St. Patrick's Primary, New Stevenston

Very well done to all pupils who represented St Patrick’s today at the choir competition at the Royal Concert Hall. Although the choir did not win,  I have heard that they gave a great performance and pupils were not disheartened on their return to school.

This years Lenten charity is “DreamMaker Foundation” which is a charity which was established by Les Hoey MBE. It is a charity that helps  children and their families who are going through life threatening and gruelling treatments by granting them wishes through meeting their idols and creating lovely memories.

At Christmas time we were very fortunate when Les Hoey donated many bag full of toys and selection boxes to St Patrick’s and we were able to distribute these to many pupils in our school community.

At a recent Children’s Council meeting the pupils suggested this charity and the staff have all embraced it.

There are going to be lots of fundraising activities over the next three weeks – including purchasing stars for £1 to make our “Reach for the Stars” display, purchasing badges/pencils from DreamMaker, selling tea/toast, hot dogs day, dress up day, Easter Egg colouring competitions and raffles. Please support this fantastic charity if you can and of course get in touch if you have any other ideas to support us.

Finally Les Hoey has  agreed to officially open the trim trail and hopefully we will be able to present a cheque to his company on this day. There will be more information to follow.

The book fayre is at school this week and books can be purchased during school day only. A letter with times was issued last week.

Pupils are encouraged to attend the Lenten mass/service at St John Bosco church each morning before school.  A wee drink of juice/biscuit will be available from tomorrow morning for afterwards.

On Monday P6 and P7 will represent St Patrick’s at the Royal Concert Hall for the annual school choir competition. I had the pleasure of hearing them sing and practise during the week and they were fantastic. We all wish them the best of luck. Please remember to return any permission letters tomorrow. Pupils should wear a shirt and tie with their uniform if possible and bring their P.E. kits to change into for the afternoon football activity.

On Tuesday jotters will go home for you to look through in preparation for Parent’s Evening next Tuesday. Please return jotters and evaluations on Wednesday. Please return any parent’s evening slips by Tuesday at the latest.

On Thursday evening P3  pupils will make their First Reconciliation at St John Bosco Church at 6.30 p.m. A letter about final arrangements will be issued to parents.

On Friday P5 will lead the St Patrick’s Day mass at 11 a.m.

This week is Health Week and there are lots of activities organised for all pupils. Please check the blog throughout the week.

Pupils can wear their polo shirts/sweatshirts, track suits and trainers to school this week.

On Monday all pupils will have some football coaching from a coach from Motherwell Football Club.

All classes will also have a teeth brushing talk and P1-4 will begin a daily teeth brushing initiative which will continue to run after health week.

On Tuesday all pupils will receive a’ Taekwon -Do’ session from Brian Leckie coaches.

On Wednesday the Scottish SPCA will provide talks/ workshops for all pupils.

On Thursday Barbara Hughes from Farm to Fork will work with P6 and P7  on a ‘spice’ tasting activity and later the whole school will be entertained in a Sport’s Talent Display, where pupils from all classes will showcase their sporting talents.

On Friday P6 will sell toast and juice and monies raised will be for our Lenten charity initiative. (more information to follow)

St Patrick’s Day

Please note that we are going to mass at 11 a.m. on Friday for St. Patrick’s Day and P5 will lead our mass. Pupils should wear their school uniform but a green ribbon/bow is acceptable.

To coincide with our Book Fayre which is arriving in school tomorrow as well as World Book Day last week, pupils are invited to bring a favourite book to school on Friday.  There will be opportunities to have some extra reading time in school and pupils will be issued with their World Book Day voucher. A letter will be issued tomorrow about Book Fayre which will run from Monday 13th – Thursday 16th March.

As you know HMie visited our school from Monday 6th – Wednesday 8th March. During the two day visit they had the opportunity of talking with staff, observing classes and working with and talking to pupils from P4 and P7. Early indications suggest a positive visit and many strengths and areas of excellence were indicated. Thank you to everyone who participated or engaged in the experience. Thank you to parents, staff and pupils for all your hard work. We hope that we can build on all the positive experiences and continue to make St Patrick’s Primary the best ‘wee’ nurturing school in Lanarkshire. We cannot do this alone.