Our Lady and St. Francis Primary School

We started off our week with a whole school assembly where we looked at our Vision, Aims and Values and reminded ourselves of our school policy ‘Strive to Thrive’.  This policy will be emailed to parents/carers this week.  Please look over this policy, in particular the sections regarding responsibilities.

A representative from Dogs Trust will talk to the children at this week’s assembly about looking after dogs and will then visit P5, P5/6 and P6 to discuss this in more detail.

The Carfin Choristers resumed last week, led by Kevin and Aileen, and will continue this Wednesday.

Mrs Rimmer’s class will lead our First Friday Mass and Coffee morning.  P7a will join them to entertain our guests with a few songs.

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I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

Last week we welcomed our P2-P7 back to school and introduced our new P1s to Our Lady and St Francis Primary School.  The P7 buddies have been amazing and have looked after our new starts during breaks and lunchtimes, showing them patience and kindness.  Our new little ones even managed to join in our whole school assembly on Friday – we are so impressed by them.

This week we will start the week with a whole school assembly, reminding our children of our new Vision, Aims and Values and target setting.  We will also have two additional playtimes for last term’s house winners.  It will be the first whole week back to school so we will expect some very tired children by Friday.

Have a lovely week, everyone.

After many weeks of looking after our fish P5 and P5/6 finally released them into the River Clyde.  They braved the cold and wet (and mud) at Strathclyde Park and relished in the opportunity to be part of and understand river ecology.  Well done, P5/6 and P5, it was worth a new pair of shoes for Miss McCluskey and Miss Ainslie.

Thank you Mr Rankin for organising a very successful STEM Week last week.  All children took part in STEM workshops, presented by volunteers from CommsWorld and TechSheCan.  They were engaging and inspiring, whilst educating our children on all things STEM.

All children thoroughly enjoyed our Fun 31 Day.  Children were painting, building, dancing, playing outdoors (until it rained), completing challenges and topped it all off with a Balloon-a-thon – we think there may have been some tired children by Friday night.

The week ahead…

P5 and P5/6 continue to look after the fish as part of the Clyde in the Classroom Project.  They have shown great responsibility and care whilst ensuring our fish are safe.  Hopefully we will get to release them over the next few weeks.

P1 and P7 had their dental check on Monday.  If your child was absent you will receive a letter detailing what you should do next.

The children went to the church on Wednesday to receive their ashes.  The children have been discussing what Lent means to them and many of them are making positive changes, such as using kind words and being nice to one another.  All children will have the opportunity to say a rosary each morning during Lent at 8:50am in the gym hall.

Mr Maxwell took some P6s and P7s to the Ravenscraig on Friday for a football festival.  Mr Maxwell was delighted with our children who represented our school so well.  Well done, everyone – we are so proud of you.

Looking forward to next week, P1-7 will meet in the gym hall for assembly on Monday at 9:10am.  Monday will also see the GIRFEC Survey Launch.  This involves a survey for all parents, carers and pupils on their knowledge of GIRFEC.  A letter with further information and links to the surveys will be emailed.

Due to industrial strike action, the school is expected to be closed on Tuesday 28th February and Wednesday 1^st March.

Mr Maxwell will take P5-7 Cross Country Finalists to Wishaw Sports Centre on Thursday morning to compete in the finals.  We wish all our children good luck.

First Friday Mass will be led by P7a, who will also host the subsequent Coffee Morning.  P7b will join them for a few songs.  Please come along and support us.

Monday’s assembly was all about our new Strive to Thrive Policy.  This will replace our Promoting Positive Behaviour Policy and will be emailed to all parents/carers this week.

Our fish were delivered to P5 and P5/6 this week and they have shown great responsibility looking after them. Our children are thoroughly enjoying the Clyde in the Classroom project.

The children took part in The Big Question on Friday in their classes, where they decided on their Lenten Charities and Fun Days.  These will be included in the February Newsletter.

All classes will start preparing for our Financial Education days next week.  This year children will be responsible for spending a budget in a way that benefits the community.  They will take time this week to generate ideas, which will be put into practice the following week.

We hosted another successful Coffee Morning and Primary 6 wowed us with singing, dancing, a violin performance and a poem written and recited by one of our P6 girls.  Thank you to all who came along.

First Friday Mass was held in the afternoon and the children heard about the Holy Guardian Angels.  The singing was beautiful from all our children and we were delighted to see so many of our friends and family at the mass.

Primary 7 had their second transition visit to Taylor High School.  There was an air of excitement when they returned and it is clear they have been enjoying the activities prepared by the staff of Taylor High School.

Next week is Children’s Mental Health Week.  Our assembly on Monday will look at ways we can improve our mental health and the children will participate in discussions and activities throughout the week.  We will also place a focus on Internet Safety, as 7^th February is Internet Safety Day.  This year’s theme is ‘Want to talk about it?  Making space for conversations about life online’.

We have three Out of School Hours Learning Clubs this week: football, netball and The Carfin Choristers.

Tickets for the St. Valentine’s Disco will be on sale this week.

P5 and P5/6 were given an introduction to the Clyde in the Classroom project, which involves them hatching fish eggs and looking after them, before releasing them into the wild. A hatchery has been installed in each class and the children are using ice bottles to create the perfect temperature for the eggs, which will be delivered this Wednesday.   The children are very excited about the project, which provides a variety of learning opportunities and requires the children to show great responsibility.

The Parent Council met on Tuesday evening to discuss the latest events and future fundraising ideas.  There are still plenty of space on the PC for anyone else who would like to join – just turn up.

Our Committee Groups met on Friday to create their mission statements and to brainstorm ideas for moving forward.  The children have a good sense of what their groups are trying to achieve and hopefully we will see the final outcomes soon.

Looking towards next week, the children will come to assembly to go over our new school policy –Strive to Thrive.  The policy will be sent to parents/carers this week, please check your emails for this.

Kevin Cameron will lead a hymn practice on Wednesday to prepare the children for First Friday Mass, which is at the later time of 1:45.

Primary 7 will also visit Taylor High School for the second time as part of the transition programme.

The children learned about Chinese New Year at assembly this week.  I was very impressed by the children’s previous knowledge and their interesting questions.  We also had many Wider Achievers, Outstanding Citizens and Workers of the Week.  These photos will soon be uploaded to twitter.

We were delighted to welcome the parents of our new Primary Ones at this week’s enrolment.  We met some familiar faces and some new families.  It will be lovely to see you all at our inductions and even more so in August when you officially become part of our OLSF community.

Looking towards next week, the children will meet in their Committee Groups on Friday to discuss their aims and mission statements and the Parent Council will meet on Tuesday at 6pm in the school.  All welcome.