Message from Mrs Cunningham

The following message was sent to all parents/carers this week:

Dear Parent/Carer

I am writing to you following the Scottish Government announcement yesterday that schools will not open until at least mid-February.  A further update is expected at the beginning of February.

The staff of Our Lady’s are very much looking forward to welcoming all of our pupils back into the school building as soon as we are given the go ahead. Until then we are continuing with online lessons on Microsoft Teams.  Despite some initial problems with the software at the start of last week, things have settled down.  Sometimes a little patience is need when joining a team but things are getting easier for everyone as we get used to the system and this different way of learning and teaching.

I want to once again acknowledge that online learning and teaching can be difficult for families, especially where young people are sharing devices.  While the ideal is for young people to be following their timetable during the day, we are fully aware that some young people can’t access Teams at that time.  A record of the meeting and any work set will be available for any young person joining out with class time.
I have attached two documents to this email.  The first one gives instructions on how to access Teams using a games console such as Xbox or PlayStation. The second document details how to download a free copy of office365 for every young person using their Glow login details.

We want to support our families and our young people as much as we can during this difficult time.  If there is anything we can do, especially to support online learning, please phone the school on 01236 632159 or email enquiries@ourladys.n-lanark.sch.uk

North Lanarkshire Child Payment 

Families whose children receive a free school meal because of low family income, will receive £100 per child directly into their bank account during the last week in January.
In addition NLC are also supporting families at weekends and during the holidays with the Club365 food voucher scheme as well as providing vouchers to cover the cost of lunches during the current lockdown.
be made automatically, and parents/guardians do not need to apply. However, if you have not received a payment by mid-February, email NLChildPayment@northlan.gov.uk

If your family’s circumstances have changed recently and you would like to apply for your child to receive a free school meal please visit: https://bit.ly/39BhUTG

Resources

Jotters and stationary can be collected from the school office.  Please contact us in advance to arrange this.  We also anticipate that jotters will be available from the following local shops after this weekend: Co-op Muirhead, Co-op Stepps, Farm Shop Carrickstone, Spar Abronhill, Spar The Village, Stoneylee Stores North Carbrain, Day Today Greenfaulds and Premier Balloch.

Absence from Online Learning
If you child is unwell or has an appointment and will not be engaging on their online learning, please contact the school office or the enquiries email address and this will be communicated to class teachers.

Kind regards

Mrs Cunningham
Head Teacher

Click here to access the instructions for accessing Glow on your console.

Click here to access the instructions for downloading Office 365 from Glow to a computer.

Message from Mrs Cunningham

I write to you at the start of another unusual term and wish I could indicate a more settled start to 2021.  However, as always we will work with you to ensure that learning continues to take place for all of our young people.

Please find below our arrangements from Monday 11 January.  These will apply until further notice.

Online Learning

From Monday all pupils (S1-S6) and staff should be following their normal timetable online as if they were in the school building.  Monday 11 January will be ‘week 1’ so if a pupil has, for example, English period 1 and 2 on their timetable then they should log in to Teams and they will be invited to join/or already have an invite to join their English class team. Pupils should then follow the work set out by the class teacher who will be present online during the double period for instruction, support, guidance and feedback.  The teacher may choose to type in the chat function, speak online or turn on their camera.  Pupils should take a break during the normal interval and be ready for period 3 and 4, have lunch and then be ready for the afternoon lessons.

The timetable will move to ‘week 2’ week beginning 18 January and then continue to alternate between ‘week 1 and 2’ as their normal timetable does.

Online learning will be as close to classroom teaching as possible and staff will make every effort to support all of our young people.  However, we acknowledge that this situation is not easy for staff and pupils and we will endeavour to adapt to our new way of working.

Work will be available on the class team after each class has met for pupils to refer back to and complete.  Due to individual circumstances and availability of devices, we understand that a pupil may not be able to join the team during class time but they are encouraged to complete work at a time that is more suitable. They can leave questions for their teacher and submit work at any time. However, these questions may not be answered until the next time the class meets.

Children of Key Workers

Please note the school will be open to the children of key workers and a small number of vulnerable children.  In the case of key workers an application to NLC must be completed online.  The children who attend school will be supervised by staff and will attend a computer suite each day.  They will then access their class teams and complete work in exactly the same way as their peers who are learning at home.

Parents of Senior Phase Pupils

The results of S4/5/6 prelims will be communicated to all parents in the Senior Phase Report that will be issued later in the month.   The reports will be available to view online via Parents Portal. If you have not signed up to the portal then you may wish to consider doing so. The school office will be happy to help with any Parents Portal issues. Several emails have already been sent to parents with instructions on how to sign up.

It is important to note that prelim results will not be the only evidence taken into account when we are asked to submit predicated grades to SQA later in the year.

At this time pupils should continue to engage with their individual classes on Teams and submit all work as requested.

We understand that this is a particularly stressful time for our pupils and we encourage them not to worry. We want to reassure all pupils that the school will support them in every way we can.

We realise that you will have many unanswered questions regarding SQA, predicted grades etc. We will send any updated information from the SQA as soon as we receive it.

IT Access

If there any issues around pupil access, passwords, logins etc. then please email enquiries@ourladys.n-lanark.sch.uk with your child’s name and class.

18 January 2021

The Scottish Government are due to give an update around school closures on 18 January. I will be in touch soon after that with any updated arrangements.

Please click on the image below to access our Online Learning Guidance Booklet.

Message from Mrs Cunningham

This has been a year like no other and we have adapted to restrictions that we never imagined were possible. As the Head Teacher of the Our Lady’s High School community, I could not be prouder of how everyone, staff and pupils, have pulled together to make this work.

On a brighter note, we as a school community have supported our wider community with outstanding generosity during Advent. We have sent 60 boxes and 50 bags of food to our local parishes and to the Chryston and Cumbernauld food banks. We also donated an overwhelming amount to the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Baby Bank. I can’t thank everyone enough and feel very privileged to be leading the Our Lady’s community at this time. #TheOurLady’sWay

I hope that you all have a well earned rest over Christmas and manage to find some peace and joy in the season.

Warmest regards

Mrs Cunningham
Head Teacher

Christmas Card

Well done to Rosie Boyce (S5) who designed this year’s school Christmas card. The design focused on Our Lady and depicts ‘Madonna and child’. What a beautiful piece of artwork.

Also thanks to Jonathan Stockley, our Technical Technician who has designed and made a new Christmas crib. A fabulous addition to our nativity scene.

Christmas Giving

Some of our Senior House Ambassadors Jennifer, Aedan, Megan and Eva helping to organise all the items for the Cumbernauld & Kilsyth baby bank. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of the community of Our Lady’s. We received a huge amount of baby clothes as well as nappies, a baby bath and moses basket. The representatives from the baby bank were delighted to pick up so much from our school on Friday 4 December.

We have also been collecting food and toiletries for our local Food Bank. Our S3 Personal Development class helped organise the items for delivery. What a fantastic response from our community – 60 boxes and 50 bags packed full of groceries for families in our area!

Christmas Door Competition

Well done to all the staff and pupils who entered the ‘Christmas Door’ competition 2020.

The standard of entries this year was outstanding and the voting organised by Miss Erskine caused a real buzz on Friday 18 December!

The winning door was Mr Lester’s Christmas Fireplace with his S6 helpers Connor Coyle, Max Dunlop and Lewis Smith. The boys have decided to donate their prize money to Radio Clyde’s Cash for Kids Appeal. An incredible gesture!

In second place is Ms Thompson’s Santa Workshop and in third place is Miss Holme’s Christmas Film Premiere.

Thanks to all the work creating the fantastic Christmas doors!

Christmas Cakes and Gifts

Our senior pupils from the N5 Practical Cake Craft class have been designing and preparing their Christmas Cakes over the last few weeks.

They are now taking them home for their families to enjoy!

Our senior pupils from the Leadership class made some Christmas keepsakes for our local ASN Nursery children.

They delivered them to the Nursery in person last week. The young children were delighted with their fabulous gifts.

Welcome back to Our Lady’s

It is hard to believe that we are now in the month of September and we have been back at school for a number of weeks.  I was delighted to welcome our young people back to Our Lady’s High School after the summer break and to once again hear the sound of a school filled with pupils.  Although school is a little different just now, having our community together again is something we are very proud of.  We are especially pleased to welcome our new S1 pupils to Our Lady’s.

Our young people have been adjusting to all of the new protocols and procedures that are now in place. They are using their new entry and exit points, following the one way systems, responding to our staggered bells, accepting of our frequent hand sanitising, enjoying their new areas and yards for socialising while they are getting used to wearing face coverings.

Face to face teaching and learning is what we all want and our classrooms are alive again.  Staff have been reminding pupils about Microsoft Teams and Glow in the event that we need to resort to a blended learning programme in the future.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for their support as we adjust to our new normal.

We thank Our Lady for keeping our community safe and pray that we are moving towards brighter times for everyone.

Mrs Cunningham, Head Teacher

SQA Achievements 2020

Once again pupils in Our Lady’s have achieved fantastic SQA results.

In S4, an outstanding 56% of pupils attained five or more National 5 Awards at Grade C or above. This is a fantastic achievement, and our students should be very proud of this.

Congratulations also go to 21 pupils in S4 who attained 7 As in their National 5 awards – a phenomenal achievement. They are Madison Adams, Imran Ali, Nicholas Colella, Patrick Connolly, Jessica Cox, Lily-Anna Govan, Mya-Qi Hunter, Keira Johnston, Keira MacDonagh, Calum Mackenzie, Flynn Malcolm, Aidan Malcolm-Gourley, Rebekah McDermott, Ciara McGrath, Mark McKay, Rachel McLennan, Alexander Peters, Roksana Putowska, Maria Roos, Liam Sharp and Katie Shearer.

Our S5 pupils also worked hard to ensure success this year. 15 pupils in S5 attained 5 As in their Highers, which was a fantastic achievement. Congratulations to Ganre Akpubi, Lauren Archibald, Sam Bryant, Katie Collins, Mia Docherty, Jennifer Foy, Riordan Gallagher, Eva Lorentzen, Emma McCurrach, Hannah McLardy, Louise McSherry, Eilidh Mitchell, Sam Pender, Eva Stewart and Devlin Tomlinson.

Additionally, 27% of our pupils achieved 5 Highers, 59% achieved 3 or more Highers, and 76% achieved at least one Higher in S5.

Well done to all our pupils for their SQA achievements this year. Even though we cannot recognise this formally at our usual Awards Ceremony we are still extremely proud of their achievements.

Our Lady’s Feast Day

To celebrate our Feast Day this year we have organised several activities in our school community. On Wednesday 9 September, Father McKay celebrated Mass in St. Joseph’s Church for staff to celebrate Our Lady’s Feast Day.  Pupils were involved in various tasks in class relating to Our Lady during the week.

On Tuesday 8 September, our S4 Personal Development class distributed prayer cards, candles and a small cake to all staff.