This week we celebrated the first Maths Week Scotland event. We had a super interactive assembly on Tuesday learning all about the importance of maths and then taking part in some fun filled problems. On Friday all classes awarded two certificates for achievements in all things mathematical during the week.

On Thursday of this week we welcomed Amanda Connolly to our school. Miss Connolly will be with us every Thursday as part of her work experience in preparation for teacher training. We hope Miss Connolly enjoys her stay. She will begin by working in Primary 6 and Primary 1/2.

On Thursday evening I had the privilege to attend the St. John Ogilvie High Senior Prizegiving event. It was a very special evening and a joy to see so many former St. Cuthbert’s pupils excelling in SQA examinations and other activities. This year former pupils were awarded the Junior Dux, the Senior Dux and the Aristotle Award for Excellence. Congratulations to all award winners.

This week was the start of our Pupil Support timetable implemented by Mrs Macmillan and funded by our Pupil Equity money. Mrs Macmillan will work with a number of children supporting and enhancing learning in a variety of innovative ways. She is also operating a range of activities during lunchtime for all pupils. The Lunchtime Hub proved so popular that I became very lonely doing yard duty on Wednesday! It seemed half the school was in the library. To manage this activity we have asked that pupils on early lunch attend the hub and we will try to look at other ways of extending this popular activity.

Mrs Cran has been busy organising the after school and lunchtime clubs and letters have been sent home.

Many thanks to all staff who contribute to these extra curricular activities. They are a valuable addition to our school community.

In the classes ….

Primary1 started their People Who Help Us topic. They identified the people who help us in school and are very excited to be shadowing some key members of staff on Monday of this week. They have created lots of interesting questions to find out what they all do in and out of school!

Primary 1/2 continue to work very hard learning sounds and numbers. In science they have been learning about their senses. They participated in a smell experiment in class deciding which smells they like and dislike.

Primary 2/3 have also been engaged in science activity learning to label the parts of a plant. The primary 2 children have been learning to add single digits to 10 and primary 3 children have been exploring addition beyond 20. Children are also developing their use of the Spanish calendar.

Primary 3 have been developing their mental maths and recall skills. They too have been working on the Spanish calendar and also developing their own Class Charter.

Primary 4 have been working hard on their Mary’s Meals topic. They have been investigating all countries that Mary’s Meals supports. They created fantastic Popart using a backpack. They have been enjoying listing to their class novel Matilda and focusing on the skill of remembering.

Primary 5 have worked very hard to beat their own personal bests in the ‘Beat it’ challenges. In PE they have been developing their ball handling skills in order to improve performance in Basketball. They have also been using atlases to track the voyage of The Titanic.

Primary 6 went to Glenlee Woods this week to litter pick, demonstrating their care for the world and others. They have been learning about the tectonic plates and how earthquakes happen. In Maths they have been rounding and estimating 7 and 8 digit numbers. They enjoyed an Authors Live event with Pamela Butchart and had a virtual tour of Roald Dahl’s museum.

Primary 7 also enjoyed the Authors Live to celebrate Roald Dahl’s birthday. They also had great fun learning their Roald Dahl names. They have also been learning about adverbial phrases and have been trying to apply these in their writing.

In the nursery …

The theme continues to be All About Me with a focus on the body. Children have enjoyed drawing family picture, drawing round their hands and naming 5 facts about themselves and singing the song One finger, one thumb keep moving. Outside they have been developing their hopping, jumping and balancing skills.

They continue to learn about good hand washing practice, making lots of bubbles. They have also been learning about the importance of good manners saying please and thank you. At the snack table children had fun creating faces with their fruit. We welcomed our first student to the nursery this year, Emma Young. Emma will be with us every Thursday and Friday. We hope she has a positive experience in our nursery class.

What a busy week of learning in our school and nursery. Only four days this coming week but we look forward to welcoming a GB athlete as part of our Sports for Champions day on Wednesday and participating in a fitness circuit and listening to an inspirational talk. Please come to school dressed in sports clothes on Wednesday. School closed this Friday and following Monday. No blog next week as it’s the September weekend but have a look in two weeks time for all the news over 8 days.

My blog helps share the learning taking place in our school. A comment from parents / carers would be greatly appreciated…..please!

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

Our staff were involved in our first moderation exercise this week with colleagues across the Learning Community. Following on from last year, we have continued to work on Literacy with a focus on Listening and Talking. Primary 4 delivered a superb input during assembly on Tuesday highlighting the important initiative that is the Backpack appeal for Mary’s Meals. Lists have been displayed throughout the school for items that will go into backpacks and pupils were asked to donate any old school bags to Primary 4. On Tuesday pupils were also introduced to our Pupil Friendly Improvement Plan. Simple text and graphics were used to help the children understand the focus for this year’s work. An interactive display has been created in the main corridor to encourage all pupils to be actively involved in evaluating the work of our school.

In the classes….

Primary 1 have continued to learn their sounds and had some super ‘i’ and ‘p’ words for their teacher, Miss Prentice! They loved playing the game ‘What’s The Sound, Mr Wolf?’. In Health & Wellbeing, they have been talking about the right to share their feelings and have their own opinions. They have been excellent listeners during Circle Time.

Primary 1/2 continue to work hard. P1 have also been learning ‘i’ and ‘p’ sounds and have been doing an excellent job writing them. In maths, P2 have been working hard learning the order of the months of the year and have moved onto learning about money and counting coins. In Health & Wellbeing, they continue to learn about respect and know how to show respect to others.

Primary 2/3 have been discussing how they are all unique. They have been drawing self-portraits and including their unique features as they are all God’s work of art. They have also been learning to sequence the months of the year and how many days are in each.

Primary 3 have been looking at creating a class charter and what their rights are in class and school. They have also been practising their new spelling rules and checking they are using capital letters and full stops in writing.

Primary 4 have been working on stretching their sentences with conjunctions. They began the Mary’s Meals topic and delivered an excellent presentation at assembly and asked everyone in school to donate backpacks to the appeal. They have also been enjoying their class book ‘Matilda’.

Primary 5 have been celebrating Our Lady’s birthday by making iconography using tin foil. In Art they have been learning about tertiary and complimentary colours. They have also been logging in to GLOW to use Easimaths.

Primary 6 have been working on expanding their vocabulary with synonyms, adverbs and adjectives. They have completed their cold piece of writing and a numbers to 1 million assessment. They have begun to look at natural disasters including footage of Hurricane Irma.

Primary 7 have been developing their understanding of micro-organisms. They are beginning to understand the difference between viruses and bacteria. In Numeracy, they have been developing their understanding of estimation and applying this to calculations.

In the nursery group time was introduced this week. Children have been getting to know the new friends in their group and their new key worker. They look forward to starting their big book stories this week. Mrs Egan was teaching all our children about the importance of washing hands. This is a key skill for our youngest children to learn. I was very impressed with super hand washing in our nursery! Please encourage this good habit at home too. In nursery children were also introduced to our School Improvement Priorities and know that this year we are working on what makes our nursery a great place and our listening and talking. Have a look at the visual coming soon in the nursery.

Many thanks to Miss McKendry for providing the blog information this week as I was attending the Catholic Headteachers’ Conference on Thursday and Friday.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow and many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

Everyone is now settled back into school life and working hard across all the classes. A busy week this week during the school day and also after school. We held our first Parent Council meeting on Monday. We had a good turnout of parents and a number of ventures planned for the year ahead. Please support the valuable work of the Parent Council in any way you can. Following this we welcomed Peter, from Ardentinny, to present to our P7s and parents. He delivered a very informative presentation about the adventures of Ardentinny. We look forward to another fun filled week full of excitement and achievements. On Wednesday we had our Primary 1 Parent Workshop. Although attendance was lower than previous years, the parents who did attend fully appreciated the very practical and helpful information given by Miss Prentice and Miss McKale. We hope this will enable parents to play a more active role in their child’s learning journey. We finished the week with a beautiful celebration of mass, the first of the school year. Thank you to Father Dornan for coming to school to celebrate and mass and well done to Primary 7 for preparing and leading the liturgy.

In the classes…

Primary 1 have continued to settle very well. They are now completing the morning routine independently and everyone has a class job. They have been learning to recognise and talk about their feelings through the class feelings chart. Miss Prentice was very proud of how beautifully they sat at mass and tried so hard to join in with prayers and hymns, well done!

Primary 1/2 have had a busy week with P1 learning the new sounds ‘t’ and ‘p’. Primary 2 are all enjoying their new reading books. P1 continue to explore numbers and Primary 2 have been learning about bar charts and made their own bar chart about chocolate bars!

Primary 2/3 have been looking at road safety when near the roads and making their way to school. Primary 2 from both classes started their Kerbcraft programme this week. Many thanks to all our parent helpers who came along to help. The children have been developing their Spanish vocabulary for the morning calendar. Muy bien!

Primary 3 have been learning a song about the three times table. They have been exploring conjunctions to help add more detail to their sentences and writing.

Primary 4 have been learning place value to 4 digits. They too have been developing their Spanish language and also knowledge about Spain and its culture. They thoroughly enjoyed the flamenco dancing!

Primary 5 have been exploring empathy and have discussed how to respect our own and others feelings. They have been learning about place value in Maths. This week they all used their GLOW logins an started the Easimaths programme.

Primary 6 have been looking at place value too! There is a theme here! But they have been studying 6 and 7 digit numbers. Reading books are all distributed and comprehension tasks underway! In RE they are exploring the Creation story and studying the Creed.

Finally, Primary 7 have been studying the differences between democracy and dictatorship as part of their study, Living in a Democracy. The children are working hard preparing their own election campaigns in preparation for the annual House Elections. Mrs Cran was very proud of their preparation and leadership at our first school mass.

In the nursery all our new children have arrived. The first focus has begun ad children are enjoying learning about themselves and their families. Baby photos have been brought in and work started on their individual family trees. The new children have been familiarising themselves with the outdoor area and we all enjoyed seeing the sun this week! Focus for this week for colour is red, number 0 and the nursery rhyme Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Please return annual data forms, if not already done so. It is so important we have all the correct information regarding your child and up to date contact details!

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

What a busy week we have had in St. Cuthbert’s Primary School and Nursery class.

Our 29 Primary 1s have worked very hard and are becoming very familiar with school life and routines. They can now line up in their houses and are all ready to enter the yard on Monday morning for 9 o’clock. Our Primary 7 pupils have been outstanding. They have helped settle our new recruits superbly well showing kindness, care and respect. They have giving willingly of their time daily and been a credit to themselves, their families and whole school community! Well done!

In the classes this week …

Primary 1 have settled extremely well and looked fabulous in their uniform. The have been learning the sounds ‘s’ and ‘a’ and have practised writing them too. They are very excited to line up with their house on Monday.

Primary 1/2 have had a wonderful week settling into their new class. They have been getting to know one another better through different friendship activities. They have enjoyed listening to the story about The Rainbow Fish and discovering how they can be good friends. They also made beautiful rainbow fish during art.

Primary 2/3 have been thinking about the rights of children as they plan their class charter together. The children have also been revising the 2,5,and 10 times tables. P2 have been impressing with their addition and subtraction to 20 skills.

Primary 3 have also been revising their tables. They have begun counting in 3s and have been working hard to improve the speed and accuracy of this skill.

Primary 4 have also been discussing their rights as they work together to create their class charter that is unique to them. They also welcomed two new fish into the tank so they continue to care for the animals. They had great fun thinking of the names for the fish but haven’t told anyone yet! Maybe next week we will find out! Times tables have also been heard from P4. This class have been revising their 2,3,4,5, 10 and 8 times tables!

Primary 5 have settled very well into their new class and have been impressing Mrs McGraw with an excellent attitude. This week they have made a start on their new reading books and have been revising some aspects of maths. They have also been discussing what they already know about The Titanic and what they would like to learn.

Primary 6 have been working hard on their jotter layout and presentation and revising their handwriting joins. I look forward to seeing your hard work! They too have started their new reading books. In Primary 6 they have been discussing what values are important to them and identified the rights they aim to promote and follow this year.

Mrs Cran has been most impressed with the hard work of Primary 7 both in and out of the class this week. They have indeed been fantastic buddies to our new children. In numeracy they have been working hard on place value to 7 digits.

In the nursery….all our new children have started well and settled quickly into nursery routine. Everyone is getting to know one another including our new staff! We have been delighted to see our boys and girls who left in June return to proudly show off their new school uniform. Their pictures look fabulous on the Achievement Wall!

What a busy first week we have had! Our assembly on Tuesday focussed on resilience and I will finish my blog this week with reminding everyone to think of Gerald the Giraffe when times are tough this year! (If you want to know more speak to your son or daughter and see if they can tell you about the assembly on Tuesday!)

Please look out for annual information packs in school bags this week and return as soon as possible.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

The sun shone on Thursday morning to start out new term. We welcomed 29 Primary 1s into our school community. They have excelled themselves and all had a super start to primary school. Lunchtime has been a big success!

We also welcomed a number of new families to our school and we hope they will be very happy during their time with us.

This year we have a number of new staff in our school. We welcomed Mrs Cran, our new Principal Teacher and class teacher for Primary 7, Miss Mackle, our Newly Qualified teacher who will teach Primary 3, Mrs Egan, our nursery teacher, and Mrs Dunsmore, Early Years Support Assistant. We look forward to working with all our new staff and continuing to deliver the very best education for every child in our school.

The children have all been busy settling into classes and getting to know their new teachers. A very big thank you to all our families for the high standard of uniform that is evident in St. Cuthbert’s. The children looked exceptionally smart as they returned to school, proudly wearing their new uniform. This gives children a real sense of pride and belonging and is a very visible sign of our high expectations.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and I look forward to our first full week next week and welcoming our new starts into the nursery class.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

Our last few full week in school was one of celebration and also goodbyes.

On Thursday our nursery children took centre stage and presented their Summer Concert. Their singing and dancing was fantastic. The children confidently shared their best memories of nursery and hopes for the future. Many thanks to Mrs Collins and all nursery staff for supporting our children so well.

On Tuesday Primary 7 enjoyed their leavers’ treat at Hollywood Bowl. Pupils had a great day filled with fun. Thank you to Miss McKendry, Miss Lamont and our faithful helpers for accompanying our pupils.

On Friday the whole school community gathered to celebrate the End of Session mass. My thanks to Father Dornan for coming to school to celebrate mass. It was a wonderful celebration of faith and our P7 pupils led the liturgy beautifully. After mass we had our annual awards ceremony. Congratulation to Chloe McLaughlin who received the Miss McMurray Cup, our House Winners St. John Ogilvie and Commonwealth Cup winners St. Columba.

At mass we also marked the retirement of Mrs Cassidy, our nursery teacher. Mrs Cassidy was joined by family and friends and was very touched by the kind words and gifts given to her. We wish Mrs Cassidy a very long and happy retirement.

At the mass we also welcomed Mrs Egan, our new nursery teacher, and Miss Mackle, our Newly Qualified Teacher for next year.

On Monday we had interviews for the post of Principal Teacher. I am delighted to say that the successful candidate was Mrs Frances Cran. Mrs Cran currently teaches in Our Lady and St. Anne’s Hamilton. Mrs Cran is thrilled at her new post and looks forward to joining our team in August.

My thanks goes to Miss Prentice for her positive contribution to school life during her time as Acting Principal Teacher.

This Monday we will be interviewing for the post of Early Years Practitioner in our nursery.

This is the final blog of another successful year in St. Cuthbert’s Primary School and Nursery Class. Many thanks to all our pupils, staff, parents, carers and partners for working together throughout the year.

I wish you all a happy and safe holiday and look forward to our return for staff on Tuesday 15^th August and pupils 17^th August.

Thank you for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

This week we started our End of Term celebrations in style.

On Wednesday Louise and Caitlin from Primary 4 were accompanied by Mrs Hall and Miss Dyson to participate in The First Minister’s Reading Challenge Showcase in Edinburgh. After an early start at 7.30am they travelled by train to Edinburgh and set up a super display of all the work undertaken this year. The girls also dressed as Mary Poppins and Matilda. They were highly praised by many who spoke to them and for once Mrs Hall met her match as the girls spoke more than her! They even got a selfie with the First Minister! The girls had an amazing time and I was so proud of their ability to share their learning in a such a public way. Well done girls and many thanks to Mrs Hall and Miss Dyson for accompanying you on this super learning experience.

Also on Wednesday we welcomed our new Primary 1s back for their induction morning. We have 27 children joining us in August. They had a fantastic morning in their new class with teachers Miss Prentice and Miss McKale. The teachers actually asked if they had been before! We look forward to welcoming our children and their families to our school community in August.

On Friday Primary 7 presented their Leavers’ Assembly. The theme this year was the Oscars! The children made their awards and shared some wonderful memories of their time at St. Cuthbert’s. As is tradition our current Primary 7 formally presented our Primary 6s with their senior tie as they make the transition to become our senior students next session.

On Friday morning Primary 5 presented their learning in music to their families and Primary 4 led by Mrs Denise Dolan, our visiting music specialist. The children were excellent and their parents most impressed by their achievements. The challenge has been set for Primary 4 to follow next year!

This Thursday is our Nursery Summer Concert. The children have been working very hard to dazzle their parents with their talent and celebrate their learning. 11am for our morning children and 3pm for our afternoon children – all in the school hall.

We look forward to our End of Session mass on Friday at 11am. It is a very important time in our school when we join together as a community of faith and learning to reflect on the year past, give thanks to God and look forward to the future ahead. This year we will also mark the retirement of our nursery teacher, Mrs Cassidy, at this mass. We look forward to welcoming Mrs Cassidy’s family and friends and all our parents and supporters on Friday morning.

Please look on Twitter and our website for pictures of our learning this week.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry
Head Teacher

We may be coming to the end of term but I can assure everyone that we are continuing to provide our pupils with a wide variety of exciting and challenging learning activities.

This week four our classes were out and about developing their learning. Primary 2 visited Edinburgh Zoo and despite the weather they did manage to see many animals. Primary 6 visited Dynamic Earth, Primary 5 The Tall Ship and finally Primary 3 went to New Lanark. Many thanks to our staff and many parents helpers who enabled all these visits to take place.

On Wednesday we welcomed our new intake for next year. The pupils had a super morning watching a fantastic film by our current Primary 1 all about Life in St. Cuthbert’s. The new boys and girls then had a ‘virtual meeting’ with their buddies due to P6 being at Dynamic Earth! The boys and girls then ordered their lunch and were fantastic as they made their way along to the dinner hall, collected their lunch and sat with their family to enjoy it. This was in preparation for August when Primary 1 will be with us full day from the start. We look forward to welcoming our intake for their full induction morning this Wednesday.

The highlight of this week had to be Thursday evening. Congratulations to 20 our pupils who came together to form our first Liturgical Choir. I was immensely proud of the choir who performed the Mass of St. Francis in Cathedral Church Motherwell on Thursday 8th June. Our children joined the choirs of Cathedral PS Motherwell and St. Bridget’s Baillieston to form a large children’s choir. The children’s choir was then accompanied by Motherwell Diocesan Choir on the evening. Their performance was outstanding! This was a most challenging but exciting task for our pupils and I am delighted at the pupils’ endeavours in developing their skills and talent in the area of music and performance. Well done everyone—you should be very proud of your achievements!

Friday was due to be Sports Day. Despite Primary 7s best efforts we managed one activity before the rain won! We will reschedule this event on a day with better weather.

This week we look forward, with some sadness, to Friday as Primary 7 present their final assembly. We look forward to welcoming parents and carers on Friday afternoon but please remember the tissues!

Primary 5 will also present their musical talents on Friday morning at 11.45am. Friends and family welcome.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

The sun came out just in time on Friday afternoon for our Summer Fayre. We were joined by many parents, friends and family for fun and games. A huge thanks to our fabulous Parent Council , led by Fundraising Coordinator Mrs Whitson for organising another successful event. Thanks also to our super staff who helped in many ways. Many pupils and former pupils performed dance and thanks goes to Mrs Leslie for providing such high quality entertainment from her dance school yet again. Final total will be shared in June newsletter. Funds raised will go towards our garden fund.

Primary 1 and 1/2 enjoyed a fun day at Summerlee museum on Friday and Primary 7 were designing and inventing at Glasgow Science Centre. Congratulations to many of our Primary 7s who successful walked 6K around Strathclyde Park for our business partners St. Andrew’s Hospice on Wednesday.

On Wednesday evening I was delighted to attend St John Ogilvie High Junior Prizegiving. It is an absolute pleasure to watch so many of our former pupils continuing to achieve in many areas of school life. We are very proud of all our former pupils and thoroughly enjoy sharing your success.

The Liturgical Choir have been very busy practising for their performance of the Mass of St. Francis on Thursday evening. This has been a very challenging task for all pupils involved and I am delighted to say that all pupils have applied themselves fully and developed skill in the area of music and performance. We look forward to a successful performance on Thursday evening where we will join together with pupils from North Lanarkshire and Glasgow City Council and Motherwell Diocesan Choir.

A very busy week ahead for all at St. Cuthbert’s. The nursery are continuing to get ready for end of term celebrations and our pre school children are busy attending various induction events. This week we welcome our Primary 1s to school for our Buddy Lunch event on Wednesday 7^th June at 11am. Many classes are out and about on educational excursions too. The Mass of St. Francis takes place in Motherwell Cathedral at 7.30pm on Thursday 8^th June.

Please note that our school is OPEN on Thursday 8^th June, General Election Day.

Sports Day is this Friday so we hope the sun continues to be our friend!

Thank you for reading my blog.

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher

Congratulations to 20 of our Primary 4 children who received their First Holy Communion on Saturday morning. The sun may not have shone but the children themselves shone like stars demonstrating their hard work and readiness to make this important step on their faith journey. My thanks to Mrs Hall for supporting our children so well in class, to their parents and families, Father Dornan and Father Joseph for a beautiful celebration of mass and all members of the school staff who supported the children by joining them in celebration.

Our Liturgical choir from P4-7 spent Thursday afternoon at Motherwell Cathedral joining the Cathedral Primary School Choir from Motherwell. Mr Pitcaithly was very impressed with our efforts so far and worked with the children to help further improve our performance. We look forward to the performance of the Mass of St. Francis on Thursday 8^th June.

In the classes this week ….

Primary 1 and 1/2 had a visit from The First Bus Group. They asked some fantastic questions and boarded the bus that had the school name on the front. The bus was brand new and the children were the first passengers aboard! The Clever Clogs in Primary 1 won the cress growing competition. Primary 1/2 created superb art work following their learning about The Miracle of the Sun at Fatima.

Primary 2 have been continuing with their multiplication work. In art they have been focusing on colour and mixing paints to create new colours. In RE they have been developing their quiet prayer.

Primary 3 have been introduced to note taking skills with great success! They have also been outside for their Daily Mile to increase their fitness and stay healthy.

Primary 4 have been working hard all week preparing for their big day. And it was all worthwhile! Congratulations Primary 4.

Primary 5 have been writing reports about how they constructed their individual Titanic models. They have been using line and tone to create super drawings of insects after their mini beast hunt in Glenlee Woods.

Primary 6 have been working on fractions. In literacy they have been working on their class novel ‘War Horse’ and focusing on characterisation. They have explored various techniques used to help convey thoughts and feelings of individual characters.

Primary 7 have been learning about Our Lady of Fatima and The Miracle of the Sun that occurred 100 years ago. In Literacy they have been creating diary accounts from the day the war was announced and have started to study ‘Carrie’s War’.

The nursery children have been busy writing, talking and drawing about their trip to the Transport Museum. Outside they were developing their road safety awareness too. Miss Prentice, our Primary 1 teacher next year, has been visiting the nursery and getting to know the boys and girls. Some children have been visiting our school and playground as they prepare for their big day in August.

Summer Concert preparations are also underway. A very special year as it is the last one for Mrs Cassidy! Hankies at the ready!

All children in school and nursery received reports on Friday. Please check bags if you have not got your copy! Inside the envelope was Parents’ Evening times and an explanation leaflet about How Your Child is Assessed. This was in response to our recent questionnaire where it was highlighted as an area that families would like further information about.

We look forward to Parents’ Evening this Wednesday.

Many thanks for reading my blog,

Mrs Hendry

Head Teacher