Welcome to our school Reflective Friday Post.

I want to begin by thanking  you for your monthly foodbank donations as part of our Reflective Friday structure. We have had a busy start to the new year and have begun lots of new learning at all stages. We enjoyed  a Developing The Young Workforce assembly based on my own experiences and look forward to input from Mr Mulvanny on his role as a referee and John Wilson on his photography business in February.

Our after school clubs have begun for the new term in story sacks, fundamentals,musical theatre, football, netball,sumdog and crosscountry where the uptake so far has been outstanding.

Cooking for our P6/7 classes is set to begin also so we have loads on offer and are aiming that every child in the school should have experience of at least one club so if there isn’t something there that catches your eye then let me know what other opportunities you would prefer.

Our Thinking Circles questions have related to our monthly SHANARRI focus of  being active and have explored ways in which we can all become more active in the year ahead.

We also used this format to explore the impact of our PEF spend on health and wellbeing by asking the children if they felt there had been an improvement to their general health in all its forms.

The main theme of their responses was that they felt happier, healthier and more excited about the variety of opportunities they were receiving. They felt less stressed and had more energy with their mental health being improved even more than their physical health.

Sumdog in particular made learners feel happier as they could feel their numeracy skills improving and with that their confidence also growing.

Staff have been working after school with staff from Cardinal Newman maths department to ensure shared understanding of levels and teaching methodology based on the use of active resources. CNHS staff will be coming to Holy Family for the next session to see first hand the resources and approaches we use to support learning and we look forward to strengthening this partnership working.

Our primary one enrolments have taken place in spite of the snow and our projected intake is over 25 children. Visits are continuing to our partner nurseries and we look forward to welcoming our new pupils for their transition sessions within our school environment.

The children should have completed their learning journeys today and set new targets for February. Please take some time to go through this with your child as we value your input and want to work closely with you to ensure success.

Mrs F Wilson