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