{"id":1103,"date":"2022-12-19T11:21:57","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T11:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2022-12-19T11:21:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T11:21:57","slug":"final-ht-blog-december-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/2022\/12\/19\/final-ht-blog-december-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Final HT Blog – December 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Andrew\u2019s Hospice<\/strong><\/p>\n

We had pupils and staff head down to Strathclyde park again for this year\u2019s Santa Dash to help raise funds for St Andrew\u2019s Hospice.\u00a0 Following this, along with 4 pupils, I got talked into doing the zip line across the loch! Great fun!\u00a0 Thanks to Mrs Smith in RE for organising, and to the pupils who came along to join in.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

Catholic Education Week<\/strong><\/p>\n

Catholic Education is celebrated between the Feast of St Margaret (16th<\/sup> Nov) and the Feast of St Andrew (30th<\/sup> Nov).\u00a0 This was celebrated at the start with pupils completing passports on each of our new houses (Lourdes, Loreto, Carmel, Guadalupe and Tinos), attended a house assembly and enjoyed a prayer breakfast with pancakes.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

Christmas<\/strong> Fayre<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was great to get our Christmas Fayre back up and running again after a few years absence.\u00a0 The turnout was excellent and I would like to thank all those who organised the evening and those that came along, raising over \u00a31100 for school funds.<\/p>\n

Month of the Holy Souls<\/strong><\/p>\n

November is the month of the Holy Souls when we remember those in our families who have died.\u00a0 Pupils across the school have been remembering their dead by creating a display of crosses and candles at the main entrance to the school.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

ASDAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently our pupils in the ASDASN class completed their First Aid and Mental Health First Aid courses.\u00a0 A great opportunity for them to be involved in and a fantastic life skill! Well done!<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

War Memorial Mass<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each year there is a Mass to remember the lives of the pupils and staff connected to the school who lost their lives in WWII.\u00a0 This has been unable to take place in the school\u2019s War Memorial Chapel for a couple of years so it was lovely to welcome everyone back to the chapel again this year for the Mass, celebrated by our new chaplain, Fr. Christopher Morris.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Prelims<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well done to all of our S4 pupils who have now completed their prelims. It\u2019s always a strange experience being in the big hall for exams like this for the first time but they all coped admirably.\u00a0 The S5\/6 prelims are planned for January and a timetable has already been issued to all pupils.<\/p>\n

S1 Pantomime<\/strong><\/p>\n

We had a group of S1 and S2 pupils head down the road to the pantomime Cinderella in the Motherwell Concert Hall. Thanks to the Pupil Support department for organising this.\u00a0 Everyone seemed to have a great time.\u00a0 Oh yes, they did!!<\/p>\n

Senior Citizens\u2019 party<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mrs Zambonini and her Professional Development class spent a great deal of time raising money and preparing for the Senior Citizens\u2019 lunch.\u00a0 It was the first time we have been able to get them back into the school since 2019 and once again, it was a great success. Thanks to all those in the preparation for the day and all those involved in helping out and entertaining our guests!<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

Christmas Concert\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a great pleasure to welcome so many along to our Christmas Concert this year.\u00a0 Given the impact that covid has had on extra-curricular activities over the last few years, particularly in the Music department, it was a fantastic evening with great talent on display.\u00a0 Thanks so much to the staff for preparing the pupils so well and for a lovely evening enjoyed by all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ceilidhs<\/strong><\/p>\n

We had our Ceilidhs last week and it was great to see the pupils joining in and enjoying themselves.\u00a0 There was a great turnout from pupils particularly on the Friday afternoon for the S1-3 Ceilidh. Thanks to the PE staff for preparing the pupils with social dancing in classes , and for running both ceilidhs.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Industrial Action<\/strong><\/p>\n

Industrial action by teaching unions has had an impact on all school across the country in November and December.\u00a0 Just advance notice that there is planned industrial action again in January with the EIS union identifying the 11th<\/sup> January as a strike day in all secondary schools across the country and 19th<\/sup> January as a strike day in North Lanarkshire.<\/p>\n

Farewell<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As you know I will be finishing up as HT of Our Lady\u2019s this Christmas.\u00a0 I would just like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the support I have had in the school for over 5 years.\u00a0 Managing the Covid situation in school was up there as one of the most challenging times in my career but one which was made easier for me due to the support I received from staff and parents.\u00a0 I have enjoyed my time as HT in Our Lady\u2019s and it has been an absolute privilege and honour to be part of this wonderful school and community. From a personal point of view, I was delighted to have become a part of a community that my dad had also been a part of, attending Our Lady’s from 1945 \u2013 1951.<\/p>\n

I have always tried to keep positive relationships at the heart of the school and what I do, and hope that any success I may have had is measured by that more than anything else.<\/p>\n

From the beginning I was always made to feel welcome and I have no doubt that the incoming Head Teacher Mrs Louisa McGraw will be extended the same warm welcome I received over 5 years ago.<\/p>\n

To finish off, I would just like to wish all our young people and their families every success in the future.<\/p>\n

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, when it comes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Andrew\u2019s Hospice We had pupils and staff head down to Strathclyde park again for this year\u2019s Santa Dash to help raise funds for St Andrew\u2019s Hospice.\u00a0 Following this, along with 4 pupils, I got talked into doing the zip line across the loch! Great fun!\u00a0 Thanks to Mrs Smith in RE for organising, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42177,"featured_media":1107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/public\/olhshtblog\/uploads\/sites\/34469\/2022\/12\/19083206\/S6-HT.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1103"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/nl\/olhshtblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}