This week’s highlight had to be on Saturday morning when 24 of our Primary 4 pupils celebrated their First Holy Communion. It was a dull, wet day but the smiles on the boys and girls faces made everyone forget the weather. The children looked beautiful and participated fully in a wonderful celebration of faith. My thanks goes to their class teacher Mrs Hall, Father Bogan and Deacon Mario, the parish of St. Cuthbert’s, the staff of our school, and the families of our pupils. It is indeed a privilege for us to be part of this important step of our young people’s faith journey. We look forward to Friday of this week when Primary 4 will join Primary 3 for our Thanksgiving Assembly and a well deserved treat!
Despite having a four day week we have been extremely busy. Primary 1 had a superb time at Almond Valley on Tuesday learning all about the farm and the food our animals produce. On Friday, Primary 2 headed off to Motherwell Heritage Centre where they extended their knowledge of Knights and Castles, dressing up, participating in role play and handling a ‘real sword’! As always our pupils were a credit to their families and school.
Wednesday was our World of Work day. This was the first event of this kind we have held but after the success of the day it will certainly not be the last! When learning in class pupils are now well aware that as well as increasing their knowledge, great emphasis is also put on their skill development. All pupils engage in learning skills for life, learning and work. On Wednesday we were delighted to welcome 14 different occupations into our school to discuss their job and more importantly the qualifications and skills required to be successful. The visitors visited all classes, including the nursery, speaking about their work. We had a doctor, a nurse, a beauty therapist, a wind turbine technician, the fire service not to mention police officers from Scotland and Australia. However, the highlight had to be our visitors from the prison service. We had 4 officers from Shotts Prison accompanied by 4 working dogs! The children were given demonstrations of the dogs in action. It was fantastic. The pupils came to school dressed as what they want to be when they grow up. In the afternoon pupils reflected on the speakers and participated in ‘talking head’ activities based upon their futures. All pupils were fully engaged throughout the day. Our senior pupils spoke about the consistent messages being delivered – be ambitious, aim high and work hard at school. I know the day inspired our pupils to be ambitious and apply themselves fully in order to reach their full potential. I am very grateful to all our participants for freely giving their time to speak to our young people. I was delighted to receive very positive comments from our guests who were all highly impressed by our pupils and their participation throughout the day.
Our Junior Road Safety Officers, accompanied by Miss Collins and Mrs McCart, excelled themselves on Wednesday morning as they attended the council offices to present to elected members our work on road safety. Aaron and Jodie, ably assisted by Holly, spoke confidently about our Road Safety Week and their role within the school promoting road safety. Well done!
In the nursery the preschool children made their first visits to Primary 1 as part of our induction programme. The children were very much at home in the Primary 1 classroom and our existing Primary 1 children just loved being the ‘big ones’ for just a little while! More visits to follow this week.
Friday morning saw Primary 1 showcase their learning about The Farm. We welcomed many relatives and friends to share in the pupils’ learning.
Finally, Thursday was a very special day too. It was our annual presentation to our Lenten charities. We were delighted to present a total of £3339.67 to LEPRA, Down’s Syndrome Scotland and SCIAF. I was overwhelmed by the sum of money raised by our youngsters and families during the 4 weeks of Lent that we were at school. It was a tremendous effort and really does highlight our faith in action.
All of that in four days!
Have a good week everyone and thanks for reading my blog.
Mrs Hendry
