Preparation for the SQA exams continues with many pupils involved in write-ups and practicals for a number of subjects. It is a busy time for all involved but will all be worth it in the end. Easter school for pupils is running this year on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th April – this is a great opportunity to prepare for exams and so far a large number of pupils have signed up for these sessions.

The North Lanarkshire Schools Bands Concert took place last week and it was great to see a number of Our Lady’s pupils involved in this great night in the Concert Hall in Glasgow. Well done to all!

I had the great pleasure of celebrating my first Feast Day in Our Lady’s on 23rd March. We had a beautiful Mass with the whole school, celebrated by Bishop Toal and joined by local priests, former members of staff, Povost Jones and other invited guests. In the afternoon S6 pupils took on the staff team at football (1-1 draw), watched by a number of S1/2 pupils, while the rest of the S1/2 pupils were treated to a film in the Theatre.

As part of our fundraising efforts in the school some staff and S6 pupils are taking part in a ‘Strictly’ event where all will show off their dancing skills – or not!

Autism Awareness week took place last week and this involved a number of events in partnership with Bothwellpark High School. These included, amongst other things, a coffee morning on the Monday to start the week off, various classes with pupils from both schools throughout the week and an excellent Karaoke on the Wednesday afternoon.

Our final two sessions for parents of P7 pupils are taking place, allowing them to find out more about the school, the transition process and to get a tour of the school. It won’t be long now until the P7 pupils induction days in June and then the pupils joining us in August.

We have worked hard to try and improve communication with parents over the course of the year through emails, the used of twitter, this blog, etc… We are now pulling all of these together in one easy place by purchasing a School App. This will have, amongst other things, a calendar of events, links to twitter, blogs, the school website and will be a way of communicating with parents and other family. Sending messages via the app will save the school a large amount of money rather than texts and therefore we will eventually be using this as our main form of contact about events such as Parents’ Evenings, reports being distributed, school closures, etc….

The launch of the app will take place on Monday 23rd April and will be free to download on as many devices as you want. And it is not just for parents – aunts, uncles, grannies, cousins, the pupils….everyone can download it!

Finally, have a very Happy and Holy Easter with family and friends!

Forthcoming Events

• Thursday 29th March – School closes at 2.30pm for the holidays.
• Monday 16th April – School return for start of the last term.
• Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th April – Easter School for S4/5/6.
• Monday 23rd April – Launch of the School App.
• Tuesday 24th April – Lifestyle Development Evening for P7 pupils and parents.
• Friday 27th April – last day for S4/5/6 before study leave.
• Friday 27th April – Leavers Mass for S6 pupils and parents.
• Monday 30th April – SQA exams begin.
• Monday 30th April – Parent Council Meeting.
• Tuesday 1st May – Meeting for York Trip.
• Monday 7th May – Holiday.
• Tuesday 8th May – Inservice Day.
• Wednesday 9th & Thursday 10th May – Uniform Fitting evening.
• Friday 11th May – S1 Reports issued.
• Friday 25th & Monday 28th May – School Holidays.

These snow days have certainly given me a bit of unexpected time to catch up on things and reflect on the school over the last few weeks.  It has not been as busy as it would normally be with extra curricular activities but this is due to the fact that there has been a big focus on the SQA exams, now only 8 weeks away.  Departments have been focusing on getting pupils ready for exams, completing assignments and preparing for practicals. I hope that the pupils have used their time wisely over these ‘snow days’ to prepare for these exams.  The exams start on 30th April and the full SQA exam timetable can be found here:

https://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/ExamTimetable2018.pdf

 

We recently had our Options evening for parents of S2/3 parents and then S4/5 parents.  This was a great opportunity to find out how the pupils were being prepared and giving them information in order for them to help with this important decision.  The S4/5 parents were informed not only of the traditional options including college courses but also Foundation Apprenticeships.  More information about these apprenticeships can be found by contacting the school or by following this link: https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=33494

We had a group of S3 girls who attended the Fire Reach programme at Coatbridge Fire Station last week.  They had a great time learning about First Aid, CPR and the basics of attending a road traffic incident and a fire. There was a group of boys starting this week but the snow put a stop to that!

I have been trying to get some feedback from parents on their thoughts on the school and in order to do this have been recently been emailing a short monthly online survey for completion.  Your opinion really matters and so I would encourage you to get involved.  If you have not been receiving the email, please contact the school office who can check that we have the correct email address for you.

Forthcoming Events

• Wednesday 7^th March – S2 Reports due to be issued
• Tuesday 13^th March – S2 Parents’ Reporting Evening
• Monday 19^th March – S3 Interim Reports due to be issued
• Tuesday 20^th March – the third of our Information sessions for P7 parents at 7pm
• Tuesday 20^th March – North Lanarkshire Schools’ Music Group Concert at Concert Hall
• Friday 23^rd March – Patronal Feast Day Mass
• Wednesday 28^th March – the last of our Information sessions for P7 parents at 2pm
• Thursday 29^th March – Holy Thursday.  School closes at 2.30pm