St. Mary’s Primary School Newsletter
Cadzow Street, Hamilton, ML3 6JT
Tel: 01698 282850
E-mail: [email protected]
October 2015
St. Mary’s clubs:
Dear Parents and Carers,
We have had a very busy term so far and I’m sure that the rest of the year will prove
to be full of activity also! The theme of a lot of our activity has been based around
our school values. Each week, in class and at assemblies, we have had a particular
focus on our school values, this has allowed our children to consider what they really
mean and how we can personify them in our everyday lives. The values of love and
kindness have been evident through the way in which our children treat each other,
for example our Primary 7 buddies have been excellent mentors to our Primary 1
pupils, ensuring that they have settled in well to school, our whole school joined
together in raising money to support the Syrian refugee crisis demonstrating
compassion. We are now moving on to focus on the ‘Well Being Indicators’ of safe,
healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included and will be
working with pupils to consider how these indicators impact on our daily life inside
and outside school.
To help fully prepare our pupils for their sacraments we have arranged a parents
meeting for those children receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation and those
making their First Holy Communion next year. The meeting will take place on
Tuesday, 1st December at 7pm in St. Mary’s Primary School. The dates for the
sacraments have now been arranged. Primary 3 will receive the Sacrament of
Reconciliation on Tuesday 8th March 2016 at 6.30pm in St. Mary’s Church and
Primary 4 will make their First Holy Communion on 14th May 2016 at 11am.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Elaine Fitzpatrick,
Head Teacher
There are many extra curricular
clubs at St. Mary’s that pupils at
different stages are able to take
part in.
These will change throughout
the year to ensure that all of our
pupils have the opportunity to
become involved.
Monday:
Boys football club
Choir (beg 26th October)
Tuesday:
Chess club
Wednesday:
Girls Football club
Gymnastics Club
Thursday:
Netball club
Friday:
Hockey club
Sporting Heroes
We have elected 2 Sports Captains for St. Mary’s Primary
School – Kayleigh Barghati and Konnor Robertson.
These pupils will set an example to all children on good
sportsmanship and sporting skills.
Our football teams have been training weekly to prepare
for upcoming tournaments. Our girls’ football team will
play in the SLC monthly tournaments, however there will
be various competitions throughout the year for all of
our sporting teams, some of whom are currently reigning
champions!
Amazing Awards:
Last month I attended the Holy Cross Senior Awards
Ceremony and had the pleasure of watching many of the
senior pupils of our associated secondary school receive
awards for achievement and attainment. Each time I
attend these ceremonies at Holy Cross I am moved by the
respect these pupils have for their school. I was very
proud to represent St. Mary’s and watch many former
pupils recognised for their talents and gifts that were
originally nurtured and developed here.
Thank you very much!
A huge thank you to Hamilton Academical Football Club who donated goal posts for our outdoor pitch last month.
The children were extremely excited when the ‘Hamilton Accies’ van drove into our playground with the special gift!
Hamilton Accies have been extremely generous to the school this year, from donating game tickets to a gift of
footballs for our pupils to use on the pitch. A huge thank you also goes to Mr McGurk for his partnership working
with Hamilton Academical Football Club to enhance our pupils’ experiences.
The Bare Necessitites!
Our pupils enjoyed an M&M production of the Jungle Book last month. The children were thoroughly
entertained by the theatre company, not only educating them in Rudyard Kipling’s classic story but also
giving them an insight into a possible future career!
Clever COGS
Under the leadership of Mrs Seenan and Mrs Phillips our school had its first COGS, (Collecting Opinions to
Grow our School), meeting last week , where pupils, in house groups led by captains and vice captains,
discuss pertinent issues and the way forward for St. Mary’s.
As part of our ‘Making Rights Real’ work pupils discussed what rights children are entitled to and
discussed one of the Well Being indicators, ‘Safe’. They were asked 3 main questions – ‘What do you think
makes St. Mary’s a safe place to be? Have you every felt unsafe at school and why? Is there anything that
you think would make our school a safer place to be? Every single child in our school from Primary 1 to
Primary 7 had the opportunity to speak and discuss these questions. This was an extremely worthwhile
activity as we gained amazing insight into what our pupils think about our school:
What do you think makes St. Mary’s a safe place to be?
The children were able to provide a variety of ways in which they feel safe, including;
class/school rules, janitor being there, fire doors, red cross in class, support staff in playground, fire drill, school values,
first aider, friends look after us, people to talk to if I am worried, security cameras, friends, secure building, a big fence,
security entrance, gates locked, buddies, access to emergency services, bubble box.
Have you every felt unsafe at school and why?
Responses included... left out, hurting others, shouting, gate left open, school car park, school bus, the break in, ground in
playground too hard, fire alarm, gates aren’t high enough, on the trim trail, missing mum and dad, rough games,
unknown adults in the playground, saw an accident (ambulance in school grounds), on sports day, steam from dinner
hall, wasps, cars going out no entry, car parking (ignoring the one way system) fire alarm, cars going out wrong gate,
cars reversing, cars going too fast
Is there anything that you think would make our school a safer place to be?
Responses included...more fire drills, a higher fence to stop strangers climbing over, encourage pupils to follow the rules,
speed bumps in the car park, enforce the one way rule more seriously, a soft surface to play ‘tig’ on, zebra crossing in the
car park, no berry bushes, shin guards for the pitch, no gaps in the gates, more locks on the gate, trim trail support bars,
an electrical gate, CCTV at the gate, more grass, more security cameras, wasp traps, water sprinklers, block the hole in
the pitch area, bike/scooter safety zones, security guards at night and during the day, wooden doors at the lunch hall
instead of glass, a tunnel to escape in a fire, a p7 in each area of the playground, skipping sections, a rota for different
activities.
Working together with pupils, staff and parents we will consider how we can deal with the points raised
during this COGS meeting. These monthly meetings will be invaluable to St. Mary’s as they allow the voice
of each and every one of our pupils to be heard and considered.
Big Writing:
Each week our teachers nominate ‘Star Writers’. Star Writers are pupils who have tried their best in their
writing to use VCOP - ambitious vocabulary, exciting openers, uplevelled sentences and clever
connectives! As pupils progress, their writing becomes more intricate and involved, children include more
‘WOW’ words and use the skills learned through VCOP to communicate their ideas in a variety of ways.
Our infant classes are no exception to this and I have been impressed by the level of writing produced by
them.
Caring Community
The pupils of St. Mary’s Primary School were so concerned about the plight of refugees fleeing from Syria that they
wanted to help in some way. We held a Toasty Breakfast club where our pupils could come to school from 8.15am to
have milk donated by staff and toast, pancakes and muffins donated by Warburtons. The children were served by
staff and our Pope Francis Faith Award pupils who came to school extra early that day! We were absolutely stunned
when we counted the donation amount from parents and pupils as we managed to raise a massive £1000! The
money raised was donated to SCIAF who will provide hygiene kits, blankets, stoves, shelter, healthcare and housing
for thousands of refugees who have fled to escape the devastating war. Our total was increased further when Nina
Marjanovic held a birthday party with an extra special request – instead of presents from the party goers she
requested donations for the Syrian refugee crisis and raised an amazing £244.34! We are all very proud to be part of
St. Mary’s Primary School, it truly is a school where we not only care about each other but care about our fellow
citizens and how we can help make this world a better place for our children to grow up in.
Children Helping Children:
Our Tremendous Town:
Our Primary1/2 context for learning this term is our
local area of Hamilton. They are studying how our
school is part of the local community, important features
of the town and its history. The children have been on a
tour of the local area, looking at the buildings and their
purpose, for example the court house, library and South
Lanarkshire Council Headquarters. To record their tour
the Primary 2 pupils from the class were the official
photographers!
Each week our classes collect Missio money to help
children who are less fortunate than themselves, those
children who are affected by injustice and poverty
around the world. Inspired by our recent fundraising
efforts, 2 enterprising pupils, Keane and Aidan Flaherty,
held a car wash last weekend and raised £47.51 for this
worthy cause. Well done boys for being truly
Responsible Citizens!
Democracy in Action:
In September our pupils gathered in their respective houses to listen to senior pupils give a speech on why they
should be elected captain for their House. The speeches were of a very high standard as Primary 7s explained why
they would be a good choice and waited in anticipation as pupils in Primary 4 – 7 cast their votes in true democratic
fashion. The results of the votes were extremely close, with every child being voted for at least once. Our captains
and vice-captains who will lead their houses with pride are:
Douglas
Captain
Orla Livingston
Vice-Captains
Emily Keeney
Uzair Tariq
Marian
Captain
Mia Pearson
Vice-Captains
Hannah McGhie
Finn Healy
Chatelherault
Captain
Ethan Brown
Vice-Captains
Eilidh Murphy
Sam Brown
Hamilton
Captain
Demi McBride
Vice-Captains
Andrew Smith
Anna Mitchell
One of their first roles as captains was to count the points during our first week of awarding house points to
deserving pupils. Pupils receive a house point if they demonstrate their ability to fulfill one of the four capacities of
being a responsible citizen, successful learner, confident individual or effective contributor. The points are counted,
displayed and at the end of each month the winning house will receive a reward!
Smile Please!
St. Mary’s Parent Council
John Wilson will be in school on 8th and 9th October 2015
to take individual, family and class photographs. Pupils
should be dressed in full school uniform, including shirt
and tie and their best smile!
Spooky Goings On
On Friday 30th October, 9:15am, Primary 1 parents are
invited to class to participate in a ‘Hallowe’en Active
Learning’ Morning, where they will join their child in
some fun learning activities. Grandparents are more
than welcome if mum and dad are at work.
Our next Parent Council meeting will be held on the 21st
October at 7pm in St. Mary’s Primary School. All parents
are welcome.
Gym Days
Thank you very much to parents who have ensured that their
child is ready to take part in P.E. with a blue polo shirt, navy
shorts, (not black as I had previously stated in last month’s
newsletter) and black gym shoes.
We have found out that the sole of certain types of gym shoes
have a glossy finish and due to their material some of our
pupils have slipped during P.E. For their own safety could you
please check that the sole of your child’s gym shoe is rubber to
allow them to participate fully in the lessons? If you have any
questions regarding this please do not hesitate to contact me.
Important dates for your diary:
8th & 9th October 2015
8th October 2015
12th October 2015
19th October 2015
21st October 2015
28th October 2015
12th November 2015
John Wilson Photographer
Parents Evening
School closed for October week
School re-opens 9am
Parent Council meeting, 7pm
Parent Council Bingo Evening (more information to follow)
Parent Curriculum Evening 7pm
You said, we listened:
As part of our ongoing consultation with parents, we would like to find out your views and opinions that you, as
parents, may have with regards to our ongoing improvement. Simply tear off the slip below and give it to your child
to hand in to the school office.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I suggest…