Today saw the second group of children leave the school for Hamilton Town Hall.  After the rave reviews yesterday everyone was really excited for the morning that lay ahead and it did not disappoint.  Many thanks to the staff and cast of Hamilton Town Hall for such a tremendous pantomime.  It was totally fantastic!  The school was also delighted to receive some lovely compliments that gave worthy recognition to the lovely manners and excellent behaviour from our boys and girls.  They were a real credit to the school and their parents.  Well done everyone!

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception and marks the opening of the ‘Year of Mercy’,  a year in which Pope Francis invites each of us to encounter the unconditional love, kindness, generosity and acceptance of God.  We look forward to a year of working in partnership with the Parish community to help our pupils grow in faith and to  demonstrate their love of God in their daily actions.

Our Global Citizen Committee were hard at work on Friday making information posters about their current campaign.  They are asking for donations for Coatbridge Food Bank and are aiming to inform everyone about what foodstuffs they can donate and those that cannot be accepted.  All donations to be sent to Mrs.Hart’s class.  The closing date for all donations is next week.

Our annual Christmas Concert will take place on Tuesday 15th December at 1.00pm and Wednesday 16th December at 7.00pm.  Tickets for both shows will go on sale on Wednesday morning priced at £2.50 per adult and £1.00 for OAP’s.  The school will also have a dress rehearsal on Friday 11th December at 9.45am.  Please note the school hall has a limited capacity of 400.

Our pupils from Pr.1 and 2 along with our senior pupils from Room 15 and 16 were out of school today for a visit to the pantomime to see Sleeping Beauty.  Everyone came back giving the performance a resounding 10/10.  Here are a few pictures of the morning.  Tomorrow the rest of the school will be out of school to visit the pantomime.  They are sure to be excited after listening to the reviews at lunchtime.

The school and PTA are delighted to make this astonishing announcement thanks to your amazing support.  Our PTA raised the  outstanding sum of £2,800 from their great efforts at the Christmas Fair and the Children’s Christmas stall they ran last week in school.  The school raised the astonishing sum of £1630.59 at the Christmas Fair thanks to their class enterprise projects and our other stalls.  In total our endeavours and your great support raised the quite astonishing sum of £4,430.59.  Totally awesome!!! A huge big thank you to everyone for contributing to the great community spirit we have here at St.Augustine’s.  Well done everyone!!!

Our week ahead is as action packed as always with lots of exciting things taking place over the course of the week.

On Monday, Rooms 1 – 4 and Rooms 15 and 16 will go out to see Sleeping Beauty.  Own clothes may be worn for this special Christmas treat.

On Tuesday, Rooms 6 – 14 will go out to visit the panto.  Own clothes may be worn for this special day.  St.Ambrose will visit the school to speak to Pr.7 as part of their transition.

On Wednesday it is time for Christmas Lunch with Pr.1 – 3, Rooms 1 – 8.

On Thursday it is time for Christmas lunch for Pr. 4 – 7, Rooms 9 – 16.

On Friday it is time for our dress rehearsal for the Christmas Show.

The whole school will be leaving the school on either Monday or Tuesday to see Sleeping Beauty at Hamilton Town Hall.  The excitement is sure to be high as every child may come to school in their own clothes to join in all the festivities on the day.  Reindeer antlers, elf ears and santa hats will all be out in force.  Keep up to date on the blog for our picture gallery of the panto.

On Wednesday we had our weekly assembly with some special invited guests. Two representatives from the Knights of St.Columba came to award one of our talented Pr.7 pupils a very special award.  She won the overall award for her age group in the competition Keep Christ in Christmas.  She was awarded a framed certificate and a money award. Well done and congratulations! Later at the assembly it was the turn of some of our Pr. 6 and 7 pupils who received medals as a result of their performance in the recent sportshall athletics qualifiers.  Due to their great team effort the school has qualified for the finals which will take place in January at Ravenscraig. A super achievement boys and girls!!

Room 9 pupils have been working in partnership with St.Andrew’s Hospice to plan, organise and sell their products that raise much needed funds for the Hospice.  From tomorrow they plan to sell a variety of badges – santa, snowman, elf and reindeer, priced  at £1.00.  Room 9 pupils have already made visits to classes to inform them of their plans.  On Tuesday and Thursday they will also be selling Christmas Cards for the Hospice at lunchtime.  They will also be selling the cards at the Christmas Shows.