We have had an extremely busy week for everyone and it seems as if it’s only going to get busier as the term proceeds! All of our pupils are back into the school routine, working very hard in their classes and trying their best.

Primary 4-7 took part in Burns’ auditions for our local Burns’ Competition.  Primary 4 & 5 recited ‘Address to the toothache’, whilst Primaries 6 & 7 regaled us with ‘To a Mouse’. Watch this space to find out who will be representing our school at the competition.

Rooms 7 and 8 enjoyed an exciting trip to Edinburgh Castle on Wednesday to conclude their Castles topic, concentrating on ‘Attackers and Defenders’.  They were taken on a tour of the castle and its surrounding area, looking at the features castles had in order to protect their inhabitants.  Children saw first hand features such as a shield wall, towers, arrow slits and battlements.  They made their very own catapult and were given a tour inside the castle.  All of our children will receive a newsletter with more details of the day.

Due to the local By-Election our pupils had a holiday from school on Thursday!  The staff of the school spent the day strengthening their skills in various areas of the curriculum.  We began the day singing with Mrs Cluckie, looking at our main music resource – ABC music.  This is an excellent resource to teach pupils skills in music in a progressive way.  We then worked as a staff to look at the class pages within our school website.  Every class has their own page that will be updated each term to inform parents what their child is studying in literacy, numeracy, health and well being and what their topic for the term will be.  Mr Rimmer also showed staff our new Twitter feed and how it can be updated regularly.  Mrs Campbell then delivered training on Education City, our online resource for various subjects such as literacy, numeracy and Spanish.  Teachers uploaded all of their class details to the site and all of our children are now able to access this from home.  Our subscription to Education City is paid for by our Parent Council and we are very grateful for this as it is an excellent online resource to encourage and develop various skills.  Staff Development Days are essential for school staff.  They allow for staff to come together to strengthen their skills and to plan future learning for our pupils.  We are looking forward to the next Staff Development Day on 5th February, where we will be concentrating on Science and Scots Language!

Thanks for reading!

Mrs. Fitzpatrick

We have had a busy and productive start to the new year at St. Mary’s.  Our pupils all returned to school last week raring to go after a very special Christmas holiday.

The Scottish weather has not been ‘friendly’ to us, which has resulted in a lot of indoor plays for our children last week. Each day, Mr McGurk and I risk assess our playground to make sure that it is a safe environment for our children to play in.  Unfortunately, this has not been the case and we have had to keep the children inside during break times.  We have made arrangements for classes to play on the pitch in the afternoon if it is dry and poses no safety issues.  Although, this is not an ideal situation, our children as always continue to be on their best behaviour in classes, playing games with each other and the class monitors.

It is the time of year when our new primary 1 pupils for August enrol at the school.  We have had many enrolments and look forward to starting our induction programme with them and our Primary 6 pupils who will be P1 Buddies next year.

Primary 5 visited Glasgow Science Centre last Wednesday as an introduction to the Clyde in the Classroom initiative.  Clyde in the Classroom is a hands-on project which uses the life history of a native Scottish species, the brown trout, to promote awareness of river ecology among young people across the River Clyde catchment. The project is delivered by the Clyde River Foundation and is a great basis for outdoor learning and STEM education.  Primary 5 are very excited about their involvement and look forward to taking care of the trout eggs when they are delivered to our school!

Our senior pupils were once again excellent ambassadors for our school, when they represented St. Mary’s at SLC Active Schools Athletics last week.  Led by Mr McManus, the group demonstrated first-rate teamsmanship by working together during the various events.

I am sure that like this week, every week will prove to be a busy and productive one for staff and pupils of St. Mary’s!

Thanks for reading,

Elaine Fitzpatrick

Headteacher