Children were encouraged to walk to school at assembly last Wednesday and were made aware of the badges they can earn by walking, cycling or ‘scooting’ to school.  Taylor High staff visited our P7 pupils last week and pupils were given the opportunity to speak individually to staff about going to High School.  Children learned lots about Rights Respecting Schools on Friday during our awareness day.

Looking to our week ahead, we have a Parent Council on Monday at 6 pm in our staff room; as always all are welcome.  Our infant staff will be starting their visits to local nurseries to meet with our new starts in advance of our Induction Days this month.

On Thursday, the Motherwell Times will be in to take photographs of our Primary 7 pupils; full school uniforms for this please.

On Friday, it is our First Friday Mass and coffee morning, led by our P4/5 pupils.  As always, we are looking for donations of shop bought cakes and biscuits and raffle prizes.  We hope you can join us at this.

Last week, our Glee Choir performed fantastically well at the Civic Centre on Wednesday evening. They did so well that they were awarded the Esprit de Glee trophy – a massive thank you to Mrs Cahill and Miss Newall for all of their hard work.

It was also Book Week all week in OLSF and the children enjoyed the many and varied activities on offer. Their costumes were fantastic on Friday and they all got to show the rest of the school what they were dressed as at the Parade on Friday afternoon.  A massive thank you to Mrs Taggart and Mrs Crooks for organising the week and ensuring the children had so much fun.

Looking to our week ahead, there will still be some book week activities taking place into next week.  Our children will be participating in the Glasgow Music Festival on Monday; they will return late to school and will be dropped off at the Xavier Centre for safety. Mrs Cahill will text when they are ten minutes away, but the approximate return time is 4.30pm.

Our senior pupils will be participating in a cross country event on Tuesday, and Mary’s Meals will be speaking with our children on Wednesday as they are one of our Lenten charities.

On Thursday, our P7 pupils will be visited by Mr Mark Dorris from Taylor High School.

Please remember that morning Mass is on every morning at 8.25 am at St. Francis Xavier Church and this is a lovely way to start the day during the season of Lent.

Last week we welcomed South Lanarkshire colleagues to P1 and P7 as part of our family group work.  Our Primary 6 pupils enjoyed a Health and Well-Being event at Taylor High School on Friday.

This week is Financial Education Week in OLSF and our pupils will be learning all about money and finances.  We welcome the MACA Project to the school during the week as part of financial education week.

We welcome back Mrs Pauline Donnelly this week and also welcome Miss Rachel Peattie to our staff team.

As always, if you have any comments/suggestions to make regarding our blog, please use the comments facility on this page.

Last week our choir performed at the Regents Shopping Centre in Hamilton…. if you haven’t already done so, please vote for our choir at: https://subzerorecordingstudio.co.uk/choir/

Our whole school enjoyed going to see Aladdin at the Civic Centre on Tuesday, and their behaviour, as always, was fantastic.

Our nursery nativity performances were a big hit on Thursday, and the children added some unexpected ‘extras’ into their performances, adding to their ‘cute’ factor!

On Friday, we celebrated a beautiful Mass led by P6 and this was followed by a coffee morning in the hall.  P6 entertained their guests with some Christmas tunes too!

Looking to our week ahead, our infant nativity performances are on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons at 1.45pm, and on Tuesday evening at 7pm.  All performances have sold out and I’m sure you will thoroughly enjoy it.  Please note, there will be early lunches on Tuesday and Wednesday to accommodate this (12.15-1pm).

On Thursday, it is our Christmas lunch; please ensure your child has money on their card in advance (if they pay for their school dinners), and also remind them of their choices in the morning.

On Friday, our P6s and P7s have their Christmas party in the afternoon.  Children can be collected from 12.15pm if they are going home for lunch.  Please note, an adult must collect children if they are leaving early as there will be no crossing patrol.

Last week we welcomed staff from South Lanarkshire schools to work alongside P1, P1/2, P4, P6 and p6/7 staff.

Two p7 pupils had the opportunity to say bidding prayers at the Annual Education Mass on Tuesday night in Cathedral Church, and P6 and P7 pupils attended the SCIAF Mass on Thursday evening in St. Francis Xavier.  Our children are enjoying a wealth of out of school hours clubs this term, including dance, rosary, music, cross country, football and netball.  We are in the very privileged position of having Claire Maxwell, the coach for Scotland’s national netball team, coaching our netball club!  A huge thank you to Claire for giving up her time to give our young people an incredible experience.

Looking to our week ahead, we have a Parent Council meeting on Monday at 6pm in school and everyone is welcome.

On Tuesday, we are having a STEM challenge day. Mr Rankin has organised all sorts of fantastic activities for our children throughout the school.

On Friday, interim reports will be issued, so please keep an eye on your child’s schoolbag for this.

It was a very short week last week due to the snow – as you know, all NL schools were closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday due to extremely challenging weather conditions.  We hope the children enjoyed getting out in the snow and had fun!

Looking to next week, we are hoping that schools will be back to normal; please keep checking twitter for updates.  It is ‘Book Week’ in OLSF next week, and you have all already received a letter with planned activities from Mrs Taggart and Mrs Crooks.

Stations of the Cross will continue only if conditions are deemed to be safe enough for children to go over to the Grotto – we will risk assess this prior to Tuesday morning.

There is a football festival planned for Wednesday, but again, this will only be confirmed nearer the time depending on weather conditions.

Our Primary 1 pupils will be starring in their very own assembly on Thursday afternoon – P1 parents have been lettered separately about this.

On Friday, it is ‘Dress as Your Favourite Book Character’ Day as part of our Lenten charities fundraising events.

We had two very successful discos on Monday night of last week; many thanks to our Parent Council for organising. There was a massive staff turn out and I would personally like to thank everyone for coming along to support our children.  On Tuesday, our P6 pupils continued with their playground leaders’ training.  On Wednesday, our pupils got to meet their new teachers and class mates in our transition afternoon.  Thursday, all pupils enjoyed an Author’s Live event by Guy Bass and on Friday, our nursery and P1 pupils enjoyed their Teddy Bear’s Picnic, supported very well by our P7 pupils.

We are now moving to our last full week of this session.  Our P4 pupils had the opportunity to participate in a Corpus Christi Mass at Carfin Grotto at 11am today.  Our P6 pupils will continue with their playground leaders’ training on Tuesday.  We will be visited by Kevan Egan, Continuous Improvement Officer, on Tuesday afternoon.  Friday, our Primary 7 pupils will attend Mass at 10am at St. Francis Xavier’s Church and will then present their Leavers’ Assembly.

School will close for the summer holidays on Wednesday 28th June at 1pm.

Last week began with a trip to the Scottish Parliament with our Euroquiz Team – we came 13th out of 31 teams competing and our children did us proud! They prepared so well and presented themselves beautifully for the day – well done!

On Thursday our children experienced an outdoor learning day; this was so successful that it will become an annual event.  Children had fun toasting marshmallows, lighting fires (all risk assessed, of course!), playing on hammocks and rope swings and competing on assault courses.  It was sheer delight watching the children’s faces; they genuinely had the time of their lives! A huge thank you must go to all involved, including Mrs Murphy from Cathedral Primary, but the biggest thank you must go to Mr Maxwell for organising and overseeing the whole event.

On Saturday, the second half of our P4 children made their First Holy Communion.  Again, the weather wasn’t great, but our children did us proud. They participated in Mass beautifully and I’m sure their parents and families were as proud of them as we were.

Looking to our week ahead, it is our final Parents’ Consultation Evening on Wednesday.  Our P7 pupils are going to Taylor High on Wednesday and Thursday of this week for their two induction days.

The whole school will be attending Mass on Thursday at 10am to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension.  There will be no coffee morning following this Mass as it is not a First Friday Mass.

School and nursery are closed to pupils on Friday 26th and Monday 29th May for the May weekend holiday.

Last week started with an in-set day on Monday and the focus of this was numeracy, led by Miss Lewis.  P4 had a fabulous trip to Edinburgh Zoo on Wednesday, courtesy of Wiseman Dairies.  They had a fantastic time and several members of the public commented on how well they behaved throughout the day – well done, boys and girls.  Many thanks to the parents helpers who came along to assist Mrs Donnelly on the day.  Friday was our Day of Dance and our children danced their socks off!  We will publish the total raised in sponsor money once it has all been collated.  A huge thank you must go to Miss O’Donnell for coordinating the whole event; to all staff for their hard work, preparation and participation on the day; to our fabulous parent helpers who served teas and coffees throughout the day; and last but not least, to our fabulous dancers, our pupils!

Looking to our week ahead, we have John Wilson in on Wednesday to take nursery photographs, and they will also take any family photographs for nursery children too.

Our children will be practising hard for our upcoming Nativity and Carol Concert.  Our choir will also be working hard to prepare for the Regent Shopping Centre School Choir Competition too.  We have made it into the top ten and voting opens this week, so please spread the word and help us win again this year!