Today the RSPCA team were in school working with each class. The children enjoyed it and learned a lot about caring for animals. A number of children said this was their favourite activity of the week.

This morning I met with support staff and Mrs Preston to organise our TRAVEL PLAN LAUNCH.

The date we have decided on is Friday June 5th. We hope to have a number of invited guests in school and to have activities for the children based on ROAD SAFETY. If you can lend a hand in the planning or on the day please contact the school office.

Today I received notice that we will have a new nursery room built for two year olds. They will be in Mrs Lettis’ room and Mrs Lettis and Mrs Archibald will share her room and a new playroom which will be in the resource room. The resources will be moved to the open area at the seniors. We are looking forward to working with the very young children however we are bracing ourselves once more for the arrival of workmen in the school! I will keep parents updated with timescales when I have them.

This morning children in P6 and P7 enjoyed French “Immersion” sessions. Two French teachers join the class and speak only in French throughout the lessons. The children were definitely put on the spot! When they were leaving ladies told me that our children had been fantastic, both in their enthusiasm and their vocabulary. A big well done to Mrs Hamilton, Mrs Rae, Mr Duffy and Miss Dignam who teach French.

We continue to monitor the parking around the school and unfortunately there is still an issue with parents who have NO regard for the safety of our children. I appeal again to parents to park in Wishaw Sports’ Centre if they are driving to school. PLEASE don’t be the person who injures a child!

 

Children returned to school today after enjoying a lovely fortnight’s weather. The weather continues to be set fair so children will be in the playground working throughout this week. We are hoping they will get out into the gardens to weed and tidy. During the holiday the work  started on the paths at the sports centre following our recent funding from SUSTRANS. The outdoor shelter is almost finished and Mrs Byrnes class have planted some fruit trees in pots around the shelter. Today I booked a date for a Parent Workshop this term. We will look at God’s Loving Plan, GLOW and Decimals and Percentages. These are the areas parents have expressed an interest in. The date we have booked is Monday 18th of May. Please put this date into your diary.

 

 

We enjoyed one of the best weeks ever this week. We took part in Divided City with Castlehill Primary School and The Citizens’ Theatre.  I was so proud of the children, they truly were amazing and we were lucky enough to have Theresa Breslin, the author of the book in the audience for the evening performance. It was a great opportunity to work with another school and to make new friends. The book worked its magic again and we hope to meet up next term for a joint picnic and games afternoon.

Our second “celebrating assembly” took place. A greater number of children had their forms completed and we hope to build on this in the future. Please look out for the forms in your child’s bag.

Wednesday and Thursday we had cold lunches due to the set being built for Divided City, many thanks to the dining hall staff, school staff and parents for your help with this. Staff and parents also gave up their time to sell programmes and raffle tickets at the performance, and to bring in food to feed the Citizen’s crew, they are the best group of people ever! #appreciated

I attended a maths conference this week, it was interesting to hear all about national maths results and to look at ways of improving the attainment in our school. We have been looking closely at maths this year and will do so again next session. We are very lucky to have been chosen to be part of a CHEM testing pilot for the authority. Parents will hear more about this next term.

Friday was a great day, we were raising funds for our Lenten charities and dressed in rainbow colours for the day. A big thank you to Mrs Ward, Miss Chambers and Miss Ness for all their hard work in organising this. Thanks too, to Mrs Lettis who gave the children some HEARTSTART training and Mrs McKinnon who did some First Aid.

On Friday evening I attended a retirement celebration for two of my former Coatbridge colleagues. It was lovely to met up with them again and to hear all about their new plans! Good luck Mrs Allan and Mrs Macdonald!

Below you can see a collection of pictures from last week’s twitter page.

 

Monday 23rd of February – We had a visit from Father Grant from Holy Family Parish in Mossend. He spoke to the older children about the joy of the gospel. He brought some lovely photographs of Pope Francis which we have displayed in the school hall.

Each day this week two classes have attended Stations of the Cross in Church. many thanks to Father King for leading the service each day.

The Blessed sacrament was exposed in the oratory and staff gathered there at three thirty to pray and spend some time together in silence.

Classes each had two visits to the oratory over the week and spent time in silent reflection, prayer and contemplating using some gospel visualisations.

We received a donation of one hundred cakes from VAN SALES DIRECT this evening.

Tuesday 24th of February – Catherine McGrath from SCIAF spoke to all of the children from P1-4. She was amazed by the behaviour and the questions the children asked. She reminded me going out of the door that I have to ask for her next time!

Primary one continue to enjoy their Microfit lessons on a Tuesday. This week I did spot Mr Duffy and P2 having a wee sneaky shot!

Wednesday 25th of February – Miss Dignam started her final three days of maths recovery training. She has found this very worthwhile and hopes to take this forward next term in the Rainbow Room. She will then roll this out across the school next session.

Joanne from St Andrew’s Hospice was in school speaking to the infant children. The children all brought £1 in for badges and we managed to give her a substantial donation.

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon with the parishioners from both parishes on Wednesday afternoon. The tables were set with lovely cloths, china, flowers and cake stands full of lovely cakes. Many thanks to the parents of P5 P6 and 7 who baked and donated tea, coffee and sugar. The children enjoyed listening to the stories about the Sacraments and traditions when their visitors were young.

Mrs Campbell, Mrs Byrne and myself attended the Mass for probationers on Wednesday evening. It was very busy the singing and playing by Our Lady’s High School was of a very high standard.

Thursday 26th of February – we attended Mass at 8.30 in St Thomas’ Church. It was busy however we could have a lot more children coming along. Try to encourage your child to attend if possible.

A large number of our children attended the Cross Country event and a good number of them were placed and go through to the next round. Good luck children!

Morag Cunningham from The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow came into school to speak to our older children. She showed them a fly through of the new hospice which will be built on land at Bellahouston Park. this was gifted by Glasgow City. She was amazed by the questions the children asked and said that she had been asked similar questions by top executives in London and beyond.
We had a visit from Fr Ricky and Fr John from the Holy Ghost fathers. They shared their joy in spreading the gospel in Africa.
I have included a few pictures of our Pope Francis Faith Award children at the Alma Club in St Thomas’ Parish last week.

Friday 27th of February – Bishop Toal joined us for Mass. This was a joyful occasion and the children sang beautifully. their behaviour was outstanding and I was very proud of them! They are a credit to their families and the school.

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We started our week with a visit from a children’s author and a life size badger. The children loved hearing the stories and had the opportunity to buy some books afterwards.
Our Primary 2 children visited Overtown farm, the teachers had visited the week previously to carry out a full risk assessment. The farm was beautiful and the farmer very helpful. The children had the best time and enjoyed seeing the cattle, horses and pigs. They saw eggs being graded and visited the farm shop. This has been a wonderful way for the children to learn about where their food comes from.
All of our after school clubs for this term are now up and running, the turn out has remained steady with only a few dropping out each week. PLEASE encourage your child to be a responsible citizen and attend their chosen classes.

Mr Duffy, Mrs Preston and myself have spent time in the nursery this week. I had a great time making Chinese noodle salad to celebrate Chinese New Year. My pedometer showed more steps today than any other!!!

Primary 7 and Primary 2 classes visited Tesco’s Farm-To-Fork programme this week. Tesco do a great job with the children and they learn lots of new and interesting thing about the food we eat. P7 visited on Pancake Tuesday and enjoyed pancakes with their own choice of toppings!
Primary one continue to enjoy their Microfitness training on Tuesday afternoons. They are really excited and very tired at the end. I managed to grab a wee shot which the children found very funny for some reason!

Most classes made their own pancakes in class this week. I am delighted to see so many cooking experiences in school this term.

At our staff meeting this week the staff learned all about bilateral training – children are now working on this in class and at their PE sessions.

We were fortunate to have Father King distribute ashes in the school on Wednesday morning. Mass will be in St THomas’ Church each Thursday morning at 8.30.

Two of our children won the cluster badminton festival this week on home soil. We were delighted and the trophy has pride of place in my room!

Our Divided City rehearsals continue to build with children from Castlehill PS now taking over the lead parts in the second half of the show. Mr Finnon reports that the singing is fantastic – I can’t wait to see the final performance on March 12th.

Last Sunday and Thursday evening a large number of P3 and P4 children were enrolled for the Sacraments. Both Fr King and Fr Kryzstof stressed the need for our children to now attend Mass every Saturday night or Sunday. We are having a problem with children not returning their Sacramental workbooks each Thursday. This causes a number of problems for the children and their teachers. Please ensure your child has returned his/her workbook this week.

Friday was a dress down day and the children all had crazy hair. They are collecting money for our school SCIAF farm. Each class is keeping a visual record of what they have bought. This is displayed in the school hall. Please have a little look next time you are in school.

It is great to see the improvements in the fabric of the school building and we are now able to set up little learning areas outside the classrooms. There are lovely new sandpits outside P1 and P2 classes and P1 have a very smart opticians outside their class. they are looking at people who help us this term.

I spoke to a parent this week who told me she waits for my blog each Sunday evening! I am delighted that parents are finding this blog helpful and informative. thanks you Mrs J!

A selection of photographs from this week.

This week has been very topsy turvy due to staff absence, Miss Roy gave us all a big fright when she ended up in hospital undergoing an operation on her gall bladder! She is now home and on the mend. We send her our best wishes, we miss her cheeriness around the school!

Our new i-pads arrived and Mr Duffy spent a few hours setting them up and getting them into classes. It is lovely to see the timetables for next week include the use of the i-pads as part of the planned learning experiences!

Miss Chamber’s attended a drama course after school on Monday evening. A number of staff choose to attend training after school hours as this makes it easier to avoid having to get cover for a class.

On Tuesday 27th Mrs Archibald and Mrs Lettis attended a training day for the Primary One refresh pilot programme, they have been very busy over the last term setting up play activities to reinforce the learning taking place. We have invested a large part of our budget to buy new resources for the children. They are really enjoying them and our assessment of their progress shows that they continue to learn at a fast pace!

Mrs McKinnon and I spent some time this week working on the new website page on GLOW. watch this space……

At our staff meeting this week we looked at God’s Loving Plan resources. There will be a meeting for parents early next term before children begin the programme. We also spent time revisiting our assessment processes.

We had an excellent turn out of P3 and P4 parents at our Sacramental meetings on Tuesday evening. Class teachers took the parents through the learning which will take place in class and then father King and father Kryztof explained what the church expected of parents. All children who were not represented at the meeting have been given a letter home this week asking them to contact the clergy if they wish their child to receive the Sacraments.

We had a visit this week from Graeme Paterson who goes around schools talking to children about the First World War – staff and parents were very impressed by the way he engaged the children. He works completely free of charge and should be commended for the brilliant work he does!

Our Divided City rehearsals continued this week – we seem to get the snow each time the children have to walk to Castlehill Primary! Mr Finnon reports that the children are growing in confidence and working well with the children from Castlehill. We can’t wait to see the finished show in March.

Our after school clubs have started up again and we currently have football, badminton and Pope Francis Faith Award clubs running.

Mrs Archibald attended her second day of Solihull training this week. Primary one coped well without their teacher for two days this week!

The free lunch initiative for P1-3 is going very well so far however I am concerned by the amount of waste each day. If your child is having lunch perhaps think about the amount of snack they have at ten thirty? A number of children have a drink, crisps and a sweet at ten thirty then are expected to eat lunch at twelve thirty – something for parents to think about?

And finally…. this week I visited Mrs Allen in St Timothy’s Primary on the day she retired after forty years teaching. We receive great support from our colleagues in other schools and I am always a bit sad when someone we have the greatest respect for retires and moves to pastures new. I wish her every good health and happiness in the future.

A selection of photographs from this week’s Twitter page.

This week Mrs Preston and myself worked with our Child Protection Officer, Mrs Pat Holland. She tooks us through some new procedures and helped us to review our practice. It is all of our jobs to keep our children safe!  Mrs Ward and Miss Chambers both attended in-set training at NLC Literacy Base. They came back enthusiastic and ready to get working with Primary Three and Four.

I attended a session on PLAY with Linda Keith. Linda works with NLC to ensure the best experiences for our very youngest children. It was very interesting and I purchased a number of the books on the reading list. We are all home with abook this weekend – determined to make sure we stay at the forefront of new research.

Our new nursery speech and language therapists were in the nursery this week to meet the morning parents. A number of parents expressed an interest in speaking to them further about their children’s speech and language development. In a few weeks they will meet the afternoon parents.

Primary 6/7 were the first class to be involved in an assembly this session. Their subject was the referendum. The children were very mature in their attitude and gave good reasons for and against independence. One parent commented on Twitter that it was great to see the chidren having the chance to debate in a neutral situation. Great work boys and girls and Mrs Rae!

Primary One children have ben outside learning how to cross the road safely – I have included some Pictures!

A number of our older children attended a handball festival this week. Mr Finnon reported that they had a fantastic afternoon and the children were a credit to the school.

Remember the school is closed to children on Thursday for the referendum.

Please find some pictures attached….

This week started with a meeting with Liz Fitzpatrick who develops programmes for use in schools in her company PLAYBACK. We piloted a new health programme last year and this is now being sent to the publishers. Its is always interesting to be at the forefront of new developments!

On Tuesday we celebrated the first Mass of the new term. The theme was NEW BEGINNINGS. Primary 7 led the liturgy very successfully and set the standard for this year! . Our Mass was in the school hall and our Primary 1 children did very well.

I attended our first Parent Council meeting this week. They have planned a Ladies’ Night as their first fund raiser. Please support them! The next meeting will be the AGM. If you are interested in being involved then this is your opportunity?

Date and time will be sent out in a text.

On Thursday and Friday I attended the CHAPS conference in St Andrew’s. CHAPS stands for Catholic Headteacher Association of Primary Schools. Archbishop Cushley concelebrated Mass. Our Head of Service Isobelle Boyd gave a very interesting and informative talk on Cardinal Newman. It is also a great opportunity to meet up with HTs from across Scotland.

The new sexual education programme GOD’S LOVING PLAN was launched at the conbference. I am including some pictures of our children doing their work outdoors – fabulous learning taking place!