As we move into March, it’s hard to believe that Term 3 has gone so quickly! It has been a lovely week, with some early Spring sunshine for everyone to enjoy. On Tuesday of this week we celebrated the Sacrament of First Reconciliation for some of our pupils. It was a lovely service and the children were a great credit to their families, the parish and the school. Thank you to Father Stephen for his pastoral and spiritual support and to Miss Mackle for preparing the children so well for this important Sacrament. I would also like to thank Mrs Macneil for her musical accompaniment and the choir and Mrs Kelly for their lovely singing.

On Thursday we were treated to a fantastic showcase from Primary 4, who shared what they have been learning about famous figures from Scottish history. Parents and grandparents were treated to fantastic singing, poetry and comedy, in a very informative presentation. Well done to the boys and girls and Mrs Quadrelli and Miss Brown for all their hard work.

If you follow the school on Twitter, you will be aware of the excitement surrounding the chicks who have arrived in the school. They hatched last Thursday, and the P6/7 pupils have been ‘chick-sitting’. There have been lots of visitors to the Murray classroom and the boys and girls have the chance to hold and feed the chicks. It has been an exciting learning opportunity and will be an annual event!

 

Thank you to everyone who managed to come along to our recent Partnership Group meeting. There was a great turnout and the members have been working hard to organise fundraising events, including a night of live music taking place in the church hall on Saturday 16^th of March. We are always looking to welcome new members and would be delighted to see you at our next meeting on Thursday 21^st of March at 7.00 p.m.

The forthcoming week sees the start of Lent with Ash Wednesday service at 9.10 a.m. in Our Lady and St. John’s Church. Our Lenten programme has been uploaded to the App. We have only chosen two charities this year as our we only have 4 fundraising days due to the Spring break. We begin with World Book Day on Thursday 7^th of March, when children are invited to dress up as a character or bring in a prop, along with their favourite book. On the same day we have our Fairtrade coffee morning in the school hall at 10.00 a.m. The HEF group are organising a Fairtrade hamper for a raffle and will be doing some Fairtrade baking with Mrs Kelly and  Miss Mackle. We would also be grateful for any donations of home baking.

In the classes the learning continues:

Primary 1

The children are enjoying their topic on Scotland and have opened a tourist information centre in the role play area. They have enjoyed working on problem solving activities in their Numeracy & Mathematics and in Literacy they have been learning joined phonemes.

Primary 2/3

The boys and girls are exploring adjectives and adverbs in Literacy. The Primary 2 pupils have been focussing on the 2, 10- and 5-times tables and Primary 3 are learning the 4- and 8-times tables. In Health and Wellbeing, they have been focussing on friendships.

Primary 4

In Numeracy & Mathematics the children have been focussing on Time-12 and 24-hour clock and calendars, important skills for life. In Literacy they have been focussing on spelling and enjoying their new novel in reading.

Primary 5

In Literacy the children have been enjoying their new A.R.T. (All Reading Together) novel, Charlotte’s Web and have been focussing on pronouns in Grammar. In Numeracy & Mathematics, the children have been learning about Angles and compass points and have been introduced to their new interdisciplinary topic, Extreme Earth!

Primary 6/7

In Numeracy & Mathematics the focus has been on equivalent Fractions and have been enjoying their new novel study, Why the Whales came by Michael Morpurgo. The new social studies topic is geography based, as the children explore Scotland’s landscape.

Mrs Iles

In all classes, Mrs Iles focus In Spanish is Pets and the children are exploring Earth, Space and the Solar System, with lessons planned to cover learning at Early, First and Second Level.

 

Thank you for reading my blog.

 

Mrs McCart

 

 

 

Hello and welcome to the first blog of the New Year. The new term is well underway with the children and staff back in to the routine and working very hard. This is as always, a very busy term. The Primary 7 pupils’ transition to secondary school gathers apace with the children and parents attending the curriculum evening at Holy Cross High School on Thursday.

This has been enrolment week and I look forward to welcoming our new Primary 1 pupils who will join us in August 2019, when they begin their induction programme later in the term. Some of our Primary 3 and 4 pupils began their preparations for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Eucharist, with the children taking part in an enrolment Mass last Monday evening.

We also had the first Partnership Group meeting of 2019 on Tuesday and I was delighted to see a good turnout at the meeting. The members are working hard to organise fundraising activities and are keen for more parents and carers to become involved in the group.

Looking forward to the week ahead, we have our monthly Love Autism meeting on Tuesday 22nd of January at 6.00 p.m. and on Wednesday evening (23rd January) we have the Respectme workshop in the school at 6.00 p.m. All parents and carers are welcome to what will be an informative evening. We have opened this event up to other schools in the area and I am pleased to welcome parents and carers from Bent Primary and St. Mary’s Primary, Larkhall, who will join us on the evening.

All of our afterschool clubs begin this week with activities for all stages provided. A  huge thank you to all members of staff and parents/carers who give up their time to provide these extracurricular opportunities for our young people.

In the classrooms the children have been working hard:

Primary 1

The children have been working on money, learning all the coins and adding amounts within 10 pence. They have also created their own clan tartan as part of their interdisciplinary topic on Scotland.

Primary 2/3

The children have been working with money this week. Primary 2 are totalling amounts using 20p coins. Primary 3 are learning about place value and using the decimal point for amounts greater than £1. The children are working on their Treasure Island topic and created Wanted posters for pirate characters and next week they will learn map reading skills as they look for buried treasure!

Primary 4

The children have been learning lots of interesting facts about Mary Queen of Scots and Robert the Bruce in their Historical Scots topic. They have written excellent Winter poems and have worked hard on their reading skills, focussing on Visualisation  and finding the main point. In Numeracy the boys and girls have been working on Fractions and will learn all about equivalent fractions this week.

Primary 5

In Numeracy the children have been working on money, calculating amounts and comparing ‘best buys’ and offers. The children have begun their class topic on Significant Scots, with the current focus on Sir Andy Murray where they are determining his importance and influence.

Primary 6/7

In Numeracy the children are working on Time, reading and writing 12 and 24 hour clock times. Continuing the Scottish theme, the class have been learning about the life and times of Robert Burns and have listened to his poems and songs. In Expressive Arts, the children are working hard to learn traditional Scottish dances in preparation for their Burns’ Day celebrations.

Thank you for reading the blog.

Yvonne McCart

It is hard to believe that Christmas is almost upon us and that we are coming to the end of another busy term. Pupils and staff have been working incredibly hard as we combine core learning activities with preparing for our Christmas celebrations. The pupils (and staff) have coped admirably with changes to routines and lots of rehearsals. Senior pupils of our choir have been patient and kind as they encourage younger pupils to learn their words, practise the songs and overcome a little bit of stage fright. It is all coming together and we are looking forward to sharing the performances with you at our P1/2 Nativity ‘Angel Express’ and our Christmas Café, when all of the classes and the choir will entertain guests while they enjoy some festive treats.

The children have also been busy with their Christmas Enterprise topics. Some examples of the enterprise topics are Primary 1 Christmas School Post, a Christmas shop where the theme is, ‘It’s Better to Give than Receive’, and various Christmas craft activities. 

We celebrated St. Andrew’s Day at a lovely Mass on Thursday morning. The children were exemplary in their conduct, through their participation in the Mass, answering out the responses and their excellent singing. Father Stephen contacted me afterwards to congratulate the children on how well they had done. Thank you to Father for celebrating the Mass for us and to Mrs Macneil and members of the choir for their musical accompaniment, and of course to the children who read and did the offertory procession. It was a tartan takeover on Friday as we continued our celebrations with the children and staff resplendent in their tartan attire! Thank you for your contributions to our fundraising for our business partner St. Andrew’s Hospice. We will also have buckets for donations at our Nativity performances and will give a total amount raised after this.

Looking forward to what’s on this week, Anne Love from Love Autism, is visiting the school on Tuesday evening to speak to parents and carers about Autism and sharing the information and advice on supporting families and our young people. On Thursday we will be at Mass for First Friday at 9.30 a.m. and all parents and carers are invited to join us. Then on Friday we have our much anticipated visit to Lanark Memorial Hall for the pantomime ‘Snow White and the Seven Wee Muppets’. The bus will leave the school at 9.00 a.m. sharp and return by lunchtime. The Classroom Curriculum newsletters will also be issued this week, sharing all aspect of learning for December to February.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Mrs McCart

It’s hard to believe we are already two weeks in to the new term! It has been a very busy time and things will only get busier as we gear up for, dare I say it, Christmas!

The P6/7 pupils are back in to the school routine after their adventures at Lockerbie Manor. The children had a wonderful time and participated wholeheartedly in all the activities. The children were also commended for their behaviour and manners by the staff at Lockerbie. Well done to all! The children were challenged and sometimes felt out of their comfort zone, but they discovered new depths of courage and learned new skills. It was a fantastic week and my thanks to Miss McEwan and Mr Hall for accompanying the children. Thank you also to Mr Cairney for his assistance during the trip. Here are a few photos from the week, although you can see lots more on Twitter.

We also had our Hallowe’en Disco organised by the Partnership Group on the 26th of October. The children had a ball and the costumes were absolutely fantastic as always. My thanks to the Partnership Group for organising this and to those who helped out. On Wednesday of this week we had a special visitor, Andy Malone, who was accompanied by his dad, Neil. Andy achieved European Gold in Judo this year and came into the school to talk to the children about his sport and the importance of hard work and resilience if you want to achieve success. The children were treated to Judo demonstrations and got the opportunity to see Andy’s gold medal.

Thank you to the parents who came along on Tuesday afternoon to our Literacy workshop for P1 to P3. Unfortunately it was a very small turnout, with only 3 parents attending. There was the opportunity for parents and carers to find out how they can support their children with their Literacy skills. Mrs Smith, Senior Educational Psychologist, explained how the paired reading strategy helps support and develop children’s reading skills and Mrs Kelly advised how to support children with phonics and spelling by explaining how these are taught in the class. Ms Meinicke, our English as an Additional language teacher also came along to offer support to parents of pupils who have English as an additional language.

On Thursday morning we joined the parishioners of Our Lady & St. John’s for Mass to celebrate All Saints Day.

Friday was a bittersweet day as we officially said goodbye to Mrs Horne, our Cook in Charge, at a special assembly on Friday afternoon. Mrs Horne worked in the school for over 22 years and was a big part of the St. John’s family. We will miss her very much but wish her a long and happy retirement. We welcome Ms Charlene Reid, who will take over from Mrs Horne.

The classes have also been very busy this week:

Primary 1

The children have been enjoying the taking part in Hallowe’en activities in the classroom and have linked this to their Literacy by writing spooky spells in their Writing and creating lanterns in Art & Design.

Primary 2/3

The children have been using the internet to research their topic on China and finding lots of interesting facts. Primary 2 are working hard in Numeracy & Mathematics exploring numbers to 100 and adding and subtracting within numbers to 20. Primary 3 are using their knowledge of Place Value and numbers to 1000, to problem solve in Numeracy.

Primary 4/5

The children have been working hard on multiplication and using these skills to solve word problems in Numeracy. They have also learned about the legend of Finn McCool and the Giant’s Causeway. The children have made the two giants, McCool and Benandonner, for their class display.

P5/6/7

The children are in the final week of their country study topic. They have been looking at festivals and customs. Primary 6 and 7 pupils are writing a Lockerbie Manor diary, while Primary 5 are writing about space tourism in their Literacy. In Numeracy and Mathematics, the whole class have been working on multiplication and division by 10, 100 and 1000.

 

Thank you for reading my blog. You can find out what is going on in the classes and the whole school as and when it’s happening, by following the school on Twitter @StJohnsBwd. This is a closed account and is only open to our families. You can find the link on the school website page.

 

 

 

The pupils and staff returned after the long weekend, full of enthusiasm and looking forward to the week ahead and it was a very busy week as usual!

Tracking and Monitoring

This week we reviewed the progress of our pupils and identified pupils who need additional support to achieve. I spoke to individual teachers and we explored a wide range of barriers to learning including  specific learning difficulties and difficulty settling to learn in class. If required, individual educational plans will be put in place within the class and school to ensure that all pupils get the support they need to achieve. Maria Mulgrew (Specialist Support Teacher), Annie Smith (Senior Educational Psychologist), Kasia Meinicke (English as Additional Language  Teacher) and Joanne Faulkner (Senior Manager Pupil Support) make up the wider team that support our school to meet the needs of all our learners.

Partnership Group AGM

We held the Partnership Group AGM on Wednesday. We reviewed the constitution (a copy can be seen on the Parents Area page of the school website) and elected new office bearers. I am delighted to announce that our new Chairperson is Victoria Kerr, the Secretary is Gaynor Grant and our Treasurer is Yvonne Todd. I look forward to working closely with them. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing office bearers, Jennifer Cairney, Gayle and Dennis Tops for their unstinting support and hard work and for everything they have contributed to supporting the whole school community of St. John’s Primary. A well deserved rest for them now!

Conversations On Growing our School (COGS)

Our first COGS session of the new school year took place on Friday morning. Pupils assembled in their Houses and explored what our new school rules of Ready, Responsible and Safe look like in our school. The children’s ideas were recorded and their responses will be used to form our new promoting positive behaviour policy. Thank you to Mrs Kelly for organising our first COGS session. The results of the consultation with pupils and staff will be available at the forthcoming Parents Evening, when we will seek  the views of parents and carers on our new school rules.

Project Gambia

On Friday afternoon we welcomed representatives from Project Gambia who spoke to all the classes about the work they do at St. John’s School for the Deaf. As you will be aware we are taking part in a backpack appeal for the project. Information on when the backpacks have to be handed into us and the items they should contain, can be found on a letter in the news page of the school App. If you wish more information, please contact the school office for a leaflet about the appeal.

Quality Link Officer (QLO)

I look forward to welcoming our QLO, Anne Jessimer, to the school on Monday 1st October who will visit to discuss pupil progress and  the school improvement plan for 2018-2019 and our Standards & Quality Report for 2017-2018. There will also be an opportunity for her to visit the classrooms and chat to pupils and staff.

Football/Netball Festival 

Our football and netball teams will take part in their first festival this week. We have quite young teams but I am sure the pupils will represent the school well, showing good team spirit and sportsmanship. Thank you to  Mrs Quadrelli and Mr Hall for leading our netball and  football team.

The classes have been very busy this week:

Primary 1

The children are thoroughly enjoying learning about the different animals in the jungle as part of their Interdisciplinary topic. They are having great fun in the jungle explorers’ role play area. The children to make good progress in learning their initial sounds and are beginning to build simple words.

Primary 2/3

The children have been listening to the Chinese Zodiac story as part of their topic . In Art & Design the children made a Terracotta Army using clay. P2 have been working hard in Numeracy learning about numbers to 100 and P3 have been exploring Connectives and using these to add more detail to their writing.

Primary 4/5

The children  continue to learn about Ireland as part of their Social Studies topic. They have been learning about the Potato Famine and the impact this has had on the country from that time through to the current day. In Numeracy the children have been developing their mental agility by practising mental strategies to  add up to 10, 000. In Literacy the children have completed their first 4 week block of spelling and Mrs Quadrelli says that everyone has worked very well.

Primary 5/6/7

The pupils continue their investigation of major capital cities around the world through their Interdisciplinary topic. In Numeracy the children are studying Estimating & Rounding with a focus this week on  rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. In Reading the children are developing their reading strategies through the class novels. The focus has been on Metalinguistics and Visualisation.

 

Finally, we have our Parents Evening coming up on Thursday 4th of October. Appointment times were issued on Friday. If you are unable to make your appointment, please contact the school to make alternative arrangements. I look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

Thank you for your continued support.

 

Yvonne McCart

 

 

 

 

As we enter Autumn, it has been a busy time in school. We have elected our new Primary 7 House and Vice-Captains for the forthcoming year. The elections were overseen by Mr Hall and I am sure our new representatives will do a sterling job in supporting their House.  Craignethan’s new captain is Erin  and the vice-captain is Chloe. Harrison is captain of de Vere with Brodie taking on the role of vice-captain. In Heathfield the children elected Alexis as captain and Bianca as vice- captain. Finally in Lancaster Noah is captain and Tia is vice -captain.

Thank you to all the boys and girls who completed the Head Teacher’s homework to create a design for our new House Shields and in particular a huge effort from our younger pupils. There were some super ideas and sometimes it was very difficult to pick just one! Jack (P4) and Michaela’s (P4) designs were chosen for Heathfield, Corey’s (P3) was chosen for Craignethan, De Vere’s winning design came from Lexie in P5 and Lancaster’s design came from Michael in P3 and Siena in P4. These will be incorporated on the shields and displayed on the House Wall.

We also celebrated the new school year and welcomed our new Primary 1 pupils to the school with a celebration of Mass in the church on Tuesday. It was a lovely way to ask for God’s blessings on the forthcoming school year. Thank you to Father Stephen for celebrating Mass, Mrs Macneil for the music accompaniment and the parishioners and families who managed to join us.

The classes have been very busy with everyone getting back into the swing of hard work. I visited the classes this week and had a chance to chat to some of the children about their learning. I was delighted to hear how enthusiastic they are and to see the children so focussed and engaged.

In Primary 1 the children have begun their interdisciplinary topic, ‘Down in the Jungle’, where they have been learning about the animals who live there and their habitat. In numeracy the children have been learning to read, write and count numbers to 5. In literacy the children have been working on rhyming words and syllables.

In Primary 2/3, the children are hard at work on their topic on China. They have learned a new song in Mandarin, and I was treated to a lovely rendition as the children were leaving the classroom last week. In Numeracy the whole class has been learning about place value, with P2 looking at numbers up to 100 and P3 focussing on numbers to 1000.

The children in P4/5 have a focus on Ireland for their social studies topic and have linked this to literacy, through exploring Irish folk tales. In numeracy the children have been looking at mental strategies in doubling and halving 2 and 3 digit numbers. The children have also been developing their reading skills with a focus on inference.

Primary 5/6/7 pupils have begun personal research projects on a country of their choice as part of their social studies topic. In numeracy the children have also been studying place value of whole numbers and decimals to thousandths. Their reading skills are being developed through the class novels, with the children looking at inference and metalinguistics, where they explore the meaning of words in the context of the text being read.

Although we are only in to September, our Primary 7 pupils have already begun the transition process for Holy Cross High School, with the Welcome Mass taking place on Monday evening. The children will also begin a new initiative this week called Holy Cross Online. Pupils from all primary schools in the learning community have been put into groups, with each group being named after a Scottish island. The children will study four novels throughout the year and will be set questions/tasks by P7 teachers from each school over the course of each book. Children will record their answers, opinions and thoughts on the books through a blog. This blog will be moderated by the Primary 7 teachers to ensure the content is appropriate. This is an exciting new project, which allows the pupils to develop friendships and enhance their literacy and technology skills.

Some of our afterschool clubs begin next week. Can I ask that children are picked up from the church car park and if your child signs up for a club, then they make all efforts to attend each week. If your child is unable to attend a club, we would be grateful if you could inform the school office so that we can advise the teacher/coach taking the club. Many thanks.

Finally, CM Photography are in the school this Friday for our class photographs. Children should wear full school uniform, including shirt and tie.

Thank you for reading the school blog.

 

Mrs Yvonne McCart

Head Teacher

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to a new school year. I hope everyone had a great summer and an opportunity to enjoy the glorious weather we had! It certainly helped the building work on the new extension, which is well on schedule, with the roof and windows going in over the next two weeks.

It was great to see all the children again, looking so smart in their uniforms and so full of enthusiasm!  We were also delighted to welcome our new Primary 1 girls and boys, who have been with us for the full day as part of SLC’s flying start. Mrs Kelly tells me she is really pleased with how well they have settled into school life, with no small thanks to our super Primary 6/7 Buddies, who have been doing a splendid job of supporting their young charges.

Mrs Wong has begun her maternity leave and Mrs McKie will start hers soon! We also have 4 new members of teaching staff, Miss Mackle who is teaching P2/3, Miss McEwan who is team teaching with Mr Hall in P5/6/7 and Mrs Iles who will deliver teachers’ class contact time throughout the school. We also have Miss Walker with us on a temporary basis and she will deliver a raising attainment timetable across all stages while she is here. We are delighted to welcome them and hope they have enjoyable time working in the school. St John’s also welcomed three new families to the school and the children have settled in well because of everyone’s friendly welcome.

This week I would ask you to please check bags for the envelope containing annual permissions and contact details. We would be very grateful if these could be returned to the class teachers or the school office as soon as possible.  The Yearly Calendar will also be with you soon, outlining the main events throughout the year. St. John’s App has already been updated with some of the important dates for this year. This will be added to as events arise. This is free to download on Apple or Android devices and is good way to keep up with news and  events in the school. You will also receive a letter this week regarding paperless communication. We are going for our 4th Eco Flag this year and as part of this we have to report on how we plan for sustainability and meet our targets.

The Breakfast Club begins this week. This will be overseen by Mrs Gormley, who will prepare breakfast and Mrs Birtles and Mrs Carty, who will supervise the children. Children, who have been signed up for this should arrive no later than 8.30 a.m. If you want any information about the Breakfast Club, please contact the school office. We will also begin our Daily Mile on Monday for P2 to P7 with P1 joining us from September, when they finish their soft start.

Finally, I look forward to working with you once again to ensure all of our pupils have a happy, successful and positive school experience this year.

Thank you for reading my blog.

 

Mrs McCart

 

Welcome back, I hope you had a lovely Spring break. It is hard to believe that we have reached the final term already! This is a very busy term, as our Primary 7 pupils continue with their induction programme for secondary school and we welcome the children who will be joining us in Primary 1 in August. We also have our final Sacrament celebration as some of our Primary 4 pupils celebrate their First Eucharist. The children have been working hard with Mrs Quadrelli and Mrs Wong, preparing for this important Sacrament.We will also continue our reporting on your child’s progress when report cards are issued on the 1st of June.

It has been an eventful first week back. On Tuesday, our senior pupils had their educational excursion to Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. This was linked to their interdisciplinary topic on ‘Natural Disasters’. The children had a fantastic day and enjoyed interactive workshops and activities.

P1/2 visited Summerlee Heritage Centre on Thursday to round off their learning in their Social Studies topic ‘Back in the 1950’s’. The children took a trip back in time to find out what life was like in the ‘olden days’! Everyone had a super time. Thank you to Ms Rossi and Mrs Smith, our parent helepers, who accompanied the class on their trip. Photos of each trips can be found on our Twitter feed.

This week we also had a visit on Thursday from Paul McNeill, a Dyslexia Scotland Outreach Ambassador, who worked with our P6/7 children. He spoke to the children about his dyslexia diagnosis and worked with them to develop strategies to use whenever they face difficulties and challenges in any aspects of their life. The children thoroughly enjoyed the session and Paul was delighted with the contribution and enthusiasm of the pupils, saying they were a delight to work with. Well done P6/7, you are a credit to St. John’s Primary. Paul will be visiting the school again on the 21st of May at 7.00 p.m. to deliver a presentation to parents and carers. A letter with more information will be sent home soon.

Finally, you will receive your child’s new monthly homework grid on Tuesday. Classroom Curriculum newsletters will also be issued this week. As part of our drive to reduce our paper use, these will be put on the St. John’s App. If you wish a paper copy, please phone the school office.

Thank you for reading my blog.

 

Yvonne McCart

It is incredible to believe that it is Easter already and we have reached the end of the third term. It has been a very busy last few weeks in school. Our Primary 7 pupils continue with the transition programme for secondary school, while we look forward to welcoming our new Primary 1 pupils when they begin their induction programme after the holidays. The pupils of Primary 6 and 7  celebrated the Year of Young People 2018, as they took part in a showcase of talents in the Banqueting Hall at Council Headquarters in Hamilton. Their performance was called ‘Look Inside’ and was well received by a packed venue. Well done to our confident individuals!

Our Parents Evening on the 22nd March was very well attended, with a 99% turnout. This is absolutely tremendous and an indication of the commitment and support of parents and carers for their children’s education.

We concluded the term with our Holy Week service on 28th of March, when we remembered the events  leading up to Jesus’ death on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday. Thank you to our readers, Father Stephen and the parents and carers who attended.

The highlight however, was the Primary 1/2 Learning Showcase, “Back in the 1950’s” on Thursday. Parents and grandparents were treated to afternoon tea and a very informative presentation of life in the 1950’s. The presentation was rounded off with a lively jive to ‘Rock around the Clock’. Well done to the boys and girls for such a confident and assured performance and a huge thank you to Mrs Kelly, Mrs Birtles and Miss Tyrell for all their hard work in preparing the children. You can see photographs and video from the showcase on the school Twitter.

We also say goodbye to Miss Tyrell who has been working in Primary 1/2 for the past 12 weeks. I would like to thank her for all her hard work and contribution to the class and on behalf of the whole school, would like to wish her every success in her future teaching career.

Finally, I would like to wish you and your family a happy, holy Easter and a restful, enjoyable holiday.

Thank you for reading my blog.

 

Yvonne McCart

It has been fantastic to have a full week at school without any disruption! It has been a very busy week with our World Book Day celebrations on Thursday and our Fairtrade Coffee Morning on Friday. The school was an oasis of calm on Thursday as staff and pupils took part in our sponsored Readathon! Children got their opportunity to explore new authors as children shared their favourite books and hopefully continues to foster a lifelong love of reading. Our coffee morning was well supported and I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who came along, as well as our parent and grandparents who helped out on the morning and to all those who sent in home-baking. We made almost £211, which was a fantastic amount. Mrs Holmes and the HEF group are doing an excellent job in organising our Lenten fundraising events and our parents and carers have shown their usual generosity by supporting all of our activities.

As of this week, I have no further updates on when the extension work to the school will begin. The completed plans will be available for you to look at on the forthcoming Parents Evening on the 22nd of March. I will of course notify you once I have more information. We are hopeful with a change in the weather it will not be too far off!

The learning continues apace in the classrooms:

P1/2

In Numeracy, the P1 pupils have been learning number facts for 6 and 7, while P2 have finding out about fractions, looking at halves and quarters. In Science the children have been learning about some of the main organs in the human body.

P3/4

This week P3/4 have also been learning about fractions up to eighths in Numeracy. In science the children continue to investigate properties of materials and have planned a paper absorbency test. In Literacy all of the children are working very hard on their reading strategies, in particular, Visualisation. In Art & Design the children have been focussing on the skills of colour, tone and pattern, by completing some fantastic African silhouettes with Mr Hall.

P5/6/7

In Numeracy & Mathematics the pupils have been working hard as they develop their Information Handling skills and in particular, looking at different ways of representing data on charts, graphs and tables. In Literacy the children are enjoying reading their new novels, The Eleventh Orphan and The Demon Headmaster, which they are using to develop their higher order reading skills. The children are now focussing on their new Social Studies topic, France.

Finally, we are trialling our new approach to homework, using a monthly homework grid which has core tasks sheet and an options grid. This is a way of addressing issues raised in our homework survey. This approach allows for children and parents/carers to complete tasks over a longer period of time as core tasks are issued on a Tuesday and should be returned on the following Monday. The extra tasks and activities on the options grid are not compulsory but rather are there to give parents and carers ideas on how they can further support their children’s learning if they wish. Please let us know your thoughts on this approach, as your feedback will inform how we go forward with this new initiative.

Thank you for reading my Blog.

 

Mrs Yvonne McCart

Head Teacher