On Thursday of this week we were delighted to welcome Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning, Science, and Scotland’s Languages. Dr Allan was accompanied by Ms Sheila Brown from Education Scotland, Cllr McKeown Chair of the Education Resources Committee, Cllr Adams and Mrs Isobel MacDougall, our Head of Area. The visit was to recognise the significant improvements that have been made in our school over the past two years. Dr Allan spoke with myself and staff about our journey in developing our Curriculum for Excellence and the positive impact this has had on all learners. He then visited Primary 1, 5 and 7 to witness first hand the fantastic learning experiences our children engage in each day. Dr Allan and our visitors were most impressed with our school and especially our children who once again excelled themselves. All our guests were presented with a copy of the school poem, based on the style of Edwin Morgan’s Open Doors poem, written by Kaila in Primary 7.

Our senior school show, Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat, was another huge success for our school last week. Primaries 5, 6, and 7 were directed superbly well by Miss Prentice and the result was a first class production. Audiences were amazed by the array of talent in our school. Once again the pupils, ably assisted by staff and parents, were superb. This is yet another example of a fantastic learning experience in our school. My thanks and congratulations to all involved.

Friday was our annual sports day – this year with a Commonwealth theme. Pupils worked together in their houses to complete a number of challenges to be the winning house who would win our newly purchased Commonwealth Cup for the first time. The Commonwealth Cup will be our legacy for the games and will now be presented to the winning house each year for efforts on sports day. One of the activities was the sprint challenge. Every pupil participated in this event and the the winners were each presented with a small cup – 3rd place Marcus Leslie, 2nd place Calum Hogan and Ist place Matthew Anderson. Congratulations to the three boys! (We think we might start a girls’ running club next session to get in training!) The winning house will be announced after our End of Session Mass on Tuesday 24th June. Special thanks to Miss McKendry, Mrs McCart and Tony Gilhooly, our Active Schools Coordinator, for organising this event.

Last Friday we held our Summer Fayre in the school. The sun shone and there was a great atmosphere as families enjoyed the stalls, bouncy castle and popcorn! The Karen Borden School of Dance entertained all with a fantastic display of song and dance. We raised a super sum of money – £1478.86! My grateful thanks go to our fundraising coordinator, Mrs Whitson, and all staff and parents who helped and supported what we now hope to be an annual event.

A week past on Thursday we welcomed Father Bogan to celebrate Ascension Thursday mass in our school hall. It was a beautiful celebration of mass with the liturgy being lead by our Primary 4 pupils who for the first time participated fully in a school mass receiving holy communion.

Our induction programme for Primary 1 continued last week with our Buddy Afternoon. We welcomed 24 boys and girls to meet their identified buddies from Primary 6 and then watch the premiere of Life in Primary 1, filmed by our current Primary 1s. The new intake and their parents will return this Friday for our induction morning.

The past two weeks have been most eventful, as I’m sure you will agree. I am amazed and most proud of the achievements of all involved with our school but know it is a result of our dedicated, hard-working staff, fantastic pupils and supportive parents.

Well done St. Cuthbert’s – we are certainly on the up!

Mrs Hendry
Head Teacher

Another extremely busy week in St. Cuthbert’s Primary was had by all.

The highlight of our week had to be our Thanksgiving Assembly on Friday afternoon. This annual event is a special time for our whole school community. The sun was shining on Friday afternoon as our pupils for Primary 3 and Primary 4 gathered with the whole school and many friends and families to give thanks for the sacraments they have received this year. Back in March our primary 3 children celebrated the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time and only last week our primary 4 pups became full participants in the the mass by making their first holy communion. These are very important steps in the faith journey of our pupils. Pupils shared their learning at the assembly and gave thanks for the help and support they received from their families, school and parish community. The celebration continued into the dining hall with traditional juice and cake for the children of primaries 3 and 4 and their families.

We welcomed back four past pupils this week from John Ogilvie High School to complete their work experience week. Andrew, Jude, Morgan and Bethany worked extremely well and were a credit their school, families and former primary school! We may see them in the future as student teachers.

Our educational excursions also continued this week with primary 5 visiting Amazonia and the nursery learning all about senses at Glasgow Science Centre. Both trips were thoroughly enjoyed and excellent learning opportunities.
Primary 1 visited Burnbank library this week too.
Primary 7 have been working hard on transition activities for John Ogilvie. The art project is almost complete with some super work being produced and the heats for the public speaking competition have also taken place. Congratulations to Holly Airlie and Kaila Gallacher who will go forward to represent the school with the other feeder primaries.
Our new entrants for primary 1 enjoyed another visit to primary 1 this week and are settling in well to their new environment. We are delighted to welcome children from other establishments as well as many from our own nursery class.

All pupils received their full reports on Friday and I hope parents are very proud of the academic progress and many achievements of their children. We look forward to discussing individual pupil progress on Wednesday evening at our parents’ evening. The book fair has also been delivered – a perfect treat for out children! Please support the book fair as the commission received helps the school greatly to stock class and school libraries.

Next week is a holiday weekend and the last staff development day. Pupils are off school Thursday, Friday and Monday.
My blog will return in two weeks time.

Have a good week everyone,

Mrs Hendry

This week’s highlight had to be on Saturday morning when 24 of our Primary 4 pupils celebrated their First Holy Communion. It was a dull, wet day but the smiles on the boys and girls faces made everyone forget the weather. The children looked beautiful and participated fully in a wonderful celebration of faith. My thanks goes to their class teacher Mrs Hall, Father Bogan and Deacon Mario, the parish of St. Cuthbert’s, the staff of our school, and the families of our pupils. It is indeed a privilege for us to be part of this important step of our young people’s faith journey. We look forward to Friday of this week when Primary 4 will join Primary 3 for our Thanksgiving Assembly and a well deserved treat!
Despite having a four day week we have been extremely busy. Primary 1 had a superb time at Almond Valley on Tuesday learning all about the farm and the food our animals produce. On Friday, Primary 2 headed off to Motherwell Heritage Centre where they extended their knowledge of Knights and Castles, dressing up, participating in role play and handling a ‘real sword’! As always our pupils were a credit to their families and school.

Wednesday was our World of Work day. This was the first event of this kind we have held but after the success of the day it will certainly not be the last! When learning in class pupils are now well aware that as well as increasing their knowledge, great emphasis is also put on their skill development. All pupils engage in learning skills for life, learning and work. On Wednesday we were delighted to welcome 14 different occupations into our school to discuss their job and more importantly the qualifications and skills required to be successful. The visitors visited all classes, including the nursery, speaking about their work. We had a doctor, a nurse, a beauty therapist, a wind turbine technician, the fire service not to mention police officers from Scotland and Australia. However, the highlight had to be our visitors from the prison service. We had 4 officers from Shotts Prison accompanied by 4 working dogs! The children were given demonstrations of the dogs in action. It was fantastic. The pupils came to school dressed as what they want to be when they grow up. In the afternoon pupils reflected on the speakers and participated in ‘talking head’ activities based upon their futures. All pupils were fully engaged throughout the day. Our senior pupils spoke about the consistent messages being delivered – be ambitious, aim high and work hard at school. I know the day inspired our pupils to be ambitious and apply themselves fully in order to reach their full potential. I am very grateful to all our participants for freely giving their time to speak to our young people. I was delighted to receive very positive comments from our guests who were all highly impressed by our pupils and their participation throughout the day.
Our Junior Road Safety Officers, accompanied by Miss Collins and Mrs McCart, excelled themselves on Wednesday morning as they attended the council offices to present to elected members our work on road safety. Aaron and Jodie, ably assisted by Holly, spoke confidently about our Road Safety Week and their role within the school promoting road safety. Well done!
In the nursery the preschool children made their first visits to Primary 1 as part of our induction programme. The children were very much at home in the Primary 1 classroom and our existing Primary 1 children just loved being the ‘big ones’ for just a little while! More visits to follow this week.
Friday morning saw Primary 1 showcase their learning about The Farm. We welcomed many relatives and friends to share in the pupils’ learning.

Finally, Thursday was a very special day too. It was our annual presentation to our Lenten charities. We were delighted to present a total of £3339.67 to LEPRA, Down’s Syndrome Scotland and SCIAF. I was overwhelmed by the sum of money raised by our youngsters and families during the 4 weeks of Lent that we were at school. It was a tremendous effort and really does highlight our faith in action.

All of that in four days!

Have a good week everyone and thanks for reading my blog.

Mrs Hendry

Welcome back everyone and I hope you all had a lovely Easter break.

We finished last term with our final assembly, announcing the total of our Lenten Fundraising efforts. A fantastic sum – £3392.85! This is an outstanding amount of money from a group of 177 children over a period of 4 weeks. There is no doubt that the community of St. Cuthbert’s are certainly putting their faith into action as Pope Francis has asked us to do. We have invited our charity representatives to the school on Thursday 8th May to receive their individual cheques. Huge congratulations and thank you to all involved. We do not underestimate the support for all our families.

Our final week also saw a very special visitor to an extra special assembly on Thursday. Marmie the Shetland pony came to visit and launch our Ready, Steady, Gallop competition, part of the Wild in Art project taking place in the coming months in the area of Hamilton. Marmie was beautifully behaved and certainly got our pupils thinking about how they could decorate our very own miniature Clydesdale horse for the competition. Pupils have been working on their ideas over the holidays and Mrs McGraw will take forward all their thoughts to create our St. Cuthbert’s entry. More news to follow on this exciting project in the coming weeks.

Pupils and staff have settled quickly back into routines this week. We welcomed a new pupil to Primary 1 on Tuesday and are expecting another new pupil on Tuesday of this week into P4.

The celebration of Primary 4’s First Holy Communion will be a key event in the coming weeks. We will be visiting the church and working with Father Bogan to ensure our pupils are ready to celebrate this most important step on their faith journey. Primary 4 will spend tomorrow at Newmains Pastoral Centre experiencing a retreat as part of their preparation. Let’s hope the sun shines – the gardens are always a highlight!

This week sees our computer refresh. We will be without technology from Monday to Wednesday. As technology is an integral part of our daily business this will be challenging but I’m sure we will survive and the benefits will be worthwhile when all systems are up and running. A fantastic new addition will be our Clevertouch board based in the nursery class.
Please check school bags for newsletters published this week. Important dates are included in the school newsletter and every class also received their latest curriculum newsletter.
Spanish phrase of the week will return next week along with a full update of all learning activities in our classes and nursery.

Thanks for reading my blog,
Mrs Hendry

Another busy week was had by all in St. Cuthbert’s Primary.

This was Road Safety Week. Well done to our JRSOs and Miss Collins for their assembly on Monday morning. They were joined by Marion Shearer, our School Travel Coordinator, on Wednesday and all went to the school gate to encourage safe entry to school. I can report that many pupils have made a conscious effort to walk scooters and bikes into the school grounds resulting in a safer environment for all involved. Please continue this good work! The winners of our competition will be announced on Monday of this week when we hope to welcome some special visitors to our school!

Wednesday was a busy sporting day. Our Primary 6s and 7s participated very well in the Hamilton area Rugby Festival and returned to school very happy and muddy! Wednesday evening saw 14 of our senior girls represent the school fantastically well at the Dance Festival in Glenlee Primary. They showcased their talent superbly well and made Miss McLaughlin, their hard working teacher, very proud!

Friday was Crazy Hair Day! Super effort by so many pupils willing to have fun and raise money for those less fortunate than themselves. Next week is our final week of Lenten Fundraising – please be generous and remember pennies for the bottles and money for our last Fun Filled Friday. More details in the newsletter.

Primary 1 this week have been excited to see their potatoes beginning to grow and can report that their beanstalk is now as high as the window. I was delighted to be in Primary 1 on Thursday and amazed at how they too have grown and developed this year. Watch out Primary 2 they are heading for your class soon!
In Primary 2 their potatoes are also growing. (This is a school competition!) Primary 2 have been working hard on their money skills and using their class shop to help.
Guess what – Primary 3’s potatoes are also growing! Road safety continued in P3 this week as they spoke about crossing the road safely.
Primary 4 hosted a super showcase of learning on Thursday as they celebrated the end of their inherited characteristics science work. They were joined by many members of family to have ‘afternoon tea in the morning’ with scones, cream and jam. They presented their learning very well in a variety of ways. Grandparents met me as they left the school and were full of chat about this piece of work. ‘Where will I go now on a Thursday morning?’ one Gran asked. The learning over the past six weeks has been greatly enhanced by the participation of our grandparents and extended families. Congratulations to Primary 4, their class teacher Mrs Hall and Mrs Wallace for all their efforts.
Primary 5 have started to learn about the Rainforest and have booked a trip to Amazonia. They enjoyed looking at the Amazonia website before the visit was booked and are excited about the visit and how it will help their learning.
Primary 6 watched the film War Horse this week. They have completed a novel study of this familiar text and enjoyed comparing the two versions.
Primary 7 were in their second home this week – Glenlee Woods. They have been den making as part of their John Muir Award work. While working in the woods they met a representative from the Friends of Glenlee Woods who was delighted to see them using this super facility. (Think he gave them a job to do planting something…..) Well done Primary 7 you really are displaying your ability to be successful learners and responsible citizens!

Spanish phrase of the week continues from last with further responses to Que tal? Asi Asi (so, so) y regular (fine).

And so to the final week of term! Father Bogan will visit the school on Tuesday of week to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation with our pupils in Primaries 4-7.

Hasta luego!

Mrs Hendry

My weekly blog has to begin at the end of the week. On Friday we held interviews within the school for the position of class teacher. All candidates were of a very high standard but I was delighted to successful appoint Miss Nicola Prentice. Miss Prentice has been fully involved with St Cuthbert’s for over four years. Everyone was absolutely delighted to welcome her now as a permanent member of staff. The pupils of primary 6 were thrilled to know that Miss Prentice will be with them for the remainder of the year.

I visited Primary 2 on Monday morning and was very impressed by their learning in Art. The pupils were engaged in Andy Warhol inspired activity. The children were keen to discuss their learning with me and demonstrate how they have developed their skills this year.
Primary 1 had a visit from Colin the butcher from Morrison’s. This was part of their learning about the farm. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning about the role of a butcher and extending their knowledge about the journey of food from farm to plate. Some very interesting questions were asked!
On Thursday we welcomed Primary 7 from St. Blane’s Primary for our Passport to Europe afternoon. Señorita Ferrie organised this event that enabled our senior pupils to work with peers from another school to use their language skills in a variety of ways. The pupils excelled themselves and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Muchas gracias to Señorita Ferrie for organising this event.
Primary 6 also had visitors on Thursday. Mrs Hewitt organised a visit from two pupils from Trinity High school, her son Joseph from S5 and Rachel from S6. Both pupils delivered a very informative presentation to P6 about the Battle of the Somme as a result of their educational excursion to France. Miss Prentice was most grateful for this input to the class learning about World War I.
Primary 4 continued with their work on inherited characteristics by welcoming grandparents to the class on Thursday for family tree work.
The curriculum within St. Cuthbert’s is continually being enhanced by staff looking for every opportunity to engage with partners and bring learning to life. This results in high quality learning experiences for our young people.

Five of our Primary 7 pupils, who formed the winning group for the Maths Challenge, participated in the final at John Ogilvie on Friday. Miss McKendry said that pupils participated very well and all enjoyed their experience.
The nursery are continuing to look for signs of Spring. The water tray has changed into a bird’s nest with the children hunting for birds and demonstrating their counting skills. The nursery had some visitors this week from Primary 1. Miss McLaughlin and Mrs Hewitt took Primary 1’s learning to the nursery as they all took to the bikes to develop their directional skills. Great fun was had by all!

We welcomed Miss Kirkwood to our school on Wednesday. Miss Kirkwood is our newly appointed Additional Support Teacher. She will be in school each Friday morning supporting our children where required.
Friday marked Down Syndrome Awareness Day. We supported this initiative by wearing odd socks! The Down Syndrome association is one of our chosen charities this Lent.
Please continue to support all Lenten initiatives within our school as we prepare as a community of faith for the great feast of Easter.

On a final note we said farewell to Miss McKale and Mr Brownlie as they completed their final year teaching placements on Friday. Both students have worked extremely hard in Primaries 5 and 7. Many thanks to them both for all their efforts and we wish them every success in their future careers.

This coming week is Road Safety Week. Our focus is to encourage pupils to enter the school gates safely, especially our many cyclists who can enter our school gates at quite a speed! Miss Collins has organised many other activities during the week too.
Spanish phrase of the week is Que tal? Muy bien!

Hasta luego!
Señora Hendry

It seems to be a running theme but yet again we have had a week full of learning, fun, achievement and special events!

On Monday evening, 18 of our Primary 3 children made their First Reconciliation in St. Cuthbert’s Church. It was a wonderful celebration of faith and a very special moment for each of our young pupils as they made a significant step on their faith journey. The pupils have been supported by Mrs Fletcher and their families during their journey and everyone came together on Monday evening to join the boys and girls as they made their confession with Father Bogan. We look forward to P3 joining P4 after their First Holy Communion for our Thanksgiving Assembly in May. Well done to all involved.

We said goodbye to Primary 7 on Monday afternoon as the bus was packed and they were heading off for a week of adventure at Lockerbie Manor. What a week they had! We were all kept up to date throughout the week hearing of abseiling, hill walks, canoeing and zip slides to name only a few of the activities. However, for me the success of the week was no more evident than when I met the bus on its return and Ayden, one of our P7s , beamed and said ‘Mrs Hendry that was absolutely brilliant – the best week of my life!” What more can you say. The staff at Lockerbie Manor were full of our praise for our youngsters, consistently commenting on their positive attitude, manners, teamwork and encouragement for others throughout the whole week. I am immensely proud of all our Primary 7s – well done! A huge thanks has to go to Mrs McCart and Miss McKendry who accompanied our pupils and provided first class care and support throughout the week as well. The staff from the centre also commented positively on our teacher participation all week as well – well done!

Not to be left out P5 took to the water on Tuesday for the beginning of their swimming block. A positive start was made by all pupils.
I accompanied 3 pupils to St Mary’s Primary in Hamilton on Wednesday morning. These children were the winners for the Scottish Water Competition and their efforts won the school a water butt that can be used in our school garden. Well done!
Friday was pyjama/onesie day for our Lenten Fundraising. Almost all our pupils participated helping to raise money for those less fortunate than ourselves.
I was delighted to attend John Ogilvie High School on Friday for the feast day mass. The mass was celebrated by Bishop Toal. This mass is attended by the S1 and S6 pupils and it is the first opportunity to see our past pupils in their new school. I was very proud to see two our pupils continuing their role as altar servers and many others looking very smart in their JOHS uniform.

On Friday Miss Collins arranged for a visit from a STEM ambassador to our lower school. Heather came to school on Friday and supported pupils in Primary 2 with their learning about climate change. Heather also worked with Primary 3 relating to their learning about the weather and also Primary 1. The artefacts were super and all children throughly enjoyed the learning experience and extended their knowledge.
In the nursery this week the focus has moved to Spring. The boys and girls have been busy spotting signs of Spring throughout the school. In the creative area they have been studying daffodils and making super paintings of their own. We welcomed the final intake into our nursery this week. The nursery is a very busy place but our established children have been working hard helping the new children settle quickly.

Due to the return of Primary 7 late Friday afternoon we had no assembly and no new Spanish phrase of the week so will consolidate all vocabulary learned to date this week.
Adios
Señora Hendry

There were definite signs of Spring this week as we entered the month of March. It makes such a difference having lighter mornings and evenings even although the rain, at times, poured!
Great excitement on Monday morning when the bell rang! Our bell has been out of action for a number of weeks – a very long, complicated story! We were all pleased to have this familiar sound back with us
Primary 6 and 7 continued with their rugby taster sessions on Monday. This week coming will see Primary 5 and 6 having a chance to work with Hamilton Rugby Club.
Primary 3, Mrs Fletcher, Mrs Harley and myself walked to St. Cuthbert’s Church on Monday to celebrate mass and prepare for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation. The parishioners were delighted to be joined with the children from our school and complemented them on their behaviour and participation during mass.
On Tuesday we welcomed Dr Andrew Killin from Glasgow University to our school. He was visiting our final year students in Primary 5 and 7. The visit went very well for both students and as always we received very positive comments about the ethos of our school and the efforts of our pupils.
Father Bogan and Father Joseph came to school on Wednesday to celebrate our Ash Wednesday Service. Our support staff prepared our school hall by displaying our Children’s Stations of the Cross. I was delighted to see a growing number of friends and relatives joining us for our service. It is so important that we join together as a community of faith. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. We have a full programme in our school to ensure all involved with our school can participate in the three elements of prayer, penance and almsgiving. Many pupils have made their own Lenten Promises and have them in a special class within their class. All families have a copy of the Lenten Programme and if it has been mislaid there is a copy on the school website.
We celebrated World Book Day on Thursday with a colourful array of characters from our favourite books. Karen Wallace, our Home School Partnership worker, arranged sessions for each class in the Literacy Den and teachers shared their own favourite children’s book with pupils.
Friday started on a sad note as we said goodbye to the chicks. However, even Primary 7 agreed it was time for the chicks to move on as they were certainly outgrowing their brooder! A sign that they had been very well cared for in Primary 7. Well done to all involved!
Miss McKendry and support staff braved the elements on Friday with our cross country runners. All pupils completed a very muddy and challenging course at the Palace Grounds. A very muddy but proud group of pupils arrived into assembly on Friday afternoon. Well done!
The friendly dragon in the nursery is now the happy, friendly dragon as Fairyland has been rebuilt. The boys and girls celebrated on Friday by having a Ball. The boys were super smart and the girls sparkled!
Remember – Spanish phrase of the week is Gracias and De nada!
We will be without our Primary 7s this coming week as they head off to Lockerbie Manor for their residential experience and the weather looks promising! Primary 5 are taking to the water on Tuesday for the start of their swimming block, so the school could be very quiet!
Please remember Primary 3 in your prayers as they make their First Reconciliation on Monday evening.

Adios!
Señora Hendry

Monday morning brought the arrival of our living eggs. Primary 7 have been responsible for the care of our eggs. Wednesday saw our first arrival, Eggness, and by Thursday we were busy caring for 9 fluffy chicks! Primary 7 have been hosting visitors all week as the whole school enjoys the learning experience of having the chicks in school.
Primaries 6 and 7 also started their training for the annual ruby festival on Monday, this will continue over the next three weeks.
Our Quality Link Officer, Mrs O’Neill, visited the school on Tuesday to discuss the continuation of our improvement agenda following our Education Scotland visit. Mrs O’Neill was delighted to hear of the variety of learning experiences our pupils continue to engage with in St. Cuthbert’s.
Wednesday saw the beginning of our Lenten Fundraising, a little earlier than usual, with our Workout for LEPRA. As always, our pupils and families supported this venture fully and Marion Barr from LEPRA was most appreciative of all efforts. Marion will be in touch with the final total raised.
Primary 6 had a focus day on electricity on Wednesday with the visit from an auto electrician. They learned how to interpret circuit diagrams and how to construct a parallel and series circuit.
In the nursery we said goodbye to Miss Lawwell, a teaching student who has been with us for a month. The children continue with their learning and develop Fairyland for the dragon. Señorita McLaughlin continues to visit weekly for Spanish and this week the boys and girls enjoyed learning colours and playing games with their new vocabulary. The nursery are also joining in with the ‘Spanish Phrase of the Week!’
The week ended on Friday with a wonderful celebration of faith. To mark the end of Catholic Education Week, the whole school community, joined with parents and friends for a Service of Light. This was a very prayerful celebration where we gave thanks for our Catholic schools and considered how each one of us can continue to ‘Shine the Light of Faith’. A huge thanks to all who participated in the service on Friday but most of all to our pupils. The service was followed by our Fairtrade Coffee afternoon to mark Fairtrade Fortnight.
Primary 4 have been selling raffle tickets all week as they used their initiative to raise much needed funds for their First Communion retreat and educational excursion to The Chocolate Factory. They raised a grand total of £219. Thanks to all involved.
All families will receive their Lenten Fundrasing programme this week. We will have activities each Friday to raise funds for our charities and will also have an early morning prayer programme led by Mrs Hall and Miss Prentice. Please check bags this week for further details and the March newsletter.
I will finish with the phrase of the week – Buenas tardes and Adios!

Mrs Hendry

What a week we have had as I’m sure your children have shared with you.
I have to begin my blog on Thursday – our Inspection Celebration Day. We certainly celebrated in style and a fantastic time was had by all. The day began with a super production of Oliver Twist from M&M Productions. Some of our nursery children joined us for this treat and joined in cheering and booing at appropriate times. After interval we made our way back to the hall for a whole school photograph with some parents and our Home School Partnership Worker. The message is clear that we are indeed a team at St Cuthbert’s! The Pupil Council also had a picture with myself and Mrs McCart, our Principal Teacher, and parents Mrs Whitson and Mrs Healey. In the picture we have our framed photograph of our special star of words taken from our report. This star also featured on the commemorative bookmarks that the Pupil Council presented to every pupil in our school. There was then an early lunch and I was overwhelmed by the effort made by pupils and parents for our party afternoon. Many children were collected for a ‘home lunch’ and returned looking very smart indeed! I am delighted with the support that parents continually offer our children and school, it is very much appreciated.
Mr Sinclair provided the disco in the afternoon and the party certainly started after the Pupil Council performed their final duty of the day – cutting the yummy cake!
Many thanks to our wonderful school staff who helped make this day possible for all our children – their many talents were used to the full! (I will not mention the dancing demonstrations by certain staff!)
This week was also Financial Education Week. Miss Ferrie had worked very hard to secure a range of visitors for the whole school to raise awareness and knowledge of the importance of money. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the inputs and the evaluation activity on Friday clearly showed that pupils had a more secure understanding of money. All families took home a leaflet on Friday so the learning can continue at home.
On Wednesday we welcomed some S1 and S2 pupils from John Ogilvie High School. Miss McAnich, Head of Mathematics, organised this event where secondary pupils led a learning experience with a small group of P6 pupils. Feedback from all involved was very positive and our P6 pupils enjoyed working with pupils from the secondary school. I will be speaking with Mr Morrison, Head Teacher of JOHS, to discuss more events like this.
On Wednesday evening many P7 parents joined us for our annual meeting about our P7 residential trip and our Education for Love programme. This year we are travelling to Lockerbie Manor for the first time. We welcomed Graham from Manor Adventure who gave a very professional presentation about the centre. I have never had so many parent helper requests for a trip! The facility looks first class and I am sure that our P7s, along with Miss McKendry and Mrs McCart, will have a super time.
In the nursery Fairyland has continued to develop while everyone joined the party celebrations on Thursday. This week’s focus was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This linked to numeracy learning about size and number. For snack, Mrs Collins worked with the children to make their very own porridge!
Finally, our school was represented at St. Cuthbert’s Church this weekend as it is the beginning of Catholic Education Week. The Airlie family took part in the offertory procession on Saturday evening and the McLaughlin and Healey family represented our school on Sunday morning. The children, as always, were a credit to everyone in full school uniform. We look forward to continuing the theme of ‘Shining the Light of Faith’ this week in school and will conclude with a Service of Light on Friday afternoon. I hope many parents and careers will join us for this occasion in the school hall at 1.45pm. After the service parents are welcome to join us for a cup of tea or coffee to mark Fairtrade Fortnight.

Mrs Hendry