This morning we had a special assembly to express our good wishes and to say a fond farewell to George, our Lollipop Man, who has served the school for 11 years.  We are sad to say goodbye and thank him for

his excellent support and care for all the boys and girls at St. Augustine’s Primary.  Several classes entertained George with a few Christmas Carols and George duly obliged by presenting awards to the children who received Highly Commended Awards for their entries to the Road Safety Calendar Competition.

Celebrating our Pupil of the Week Awards, our Marvellous Manners and Good Citizen Ambassadors.  Well done boys and girls!!

Our recent partnership work with St.Ambrose High School resulted in presents being purchased for the Syrian families and their children who have recently moved to North Lanarkshire.  Thanks to the generosity of our children during our recent Silver for Syria campaign we were able to give £200 towards the purchase of toys for the children at a party hosted by St.Ambrose.  Mrs. Marcucilli, Principal Teacher of Pupil Support, reported that the children were overwhelmed and so excited to see Santa and gave him a great big hug!  Here is a picture gallery of the Caritas candidate helping with the wrapping process and the party.

Thursday is party time for the pupils of Pr. 4 and 5 with the party getting off to a flying start at 1.00pm.  Our Pr. 6 and 7 party takes place on Friday afternoon.  Pr. 1, 2 and 3 Christmas party takes place on Monday. Please check our blog for pictures of the parties.

Wednesday evening was the final performance of our Christmas Nativity ‘Manger Mouse’ and our Christmas Concert.  Both Tuesday and Wednesday were a sell out with great reviews coming from the parents and grandparents who came along to see the performances. Wednesday evening’s performance was a big exciting night for everyone with children particularly enjoying the thrill of being in the school at night time.  We have a few pictures below that capture the spirit of the evening.

As we prepare for the Birth of Christ on Christmas Day the school continues with a programme of events and charitable deeds throughout this season of Advent.

On Monday our Enterprise Committee have requested a Christmas Dress Up Day that will cost £1.00 with all donations going to Mary’s Meals.  This will mean that Monday is an own clothes day with children free to adorn themselves with all things Christmassy!!! Having seen the great variety of Christmas jumpers, T-shirts, hats and hair bands on show recently the school will be a vision tomorrow!!

On Tuesday we have our afternoon performance of our Christmas Concert. Our invited guests in the afternoon will include a family who have moved into the authority from Syria .  We are both delighted and honoured that they have chosen to join us in our celebration of Christmas.

On Wednesday we have a very busy day with the exciting opportunity for the boys and girls to come out at night and perform their Christmas Nativity and Concert in the evening. The show starts at 7.00pm with all children requested to come to school at 6.30 pm. Many thanks in advance for  supporting the school and bringing your child along to perform with their class on the night. All children can be picked up after the whole show  finishes at roughly 8.30pm.  Many thanks for your support in this regard.

On Thursday the whole school may well be recovering from a few hectic days  but not the pupils of Pr. 4 and 5 as they have their Christmas Party. It is an early lunch for everyone that day.  Children going home must be collected from the school as there will be no crossing patrol at 12 o’clock.

On Friday afternoon our Pr.  6 and 7 pupils are sure to arrive in all their finery for their party at 1.00pm. Once again children must be collected at 12 o’clock if going home to get ready.

Remember to check the school blog for picture galleries of our week.

The office was delighted to welcome some wonderfully talented girls who wanted to share their recent success at a cheerleading competition they attended. Now we will need to look for an opportunity for the girls to share their obvious talent with the school.

Our generous pupils and supportive parents responded very well to a recent appeal that we ran a few weeks ago in partnership with our friends at St. Ambrose High School. Children during their break time and lunchtime very generously donated their silver to our Silver for Syria campaign thanks to excellent awareness raising by Francesca from Pr.5. We are delighted that we were able to provide Mrs. Marcuccelli, Principal Teacher of Pupil Support from St. Ambrose with £200 to buy the children from Syria, who have joined the authority, a Christmas present that they will receive when they attend a Christmas Party hosted by St. Ambrose. Gospel values in action.

Our hard working Global Citizens committee ran a very successful campaign over the last few weeks to gather donations for Coatbridge food bank.  There was an excellent response with over 40 bags full of donations being uplifted on Friday morning. Well done everyone, the food bank were delighted with your very generous response.  Here is a picture of some Global Citizen committee members with some of the bags that were uplifted.

The whole school gathered together on Friday for a dress rehearsal for the Christmas Show that will take place on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday evening. Tickets for both performances are still available from the school office priced at £2.50 for adults and £1.00 for OAP’s. They are selling fast so don’t forget to get your tickets. The hall capacity is restricted to 400 for each performance.   Here is a sneak preview of the infant nativity ‘Manger Mouse’.