Welcome to the first blog of the 2018/19 school session. We are back a week now and it feels like we have never been away! The pupils have settled in well to the routine of school life again, particularly our new S1 pupils who are making a good first impression. We have been having assemblies and these have focused on the expectations we have of the pupils over the course of the year.

It was lovely to see some of the work that has taken place in the school over the holidays. This included the internal walls being painted, which has fairly brightened the place up, especially on the staircases. We have also had work done at the entrance to the school. Above out front doors, as well as our current school badge and motto,  we also have the original Our Lady’s school badge along with the Greek motto. All of the work makes such a big difference as you approach the building and as you walk about the school.

NewTown Waste Solutions based in Motherwell had a competition recently to design the artwork for a new trailer they were purchasing. We were delighted that three of our pupils were successful in this design. Christine (S3) won the prize for the design concept and Erin & Megan for the slogans. Well done to the girls who were assisted in the process by Mr Weir, our PT Art & Design.

As you know our school app is available to purchase free of charge. The app will have the important calendar dates on it, links to school twitter accounts, blog, etc… We will also be using this eventually for communication instead of text messages. If you haven’t already done so, please download the app to keep up to date with all that is happening in the school.

I have listed some of the forthcoming events in the school below but would like to draw your attention to a couple. The school photographs will take place between Tuesday 4th and Thursday 6th September – once organised, pupils should keep an eye on the bulletin for the date their photo will take place. You will see that the Patronal Feast Day celebrations will take place on Friday 7th September. We will now be celebrating our Feast Day around the 8th September, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has been in March for a number of years but this did not allow for a proper school celebration due to the proximity of deadlines and exam preparation in S4/5/6.

Forthcoming events

• Monday 27th August – S4/5 Textile Visit to Dumfries House
• Tuesday 28th August – Annual Vocations Mass in Cathedral
• Thursday 30th August – Real Madrid Information Evening at 6pm
• Thursday 30th August – UCAS Information Evening
• Friday 31st August – Go4SET Industry Link Visit
• Monday 3rd September – Parent Council Meeting
• Tuesday 4th – Thursday 6th September – School Photographs
• Friday 7th September – Patronal Feast Day Celebrations
• 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

On the 7^th June young people from across Scotland gathered at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow to receive their Caritas Award. Pupils have worked throughout the year volunteering in the school and in their Parish community and reflecting on their Faith journey. The Awards were a great celebration of all the work that has been happening – well done to all!

SCIAF is a charity that we are always keen to support and so congratulations and well done goes to our students and teachers who took part in the SCIAF Ben Nevis challenge recently.

After many months of preparation the big day finally arrived – S6 Prom! Pupils turned up at Dalziel Park Hotel looking fabulous and enjoyed a great night to finish off their time in Our Lady’s.  There was a great attendance from staff – testament to the high esteem in which the year group were held.

Our group of staff and pupils returned from Malawi having had a fantastic and humbling experience. We are looking forward to hearing more about their trip in the new session.

We try to offer opportunities for our pupils to lead learning and this has been happening recently with our new S6 pupils delivering lessons on Drown Prevention to some of our younger pupils in PHSE.

Pupils gathered recently from across the country for the Aid to the Church in Need Rally at Motherwell Concert Hall. 40 of our new Caritas pupils from our new S6 pupils went along and are already talking about how they can support ACN next year.

A representative from St Andrew’s Hospice visited the school recently to talk to our new S6 pupils and we were delighted at the large number of pupils who came forward at the end to sign up for the Ambassador’s Programme.

We finished off the year with an excellent Junior Awards Ceremony, celebrating the successes of many of our pupils in S1/2/3. The ceremony was led by pupils and involved groups from each year group speak of  some of the great things that have been happening throughout the year. The awards were presented this year by our school Chaplain, Fr Martin Delaney. Unfortunately Fr Martin is leaving us as he has been appointed as Parish Priest of St Aloysius in Chapelhall and Sacred Heart, Salsburgh.  We will miss him in Our Lady’s but wish him every success.

It has been an exciting and enjoyable year for me in my first year in Our Lady’s and I am thoroughly looking forward to next session. Thank you to everyone for your support of this wonderful school and for the support and welcome you have given me personally.

I would like to finish by wishing you all a fantastic summer. See you in August!

Forthcoming Events

Thursday 28^th June – School closes at 1pm

Tuesday 7^th August – SQA Results Day

Wednesday 8^th August – S5/6 Pupil Options Interviews for anyone wishing to make changes

Tuesday 14^th & Wednesday 15^th August – Inservice Days

Thursday 16^th August – Pupils Return

S1 – 3 recently took part in their own annual Champions League football competition. This became a quite competitive and that was down to some of the staff involved! They don’t like losing!

The new S2 took part in Climate Day.  Mrs Smith and Mrs Jeffrey pulled together a programme for the day involving a number of different staff looking at climate change, getting the pupils to look at their own carbon footprint and to write down their solutions to personally improve it.

Sports day for S1/2/3 took place recently and we had great weather for the pupils to take part. In the end it was Sinclair House he came out on top overall! Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to the Lifestyle Development department for organising a great day.

We were delighted to have been involved in the recent Lisbon Lions tournament and the boys did well to make it to the Finals that took place at Celtic’s training ground in Lennoxtown.  We did not win but the boys performed well and were a credit to the school.

The SQA exams are now completed for another year. It’s now time to forget about these for a while until the results come out on Tuesday 7^th August. Thanks to Mr McQuillan for coordinating these important exams and liaising with staff in arranging additional support where required.

Congratulations to Niamh Docherty, who recently won a design competition. Her fashion design was the first on  the catwalk at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery for the Glasgow Kelvin College fashion show recently. The actual garment is now displayed in the foyer!

Well done to our S1 pupils who recently walked up Tinto Hill in support of St Andrew’s Hospice – a wonderful cause.  And thanks to all of you who sponsored them in their venture.

There are a number of activities going on in PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) at the moment. A particular focus has been that of summer care and looking after our skin. The booklet for this can be found on our school app, which is available to download for free.

Well done to Charlie who has won the NLC Safer Internet Day challenge! S1-S2 pupils created posters in PSHE & Charlie’s was selected by a panel from the Child Protection Committee, CL&D, Education & the Police. Charlie was presented with a certificate and a prize of £200 for OLHS!

S3 had a fantastic day of speaking and debating with led by Suzanne from the English Speaking Union Scotland. Everyone was hugely impressed by the number of pupils willing to stand up in front of their whole year group and argue their case.

Congratulations to the Techno Textiles team who won the Teamwork Award for their survival jacket in the Material World Go4Set Challenge 2018. They worked very hard and are proof that STEAM: Science Technology Engineering Art and Maths can lead to a bright future!

The survival jacket and award are on display in the front of the school if you would like to see their design.

Once again a group of pupils signed up for the York trip.  This trip left on the Sunday, returning on the Thursday and had a great time.  They were complimented for their exemplary behaviour by their fellow hotel guests who initially panicked slightly at the thought of a school group staying in the hotel!

We had our Mass of Welcome for our Primary 7 pupils who will be joining us in August, along with our new S6 pupils.  They were joined by a large number of family and friends and parents also had the opportunity to meet up with their child’s Pupil Support teacher. Fr Martin celebrated the Mass and we are very grateful to him for the constant support he gives the school. The P7 pupils are now joining us for a couple of days to get an experience of the school before they start in August.

And finally good luck to Mrs Hill, Miss Simpson and our 3 senior pupils, Shannon, Chloe and Michael as they head off on the Malawi trip. We will hopefully be kept up to date with their progress on Twitter!

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• Tuesday 5^th June – Parent Council Meeting
• Tuesday 5^th & Wednesday 6^th June – P7 Induction Days
• Tuesday 5^th June – Malawi trip leaves
• Thursday 7^th June – Caritas Awards Ceremony
• Monday 11^th June – S6 Prom
• Thursday 14^th June – National Schools Mass in Falkirk
• Sunday 17^th June – School trip to France leaves
• Monday 25^th June – Junior Awards Ceremony at 7pm
• Thursday 28^th June – School close at 1pm

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.

Forthcoming events

• Monday 21^st May – Change of timetable
• Monday 21^st May – S1 Tinto Hill Walk
• Friday 25^th May – School Holiday
• Monday 28^th May – School Holiday
• Monday 4th June – New S5/6 pupils return
• Monday 4^th June – P7 Parents’ Mass and Information Evening
• Tuesday 5^th June – Parent Council Meeting
• Tuesday 5^th & Wednesday 6^th June – P7 Induction Days
• Tuesday 5^th June – Malawi trip leaves
• Thursday 7^th June – Caritas Awards Ceremony
• Monday 11^th June – S6 Prom
• Thursday 14^th June – National Schools Mass in Falkirk
• Sunday 17^th June – School trip to France leaves
• Monday 25^th June – Junior Awards Ceremony at 7pm
• Thursday 28^th June – School close at 1pm

First of all, welcome back to all after the Easter holidays. I hope everyone enjoyed the 2 weeks off.  I have to thank the number of staff and pupils who came out during the holidays for the Easter school – I have no doubt this will have had a positive impact on the pupils’ preparation for their exams.

Congratulations to our Senior Netball team who made it to the final of the North Lanarkshire School League against St Andrew’s in Coatbridge. The girls fought hard but finished runners up.  A great achievement.

S4/5/6 finish up for the SQA exams which begin on Monday 30^th April.  Good luck to everyone in their exams.  Hard work pays off! This marked the last day for our S6 pupils and we celebrated with a Mass in the school followed by lunch, attended by staff, pupils and their families. It was a lovely event and a very fitting way to mark their last day. I would like to take the opportunity to wish all of our S6 pupils  and other leavers the very best in all they do in the future.

We have 3 pupils and 2 staff heading to Malawi in June and the pupils and parents have done a fantastic job of raising money for this. Staff have organised a Race night in the Electric bar on Friday 11^th May. Tickets are available from the PE and RE departments and any donations for raffles are gratefully received.

Well done to a number of pupils who participated in the North Lanarkshire’s Dance Competition. They did really well and were placed n various categories.

We recently purchased a school app and details have been given to pupils and emailed to parents on how to download it.  This can be downloaded for free on any number of devices so please add this to your collection of apps on your phone and keep the notifications turned on so you receive important messages that are sent out.

Forthcoming Events:

• Monday 30^th April – SQA Exams begin
• Monday 30th April – Parent Council Meeting at 7pm
• Monday 7^th May – School Holiday
• Tuesday 8^th May – Inservice Day
• Wednesday 9^th May – Academy Uniform Evening
• Thursday 10^th May – Academy Uniform Evening
• Friday 11^th May – S1 Reports Issued
• Friday 25^th May – School Holiday
• Monday 28^th May – School Holiday
• Monday 4^th June – P7 Parents’ Mass and Information Evening
• Tuesday 5^th June – Parent Council Meeting

Preparation for the SQA exams continues with many pupils involved in write-ups and practicals for a number of subjects. It is a busy time for all involved but will all be worth it in the end. Easter school for pupils is running this year on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th April – this is a great opportunity to prepare for exams and so far a large number of pupils have signed up for these sessions.

The North Lanarkshire Schools Bands Concert took place last week and it was great to see a number of Our Lady’s pupils involved in this great night in the Concert Hall in Glasgow. Well done to all!

I had the great pleasure of celebrating my first Feast Day in Our Lady’s on 23rd March. We had a beautiful Mass with the whole school, celebrated by Bishop Toal and joined by local priests, former members of staff, Povost Jones and other invited guests. In the afternoon S6 pupils took on the staff team at football (1-1 draw), watched by a number of S1/2 pupils, while the rest of the S1/2 pupils were treated to a film in the Theatre.

As part of our fundraising efforts in the school some staff and S6 pupils are taking part in a ‘Strictly’ event where all will show off their dancing skills – or not!

Autism Awareness week took place last week and this involved a number of events in partnership with Bothwellpark High School. These included, amongst other things, a coffee morning on the Monday to start the week off, various classes with pupils from both schools throughout the week and an excellent Karaoke on the Wednesday afternoon.

Our final two sessions for parents of P7 pupils are taking place, allowing them to find out more about the school, the transition process and to get a tour of the school. It won’t be long now until the P7 pupils induction days in June and then the pupils joining us in August.

We have worked hard to try and improve communication with parents over the course of the year through emails, the used of twitter, this blog, etc… We are now pulling all of these together in one easy place by purchasing a School App. This will have, amongst other things, a calendar of events, links to twitter, blogs, the school website and will be a way of communicating with parents and other family. Sending messages via the app will save the school a large amount of money rather than texts and therefore we will eventually be using this as our main form of contact about events such as Parents’ Evenings, reports being distributed, school closures, etc….

The launch of the app will take place on Monday 23rd April and will be free to download on as many devices as you want. And it is not just for parents – aunts, uncles, grannies, cousins, the pupils….everyone can download it!

Finally, have a very Happy and Holy Easter with family and friends!

Forthcoming Events

• Thursday 29th March – School closes at 2.30pm for the holidays.
• Monday 16th April – School return for start of the last term.
• Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th April – Easter School for S4/5/6.
• Monday 23rd April – Launch of the School App.
• Tuesday 24th April – Lifestyle Development Evening for P7 pupils and parents.
• Friday 27th April – last day for S4/5/6 before study leave.
• Friday 27th April – Leavers Mass for S6 pupils and parents.
• Monday 30th April – SQA exams begin.
• Monday 30th April – Parent Council Meeting.
• Tuesday 1st May – Meeting for York Trip.
• Monday 7th May – Holiday.
• Tuesday 8th May – Inservice Day.
• Wednesday 9th & Thursday 10th May – Uniform Fitting evening.
• Friday 11th May – S1 Reports issued.
• Friday 25th & Monday 28th May – School Holidays.

These snow days have certainly given me a bit of unexpected time to catch up on things and reflect on the school over the last few weeks.  It has not been as busy as it would normally be with extra curricular activities but this is due to the fact that there has been a big focus on the SQA exams, now only 8 weeks away.  Departments have been focusing on getting pupils ready for exams, completing assignments and preparing for practicals. I hope that the pupils have used their time wisely over these ‘snow days’ to prepare for these exams.  The exams start on 30th April and the full SQA exam timetable can be found here:

https://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/ExamTimetable2018.pdf

We recently had our Options evening for parents of S2/3 parents and then S4/5 parents.  This was a great opportunity to find out how the pupils were being prepared and giving them information in order for them to help with this important decision.  The S4/5 parents were informed not only of the traditional options including college courses but also Foundation Apprenticeships.  More information about these apprenticeships can be found by contacting the school or by following this link: https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=33494

We had a group of S3 girls who attended the Fire Reach programme at Coatbridge Fire Station last week.  They had a great time learning about First Aid, CPR and the basics of attending a road traffic incident and a fire. There was a group of boys starting this week but the snow put a stop to that!

I have been trying to get some feedback from parents on their thoughts on the school and in order to do this have been recently been emailing a short monthly online survey for completion.  Your opinion really matters and so I would encourage you to get involved.  If you have not been receiving the email, please contact the school office who can check that we have the correct email address for you.

Forthcoming Events

• Wednesday 7^th March – S2 Reports due to be issued
• Tuesday 13^th March – S2 Parents’ Reporting Evening
• Monday 19^th March – S3 Interim Reports due to be issued
• Tuesday 20^th March – the third of our Information sessions for P7 parents at 7pm
• Tuesday 20^th March – North Lanarkshire Schools’ Music Group Concert at Concert Hall
• Friday 23^rd March – Patronal Feast Day Mass
• Wednesday 28^th March – the last of our Information sessions for P7 parents at 2pm
• Thursday 29^th March – Holy Thursday.  School closes at 2.30pm

Congratulations go to the Go4SET team, Econix, supported by Mr Law, who won the North Lanarkshire competition recently with their eco-friendly Sports Centre. They now move on to the final in Edinburgh in June. Well done!  Our Go4SET teams have been getting mentored by Liberty Steel in Motherwell and we are very grateful for their support.

And another group of pupils were recently accompanied by Mrs Steinert to Dumfries House in Ayrshire to take part in the Textile Go4SET.  This group are lucky to be mentored by a very successful textile company, Scott and Ffye.

The Annual Education Mass took place in the Cathedral on Wednesday 31st January. This was a lovely celebration of Catholic Education led by Bishop Toal. There was a great turnout from Our Lady’s High School staff and pupils as well as from all the other schools across the diocese.

S4 Parents’ Evening took place recently and staff were delighted to meet parents to discuss next steps for pupils at this crucial time with SQA exams not far away now.

A group of pupils have come together to form the BBC School Reporters team and are working on a report about former pupils of Our Lady’s HS who have gone on to have successful or interesting jobs. If you would be interested in sharing your story, please get in touch with the school (Ms McFadyen in the school library).

Our Careers Advisor Ruth Fulton brought a group of her colleagues into the school recently to work with small groups of our S2 pupils as part of the S2 Skills Development Day. This was an opportunity for all pupils to get involved in a workshop engage in a discussion with a careers advisor.

We have a great transition programme here in Our Lady’s that helps to ease that transition for our young as they move from Primary to High School. Part of that programme involves a visit from our P6 pupils who followed a timetable in the school for the day. By all accounts, it was a great day that helped the pupils on that first step in their transition to Our Lady’s in 18 months.

Another part of that transition programme is an information session for parents of P7 pupils. There are 4 sessions organised and parents can opt into any one of these. The first one took place recently and involved a presentation and then a tour of the school by S6 pupils. The dates for the next sessions are Monday 26th February at 2pm, Tuesday 20th March at 7pm and Wednesday 28th March at 2pm.

We had a sunny, if not cold day, for a whole school assembly on the Friday before the long weekend. This was an opportunity to go over some of the basics – eg. uniform, phones, behaviour at interval/lunchtime, on the buses and in the community.

At a recent meeting of Principal Teachers we had a presentation from Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) and as such we are now part of the School Ambassador Programme. What we have commited to do is raise the awareness of the SCQF Framework with all staff, pupils and parents, increasing their understanding of what this is.

Forthcoming Events

• Tuesday 20^th February – Options Information Evening (6.30pm for pupils moving into S3/4 & 7.30pm for pupils moving into S5/6 in August 2018
• Wednesday 21^st February – S5/6 Reports due to be issued
• (Friday 23^rd February – PTA Quiz Night – CANCELLED)
• Monday 26^th February – the second of our Information sessions for P7 parents at 2pm.
• Monday 5^th March – Parent Council Meeting at 7pm.
• Wednesday 7^th March – S2 Reports due to be issued
• Tuesday 13^th March – S2 Parents’ Reporting Evening
• Monday 19^th March – S3 Interim Reports due to be issued
• Tuesday 20^th March – the third of our Information sessions for P7 parents at 7pm
• Tuesday 20^th March – North Lanarkshire Schools’ Music Group Concert at Concert Hall
• Friday 23^rd March – Patronal Feast Day Mass
• Wednesday 28^th March – the last of our Information sessions for P7 parents at 2pm
• Thursday 29^th March – Holy Thursday.  School closes at 2.30pm

Our prelims for S5/6 are now complete and will give both pupils and parents a good indication of progress to date as well as an agenda for moving forward to the SQA exams in May.  Well done to our pupils who have shown commitment and motivation as they approached these prelims.

We had our S3 Parents’ Reporting Evening last week and I would like to thank those that managed to come along on a very wet day!  Following our S4 prelims and reports there will be an opportunity for parents to meet teachers this Thursday at the S4 Parents’ evening.

Sunday saw the start of Catholic Education Week 2018 in a year when we mark the centenary of the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act. The theme this year is “Catholic Schools: Serving The Common Good”.

Our Catholic schools are communities that promote social justice and opportunity for all. Pope Francis said in January 2018 that education should “train young people to be open and interested in the reality that surrounds them, capable of care and tenderness, free from the widespread prejudice where you must be competitive, aggressive, and hard towards others, especially towards those who are different, foreign or in any way seen as an obstacle to one’s own affirmation.”

Catholic schools in Scotland, and Our Lady’s in particular,  are striving to put into action these words of the Holy Father by being inclusive communities which welcome, value, affirm and support all pupils, parents and staff to fulfil the potential of their God-given talents.

At the weekend staff and pupils visited the parishes of St. Luke’s, Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral, St Bernadette’s and St. Patrick’s.  The visit to St Brendan’s will take place next week to coincide with the sacramental enrolment Mass for the primary pupils.  It is always a pleasure to visit parishes at this time and a privilege for staff and pupils to be given the opportunity to speak to the congregation. It is only through our schools’, our families and our parishes all working together that we can hope to provide young people with the very best opportunity to grow in love of God and with each other.

Our PTA have organised a Quiz Night for Friday 23rd February and I would encourage you to come along and support their efforts in raising money for the school.  There will be a PTA meeting on Monday 5^th February at 6.30pm in the school.  The PTA are always looking for new members and so please come along the 5^th February and find more about what they do.

We are committed to Children’s Rights being at the heart of our ethos and culture, as we strive to improve well-being and develop every child’s talents and abilities to their full potential. As a result, we are working towards recognition as a Unicef ‘Rights Respecting School’. I recently sent a letter to parents about this and you can find more information at:

https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/

Forthcoming Events

• Wednesday 31st January – Annual Education Mass at the Cathedral (7pm)
• Thursday 1st February – S4 Parents’ Reporting Evening
• Monday 5th February – S2 Skills Development Scotland Careers Day
• Monday 5^th February – PTA Meeting at 6.30pm
• Monday 5th February – Parent Council Meeting at 7pm
• Thursday 8th February – the first of our Open evenings for P7 parents at 7pm.
• Monday 12th/Tuesday 13th February – School Holidays
• Wednesday 14th February (Ash Wednesday) – Inservice Day
• Thursday 15^th February – Pupils Return
• Tuesday 20^th February – Options Information Evening (6.30pm for pupils moving into S3/4 & 7.30pm for pupils moving into S5/6 in August 2018)
• Friday 23rd February – PTA Quiz Night
• Monday 26^th February – the second of our Open afternoons for P7 parents at 2pm.

We have been at school now for almost 2 weeks already and it feels like we have never been away.  I hope everyone enjoyed a good break over Christmas and New Year.

The focus since we came back has very much been on settling back into a work routine especially for our S5/6 pupils who are preparing for their prelim exams next week.  The timetable for the exams is available on our website by following this link:

https://olhs.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/s5_6-prelim-timetable-jan-2018-for-parents.pdf

We have have had some adverse weather conditions recently and we would plan to update our school twitter as much as much possible to keep you informed of any developments. However, North Lanarkshire has a dedicated page for updates that you can follow (https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=20199) as well as a Twitter account (@nlcwinter) that will keep you informed. Thanks to all the staff, pupils and their parents who have made a great effort to get into school in some very difficult circumstances for many.

Our departments continue to use their twitter accounts to keep you abreast of the great work that is going on in the school and I would recommend you follow these to see what is happening.  I have listed these below:

• Whole School: @OLHSMotherwell
• Modern Languages: @OLHSModLangs
• Technical: @OLHSTechnical
• Performing Arts: @OLHSPerArts
• Social Subjects: @OLHSSocSubjects
• English: @OLHSEnglish
• Maths: @MathsOLHS ‏
• Science: @OLHSScience
• RE: @OLHSRE
• Home Economics: @OLHSHomeEc
• PE: @OLHS_PE
• Library: @OLHSLRC
• Developing the Young Workforce: @OLHSDYW

Forthcoming Events   

• Monday 22nd January – S5/6 Prelims begin
• Tuesday 23rd January – S3 Parents’ Reporting Evening
• Sunday 28th January – Catholic Education Week begins
• Wednesday 31st January – Annual Education Mass at the Cathedral (7pm)
• Thursday 1st February – S4 Parents’ Reporting Evening
• Monday 5th February – Parent Council Meeting at 7pm
• Monday 12th/Tuesday 13th February – School Holidays
• Wednesday 14th February (Ash Wednesday) – Inservice Day