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