The highlight of our week had to be the P6 showcase of learning Safe and Sound. This was work undertaken through the Artsnet programme. The children were outstanding. The amount of learning that had happened in 4 sessions and the quality of the performance highlighted the high level of talent we have within our school. Many family and friends joined us on Tuesday morning and all were most complimentary. Well done Primary 6!

Thank you to many parents who attended the sacrament meetings with Father Bogan and myself on Wednesday evening. The high turnout was most encouraging.

Preparations for Christmas are well under way in St. Cuthbert’s Primary. Primary 1,2 and 3 have been working extremely hard at their nativity rehearsals.
In Primary 1 the boys and girls have been learning about the Christmas story to help them understand the nativity rehearsals.
Primary 2 have been learning Away in the Manger in Spanish. They also completed the story The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark and wrote their first book report.
In Primary 3 the boys and girls have been using the month of November to learn about heaven. They have also been busy measuring the daily temperature and rainfall as part of their weather topic.
Primary 4 have been out and about this week as Angle Detectives! They have been searching all over the school for right, acute and obtuse angles!
Spanish theme again in Primary 5 as they are singing a well know Spanish Christmas Carol Los Peces en el Rio (The Fish in the River). They have also been learning to locate Spain and other European countries on maps.
In Primary 6, with the P6 pupils from P5/6, the theme was food with children sampling Japanese food.
Primary 7 have begun their work on Divided City and started to explore issues of sectarianism. In Science they have been studying microorganisms and can recall the 7 processes of life.

All teaching staff worked together on Tuesday evening where we launched God’s Loving Plan in our school. This is the new programme for relationship education launched by the Scottish Catholic Education Service. The staff were most enthusiastic about the resource. We will have a parent event early in the New Year before this important learning takes place in our classes.

We were delighted to welcome Mrs Collins back to our nursery this week on a full time basis. Here’s all the news from a very busy nursery class!

The nursery children have been learning all about the emergency services.
In the outside area we have been using emergency vehicles and learning all about the traffic light system .The children have been wrapped up to keep warm and had great fun.
In the expressive arts area the children made emergency vehicles from junk. They are now displayed under the main topic wall and will go home next week.
Last week we had a visit from the fire service who brought their fire engine along. The children had the opportunity to try out the safety equipment the helmet being the most popular. They also had a chance to use the hose, which both children and parents enjoyed very much. We got to sit inside the engine and the watch commander even turned the siren on. Please take time to look at our walls to see pictures of the children enjoying this experience.
On Friday we had a visit from the paramedics who brought along an ambulance. During this visit we were invited onto the ambulance where the children could see all the equipment inside. They had the opportunity to lie on the bed, have their heart rate tested and enjoy the loud noise from the siren. Many questions were asked by the children all relating to the paramedics job. This was another very valuable experience that the children thoroughly enjoyed.
Our last visit will be from the local community police officers to finish this topic off.

The nursery were delighted to welcome the long awaited arrival of the P6 buddies into the nursery. Both the nursery children and staff enjoyed having the buddies spending time with the children in all the areas. The buddies were extremely helpful and friendly and look forward to their many ideas they are willing to share with us.

A very successful week in our school filled with fabulous learning experiences!

We look forward to welcoming our parents to our curriculum afternoon on Tuesday 2pm-3.30pm in the school and at 11am and 3 pm in our nursery class. The children will take time to show off their wonderful learning environment and discuss their achievements with their family.

Thank you for reading my blog,
Mrs Hendry