It’s been a very productive second week of term in St Bartholomew’s. The children have been busy delving into their new class topics and the maths and language jotters I’ve seen so far are already beginning to fill up with some super work. A huge well done, boys and girls! Keep up the great work!

Given all the wonderful work that’s been going on, I imagine the teachers will have a very difficult time deciding on who will be awarded a Pupil of the Week certificate this afternoon. Please remember to click on ‘Success’ at 3 o’clock to find out who the proud winners are, along with the Cool Class and first winning House of the year.

Many thanks for the positive comments we’ve received from parents/carers regarding the letter on energy and fizzy drinks. Your support is very much appreciated.

Have a good day, everyone, and a fun, relaxing weekend once it arrives.

Good morning, everyone. I’m at a Head Teachers’ meeting today, but Mrs McIntyre and Mrs Bolland will be on hand to keep St Bart’s ticking over smoothly.

A letter will be sent out to parents and carers today. However, I thought it would be a good idea to post the information on the blog as well:

Every day in St Bartholomew’s, we notice a change in the behaviour and attention span of many of our children after morning interval and lunch. At the same time, we have noticed an increase in the number of pupils bringing fizzy drinks and energy drinks for their snack and lunch.

Time and time again, research suggests that high sugar intake and artificial additives (both of which are found in fizzy drinks and energy drinks) have a negative effect on children’s behaviour and their ability to concentrate. The high caffeine content of energy drinks can have particularly serious side effects on children.

All of us – parents, carers and staff – want our pupils to reach their full potential and get the maximum benefit from the time they spend in school. Therefore, as of Monday 2nd September, energy drinks will not be permitted in St Bartholomew’s under any circumstances. Please can I also ask all parents and carers to give serious consideration to the other sorts of drinks their child brings to school for their snack and lunch. In line with North Lanarkshire policy, pupils are only permitted to drink plain water during class time. Many thanks for your support.

Finally, MANY CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW HOUSE CAPTAINS!
Summerlee: Amy Leigh McLaughlin
Lochend: Morgan Wilson
Drumpellier: Ethan Goldsmith
Monklands: David Brown

Have a great day!

It’s a new one on me, but I read last night that today is ‘Ask a Stupid Question Day’ in the United States, usually celebrated by school pupils and teachers. Seemingly, it was created by teachers in the 1980’s to encourage students to ask more questions in the classroom without feeling their question would be thought of as silly!

Anyway, I know the boys and girls in St Bartholomew’s have no difficulty coming up with great questions (and there’s no such thing as a stupid question in St Bart’s!). Here’s a great bit of advice from someone called Jim Rohn:

“To solve any problem, there are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, whom could I ask?”

And (just for fun!), here are a few daft questions to make you smile:

If a person owns a piece of land, do they own it all the way down to the centre of the earth?

Why are they called stairs inside but steps outside?

Why is there a light in the fridge but not in the freezer?

Why is it that when someone tells you there are billions of stars in the universe, you believe them, but if they tell you there’s wet paint somewhere you have to touch it?!!

“HOW DO I TURN OFF CAPSLOCK? I ACCIDENTALLY TURNED IT ON YESTERDAY AND I DONT KNOW HOW TO TURN IT BACK OFF.”

Have a good day, everyone!

I am currently working on material for a new ‘You said… We did’ display board just inside the front door and spent part of my day yesterday re-reading the comments from last session’s parent/carer questionnaires. It was extremely encouraging to revisit the feedback we received and I was reminded, once again, of how fortunate St Bartholomew’s is to have such a supportive bunch of parents and carers. Thank you for so many positive comments and for the pointers you provided on how we can improve. The results of the questionnaires will be on display later this week… keep your eye on the red board to the right of the front door!

On the theme of St Bartholomew’s partnership with parents and carers, the first Parent Council session of the year will take place this evening. I would like to take this opportunity to ask all parents and carers to seriously consider getting involved in St Bartholomew’s Parent Council. It’s a great opportunity to contribute to the life and work of the school and help ensure the very best for our pupils. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you’d like more information on what’s involved. Tonight’s meeting will take place in the staffroom at 6.00pm (please enter via the back door of the school). Please note that minutes of Parent Council meetings will be made available on our school website this year under ‘Information’.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the burst of summer sunshine.

Primary 3 had a bit of trouble logging onto their own blog page on Friday, so I promised I’d post it on my own blog this morning:

‘Welcome to Primary 3’s page!

We have had a good first week and are beginning to settle into our new session. Most of our week was spent finding out about our patron, St. Bartholomew, and we completed the week by going to mass to celebrate his coming feast day.

Annie Hamilton carried out some home research on St.Bartholomew. She writes;

“St. Bartholomew got skinned alive that is why he is always shown with a knife in his hand. St. Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Aspotles of Jesus and is usually identified with Nathaniel who is mentioned in John 1. He was introduced to Christ through Philip, another of the twelve apostles.”

This term’s theme is The Egyptians so if you see a lot of children walking in a strange manner don’t worry – they are just walking like Egyptians!

Thank you, Primary 3, for your entry.

Have a good day, everyone!

Today, we celebrate the feast of our school’s patron, St Bartholomew (many thanks to my friend, Mrs Murphy, for her happy St Bartholomew’s Day wishes!). We will join the parish community in the church for Mass at 10.00am. All family and friends are invited to join us. I noticed Primary 7 wrote prayers for St Bartholomew’s Day yesterday. One of these can be found on the P7 page (click on the ‘learning pencil’ at the bottom of the website homepage).

Primary 4 had a very interesting visit from the police yesterday. Thankfully, the police officer wasn’t turning up to arrest anyone, but to give the children a presentation on the valuable work of the police within our local community. The children listened exceptionally well and did the school proud! You can read about the visit on the P4 class page.

We had our assembly a day early this week. Congratulations to our first ‘Cool Class’ of the year (Primary 4) and our seven Pupils of the Week. Please check out the ‘success’ section of our website to see who got this week’s awards.

It was brought to my attention earlier this week that, in our eagerness to disappear for the summer holidays on the last day of term, we forgot to post the Cool Class and Pupils of the Week. Sorry, boys and girls! To Molly and all the other pupils of the week, as well as our final cool class of the 2012/13 session (P5), belated congratulations!!!

Happy St Bartholomew’s Day, everyone!

The forecast is not particularly summer-like for tomorrow, so there will be no picnic to mark St Bartholomew’s Day. However, we will attend Mass at St Bartholomew’s Church as a whole school community at 10.00am. All family and friends are invited to join us.

The School Improvement Report for the 2012/13 session was sent home to each family yesterday and is also available on our website in the ‘Information’ section. The report highlights the excellent progress the school made last session and celebrates the good work which goes on each and every day in St Bartholomew’s. Of course, the positive report is entirely down to our enthusiastic, hard-working pupils, our fantastic team of dedicated and talented staff, and the ongoing support of parents, carers, parishioners and friends. Thank you to everyone, once again, for making last session such a success. This term’s off to a great start and I’m sure it’s going to be another fantastic year in St Bart’s!

Please remember that you are able to leave comments on our blog page. It’s always good to hear from parents, carers and friends!

Many parishioners and friends of the school will have already heard the sad news of Miss Mary Dolan’s death. Mary was a well-loved member of the infant staff in St Bartholomew’s Primary for many years and numerous people will have very fond memories of her as a dedicated teacher, supportive colleague and loyal friend. Mary retired from the school in 1993.

The Holy Rosary will be recited in Mary’s home (56 Coultar Avenue, Gartsherrie) at 8.00pm on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Mary’s body will be received into St Bartholomew’s Church at 6.30pm on Friday evening and her Requiem Mass will take place at 10.00am on Saturday morning.

Our school community will remember Mary during the first Prayer Service of the new session. This will take place this morning at 8.45am in the school oratory. All pupils, parents, staff and parishioners are very welcome to attend.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.

It’s only the third day back, but it has been exciting to see the boys and girls already taking their first steps on this year’s learning journey. As the old Chinese proverb says:

‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’

I was very impressed when I popped in to see our new Primary 1’s yesterday. They were writing their alphabet letters onto their whiteboards as if they’d been in Primary school for a whole term! I was also delighted to have a visit from two Primary 4/3 pupils who brought down their ‘maths mobile’ to show me. They had been practising counting up in 10’s and their colourful mobile is now hanging in the classroom as evidence of their super mathematical talents!

If you are a daily blog reader, you’ll be delighted to hear about a new addition to our website. Each class now has their own blog page which they will use to showcase some of the things they are learning in class. However, please be patient – this is a new venture for staff (and pupils) and it will take a bit of time to master the skill of posting information online. However, our plan is to have the class pages properly up and running by the end of this term. I see that Primary 7 have already been busy – their page now has a fantastic photograph on it and several comments from some of the pupils. You can have a look for yourself by clicking on the ‘learning pencil’ at the bottom of the homepage, then on Primary 7.

Well done P7!… and good luck everyone on your learning journey this year!

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”
(Greg Anderson, American author)

It was fantastic to see the boys and girls back in school on Friday after their summer break. The children looked very smart indeed in their uniforms and lots of them were eager to show off their shiny new shoes! It was a great start to the term, with the children settling in quickly to their new classes. A special ‘well done’ to our new Primary 1’s – they got through their first day like absolute professionals and still had huge smiles on their faces when the bell went at 3 o’clock. Well done to everyone – pupils and staff – for such an enthusiastic, smooth start to the term!

Following on from the letter I sent out on Friday, I’m pleased to inform you that there will be no disruption to the tuck-shop at morning intervals.

Our school community will be celebrating St Bartholomew’s Day this coming Friday (23rd). The whole school will attend Mass at 10.00am in St Bartholomew’s Church and, weather permitting, we will enjoy a picnic together outside later on in the day. A letter providing further information will be sent out tomorrow.

Have a good day, everyone!