We have a busy start to term 4.  Work on our school garden started on Thursday and should be completed by early this week.  Our children will be planting and growing their own fruit, vegetables and herbs very soon.

Our children also enjoyed some outdoor learning this week due to the better weather.  Hopefully there will be lots of opportunities for outdoor learning this term.

Our P7 children enjoyed a road safety workshop on Friday afternoon.  They participated well and their behaviour, as always, was exemplary.

For our week ahead, we have a Parent Council meeting on Monday evening at 6.30pm in school.  We also have our first Friday Mass at 10am on Friday morning in St. Francis Xavier Church.  This will be followed by our usual coffee morning.  As always, we will be looking for donations of home baking (nut free, please) and raffle prizes.  P4 will be leading the liturgy and our coffee morning.

Please keep an eye on our school website – all of our after school clubs for term 4 will be finalised this week and details will be posted there.

Our Primary 3 children did themselves, their parents and our school proud last week on Tuesday evening when they made the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  It was a beautiful service and very well attended by parents and extended families.

Our Primary 2 children had a mini-beast workshop to tie in with their topic.  They also had their first two butterflies too!  I suspect there will be a few more tomorrow morning when we arrive back in school.

Our week ended with our final Lenten Charity fundraiser – non-uniform day.  I’m sure we will miss all of our theme Fridays and thanks to all who entered into the spirit of things.  We will let you know how much money we have raised for our chosen charities as soon as it has been totalled.

A massive thank you must go to our upper school volunteers who gave up some of their Saturday yesterday to bag pack in Tesco in Wishaw.  A massive £443.44 was raised – well done everyone, and thanks must also go to our Parent Council for organising this event.

For our last week ahead, we are having a whole school money week.  Credit Union will speak with our children during Monday morning’s assembly and there are lots of money-themed activities planned.

P5/6 are going across to the Church on Monday morning for Stations of the Cross.  We are also having a whole school mass on Wednesday morning at 10am.  Our P5 children will lead the liturgy for this Mass and all are welcome.

Wednesday evening is parents’ evening and we look forward to meeting with you all then.

On Thursday evening, 12 of our P7 pupils will participate in Mass and washing of the feet at St. Francis Xavier Church as it is Holy Thursday.

Remember school closes at 2.30pm on Thursday for our spring break.

I hope you all have a restful break and look forward to welcoming children back to school at 9am on Monday 20th April.

Our week started with our fabulous choir performing at the Glasgow Music Festival.  They came fourth (although we think they should have won!) and the judges commented on how beautifully presented they were.

On Tuesday, we had a representative from Yorkhill Children’s Charity, another of our Lenten Charities.  All of our themed Fridays are intended to raise funds for these very worthwhile causes and we appreciate your £1 donations each week towards them.

On Friday, all of our children watched the solar eclipse safely on class smartboards.  Children learned lots about an eclipse and eyesight safety; some classes wrote fabulous writing pieces on solar eclipses too.

For our week ahead, we are having confessions for P4 to P7 children throughout the week.  Our Primary 2 children are getting a Mini Beast workshop on Wednesday to tie in with their current topic and it looks set to be very interesting.  Our Primary 1 children will also be getting height and weight checks on Wednesday, and dental health checks on Friday.

On Saturday 28th, our Parent Council have organised for a bag packing day in Tesco in Wishaw.  Our upper school children have been invited to help out at this, to raise funds for our school.  If you have still to return your slip to say your child can help out, then please do so this week.  Also, if you want any further information regarding this event, please contact the school office.

Our Primary 3 children will be making the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday evening in St. Francis Xavier Church.  Letters were issued to parents on Friday with further details on this.  Please ensure your child is at Church 15 minutes before the beginning of the service and is dressed in full school uniform.

This week ahead is our last full week before our Spring Break – remember school closes on Thursday 2nd April at 2.30pm.

A few parents have asked if the children will be allowed to witness the solar eclipse tomorrow as it would be a shame to miss it.  As much as I agree with the sentiment, there is still a lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity regarding the potential risks to eye sight.

We have researched the dangers thoroughly and the most up to date information was posted on sky news less than an hour ago.  A link to the article can be accessed here:

http://news.sky.com/story/1447610/solar-eclipse-how-and-where-to-see-it

As you can see, they are stating that it is not safe to look directly at the eclipse, nor is it safe to use a pin-hole device to do so.  This is also the case with a partial eclipse, as is the case tomorrow.

Given the potential significant, life-long damage to eye sight, I feel the considered and measured response is not to allow children outside to witness the eclipse.  We are aware of several websites that are showing the eclipse live and teachers will have this feed showing on their smartboards.  This is the best possible compromise, as children still get to see the eclipse without any of the associated risks.

Keeping our children safe is at the heart of every decision we make in Our Lady and St. Francis Primary School, as I’m sure it is yours as their parents and carers.  I am sure you will understand that our decision has been made with our children’s best interests at heart.

Our P7s had a visit to the Grotto this week, accompanied by the Legion of Mary.  They were taught about stations of the cross and the ladies commented on how respectful and well-behaved our children were.  It is the turn of our P3s this week ahead.

Elisenda, our Spanish language student, continues to work with our upper school children teaching them Spanish words and phrases.  Our children continue to enjoy this very much and their Spanish is coming on a treat!

We had a representative from St. Andrew’s Hospice speaking at assembly on Tuesday, which is one of our Lenten Charities.

Our week ended with ‘Back to Front’ day.  There were touches of genius with some of the ideas – we even had ear-rings on back to front with some pupils!  Well done everyone!

On our week ahead, we have the Glasgow Music Festival on Monday morning.  I am sure our choir will do very well as they have been practising hard with Mrs Ewart and are sounding wonderful.  Our choir rehearsal on Monday is cancelled after school as I think the children will have earned a well-deserved rest by that point!

A representative from Yorkhill’s Children Charity will be speaking to our children on Tuesday morning at assembly, as this is one of our chosen Lenten Charities.  ‘Badger the Mystical Mutt’ will also be speaking to our infant classes on Tuesday morning and I know the children will really enjoy this visit.

Friday, it is our ‘Mad Hatters’ Day’ so dig out the maddest hats you can find for this week’s fundraiser!

Our week ended with a beautiful Enrolment Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church.  Our children, as always, did us proud.  Several parishioners commented on their beautiful singing and how well they conducted themselves throughout Mass.  Many thanks to Deacon Jim and Father Ambrose for celebrating Mass for us, and Liam Lees for playing the organ.

The coffee morning which followed Mass was our busiest yet and we raised a massive £485!!  A huge thank you must go to all who attended, supported or donated in any way.  A special thank you must go to our fabulous ladies in our Parent Council who give up their time every month to set up and clear up after these events.  We couldn’t do it without them and their help is greatly appreciated.  P5 also did very well assisting at our coffee morning – well done, boys and girls.

Our PJ/Onesie day on Thursday was a great success and it was great that everyone entered into the spirit of the day – we even had slippers and teddies at school!  All of these Lenten events are a bit of fun for the children, but more importantly, they are to raise money for our nominated Lenten charities.  Please remember to send in your £1 donations with your child on fundraiser days.

Rehearsals for our upcoming Glasgow Music Festival (Monday 16th March) are really hotting up now.  Mrs Ewart worked with our choir on Thursday and will be working with them again on Monday.  We are having a choir rehearsal after school on Monday and, with only a week to go to the Festival, it’s really important that as many people as possible attend.

Our week ahead:  Monday we have the Legion of Mary working with P7.  They will be taking them across to the Grotto for stations of the cross and will work with other classes in upcoming weeks.

We have a Confirmation Information Evening on Tuesday evening at 7pm in St. Francis Xavier Hall for our P6 and P7 parents.

Our Primary Reading Quiz takes place on Thursday and Mrs Crooks will accompany our children to this event.  The children have been working and studying very hard for this event and we wish them well.

On Friday, it’s our back to front day – children can wear their own clothes for the day, but must try to wear them back to front!

As always, if you have any comments our suggestions for our blog, please use the ‘Comments’ facility below.

Another successful and busy week in Our Lady and St. Francis!  Our ‘Dress As a Favourite Film Character Day’ on Friday was a huge success and there were a number of fantastic ‘characters’ in school.  On Friday evening we had the hugely successful Frozen Singalong.  We raised approximately £700!!  Thank you to all who attended and supported this event, this money will be spent on our children for additional resources in school.  We have to say a massive thank you to our Parent Council for their tireless commitment to fundraising for our school.  They did a power of work preparing for last night and its success is down to their organisation and enthusiasm.

We attended the Cross Country trials on Thursday and a number of our children have been placed and have made it to the next round – well done!  Thank you also to our parent helpers.  Without their help, we couldn’t attend these events.

We have another busy week ahead of us in OLSF.  On Thursday, we have our Onesie/Pyjama Lenten fundraiser and on Friday we have our First Friday mass and coffee morning.  This Mass will also be an enrolment Mass for our P3, P4, P6 and P7 pupils who will be receiving Sacraments this year.  Parents and carers who are able to attend are welcome to do so.  Please note, there will be no 820am Mass on Friday.

We are delighted with the turnout of children and families at morning Mass during Lent and hope this continues throughout the month of March.

This week saw the start of Lent.  We joined our parish community for Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church and our children sang beautifully – well done, boys and girls.

Friday was our first Lenten Charity fundraiser with ‘Crazy Hair Day’.  What a great effort everyone went to with their crazy hairstyles – I think some children might have had different coloured pillows by the morning with all the bright coloured hair on show!  Thank you to all parents and carers for entering into the spirit of this (and staff too).

Morning Mass at 820am also started on Thursday and it was fantastic to see such a good turnout from our school – I hope this continues throughout Lent.  Children who attend Mass still have time to make it to our breakfast club before school starts.

We were fortunate enough to have a visit from a representative from the ‘Let the Children Live’ charity on Tuesday at our assembly, which is one of our Lenten Charities this year.  This week some sixth year Caritas pupils from Taylor High will speak at our whole assembly about SCIAF, another of our Lenten Charities.

We continue to have Elisenda working with our upper school classes to learn Spanish.  Elisenda is a Spanish assistant at Taylor High School and will be working with us for the next few weeks.  Elisenda was most impressed by our children’s enthusiasm and ability to speak in the Spanish language.

The Literacy Base tutors also continue to work with us in school and this term they are working with P2, P3, P4 and P5/6.  All of our children are benefitting from their expertise and we are very grateful for their continued support.

Our garden plans are coming along – Mr White has kindly organised for all necessary resources to be purchased, and we are now awaiting the delivery of 10 raised planters and we can start growing food as a school.  This is a very exciting project which I am sure children will really benefit from and enjoy immensely.

For our week ahead, we have our ‘Dress as your favourite film star’ day on Friday and also our Frozen Singalong on Friday evening – it looks set to be another great week!

On Wednesday of this week, four of our pupils participated in North Lanarkshire Council’s Euroquiz.  They did tremendously well and were only 4 points away from the winning team.  A huge well done to all of them for both their participation and their behaviour and positive attitudes throughout.  A huge thank you also to Mrs Crooks for preparing them so well and accompanying them on the day.

Our children brought home jotters this week for parents to see and our response was overwhelmingly positive.  We are delighted to share all their hard work with you and it’s lovely to hear the positive feedback.

On Friday of this week we had a ‘Wild About Scotland’ bus in our yard.  P6 and P5/6 pupils had the opportunity to visit the bus and had workshops on Scottish wildlife.  Look out for their pictures in the Motherwell Times very soon!

This week ahead we will be joined by Elisenda, a Spanish assistant from Taylor High.  She will be working with our upper school to help them with their Spanish fluency.  We will also be joined again by the English department on Monday who will be working with our Primary 7 pupils as part of our transition programme.

Our first Friday Mass will take place this Friday, with P5/6 leading the Mass.  This will be followed by our coffee morning, again led by P5/6.  As always, we will be looking for donations of home baking (nut free, please) and raffle prizes.  We will also be announcing our 200 club winner at the coffee morning.

Our Parent Council have announced that their upcoming Frozen Singalong is a complete sell out!  They were inundated with requests for tickets on Friday when they went on sale and we are delighted with the response.  It looks set to be a great night!

Week 3 of our Asda’s Chosen for You cause sees us firmly in the lead.  Please continue to support our school in Asda Motherwell when you do your weekly shopping.  The winning cause gets £200 and we are well on our way.

We have had a film crew in this week filming our P7 and P3 pupils for North Lanarkshire Council.  Our children will feature in an Active Literacy training DVD and will be used by teachers and practitioners who are new to the Active Literacy programme.  The film crew and personnel from the Active Literacy base commented very positively on the behaviour of our children.  We know we have fantastic children, but it is lovely when visitors comment on this too.  Well done, boys and girls!

In our week ahead, we have a Science Bus coming to the school on Friday called ‘Wild About Scotland’.  Mrs Donnelly from P5/6 organised this for our school – many thanks to her for doing this.  I’m sure our children will benefit greatly from this fantastic experience.

Our Parent Council will be selling tickets for our upcoming ‘Frozen Singalong’ evening in St. Xavier’s Hall on Friday 27th February 2015 at 6pm.

The cost of entry is £2 per person which will include juice and a chocolate bar for children, tea/coffee and a snowball for adults. Please note, all children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult at this event.

Tickets will be sold on first come first served basis just after 3pm on Friday 30^th January in the school foyer. If there are any tickets left they will be able to be purchased at the next school coffee morning on Friday 6^th February.  I think this will be a very popular event, so if you want to come along, please make sure you buy your tickets early!  Many thanks to Mrs Donnelly for organising all of this for us.