P1 have been working hard with their letter formation and their sounds and blending. They read about a fantastic elephant called Elmer and created their class charter.

P1b also continue to work hard on their numbers and sounds and blending. They have worked on their Road Safety posters all about the theme ‘Stop, Look and Listen’. They also created their class charter.

Primary 2 have been working hard on remembering capital letters and full stops to correctly form sentences in writing. They have been discussing the meaning of the word ‘unique’ and creating self-portraits including their unique features.

Primary 3 have enjoyed beginning work on their David Livingstone topic. They also discussed the church’s liturgical colours and at what times throughout the year these are displayed.

Primary 3/4 had great fun on Wednesday watching Cressida Cowell on Authors’ Live. She even tweeted to thank them for watching. On Thursday they celebrated Roald Dahl Day. They read the dream chapter from The BFG and then discussed our dreams and aspirations for the future.

Primary 4 have been continuing to work hard on learning about numbers to 10,000. They have also been investigating the properties of 2D shape and have learned to recognise regular and irregular shapes. They finished making their Roman centurions and learned more about the Roman army.

Primary 5 have been developing strategies to help make detailed and organised notes when researching all about their topic ‘The Rainforest’. In maths they have been continuing to develop their knowledge of place value and have been looking at different strategies for mental addition. In Science, they were continuing to learn about different layers of The Rainforest and the species that live there.

Primary 6 focussed on the binary number system during Maths Week Scotland. They have begun their WWII topic and have been investigating the causes of the war. In R.E. they have begun to learn the strategies for Quiet Prayer. They are excited for their nursery buddy interviews.

Primary 7 studies the life of Roald Dahl in their unseen text using their reading strategies to understand the content. They explored the life of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and are more familiar with his buildings and designs. They have explored the Rights of the Child and understand that not all children in the world have the same rights.

 

Thank you Miss McKendry for updating the blog this week!

 

 

I have to start this week’s blog at the end of the week. The whole school and nursery gathered in the hall on Friday afternoon to hear the results of our annual house elections! Since returning in August Primary 7, under the guidance of Mrs Hall, have been studying the democratic system and for the first time ALL of our primary 7 pupils put themselves forward for election. Their learning culminated yesterday in all pupils delivering their election speech to the whole school. The quality of their speeches and slogans was outstanding and their delivery was polished and professional. I was immensely proud of ALL our Primary 7 pupils but the electorate voted in their polling stations and we had 10 successful candidates voted in. This again was part of the learning process and managed very well by both successful and unsuccessful candidates.

We were delighted to tweet the events throughout the day and enjoyed reading words of encouragement from our elected members Christina McKelvie and Monica Lennon. McMcKelvie was so impressed she has asked to come and meet with our newly appointed House and Vice Captains and discuss their new role!

Congratulations to Primary 7 and Mrs Hall for yet another successful house election. I have no doubt the high standard will be maintained next year as the chat in the dinner hall with P6 pupils was all about their campaigns for election next year!

 

In the classes this week ….

 

Primary 1a and 1b have been hard at work this week learning letters s and a! They are spotting sounds in words and writing letters and sounds. Miss McKale and Mrs Boyd have asked that all pupils return their new phonic folders every day to assist with learning. We hope our yellow ring binders arrive this week!

Primary 1a have been reading a story about Elmer the Elephant to help learn about how we are all unique. Primary 1b have been talking about God and discussing how looks after and cares for us.

Primary 2 have been working very hard on addition to 20 and using fast recall of our number bonds to 10. In Literacy they have been focussing on the correct formation of capital letters. In RE they have been learning the Eternal Rest prayer and thinking of those who have passed away.

Primary 3 have been working hard reading their new books and learning new spelling patterns. They have been discussing the importance of friendship and what we do to make friends.

P3/4 have been developing their understanding of place value. In Literacy they have been working on fluency and expression when reading aloud. In Science the focus this term is the Human Body. They have started to look at internal organs and have been discussing their function.

Primary 4 have also been studying place value with numbers to 10,000. Addition with carrying has also been a focus. In Literacy they have been learning about onomatopoeia using their new reading books. In Social Studies they have been using an interactive map to discover the spread of the Roman Empire.

Primary 5 have also been learning about place value with 4,6 and 9 digit numbers. The Rainforest is the context for their learning and they have been locating tropical rainforests on a world map. They have been learning about the 4 layers of the rainforest. They have been learning about the 7 processes of life using a special mnemonic MRS GREN. Mrs McLaren has been focussing on greetings and personal information in Spanish.

Primary 6 have been busy discussing the skills and qualities required to be a nursery buddy. Application forms have been issued and successful candidates will be interviewed by Mrs Hendry and Mrs Collins on Monday 17^th September.

Primary 7 have been spending the week learning about the election process as you read at the start of the blog. In literacy they discussed content and presentation of their speeches. In RE they have been learning about St Cuthbert and exploring the value of faith. They used Luke’s gospels to help understand how Jesus responded to faith.

 

In the nursery …

Our new children have been exploring their new surroundings assisted by our returning children. Children have enjoyed the freedom of the gym hall and are learning to respond to adult direction. This week saw the introduction of the sewing machine. This was very popular and many children helped to make our new butterfly curtain. Our discovery room is developing well with our sensory area complete and children have enjoyed den making.

 

Another week full of exciting learning opportunities in our school and nursery. There will be no blog for the next two weeks as I am at the Catholic Head Teacher’s Conference, Thursday and Friday this coming week, and the following week is the September weekend.

 

Letters have been issued for our Race Night. If you can buy a horse please return the form to the school office. Tickets for the race night are also available to buy at the school office.

 

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

 

This week we have been hard at work both in the classroom and in the wider school. Pupils from P1 to P7 have now settled into routines and are working hard across all areas of the school.

 

On Tuesday this week we started our first after school Netball club in partnership with Active Schools. This club is open to both Primary 6 and 7 pupils. We are very excited to develop this game in St. Cuthbert’s and look forward to participating in local tournaments.

This week we had our first Parent Council. We welcomed new members and even ran out of chairs around the table! A great complaint to have. The Parent Council had a tour of our new wing and are bust organising their first Race Night on Friday 5^th October. There were concerns raised around parking at our school and this is an area I will take forward with our School Travel coordinator and newly appointed Junior Road Safety Officers in conjunction with the police. Pupil safety is our number one priority in St. Cuthbert’s.

Following the Parent Council meeting we welcomed Peter from Ardentinny Outdoor Centre who provided a very informative and exciting presentation for our Primary 7s and parents about their outdoor experience, this year taking place in April. Any parent wishing to disucss any matter relating to this trip should speak to Miss McKendry.

 

On Wednesday evening we had a very healthy turnout at our Primary 1 Parent Workshop. Parents attending had the opportunity to hear key information about the teaching of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing in Primary 1 and develop skill in supporting their child at this very important time in their child’s education. Parents also had the opportunity to view resources and their child’s class and meet the Primary 1 teachers. Evaluations for the whole induction programme from nursery to Primary 1 were 100% positive. A request was made for a further input on reading. Parents will be given the opportunity to come into the Primary 1 class and view a literacy lesson.

 

Thursday was school photograph day and John Wilson delivered the proof cards on Friday! Wow! Please return your orders asap to the school office or order online for free delivery back to the school.

 

On Friday we welcomed Father Dornan to our school for the Opening Mass of the school year. The theme of the mass was listening – very appropriate for the start of the school year. As part of Mass, Father Dornan was accompanied by some pupils, staff and parents processing to the new wing of our school and blessing each room. We thank Father for ensuring our new building is now fully part of St. Cuthbert’s Community. A special well done also to our Primary 1 pupils who sat superbly well during their first mass. And another well done to our Primary 2 and 3 pupils who carried their own chairs into to the hall so safely as we have grown so much in number we have now run out of chairs!

 

In the nursery we welcomed our new boys and girls starting this week. All have settled well. On Wednesday we welcomed Miss Hargarve, a Modern Apprentice, to our team. Miss Hargrave has been very impressed with our school building and most of all our fantastic children. The nursery team have been working very hard developing their extended space. We now have a super sensory area in our additional room in addition to our indoor physical equipment. The children have been exploring their new space and resources throughout the week and having their say on how they want the nursery to look!

 

This week we look forward to welcoming Andy Malone to our assembly on Tuesday where he will demonstrate some Judo and encourage our new children to take part.

We will also have our House Elections on Friday morning – good luck Primary 7!

 

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

 

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

 

A very warm welcome to the first HT blog of our new school year. A special welcome to all our new children and families, as well as those who are returning.

We have had a very exciting and successful start to the new year as we settle into our newly extended building. There was extensive work of the holiday and we know have a fantastic building with 9 classrooms, a technology suite, nurture room, parents’ room, nursery physical room in addition to our beautiful library, dining room and main hall. Primary 7 have their very own wing and have settled in extremely well!

The staff also have a very spacious staffroom and Miss McKendry has at last got her very own office! We still have some work to be completed but when that is done we will open our doors to enable all our parents and carers to come and see our school.

Our school has grown in number. We welcomed 36 Primary 1 pupils bringing our school roll to 222. In the nursery, we welcomed back 30 of our pupils, 11 of them joining us for full day. We look forward to welcoming our new starts in the coming weeks. Primary 1 and the nursery have managed very well with the new adventure of eating lunch in the dining hall. Our Primary 7 pupils have been an immense help in our first days supporting and welcoming our new children as they settle into school. Thank you Primary 7!

 

We also welcome new staff to our school. Miss Keeney, our Newly Qualified Teacher, in Primary 3 and Mrs Baxter, School Support Assistant, working in the lower school. We hope they will be very happy in our school.

 

Many thanks to our parents and carers for the superb standard of uniform. Please remember that all our pupils wear shirt and tie everyday and change into their PE uniform. We will be starting PE this week so please ensure your child brings their kit on Monday and the PE times will be given to individual classes this week.

 

On Wednesday the Hamilton Advertiser will come at 10am for our Primary 1 photograph.

 

As we now have 9 classes we are getting used to our exits at the end of the day while still ensuring all pupils are safely dismissed. Please look out for your child as they come out of the school so we can ensure a quick handover from staff to parents. May I also remind all families that the Trim Trail has not to be used by pupils or younger siblings at the end of the day. This is to ensure everyone’s safety.

 

The school website will be updated this week with our current School Improvement Plan and last session’s Standards and Quality report. Please take time to read these documents.

 

We will also continue to publish school newsletters on our app so if any parent / carer would wish a paper copy of publications please speak to the office staff so this can be facilitated.

 

We will continue to use our School App and Twitter for regular updates. Annual updates and school calendar will be issued shortly. Please ensure these documents are returned to school promptly.

 

I look forward to another busy and successful year in St. Cuthbert’s Primary School and Nursery Class.

 

Many thanks for reading my blog,

 

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

It’s amazing how much you can do in a 4 day week!

 

This week we returned on Tuesday and I don’t think we stopped until last thing on Friday.

On Tuesday Primary 3 headed off to New Lanark and Primary 5 continued with their swimming. Great excitement on Tuesday evening as we had new signage installed in the hall proudly displaying our school name, motto, vision, values and icon of Jesus the Teacher. It is wonderful and brings a real sense of belonging to our school. Wednesday saw our Nursery Admissions resulting in at least 8 full time places being available in our nursery from August 2018. Parents will receive letters next week informing them of the outcome of the ballot. Miss Chen returned on Thursday to continue with our Mandarin and The Eco and Fairtrade Committees hosted a coffee morning to raise funds and awareness. I attended the Junior Awards ceremony on Thursday evening and was delighted to see many former pupils continuing to be successful in all areas of school life. Well done! Finally, Friday arrived, the sun shone, the Summer Fayre was in, then it was out and then the weather sent a very clear message. Despite the horrendous rain our Summer Fayre was a huge success even though it was indoors. Many thanks to our wonderful Parent Council, staff and pupils who all helped in many ways. Thank you to our families for supporting us so well. And a special thank you to the Karen Borden School of Dance who entertained the crowd. What a week!

 

And in the classes pupils have been working very hard completing end of session assessments in various areas. On top of the busy week and assessments there was still lots of learning taking place. Here’s a brief overview…

Primary 1 have been movie stars making their Life in Primary 1 DVD. This will be showcased on Wednesday during our P1 Buddy Lunch for our new intake. This is a great way for our youngest pupils to showcase their year in Primary 1 and help prepare our newest recruits for August! They have also been sharing their toys and sorting them as part of their learning and further developing their writing of sentences.

P1/2 have been learning about fractions using pancakes! They have also been writing an information report.

P2/3 have also been learning about fractions. They have also been learning how to play rounders and loved playing this outside!

P3 thoroughly enjoyed their time in New Lanark experiencing education as a Victorian Child. They have also been to mass this week and celebrated the sacrament of reconciliation again.

Primary 4 have been calculating fractions of amounts. In health they have been discussing the importance of sleep and a good bedtime routine and in science they have been learning about the skeleton.

Primary 5 have been investigating angles and learning how to use a protractor. They also wrote about their holiday weekend and shared their writing with each other.

Primary 6 have been learning to write characters in Mandarin. They have also been writing a letter from the trenches as a WWI soldier.

Primary 7 have been so busy they missed the blog sheet! I can assure you that during our exceptionally busy week they have not stopped making cakes, hosting coffee afternoons, greeting visitors, selling at the Summer Fayre and completing end of year assessments. They have also begun preparing for end of school celebrations!

 

In the nursery the focus this week has been on money. Recognising and matching coins and notes. The nursery are also preparing for their end of year celebrations and dance practice is well underway! The nursery are making full use of our new outdoor area and children are exploring and learning in every area. Please remember that our outdoor area is a very sunny spot so children should have sun cream applied daily. Sun cream is available at sign in area for anyone who may forget to put on before leaving the house. All our pupils have hats to wear also.

 

What a week!

This week coming we have our Buddy Lunch for our new intake on Wednesday at 11am. We also have Sports Day on Friday morning and on Friday afternoon the whole school will participate in the Wear Yellow Walk for St. Andrew’s Hospice around Burnbank. Sponsor sheets were sent home on Friday.

 

The June Newsletter will also be published this week.

 

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

Pupils in Primaries 1,4 and 7 worked exceptionally hard this week as they completed the Scottish National Standardised Assessments for the first time. I was very impressed with their positive attitude throughout the whole week. My thanks to Miss McKendry who organised this process to ensure pupils were well supported throughout the process.

 

Eleven of our senior pupils represented the school superbly well on Friday night s they participated in the Hamilton Schools Swimming Gala. We were delighted by the performance of all of our pupils with extended congratulations going to Erin Coulter who gained a gold medal and Xander Hunter who secured a Silver medal. Well done everyone! My thanks to Mrs Cran for organising the event and supporting the pupils pool side on a very warm night!

 

All pupils should have received their annual report card on Friday accompanied with their time for Parents’ evening on Wednesday this week. Please check bags! The nursery parents should check lists at sign in tables for their times from Monday. We look forward to meeting with parents and carers on Wednesday to discuss pupil progress. The Scholastic book fair will also be available in the dining hall.

 

We said good bye to three of our teaching students on Friday  – Miss Reid, Miss Mulvanney and Mrs Kerr. We wish them every success in their future careers.

 

In the classes …

Primary 1 have been learning all about fact families and making the link between addition and subtraction. In their topic they have been looking at an extensive range of toys discussing their appropriateness for age.

Primary 1/2 have been utilising the beautiful weather and learning outdoors. On Wednesday they were drawing on different surfaces and on Thursday they walked around the local area identifying landmarks and facilities.

Primary 2/3 have been furthering their learning about Vikings. They have been making 3D longships and discussing how they were constructed.  In Literacy, they have been learning about speech marks.

Primary 3 have been studying fractions and splitting shapes into halves and quarters. In Spanish they have extended their vocabulary to include fruit.

In numeracy Primary 4 have been exploring tenths and thirds. They carried out an experiment to make butter however, had a small explosion in class. Thankfully, no one was hurt but lots to talk about it and a smelly classroom! In technology the children used Lego to create electrical circuits.

Primary 5 participated in a beautiful Marian procession to honour Our Lady in the month of May. They held a debate on the use of desks within the classroom and participated in a democratic vote. I wonder what the result was!

Primary 6 have been learning about the perimeter of polygons and the areas of various shapes. They have been learning about the use of propaganda in newspapers during WW1. In Mandarin the focus this week was fruit vocabulary.

Primary 7 were learning about gravitational force in science and conducted some fun experiments. They have also been learning about fractions and percentages. They concluded their week with a Spanish party with some traditional tapas.

 

The highlight of the nursery week was their trip to Almond Valley Farm park. The children had spent time learning about life on the farm, naming the farm animals and their babies and describing the key features of each animal. They created a wonderful display of the tractor and animals before they left. On the day they travelled by bus with their families and had great fun exploring the farm. The sun shone and gave them the chance to play outside and enjoy their picnic. Everyone enjoyed their day at the farm!

 

On Thursday at 2pm we welcome parents and families of our sacrament children to join us for our Thanksgiving Assembly int he school hall.

Please remember Parents’ evening for school and nursery this Wednesday. School is closed on Friday 25^th and Monday 28^th May for all pupils and staff. No blog next weekend.

 

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

 

 

 

Congratulations to 15 of our Primary 4 pupils who celebrated their First Holy Communion on Saturday morning. I was immensely proud of the way in which our pupils prepared and then participated so respectfully and prayerfully in the celebration of faith. My thanks go to Mrs Boyd, their class teacher, who supported them whole heartedly and ensured they were very well prepared for their big day. Grateful thanks also go to Father Dornan for his spiritual guidance and support and to the parishioners of St. Cuthbert’s for preparing the church so beautifully and praying for our boys and girls. My thanks to many members of staff, both teaching and support, who assisted our pupils in the preparation of their sacrament and who also freely gave of their time to celebrate with them on Saturday morning.

 

On Thursday, many of our pupils put their faith into action as they visited the Memories Tearoom in Burnbank to celebrate their First Birthday! The children sang, danced and entertained the members with great enthusiasm. Some of our pupils returned with unexpected skills – they can do the slosh! We are very proud to support the Memories Tearoom and look forward to further visits in the coming weeks.

 

In the classes this week ..

Subtraction continues to be a focus in P1 this week learning to take away all or zero. They wrote super descriptive stories about their Pet Birds. In Spanish they have also been learning how to talk about the weather.

P1/2 have been focusing on Social Studies this week with their topic Katie Morag. They completed maps of the Isle of Struay and wrote descriptions of Katie Morag. In Health and Wellbeing they have been discussing sadness and feeling lonely. They were able to identify people and activities that cheer them up.

P2/3 have been introduced to their final study all about The Vikings. They know where they came from and why they travelled to England. In numeracy the focus has been multiplication. P3 have been learning about sentence structure in Literacy and P2 have been using conjunctions.

P4 worked hard all week preparing for their big day. They also used the Alice in wonderland story to help with settings in story writing. They have created seasonality charts for sorting food and I know that they are planning a visit this week to the supermarket to purchase some seasonal produce.

P5 have tackled fractions and decimals this week. They have also extended their knowledge of the Scottish Parliament and the concept of devolved power. Within the class they had a debate about whether classrooms should have desks or not.

P6 have begun Literature Circles using War Horse. They created posters for their Science topic and have been learning about keys on maps. They participated in the SJOLC Rugby Festival on Thursday morning and enjoyed getting to know future classmates in this way.

P7 have been very busy in numeracy looking at percentages and bearings. In Science they learned how to use a compass to find magnets hidden in the class to test if magnetic forces can work from a distance. In literacy the focus has been discursive writing – pupils enjoyed putting their arguments on paper.

In the nursery …

The Spring topic of planting and growing has begun! The children have been learning about the planting process and what plants need to grow. They have started to make a flower collage with pretty butterflies. They had great fun in the gym hall this week playing team games. Our youngest pupils are the most competitive! The staff in the nursery have issued a big WARNING – the mud kitchen is open! Please ensure your child is appropriately dressed for nursery as our children love being able to explore and get dirty in our mud kitchen and digging pit.

 

Sadly, our trim trail remains unfinished. However, what we see is very exciting and when it is complete I know it will be a very welcome addition to our school playground.

This coming week we will begin our Master Class programme for P5-7 during Right Time. On offer this year we have Creative Dance, Photography, drawing techniques, Jewellery Making, iMovie / Green Screen and Highland Dance. My thanks to Mrs Cran for organising this programme and thanks to the staff of our school for willingly sharing their skills and talents. For P1-4 pupils they will have the opportunity to develop softer skills i.e. sharing, turn taking, working with others in a variety of activities throughout the school.

 

Academy Uniforms will be in school this Tuesday from 2.45pm for anyone wishing to order uniform for the new term.

 

Please return Bags2School by Thursday of this week.

 

Many thanks for reading my blog,

 

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

Who can believe that we are now in the final term of session 2017-2018?

It was great to welcome back all our pupils in school and nursery this week. Children always seem to grow over the Easter holidays! Great excitement as our trim trail is underway. Unfortunately, the work has stopped this week but I have been promised that it will finished very soon. Primary 5 were out and about on Wednesday at the Falkirk Wheel. They had a superb visit learning about different modes of transport. Their guide Colin was particularly entertaining I believe!

Primary 4 have been very busy preparing for their First Holy Communion. This take place this Saturday 28^th April at 11am and we hope the sun continues to shine as it has this week.

 

In the classes this week…

Primary 1 have made a fantastic start to learning about take away. In mental maths they have been counting in twos beyond 20! In literacy the focus has been describing words and they will sue these this week in their stories.

P1/2 have made an impressive start to the new term. P1 continue to work on subtraction and P2 are learning about multiplication and division. In literacy their focus has been rhyming words. They have also been looking at Information Reports in writing.

P2/3 have been learning about conjunctions and using these special words to join two sentences together. In numeracy the P3s have been learning to round numbers to the nearest 10 and P2 have been focussing on odd and even numbers. In RE they have been learning the prayer Eternal Rest and remembering those who have died.

P3 have been learning the 4 times table this week. In literacy they have been looking at enhancing their writing with adjectives. In RE they have been learning about the important figure of Joseph of Arimathea and what he did after Jesus died.

P4 have been working very hard on the final preparations for their First Holy Communion. In writing they have been learning about plot and characterisation. In numeracy they have been calculating change from £5 and £10.

P5 had a superb time at the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies. They took a trip on  canal boat and learned about how the rotating boat wheel worked. They admired the Kelpies and completed some super observational drawings of them.

P6 have been learning to multiply and divide decimal fractions. They explored the Battle of the Somme as an introduction to their new topic and also to develop their comprehensions skills in literacy. They learned how to tell the time in Mandarin and expanded their knowledge of colours in Spanish.

P7 have been extending their understanding of decimals and angles in numeracy. In Science they have begun their new topic on forces. They spent time this week viewing all 430 photographs of Ardintinny and enjoyed speaking of adventures and experiences they had.

Down in the nursery the boys and girls have been busy settling into old routines – some for the very last time! Some of our pre schoolers were starting their induction this week by visiting the playground during snack time. The children have been busy in the garden tending to their flowers and admiring the plants that have grown. Lots of weeding had to happen this week.

 

All are invited to our Parent Council meeting on Tuesday, note the change of day, this week at 6.30pm in the staffroom. On Friday 27^th April the parish are holding a fundraiser in the parish hall for the roof restoration fund. Please hand in any raffle prizes to the church and go along to the bingo on Friday evening.

Monday is the start of our new Summer Menu. Please see school bags and app for more details. The cost of a meal for P4-7 pupils is now £1.65.

 

Many thanks for reading my blog,

 

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

 

This was our annual fundraising week for our chosen Lenten Charities. Once again I have been very impressed by the generosity and effort of all our pupils, staff and families to raise money for those less fortunate than themselves. This week really sees our faith being put into action. The children have also had immense fun from the bouncy castle sponsored bounce to the fun and games morning with some very creative activities on offer! My thanks to all pupils, families and staff for making this week such a success. The annual House penny challenge will be counted next week and a final total revealed.

Congratulations to our after school senior dancers who performed superbly well in the Active Schools Dance Festival in the Town House on Wednesday evening. My thanks to Mrs Macmillan, along with some senior pupils from St. John Ogilvie High, for coaching the girls to such a high standard.

In the nursery the children have continued to recreate Fairyland for our friendly dragon. We now have a fabulous display of The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and the Gingerbread Man. Children have been working hard this week creating super Easter bonnets for their Easter parade next week.

 

Good luck to our Primary 7 pupils who head off to Ardentinny on Monday morning for a week full of adventure with Mrs Cran and Mrs Macmillan. We hope the sun continues to shine but please remember to pack those bin bags for the muddy clothes coming home!

 

We are heading into our final week of this term. Please come along to our morning prayer sessions on Tuesday and Thursday this week.

 

Please remember that school closes at 2.30pm this Thursday 29^th March.

 

May I wish everyone a happy and holy Easter and I look forward to welcoming everyone back for the final term on Monday 16^th April.

 

Thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher