It’s going to be a real sporting end to the week here at St Bart’s. Primary 6 will be continuing with their badminton coaching this morning and Primary 7 will have their usual Gaelic football training with Mr Bradley in the afternoon. As part of our Personalisation & Choice modules later today, Mr Lynch will doing football coaching with P4-7 pupils and Mr Hughes will be putting a group of boys and girls through their paces with some fitness training.

The sporting action continues tomorrow with a special treat for every single pupil. A team of Tae Kwan Do coaches will spend the whole day in St Bartholomew’s and all P1-7 pupils will have a special Tae Kwan Do taster session. We already have a number of Tae Kwan Do champions in the school… Hopefully tomorrow’s sessions will inspire lots more St Bart’s pupils to take up the sport. Please would all parents and carers ensure their child has their gym kit tomorrow. Thank you.

Have a good day, everyone!

There’s hardly a week goes by without a visitor to St. Bartholomew’s commenting on the fantastic whole-school photograph that hangs in the main entrance area. I have the same photo above my office desk and it never fails to give me a huge boost when I look at all those smiling, enthusiastic boys and girls in their smart white shirts and ties! Of course, the P7’s in the photograph are now at St Ambrose, and the rest of the boys and girls have also moved up a class… It must be time for a new 2013/2014 photograph! John Wilson, our school photographer, will be back in St Bartholomew’s during the morning of Wednesday 4th December to take a brand new whole-school photograph. I want to give parents and carers plenty notice of the date so that you can avoid making any appointments for your child on that day. We definitely don’t want any pupil being missed out from our new team photograph!

I’m at a meeting in Glasgow all day today. Mrs McIntyre and Mrs Bolland will be in charge during my absence and will be able to deal with any urgent issues. However, please can I ask that parents and carers hold-off on any non-urgent matters until I return to school tomorrow morning. Thanks for your help.

We welcome John Johnstone from North Lanarkshire Computer Centre to St Bartholomew’s today. John will be training our Primary 7’s on how to complete their e-portfolios: online records which the children will use to write about their individual interests, skills and achievements. These portfolios will give the children the opportunity to reflect on their learning and will then be sent to St Ambrose later in the year to help high school staff get to know our pupils. Of course, this training will take place in our posh new computer suite! Log onto Primary 1’s class page to see the boys and girls enjoying working at our fantastic new computer benches!

St Bartholomew’s Church will be celebrating its 60th Jubilee next month. A special Mass will be celebrated on the evening of Thursday 12th December and St Bartholomew’s pupils, staff and parents are invited to join the parish community to mark this important milestone. I will be putting together a P4-7 choir to lead the music at the Mass – a letter will go out to interested pupils later this week. I would encourage parents and carers to put the 12th December in their diary. St Bartholomew’s Primary is an integral part of the local parish and this is a great opportunity for our school community to show support and appreciation to Father Doherty and those many parishioners who do so much for our school.

Two special votes of thanks this morning:

First of all, to all parents and carers for responding to our campaign to reduce the school’s photocopying costs. When our November/December newsletter is published, a mere 26 paper copies will be sent out, compared to the previous 125. With over 100 parents and carers now signed-up to access future letters electronically, there will be a huge reduction in our photocopying and the money saved can be invested in new resources for the children (and, of course, we’re also helping the environment!). As promised, a text will be sent out to all parents and carers on the same day a letter is posted in the ‘News’ section of our website.

Secondly, a massive thank-you to the anonymous donor who paid for new benches to be fitted to our computer suite. The specially manufactured benches went in on Friday morning and have absolutely transformed the room. The children will definitely notice a huge difference when they are using the computers this week. We’ll get a photograph taken of the room at some point today and post it on the blog… we’re desperate to show-off our posh new computer suite! Thank you, once again, to the anonymous donor for your kindness and generosity. It is VERY much appreciated.

Finally, today is Remembrance Day. Our school community will pause for a minute’s silence at 11 o’clock this morning to remember those who have given their lives in war and conflict for our freedom.

‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
we will remember them.’

I’m absolutely delighted to announce that an anonymous donor has very kindly offered to pay for custom-made benches for our computer suite. Our twenty-five new computers are fantastic and the boys and girls are having great fun using them to enhance their learning. However, the narrow school desks they’ve been sitting on since June have been far from ideal and have made it difficult for the children to use the computer keyboards. However, that’s all about to change, thanks to a donation of £800! Contractors will spend the whole morning in St Bartholomew’s kitting out the room with the new benches and we’ll have a fantastic new computer suite by the end of today! Wow!!!

From all of us – pupils, staff, parents and carers – a HUGE thank you to the anonymous donor for your incredible generosity. Your thoughtfulness and financial support really will make a massive difference to every single pupil in the school. We’ll make sure every class leaves a special thank-you message for you on their class page once they’ve used the computer suite next week. Thank you, once again!

Our Personalisation & Choice modules begin again this afternoon. The children will head off to their chosen activities at 2 o’clock and there will be the usual buzz across the whole school as the boys and girls get engrossed in jewellery making, website developing, crime solving, cooking, clay work, fitness training, football, music, drama… the list goes on! Have a fun afternoon, everyone!

Primary 4 had a wonderful day on their First Holy Communion retreat yesterday. Please keep an eye on the P4/3 class page for photographs of the retreat and to read about the children’s special day.

A final reminder that we require a return from every parent and carer about how they wish to receive future newsletters (electronically or on paper). To help the school save money on photocopying, a paper copy of the November/December newsletter will only be sent out to those parents and carers who specifically ask for one.

Primary 4 are off on a one day retreat today as part of their preparations for their First Holy Communion. The boys and girls will step away from the usual busyness of St Bartholomew’s and have the opportunity to enjoy a peaceful day, with plenty of space to reflect, discuss ideas and pray. I know P4/3 are keen blog writers, so keep an eye on their class page over the next few days to read about their special day.

As always, it was great to welcome the ‘Pray for our School Group’ to St Bartholomew’s yesterday morning. This committed group of parishioners meet once a month in the school oratory to pray for the needs of the school. The St Bart’s team (pupils and staff) are a very talented and hard-working bunch. However, we continually need God’s strength to reach our full potential, so it’s a great encouragement to know that so many people are praying for us behind the scenes. And, of course, the P7’s absolutely love joining the parishioners after their prayer time for tea, some home-baking and a good old blether! Many, many thanks to the ‘Pray for Our School Group’ for your commitment to St Bartholomew’s. ‘The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.’ (James 5:16)

Please can all parents and carers remember to return the form indicating how they wish to receive future newsletters (electronically or on paper). The November/December newsletter will go out next week, so it is essential that we have a response from everyone by Friday. Thank you.

I had a very interesting and worthwhile day in Edinburgh yesterday. However, it’s good to be back in St Bartholomew’s and I’m looking forward to catching up with the boys and girls this morning.

As outlined in the letter that was sent out to parents and carers last week, St Bartholomew’s is aiming to significantly reduce the amount of photocopying it does. This will literally save the school hundreds of pounds every year which can then be invested in resources for the children. A major part of our plan to reduce photocopying is to encourage as many parents and carers as possible to access newsletters via the school website rather than being sent out a paper copy. This new system will be put in place within the next week, so please can I ask that all parents and carers return the form that was included in last week’s letter no later than this Thursday (7th). Thank you.

Somewhere at the back of my mind was an old Tommy Cooper joke about firework night. I managed to track it down on the internet. Hope it raises a smile!

One cold 5th November evening, a local policeman finished his shift and went home to his wife. “You just won’t believe what happened this evening, darling. In all my years on the force I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Oh yes, dear, what happened?”
“I came across two guys down by the canal. One of them was eating batteries and the other was eating fireworks.”
“Eating batteries and eating fireworks?!!” answered his wife. “What on earth did you do with them?”
“Oh that was easy: I charged one and let the other one off!”

A huge thank you to those parents and carers who gave so generously of their time on Friday night to run our Halloween discos. The children had an absolutely fantastic time and the dooking for apples was a huge hit! Many thanks to the Parent Council!

I am attending a meeting in Edinburgh today with Michael Russell, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning. St Bartholomew’s has been asked to work with the Scottish Government to pilot a new approach to school self-improvement, aimed at helping schools provide the best possible opportunities and outcomes for their pupils. Only seven schools in the whole of Scotland (only two of which are primary schools) have been approached to take part in this work, so this is a great opportunity for St Bartholomew’s. I understand that a leaflet outlining details of the project is currently being prepared for parents and carers – I will make sure this is distributed to you as soon as it is available.

Mrs Bolland is standing in for me today and will be able to deal with any urgent issues and queries. Have a good day, everyone!