It’s been a busy few weeks with lots of opportunities for pupils to get involved in.

We were recently visited by a representative from St Andrew’s Hospice who spoke with S6 pupils who thereafter signed up to become ambassadors for the coming year.

On the following Sunday we had a number of staff and pupils get out their beds early and head to Strathclyde Park for the Hospice 6K. Congratulations to Ronan who came in first from the OLHS group. A huge well done to everyone for coming along and supporting this wonderful cause and thanks to those who sponsored the pupils.

 

The S6 pupils and some staff continued their fundraising efforts for the year with a ‘Soak the Teacher/S6 Pupil’ event at lunchtime one day. This was a really enjoyable event (to watch!) even just to see some of the teachers’ outfits!

Maths Week took place recently and the Maths department lined up some events to get the pupils involved. These included a daily Countdown Challenge and an S1 Maths relay race as well as work in the library on different number systems.

As part of the North Lanarkshire initiate ‘Read to Succeed’ S1 pupils were lucky enough to have a fantastic visit from author Alex Scarrow. Alex was good enough to spend some time on a workshop with some of the senior pupils as well.

Most of S4 attended the Fire Up Scotland event in Glasgow recently. This was a huge event with thousands of pupils from across Scotland in attendance. It was a day filled with thought provoking and inspiring speakers, entertainment and even the opportunity to learn a new trick!

We had our Senior Awards Ceremony last week and it was lovely to see so many of our young people being recognised for their achievements over the last year. We had the pleasure of welcoming back to the school former pupil and captain and now actor/writer/producer Martin McCardie. Martin has made appearances in a number of successful shows including Shetland, Taggart, Monarch of the Glen and City Lights. He is also a successful writer and was Writer and co-creator of the very successful ‘Tinsel Town’ set in Glasgow, which won him a nomination for a Best Newcomer BAFTA. Other writing credits include, The Bill, Taggart, Big City Park, Katie Morag and presently, River City. Martin spoke about resilience and some of the things that he had to overcome along the way. It was a great evening and we are grateful to Martin for taking the time out to join us for the evening. Well done to all the pupils who received awards.

60 of our boys form across all year groups have just returned from a very successful trip to Madrid. The group visited Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid, had training sessions and played several matches while they were away. They had fantastic weather while they were, which is not always great when you’re running around a football park!

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• Monday 1st October – Parent Council and AGM
• w/b 8th October – 4A & 4C Work Experience
• 11th October – Caritas Commissioning Service
• w/b 15th October – October Week Holiday
• w/b 22nd October – 4M & 4C Work Experience
• 6th/8th November – S2 Bannockburn Trip

A group of our S6 pupils recently enjoyed two days and an overnight at the Conforti Institute in Coatbridge on a Servant Leadership course. This included team building exercises and discussions on leadership. It is hoped this will not only help them in their involvement in S6 but also as they move on after school.

Each year at the end of August a Vocations Mass is celebrated in the Cathedral with Bishop Toal and a number of priests from the diocese. There was a great turn out from pupils across the diocese and once again we were delighted with the number of Caritas pupils from Our Lady’s who managed to make it along.

We have a number of clubs that have started in the school now and if you follow the link (https://olhs.wordpress.com/clubs-activities/) you will find out more information on what’s available. There are opportunities for the pupils to visit the library at lunchtime to read, do homework and play games.

North Lanarkshire is trying to encourage reading for pleasure in all our pupils. As part of the Read to Succeed initiative each secondary school in North Lanarkshire was supplied with a large collection of new books aimed specifically at the S1 age group, providing something to suit every reading age and ability. This was launched at an event recently that some of our pupils were fortunate to attend and meet with the author Teresa Breslin. Also, all of S1 will be visited this week by the author Alex Scarrow.

Last year, S2 pupils worked on a Scottish scientist project with Science, English and the Library. Pupils who had written the best creative essays visited the University of Glasgow for the day. As part of the visit, Martin Hendry, Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology, gave a lecture about scientists connected with the University in a lovely lecture room in the Kelvin Building.

Following an application and interview process our School Captains for the year were appointed. Congratulations go to our Captains – Lucy & Lewis. And to Vice Captains – Chloe, Shannon, Sean & Jonathan. I have no doubt they will work hard throughout the year to help take the school forward.

As mentioned in the last blog the decision was made to move our Feast Day Celebration to September, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Blessed Virgin Mary, in order to make it more of a celebration as the March date coincided with exam preparation and deadlines. Following that move we soon discovered we are actually moving the Feast Day back to when it was celebrated originally. As a result of that move all pupils were off timetable all day in order to enjoy a proper celebration. The day started with a lesson on our Patron and House Saints. This was followed by Mass celebrated by Bishop Toal and in the afternoon, various activities including karaoke, quiz, sports, baking, ICT,  games.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• Friday 14th September – S1 Author Visit (Alex Scarrow)
• Tuesday 18th September – Senior Awards Ceremony
• Friday 21st & Monday 24th September – School Holidays
• Saturday 22nd September – Real Madrid Trip leaves
• Monday 1st October – Parent Council and AGM
• w/b 8th October – 4A & 4C Work Experience
• w/b 15th October – October Week Holiday
• w/b 22nd October – 4M & 4C Work Experience