Welcome back to a new term and can I wish everyone associated with our school, a happy and prosperous new year.

It was certainly an eventful start to 2018, when our school boilers decided to have an extended Winter break! As I explained in my letter, temperatures throughout the school were well below the minimum recommended by health and safety and with no hot water and gas for cooking, I was left with no choice but to close the school. I would like to thank you for your patience and understanding, as I know it was not the start to the new term you were expecting. Fortunately the heating engineers from South Lanarkshire Council were able to quickly repair the boilers and the school was back to normal by lunchtime on Tuesday.

Preparations for the installation of the Mobile Teaching Unit (MTU) have begun and we expect to have this delivered and fully installed by the start of February, with work on our new extension beginning in March. I will keep everyone informed as work develops and an invitation will be extended to parents and carers to view the MTU once it is up and running.

Despite the disrupted start to the new term, the children have settled back quickly into the school routine. We are delighted to welcome Miss Caitlyn Tyrell, a MEd 4 student from the University of Glasgow. She will be working in P1/2 with Mrs Kelly until the end of this term. We hope she enjoys her time at St. John’s Primary.

Next week, we enrol our new Primary 1 intake for August 2018. I am very much looking forward to meeting our new P1 children and their families. Parents/carers should contact the school to make an appointment and should bring the child’s full birth certificate (an extract cannot be accepted) and two pieces of correspondence with the child’s home address, as well as Baptismal Certificate if appropriate.

On Thursday we held the Sacramental meetings in Our Lady & St. John’s church. Parents and carers were advised of the arrangements for the day and how they can support their child as they prepare for these important milestones in their faith journey. The first sacrament will be Confirmation on the 8th of February, which will be celebrated by Bishop Toal and Father Rooney. The Confirmandi children of P6/7 have begun their preparation and I would ask you to keep the children in your prayers as they prepare for their final initiation sacrament.

Finally, a reminder of two events taking place this week. Primary 7 pupils are invited to a curriculum evening at Holy Cross High School on Thursday 18th of January. This is an excellent opportunity for pupils and parents and carers to find out about the secondary school curriculum and a chance to see around the classes and take part in some of the lessons!

We also have our first Partnership Group meeting of the new year on Wednesday 17th of January at 6.00 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend and we are always looking for new faces.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Mrs McCart