We have had a very busy and quick first full week back. Pupils have settled well into their routine and coped well with the challenge of the rain during breaks as well!
Everyone is becoming more familiar with our new building and we look forward to work finishing over the next two weekends.
Our new Primary 1s have been introduced to their house members and are ready to enter the yard on Monday morning and line up in their houses.
Primary 7 are working hard on their election campaigns and we look forward to electing our new house officials very soon.
Here is an update on all nine classes and our busy nursery!
Primary 1a are working very hard settling into school routines. They have loved making new friends in their class. This week they have been using The Gruffalo story to develop many skills and made super masks that they used in drama.
Primary 1b are also learning and settling into routines. They have enjoyed getting to know one another and made lots of new friends. They also made masks from the Gruffalo story.
Primary 1a and 1b have been touring the school and becoming familiar with all their learning areas.
Primary 2 have had a great first week. They have been talking about how P2 can be a successful year. In RE they have been learning about Baptism and the importance of this sacrament as they become members of God’s family. Pupils have been bringing in photographs of their baptism.
Primary 3 have had a super week and welcomed new classmates into St. Cuthbert’s very well. They have also helped Miss Keeney, our new staff member, settle well. They have developed their class charter and were eager to make rules that would help create a happy, safe and supportive learning environment.
Primary 3/4 have also had a fantastic start to the year. They have also created their class charter creating a safe and happy learning environment. P3/4 have also been discussing healthy snacks and lunches as they develop their understanding of the eat well guide.
Primary 4 have also settled well into their new class. They too have been busy making their class charter and discussing their expectations for this year. They wrote about themselves and have made a fabulous collage of images of what they look like. They have been focusing on their numeracy skills and practising spelling common words.
Primary 5 have had an excellent first week. They too have been discussing their expectations for the coming year. They have been using the theme of super heroes to help identify strengths and characteristics. In numeracy they have been maths detectives working on tricky word problems.
Primary 6 have been using the school values to discuss the start of the new year focussing on respect. They will use their hard work to write their own respect poems on Monday. They have developed their thinking skills in interpreting and alternative thinking. They have also been revising numeracy place value. Primary 6 also welcomed Mrs Benson to our school on Thursday. Mrs Benson will be in our school every Thursday. She will be teaching Primary 6 each Thursday afternoon.
Primary 7 may be the happiest class in South Lanarkshire as they settle into their new wing of the school! They are hard at work already learning about multiplication of 4 and 5 digit numbers by 10, 100 and 1000. In literacy they have been learning about synonyms and antonyms and begun reading about the plague.
In the nursery our full time children are now with us all day. We are super impressed with how they are managing eating their lunch in the dinner hall. The nursery children love to meet up with their friends who are now in Primary 1. All our nursery children have been consulted on their learning this week. We look forward to welcoming our new children this coming week.
Homework begins for all classes this week using our Homework grids to support family learning. Classes will gradually introduce reading, spelling numeracy and other activities over the next three weeks. We are awaiting delivery of homework diaries and will issue in the coming weeks.
This week we have Parent Council on Tuesday at 6.30pm. EVERYONE is welcome to come along to this meeting. We will be meeting in our new staffroom upstairs.
After Parent Council, at 7pm, we will have our first information meeting for Ardentinny in our school hall.
On Wednesday we have our Primary 1 Parent Workshop. This is a very practical session for our Primary 1 parents. During the session we will discuss further how you can support your child’s learning in literacy and numeracy. The session starts at 7pm in the dinner hall and then parents will have the opportunity to move into their child’s class, view resources and speak with their class teacher about general issues.
Finally, on Friday we will have the opening mass of the school year in the hall. Mass will be at 1.15pm and again EVERYONE is welcome. During the mass Father Dornan will also bless the new part of our school building.
What a week and what a busy week to come!
Thank you for reading my blog,
Mrs Hendry
Head Teacher
