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Our Primary 6 representatives were delighted to be invited to attend Coatbridge High School’s Careers Fayre this afternoon.  They interviewed staff at several stalls and are now preparing their own presentation to report back to the whole school on Friday.

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Two major events dominate my thoughts this week…P7’s trip to Kilbowie Outdoor Centre in Oban & our World Book Day celebrations.

I know many of you have been following our adventures daily, thanks to the frequent tweets posted by Mr Sharp.  Our senior pupils had the time of their lives, making new friends they will meet again at high school and facing character-building challenges that they will remember as adults!  I have received fabulous reports, confirming that we have here confident individuals, responsible citizens, effective contributors and successful learners.  I am proud of every single one of you – thank you! I now look forward to seeing how you transfer the new personal attributes you have acquired into your daily learning and relationships back home.

However, I must also give a HUGE vote of thanks to Kirkshaws staff who left their own families for the week, to work 24 hours a day, to ensure our pupils had this experience that lasts a lifetime.  I should point out that I had another 2 members of staff who also volunteered to attend for the week!  I can’t thank our staff enough.  Without their willingness to go the extra mile, trips like this just wouldn’t happen.

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Whilst our P.7 pupils were away, everyone else immersed themselves in  World Book Day fun.  Daily DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) was enjoyed by every class when the DEAR bell rang at random times each day!  Bookbug came to visit our nursery – can you believe it? He was welcomed by all our young learners who thanked him for the gifts of books he left them.  On Thursday our pupils had the option of dressing up as their favourite fictional character, dressing down in their PJs for a bedtime story, or coming to school in uniform as usual (as we appreciate many children feel more comfortable dressed this way).  During the week we had a range of assemblies, focusing on the careers of authors and illustrators (skills for work), sharing favourite books (skills for life) and an Inter-House Reading Quiz (skills for learning). The Quiz was a tight race, but Summerlee won, with the other 3 houses drawing in second place!  AMAZING!

In other news, many thanks must go to our Fundraisers for running their Bingo Night last week.  As always, our learners will benefit from their efforts.  As many classes are planning educational excursions over the coming weeks, you will be delighted to know we will be able to subsidise every trip, thanks to these fundraising ventures.  In all cases, we will endeavour to keep costs as low as possible to ensure all children benefit from the experience of outdoor learning away from school.

We also had the pleasure of welcoming the Care Inspectorate to our nursery this week.  Staff, pupils and parents had the opportunity to engage with our inspector as she evaluated our self-assessment and offered advice for further developments.  Thank you to everyone who contributed to this visit.

Looking ahead to next week; Bikeability2 starts (taking our cycling proficiency out onto the open road), Bookbug sessions continue for our nursery families and several staff take part in Nurture training events!  There is no such thing as a typical week at Kirkshaws!

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My goodness…March already? I can hardly believe it!

This week has seen us enjoy some of the best weather we have experienced this session, with many classes taking their learning outside.  Whether it was the Daily Mile, or drawing fractions in the playground, our pupils gave it their all!  Miss Wyatt and the Eco Committee are involved in a very exciting project, developing a local Greenspace as a potential outdoor learning environment.  They have carried out risk assessments and are already involved in talks with local businesses as to how we can make a creative area that can be used by ourselves and the local residents.  More details coming your way as we find out what’s happening next!

Our P.6 pupils accepted the K’Nex challenge posed by Coatbridge High School staff this week.  All pupils demonstrated excellent problem solving strategies, teamwork and resilience as they created structures to fulfil the design brief.  We are now waiting to find out who will represent us at the transition event to be held at the high school.

P.5 completed their block of sports and swimming at the Time Capsule.  We were delighted with the effort shown by all.  During these sessions we witnessed non-swimmers becoming independent and confident in the water.  Amazing!  We are so proud of you all.

We took the opportunity to remind all pupils about the importance of Internet safety this week.  We will continue to work with you as you do the same at home.  As always, the safety or our children is our priority, whether they are at home, in school or in a virtual environment.

Could I take this opportunity to remind parents and carers of some safety rules to keep in mind as you drop your child off at school each morning and collect them each afternoon…

• no dogs are allowed in the school grounds
• there is no smoking allowed in the school grounds or at the school gate
• there is no parking available in the staff carpark

We know that parking in tight on Old Monkland Road and everyone won’t get a spot near the gates.  Please allow yourself extra time to ‘Park & Stride’ – park a little further away and walk together.  As always, these rules are in place to ensure the safety of your children.  Thank you for your support in upholding them.

As we move into the weekend, can I wish all our Fundraisers and friends good luck as they try their hands at Bingo tonight!

Also I must remind our P.7 pupils to get plenty of sleep this weekend – Kilbowie is calling!! 😃  See you bright and early on Monday morning!!

This week saw us start our new texting alert messages.  We’ve had a few teething problems, but thank you to everyone who has worked with  us to get this up and running.  Can I remind all parents and carers to phone the school office first thing each morning if your child is not attending school.  Our first priority is to ensure your child is safe.  With  your help we can make sure we start each day knowing that each Kirkshaws Kid is accounted for.

Our Netball and Football teams both performed well this week.  As well as impressive results during their matches, I am also delighted to report they were excellent ambassadors for our school; showing sportsmanship and resilience throughout.  The same goes for our Cross Country athletes.  We are delighted that so many have made it through to the area finals.

Science Week was a huge success.  All of our learners, from the youngest in our nursery class to our P.7 pupils, took part in practical investigations.  During our Pupil Voice assembly today we had fabulous feedback about what went well; working with a partner, working with a group, problem solving, surprising finds, new knowledge about variables, hypotheses and measuring outcomes.  However, our pupils are never satisfied…we also have a range of ideas of how we could improve the week. (Needless to say, explosions and potions are top of the list!) We will pass all of these ideas on to Mr Gall, who has been the driving force behind this focus week.

Our nursery parents enjoyed their first Coffee, Cake & Catch Up meeting this week.  As well as having the chance to get to know other parents, the group also took the chance to review some recent policy developments.  We welcome all opportunities to plan collaboratively with you, so look forward to more of this.

Our out of school hours learning opportunities are well underway now.  As the photos above show, it is not just teachers who do the teaching in our school.  You will see parents, students and sports coaches all acting as role models and mentors for our learners.  Active learning at its best!  Many thanks to everyone who volunteers to share their time, energy and talents for the benefit for our children – we really couldn’t do it without you!

Looking ahead to next week, remember our Fundraisers are holding a Bingo Night next Friday, 1st March.  Good Luck!

It may have been a short week, but I still found plenty to take encouragement from; many things to make me smile…just like our Kirkshaws Kids in the sunshine today!

Wednesday was an in-service training day for staff across North Lanarkshire.  Our staff took part in a range of exercises that should all have an immediate positive effect for our learners.  Nursery staff carried out an audit of the playroom environment, then made changes in light of their findings.  If you have been in the nursery this week I’m sure you will agree that the new layout gives an impression of space as well as clearly defined areas for activity.  Our youngest pupils are responding well to the new space.  Most of the teachers joined with staff from other local schools to ensure we are providing enough challenge and a suitable range of tasks in our numeracy programme.  We also took part in training using the Resilience Toolkit.  This should help us better identify pupil needs and possible interventions. However, Mr Gall & Mr Sharp had a more active day! They pulled on their sports kits and took part in a developmental movement course which they intend to put into practice with some pupils this term.

Many thanks to our Fundraisers group who organised another great Coffee Morning as our pupils returned to school on Thursday.  With your help, they raised £100 which will be put to good use to give our children those little treats we would otherwise not be able to afford. Thanks must also go to our pupils who performed throughout the morning.

Ms Ralston continues to welcome nursery families to Bookbug sessions.  It is most encouraging the number of children, parents and grandparents who leave these workshops grinning from ear to ear with a spring in their steps!  If you haven’t participated in one yet, please speak to Ms Ralston – she would love to welcome you to the next one.

Looking ahead to next week, we are planning our Science Week programme.  Please ask your child/children what investigations they have been trying out in class – you never know what you may learn yourself!

Many thanks must go to our Fundraisers once again.  Today they organised another fabulous coffee morning, raising more funds for our children!  Entertainment today was provided by our Scottish poetry and song winners from P.1-P.7. Well done to everyone involved – you are all stars!