P7 Enrolment Mass and 2 Day Visit

As part of out P7 transition programme we were joined on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 June by P7 pupils from our six cluster primaries.

Pupils followed their S1 timetable visiting a wide range of classes and departments across the two days. Our new S1 pupils gained a great deal from the experience and are looking forward to joining us in August. Class teachers spoke very warmly of the hard work and positive attitude of all of our young people.

On Wednesday evening, Father McKay celebrated Mass for our new pupils and their families to welcome them to the community of Our Lady’s High School.

P7 Summer School

Summer School took place from 6 to 9 June for 22 young people from 8 primary schools.

Our new S1 pupils took part in various team games, ice breakers and a treasure hunt to get to know each other and the school. Our senior pupils did a fantastic job leading this activity.  We also had other fun activities in Drama, Home Economics, Music and English. We finished the week with a fantastic trip to ten pin bowling.

Caritas Awards Ceremony

21 Sixth Year students from Our Lady’s High were delighted to accept their Caritas Medals at a prestigious ceremony in the Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow.

The young people received the award for participating in 20 hours of faithful service in their local parish, 20 hours service in school as well as prayers and reflections. Well done to all involved.

Modern Languages Awards

Pupils from Our Lady’s attended the first ever North Lanarkshire 1+2 Award Ceremony held at Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie on 23 May 2017. The ceremony was in celebration of good practice and language learning throughout North Lanarkshire.

The following students received awards at the ceremony and they are a credit to the school and fantastic linguists- Well done everyone!

Ciaran Byers – Outstanding Language Learner-S1, Vanessa Liu – Outstanding Language Learner-S3, Flynn Malcolm – Language Ambassador-S1, Josh McMullen – Language Ambassador S2, Niamh Boyle – Language Ambassador S3 and Iga Malinowska – Most Improved Language Learner S3

As part of the North Lanarkshire Confucius Hub based here at Our Lady’s, our Ribbon Dancers performed during the ceremony and were fantastic!

The dancers are Alix Anderson, Holly Anderson, Sara Blake, Niamh Boyle, Ellie Canning, Abby Soutar and Sophie West.

Cooking up a treat!

Our Lady’s High School budding bakers showed off their skills during a six week S1 lunch club. This was a great success and helped pupils to develop their skills in practical cake craft, independent and collaborative learning. Pupils created jungle themed cakes of an excellent quality with some fantastic modelling of the animals.

S3 Hospitality pupils were challenged to design healthy new pasta dishes suitable for sale in the school lunch hall. Pupils were encouraged to explore the areas of new product development, different cooking methods, nutrients in foods, marketing and promotion. This project allowed learners to experience a depth of learning across the wider curriculum. Learners understood how a variety of subjects linked to this project and transferred skills that they have gained into meaningful active learning. Look out for the new pasta dishes, spicy chicken pasta and garlic and chilli chicken pasta on sale soon!

BGE (S1-S3) Award Ceremonies

We are delighted to announce the date of our BGE (S1-S3) Award Ceremonies. These will take place on Thursday 22 June 2017 at the following times:

S1- 9.15am, S2- 11.15am and S3- 1.30pm

Each ceremony will last for approximately 1 hour and we look forward to welcoming parents on this day. Details of award winners will be issued shortly.

Blackpool Payment Dates

The total cost per pupil for the trip to Blackpool is £32. Payment will be collected on the following dates: Wednesday 31 May – S1,Thursday 1 June – S2, and Friday 2 June – S3. Payment will not be accepted after these dates.

The trip is booked for Tuesday 27 June 2017.

Trip to M&Ds

A group of 33 S3 pupils enjoyed a day at M&Ds Theme Park on Thursday 25 May as part of NLC’s Celebrating Success competition.

Pupils were selected based on their attendance and timekeeping, merits and de-merits, commitment to the school uniform policy and their academic progress and/ or effort throughout the year. Names were drawn from a hat due to the large number of pupils eligible for this trip.

Salter’s Festival of Chemistry

Jessica Cox, Alexander Peters, Rebekah McDermott and Liam Wilson recently attended the Salter’s Festival of Chemistry.This event gave pupils the opportunity to develop their problem solving and practical chemistry skills within the University laboratories.

The pupils worked as a team to solve two investigations-The Salter’s Challenge and The University Challenge. A number of schools attended the event and Our Lady’s High School came first in the University Challenge winning a prize for the Science Department. Well done!

Deeper Learning Week for S1 – S3 Pupils: 15-19 May

Deeper Learning Week provided an opportunity for our learners to engage in rich tasks and interdisciplinary learning activities. Our normal timetable was collapsed for the week to allow fun and innovative learning activities to take place. Here are some of the highlights of the week.

Technical Activities

In Technical, S1 pupils worked on making a knots and crosses board that they previously made on 3D modelling software called Inventor. Pupils developed their skills and confidence in measuring and marking, drilling and sanding. The boards were then personalised. Also in Technical, S2 pupils worked in teams to create a cardboard bridge to span a 1 meter gap. Pupils had limited materials to work with so they had to problem solve and think of a suitable structure that would be strong enough to hold the cars and ways to decorate their bridge. There was then a competition based on the best structure and the most visually impressive bridge.

Physical Education

In PE, pupils in S1 and S3 enjoyed participating in various activities in the department. Dance, gymnastics, handball, football, table-tennis, basketball, netball, ultimate frisbee, rounders and capture the flag were part of an options programme. Having a positive mindset was the focus for the day.

Modern Languages and Social Subjects

The Modern Languages Department worked with Social Subjects over two days with S1 and S2. The pupils completed an activity based around the theme of South American culture. There was a quiz in the morning, then the pupils worked in groups producing a mini project on a certain aspect of Spanish Life. This was presented to the class, leading nicely on to a film based on Rio. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and worked well together.

English

In English, S1 took part in a ‘Theme Park’ activity in English where they had to use their creativity and collaborative skills to design an original theme park. They then went on to showcase their ideas in a group presentation to the class.

Science Trips

During Deeper Learning week S1 and S2 pupils visited the Glasgow Science Centre and Our Dynamic Earth Centre in Edinburgh. Pupils learned about the Big Bang Theory, formation of the Solar System, human digestion and respiration and the geology of planet Earth.