The school community congratulates Father Michael Kane on his appointment as Parish Priest of St.Augustine’s Parish. He has carried out a remarkable job since he came to the parish and we are very forunate that he will remain here to carry on his good work leading our community of faith. He becomes only the eighth Parish Priest in St.Augustine’s 124 year history.
Well done to the boys and girls of Primary 7 who took an active role during services this weekend as we launched the beginning of Catholic Education Week. Tomorrow children will come home with an information booklet that informs you of the work of St.Augustine’s Primary as we develop Catholic Gospel Values and encourage our children to put their faith into action.
Room 10 have been enjoying their new topic, the Vikings, this week. They have lots of questions about the Vikings and are very eager to learn lots about life as a raider! The boys and girls learned that the Vikings travelled from Scandinavia on a longship, which inspired them to work together to create their own. Room 10 can’t wait to show off the finished longship, and share all their learning.
Our Paired Reading Programme began on Tuesday afternoon and involves Pr.7 pupils taking on a leadership role through working with and supporting the progress of our Pr.1 pupils and their literacy skills. Primary 7 pupils trained by Miss Ross and Mrs Chisholm had been waiting patiently to put their new skills into practice prior to the first session. Both Miss Ross and Mrs Chisholm reported that they were an absolute delight when they came down to visit the infant department. They were all extremely motivated and enthusiastic and spent time getting to know their reading buddies before getting down to the real business of reading and sharing good practice. Pr.7 pupils took their role as mentor very seriously and Pr.1 pupils can’t wait until they return next week. Well Done Pr7 !!! Now we aim to extend the programme to our Pr.6 pupils who will aid our Pr.2 pupils.
During Financial Education Week, the boys and girls of Rooms 1 and 2 had a first look at money and how it is used in everyday life. They had in depth discussions about the importance of money and why money is so important. They used the Greengrocers Shop to buy items costing 1p, up to a maximum of 10 items – 10p etc. They also had a close look at other coins up to the value of £2 and used these coins to make money men pictures. They used the smartboard to sort the coins into the correct jars. Children worked co-operatively ensuringthat everyone had to listen carefully to each other, said kind things, took turns and shared resources carefully. So many learning opportunities within one focus. Well done boys and girls!!
The P1-3 HWB Committee opened up our new kitchen yesterday at our first meeting since the kitchen has been ready to use. We discussed health & safety and hygiene before we split inot two groups to begin our tasks. The first group made healthy cucumber and cheese wraps in the kitchen area and the other group designed ‘Welcome Posters’ to be displayed in and around our kitchen area. These posters are to advertise and promote our new kitchen. We then swapped over so that both groups got to experience both activities.
The aim was to carry this message back to our teachers and peers in order to share this good news and encourage all classes to use our Healthy Kitchen area. We ar very grateful to our PTA for working so hard to support the school and fund this great asset. Our chairperson Adam, recorded the minutes of our meeting in our HWB Committee folder which is available on our display board.
Our week ahead is extremely busy as ever, however there is an increased impetus to get everything ready for our very important visitors. Just as you do at home when people come to visit we want to ensure that we show off our school and the achievements of our pupils as well as we can. Our regular updates in regard of improvements to the school building mean that we are in a position to talk about our plans for specific parts of the school as we are at the mercy of contractors and delivery dates. We are proud of our school and delight in the wide variety of achievements that all our children attain and enjoy. We are confident that with so many children who are successful learners and confident individuals they will take the lead role in telling the story about our school and where we are going in order to further improve.
Mon– Netball League – competitive event 10 – 12
Staff training night – Focus on Food, capitalising on our newly fitted kitchen
Football- Pr.6 – 7
Tues. – Mrs.Docherty to attend several meetings with outside agencies
Swimming – Pr.5
St.Ambrose Information evening – Pr.7 – 7.00pm
Fun Fitness Afterschool Club – Pr.3
Cross Country Afterschool Club – Pr.5 – 7
Wed – Junior Sports Leader training – Pr.7
Assemblies – Pr.1 – 3
Pr.4 – 7
Netball Afterschool Club
Thurs – Healthy Eating Project led by St.Ambrose pupils – Room 9
Dance afterschool Club
Badminton Afterschol Club
Frid. – First Friday Mass
Interim Progress Reports to be issued
Afterschool Football Club – Pr.4 / 5
Sunday is the start of Catholic Education Week with our senior pupils marking this very important week on our Liturgical Calendar by attending Holy Mass on Sunday to represent the school resplendent in their school uniform. Our senior pupils will say the Prayers of Intercession and will also participate in the offertory. Throughout the week ahead all classes will be involved in lessons and activities around the theme of ‘Learning to be Merciful’. At our school assemblies we have been discussing how we can put our faith into action and as our week progresses at school we will focus upon what it means to be merciful and how we can continue to put our faith into action.
Today all children went home with a very important letter in their school bags. We hope they remembered to give them to you. The letters inform our school community that week beginning February 15th the school will host some very special and also very important visitors. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate will visit the school to find out about the learning and teaching. They aim to speak to all staff, pupils and also parents in regard the school and the learning environment created for all. We are confident that our children will be eager to impress our visitors and to speak about their learning. Parents who received a questionnaire are kindly requested to return the completed questionnaire to Education Scotland by 3rd February.
A huge congratulations to the Euro Quiz team who took part and scored so highly at todays quiz. They did a wonderful job of representing the school. This was the first time the school had entered the competition and did wonderfully well. Mrs. Elliott was so proud of them and stated they should also 
feel really proud of themselves .
