The Christmas Fayre was a huge success on Saturday. There was a great turnout and it was lovely to see so many families enjoying the festive atmosphere. Of course, a massive vote of thanks needs to go to Mrs Smillie and the fantastic team of volunteers who got everything ready for the big day and made sure it ran like clockwork on Saturday. Many thanks too to the staff who manned the stalls. I am also very grateful indeed to Mr Lynch for doing so much behind the scenes and to the cleaners who turned up once we’d left to get the school back to normal. The money we raised will be counted this morning and the grand total posted here on the blog later today.

Mrs Wishart, one of our P2 parents, has given me permission to tell this wee story (it certainly made us chuckle on Saturday!). The helper who was down to collect the entry money for Santa’s Grotto was delayed on Saturday morning and, when Mrs Wishart arrived, Mrs Smillie said, ‘Would you be OK to do Santa until the person gets here?’ Mrs Wishart, being her usual helpful self, said yes…. but the confused (and slightly terrified!) look on her face was enough to tell me that she had misunderstood what Mrs Smilie was asking her to do. You can imagine Mrs Wishart’s relief when she eventually realised she only had to collect the money at the door… not put on a white beard, climb into a Santa suit and actually sit in the grotto!!! Mrs Wishart saw the funny side of it and actually posed for a photo at the end of the Fayre. I hope you don’t mind the little additions, Mrs Wishart!

As the 30th November falls on a Sunday this year, our school community is celebrating St Andrew’s Day today. The whole school will attend the 10am Mass at St Bartholomew’s Church to honour our national patron. All parents and carers are very welcome to join us.

I was very impressed when I popped into Primary 1 yesterday. The boys and girls have been learning all about the night sky and had a special quiz to check out how much they could remember about the moon and stars. Here’s the winning team, proudly wearing their special ‘Over the Moon’ medals! Well done to all three of you!

I simply cannot express enough thanks to the amazing team of helpers who have worked so tirelessly over the past month or so to get ready for the Christmas Fayre. There was still a gran and a mum here at 5 o’clock last night putting finishing touches to Santa’s grotto! Thank you to the whole team, as well as Mrs Smillie who has co-ordinated the preparation for the event, for all your hard work.

There was great excitement yesterday when our new Christmas tree (kindly donated by Asda) was taken out of the box and erected in the hall. As you can see from the photo below, it’s absolutely fantastic!… all nine feet of it! Primary 4-7 had a concert rehearsal yesterday afternoon (at which their singing was, quite simply, out of this world!!!) and we put out the main lights during ‘Silent Night’ to help us get into the Christmas spirit. It worked!

SEE YOU ALL AT THE CHRISTMAS FAYRE TOMORROW MORNING. DOORS OPEN AT 10.00AM.

The main points from last Friday’s Pupil Voice business meeting have now been posted in the Pupil Voice section of the website. Please take the opportunity to read about the work and plans of each Pupil Voice group; the children are very enthusiastic about bringing about positive change in the school and your interest and support is always very much appreciated. Please get in touch if there’s anything you feel able to help out with.

The First Minister announced yesterday that the Scottish Government plans to introduce a Read, Write, Count literacy and numeracy campaign aimed at Primary 1 to 3 children. This is very welcome news and I look forward to finding out what this initiative will mean in real terms for the pupils of St Bartholomew’s.

We have been quoted £3000 to replace the 1970’s stage lighting, condemned and cut-off by electricians a few weeks ago. Given that we take a huge amount of pride in our concerts and shows here at St Bart’s, we really won’t be able to make do without stage lighting (despite the scary price!). We need to boost our school funds… which brings me onto a penultimate Christmas Fayre reminder! There’s been the most amazing team of helpers beavering away in the school over the past few weeks getting ready for the big day. There will be something for all ages, so please spread the word and make a point of being there on Saturday morning.

We’re hoping to get the Christmas tree up in the hall at some point today. As you will have read in the November newsletter, Asda very kindly donated a fantastic 9ft pre-lit tree (including decorations and even snow!) to the school. Thank you for your generosity… we’re absolutely delighted!

Of course, as the tree goes up, it’s a reminder that our various Christmas events are just around the corner:

The Christmas Fayre is this coming Saturday from 10.00am – 1.00pm.
Tickets go on sale next week for the infant nativity (Tuesday 16th December) and the P4-7 concert (Wednesday 10th December).
The whole school will be off to the pantomime in Glasgow on Thursday 11th December. Further details will be sent out next week.

Busy, busy!… but as the song says, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”

Primary 7 will embark on a really exciting project with the P7s from Townhead Primary School this afternoon. The boys and girls will be working with professional actors from the Citizens Theatre on a major musical version of the book ‘Divided City’. The story is set in Glasgow and explores the issue of football sectarianism. This afternoon’s session will give pupils from the two schools the opportunity to get to know each other as well as allow staff from the Citizens Theatre to observe the children’s drama skills. The final performance next term will involve an ambitious theatre set being built in the school hall, including professional lighting and sound.

A launch event for parents and carers will take place this evening in Townhead Primary School from 6.15 -7.15pm. Parents will get the chance to meet the team, watch some short videos from the previous Divided City productions, ask any questions about the project and also give their opinions about the issues raised in the story. Refreshments will be provided. I look forward to seeing P7 pupils and parents at Townhead Primary tonight.

Divided City is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for the children and an experience I’m sure they’ll remember for years to come. We also hope that many friendships will be formed between the two schools.

Brand new SMART Boards will be fitted in the Primary 4-7 classrooms this week. We’re absolutely delighted that St Bartholomew’s has, at long last, reached the stage where pupils and staff can benefit from the most up-to-date SMART Board technology. The new hardware will make a huge difference to learning and teaching across the school.

A Pupil Voice Business meeting was held on Friday. The chairperson from each group had the opportunity to share with me their group’s current work as well as their plans for the months ahead. The key points from this meeting will be posted in the ‘Pupil Voice’ section of the website later today. Well done to all the boys and girls for their fantastic ideas and hard work in improving St Bartholomew’s!

Please remember that the Christmas Fayre is this coming Saturday. Purchasing the new SMART Boards, along with the need to replace our stage lighting (the old 1970’s lighting was condemned during the rewiring and is not included in the upgrade) means we are urgently in need of additional funds, so please support the Christmas Fayre on Saturday and let your friends and neighbours know about it. It’s guaranteed to be a fantastic event!

Primary 3 had another visit from baby Otto yesterday afternoon. It was lovely to be in the class as each of the children greeted Otto during their special welcome song. Otto spent lots of the session looking around the room at the boys and girls and the children really enjoyed watching how he behaved and reacted during the different activities.

There was great excitement in the infant corridor yesterday as the first of our new SMART Boards were installed. Here are the Primary 1 Rockets looking very happy with their new board… Miss Jackson isn’t in the picture, but she had an equally big smile on her face!

I have two more St Bart’s sports superstars to share with you today, both from Primary 3.

Our first is a sportsman who is really into his football. Believe it or not, he travels all the way to Montrose for his football training with Aberdeen FC! No wonder he’s so proud of that trophy!

Next, we have a sportswoman who walked away last Sunday with not only one, but two trophies for street dancing in a completion way down in Sunderland. Very impressive, indeed!

Well done to both of you!

We are now into month 5 of rewiring. However, the end is finally in sight. There is now some sort of electrical work going on in all of the remaining rooms including the ICT suite, Music Room and oratory. Having spoken to contractors yesterday, I can confirm that the work will be completed by the Christmas holidays. The rewiring has already made a massive difference to both the quality and practicality of the school environment and, once the painters have been in after Christmas, St Bart’s really will be a school building to be proud of!

Pupils will receive their flu vaccination in school today. Children have already been immunised in many schools across North Lanarkshire, so I’m sure today’s vaccinations will run like a well-oiled machine.

After a break of almost two months, the Head Teacher’s blog makes a long-awaited return today. Apologies for the delay in getting the site live again. I look forward, once again, to keeping you up-to-date with everything that’s happening in St Bartholomew’s.

I’d be here all day if I attempted to fill you in on absolutely everything that’s been going on in St Bart’s while the blog’s been off-air. However, here are a few highlights from the past couple of months:

Parents’ Evening had its usual high turn out back in October and there were lots of smiles from both parents and pupils after teachers gave great reports on so many of the children. Well done to our phenomenal pupils!

The Book Fayre ran throughout the same week as Parents’ Evening and raised an amazing £800 worth of books for the school. Many thanks for supporting this very worthwhile venture.

Primary 7 spent an action-packed week in Kilbowie earlier this term. We were extremely fortunate with the weather and the boys and girls had a fantastic time trying out lots of new activities including canoeing, gorge walking and skiing. Many thanks to Mrs Smillie for accompanying the class on the trip to Oban. I know you enjoy the experience as much as the children, Mrs Smillie, but it’s still above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you!

Primary 3 have started an exciting block of learning entitled ‘Roots of Empathy’. However, their teacher for these lessons isn’t a grown-up; he’s a little baby called Otto who visits the class every three weeks. We have set up a ‘Roots of Empathy’ display board in the main entrance area so you can find out more about this fantastic learning opportunity. A huge thank you to Mrs Duncan for agreeing to bring in baby Otto during the course of the year. It’s very much appreciated and he’s already won the hearts of the boys and girls.

Both Primary 6 and Primary 7 had their class assemblies recently. Primary 7 gave a fascinating presentation on Spain, including some authentic Spanish dancing! Primary 6 chose the Scottish Parliament and the recent referendum as the topic for their assembly and gave a humorous and thoroughly entertaining presentation to their audience which included Elaine Smith, MSP. Well done P6 and 7 (and Mrs McFarlane and Mrs McLean)!

Primary 6 also had their class Mass this term. Despite our oratory currently being out of commission, the Music Room provided a peaceful haven for this special celebration of the Eucharist.

The Primary 1’s had a great trip to Glasgow Science Centre last month. The boys and girls visited the planetarium and had lots of fun at the ‘Star Gazers’ workshop. Their behaviour was impeccable and they were a real credit to St Bart’s.

The Halloween disco was as popular as ever and there were some fantastic costumes parading around the hall. Many thanks, as always, to the amazing team of parents who got everything ready for the children and supervised on the night. I don’t know how we’d get by without you!

Mrs McLean accompanied a team of P5 and 6 pupils to a Cross country qualifying race last week. All of the children did extremely well. However, particular congratulations go to Ryan (P6) who came in 4th and Caitlin (also P6) who was 14th to cross the finish line. Mrs McLean and Mrs Keirnan have set up a running club this term, so the children’s fitness and running skills are definitely set to go from strength to strength.

Finally (and still on the theme of sport), one of our very talented P7 pupils picked up a gold medal at the recent Tae Kwon Do Scottish Open at Bellahouston Sports Centre. What an amazing achievement to come first place in a national competition! Well done! We’re so proud to have such a talented sportswoman in St Bart’s!