It was a very rainy 4 day week this week, which means lots of ‘wet plays’.  Our Primary 7 leaders monitor classes during these wet plays, under the supervision of our support staff, pupils can draw, chat and play games during the breaks.

Our primary 4 pupils had a Rugby taster session from Hamilton Rugby Club on Wednesday afternoon.  New Image Rugby is a non contact sport and Hamilton Rugby Club will further develop our children’s skills by working with our Primary 5 pupils next term.

4 of our staff visited Woodlands Primary in Cumbernauld on Wednesday to discuss numeracy.  As numeracy is one of our improvement priorities, it is important for us to look at our own practice and look outwards to that of others.  It was a very valuable moderation activity.  I also visited St. Ninian’s Primary, West Lothian on Friday afternoon to discuss Pupil Voice, the other priority on our improvement plan.  Professional dialogue is essential to  move our school forward to ensure our pupils and staff be the best they can be, by visiting other schools and sharing our practice we will do just that!

We had another extremely successful Mary’s Meals Breakfast on Friday morning.  A massive thank you to all of our pupils and parents for supporting the breakfast by giving a donation to Mary’s Meals in exchange for the toast, pancakes, hot chocolate and cereal on offer.  Staff, parents and Primary 7 leaders came to school at 8am to help serve breakfast to pupils.  Each year Mrs McLeod, organises the breakfast and the Back Pack appeal to help children a lot less fortunate, we are very grateful for her hard work in organising such a worthwhile event.

Thanks for reading,

Mrs. Fitzpatrick

Head Teacher

On Monday, our pupils listened to an extremely thought provoking presentation from ‘Classrooms for Malawi’- one of the many charities we donated to through our fundraising during Lent last session.  During the whole school assembly, Room 9a also delivered an interesting presentation on St. Vincent de Paul.  Throughout the year, each class will choose a religious focus to research and deliver at whole school assemblies.

I was extremely proud to attend the Holy Cross Senior Award Ceremony on Wednesday night.  During the evening we were entertained by Holy Cross’ choir and skilled musicians, listened to Professor Anthony Finn and watched as many pupils from S4, S5 and S6 received awards for their varied accomplishments.  We have a fabulous transition programme with Holy Cross and it was very rewarding to see so many ex-St. Mary’s pupils receive awards for their hard work and effort.

On Thursday we had our first Primary 2 multi sports lunch time club ran by our P7 play leaders, assisted by Laura Somerville, our Active Schools Co-ordinator. The Primary 7 pupils were excellent at interacting and leading the p2s in various games, developing co-ordination and co-operation skills.

I can’t believe that the September weekend is here already, however I am sure that all of our pupils are very excited to be on holiday from school for a few days – enjoy!

Mrs. Elaine Fitzpatrick

This was a very exciting week for St. Mary’s as our Primary 7 pupils delivered their House Captain speeches.  On Tuesday, all of our pupils in Primary 4 – 7 gathered together in their houses to listen to the Primary 7s talk about why they would be good ambassadors for St. Mary’s and how they would work hard to lead their house.  After listening to the speeches a secret ballot was held to vote for Captains and Vice Captains.  I was extremely proud of each and every one of our Primary 7s who stood confidently in front of their peers and delivered their speeches in a very professional manner.  For each house, Marian, Douglas, Chatelherault and Hamilton, a Captain and 2 Vice Captains were elected who I am sure will lead their houses with pride and dedication.

As part of their leadership responsibilities our Primary 7 pupils have been working with Laura Somerville, our Active Schools Co-ordinator, to become play leaders.  The Play Leaders will begin their first multi sports lunchtime club next week with some of our Primary 2 pupils.

On Thursday night we held our Curriculum/Meet the Teacher evening.  We decided to change the format of the evening this year by displaying all of the resources we use in each classroom for various curriculum areas.  This allowed our parents to peruse the resources and discuss how they are used and what they could do at home to support their child.  It was also an excellent opportunity for parents to introduce themselves to their child’s teacher and begin to develop that crucial home/school partnership that is vital to every child’s development.  The evening, attended by over 200 parents, was a great success with extremely positive evaluations!  Many thanks to all of the parents who attended and to our dedicated staff for preparing the evening.  This was a great event to begin our academic year and we look forward to another successful year working in partnership with our parents for the benefit of all of our pupils.

Thanks for reading,

Mrs. Elaine Fitzpatrick

On Monday, we had our first ‘Achievements Assembly’ of the year.  At these monthly assemblies we celebrate any achievements our children have accomplished outside of school.  We celebrated various achievements related to football, swimming, music accomplishments, cycling and dance.  Pupils also listened to a presentation on the canonisation of Mother Teresa and the many achievements she accomplished throughout her life.

On Tuesday we welcomed colleagues from the Holy Cross Learning Community to a Numeracy twilight led by maths guru Lynda Keith.  Numeracy is a priority on our Learning Community Improvement Plan and the twilight was part of the work we will do throughout the year to ensure that all of the pupils from the 9 primary schools going to Holy Cross have a consistent experience in maths to encourage them to reach their full potential.

We work very closely with Fr. O’Brien and on Wednesday we celebrated mass at St. Mary’s Church to mark the beginning of the school year.  Our Primary 7 pupils led the mass and our Primary 1 pupils sang Happy Birthday to Mary to mark the the feast day of Our Lady’s birthday on 8th September.

On Thursday and Friday I attended the CHAPS conference (Catholic Headteachers Association of Primary Schools).  The yearly conference brings together headteachers of Catholic schools throughout Scotland and provides the opportunity to share good practice and raise awareness of new resources produced by SCES, (the Scottish Catholic Education Service).  The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Raising Scotland’s Catholic future’. Along with listening to various inspirational speakers, representatives from each authority in Scotland took part in a panel discussion about the issues facing education and delegates also listened to John Swinney discuss the Scottish Government’s plans for Scottish education.

Thanks for reading my weekly blog,

Mrs. Elaine Fitzpatrick