at Ascension Thursday Mass in Cathedral Church. Our children helped to fill the church with prayer and song, a lovely celebration of Mass.

Friday was a very exciting day for Primary 1 and our CaFi Council who were all invited to join Firpark pupils for a Teddy Bear’s Picnic, what a super way for our pupils to build on their friendship and enjoy fun together. Thanks to all in Firpark for the kind invitation.

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Meanwhile, down in the nursery……

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Our Spring topic continues with the help of the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ .

In the story corner the children have been retelling the story using the props and they have recorded their stories on plant pots for the display.

The Beanstalk in the playroom is growing bigger by the day. The children have been painting leaves to add to their beanstalk and clouds for the sky in the art area. They have made the Giants castle from a range of shapes. Look out for this next week.

In snack they continue to look at the shape of their food. This week they have had circle pepperoni, oval pitta breads, circle cucumber and tomatoes.

Outdoors the children have been taking part in an experiment. They have been growing their own beanstalks from magic beans, cotton wool and water. Each child has taken their beans home to care for them as they grow. We will revisit this in a few weeks to see how they are getting on.

In numeracy they continue to use the big SmartBoard for interactive shape games and in Science they have been growing radishes, carrots and Spring onions in a viewing window where they will be able to observe the growth as they take care of them.

A HUGE thank you to all our parents/carers and Grandparents who came along on Groundforce day to help us provide a better outdoor learning area for our children and a big thank you to Mrs Kinnear who co-ordinated the whole day. She went home exhausted but very happy with what everyone had achieved.

Our new log seats have arrived which were sourced from Ella’s Grandy. Grandy will continue to work in the garden next week, helping to plant a range of veg/flowers in the plant pots in and around the nursery. A big thank you to Grandy for all his help and assistance.

Thanks for taking the time to read our Blog. Please leave a comment or two.

Mrs Shields

Our last term begins with incredible success recognising all of our good work across the year.

North Lanarkshire Council hosts an annual Excellence & Equity Award Ceremony. We have two of our projects recognised:

Cathedral Dolphins – under the category of ‘Going The Extra Mile’ our P3 swimming programme has been shortlisted for an award

Charity Begins at Home – under the category of  ‘Productive Partnerships’ our work with Motherwell Food Bank has been shortlisted for an award

Award ceremeny is scheduled for 9th May….watch this space!

Outdoor Learning – our fabulous nursery has been shortlisted for an Early Years Award for their work in Forest Kindergarden. The judges will be visiting the nursery on 2nd May, fingers crossed!

Clyde in the Classroom – Miss Coughlan’s class has submitted their fantastic video for this award, we wait with baited breath!

1 +2 Awards – Madame Ali has nominated a number of our pupils for awards under the umbrella of Primary modern Languages, this award ceremony is on 22nd May. Exciting times ahead.

This week has been such a successful week for so many of our pupils, recognition of our work in so many different ways.

Cross Country:

Results from the Cross Country competition at Dalziel Park on 25th April where the sun shone most of the time.

P5 girls Silver in the team event.

P5 boys Gold in the team event and Dominic Duffy earned an individual bronze medal for placing 3rd.

P6 girls Gold in the team event and Jessica Donnelly earned an individual silver medal for placing 2nd.

P6 boys Bronze medal in the team event.

P7 girls Gold in the team event and Molly McLeod earned an individual Gold and Emily Fitzpatrick an individual Silver.

P7 boys Bronze in the team event.

Mrs M M Murphy, a VERY proud coach said:

‘All teams performed to a high standard and their efforts over the last few months of training paid off as each stage and gender placed as a team. A great achievement for all who took part.’

 

 

Mrs McCarthy and her dedicated Reading Quiz Team took part in the Finals of North Lanarkshire Readinq Quiz. They were fabulous bookworm ambassadors for our school and did incredibly well, we’re very proud of you all. Here’s the happy team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday evening our choir was honoured to sing the opening numbers in Christian Aid Concert in Motherwell. This was a wonderful community event and we were delighted to be included. Quote from the evening from one of the adult performers:

‘ Cathedral choir were excellent tonight. Great singing, great songs and all exceptionally well turned out. A credit to you.’

Wednesday after school we were delighted to host a ‘Tapestry’ event in our school on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council. A huge thanks to our House Captains and Vice Captains who stayed on after school to form a welcome committee, they were fabulous ambassadors for our school.

Friday Night was our annual Race Night, although not as busy as usual (probably due to re-scheduling because of snow) we still raised an amazing £1800.00. It was a super evening, thanks to all who came along, parents, staff and friends of our school community and to those who sponsored races, bought horses and provided raffle prizes. Special thanks to our Fabulous Fundraisers who organised all of the event and worked tirelessly on the evening to ensure a most successful night.

We are delighted to be nominated for so many awards for our work, however, more importantly there is a huge range of excellent work on-going in our school which cannot go unrecognised, photographs below show some of the work taking place with Young Leaders and STEM.

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Meanwhile down in the superb nursery, it’s all happening!

Spring has sprung in the nursery with children discussing the signs of Springtime.

The children decided to turn the market stall into a Garden Centre and made playdough soll with lentils in it to look like seeds. They filled there plant pots with it and placed a range of flowers in it. The children have been role-playing in the garden centre and made a little cafe and a menu to go along with it.

Outdoors the children have been weeding and preparing the garden for Ground Force day. They have created an interactive plant outside to help them name the parts of a flower. Next week they will be planting their own flowers and vegetables.

In numeracy the children have been concentrating on shapes using the SmartBoard to match and sort shapes. They have been looking for shapes withih the playroom and they have been using the ABC music props to name and match shapes.

In snack we have been busy concentrating on shape food. On the menu this week they have been having triangle and rectangle toast, square crackers and circle pizzas.

On Tuesday the children were in the sensory garden when they discovered some giant footsteps and a bag full of magic beans. They brought them indoors to let all the children see what they found. Some children thought that they could be the magic beans from the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. They listened to an audio version of the story and have been using the props to role-play the events in the story.

In literacy the children have been listening to Spring stories and scribing some Spring words for display. They created signs and a menu for the cafe in the Garden Centre. They have also been listening to and role-playing ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.

In art they have been busy creating shape flowers using forks, cake cases and their fingers. Please take a look at the lovely rainbow display that they have created to show their hard work. They have used junk to build theur own beanstalks and Giants castle. Watch out for more next week.

A little reminder. Wednesday is our Ground Force day. We are still looking for volunteers to help with weeding, grass cutting, painting, fence erecting and a little bit of joinery work So if you are handy with a saw or a drill please put you name on the volunteer list.

Thanks in advance.

The Nursery Team

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Mrs Shields

A warm welcome back to everyone for our final school term.

Throughout the week we have all been very busy working hard in our classes.

Some changes to our school personnel:

We have created additional Senior Management Posts making best use of our PEF funding to provide excellent expertise and additional opportunities for our children.

Mrs Marie Clare Duffy (previously Principal Teacher) continues in her role as Acting Depute Head Teacher with additional responsibility for Health & Wellbeing

Mrs Brenda McCoy (previously Principal Teacher) has been appointed as an additional Acting Depute Head Teacher with responsibility for Literacy

To ‘back-fill’ both of these Principal Teacher posts Miss Stephanie Love and Mrs Leanne Tominey have been successful at interview and are now both Acting Principal Teachers with additional responsibility for Playground Resources & Organisation and Library.

Congratulations to all 3 new appointments, I am confident our school community will greatly benefit from their expertise. I anticipate a real drive forward in our school in all aspects of learning & teaching.

‘Cathedral Dolphins’ As part of our PEF funding we created opportunity for P3 pupils, alongside their parents, to build water confidence. Using Firpark pool we have employed a swimming coach and lifeguard to work with our P3 pupils each Tuesday afternoon. This wonderful, unique learning has been recognised by North Lanarkshire Council and our ‘Dolphins’ have been short listed for an Excellence and Equity Award! Brilliant work, we are delighted to have our school recognised in this most prestigious manner.

Thursday morning brought great excitement with a number of our pupils arriving at school on ‘The Bonkers Bus’

Riley Lafferty in P4 won this opportunity for him and a number of his friends in a Radio competition, well done Riley. As you can see below great fun was had by all including ‘Bonnie’ The Official Glasgow 2018 Mascot.

What a great way to arrive in style!

This week our nursery pupils are ‘Spring-ing’ into action, watch this space next week for details of their work.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read the Blog, let us know your thoughts.

Mrs Shields