I’m glad to report a less eventful week at St. John’s Primary but the classroom have been as busy as usual with lots of learning taking place.

We celebrated St. John’s Feast day, by attending Mass on Wednesday. Father Rooney was impressed by the children’s knowledge of our school patron. Primary 5 have been developing their creative skills this week as they have begun their music instruction with Ms Cunningham; I look forward to hearing their musical talents in the future. We have also launched our Spanish phrase of the week and Mrs Wong has displayed this throughout the school. The children can earn House points by using the phrase in school and at home! Our phrase this week is ‘Que tiempo hace?’  (What’s the weather like?) I’m sure there are a wide variety of answers but I would say  ‘Hace frio’!

In the classes this week:

Primary 1/2

The children continue to hone their creative skills by creating collages of macaws for their classroom rainforest display. They also learned about Robert Burns on Monday and wrote a poem on the theme of ‘Tae a Moose’. In R.E. the children have been learning about other world religions and have been finding out about  Judaism, in particular the Torah and the synagogue.

Primary 3/4/5

The class have opened up their paper exchange stall where pupils bring in old books and magazines to trade with one another. Staff have got involved too and I will certainly be visiting to pick up some light reading for the midterm break!

Primary 5/6/7

As part of the Robert Burns celebrations, the pupils enjoyed baking their own shortbread and eating it! Mrs Kelly tells me it was delicious and there were certainly mouthwatering smells emanating from the kitchen that day! The children also created a beautiful art display of shields using the symbols of the Holy Spirit, as part of their Confirmation preparation.

Finally, our school was represented at Our Lady and St. John’s Church this weekend as it is the beginning of Catholic Education Week. Niamh and Oliver took part in the offertory procession and Ania, Jan, Noah and Caitlyn read the bidding prayers. We were also joined by senior pupils and staff from Holy Cross High School. The children, in full school uniform, were as always, a credit to everyone. We look forward to continuing the theme of ‘Learning to be Merciful’ this week in school.

Thank you for reading my blog.

It has been an eventful week in St. John’s Primary and my blog will start at the end of the week!

On Friday there was an unannounced fire alarm, resulting in two fire engines being dispatched to the school, which was the cause of great excitement. When we were given the all clear to go back inside, we were greeted by a burst water pipe in the kitchen and water flowing into the main hall! Fortunately the firefighters managed to turn off the water and kindly stayed behind to help us mop up! We are very grateful to them for their help and a huge thanks to all the staff for pulling together to get the kitchen and hall tidied in time for lunch.

On Wednesday evening we held the AGM for the Partnership Group. Election of office bearers took place and I am delighted to announce that Mr Dennis Tops is  Chairperson with Mrs Jennifer Cairney as Vice-Chairperson. The Treasurer is Mrs Gayle Tops, the Fundraising Co-ordinator is Miss Emma Livingstone and Miss Suzanne Sherry is the Clerk. Look out for the Partnership Group newsletter and information on the school website, coming soon.

The classes have also been very busy this week.

Primary 1/2

The boys and girls have been carrying out investigations in Science to find out how plants grow. In Art, the children have begun to create different leaves and plants to build their own rainforest in the classroom!

Primary 3/4/5

The children have been very inventive by upcycling t-shirts into new designs and new useful items. For example, a handy bag and toys for dogs. They have also set up their paper exchange stall in the classroom.

Primary 5/6/7

The pupils of Primary 5/6/7 have had a focus on Literacy this week as they have been developing their reading comprehension skills focussing on inference and how to answer inferential questions.

Finally, we were delighted to welcome back  Mrs Carty to school this week.

Thank you for reading my blog and hopefully it will be a little less eventful next week!

It has been a very busy week in school. I have been enrolling the boys and girls who will join us in August 2016 and look forward to welcoming them to St. John’s when we begin the Primary 1 Induction programme. I was also delighted to meet Father Rooney, who came into the school on Wednesday. We spoke about preparations for our forthcoming Sacraments celebrations and our patron’s Feast Day Mass, which we will celebrate on the 27th of January. Father Rooney also popped into the classes to say hello to our Primary 3 to 7 pupils.

It’s been back to the hard work for the boys and girls of St. John’s and here is a flavour of some of the learning taking place in the classrooms:

Primary 1/2

The children created winter trees in Art, using watercolour paints, masking tape and salt. These look fantastic and very appropriate for our current wintry weather!

The children have also begun to learn about the Rainforest in their new topic ‘Down in the Jungle’.

Primary 3/4/5

The pupils have been developing their writing skills through their Interdisciplinary topic about the Incas. They have created interesting reports about the battles between the Incas and the Spaniards.

P3/4/5 have also started their new topic ‘Kids Saving Planet Earth’ and have begun by upcycling t-shirts.

P5/6/7

The primary 6/7 pupils have been very busy with their preparations for their forthcoming Sacrament of Confirmation.

The class have been introduced to their new topic, The Ice Age, which is very apt given the current weather! The children are looking forward to studying this, especially all the science aspects.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Mrs McCart

A very happy New Year to all.

As always we have had a very busy first week back, with the children and staff settling back quickly into the school routine.

There was great excitement on Friday with the launch of our new website. Congratulations to Irena Rodan in Primary 6. who pressed the launch button. I hope you find our website a useful way to keep up with all the news and events from school.

This week is enrolment week for children starting school in August 2016. Enrolments will take place each afternoon in the school. Parents require a FULL birth certificate and two recent proofs of address.

Details about after school and lunchtime clubs will follow this week in the monthly newsletter which will be issued on Monday 11th of January.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Mrs McCart

Welcome to my new Head Teacher’s Blog. I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas break and are ready for a busy term ahead.

My blog will keep you up to date with happenings in St. John’s Primary School. Please check back soon for recent news and events.

Mrs McCart

Head Teacher