News .....
Bishop Devine Visits Fernhill School
The 8th December was an extremely special day for Fernhill School. His Lordship Bishop Devine gave the school permission for the feast of the Immaculate Conception to be adopted as the school’s Patronal feast day. Bishop Devine concelebrated Mass for staff and pupils along with Fr Alex Stewart, the school’s chaplain. Also present was Miss Barbara Campbell, the RE advisor for Glasgow and Motherwell dioceses. Bishop Devine also visited the school’s Oratory which has recently been re-instated at the heart of the school.
Pictured are Bishop Devine and Fr Stewart along with Mrs Jacqueline Sexton, Head Teacher, and some senior girls.
HATS ON FOR HAITI!
Fernhill pupils put their heads together and came up with a novel way to raise money for the survivors of the Haitian earthquake. Feb 5 was the “Hats for Haiti Day” when all pupils and staff wore a hat to school. The Fairtrade tuck shop opened up for the day and donated their profit to this cause and the Eco group donated half of the profit from a recent Rags to Riches event. Mindful of the power of prayer, the whole school also came together voluntarily at lunchtime to pray the Rosary for all who were involved in this disaster.
The magnificent sum of £ 584 was raised.
The Community of Craig Lodge House of Prayer, Dalmally Visits
Fernhill School
Lent
Morning Prayers will be held very morning during Lent at 08:50 in the Oratory. All Staff and Pupils are very welcome.
Stars of the MOD
The following pupils have participated in a live BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal concert in Falkirk Town Hall on Tuesday 14th October 2008 - it has also been recorded for viewing on BBC television. Mairi and Cathal Callan appeared on BBC television on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday afternoon and Cathal was on BBC television again on Friday night.
During the course of the next few weeks they will all appear on BBC Scotland's Gaelic children's programmes, then again on a Christmas Holiday MOD programme and throughout the year on the new Gaelic Chanel BBC Alba. All of the following results appeared in the Herald and Scotsman newspapers on Wednesday 15th October 2008. Cathal Callan's picture also appeared in the Scotman newspaper.
The children competed in the fluent speaker competitions and their results were as follows:
Micheal Callan (9 - 10 age group):
Story telling category
1st place for telling a folktale of own choosing.
Singing category
2nd place for singing a set piece.
Mairi Callan (7 - 8 age group)
Story telling category
1st place for telling a folktale of own choosing.
Poem category
1st place for reciting a poem (set piece)
Conversational category
2nd place for conversing on a topic of own choice.
Cathal Callan (5 - 6 age group)
Poem category
1st place for reciting a poem (set piece)
Conversational category
2nd place for conversing on a topic of own choice.
Singing category
3rd place for singing a set piece.
Pupils get ready for the 2012 Olympics
Primary 6 pupils Megan Miller and Una Mackie took part in the 'freshnio' Junior 3 Kilometre event which took place at Glasgow Green on Saturday 6th September 2008.
The girls ran extremely well and were awarded a medal each for their efforts. We congratulate them both!
Megan completed the course in 16.41 minutes and Una in 16.45 minutes.
The PTA has the following unclaimed prizes from the sports day raffle:
1. A giftcard of £50.00 - Buff ticket number 1 to 5
2. Whitbread Leisure Vouchers £50.00 - buff ticket number 96 to 100
3. Eye to Eye voucher £150.00 - yellow ticket number 336 to 340
4. Odeon cinema ticket £25.00 - Green ticket number - 236 to 240
5. Remy Martin VSOP - Yellow ticket number 346 to 350
All prizes can be collected from the School Office. Thank you for your help and support.
Advent Charity
- total raised so far = £3018.00
We have raised enough money to feed 570 children 1 meal every day for 1 year.
"If you cannot feed 100 people then just feed one" (Mother Teresa)
Eco-Club Mobile Telophone Collection
The ECO-Club wants to re-cycle any broken or unused or discarded mobile telephones. This is a worthwhile project and initiative that will provide funding for SIR (Scottish International Relief) - the event starts Wednesday 20th February 2008.
Please donate the telephones to Mrs Rooney (Maths) or any Eco-Club Member.
Please remember:
• All mobiles do not need to be in working condition!
• Remove any SIM cards from the mobile!
The Eco-Club is also inviting everyone to take part in a 'donate a plant' to Fernhill. The Eco-Club will then re-distribute the plants to all classrooms - which will bring the Eco-Club's ethos into all areas of Fernhill School. For further information contact the Eco-Club members.
Annual Carol Service
Our annual Carol Service takes place in St.Columbkille's Church, Main Street Rutherglen, on Monday 17th December at 7pm (please be seated at 6:45pm. The evening will consist of readings and poems telling of the coming of Christ on that first Christmas and the relevance of the Christmas story to us today.
Children from the Primary Department will present a short nativity play and the whole school will lead the singing of traditional Christmas carols.
We warmly invite all members of the school community, past and present, and any other interested person to join us as we prepare spiritually for the coming of the Christ Child.
Senior Mathematical Challenge
Several students took part in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust during November.
The results of the challenge are:
Best in School - Ceri McIntosh, awarded National Bronze certificate
National Bronze Certificates are also awarded to:
Carina Watt and Claire McFadyen
South Lanarkshire Road Safety Competition 2007
Each year South Lanarkshire holds a road safety competition open to all schools in the South Lanarkshire area. This competition aims to raise awareness amongst schoolchildren about issues of road safety and was sponsored this year by the Driving Standards Agency. This year, there were 16,000 entries from the schools all over South Lanarkshire, from which the judges had the difficult task of choosing 16 winners - in five age groups and one overall winner.
Two S3 girls from Fernhill were awarded first and third prizes in Group Five (S1 - S6).
Samantha Russell won first prize and Abigail Cullis won third prize.
Samantha is pictured receiving her award from Mr Russell Clearie, who is the current Provost of South Lanarkshire, and Abigail and Samantha are shown next to their winning posters which were on display at the prizegiving ceremony in the Council Offices in Hamilton on Friday 7th December 2007.
As well as these two winners, four other girls from S3 were awarded Highly Commended certificates - Nicola McFadyen, Natasha Pitt, Emily Cavin and Antonia Capaldi. All the girls will receive their certificates at a forthcoming school assembly.
Goethe Institut Competition
Modern Languages has decided to enter the S2 German class for the Goethe Institut (German spelling) competition on Stereotyping. Pupils have had to produce a poster and these are displayed on the notice board in the department. In line with ACE guidelines, this promotes Citizenship, by raising awareness of Racism through the issue of Stereotyping.
Mary's Meals
In support of Mary's Meals, the Modern Languages Department will be having a croissant party for S3 on the 4th December 2007 and for S2 on 7th December 2007 and S1 are going to have a French lunch on 6th December 2007.
In support of Mary's Meals, the Latin Department had a sponsored vocabularly test. This involved each girl being sponsored to learn 60 commonly occurring words. All pupils responded with enthusiasm and, to date, the Latin Department has raised £548 from this venture. Well done and a big thank you to all our sponsors.
A group of pupils from S5 and S2 has formed a Fairtrade Group.
The purpose of this group is to raise awareness of the exploitation of workers in the developing world. By selling Fairtrade goods we can ensure that a fair wage is paid for goods produced. Pupils are manning a tuck shop which sells Fairtrade produce such as chocolate, fruit juice and geobars. Fairtrade tea, coffee and biscuits are now served at all parents evenings and the group organised a coffee morning for staff on 6th December to promote Fairtrade products. Over £25 was raised.
Advent Charity
In response to Christ's invitation to feed the hungry the school has adopted Mary's Meals as our Advent Charity. Mary's Meals provides one meal per day for one year for children in the Developing World at a cost of £6. The charity was launched by Mrs Roarty in the school at Assembly on Wednesday 21st November and fundraising events are ongoing throughout the whole of Advent. Primary and Secondary departments have embraced the charity with enthusiasm and have shown great enterprising spirit in the many varied fundraising ideas.
For every £6 raised, one child will receive one school meal each day for one year. We will keep you updated on our progress.
Primary News
Primary 7 hosted a very successful "Bring and Buy" sale to help with their forthcoming trip to Newlands Adventure Centre. Everyone from Primary 1 - 7 participated in an exciting shopping experience!
There were toys, gifts, baking and a raffle. By the end of the afternoon, the pupils had managed to raise £360. And the event was enjoyed by one and all.
There were many happy raffle winners!
Mrs Devine has been very busy organising Health Awareness Week!
The Primary Health Awareness Week will take place from "5th February to 29th February 2008. Pupils at various stages will have talks from the Police and Integrated Child Services. Primary 7 will have a talk from Gwyneth McCormack, a teacher of Health Education who also works for the Cancer Trust.
Hopscotch Theatre Company are providing us with a show called "Steven's Expanding Stomach."
There will be baking and food tasting sessions.
There will be a keep-fit charity fundraising event for P1 - P7
Fernhill School has taken up the Asda challenge of "Going Green."
Asda is running this incentive in order to train all shoppers to endeavour to re-use plastic bags or to use "Bags for Life." For every bag re-used the shopper will receive a voucher which can then be posted in the "Go for Green" box in the School Hall. This incentive runs until the middle of March and then the vouchers can be redeemed for equipment for the school.
The school would be grateful for your support in this matter. We, in Fernhill School, are very conscious of keeping up with and embracing these environmental issues!
Congratulations to Mrs S McClafferty
'Give me the children until they are seven and anyone may have them them afterward.' St.Francis Xavier.
We are delighted to congratulate Mrs Suzanne McClafferty on completing a two year course at Strathclyde University in Early Childhood Education culminating in the award of a Post Graduate Certificate in Education in November, 2007.
It was a very demanding but valuable course. Fernhill School is sure to benefit in many ways from Mrs McClafferty's studies.
'It is a time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever - the one who recognises the challenge and does something about it.' V.Lombardi.
The Shiniest Star
Primary 1, 2 and 3 are to perform a Christmas production, 'The Shiniest Star', on the afternoons of Tuesday, 18th and Wednesday, 19th December in the School Hall, at 2pm (please be seated at 13:45).
The performance will be followed by light refreshment in the Primary 3/4 Building.
Every P1/2/3 pupil will be allocated two tickets for each of the performances (these will be issued nearer the time).
There will be no charge for the tickets but there will be a retiring collection in aid of the Handicapped Children's Pilgrimage Trust, each afternoon.
Raising Money For CHAS
(Children's Hospice Association Scotland)
P6 raised £400 by swimming 522 lengths at Lifestyle Leisure in Cambuslang under the supervision of Mrs Swanson.
A cheque was presented to Mr Michael Starbuck who accepted it, with thanks, on behalf of the charity - Children's Hospice Association Scotland, at a Primary Department assembly on Tuesday, 20th November 2007.
The Rutherglen Reformer was present to take photographs to mark the occasion and one or more will be included in the newspaper week ending 30th November 2007.
Karate Scottish Championships
Congratulations to Megan Miller Primary 5 who, on the 18th November 2007, won the 4.4 mts height category at the Scottish Championships, Meadow Sports Centre.
Megan is a 'Red Belt'. 'She received a trophy for the 4.4 mts category and two other medals for her efforts in other areas of the Championship.
One medal was awarded for a Team Competition in which her Club came third overall. The second medal was a 'Congratulations' medal for participating in the Scottish Championships.
We think that Megan did very well indeed!
Stars of the Royal National Mod!
Congratulations to Mairi Callan and Michael Callan.
We are so very proud of Mairi Callan Primary 3 and Michael Callan Primary 4 who recently participated in the Royal National Mod in Fort William.
Mairi competed in the 5 - 6 years fluent speakers category.
She won:
(1) Gold for solo singing of a prescribed song.
(2) Gold for reciting a prescribed poem.
(3) Bronze for conversation/discussion on a topic of her choice (a family trip to Egypt earlier in the year).
Michael competed in the 7 - 8 fluent speakers category.
He won:
(1) Gold for conversation/discussion on a topic of his choice (trip to Egypt).
(2) Silver for storytelling - he told the Uist version of the classic folktale of the 'Seal Woman'.
We congratulate both children on their wonderful achievements.
S2 Charity Event
Congratulations to S2 who raised a magnificent £226.89p during their annual break-time (20 minutes) coffee morning. S2 will present a cheque to Yorkhill Hospital for Children at an event later in the year.
