Girls in Sport

The PE department are really impressed with the high numbers of girls participating in extra curricular sport this term. We are delighted for the girls who have won competitions, medals and trophies in handball and netball but it’s more important to us that girls are active and enjoying activities. A huge part of this success is down to the commitment of our sports leaders.

Netball – Having worked with players from the Sirens netball team for the past 6 weeks, some of our S2 girls’ competed in the North Lanarkshire Sirens for Success Festival. All girls had an amazing attitude during the festival. It was great to see these girls thriving in a competitive situation. One of our two teams came first and the other came third in the competition. Aynjil Whitelaw also won Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. Congratulations!

As a result of this experience many of the girls are joining the after school netball team with Miss McGinn or the local netball team who train at the Tryst on a Monday evening.

Handball – Our S1-3 girls won the Scottish Handball Tournament at Ravenscraig Sport Centre for the second year running.

Gymnastics – All S1 pupils have been participating in Gymnastics this term. We have witnessed some very resilient young people.

Lunch time gymnastics is open to all S1-3 pupils on a Tuesday at lunch time and has been a great success. Girls are gaining confidence as well as new skills each week. A huge thanks to Cara, Chloe and Abbi, our senior leaders who organise the lunch session.

Dance – After school dance club on a Wednesday is a real pleasure to watch. Our senior girls who lead the session have shown amazing commitment, communication and sensitivity which has ensured that the S1 and S2 girls have returned each week with a smile on their face. The club is open to all ability levels.

Higher Drama

The Higher Drama class visited Cumbernauld Theatre to see a production of ‘Mancub’ on Friday 5th October.

Before the performance, pupils got the chance to take part in a very informative workshop all about the production skills they need to know about for their Higher exam.

STEM Event

A group of our S1 and S2 pupils attended a STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) event recently in New College Lanarkshire. The pupils took part in a number of workshops organised by the college and employers.

Some of the college activities were Vex Robotics, Dentistry, Crime Solving, Lego Robots and Pit Stop Challenge – where the young people were challenged to change the wheels on a Green Energy car. A great day was had by all !

S1 Family Learning Event

As part of Our Lady’s High Family Learning Programme we were delighted to invite parents and carers of S1 pupils to the school on Monday October 1st.

The evening provided an invaluable opportunity for them to experience first-hand, the BGE curriculum and to experience what a S1 lesson looked like. Parents together with their children attended four curriculum workshops across the evening. Feedback from parents and carers was very positive.

Kindrogan Field Trip

On Friday 28 September the S5/6 Geography students were up in the Perthshire hills just outside Pitlochry doing some real Geography. They visited the Kindrogan Field Studies Centre to carry out their soil analysis for their Assignment.

The aim was to investigate if, and why soil characteristics change on different parts of a slope. This meant getting their hands dirty collecting and measuring soil characteristics from different parts of the same slope. This involved learning how to use a lot of specialised equipment and recording this information for future analysis. The day was a great success and the weather was very kind too. The staff and pupils involved would like to thank the school for allowing the trip to go ahead and providing an excellent educational experience.

Jesus Our Teacher

Paul McCarvel and Emily Burns were proud to represent Our Lady’s and the Archdiocese of Glasgow at St Bartholomew’s Church for the Reception of the Icon of Jesus Our Teacher.

The service was the official passing of the icon from the Archdiocese of Glasgow to the Diocese of Motherwell. Archbishop Tartaglia and Bishop Toal as well as representatives from schools from both diocese participated in this lovely service.

Senior Awards Ceremony

On Wednesday 19 September we celebrated the success of our learners at our annual Senior Awards Ceremony. Our Awards Ceremony gave us a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the many academic successes and wider achievements of our young people.

In terms of academic achievement, this was yet again a very successful year for our pupils. Yet again we enjoyed some of the best performances in North Lanarkshire, and indeed our learners attained well above national averages. 95% of pupils in S4 achieved at least 5 qualifications at National 4 or above, and 63% of our young people in S4 attained at least 5 national 5s. An outstanding 51 young people in S4 – almost 1/3 of the yeargroup – attained 7 passes at National 5. Pupils in S5 and S6 equally had much to celebrate on results day. Six young people attained 5 As at Higher which is a fantastic achievement. Just under half of our youngsters in S5 achieved 3 Highers, and almost half of our young people left S6 with five highers, which is our best ever performance. These are tremendous successes of which our young people and their families should be proud !

The senior pupils were also recognised for their wider achievements in categories such as participation in Creative Residency, and success in a range of areas including sport, music and drama. We also celebrated service to the school or local community and service to local charities. Well done to them all!

Read to Succeed

On the 5 September, pupils from Our Lady’s attended the launch event of North Lanarkshire’s ‘Read to Succeed’ initiative. They met author Theresa Breslin and received signed copies of her books.

Then on 10 September, author Alan Gibbons visited the school to give a talk to all of first year about his writing. Pupils represented the school again at the closing ceremony on 20 September.

Dragon’s Lair Enterprise Challenge

On Tuesday 25 September 6 pupils from the Business Education and IT Department:- Maria Ross, Erin O’Brien, Lucy McNee, Emily Harper, Erin McLellan and Sarah McVey were chosen to represent Our Lady’s in the annual NLC Dragon’s Lair Enterprise Challenge.

The day involved listening to inspirational presentations by entrepreneurs as well as past winners, the pupils were then given the opportunity to gain some expert advice from Business Gateway while working on their Business Plans. The pupils will be working hard during the next two weeks with the hope of reaching the grand final.

Fire Up Scotland Event

120 S4 pupils participated in the Fire Up Scotland Event which took place at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, along with 12,000 Scottish pupils.

Fire up Scotland was the biggest event of inspiration to be held in Scotland for over 50 years and consisted of inspirational role models, challenging our young people to be the best they can be while proving there is truly no wrong path to a positive destination.  Presenters, speakers and performers from across the world of education, business, entertainment, art, sport and culture gathered, all rolled up into a giant fireball of energy creating one enormous, interactive, fully immersive learning experience never to be forgotten.

Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were a credit to the school throughout.