It was great to welcome everyone back yesterday following the Christmas Break.  The children certainly seemed to have had a lot of fun and plenty of gifts from Santa.

We are pleased to welcome two new staff members for this term.  Mrs Devlin who will work mainly with P7 and the upper school on Mondays and Tuesdays and Mrs Marks who will be delivering support for learning for Literacy across the school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

We have a busy term ahead with lots of events planned.  P6 & 7 begin their preparation for Confirmation on Friday with a retreat at Newmains Pastoral Centre.  P3 & P4 are also beginning to prepare for Reconciliation and First Holy Communion.  Please remember them in your prayers.  A Sacramental Preparation meeting will be held for all Parents of P3,4,6 and 7 on Tuesday 27th January in St Bernadette’s Church.  6.30pm for P3 Reconciliation, 7pm for P4 First Holy Communion and 7.30pm for P6 & P7 for Confirmation.  If you have any questions regarding Sacraments please contact me or Fr Stephen as early as possible.

Enrolments for August new starts take place next week – Tuesday 1.30pm -4pm, Wednesday 9.30am -12 &  1.30-3pm and Thursday 1.30 -4pm.  Only Parents or Legal Guardians can enroll a child and please bring your child’s birth certificate, Baptismal certificate (if Baptised) and proff of current address.  Please share this information with neighbours or friends who may have children due to start school in August.

Next Friday P1 & P7 have a visit to the Science Centre planned.  I am sure they will have a lot of fun whilst learning.  We are also looking forward to having some chicks to hatch again this year.

Our Skillforce group begin their sessions again this term.  The work will be mainly outdoors and culminates in an overnight camp in the summer term.  We are looking forward to seeing the children develop their confidence and skills through their participation.

P1-P3 are soon going to be involved in a new and exciting reading programme.  We have just taken delivery of over 2000 brand new reading books given to us by Pearson Education as part of a pilot study into children’s attitudes and motivation to read.  We also have been given access to many more thousands of E books through the Active Learn website.  This will be used at home and in class.  We are really delighted to have been selected to participate.  A meeting for Parents has been arranged for Wednesday 21st January at 2.45pm to look at the materials and to provide information on how to access the digital materials from home.  Please do your best to come or arrange for a grandparent or friend to come if you are unable to attend.  It would be great if every child could get full benefit from this programme.

Please see below for information about the new Parent Zone Website –

Parentzone Scotland Parentzone Scotland has new and updated content on: Learning in Scotland – information about the curriculum from early years to beyond school; Learning at home – helpful hints and tips on how parents and carers can support their children’s learning at home including literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, and science; Additional support needs – identifying needs, planning support and useful information about specific additional support needs; Getting involved – how to get more involved in your child’s school, Parent Councils and information from the National Parent Forum of Scotland; My School – contact details for every primary, secondary and special school in Scotland, information on school awards, links to school websites; Improved navigation and search function; and Links to other relevant websites. Find out more on Parentzone Scotland (parentzonescotland.com). If you would like further information or to provide feedback please contact us.

​News for Parents and Carers email update If you would like to receive Education Scotland’s quarterly News for Parents and Carers e-mail update, you can sign up here. There are also details of other bulletins on this sign up page which are published for staff and may be of interest.

​If you would like further information or if you have any comments on Parentzone Scotland please contact us.