Every child in the school and nursery has worked extremely hard to prepare for their Christmas shows. Please come along and support your child and school and enjoy the Christmas story.

Monday – 1.45pm Angel Express for our grandparents and senior citizens – no ticket required

Tuesday – 1.45pm P1-3 Angel Express tickets still available from school office

Wednesday – 1.45pm P4-7 Lights, Camel, Action! tickets still available from school office

7pm P4-7 Lights, Camel, Action! tickets still available from school office

Friday 11am morning nursery present A King is Born in main school hall

3pm afternoon nursery present a King is Born in main school hall

Thursday this week is Christmas Dinner day. Orders will be taken on Wednesday. Thursday is also Christmas Jumper day. Children should bring a donation for the local food bank if they are able.

The choir will be out and about on Thursday spreading some Christmas cheer.  Voting is still open for The Regent Centre competition. Please take time to vote for our choir by visiting the site theregentcentre.com

Friday is also Flu Vaccination day for our school children.

A busy, busy week ahead!

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

*Apologies for late publication of blog due to technical issues with GLOW at the weekend.

Primary 1 had a wonderful afternoon on Thursday 30^th November. Many family members joined their children to launch the Book Bug Bags. Children listened to the story Gorilla loves vanilla and enjoyed a tub of Equi’s ice cream! Many thanks to Equi’s for sponsoring the event. Children then engaged in a variety of activities related to reading.

The whole school walked to church on Thursday to celebrate mass for St Andrew’s Day. Thank you to Father Joseph for the lovely celebration of mass.

A brief update from some of our classes this week….

Primary 1 have been developing their addition skills in numeracy. In Health and Science the focus has been on germs and carrying out experiments to see how germs work. The highlight of their week was the Book Bug launch mentioned above. Thank you to Miss Prentice for organising this super learning event! We hope everyone is enjoying the books.

Primary 1/2 have been learning all about St. Andrew and can all retell one fact about him. To celebrate Book Week they all made their own bookmark to use in their own books. They also developed their visualising skills creating a front cover for a Julia Donaldson story. Miss McKale was impressed with all their ideas!

P2/3 have been learning about primary and secondary colours. They have been developing subtraction skills in numeracy. P3 have been subtracting within 100 and P2 within 20. In Literacy the focus has been on the correct use of capital letters in our writing.

Primary 3 have been working very hard this week. They too have been learning about St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. They have also finished their McCoo paintings

Primary 4 have been discussing favourite authors. The favourite for the class was Roald Dahl and pupils took inspiration from illustrator Quentin Blake to sketch their own favourite book covers. In numeracy the focus has been on solving word problems.

Primary 5 have been finding out about their Scottish heritage through the story of St. Andrew and his link to the Scottish flag. They have also been learning to be history detectives and discovering the difference between primary and secondary sources.

In the nursery the children wore a touch of tartan on Thursday and participated in their own cheildh. The children enjoyed traditional Scottish music, dance and treats at the snack table including shortbread and tattie scones!

The whole school have been working hard this week rehearsing for our three nativity performances. Letters were issued this week about tickets. Please look in bags if you have not received them! The December Newsletter was also published on Friday. This can be accessed on the school app. Anyone wishing a paper copy please request one from the school office.

Finally, our school choir are participating in the Regent Centre competition. Please log onto theregentcentre.com website and vote for St Cuthbert’s! The school with the most votes wins £500! Please encourage all family and friends to vote too!

I am out of school this week on professional development activity and will return on Wednesday afternoon.

Thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

We had an excellent turnout to our annual curriculum afternoon. Classes were very busy and parents were most impressed by the ability of their children to confidently talk about their learning environment – especially our primary 1 pupils.

Parents were very impressed with our new area called The Nest – a place where pupils can engage in learning around health and wellbeing.

We were delighted to welcome back Miss Ferrie this week. Miss Ferrie will be working in our school over the next few weeks before she returns full time in 2018.

In the classes this week …

P1 sounded like angels on Friday as they continued to practise for their nativity. On Thursday they wrote their invitations for their Book Bag event this Thursday. They are very excited that Equis ice cream have sponsored this family event.

P1/2 have also been in fine voice. P1 have been learning about ordinal numbers and P2 have been working on subtraction. They are really improving their ability to complete missing number problems. In Spanish the whole class have grown in confidence when pronouncing Spanish colours.

P2/3 have been learning about money this week. They have been using coins to make collections to 20p, 50p and £1. In literacy they have been learning about procedural texts and how to write instructions. In RE they have read the parable, The Burning Bush, and discussed its meaning.

P3 are working hard on their many parts of The Nativity. They have also been creating their very own McCoos! In numeracy they have been adding 3 digit numbers and learning to tell the time in fifteen minute intervals.

P4 have been learning to tell the time in 5 minute intervals! They have been learning their Christmas songs and also been taking notes in literacy. This is tricky! Primary 4 were sad to say goodbye to Miss Thompson, our student on Friday. We thank her for all her hard work and wish her well for her future career.

Primary 5 have spent time looking at biographies of passengers on The Titanic. They have been learning to say the date and time in Mandarin. In Science, they have built boats and tested their ability to float.

Primary 6 have been learning how to use protractors to measure angles. They have been writing reports using ‘Venomous snakes’ as their stimulus. In Art, they have been using brushstrokes and watercolours to create blossom trees and in Mandarin they have extended their range of greetings.

P7 have continued their Journey to Ogilvie with Miss Byrne. They also had a visit from Ross, St Andrew’s Hospice Schools Liaison Officer, to discuss the primary ambassador programme. He shared the work on the hospice and also what it takes to become an ambassador. Many P7s are willing to apply for this role.

In the nursery we are continuing with our Scotland theme. The castle now has a banqueting table to promote positive interactions during role play. Children have enjoyed learning Scottish words and phrases through the stories of the Glasgow Gruffalo, Katie Morag and Hairy McClary. They have made Scottish flags, both the saltire and St Andrew, and painted princes, princesses, kings and queens to decorate our castle. They have also been designing their own tartan. And the Christmas songs are well under way too!

We look forward to our Tartan Day on Thursday to celebrate St Andrew’s Day!

The whole school are planning to walk to church on Thursday morning for 10am mass – weather permitting! Please check the school app for updates but send your child to school adequately dressed for walking on Thursday morning.

This Monday evening at 6.30pm we have our AGM for our Parent Council. Please come along and support our school. The Parent Council are working extremely hard and are a great support to our school –  more members would be welcome! Information will also be shared about the Nurturing Schools Programme on the evening.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

I know it’s early but on Friday we had our first Christmas Fayre at St. Cuthbert’s for a very long time! However, I have to say I am sure it will not be the last. What a turnout we got! Fantastic! Many thanks to our Parent Council, staff, pupils and parents who worked so hard to make this a success. Santa arrived and took pride of place in a very special grotto with some magical elves! Thank you to our choir and Mrs Boyd for the entertainment. Thanks also to our St. Andrew’s hospice ambassadors, from St John Ogilvie, who came along and sold goods for the hospice. All funds raised will go towards helping our children in our school.

Primary 4 proudly handed over their completed backpacks to Mary’s Meals this week. They also announced their grand total of £440.54 raised through their afternoon tea. We are sure Mary’s Meals will be delighted with this sum of money. Well done primary 4!

The nursery children have been focussing on Scotland this week in nursery. They have enjoyed role play as knights and princesses and made their very own castle. They have also been enjoying some Scottish foods at the snack table with oatcakes and cheese being most popular.

A shorter blog this week as we were all so busy organising the Christmas Fayre on Friday.

Please remember that school and nursery are closed on Monday 20^th November for Staff Development Day. We will reopen to pupils on Tuesday 21^st November.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

This week we had our first COGS meeting. This stands for Collecting Opinions to Grow our School. It is part of our School Improvement Plan this session. This approach involves ALL pupils from Primary 1 to 7 and ALL teaching staff enabling everyone to have the opportunity to contribute to school improvement. The COGS initiative is being led by Miss McKendry which means that I have the pleasure of being attached to one of the groups. The children meet in sub groups of their houses with each group having approximately 20 pupils. The first meeting was chaired by the associated member of staff but the intention is that this role will be handed over to the House or Vice Captain. The agenda items were distribution of House Points, Pupil Feedback and the School Values. I was most impressed with the children I worked with. The confidence to give their opinion in such an articulate way was outstanding. I was even more pleased, but not surprised, when I heard this was the case across all the groups. Miss McKendry circulated all groups during the session and reported a very calm, purposeful atmosphere with groups engaged in positive dialogue. Miss McKendry will collate all minutes of groups and then feedback on our next steps. I am very excited about the power of this approach to further enhance the experience of all our pupils. We will publish some comments on our school app for all to read.

Many thanks to all families for their very generous support to our Christmas Fayre collection on Friday. The Parent Council will need extra help to sort the many, many donations! Thank you! Please remember our first Christmas Fayre is this Friday in the school hall from 3pm. Please come along and support your school and I believe there will be a very special visitor making an appearance before he packs his sleigh!

Primary 4 hosted an excellent Afternoon Tea for Mary’s Meals on Thursday afternoon. They showcased their learning through word, song and dance! This study enables the pupils to consider how they can support and help others less fortunate than themselves. Well done Primary 4, Mrs Boyd, Miss Thompson, Mrs Kinnie and all other staff who supported on the day. Many thanks to so many parents / carers, family members and friends who came along too. Over and above this, the class also organised over 30 backpacks to be collected this week.

In the classes …..

P1 completed their study of Piet Mondrian. They created their own Mondrian inspired pieces using primary colours. In Literacy they developed their reading skills through the Bear and the Piano, learning how to describe a setting. They also watched and discussed the trailer for Despicable Me 3 in preparation for their cinema visit this week.

P1/2 continue to focus on time learning about o’clock and half past. In Science they have been learning about living and non-living things and sorting items accordingly. They have been busy making their crafts for the Christmas Fayre.

P2/3 have been learning about alphabetical order and extending this to the second letter. They have been working hard learning songs for the nativity. In preparation for their cinema visit they have been discussing the characters of the film they will see.

P3 have worked so hard on their singing and sound like angels for the Christmas Nativity! All the speaking parts have now been allocated and they are working hard on their script. They too have been studying time in maths. As well as this they are making their crafts for the Fayre.

P4, as you heard earlier, had their super afternoon tea. The pupils were rightly proud of their achievements. They also visited the cinema and had a very enjoyable time!

P5 have been investigating floating and sinking in Science. They have been writing their fireworks poems this week accompanied by firework art. They too had a fantastic trip to the cinema.

P6 have been multiplying 2 digits by 2 digits while revising all their tables. They are developing their reading strategies and some very tricky spelling rules. In technology they have been creating PowerPoints about natural disasters and their causes. They also constructed a den for their nursery buddies! It was so good the nursery would like another one!

P7 have also been developing their reading skills through Reciprocal Reading tasks. They are continuing to develop multiplication in numeracy. They have been putting their finishing touches to their arts and crafts for the Fayre.

In the nursery, children have continued to work on activities related to Room on the Broom. They went outside to retell the story through drama and also made chalk pictures of fireworks. In the creative area they made magic brooms and in Science they made magic potions! The children loved this experience so much we put the recipe on the nursery door for anyone brave enough to try at home!

We visited the school library on Wednesday to change our books and had a Sticky Kids session too. We have also started to listen to our songs for our nativity. We enjoyed group snack this week talking to our friends and learning about good table manners.

Once again a very busy, productive week throughout our school!

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

There was no doubt about the change of the month at the end of the week as the temperature dipped! Please make sure your child has suitable clothing, warm jackets, hats and scarves, for outdoors in the Winter. Primary 6 wrapped up on Thursday and had another glorious day filming their poetry readings in the woods as we make our bid to be an audience at Authors Live for a second year. Very best of luck Primary 6!

The rain was too heavy on Wednesday morning and unfortunately we could not make it to church. Many thanks to Father Joseph who took time to come and celebrate the feast of Al Saints mass in our school hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Our November newsletter was published on the app on Friday morning. Only three parents have opted for paper copies so far and they were distributed on Friday. If any other parent requires a paper copy please contact the school. Please ensure you read our newsletter for important events in our school.

In the classes ….

P1 had a fantastic, fun-filled week full of spooky Hallowe’en fun. They made mosaic pumpkins in Art and gave them spooky faces. They then designed spooky pumpkins and used these for writing on Friday as they brought them to life using the Quiver app. The spooky stories were called The Day our Pumpkins came to life!

P1/2 have enjoyed Hallowe’en and Bonfire Activities. P1 have been busy doing a Hallowe’en count while P2 made spiders with number stories to 20. Thye used a variety of paint and straws to create firework art.

P2/3 had Bonfire night activities also. They created firework art using straws. In reading they have been developing the use of expression when reading aloud to make their work more engaging. They are very excited to be learning their Christmas Concert songs!

P3 have been mixing primary colours to make secondary colours and used these for their firework pictures. In PE the focus has been gymnastics. They have been learning new rolls. To date they have worked on forward rolls, sausage rolls, teddy bear rolls and the most favourite James Bond rolls! Miss Mackle is very proud of the effort in P3 this week! Well done everyone!

P4 have been extremely busy getting ready for their Mary’s Meals Afternoon Tea showcase. They are very excited! They have also been learning to ask and answer questions in literacy. In art they created very impressive firework pictures thinking about their wellbeing indicator SAFE.

Mrs McGraw said that the P5 classroom is now sinking under the weight of the super Titanic models! The pupils have shared their experience of creating their own ships with the class. In writing they have been creating spooky stories focusing on the use of descriptive language.

P6 have been completing their topic assessments in subtraction. In RE they have been praying for the faithfully departed and discussing what heaven means to us. They have been learning about ‘El dia de los muertos ‘ and completed their masks as well as going to the woods and participating in the nursery buddy interviews! Phew P6 what a week!

P7 have been working hard working on their mental strategies for multiplying 3 digit numbers. This week in Mandarin they learned how to write dates and they all can say their birthday in Mandarin. The children are also reading Divided City as their literacy study and are very engaged with this text.

In the nursery …

A very spooky Hallowe’en party took place with some super costumes. The children enjoyed playing party games, had a spooky all together snack and enjoyed some spooky stories! At the end of the week they learned about firework safety. Our lending library started this week with the help fo our parents and all children enjoyed visiting the school library to borrow their own books!. I hope you enjoyed reading with your child. Please return all books on Monday so they are ready for another child on Wednesday. We also welcomed Tyler’s mum on Thursday to provide a fitness session for both am and pm children.

The nursery children look forward to welcoming their newly appointed buddies to the nursery very soon.

This week we have our first COGS session. This stands for Collecting Opinions to Grow our School. This will replace our Pupil Council and enables all children to have a say. Miss McKendry is leading this initiative and will work with staff, House and Vice House Captains to ensure the running of each session. We look forward to hearing pupils’ thoughts on Friday. In our first session we will discuss our school values and then be in a position to finalise our reviewed vision, values and aims for our school.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

I hope everyone had a very enjoyable October break. We returned on Monday morning and probably had one of the busiest week’s in our school year to date. From student teachers to Digital Mascot competitions to Hallowe’en discos and school photographs!

I will try and give you a quick round up!

Before the October break we had our Parents’ Evening. Unfortunately we had our lowest turnout ever – 89%. Many parents have spoken to teachers this week so I know this number will rise but we had so many families on holiday prior to October break more than 10% of our pupils had no one at Parents’ Evening. We will look at this for next year. On the night we were promoting our new school app and asked people for views on our communication. The majority of people indicated a digital mode of communication is best e.g. text messaging. The summary of the consultation issued this week explained that every text sent to parents costs 4p! We have decided to continue with the app and utilise the notification facility instead of texting. We will review this in December and hope it is successful. This week we will publish the newsletter on the app as we move forward to become a digital school. The app can be downloaded free from your app store – just search for St. Cuthbert’s Primary and look for our school badge! We have had over 250 successful downloads to date! Please return the tear off slip if you such to continue receiving communication in paper format.

Our Digital Leaders, under the guidance of Miss Prentice, have been running a competition to design our digital mascot Codey! The 4 finalists were displayed at assembly on Friday and the whole school voted with their feet to decide on the winning design by Marcus Leslie! Well done everyone! Photographs are available via the app!

Our annual Hallowe’en Disco took place on Wednesday evening. This was a super night. The effort pupils (and staff) put into costumes is amazing! All the puppies are back under control and Cruella has hung up her wig! Again look at the app for photographs. Many thanks to our Parent Council, staff and DJ Paul for enabling this to take place. Huge congratulations to all pupils for their costumes and participation on the night!

School photographs were taken on Thursday and the photographer will return in next few weeks to take whole class pictures. I will communicate the exact date when it is confirmed.

All classes, except P1, brought home their Christmas Card designs on Friday. Please return orders with money in bags asap. P1 your beautiful designs should be dry on Monday and ready to take home! All returns have to be in school for Friday 3^rd November.

Yes the Christmas word has been mentioned …. All classes will begin preparation for Christmas celebrations this week. This is an important time of year to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It also enables us in school to take forward many aspects of our Expressive Arts curriculum in a meaningful way. Please support your child’s learning in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, over and above the events shared, we also had hard work in each of our classes …

Primary 1 have been learning about the uniqueness in Health and Wellbeing and can identify similarities and differences between themselves and others. One of our senior pupils visited the class to discuss this important topic. Primary 1 also received a letter from a skeleton whose friend was broken and needed P1’s help! P1 worked together to help rebuild the skeleton

P1/2 have been developing their gymnastics skills in PE learning different ways to travel and balance. In Re the focus was on who cares for them in all areas of their lives and they are every excited to show off their excellent Christmas card designs.

P2/3 have been learning about what plants need to grow and sequencing the steps. They have also been developing their sentence structure. P2 focusing on use of full stops and P3 developing their sentences with the use of conjunctions.

P3 created some wonderful pieces of writing this week. They have also been learning Spanish numbers 11-20.

P4 have been hard at work preparing for their Mary’s Meals Afternoon Tea fundraising event. They have been practising their speeches and their dancing! They also welcome Miss Thompson, student teacher, to their class this week.

P5 have been very creative this week! They designed their Christmas Cards, shared their amazing Titanic models, started work on their Christmas crafts for the fayre and wrote their own Hallowe’en spells!

P6 have been focusing on exchanging in numeracy 4 digits from 4 digits. Work has started on their next piece of writing which is a descriptive piece about he emergency services. In Spanish they have been learning the calendar and in Manadarin the focus has been the months of the year!

Pr7 have been creating PowerPoints all about the Scottish Parliament. They have been developing their use of effects on the programmes and will give their presentation to the class this week. They have started to read Divided City been practicing their prediction reading skills.

In the nursery this week the children celebrated the custom of Diwali. They then read the story ‘Room on the Broom’ as they started their celebrations for Hallowe’en. The Nursery parties are usual session times on Tuesday – please come in fancy dress!

Childsmile also visited this week for the tooth varnishing programme. This week all children made a visit to the school library in preparation for the start of the lending library next week with our parent helpers.

This week please remember that the lunch menu has changed to the Winter Menu. Menus given to all pupils – please look in bags! We now have only 3 options – blue tray, red tray and the combo plate. The combo plate is a cold option consisting of a half wrap, half sandwich and a cold pasta pot. These are all served together on a plate. This was introduced to children fully at assembly on Tuesday. On Thursday this week we also have the interviews for Nursery Buddies! Good luck Primary 6!

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Martina Hendry

Head Teacher

We were delighted to welcome Miss Chen, our Mandarin teacher, to school on Thursday this week. Miss Chen will be with us every Thursday this year delivering Mandarin to Primaries 5-7 as part of the 1+2 Languages initiative. This is a wonderful learning opportunity for all our children and staff!

On Friday the whole school walked to St. Cuthbert’s Church to celebrate mass for the month of October. Congratulations to Primary 5 for leading the liturgy so well. I was very proud of all pupils as their behaviour was impeccable and their participation during mass was excellent.

On Thursday evening we had our sacrament meetings in St. Cuthbert’s church and had a very good turnout of parents. If you were unable to attend please make direct contact with Father Dornan and not the school to register.

In the classes …

Primary1 have been working very hard learning numbers before, after and in between, They have also been learning about primary colours in Art and completed a study of Piet Mondrian. They are now creating their own Mondrian inspired pieces.

Primary 1/2 have really enjoyed their learning about the sense of hearing in Science. They could identify and discuss their favourite sounds. In Art P1/2 have been learning about pointillism and have created their own apple picture in this style. Primary 1 continue to progress very well with their sounds – this week it was ‘m’ and ‘d’.

Primary 2/3 have also been studying pointillism. They are using cotton buds to create this effect in their Autumn Tree. The focus in English has been on the use of capital letters in our writing.

Primary 3 have decided on a theme for their class charter – the cinema. They have also been learning about pronouns to make writing more interesting.

Primary 4 have been sending emails this week for the very first time! They were delighted to receive replies from various staff members. They have also been working hard with Mrs Macmillan learning their dance for their learning showcase. In Literacy they have been learning about irregular past tense verbs.

Mrs McGraw was very proud of how Primary 5 led the liturgy at mass on Friday – the first mass celebrated in the church. In science they have been investigating icebergs and learning about the factors that make them melt quicker. In Art they have been learning about tone and creating tonal drawings of The Titanic. They were also very excited to work with Miss Chen.

Primary 6 have continued with their learning about addition – both written and mental strategies. They have started their new reading books and have been spending time word processing their super poems written last week. They too were excited to meet Miss Chen and start to learn numbers to 9 and simple greetings.

Finally Primary 7 were out and about at the Scottish Parliament this week. They had a very informative tour and were impressed by the grandeur of the building. In numeracy they have been applying their subtraction and rounding skills with great success. Well done!

We also had two important parent events this week. On Tuesday we had a number of parents come and meet Suzanne McAnnany our Early Years Home Link Worker. Suzanne is keen to get to know our families and support in any way that is required.

Mrs Macmillan held her first Brew and Blether in the school on Wednesday. An encouraging number of parents attended and a plan had been made for the first set of parent workshops. Mrs Macmillan is available this year to support parents in a variety of ways. If anyone has any requests or ideas for parent workshops or support with any aspect of children’s learning please contact myself or Mrs Macmillan. Working together will ensure all children have a better experience at school.

In the nursery …..

We had a very busy nursery this week with three Post Graduate students from Strathclyde University – Miss White, Mrs Heather and Mr Wylie. The focus this week has been the senses. The children have engaged in a number of exciting activities developing their understanding of the five senses. A favourite this week was Mrs Stark’s smelly table! The children had great fun matching smells and were encouraged to give opinions on what they liked and disliked. Out and about they used their ears and eyes to hear and see. Our nursery polo shirts arrived this week too so we look forward to seeing our children in nursery uniform from now on!

This week we have our Parent Consultation on Thursday evening. In addition. Mrs Macmillan will be engaging with school parents about the review of our school vision, values and aims and Mrs Egan will be sharing our Learning Journals online with our nursery parents. We look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday evening.

Newsletters were issued this week so if they are not proudly displayed on fridges yet please have a look in your child’s school bag! Newsletter is also available on our website.

This Friday is the beginning of the October holiday week so no blog next week. I hope everyone has a very good week off.

Please remember Parents’ Evening this Thursday 12^th October! Times will be given to pupils this week – check homework diaries.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

What busy 4 day week we had! Well we cheated a little as yesterday was our first fundraising event for our Parent Council. A car wash in the school yard! Many thanks to our parents and carers and children who came along to support us. It was heartening to see past parents pop in for a car wash and also two past pupils returning to help!

Have a read about the learning in our classes.

Primary 1 have finished writing their class charter. They know they have 52 rights as children and chose the best ones for their charter. Their most important one is the right to have and share their feelings. In numeracy they have been learning about numbers before and after. All children have been developing their writing and some can now write their full name with no help!

Primary 1/2 have continued to learn about the senses in science. They enjoyed exploring their senses through a variety of activities including a feely bag and art where they used a variety of textiles to create a picture. Primary 1 have been working hard on number formation and also writing their name.

Primary 2/3 have been learning about Baptism, its meaning and how important our godparents are. The children have enjoyed bringing in photos and talking about their own Baptism. All children have focused on handwriting this week – Primary 3 have started to link letters and Primary 2 writing capital letters.

Primary 3 have been learning Spanish colours this week and in RE have read the Creation story. In numeracy the focus has been the 2,5 and 10 times tables. They have been talking about the strategies they can use to add.

Primary 4 have been working hard to sort all the donations for Mary’s Meals backpacks. They have a massive 32 bags donated. They still need towels, flip flops and balls to finish their bags. Please donate these items if you can. In literacy they have been learning about pronouns to improve their writing.

Primary 5 have been looking at a cross section of the Titanic and learning how to interpret a key. In Health and Wellbeing they have been using mime to explore their feelings and help them to express their emotions appropriately.

Primary 6 have had a fabulous week! On Thursday they had a very exciting second trip to Glenlee Woods for National Poetry Day. The quality of the poems they wrote there was excellent. Mrs Hall and I were very impressed! The calmness and beauty of the woods was clearly inspirational. In numeracy they are learning mental strategies for addition of 4 and 5 digit numbers.

A very exciting week also took place in Primary 7! First thing on Tuesday morning saw Primary 7 deliver excellent election speeches to the whole school in their bid to become House and Vice Captains. Congratulations to all candidates. Mrs Cran was very proud of all efforts. Elections then took place and the successful candidates were presented with their badges at assembly. We look forward to all elected pupils working to lead and support their house this year. They have also been learning more about the role of the Scottish Parliament in preparation for their visit there this week.

In the nursery the boys and girls continued to learn about themselves. They can now name parts of the skeleton and many important organs. They were very interested to learn how our bodies digest food. Our Science wall looks very impressive with models of our body and the important parts. Children also made chalk skeltons and used their fingers and toes to practise counting to ten. They really enjoyed making paint footprints and compared the size of each others feet! Outside this week our digging pit reopened! We look forward to the grand opening of our mud kitchen very soon! This week saw the return of our sensory area too. The children love to explore the variety of materials and objects in here and listen to the calming music. Children are learning to recognise different feelings they experience.

What a busy week!!!!

This week children will come home with Bags 2 School. This replaces our Science into Schools bag. Please look out for bags in your child’s school bag and maybe over October break they could be filled with some unwanted textiles that we can recycle for money for our school.

On Tuesday we welcome Suzanne McAnney our Early Years Support Worker. She will be available in the nursery for a cup of tea and a chat for all parents from 11.30am in the morning and 12.45pm in the afternoon. Please come along and meet Suzanne.

Mrs Macmillan is hosting the first ‘Brew and Blether’ in the school this Wednesday at 1.45pm. This is an opportunity for parents to come along, meet each other and discuss ways we can work together to improve the learning experience for our children. Please come along on Wednesday you will be made most welcome.

Thursday evening this week is our Sacrament Meetings in the church. 7pm for Primary 4 and 7.30pm for Primary 3.

Finally we will be going to church on Friday to celebrate mass for October. Any parents who can assist with walking should come to school for half past 9. Many thanks for your support and help.

A busy week past and an even busier week ahead! The above represents the community spirit evident within St. Cuthbert’s Primary. We are very proud of our welcoming, supportive ethos and are striving to further strengthen our links with all to improve outcomes for our children.

Many thanks for reading my blog!

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher