The school was delighted to welcome our new entrants over the last two Thursdays – all 59 pupils. Mrs.Chishom and Miss Ross reported that all children were excellent and happily went to class and joined in the variety of activities that had been set up that afternoon. After their induction programme all new entrants reported that they were looking forward to starting school in August. Parents attended their own induction programme to discuss how school and home could work together to ensure a smooth transition. Parents were also treated to first hand reports about the work of a Pr.1 class from of our present Pr.1 pupils who came along to talk about their learning and my goodness could they talk!! They were fine examples of confident individuals.
All posts by Mrs Docherty
First Communicants
Congratulations to our final group of Primary 4 pupils who received their First Holy Communion on Sunday. George the photographer has very kindly agreed once again to take a group picture of the two groups and has given them to us to post on our blog. I am sure you will agree that they look terrific! The school and parish community were extremely proud of all the children who received their First Communion over the last two weeks.
The Week Ahead
Our week ahead is as busy as always!! Quite a few of our Pr.6 and 7 pupils will be attending a Gaelic Football Tournament at St.Ambrose on Tuesday. It would be lovely if they could play in some nice warm sunshine but the weather forecast is not looking so favourable at the moment. Our new entrants will come to the school on Thursday afternoon to visit their classroom and meet the teachers. Their parents will attend a parents information afternoon and will also get to hear about the role of the Parent Council and our P.T.A. At the moment we have 55 children registered to start in August.
Congratulations to our last group of Pr.4 pupils who received their First Holy Communion on Sunday. As soon as the photographer sends us the group pictures we will get them posted on the blog. As a treat for our Pr.4 pupils the school has organised a special treat for the children on Thursday afternoon.
Friday of this week and Monday of next week are Bank holidays and the school is closed.
Pupil Voice gets Underway!!
Friday was the first day of our whole school gathering together to form our various committees to promote pupil voice and to give everyone greater opportunity to take on leadership roles. This term we have formed six committees that will enable pupils to lead awareness raising campaigns and so make a difference at school, local and national level. Each committee appointed a chair and vice chairperson and decided upon the aim of their committee and formed an action plan. We have a picture of two of our committees after their first meeting. There are 6 committees for Pr.1-3 and six committees for Pr.4-7. We now have Eco, Health, Enterprise, Global Citizens, Pupil Council and JRSO committees that will meet throughout this term.
Pr.5 are busy in the garden
Our Pr.5 pupils from Room 12 were eager to share their gardening experience with you all. Mrs.McGlone and her band of merry helpers were busy planting and weeding in our school grounds last week. Our school grounds are really looking great just now thanks to the commitment and hard work of the classes and the gardening club who are making frequent visits to our school garden area. It is great to see that children are taking such a pride in our school.
First Communion
Our first group of First Communicants celebrated their First Holy Communion on Sunday at the 10 and 12 o’clock Masses. Everyone agreed they did a marvellous job, looked wonderful and made their families, teacher and school feel extremely proud. Here are the pictures of the groups on the day. We can now look forward to the next group of pupils who will receive their First Holy Communion on Sunday. We continue to pray for the children and their families at this important time.
Dogs Trust Visit Room 1 and 2
Room 1 and 2 had a very exciting visit from Dogs Trust today! Alison from Dogs Trust visited our school today with her own special ‘classroom assistant’ called Alfie. Alfie lives at home with Alison and visits all the schools with her to teach all the boys and girls how to look after a dog.
Alison informed the children about all the fantasic work that the people at Dogs Trust do.
Children learned how to look after a dog: how to groom its hair, give it a bath, pick up its poop and also how to give our dog exercise.
Children learned what a microchip was and how it works. Alfie had a microchip and Hannah used Alison’s special device to check for Alfies chip. The device made a loud beep and showed lots of numbers. When these numbers are put into the computer, they exactly where the dog lives and who its owner is.
The children had a lovely morning with Alfie and were very sad when he had to go and visit another school, he did promise he would come back and visit again soon!
Pr.5 in the Garden
As part of Room 12’s Interdisciplinary work on Biodiversity they were out in the garden this week to do some weeding in our school garden and to plant sunflowers in our greenhouse. As you can see they chose a lovely day to work in the garden.
Election Fever
It was great to see our senior pupils becoming involved in politics the day after the election. As I made my way around school on Friday I stumbled upon heated debates taking place between Labour candidates and SNP candidates in Pr.7, Room 16. It was evident from the quality of the conversations and interviews taking place that the children had shown a great interest in the recent election and could talk quite confidently about manifesto pledges. Impressive work indeed boys and girls. Politicians of the future!!
The Week Ahead
This week is a short week at school for our pupils as we have a Bank Holiday and an in-service day on Thursday. The school will be used for election purposes so staff only have access to certain parts of the building on that day. This week we have visits from Action for Safe Play who will run a mini play rangers programme for some of our senior pupils. Two of of senior pupils will attend an Eco Conference at Greenhill School on Tuesday morning along with Mrs.Chisholm. Our Pr.4 pupils will make two visits to the Church this week to prepare for their First Communion on Sunday.
As part of our self-evaluation process the pupils will complete a questionnaire this week that will let us know what they think of school and how we can continue to improve and make it better for all pupils. The staff are looking forward to seeing the collated results.
