Another busy week in St. John’s! On Thursday we held our Fairtrade coffee morning. I was delighted with the turnout of parents, grandparents and members of Our Lady and St. John’s parish. A huge thank you for supporting this event. Many thanks also to the parents/carers who donated Fairtrade goods and home baking. I am very grateful to Mrs Cairney, Mrs Kydd and Mrs Tops who helped out on the morning. We made over £100, which will be added to our Lenten fundraising total.

All children from Primary 1 to Primary 7, also enjoyed free karate taster sessions with Kihonkai Karate Academy. The classes will have a further session this Friday.

In the classes it’s been business as usual!

Primary 1/2

In Art, the children have been earning about the mosaic artwork of Spanish artist, Antoni Gaudi. They have looked at examples of his work and used this as a stimulus to create their own animal mosaics.

The Spanish theme continues with the boys and girls learning how to describe the weather in Spanish, and they have even recorded their own weather reports! Fantastico! Let’s hope we get weather like Spain!

Primary 3/4/5

On Wednesday afternoon the Primary 3 children held a prayer service as part of their preparation for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation, which will take place this Tuesday. They were supported by the boys and girls of Primary 4 and 5. We also welcomed Father Stephen, who led the service and by the parents of the children who will make the sacrament. It was very prayerful and reflective afternoon.

Primary 5/6/7

The pupils of P5/6/7 have been learning about global warming. The children researched the cause and effects of this and presented their findings in a Powerpoint or written piece of work. These were then shared with the whole class. In Health and Wellbeing, the children have been further developing their cooking skills by making delicious Spanish omelettes! I think Mrs Kelly and the boys and girls will be setting up their own catering company soon!

Thank you for reading my blog.

We had a wonderful celebration of our faith on Monday evening, when 16 of our senior pupils were confirmed by Bishop Toal. The whole community of St. John’s Parish gathered together to make this a very special occasion. Special thanks must go to Bishop Toal, Father Rooney, Mrs Seagrave and Mr Lynch, the Primary 5 pupils in the choir, the altar servers, members of the parish community and our parents and carers. Thank you also to Mrs Kelly who worked very hard to prepare the children for this most important sacrament. However, my biggest thanks goes to the pupils  who were a credit to themselves, their families and the school. The excellent participation of the pupils, both in prayer and song, was commented on by many. I hope our young people now find strength from this sacrament to continue to live their lives in faith and be an example to those around them.

It has been a busy week in the classes as usual:

Primary 1/2

The children have been learning about vertebrates and invertebrates with Mrs Wong and made models of a variety of vertebrates using mints! The children continue to develop their creative skills under the careful watch of Mr Hall. This week they used watercolour paints and droppers to create beautiful rainforest butterflies. The rainforest is growing week by week and I wouldn’t be surprised to walk in and find Sir David Attenborough in the classroom!

Primary 3/4/5

Hot on the heels of the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, the children of Primary 3 are busy preparing for their First Reconciliation, which they will make on the 1st of March. They are being ably supported by the children of Primary 4 and 5, as they prepare for their prayer service which will take place this Wednesday. Mrs Quadrelli has been very impressed by the good mentoring work going on in the class.

Primary 5/6/7

Mrs Kelly had the boys and girls of Primary 6 and 7 straight back to work after their Confirmation on Monday evening. The children developed a variety of cooking skills while making delicious Spanish gazpacho as part of their Health and Wellbeing. The aromas of the Mediterranean certainly brought a little bit of Spain to our cold Scottish winter!

During Lent the children will be attending Mass on a Thursday morning and will take part in the Stations of the Cross in school on a Friday morning with their teacher.

Our Lenten fundraising has begun with our non-uniform day on Friday and we look forward to welcoming parents, carers and parishioners to our Fairtrade Coffee morning this Thursday.

Thank you for reading my blog.

This week, we had a taste of China in St. John’s as the pupils and staff celebrated the Chinese New Year on Thursday.

Chinese people love the colour red, and regard red as the symbol of energy, happiness and good luck, and so all pupils were invited to wear a piece of red clothing. The open area in the school was bedecked in traditional Chinese decorations. The children were busy in the kitchen, the classrooms and the gym hall as they sampled all things Chinese.

In the kitchen the children prepared  and cooked traditional Chinese food including dim sum, chicken feet, rice, noodles and traditional cakes. These authentic, delicious treats were washed down with a cup of green tea.

In the classrooms, the children were learning about the Chinese language and were practised writing the traditional characters.

In the gym hall the girls and boy demonstrated their flexibility and agility as they played Chinese elastics.

To round the day off, the children received lucky red packets containing sweets,  called ‘Hong Bao’.

It was a fantastic learning experience and my thanks to Mrs Wong who organised the whole day and to all of the staff for providing such engaging and fun activities.

Thank you for reading my blog.