Welcome to the first blog of session 2019/20. It has been a smooth start to term and we are delighted with the way that pupils have settled back into school life so quickly. A particular welcome to our new S1 pupils who have also settled in well and making a good impression on their teachers.

On 6th August pupils from last year’s S4/5/6 received their SQA results. Congratulations go to so many of them who performed really well. Once again, as a school, we were delighted with how well the pupils got on and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the parents and teachers who supported and challenged them throughout the year. Following the results a large number of pupils came to the school to review their options for the session and had a chance to do this with members of the Senior Leadership Team who took the time to come in during the holidays – many thanks to them.

For the first time in a few years we were back at school with the pupils to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. Thanks to Fr Ness who came along and celebrated two Masses in the school for us. Again the pupils conducted themselves in an exemplary manner.

We held our first assemblies of the year last week and one of the focuses for these were the new Mission, Values and Aims. These were created last session by a group of staff led by Mr Lang and in consultation with pupils, parents and other partners of the school.

Mission:
* Growing together, achieving together with Christ at our centre

Values:
* Promote the Common Good
* Foster Relationships
* Leaders of Faith
* Love in all things

Aims:
* To embed the Catholic faith across all aspects of the school community, allowing opportunities for faith into action.
* To foster a community where everyone’s values, views and diversity are respected in a supportive and positively challenging environment.
* To provide the highest possible quality of learning and teaching where we foster high aspirations and determination in our students, and encourage them to be high achievers in all aspects of their learning.
* To build a sense of achievement where pupils will learn the lifelong skills to help them both now and for the future, to assist with the transition to an appropriate and positive destination.
* To help our pupils realise the dignity of work, that work is integral to our human nature and should be for the benefit of all, not the few.
* To recognise and promote the talents of all our pupils and provide a curriculum that meets the needs of all our learners.
* To promote and sustain the wellbeing of all members of our community.

We will continue to promote the new Mission, Values and Aims of the school in the community throughout the year.

Only two weeks in and we had our first group of pupils out on a trip. Our librarian Ms MacFadyen and former PT English Mrs Millar took pupils to the Book Festival taking place in Edinburgh. This was a very successful trip and thoroughly enjoyed by those lucky enough to go along.

The annual Vocations Mass for Motherwell Diocese took place on Monday 26th August. This was a lovely Mass and staff and a number of Caritas pupils from Our Lady’s joined many other staff, pupils and others from across the diocese. We have almost 30 pupils embarking on the Caritas Awards this year and we look forward to working with them on what has always been a great experience.

There has been an update to the school app recently. If you already have this downloaded you will be prompted to update this next time you go in. If you do not have the app yet, search for ‘School App for Parents’ in the App Store and once downloaded, do a search for Our Lady’s High School, Motherwell. If you turn the notifications on then you will receive a notification if we send out messages about events that are coming up or other issues, eg. School closures due to snow (hopefully not!)

Finally, our first Parent Council meeting of the year takes place at 7pm on Monday 2nd September in the school. We are always happy for new members so please come along and join us.

Forthcoming Events

• Thursday 29th August – UCAS Information Evening.
• Friday 30th August – Mass for the reception of the relics of St Therese of Lisieux.
• Monday 2nd September – Parent Council Meeting 7pm.
• Friday 6th September – Patronal Feast Day Celebrations.
• Monday 9th September – HT meetings with PTs begin.
• Monday 9th, Tuesday 10th & Wednesday 11th September – School Photographs.
• Thursday 12th September – Senior awards Ceremony, 7pm.
• Friday 27th & Monday 30th September – September weekend holidays.