St. Brendan's Primary School and Nursery

A Spectacular St Andrew’s Day Celebration at St Brendan’s

St Andrew’s Day is always a much-loved highlight of the year here at St Brendan’s and this year’s celebration was nothing short of spectacular. Our talented pupils took to the stage this afternoon with confidence, enthusiasm and pride, showcasing a memorable programme of Scottish songs, poems and dances. From traditional ballads to lively reels, they honoured Scotland’s rich heritage and the incredible artists, poets and performers who have shaped it.

The hall was filled with a sold-out audience of parents, carers and family members eager to support the pupils. Their applause and encouragement created a warm, joyful atmosphere that made the event even more special.

Alongside the performances, a successful stall was run with proceeds going toward St Andrew’s Hospice. Thank you to everyone who supported it, your generosity helped make the day even more meaningful and will go a long way in supporting the operations of the hospice.

St Andrew’s Day continues to be a favourite for both pupils and parents at St Brendan’s, and this year truly reminded us why. A huge well done to all our incredible pupils for their hard work and brilliant performances. And of course, a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated teachers, support staff and janitor whose time, effort and preparation ensured the day was a resounding success.

Here’s to another unforgettable celebration of Scottish culture—well done, everyone!

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Mini Vinnies – Caring for our community

This Advent season, our Mini Vinnies have truly stepped into their leadership roles by organising and leading our weekly assembly services. With maturity, kindness and a strong sense of faith, they have helped guide the school community through this special time of reflection and preparation. From planning readings to welcoming classes and setting up the hall, they have brought a calm and thoughtful atmosphere to each gathering.

In addition to their work during assemblies, our Mini Vinnies are also continuing their wonderful initiative to support our local Baby Bank. They are collecting donations to help local families during the festive season, and we warmly invite anyone who is able to contribute.

Donations of clean, warm winter items in good condition can be placed in the boxes at the front entrance of the school. The Baby Bank is currently looking for:

Hats

Gloves

Winter jackets (ages 2–16)

Winter footwear (such as boots)

Warm blankets

Onesies

Oodies

Unopened toiletries

We are incredibly proud of our Mini Vinnies for showing such compassion, responsibility and leadership—both in school and in the wider community. Thank you to everyone who supports this important cause and well done to our Mini Vinnies for making a real difference this Advent.

A huge thank you to Paul Flanagan Joinery!

A huge thank you to our generous sponsor; Paul Flanagan Joinery for providing brand-new football kits for our boys’ and girls’ teams. The pupils are thrilled and the kits have already brought a boost of pride and excitement to training and matches.

Your support makes a real difference, helping our young athletes play with confidence and represent our school in style. We truly appreciate your generosity and look forward to an exciting season ahead in our fantastic new kits!

Celebrating Sporting Success Stories here in St. Brendan’s

Introducing Our New ‘Sportsperson of the Month’ Award!

Our sports Committee have been working hard this term, and we’re excited to share their fantastic new idea—the ‘Sportsperson of the Month’ award! This award celebrates pupils who consistently shine in sports and physical activity across the school.

Each month, one pupil will be selected from each class who demonstrate the true spirit of school sport. When choosing a winner, they will be looking for someone who:

Shows great effort and determination

Demonstrates strong teamwork and fair play

Encourages others and keeps a positive attitude

Represents their class with pride in every activity

Gives their best in every game, supports teammates, and shows outstanding sportsmanship

This award is a wonderful way to recognise pupils who work hard, inspire others and help make PE and sport enjoyable for everyone. We’re proud of the Sports Committee for leading this initiative and we congratulate our first group of winners!

Well done to all pupils who continue to show passion, respect and energy in every sporting opportunity—keep it up!

Celebrating our weekly successes here in St. Brendan’s

This week’s assembly was once again a fantastic celebration of our learners’ achievements. We recognised many pupils who have shown excellence as Successful Learners, Responsible Citizens, Confident Individuals and Effective Contributors. Their hard work, positive attitudes and dedication to learning truly stood out.

Well done to everyone involved!

Strengthening Community Bonds: P6 Pupils Visit Our Local Care Home

This week, our P6 pupils enjoyed a heart-warming visit to our local care home—one of our most valued community connections. Pupils spent time singing carols with the residents, bringing plenty of smiles and warm moments.

We are so proud of how kindly and confidently our pupils represented the school. Visits like this remind us of the importance of friendship across generations and the positive impact simple acts of kindness can have.

Well done to everyone involved—we look forward to our next visit!

Primary 7/6 have continued through Term Two where they left off after Term One, returning to school with a determination and enthusiasm to continue their learning. The children continue to work hard in their preparations for the St Andrew’s Day celebrations and are excited to share their performance with you all!

Literacy

The children are coming towards the end of their novel block and have thoroughly enjoyed the novels they have been working on: The Last Bear and The Boy at the Back of the Class. The novels have provided opportunities for the children to apply their understanding of Active Literacy strategies modelled in Term One. We have taken the opportunity to ‘Hot Seat’ with our peers, taking on the role of a main character of the novel and answering questions they have prepared from their point of view. We really enjoyed preparing for this and recording our conversations.

This week, we also had the pleasure of welcoming Mrs Oates to class to learn more about Topical Science linked to our topic for the term, World War Two. Working in different groups, we learned about four different scientific discoveries, inventions and advancements from the Second World War and how they have impacted the modern world. We learned about the role of radar, the development of penicillin, the key contributions of codebreakers and the birth of nuclear physics. After this, we visited the Digital Den to help turn this learning into a digital information report co-written with one of our peers.

Numeracy

Having completed our Number learning on Multiplication and Division, we have moved on to broadening our understanding of Money. Having begun to look at our understanding of budgeting, we are really excited to continue this learning further. Within non-number, we are continuing to develop our knowledge of symmetry.

Physical Education

We absolutely love to push and challenge ourselves during our Physical Education lessons. This term, we have been focusing on basketball. We have looked at a variety of passes, improving our dribbling and working on our shooting. We have worked on these in game-like scenarios, participating in different drills with passive defenders to help us improve our decision making. We have had very competitive games and love to compete against one another.

Primary 7 Bible Experience

Last week, Primary 7 pupils in the class were given the opportunity to visit the bible experience! The children had a great afternoon with the interactive opportunity to expand their understanding of key bible stories and messages. They thoroughly enjoyed the competitive element and enjoyed a strong 2nd place finish in the standings.

The class have had a fun-filled, jam-packed beginning to Term Two, with things only looking to get busier as we head towards St Andrew’s Day and December. We are excited to see what the next few weeks have instore for us.

Catholic Education Fortnight

Catholic Education Fortnight takes place each year from the Feast of St Margaret of Scotland (16th November) until the Feast of St Andrew (30th November).

As we look back on this Jubilee Year of Hope here in St. Brendan’s, we pause to consider how our thoughts, our love and our actions have deepened our bond with God, with one another and with all creation.

Here in St. Brendan’s, faith is something actively lived in the school community, with prayer central to daily and yearly life through regular prayer, assemblies, Masses, Rosaries and special celebrations.

We have put faith into action by supporting charities such as the Baby Bank, St. Andrew’s Hospice and Refuweege. Pupils and staff also participated in pilgrimages to Carfin Grotto: staff reflected on their vocation as Catholic educators, while Primary 7 pupils shared a day of prayer and activities with neighbouring schools, strengthening community and shared faith.

Important dates for Catholic Education Fortnight

Sunday the 23^rd of November marks a truly special moment for our school community as the Our Lady’s High School cluster comes together in celebration of the Pilgrims of Hope journey. As part of this beautiful initiative, pupils from Our Lady’s High School and St Brendan’s will be taking an active role in the 11am Mass, where they will read, speak and help lead our parish in prayer.

Moments like these remind us that our faith is lived not only in our classrooms but in the heart of our parish community. Our young people continue to show their commitment, courage and pride in their faith as they step forward to share the Word of God and support our parish family.

We warmly invite everyone—families, parishioners, friends and all members of our wider community to join us for this special celebration. As we walk together as pilgrims of hope, your presence will make this occasion even more meaningful.

Catholic Education Mass

To celebrate Catholic Education Week, Bishop Toal will celebrate the annual Diocesan Education Mass at 7pm on Monday the 24^th of November in Motherwell Cathedral. Everyone is invited to attend to pray for Catholic Education in our Diocese.

The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven,

may the faith you have given us

in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,

and the flame of charity enkindled

in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

reawaken in us the blessed hope

for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us

into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.

May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos

in the sure expectation

of a new heaven and a new earth,

when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,

your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee

reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,

a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread

the joy and peace of our Redeemer

throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed,

be glory and praise for ever.

Amen

Newly enrolled Pope Francis children

We are delighted to congratulate our Primary 6 Pupils who enrolled for the Pope Francis Faith Award last Friday at our monthly mass. This marks the beginning of a meaningful journey where they will grow in faith, service and understanding.

By the end of the award, our pupils will have used all the gifts of the Holy Spirit—showing their love of God and love of others through their words, choices and actions. They will also spend time reflecting on how these actions have shaped their journey of faith and deepened their relationship with God.

We are incredibly proud of each of them and look forward to supporting them throughout this special experience.

Celebrating Our Right to a Voice

Last week as part of our Community Friday, our school celebrated one of the most important rights we have, Article 12 of the UNCRC the right to a voice. Our Rights Committee focused on making sure every pupil can be heard and valued.

All of our pupil voice groups worked together to create a Pupil Voice Charter, showing how we listen, include everyone and share ideas respectfully. After collecting ideas and voting on a name, our charter was officially called…

 “Chatterbox”

“Chatterbox” reminds us that every voice matters here in St. Brendan’s and that speaking up helps make our school a better place. We are proud to celebrate our rights and our new charter!

St. Brendan’s Football Team

Fir Park Tournament – 23rd October

One of our school football teams took part in the Motherwell Community Trust Fair Play Tournament at Fir Park, delivering a strong set of performances. The boys won three of their five matches, drawing one and losing one, showing great teamwork, determination, and sportsmanship throughout the day. They represented the school exceptionally well and should be proud of their efforts.

Cathedral Primary Tournament – 31st October

Our other school team competed in the Taylor High School Cluster Tournament at Cathedral Primary School, where they faced some tough opposition. The boys recorded five wins from seven games, with two narrow defeats. Although the boys were unlucky not to return with the trophy this time, they showed resilience and commitment across the tournament and continue to be excellent ambassadors for the school.

We look forward to more football and continued progress in 2026!

Celebrating Success here in St. Brendan’s

This week’s assembly was a fantastic celebration of our learners’ achievements. We recognised many pupils who have shown excellence as Successful Learners, Responsible Citizens, Confident Individuals and Effective Contributors. Their hard work, positive attitudes and dedication to learning truly stood out.

We also shared and celebrated successes from clubs in our wider community—highlighting the amazing talents and efforts our pupils show beyond the classroom.

Well done to everyone involved!