Primary 1 – 3 had a real treat yesterday afternoon when Badger the Mystical Mutt came for a visit! Badger is the star in a series of books and the children also got to meet Laura Jackson, one of the authors, during the visit. The photos below show just how much fun the children had!

The painters have now headed to the top end of the school and will finish painting the library today. This will be used as a temporary classroom over the coming weeks when each class vacates their room to allow it to be painted. It will take 2-3 days to paint each classroom, so we’re beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. What a busy year it’s been… but it’ll definitely be worth it in the end!

Friday means certificates and trophies… remember to check-out the ‘Success’ section of the website later today.

Have a great weekend once it arrives!

The new benches for our oratory arrive today. Photographs on tomorrow’s blog!

As the painters work their way through the school, new wall displays are beginning to appear in corridors. I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some of these with you over the coming days. Today’s displays are from the P4-7 corridor and give a little insight into the children’s current learning: P4’s visit to the Science Centre, P4/5’s Roman scrolls, P7’s recent science topic on Forces and P6’s project on the Scottish Wars of Independence.

The prayer service will meet in the oratory this morning at 8.45am. There was a very good turn-out last week and I would encourage pupils, parents and parishioners to make a special effort to attend during the season of Lent.

The new benches for our oratory will be delivered tomorrow. Photos will be posted on the blog later this week.

Primary 7 had a fantastic rehearsal for ‘Divided City’ yesterday morning and the team from Citizens Theatre left with huge smiles. The performance is now only two weeks away, so the excitement is really starting to build. Keep up the super work, Primary 7!

I spent a focus day in Primary 6 last Friday and it was great to see the children so enthused and motivated by their learning. ‘Artefact Pursuit’ was particularly popular and gave the children the opportunity to reinforce and demonstrate their learning on different historical sources. You can find out more about this on the P6 class page. Well done, boys and girls, on all your impressive work!

I popped back into P6 yesterday to complete a short questionnaire with the children. I also met with a small ‘focus group’ to gather information on the views and opinions of the boys and girls. As always, the children were very articulate and keen to put forward their points of view.

A company turned up at the end of the day yesterday to add the finishing touches to several newly-painted areas of the school. Wall transfers have been fitted in the foyer to welcome pupils, staff and visitors to the school; two quotations have been fitted in the hall; a large sign has been fitted outside our new performing arts studio. They all look fantastic!

Painters will continue their work on the stage today before moving onto Mrs Clare’s office. Work should begin in classrooms at some point next week.

John Wilson, our school photographer, will be in St Bartholomew’s today to take a Primary 1 and a Primary 7 class photograph as well as our annual whole-school photo. John met with me on Friday to show me the new technology he will be using to produce the whole school photograph and it looked very impressive indeed. Rather than attempting to get 200 pupils and staff to simultaneously face the front, smile and resist the temptation to blink, John will take individual photos against a ‘green screen’ this year and then use a computer to combine these into an ultra-realistic whole school photograph, complete with polished wooden floor and red curtains in the background. It’s going to look fantastic! Please ensure your child is in white shirt and tie for today’s photograph. Thank you.

I came across a post on Twitter yesterday from the Bishop of Paisley which I thought would be worth sharing on today’s blog. We should be proud that St Bartholomew’s plays its own little part in this global mission of the church:

Mrs McLean and Mrs Keirnan run a weekly cross-country club on a Tuesday and a team of St Bart’s runners participated in inter-school trials this week. The boys and girls did extremely well and, as you can see from the photographs below, had a huge amount of fun in the process. Well done, team!

The school photographer will be in St Bartholomew’s on Monday to take a Primary 1 and a Primary 7 class photo as well as our annual whole-school photograph. The photographer will begin at 9.15am prompt so it is essential that all pupils are in school on time to ensure no-one is missed out…. and don’t forget to straighten those ties, gel that hair and polish those teeth!

And, finally, the last section of the address I gave at last Sunday’s Education Mass. Have a great weekend once it arrives!

“When I was a child, a wise individual gave me a simple lesson on joy. J-O-Y. J – Jesus first; O – others second; Y – yourself last. That’s not always easy to do, but I’ve learned from experience that the key to real, authentic joy is, indeed, placing Christ at the centre of my life and considering the needs of others before my own. Let’s continue to also make this our mission in St Bartholomew’s, placing Christ at the very centre of our school and considering the needs of others before our own. In this way, true joy will fill the corridors and classrooms of our school and the task of proclaiming the gospel will come naturally.

In closing, please can I give you advanced notice of a special one-day ‘Festival of Faith’ we will be hosting on Friday 1st May. The wall displays in the entrance area will celebrate various aspects of our Catholic faith, there will be an exhibition of the different ways we live out our faith in our school community, the oratory will be open for quiet prayer, there will be a tea-room for visitors to relax and chat with some of our pupils, and I’m delighted to say that Bishop Toal will celebrate Mass in the school hall. This will be a wonderful opportunity for St Bartholomew’s to open its doors to the parish and local community and – returning to the theme for this week – boldly and creatively ‘Proclaim the Joy of the Gospel.’ “

As promised earlier this week, here’s a photograph of the new roller blinds in the main hall. They’re a fresh, modern change from the old curtains and it was great to see the daylight flooding in yesterday.

The painters have now moved into the Primary 1 corridor, so both the Rockets and the Stars will be decanted from their classrooms today and tomorrow. This means the boys and girls will need to enter and exit by the main entrance over the next two days.

Finally, the penultimate instalment of the Head Teacher’s Education Sunday address:

“Pope Francis reminds us that each and every one of us can tell the Good News story, not by preaching or lecturing, but through the witness of our own lives: through what we say to people, how we speak to them, how we show love and care for them. That’s something we endeavour to keep alive in St Bartholomew’s Primary. Our ‘Faith in Action’ group supports all pupils, staff, parents and parishioners to live-out their faith in practical ways and proclaim the joy of the gospel. Literally hundreds of pounds is raised for charity every year by the St Bartholomew’s school community.

Pope Francis says: ‘We may be sure that none of our acts of love will be lost, nor any of our acts of sincere concern for others.’ He goes on to say: ‘No generous effort is meaningless, no painful endurance is wasted.’ “

Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Lent. Our whole school community will be attending the 10.00am Mass at St Bartholomew’s Church. All parents and carers are very welcome to join us.

Please remember that the weekly prayer service takes place in the oratory this morning at 8.45am. This would be a great way to begin Lent and, indeed, a positive way of spending every Wednesday morning over the coming weeks.

As from yesterday, our Music Room was given its official new name: The Mark Millar Performing Arts Studio. This is special tribute and a small thank-you to Mark, who is such a good friend and generous benefactor to St Bartholomew’s. I was passing the room yesterday morning and came across a group of trumpeters using our newly refurbished facilities. They even did part of their lesson using the new SMART Board!

Finally, the next instalment of the Head Teacher’s address from last Sunday’s Education Mass:

” ‘It’s Friday…. but Sunday’s coming!’ What do I mean by this? Well, on Good Friday, we experience something of the loss, the heartache, the confusion and the fear of those first disciples. They’d lost everything. If only they had listened more closely to Jesus and realised that Easter Sunday was coming and that it would change everything! That’s what Christian joy is about: it’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

As Christians, then, we can offer a very different way of looking at life: the assurance of a God who sticks with us, the hope of better days to come, the promise of an infinite love which went to the cross and will never leave us.”

The painters finished the gym hall over the weekend and this space has been given a whole new lease of life. New roller blinds will be fitted today which will further transform the hall (keep an eye on the blog tomorrow for photographs). As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, some of our pupils will be working with St Ambrose High School art department to create two stained-glass panels for the front of the hall which will add the final finishing touch. Along with the new lighting and sound system, it’s certainly going to be a hall to be proud of!

As promised, here’s the second extract from the Head Teacher’s address from last Sunday’s Education Mass.

“Our faith in Jesus Christ reveals a different path, one which the world can sometimes find difficult to understand.

Pupils, staff and some parishioners will know that I walked one hundred miles of a pilgrimage route in the north of Spain over the summer. Known as the ‘Camino’, this ancient path ends at the tomb of St James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The third day of the pilgrimage found my friend and I on the road at 7.30am, trudging through the pouring rain. It was at this point that my friend questioned me on the actual purpose of a pilgrimage. Amongst other things, I emphasised to him that the destination is key to every pilgrimage (in our case Santiago de Compostela). If we know where we are heading, then it gives meaning, purpose and joy to even the most difficult and painful of steps along the way. Sometimes on the Camino, it was simply a matter of finding the energy to put one foot in front of another. However, even the most reluctant of steps took us a little closer to the tomb of St James!

And that is what Christian joy is about. It’s not that we escape the hardships and tragedies of life – you only need to read the book of Job in the Old Testament to see this isn’t the case! However, what we do discover is that God is alongside us throughout even the most difficult times of our journey.”…to be continued!

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THERE WILL BE NO HOT LUNCHES SERVED TODAY. THOSE PUPILS WHO DO NOT BRING THEIR OWN PACKED LUNCH MAY ORDER A SCHOOL PACKA-SNACK FROM THE DINING HALL.

St Bartholomew’s Primary marks Catholic Education Week over the next five days. This year’s theme is ‘Proclaiming the Joy of the Gospel’ and we will be seeking, as a school community, to remind ourselves of the Good News each one of us is called to share and renew our efforts to live-out our faith in practical and authentic ways.

A huge thank you to all those pupils, parents and staff who turned out for the annual Education Mass at St Bartholomew’s Church yesterday. There was, as always, a lovely atmosphere in the church and the children did the school proud with their singing, reading and St Bart’s manners and behaviour. Well done to you all!

I had the opportunity to give the Head Teacher’s address during the Mass and I thought it might be an idea to post sections from this on the blog throughout the coming week.

“Catholic Education is about partnership: the three dimensions of home, school and parish working together to ensure the very best for our pupils. On this Education Sunday, I would like to take the opportunity to thank those numerous individuals who support the work of St Bartholomew’s in so many ways and who faithfully pass on the faith to our children. To the staff for their dedication, hard work and their genuine personal faith. To our parents and carers for coming today to show their commitment to Catholic education and for their ongoing support of all that we do in St Bartholomew’s. To the parish for being such an enthusiastic, supportive and spiritual bunch of people. To Father Doherty for the support he gives us as chaplain to the school. Of course, my biggest vote of thanks goes to the pupils of St Bartholomew’s. We must never forget that they’re the reason why we get up in the morning! Particular thanks go to those pupils who have joined us for Mass this morning.

The theme for today’s Education Sunday, and for the week ahead, asks us to consider how “Proclaiming the Joy of the Gospel” is the mission of every Christian. Pope Francis has made great efforts to remind us that the life of a Christian should be joyful. We should not look like mourners coming back from a funeral, he tells us, or like people “whose lives seem like Lent without Easter”. He encourages us to rediscover our enthusiasm for the Gospel (the Good News) and to share it joyfully with others.

We all have a great capacity for joy and celebration, but sometimes we can get stuck in a rut of negativity and pessimism. We can often feel engulfed with bad news – stories of tragic events, natural disasters and inhuman acts. Such events can cause us to be confused by life’s uncertainties and by human frailty and to question our faith in God. They appear to leave no room for joy whatsoever. However, this is where our faith in Jesus Christ reveals a different path, one which the world can sometimes find difficult to understand.” … to be continued!