A Year in the Life.... Archives
JUNE 2008
23/6/08
The end of term is rushing towards us! Yesterday we had our celebration of learning with our S/2 Creative Curriculum groups presenting the projects they have been working on for the last 8 weeks. Films/adverts/animations, thought provoking opinions on everything from sectarianism to eco issues. what a fabulous show of talent. We were lucky to have as guest of honour the producer of TAGGART - Graeme Gordon, to share our celebration with.
Today's lunchtime entertainment was titled 'Summer Flames' and staff and pupils got up onto the stage to strut their stuff all in aid of good causes. Only three days now until we 'free' pupils and staff for the summer!
20/6/08
We ended this week in a flurry of activity - as usual for June!. Our S/3 returned from their trip to Liverpool for the HOPE Conference with other ND schools and we wished good luck to our senior team , representing Scotland, who set off this weekend to participate in the Global Enterprise Challenge in Mainz, Germany. Of course the highlight of the week was the lower school award ceremonies and we were delighted that 2 of our guests of honour were Sister Mary McClure and Sister Dorothy Ross of the Notre Dame community. As well as the gilded certificates, the book tokens, lapel badges and trophies, our guest speakers offered words of wisom and advice to the pupils. One little anecdote stood out. Sister Mary McClure recollected that this time last year she was presenting prizes to a Notre Dame school in Zimbabwe. Each award winner received a bag of rice which would feed their family for a week and a pen. Certainly food for thought as we enter the last week of term.
18/5/08
Back to school today after yesterday's ACTIVITIES DAY. A number of groups sampled new leisure pursuits in hillwalking,kayaking,mountainbiking, skiing and tubing, cycling around Millport and of course the old favourites of the Time Capsule and a visit to Loudoun Castle Theme Park.Despite the on-off weather a great day was had by all. Today we look forward to a visit to the school by 2 NASA astronauts as part of the Scottish Space School initiative. A group of our S/2 ' Space Unlimited' pupils are also setting off to make a presentation to the Dean of School at Glasgow Caledonian University on how the university might encourage more young people in to Computing and EngineeringNever a dull moment!!
10/6/08
Wecome back to our new S/5 and S/6. A wonderful, exciting year lies ahead of you!
Here are some of the winning entries in our Thinking Book competition.
Well done to all who got involved!
6/6/08
Today S/1 celebrated the climax of our climate change week with an all day series of activities , culminating in a 'sharing of learning' session in the Assembly Hall this afternoon. Songs, poems, drama, presentations and posters all urging our community to take personal responsibility and do something practical to reduce our negative effect on the planet. Well done to all the staff and pupils involved.
3/6/08
Here are some of our S/1 with their Thinking Books. See more pics on the page in the menu titled S1 Space.
2/6/08
Webquests are exciting ways for teachers to involve students in collaboration and rich learning tasks. Try some of these webquests with your pupils. Fnd out more about webquests here.
1/6/08
Tomorrow we launch our second, annual 'climate change week'. S/1 will participate in a concerted effort by staff to focus learning this week on the range of issues which are affecting our climate ... and our lives. Each pupil has created their own customised 'thinking book' to record impressions, notes , images, poems and anything else that strikes them about Climate Change this week.
Friday will be the climax of the week with all First Year off timetable and working on synthesising their learning over the week through presentation, songs, dance and whatever else helps them retain their learning. By 2 o'clock we will all gather in the assembly hall to share our learning and celebrate the wealth and uniqueness of all our Thinking Books. Should be good fun. Watch this space for an update and the photographs
MAY 2008
One of the busiest months in the school calendar, May sees our S/4,S/5 and S/6 pupils settle down to completing their SQA examinations. We wish them all good questions and fair papers!
Also this month our primary 7 pupils and their parents who will become next year's First Year, will visit the school for an afternoon induction session to find out what life at Notre Dame holds in store for them in August of this year. Many of the girls have already spent a challenging morning during the Eater Break at our Crystal Maze Challenge .
Third Year and Our current First Year pupils have received their school reports and are about to have the parents' evening when they and parents can discuss their progress with staff in more depth.
May is also the month for the Glasgow Youth Games, for preparation for our Activities Day in June and for our cross curricular Climate Change week .
For staff our final review of this year's School Improvement Plan is undertaken and .we begin to look towards the priorities and targets for next session in order to take us forward on our continuing 'Journey to Excellencee.' Catch our Case Study from HMiE website by clicking here .
A Year in the Life ... 2006-07
August 2006
School restarted on the 17th for staff and on the 21st for pupils. Our new S1 very quickly got used to finding their way about the school and settled into their new routine. It didn’t take them too long to become fully involved in the life of the school.
September 2006
The annual visit of the school photographer took place and on the 13th of the month we welcomed Parents/Carers of our new intake in to school to meet senior staff and discuss general issues of settling in. S/4 enjoyed their week of Work Experience and once again were a credit to the school. Meanwhile, as part of the school’s pastoral programme a retreat was arranged at the Schoenstatt Centre in Campsie Glen for all S6 pupils, on Thursday 28th September.
Celia Rooney and Aman Jain of S6 were selected to represent the school on the Young People’s Advisory Group.
October 2006
The school marked the month of Our Lady with morning Rosary in the oratory.
First Year pupils, Parents/Carers and staff celebrated their Welcome Mass in school on Monday 9th October.
During October we also welcomed our long awaited new librarian Sarah Brand.
The Pupil Council also held their first meeting of the session and the mentoring programme for S/1 got underway.
S6 pupils were involved in the organisation and running of the annual S/1 Halloween Party. A ghoulish time was had by all!
November 2006
As always November was a busy month with conferences and events taking place. S/4 heroically gave up a precious Saturday morning to attend a Learning Conference in school and On Friday 3rd and Wednesday 8th of November the school hosted a ‘Heroes‘ Conference for P6 pupils in our associated primaries.
We were delighted to hear that Roxanna McGhee of S/6 had been selected along with 39 other students from Scotland to spend one week living and working with NASA in Houston Texas as part of the Scottish Space School Project.
Baldy Bane Theatre Company visited the school on Monday 20th November to perform 2 plays in the Assembly Hall regarding ‘Road Sense and Personal Safety’ for S/1 and S/5. Also as part of our Health Promotion drive S4-6 exam stress workshops were delivered by Direct Access.
Congratulations were also due to some S3 Girls on winning The Enterprise Challenge on Wednesday 16th November:-
Taylor Mills
Humaira Qayyum
Adellah Zaffar
Lauren Thomson
And to… Celia Rooney and Maria Ali for winning ‘Victim Support Public Speaking Competition’ on 14th November at the Glasgow City Chambers.
And also to… Amna Iqbal 4M1 and Caitlin McCloskey 4I1 who were chosen as Youth Ambassadors for the BBC Blast Project.
The month culminated in a very busy and successful Open Evening in school on the 28th November.
December 2006
Advent began with a short series of Reflections with time for a little quiet prayer place in the oratory at 8.45a.m. each Friday.
The Christmas Concert yet again was well supported and yet again a smashing success.
S/1 and S/2 had a fab time at the school panto – Oh Yes they Did!
The school closed for the holiday on Friday 22nd December.
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January 2007
School reopened on Monday 8th January and the community was delighted to hear that Mrs McLaughlin, our head teacher, had been awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours list.
The Gideon’s Society made its annual visit and gifted each S/1 a copy of the bible.
The Blood Transfusion Service also visited in January and S/6 gave willingly. S/6 were also involved with First Years at their Values in Action Conference.
During the month 45 upper school pupils attended the New Lanark residential study weekend from Friday 19 - Sunday 21 January in preparation for prelims in February.
February 2007
Founders Day was marked by Mass in the school with S/2 pupils and Lent began with daily Mass celebrated in the oratory. £50 was raised for SCIAF through a mammoth pancake making session on Shrove Tuesday
Visits to the Science Centre were also arranged for S/2 during the month.
March 2007
The school underwent a major refresh of its PC’s and printers on the 13th March with almost 200 PC’s replaced in one day.
Many thanks were extended to Third Year pupils who were involved in the preparation and presentation of the St Patrick’s Day Treat and to all staff who assisted in making the event as successful as ever. Our guests had a great time and were, as always, full of praise for our S3 pupils.
The term ended with a visit from Margaret Doran, Director designate to the school on the 20th March
School was dismissed on Friday 30th March for the Easter break.
April 2007
Classes resumed at 9.00am on Monday 16th April.
Mrs Mary McLaughlin, after 17 years as head teacher, informed the staff and the community of her intention to retire at the end of the summer term.
Following the Easter break the new Mobile Phone Policy was implemented – Switch Off except at lunchtime and intervals!
The school geared up for the annual exam diet. Mass was said for S/4 pupils on the 25th April as they prepared for exams and the first SQA exams commenced on 30th Ap
May 2007
BJ Neilsen and the Catering Team were among the first in the city to receive the "Eat Safe Award", administered by Environmental Health Services in conjunction with the Food Standards Agency in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Award is given for excellence in Food Hygiene and Food Safety Management.
The month continued with a celebration Mass for the school on the Feast of St. Julie in St. Peter’s Partick.
S/6 held their annual citizenship conference in the Hilton Hotel
June 2007
June, as always was a busy month but this year a number of additional events took place to recognise the contribution of Mrs McLaughlin who retired after 17 years of commitment to Notre Dame High School.
On Monday 25th June Archbishop Mario Conti celebrated Mass with the school community in St. Peter's RC Church Partick to mark the retiral of Mrs McLaughlin and presented her with a diocesan medal and also gave to her and her husband Bill a papal blessing. Mass was followed by a buffet with Archbishop and staff in the Assembly Hall.
As well as the usual induction programme for our 150 primary 7’s, there were trips to Auchengillen for S/3 Science students, a spiritual retreat for S/3 and a coffee morning run by S/6 in our continued support of the Melissa Cosgrove Foundation.
Our cross curricular week of Climate Change activities culminated in a wonderful afternoon of presentations by S/1.
The annual Activities week was again a great success with over 40 staff leading or supporting the various activities
During June a number of pupils were accepted on the Mark Scott Leadership for Life Programme:
Asma Hounat Sophie Davis Nicole Owens Mavra Hamayun Kelly Leigh Jordan
And congratulations were due to S/1 pupils who won the Glasgow schools junior Math’s challenge:
Nisha Mohammed
Anisha Gill
Shivani Sharda
Amna Zahid
The month ended on two high notes. Firstly the visit to Notre Dame from two eminent NASA professionals on the 20th June: Professor Sue Laderer, (Professor in Astronomy) and astronaut Joan Higginbotham - who flew on Discovery in December 2006
Secondly, as a final tribute to Mrs McLaughlin, the school performed a concert in her honour on Thursday 28th June.
As the session ended the school was delighted to hear of the appointment of Mrs Philomena McFadden, previously Head of school in St. Mungo's Academy and a former teacher in Notre Dame, to the post of Head Teacher.
After a busy and productive school year the school closed for the holidays on Friday 29th June.