It’s hard to believe that we have reached the second last week of term. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Primary 7 are off to Kilbowie this morning. They have an exciting week of outdoor pursuits ahead of them including canoeing, gorge walking, ski-ing and mountain biking. The weather forecast for Oban is extremely good this week and this is sure to make the children’s time away all the more enjoyable and memorable. St Bartholomew’s is sharing the excursion with St Augustine’s and St Kevin’s primaries which will give the boys and girls the opportunity to get to know their new high school classmates.

I am in the process of writing comments on report cards and these will be distributed at the beginning of next week. Several parents have asked me about next year’s classes. The school will have several new members of staff in August, but I am still waiting to hear from Personnel who these new teachers will be. However, I will endeavour to send out details of classes at the same time as the reports go home. Thank you for your patience.

I am speaking at a conference at the SECC in Glasgow today but will be travelling up to Oban this evening, arriving at Kilbowie around 9.45pm. Mrs Bolland and Mrs McIntyre will be managing the school in my absence and will be able to deal with any urgent issues. I came across a photograph of the conference banner on Twitter last night. It includes the phrase, ‘Scotland: the best place in the world to go to school.’ What a great vision to have for our schools!

Mike Russell, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, thoroughly enjoyed his visit to St Bartholomew’s yesterday and was extremely impressed by our fantastic pupils (no surprise there!). Mr Russell has posted a photograph and written about his visit on his own blog which can be accessed by clicking HERE.

Many thanks to all of those pupils, parents and parishioners who made a special contribution to yesterday’s visit and to staff for making the school look as good as ever. I’m so proud of everyone and absolutely delighted that St Bartholomew’s has received recognition and compliments from someone in such high a position. You all deserve the praise!

Primary 4 and 5 are off to the Primary Games in Motherwell today. A fantastic banner has been produced to cheer on the team (thank you Mrs Dolan and Mrs Payne for your help!) and I’m sure the boys and girls will have a great day competing in the various events.

A VERY WARM WELCOME TO OUR SPECIAL GUESTS!

St Bartholomew’s extends a very warm welcome this morning to Mike Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, and to Andrew Sutherland, Executive Director of Learning and Leisure Services for North Lanarkshire Council.

The visit will begin with ‘A Taste of St Bart’s’, when our guests will have the opportunity to meet the cast of ‘Joseph’, our dance group, members of the tennis club, a few of our Gaelic footballers, some parents and parishioners and a team of pupils from the Prayer Group. Our guests will then have a tour of the school, including visits to Primary 1, Primary 5, Primary 7 and the Skill Force team. The visit will conclude with a short presentation on some recent work St Bartholomew’s has been piloting on behalf of the Scottish Government and then our guests will be treated to a well-earned cup of tea and a scone!

The boys and girls are very excited about showcasing their talents and achievements and I have no doubt that they will (as always!) do themselves, their parents and carers and the school proud!

It was great seeing our new Primary 1 pupils looking so happy and confident yesterday morning. They thoroughly enjoyed their tour of the school and wasted no time at all tucking into their school lunch. Well done to our P5 and P6 buddies who did such a fantastic job showing the boys and girls around the school and keeping them company during lunch.

We’re all set for tomorrow morning’s special visit from Mike Russell, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning. Tomorrow will be a great opportunity for St Bartholomew’s to showcase some of the fantastic work that goes on in the school from day-to-day. We’ve got so much to be proud of here in St Bart’s and I’m sure Mike Russell will be very impressed indeed!

It was like a scene from the story of Noah yesterday afternoon as the heavens opened and it poured with rain for the rest of the day. What a relief that that we opted to go ahead with Sports Day in the morning! Once again, well done to this year’s winning house, SUMMERLEE!!!

I’m delighted to announce that Saturday’s Summer Fayre raised the grand total of £950 for our SMART Board appeal. This money will be added to the ticket sales from our recent production of ‘Joseph’. What a great start to our fund-raising campaign! Thanks again to the fantastic team of parents who organised and ran the fayre.

We welcome our new Primary 1s to St Bartholomew’s this morning. The boys and girls will be pairing-up with their P6 and 7 buddies at 11 o’clock and getting a tour of the school. They will then head to the dinner hall and be treated to their very first school lunch!

Sports Day was a great success this morning and the rain stayed off right up until the last race. For once, the weather forecast was right!

Many thanks to Mr Hughes for organising everything with such precision and to the other members of staff for helping out with everything from supervising pupils to keeping the scores. A huge thank you to the Parent Council for purchasing the stickers and medals and for doing so much behind the scenes. Thanks too to all those adults who helped clear the field at the end of the morning… despite the pouring rain!

The results of St Bart’s Sports Day 2014 are as follows:

WINNING HOUSE: SUMMERLEE (463 points)
LOCHEND (363 points)
DRUMPELLIER (346)
MONKLANDS (312 points)

Well done to all the boys and girls for being such good sportsmen and sportswomen and many congratulations to our winning house, SUMMERLEE!!!

Today’s weather forecast is for rain in the afternoon. SPORTS DAY WILL NOW TAKE PLACE THIS MORNING. The long-term forecast for June is for the weather to stay unsettled, so it needs to be a case of grabbing whatever dry periods of weather we can. Apologies for any inconvenience this change of time may cause.

Our Summer Fayre on Saturday was a great success and we were blessed with unexpected good weather. Many thanks to everyone who supported the event, to staff for helping out and, once again, to the fantastic team of parents who organised and ran the Fayre. What a team! The total amount of money raised will be posted on the blog later today.

Primary 6 are off to the new visitors’ centre in Bannockburn today. The boys and girls spent much of last term learning about the Scottish Wars of Independence and, as family and friends will remember, presented a fantastic assembly on what they had learned. Today’s trip will be a great opportunity to visit the famous battlefield and consolidate their learning on this important part of Scottish history.

We will be welcoming family and friends of our Primary 5 pupils to St Bartholomew’s this afternoon for their class assembly. The boys and girls have been working extremely hard over the past few weeks on their presentation about the Commonwealth Games. I caught a snippet of the assembly last week and it was already looking great. As usual, the children have done some home-baking for their special afternoon, under the guidance and watchful eye of Mrs Laird. You’re in for a fabulous afternoon!

What a nice surprise to see a banner for the St Bart’s Summer Fayre on the roundabout last night! Please spread the word about tomorrow’s event… all money raised will go directly to the pupils in the form of new SMART Boards. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the amazing team of parents and grandmothers who have worked their socks off over the past month or so organising and preparing for the Fayre. They literally haven’t stopped in weeks. We couldn’t have done it without you, so a HUGE thank you from all of us!

SEE YOU AT THE SUMMER FAYRE TOMORROW MORNING AT 10.00am!!!!

Don’t forget about the Summer Fayre this coming Saturday! There’s something for everyone, so make sure you set that alarm clock ready for the 10.00am kick-off!!!

Primary 1 and 2 are off to the Riverside Museum in Glasgow today. Those of you who have visited the museum will know that the boys and girls have a fantastic day ahead of them. There are trains, buses, trams, cars and bikes to see; boats and aeroplanes to find out about; an old Glasgow street, complete with shops, to explore and even an old underground train to climb inside! Have a super day, boys and girls!

Our good friend and Gaelic football coach, Joe Bradley, dropped by on Tuesday with a beautiful picture he brought back all the way from Lourdes. The picture is both unusual and inspiring and is now the first thing you see as you enter the oratory. Thank you for remembering us, Joe.

We have an interesting day ahead in St Bartholomew’s as a film crew descends on the school to make a short documentary about one of our recent literacy initiatives. The film is being made on behalf of Scottish Government and will be shared at a conference of Head Teachers in the SECC on 16th June. Although focusing predominately on the literacy work we’ve been developing, the film will also include interviews with eight P4-7 children on their ambitions for the future and how their school work is helping them move towards these aspirations. It’s not quite a Hollywood production, but exciting nonetheless!

The parish ‘Pray for our School’ group met in the oratory yesterday morning for the final time this session before enjoying their usual tea and biscuits with our Primary 7 pupils. Please can I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the parishioners of St Bartholomew’s for their friendship, support, kindness and prayers throughout the year. You are a vital part of our school community and very much appreciated. Many, many thanks from the pupils and staff of St Bartholomew’s Primary.