Dear Parent/ Carer,
It’s over a week since we marked the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday which fell this year on
our in-service day .Lent as you know is a time of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving as we prepare for
Easter.
To help in our preparation Fr Ivan is celebrating Mass at 8.30 each morning during Lent. There is a
great turnout so far and while I understand that this time may not suit everybody, I would encourage
you to think about coming to Mass some mornings if you are able to attend. We hope that each class
will also have a chance to attend the 9.30 Mass during Lent. Your child’s class teacher will let you
know when the class plan to attend and again you are very welcome to join them.
As many of you will know Pope Francis has declared that 2016 is a special Jubilee Year of Mercy .Fr
Ivan will visit the school on February 29th and March 1st to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation
with our children. Children from Primary 3 will have their First Reconciliation on March 10th at 7pm.
Fr Ivan will also lead Primaries 4 to 7 in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in Saint Vincent’s
Church from 2.30pm until 2.50 pm Dates are as follows:
1. Primary 6 and 7 on Thursday 29th
2. Primary 4 and 5 on Tuesday 1st March
All are welcome to join us on those dates and if you collect your child from school you may
want to come a bit earlier on those dates and pop into the church on your way ,
The Parent Support Group will meet each Friday at 2pm and all parents and carers are invited to
attend .
Fundraising
You will have already received a list of our fundraising events during Lent. Any funds raised will go
towards our chosen charity which is Mothers’ Care (India) where for the past three years we have
sponsored 18 children to help them go to school .This is a very deserving charity helping some of
the poorest of the poor and almsgiving during Lent gives us an opportunity to think of those less
fortunate . We will also offer the opportunity to support SCIAF by having wee boxes available in
classes should your child wish to put in some loose change.
This year Parents’ Evening is on Thursday March 17th. Instead of a coffee morning, we will have a
coffee evening with entertainment and any donations received will go towards York hill Hospital.
Appointment times and further details will issue later
My sincere thanks to all who supported the School discos this week and to our parents who
organised ,supervised and provided the music .Both discos were a huge success and it was delightful
to see so many children having so much fun. The Parent Council Fundraising team have also
organised a Race Night for April 29th and tickets are now on sale.
Congratulations
On behalf of the entire school community I want to extend our warmest congratulations to Miss
Danielle Timmons on her appointment as Depute head of our school following interview last
Thursday. Miss Timmons has made a huge contribution to our school and this is very deserving
recognition of her many talents. In particular I want to acknowledge the work she and her team
(which also includes Mrs Boyle, Mrs Blake, Mrs Ziolo) are doing as part of the Rolls Royce Science
prize. The Space and Astronomy club is providing wonderful opportunities for our children.
Twelve of our senior pupils accompanied by Mr Bonner Chess Master and Mrs Young represented
the school at the Chess league in Hamilton College this week and we were delighted with their
performances. Well done to all.
Our Fragile Earth
There is a terrific buzz around the school as all classes are currently engaged in looking at living n
Planets X, Y and Z. Some of our parents had the opportunity to meet Paul Gorman from Hidden
Giants who is working with us to develop Creativity in learning in all classes. Already there is further
evidence of this in children’s learning and you are invited to attend the “International Conference “
here on March 31st from 130pm onwards when you will have a chance to see the finished product.
Parents who attended the meeting with Paul requested regular updates on how the project is
developing. All classes will provide regular updates on the school website and I will also include
information on the Headteacher blog which I plan to revive and update on a regular basis.
Snapshot jotters
All classes from P3 upwards put their classwork in one jotter for a week to allow you to see a
snapshot of your child’s work. This jotter will go home from Wednesday of the coming week and we
invite your feedback,
Promoting Reading for Enjoyment
World Book Day falls on the 3rd March and a separate programme of events for the day will issue
shortly. During the month of March we hope to focus on reading for enjoyment to help boost the
attainment of our children in Literacy and also to promote their interest in reading for enjoyment.
Your support in encouraging your child to make time to read for enjoyment each day is hugely
valuable.
Upcoming Events and school holidays
It’s another busy term with a number of events planned including our very popular Mothers day
Assembly for P1 on March 4thand P7 residential visit to Dalguise on March 11th until March 14th
Easter Sunday falls on March 27th this year .School will be closed on Friday 25th March and also 28th
March 2016. We return to school on Tuesday 29th the school will close for Spring break on Friday
April 1st at 230pm and re-open on Monday 18thAprilat 9am.
Kind Regards
Eileen Tompkins