Public Speaking Competition

On Thursday 30th January, Mrs Cunningham and Mrs Wilson accompanied speakers Eva Murphy S3 and Kaylah McLaughlin S3, and time keepers Katie Martin S6 and Ellie Canning S6, to the first round of the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Public Speaking competition. The topic of the evening was centred around ageism and our two speakers did a fantastic job, just narrowly missing out on a place in the next round. This has not deterred them and they intend to enter the next competition when it comes around. A huge thanks too to Mrs Wilson and Mr Finnigan who spent time with the girls preparing them for the role, and to Ms Ruddy who chaired the competition.

Engineering for Girls

Congratulations to Neve McLay S3 who has been successfully accepted into the Engineering for Girls 2020 summer school, which will take place on the 8th-12th of June. The is a great achievement, with only 100 places available for S3 pupils in Scotland. Engineering the Future for Girls, hosted by the Faculty of Engineering in the University of Strathclyde is designed to engage girls in a wide range of engineering challenges that will inspire them to become the next generation of engineers.

Catholic Chaplaincy Seminar

Advanced Higher English pupils Vanessa Liu, Eve Crawshaw, Mya Murphy and Aimee Lowe, accompanied by Mr Finnigan and Mr Dunlop, visited the Catholic chaplaincy at Glasgow University on Thursday 30th January. The seminar entitled, ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ was a chance for the pupils to see how literature and faith are connected and they found out more about writers whose faith is integral to their work. The pupils got to soak up the atmosphere in and around the university and even had time to have dinner in the west end!

Parent Council

We are keen for some new members to join our Parent Council. Why not come along to the next meeting on Monday 9 March at 6.30pm in the school library with tea/coffee and cake!

NLC Road Safety Competition 2019

Congratulations to S3 and S1 pupils on producing some outstanding designs in this competition. There were 1900 entries from 82 schools in North Lanarkshire therefore these awards are quite an achievement.

Category 8 (S1-6): Lilia Togher won first prize, Julie Campbell won second prize and Melissa Wales won third prize.

The following pupils gained a highly commended award: Evie Maule S1, Emily Hannah S3, Mia Eaglesham S3, Kayla McLaughlin S3 and Amelia Tomiak S3.

Well done to them all!

Creative Residency

The official opening of the Creative Residency Exhibition at Summerlee Museum took place on Thursday 16 January. Congratulations to Konrad Kiam, Ellie McGivern, Leah Rennie, Emma McCurrach and Gemma Templeton who participated in this creative residency. Pupils and their families together with the HT and FH Art & Design attended this event. The exhibition features work from North Lanarkshire secondary school pupils in Art & Design, Musical Composition, Creative Writing and Drama.

The pupils participated in a week-long residency at Kilbowie during the last week of term in June 2019 and the work produced is showcased at Summerlee Museum, Coatbridge from 17 January until 23 February. The Exhibition is open from 10am – 4pm daily and admission is free. Please come along and view the fantastic work done by Senior Phase pupils across NLC during the Residency at Kilbowie in June 2019.

S3 Fire Reach

This year’s Fire Reach programme has been another success story for some of our S3 pupils. The 6 girls attended during the week 13-17th January and the 6 boys during the week 20-24th January. All our participants always enjoy and take a great deal from their time at Coatbridge Fire Station.

During their time there they learn valuable fire safety skills, team building, self discipline,communication skills, health and safety awareness, first aid skills, problem solving skills, leadership skills, citizenship and also life-saving skills. The Fire Reach team cram a tremendous amount of experiences into one week and the pupils always come back with a very positive opinion of their week with the Fire Service. The pupils were awarded the Fire Skills Employability Award and a National 4 Certificate in basic First Aid.

The Fire Reach Programme is a great opportunity within the North Lanarkshire community and we hope to continue our involvement in the programme for years to come. Our pupils who achieve their awards this year are:

The girls: Laura Dolan, Iona MacKenzie, Caitlin McLaughlin, Mia McLaughlin, Emiliy Orifij and Aynjil Whitelaw. The boys: Jack Brown, Jake Fiddler, Thomas Hutchison, Mark McGowan, Sam McGuigan and Callum O’Reilly.

Higher Politics Bake Off Champion

The Higher Politics Bake Off Final took place on Thursday 16 January. The finalists were S6 pupils – Katie Martin, Ellie Rennie and Michael Breslin and the theme was Afternoon Tea. The finalists produced a variety of phenomenal cakes and treats. In a close fought contest – Michael was crowned Bake Off Champion.

Advanced Higher Chemistry

S6 Advanced Higher Chemistry pupils recently attended Forth Valley College to complete an SQA Unit in Instrumental Chemical Analysis. The two-day visit gave pupils the opportunity to gain experience of important techniques widely used in Chemistry such as spectroscopy, melting point determination and gas chromatography.

Parental Communication

We are beginning to use a new communication tool called Groupcall. This allows the school to use texts, emails and an app called Xpressions to aid communication with parents.

Parents can easily download the free Xpressions app to their mobile phone to begin receiving updates. We intend to use the app to communicate any school information during extreme winter weather.

Our Lady’s will also send information by email to parents. Please contact the school office to update any email addresses.