Latest News

Birds of Prey

The pupils of St. Mary's, Alexandria recently had some very interesting visitors! Huge thanks to KG Hawks (family members of a St. Mary's pupil) for bringing along Yoda, Seize, Snoopy and Grizzly for us to see.

Hallowe'en Disco

All pupils at St. Mary's recently enjoyed the fun of Hallowe'en thanks to our fantastic Parent Council who provided the funds for the disco by Gracious Partys. The Parent Council do an amazing job fundraising throughout the year to allow our pupils opportunities such as this.

Click here to see some photographs of the event and our pupils' amazing costumes!

WDC Foodshare

Attached is a flyer produced by WDC Community Foodshare who are one of our partners in attempting to eradicate holiday hunger. This has been produced to highlight the work of the charity, the supports on offer and the items welcomed by the charity to support our children, young people and their families. Use of this service has increased year on year to a point where the charity are struggling to meet demand. Your support in this would be appreciated

#mathsweekscotland at St. Mary's

St Mary's celebrated all things maths for Maths Week Scotland.

All of the pupils took part in a range of different fun and engaging activities, challenges and competitions throughout the week. The younger pupils took part in Maths Olympics and created number themed hats and posters as part of their homework challenges and our senior pupils went to The Croft to play board games with some of the residents. We had some parents in discussing the role maths plays within their career and we look forward to seeing the results of our family community numeracy trail.

Open Water Swim Event

Some of our P7 pupils took part in an open water swimming event in Loch Lomond. This was organised by the WDC Swimming Development team to allow the more confident swimmers exprience how to safely swim in open water.

Latest Sports Events

Click here to see pictures of our recent Sport's Day.

Click here to see pictures of the Cross Country event in Balloch Park.

First Holy Communion

Our P4 pupils recently received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion in Our Lady and St. Mark's. God Bless them all on their Sacramental journey.

Mentoring Project

Become part of WDC and MCR Pathways’ Young Dunbartonshire Talent - an Award Winning Mentoring Programme. Help reach more young people who need and deserve a better chance. Ensure their futures are determined by their talent and never by their circumstances. Join #TheRippleEffect and gain new skills to help propel your own career and job satisfaction. Click here to find out more.

Auchengillan

We wish all of our Primary 7 pupils (and their teachers!) the best of luck on their memorable journey to Auchengillan. We're sure they will have a fantastic time. To keep up to date with some of their photographs, take a look at our Parent Council Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/716323928378062/

Monday Funday for SCIAF

Click here for some photographs of the fun that we had on our out of uniform day for SCIAF. We took part in lots of different activities and had a visit from Michael Rainey, a representative for SCIAF who informed us of the very important work taking place in Uganda. The money we raised will go to support this charity. Thank you!

Eco-School Award

We did it again! 4th time receiving this award. Huge congratulations to Mrs Gemmell, Mrs Hobson and our fantastic Eco-Committee. Keep up the good work!

Sacrament of Confirmation

Our Primary 7 pupils continued on their Sacramental journey on Tuesday 19th February alongside pupils from St. Martin's and St. Ronan's. The pupils received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Archbishop Philip Tartaglia with the support of local Parish Priests, Father Charles and Father Anthony. Huge thank you to all involved in making the service so special.

May God Bless these children as they continue on their journey of Faith.

Safer Internet Day 2019

This week every class were doing a little bit extra in Digital Technologies by learning about the importance of Internet Safety. As it was Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 5th February, we have been taking part in a variety of engaging activities to widen our knowledge of the importance of staying safe when online, including the importance of 'consent' when posting pictures and videos on Social Media. We have been focusing on looking at how much personal information we should actually share in the virtual world. If you wish to read more about this, please visit the Uk Safer Internet Centre which also has many fun activities you can take part in at home with your child.

Farewell, Mr. Kennedy

On Friday 18th January 2019, we said goodbye to our Head Teacher Mr. Charles Kennedy. We thank him for all of his support and guidance over the years and wish him health and happiness in his well-deserved retirement. Primary 1 - 7 presented a beautiful assembly to him in his honour. Here are some of the photographs and videos of the assembly.

We extend a very warm welcome to Mrs Kathryn Gallagher who will be our new Head Teacher.

SEAL INPUT

Huge thanks to all family members of our P2 and P3 pupils who came along to our SEAL Family Learning event on Friday 23rd November. They learned about the Stages of Early Arithmetical Learning and how best to support their child in their learning in Numeracy and Mathematics and how to extend this at home. Thanks also to Ronnie McLeod from the Raising Attainment team for coming along and leading the input. Click here to view more pictures from our event.

Children in Need

Scottish Book Week

What is Read, Write, Count?

Read, Write, Count is a new campaign to support parents of children in primaries 1 to 3 who want to take a more active role in their children’s learning.

Read, Write, Count’s website gives lots of simple ideas for working fun reading, writing and counting activities into your daily life. These are things you can do while shopping, on the way to school, at bedtime or mealtimes. You can have fun and help your child get the best start in life!

Read, Write, Count also gifts free bags of books, counting games and writing materials to all children in P2 and 3. Writing and counting materials were added to the Bookbug Primary 1 Family Bag.

Visit the Read, Write, Count website where you can find more easy, fun ideas for activities to do together. Follow Scottish Book Trust on Facebook or Twitter and Read, Write, Count on Facebook or Twitter and you’ll get access to lots of ideas, competitions and more!

Parent club website has lots of useful ideas too….

https://www.parentclub.scot/articles/primary-2-activity-bag

Netball Tournament

Well done to all the P6 and P7 pupils who recently participated in the Netball tournament. They came a fantastic second place! Thanks to Miss Brown who has been leading them in this sport.

West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare

We have decided to support this worthy cause again this year as your support was amazing last year! We will place a box near our office in which you can place items from the shopping list (see image) if you wish to help. We will forward on your donations regularly. Your support in this initiative would be gratefully appreciated.

Plaster It Purple

Plaster It Purple is a charity for Glasgow Children's Hospital. Mrs Hobson encouraged the pupils of St. Mary's to Wear it Purple in support of this worthy cause. Her Primary 5 pupils worked hard to spread the news of the work this worthwhile charity does. To read more about the charity read here.

We managed to raise an amazing £258.50. Well done everyone!

Parent Forums with Laura Mason

Please take a moment to read the following letter that has been received from the Chief Education Officer for West Dunbartonshire Council. It is an invitation to be a part of a parent forum across all schools in WDC and have the opportunity to listen to and discuss upcoming plans within education.

The first meeting is scheduled for 18th September at Vale of Leven Academy.

Primary 7 - Open Water Swimming Event

This week our Primary 7 children attended an open water swimming event at Loch Lomond Shores which had been organised by Active Schools for West Dunbartonshire Leisure. Here are some photographs but click here for their Facebook page where you'll find more photographs. Brilliant experience for all involved!

Active Schools - Parent Volunteers

Active Schools would like to give a huge welcome to our latest volunteers! Tracy McCarry, Donna Robb and Marie O’Brien are all parents at St. Mary’s Primary School in Alexandria and are giving up their own time to assist with a lunchtime sports club for infant pupils on Tuesdays this term.

“It is fantastic that parents like Tracy, Donna and Marie are willing to get involved with Active Schools and help get more children involved in sport and physical activity out with the school day. Without our dedicated volunteer network, we would be unable to provide pupils with as many opportunities so they really are invaluable!” Yvonne Macdonald, Active Schools Coordinator

Active Schools are always looking for new volunteers to join our ever-growing network and help get the children and young people of West Dunbartonshire more active, more often.

If interested please email: active.schools@west-dunbarton.gov.uk or phone 0141 562 2485 (Clydebank) or 01389 753210 (Dumbarton/Vale of Leven).

WDC Rugby Festival

Well done to all our Primary 6 pupils who took part in the recent Rugby Festival at Vale of Leven Academy. Huge thanks to WDC Active Schools for organised yet another fantastic sporting event for our youngsters.

Leavers' Hoodies

Huge thanks to our fantastic Parent Council that have recently purchased a jumper for each of our Primary 7 pupils to help commemorate their time at St. Mary's. I'm sure you'll agree they all look fab!

Earth Hour/Wear It Bright Day

On Friday 23rd March, all of St. Mary's pupils and staff took part in our own version of Earth Hour. We made sure all non-essential lights and electrical items were switched off between 11am and 12pm and tried to cut down on our energy use for the remainder of the day. Primary 5 pupils led exciting and informative learning opportunities for the school community, encouraging everyone to sign up to the world-wide initiative, "Earth Hour".

If you want to learn more about how you can do your bit to help reduce climate change, have a look at the Earth Hour website

West Dunbartonshire Dance Festival

Every year Active Schools host an annual Dance Festival which allows all schools in West Dunbartonshire to showcase their dancing talent. To support the schools, training is offered to all schools and volunteer dance teachers give up their time to teach the young people a routine which they perform in front of over 400 spectators. Dance is taught in many different styles and forms which the Festival welcomes and celebrates. This year some children from Primary 4 and Primary 5 took part in the festival which took place in Clydebank Leisure Centre. An absolutely fantastic performance from all involved - well done girls!

French Culture Day

St. Mary’s had a French Culture Day to celebrate their learning. During this day, all pupils had the opportunity to develop their understanding of France, the French culture and the French language. They took part in a variety of learning activities which included creating artwork of Matisse and Piet Mondran, STEM learning by creating a French landmark, interactive quizzes and a range of exciting vocabulary games and songs.

All of the pupils participated enthusiastically. Our parents were invited along to each class where the pupils showcased their learning. It was a very successful day as all parents gave very positive feedback. Thank you to all that came along. Take a look at our photographs here

Science Week 2018

St. Mary's, Alexandria recently took part in Science Week. As well as completing various experiments in class, each stage were lucky enough to have an input from Generation Science.

Primary 1 - 3 took part in Little Giants, which is an interactive workshop where Buzzy, the giant honey bee, and her Bee Keeper lead children into the wonderful world of bees.

Primary 4 and 5 participated in Power From The People on Tuesday afternoon. They met Callen and Heather who introduced them to how electricity works. They are now experts in atoms, particles, electrons, circuits and capacitors!

Primary 6 and 7 enjoyed the informative workshop called Smart Grid in which pupils were transported through the process from electricity creation to its use in the home. By investigating with Alex and Lee pupils looked at renewable and non-renewable energy generation, their connection to the smart grid and uncovered the implications for our future energy consumption.

Very positive feedback from all pupils proves this was a successful Science Week!

Have a peek at some of our photographs here

Football Festival

Pupils from Primary 5, Primary 6 and Primary 7 attended a football festival on Tuesday 13th March that was organised by the fantastic Sports Development team. You can see some of their action shots here. Well done to all involved. You were all brilliant!

Safer Internet Day 2018

All parents and guardians have been invited to participate in Safer Internet Day 2018 on Tuesday 6th February. If you attended, please complete this short surveyto give us feedback on this family learning event. You can also have a look through the Parent's Pack on the Safer Internet website if you wish to discuss this further with your child at home.

Thank you for your support!

Here are some of the resources that we used to teach pupils and their families about Safer Internet Day 2018.

Primary 1 - Primary 3 Video

Primary 4 - Primary 7 Video

The Nativity 2017

Each and every pupil in Primary 1, Primary 2 and Primary 3 were absolute stars in our recent production of The Nativity. Click here to read more and see some photographs. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our staff, pupils and families!

CHRISTMAS FAYRE - UPDATED

£1400 raised!

HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVED WITH THIS AMAZING EVENT! We really couldn't have made is such a success without the support of the parents of our school - well done! Also, special thanks to the Co-operative Store, Alexandria for their donation of delicious popcorn - much appreciated.

Mrs Kelly's Retirement

Our Depute Head Teacher Mrs Kelly retired on the 20th October 2017 after working in St Mary’s for 43 years. Over the last 5 years she was Depute Head Teacher in St Martin’s and St Mary’s.

For the past 43 years Mrs Kelly has dedicated herself to serving generations of children. Every day she supported our young people in their learning journeys, enabling them to be all that they they can be. Mrs Kelly has coupled her outstanding vocational approach, with a sensitivity and an awareness of all of our families’ needs. We wish to thank Mrs Kelly for dedicating her working life to children in West Dunbartonshire.

To celebrate her retirement both schools had an assembly to thank Mrs Kelly for her care and support over the years. There was also a mass at Our Lady and St Marks Church which was attended by families past and present followed by a tea in the school hall. At the end of the day Mrs Kelly was piped out by former pupils.