It has been a quick start to the term and I can’t quite believe that we are already 5 weeks into it! The year has got off to a good start and we welcomed a lot of new faces in S1, all of whom have settled in well.  We also welcomed a number of new staff to the school.  They are:

• Mrs Keenan (DHT & Biology)
• Mrs Reilly – Drama
• Ms McGuire – English
• Ms Armstrong – Maths
• Mrs Jaswal – Business
• Ms Byrne – Biology
• Mrs Byrne – Geography
• Mrs Parisot – Modern Languages
• Ms Murphy – History
• Mr Bartlett – PE

School Captains

We were able to appoint our School Captains early on and congratulations go to our successful applicants:  Matthew & Miya (School Captains) and Kian & Klaudia (Vice Captains).  We will be working with them to try and some implement some of the great ideas they spoke about during their interview.

Houses

As we were adding an additional member of staff to our Pupil Support Team we made the decision to rebrand our Houses and to rename them after Marian Shrines.  After consultation with pupils, staff and parents our new houses have been named as:

• Guadalupe (Mr McGurk)
• Carmel (Mrs Conner)
• Tinos (Mrs Darroch)
• Loreto (Mr McVeagh)
• Lourdes (Mrs Maguire)

The House captains have now been appointed and congratulations go to:

• Lewis and Katie (Guadalupe)
• Ellie and Erin (Carmel)
• Christopher and Lucy (Tinos)
• Bailey and Donatha (Loreto)
• Gabrielle and Aaliyah (Lourdes)

Feast Day Mass

As you will know the changing rooms are still being completed, however we hope to have them back in use very soon.  As a result of the work we have had to postpone or cancel events.  Unfortunately we were unable to have our big Feast Day Mass but were delighted that Fr Bobby Kane was able to come into the school to celebrate a  Mass with the S6 Captains along with their S1 buddies.

Assemblies

Early in term we had assemblies for all year groups where we revisited our mission, values and aims and also went over some of the basics, including behaviour in and around the local community, particularly at lunchtime.  All behaviour, good or bad, will affect the reputation of a school, so we need to make every effort to ensure that our pupils behave and show respect outside school as well as they do inside school.

Vocations Mass

At the end of August the Annual Diocesan Vocations Mass took place.  We were delighted with the large turnout of S6 pupils who attended, representing the school.

Future Fridays

Our Future Fridays offer continues on a Friday afternoon and it is great to see an increasing number of pupils getting involved as the weeks go on.  There is also a large number of senior pupils getting involved in helping out with activities, which is an excellent opportunity for them.  Mr McMaster is organising this and pupils can sign up every week by going on to Teams and filling out the form.

School App

We have a school app which has a calendar, links to Twitter, general information and is also another way to send messages.  If you have not loaded it you will find it by searching for ‘School App for Parents’ on the app store or equivalent and then adding ‘Our Lady’s High School, Motherwell’.

Twitter

A reminder that there are a number of Twitter accounts in the school that you can follow to see what is happening in the school.  The details are below:

• School Twitter: @OLHSMotherwell
• Social Subjects: @OLHSSocSubjects
• Friday Afternoons: @FridayOlhs
• Expressive Arts: @ExpressiveOLHSM
• Health & wellbeing: @olhs_healthwb
• Support for Learning: @OLHS_SFL
• Developing the Young Workforce: @OLHSDYW
• Modern Languages: @OLHSModLangs
• Technologies: @OLHSTechnical
• RE: @OLHSRE
• Library: @OLHSLRC
• Maths: @OLHSMathematics
• English: @OLHSEnglish
• Eco Committee: @EcoOlhs
• Art & Design: @OlhsartD

Forthcoming Events

Sunday 18^th September – St Andrew’s Hospice 6K run in Strathclyde Park

Monday 19^th September – Bank Holiday for Queen’s Funeral

Friday 23 & Monday 26^th September – Holiday Weekend

Wednesday 28^th September – Senior Awards Ceremony

Thursday 6^th October – Caritas Commissioning Service (10am in the Cathedral)

Monday 17^th – Friday 21^st October – October week holiday