Our Lady and St. Francis Primary School

Last week was a short week for the children as they were only in school from Wednesday to Friday.  On Wednesday, we had the first of our Infant Inductions and welcomed our new starts and their parents.  P6 rose to the challenge of being excellent buddies to them and are looking forward to meeting them again this week.  On Saturday, some of our P4 children made the Sacrament of First Holy Communion and did very well during the Mass.  They were a credit to themselves and their parents, and thanks goes to Mrs Taggart and Mr Rankin for preparing them so well.

Looking to our week ahead, Health Fortnight begins.  Children will be enjoying cookery sessions across the week and we will certainly be taking advantage of the nicer weather and will be learning outdoors as much as possible.  Please remember to put sunscreen on your child before sending them to school in better weather.  On Monday, our Pope Francis Faith Award pupils will attend the annual Fatima Mass in St. Francis Xavier Church and Processions from 10am onwards.  On Tuesday, second level staff will visit Blackwood Primary as part of our North/South Family Group partnership.  On Wednesday, it will be the second of the Infant Inductions, and this week our new children and a parent will enjoy a school dinner as part of the induction programme.  On Thursday, we will welcome staff from North and South Lanarkshire schools to celebrate the successful year we have enjoyed, working in partnership with each other.  Friday, it is Outdoor Learning Day.   The Health Committee have organised fantastic outdoor activities for our pupils throughout the day.

Children were encouraged to walk to school at assembly last Wednesday and were made aware of the badges they can earn by walking, cycling or ‘scooting’ to school.  Taylor High staff visited our P7 pupils last week and pupils were given the opportunity to speak individually to staff about going to High School.  Children learned lots about Rights Respecting Schools on Friday during our awareness day.

Looking to our week ahead, we have a Parent Council on Monday at 6 pm in our staff room; as always all are welcome.  Our infant staff will be starting their visits to local nurseries to meet with our new starts in advance of our Induction Days this month.

On Thursday, the Motherwell Times will be in to take photographs of our Primary 7 pupils; full school uniforms for this please.

On Friday, it is our First Friday Mass and coffee morning, led by our P4/5 pupils.  As always, we are looking for donations of shop bought cakes and biscuits and raffle prizes.  We hope you can join us at this.

Last week staff from across the school visited and worked alongside their Family Group colleagues in South Lanarkshire schools.

Pupils from P6 and P7 represented our school beautifully on Wednesday at the Primary Reading Quiz.

SCIAF visited our school on Wednesday to tell our children at assembly about all the great work that they do; they are one of Lenten Charities this year.

Looking to our week ahead, Father McGachey will be hearing Confessions all week from our P4-P7 pupils; he will hear P3 Confessions during Holy Week. The Beatson Charity will visit our school on Wednesday to talk to our children about their fantastic work as they are also one of our Lenten Charities this year.

On Wednesday evening, we are having an information evening for parents of P6 and P7 pupils will who make the Sacrament of Confirmation in June.  This is at 6.30pm in our school hall and a letter was issued a few weeks ago with further details.

On Thursday, it is our Lenten ‘Fun Day’.  Our children voted for this as a change to our usual Lenten fundraisers and it promises to be a great day. A letter will be issued tomorrow with further details.

Please note that school closes at 2.30pm on Friday for our Spring Break.  (Nursery closes at the normal time).  We will welcome back pupils on Monday 15th April at the usual times.

We wish everyone a very restful break.

Last week our pupils enjoyed a visit from the SPCA on Monday; also on Monday our choir sang beautifully at the Glasgow Music Festival – many thanks to Mrs Cahill and Miss Newall for preparing them so well.

On Tuesday, we enjoyed great success with our Cross Country team – well done to all pupils involved, and many thanks to Mrs Rimmer and Mr Maxwell for all of their hard work.

Mary’s Meals spoke with our pupils at assembly on Wednesday about all the great work that they do and they are one of our Lenten Charities this year.

On Thursday, Mr Dorris from the Maths Department at Taylor High School spent time with our P7 pupils and on Friday our pupils enjoyed structured Golden Time in the afternoon.

Looking to our week ahead, our P1 and P2 pupils will be involved in the fluoride varnishing programme on Tuesday and we will also be visited by Mrs Anne Munro, Head of Service for south locality schools.  I am sure she will be very impressed by our fantastic ‘wee people’.  Throughout the week, staff from P1, P4 and P7 will be visiting our family schools in South Lanarkshire Council to team teach and moderate various aspects of teaching and learning.

Please remember that Mass is on every morning at 8.25am in St. Francis Xavier Church, and this is a lovely way to start the day during the season of Lent.

Last week, our Glee Choir performed fantastically well at the Civic Centre on Wednesday evening. They did so well that they were awarded the Esprit de Glee trophy – a massive thank you to Mrs Cahill and Miss Newall for all of their hard work.

It was also Book Week all week in OLSF and the children enjoyed the many and varied activities on offer. Their costumes were fantastic on Friday and they all got to show the rest of the school what they were dressed as at the Parade on Friday afternoon.  A massive thank you to Mrs Taggart and Mrs Crooks for organising the week and ensuring the children had so much fun.

Looking to our week ahead, there will still be some book week activities taking place into next week.  Our children will be participating in the Glasgow Music Festival on Monday; they will return late to school and will be dropped off at the Xavier Centre for safety. Mrs Cahill will text when they are ten minutes away, but the approximate return time is 4.30pm.

Our senior pupils will be participating in a cross country event on Tuesday, and Mary’s Meals will be speaking with our children on Wednesday as they are one of our Lenten charities.

On Thursday, our P7 pupils will be visited by Mr Mark Dorris from Taylor High School.

Please remember that morning Mass is on every morning at 8.25 am at St. Francis Xavier Church and this is a lovely way to start the day during the season of Lent.

Money week last week was a great success; children from Nursery to Primary 7 enjoyed money related play activities or lessons throughout the week.  Representatives from the MACA Project also visited our school and children enjoyed working with them.  A huge thank you to Mrs Mushet for organising and overseeing all of the events of the week.

Looking to our week ahead, it is Book Week in school. Mrs Taggart and Mrs Crooks have fantastic activities planned throughout the week, and you have been lettered already with details.  Keep an eye on twitter this week to see what the children have been getting up to!

Our Glee Choir will be performing at the Civic Centre on Wednesday evening and parents of children involved have had a letter with final details last week.  It is Ash Wednesday this week, therefore our whole school will attend Mass at 10am in St. Francis Xavier Church.  There will be no coffee morning following Mass as it’s Ash Wednesday.  There will be a change to the menu as it is a day of fast and abstinence; this will be confirmed with catering staff tomorrow and a tweet with the updated menu will be sent.

We are having a ‘RagBag’ collection this week on Thursday.  If you are having a clear out between now and then, please send in any unwanted clothes, shoes, bags or belts and this helps raise money for school funds.

Lenten morning Masses begin on Thursday this week and will be taking place every day during Lent until the spring break.  These Masses take place at 8.25am each morning and are a lovely way to start the day.  Children who attend the Breakfast Club will still be able to attend this facility after Mass each morning.

Last week we welcomed South Lanarkshire colleagues to P1 and P7 as part of our family group work.  Our Primary 6 pupils enjoyed a Health and Well-Being event at Taylor High School on Friday.

This week is Financial Education Week in OLSF and our pupils will be learning all about money and finances.  We welcome the MACA Project to the school during the week as part of financial education week.

We welcome back Mrs Pauline Donnelly this week and also welcome Miss Rachel Peattie to our staff team.

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Last week was only a two day week for our pupils. They enjoyed playing outdoors in the milder weather and thankfully this looks set to continue into next week.

Looking to our week ahead, the tours of the Church continue.

We will be visited this week from our colleagues from South Lanarkshire Council as part of our North/South Family Group.

On Friday, our P6 pupils will enjoy a visit to Taylor High School as part of the transition programme; letters have been issued to P6 parents/carers with full details.

Last week, our Primary 1 pupils had a tour of the Church, led by Father McGachey.  Father has kindly offered to give every class a tour of the Church over the next few weeks.  On Friday we had a lovely Mass led by our Primary 5 class.  We also had a successful coffee morning, again, led by our Primary 5 class.  During the ‘Big Question’ on Friday, children were asked about themed Fridays and Lenten charities and the results will be collated and fed back to children this week.

Looking to our week ahead, P1/2 up to P6 classes will have their tours of the Church over the week.  There is a cross country festival on Wednesday afternoon (weather permitting) and we are still looking for additional parent helpers; if you can help out, please contact the school office.  On Friday there is a football and a netball festival too – it is a busy week for our pupils!

Last week we had a well attended Parent Council meeting on Monday evening, and our P7s visited Taylor High on Tuesday for the last time as part of their continuity programme.

On Friday, our children participated well in our annual Day of Dance and it was lovely to see so many of you coming along to see us in action (and join in, of course!)  Many thanks for your continued support of our school.

Looking to our week ahead, the many term 3 after school clubs on offer will be running.  If your child has shown an interest in a club they will have had a letter home with details of times etc.

On Friday, it is our First Friday Mass and coffee morning.  This will be led by P5 and as always, we are looking for shop bought donations of nut free cakes, biscuits and raffle prizes.