HT Blog – 15th May 2018

The SQA exams began on Monday 30^th April and so we are about halfway through them now. There have been a lot of positive remarks after the exams so here’s hoping the hard work has paid off.

There was some disruption to some exams due to the fire alarm going off. There has been a new system put in place in the school as part of the rewire, which recently went live. There has been some issues with some of the sensors but we are hoping that it has now been fully rectified and no further disruption will take place. This was an opportunity to remind pupils of the disruption that a false alarm can cause, particularly to the pupils in Bothwellpark and those sitting exams. Therefore any setting off of the fire alarm deliberately is a serious offence, and indeed a criminal one, and would be dealt with as such.

When S4/5/6 SQA exam leave began there was a change of remits of the Depute Headteachers. The DHTs will now be in charge of a year group and follow that year group right through the school. At present the responsibilities are:

S1: Mr McQuillan

S2: Mrs Moore

S3: Mr Lang

From the change of timetable (21st May) and session 2018/19 it will be:

S1: Mr Lang

S2: Mr McQuillan

S3: Mrs Moore

S4: Mr Lang

S5: Mr McQuillan

S6: Mrs Moore

I hope that everyone enjoyed the long weekend at the start of the month and made the most of the good weather we were lucky to have. Staff returned on the Tuesday for an inservice day and focused on a number of areas but most importantly the self-evaluation from the previous year and a discussion on the School Improvement Plan for 2018/19. There has been a draft copy of this now made up and is with staff and the Parent Council for consultation at present.

Uniform in Our Lady’s continues to be excellent and we were delighted that so many turned up for the Uniform fitting evenings recently to get blazers organised for next session.

We were recently shortlisted in 4 categories for the North Lanarkshire Excellence & equity awards. This was in recognition of the great work that is going on in Our Lady’s High School and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved for regularly going above and beyond to support the pupils.

The categories were:

Big Challenges – Effective Solutions (for the Lift Off programme targeting pupils requiring enhanced transition for the move to Secondary school)
Productive Partnerships – Purposeful Learning (for the partnership work with Bothwellpark High School)
Going the Extra Mile – Successful Interventions (for our enhanced nurture programme)
Innovative Leadership – Pupils Leading Learning (for the work being done with our S6 pupils in the MPV programme)

We were delighted to have been shortlisted, however even more delighted to win awards in two of the categories; Big Challenges – Effective Solutions & Productive Partnerships – Purposeful Learning.

Ascension Thursday was on 10^th May and once again we are very grateful to Fr Martin for coming into the school to celebrate Mass for staff and pupils.

Congratulations to Dominic, Keir and Ciaran who recently took part North Lanarkshire’s ‘Speaking up’ public speaking competition. Public speaking is a great skill and will that one will stand anyone in good stead for the future.

Some of our S4/5 pupils have been involved in the Titanic project during SQA exam leave and have been having a fabulous time and have been flourishing. They have been on a number of excursions as part of this and were recently visited by Walter Lee from the RNLI.