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

Before the October beak all S1 pupils were involved in a relay race in the hall. They had a great time and it was so good to see the pupils so enthusiastic doing their Maths tasks.

Once again this year we have a number of S6 pupils taking part in the Caritas Award. They recently joined other Caritas participants from across the diocese at a Commissioning Service in the Cathedral. This is a fantastic award and as part of it pupils will be doing volunteer hours both in the school and in their parishes.

Before and after the October week groups of S4 pupils were out on work experience. The pupils I have spoken to had a great time and the reports back from employers have been overwhelmingly positive. This is a great opportunity for the pupils and I have to offer a huge thanks to Mr Smith for coordinating all the work experience. And thank you all those employers who took our young people in and looked after them so well.

At a recent staff meeting we spent some time talking about the document’ How good is OUR school’. This document will help us involve the pupils in self-evaluation and school improvement in the school and ensure their voice is being heard.

We have a great transition programme in the school for pupils who will be coming to Our Lady’s. The latest part of that programme involved the Primary 7 pupils visiting us for the day and following a timetable. The pupils had a great time and they are looking forward to coming back for their two induction days in May and then starting with us in August 2020.

Each year we are lucky to have someone visit the school from the Gideons to talk to the S1 pupils. They will give an insight into the work of the Gideons and every pupil is presented with their own Gideon Bible.

This week the Maths and the English department organised an information evening for the parents of S1 pupil, ‘Support your child in High School’. The evening consisted of a short introduction followed by 4 workshops on literacy and numeracy, explaining what the school is doing, how tasks are completed and how they can help. It was great evening and parents seemed to get a great deal out of it.

Each year S6 pupils organise Halloween Disco for our S1 pupils. This took place once again this year, thanks to our S6 pupils who not only organised it but rallied round and ensured enough tickets were sold when there was a threat that it may not run due to numbers. It was a great night and pupils thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They were all looking fantastic and had obviously made a great effort with their costumes.

We continue to promote our new Mission, Values and Aims in the school. We now have the values added to our front doors for everyone to see when they come in. We also have boards to be put up around the school to promote these – pictures to follow once they are put up!

Just a reminder that the Christmas Fayre will take place from 5.30 – 8.30pm on Wednesday 27th November. Please come along and support this event.

Forthcoming Event

• Friday 1st November – Feast of All Saints
• Monday 4th November – Parent Council meeting
• Tuesday 5th November – S2 Bannockburn Trip
• 16th – 30th November – Catholic Education fortnight
• 18th & 19th November – Inservice Days (Pupil Holidays)
• Thursday 21st November – S1 Parents’ Evening
• Tuesday 26th November – Annual Education Mass
• Wednesday 27th November – OLHS Christmas Fayre
• Thursday 28th November – Annual OLHS War Memorial Mass
• Thursday 5th December – S5/6 Parents’ Evening
• Friday 6th December – start of the S4 Prelims

As part of the fundraising efforts in the school, we support St Andrew’s Hospice in various events throughout the year. Recently some staff and a number of pupils took part in the annual 6K school race round Strathclyde Park. It is wonderful to be part of such a great event and to be able to raise money for such a worthy cause at the same time.

Other fundraising activities so far this year have included a ‘Soak the Sixth Year’ and ‘Soak the Teacher’. For some strange reason, the ‘Soak the Teacher’ managed to bring in a lot more interest! Many thanks to the the pupils who organised these events and for those who braved the cold and the water to take part in the events.

As you know last year we did a fair amount of work in re-visiting our Mission, Values and Aims. This year our focus is to raise the awareness of these both through the physical environment of the school and through assemblies. We have a new banner for the front of the school with our Mission, Values and aims displayed and we are in the process of getting other displays for around the school. Our assemblies recently focused on one of our values, ‘Promote the Common Good’. We will continue to have a focus on each of the values as we gather at assemblies.

Following the publicity before the summer holidays about an upgrade to our pitch we are delighted to hear that things are starting to move along with this, with a start of the start of been given November for the work to begin. We are really forward to having this facility for both activities in the PE department and after school teams and extra-curricular activities. The PE department continue to offer clubs at lunchtime and after school (see photo) and it is great to see many of our young people taking part. We also have many teams representing the schools at football and netball and we hope that when the new pitch opens this will be utilised fully for the benefit of many pupils.

 

As part of the North Lanarkshire’s Read to Succeed initiative we had an author, Danny Weston, visit several weeks ago and speak to all of S1. An author visit like this happened across all schools in North Lanarkshire and the follow up to this was a visit to St Ambrose HS by 10 pupils in S1 along with many across the authority, for a session which included an inspirational talk by author Dan Freedman.

We recently had our Parent Council AGM and were delighted to see so many come along to support the work of our school. Our S4 pupils are out on work experience either this week or the week after the October break. Thanks to Mr Smith for coordinating this and to those families, friends, businesses and members of the wider community who have supported the young people in their pursuit of a suitable placement. Mr Lang and I have been out recently to visit the parents and pupils of our P7 pupils in order to give them information about the school and the transition process in particular. We look forward to welcoming the pupils to the school on 24th October for the next part of that transition programme.

As October week approaches, I would like to thank you all for your support of the school in those 9 weeks since we came back after the summer.

Forthcoming Events

Monday 14th – 18th October – October Week Holiday
Monday 21st – Friday 25th October – 4M & 4S Work Experience
Thursday 24th October – P7 Transition Day
Wednesday 30th October – S1 & S6 Halloween Disco
Friday 1st November – Feast of All Saints
Monday 4th November – Parent Council meeting
Tuesday 5th November – S2 Bannockburn Trip
16th – 30th November – Catholic Education fortnight
Thursday 21st November – S1 Parents’ Evening
Tuesday 26th November – Annual Education Mass
Wednesday 27th November – OLHS Christmas Fayre
Thursday 28th November – Annual OLHS War Memorial Mass