Primary 4 are off to Summerlee Museum today for a workshop on the Victorians. Have a super time, boys and girls!

Primary 6 were the oldest children in the school yesterday and had the chance to have a trial-run at being P7s. I must say, the boys and girls embraced the opportunity with a huge amount of enthusiasm and did a fantastic job helping to monitor classes during a wet interval. It looks like we can look forward to a mature, enthusiastic and reliable new P7 class after the summer holidays. Well done, boys and girls! You were a credit to yourselves and to Mrs McLean.

Meanwhile, it looks like things went well with our existing P7 class down at St Ambrose High School. Here’s the Tweet that was posted at the end of the day:

Primary 7 are off to St Ambrose High School today and tomorrow for their induction days. I’m sure the boys and girls will have a busy and exciting two days and we look forward to hearing all about it when they return to St Bart’s on Monday morning.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
After chatting things through with staff yesterday, we have made the decision to postpone our school show, ‘Welcome to the Sixties’, until after the summer holidays. Although I have taught the songs to the children, various factors such as the York trip, May holidays and temporary members of staff have left us with very little time to pull things together into the sort of slick performance everyone has come to expect of St Bartholomew’s. With interviews for class teacher posts (both here and in another school), sports day and a string of other commitments in my diary, it would also have been very difficult for me to find sufficient time to play for rehearsals. It’s been a difficult decision to make, but staff are all in agreement that it would be much better to put on a high-quality performance in October rather than a mediocre show in three weeks time which wouldn’t give our talented pupils the opportunity to truly shine on stage. Please accept our apologies for the late change of plan, but we promise an absolutely fantastic show just before the October holidays next session!

Of course, our current Primary 7s won’t be here in October. However, as you know, the children had the unique opportunity last term of working with the Citizens Theatre and putting on an amazing performance of ‘Divided City’. Postponing our show will also now free-up time for our P7 pupils to properly prepare and rehearse for their Leavers’ Mass and Graduation ceremony. The children have already started to choose songs and brainstorm their ideas and we’ll now have sufficient time to do these justice and give this important event the attention it deserves.

We welcome our new Primary 1 pupils, along with their parents and carers, to the second of our transition events this morning. The children will have the opportunity to do some literacy and numeracy activities and get a feel for ‘the big school’. The session begins at 9.15am in the performing arts studio.

I’m delighted to inform you that permanent class teacher posts were advertised recently and that we have received a total of 54 applications from people wishing to teach in St Bartholomew’s. We are hoping to interview towards the end of next week and have several new permanent members of staff join the St Bart’s team in August. Great news!

Welcome back, everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic long weekend and enjoyed the sunshine that came our way.

We have a busy week ahead:

The prayer service takes place in the oratory this morning at the usual time of 8.50am.

The Parent Council meets this evening in the Staff Development Base at 6.00pm.

Our second Primary 1 transition event takes place tomorrow morning at 9.15am in the performing arts studio.

Primary 7 are off to St Ambrose High School on Thursday and Friday for their two induction days.

Primary 4 will visit Summerlee museum on Friday for a trip relating to their Victorians topic.

A busy end to the month of May! Enjoy!

It was fantastic to meet our new Primary 1 parents yesterday, particularly those who are brand new to St Bartholomew’s. I hope you felt very much at home.

Primary 7 will receive a demonstration of various musical instruments this morning from St Ambrose High School. It is hoped that the demonstration will inspire the children to learn to play an instrument once they move to high school after the summer holidays. St Ambrose is renowned for its music and I’m sure we’ll see many St Bart’s pupils adding their musical talents to the school in the years ahead.

Please remember that St Bartholomew’s is closed tomorrow and Monday for the May holiday. The school will reopen as normal on Tuesday morning.

Enjoy the long weekend!

I am absolutely delighted to welcome our new Primary 1 parents to St Bartholomew’s this morning for the first of our four transition events. This morning’s session will provide new parents with key information about the school before we meet the boys and girls at a parent-child workshop next week. Today’s session begins at 9.15am in the Performing Arts Studio (please enter the school via the main entrance).

I had the privilege of attending a lecture at Glasgow University last night given by Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning. Angela spoke passionately about her vision for Scottish schools and much of what she said was an inspiring reminder to me of the mission and vision we have here at St Bartholomew’s for our own pupils.

“My priorities are clear. I want Scotland to have an education system which ensures each child has every chance to succeed; that leaves no child behind; that promotes and supports excellence in learning through valued and supported teachers and a high quality workforce; that is ambitious for our children, that takes their aspirations for themselves and nurtures and develops those, so that they succeed in school and in life.”

Please remember that the weekly prayer service takes place in the oratory this morning at 8.50am. We are still in the month of May, so will be led in praying another decade of the rosary.

Primary 7 are now just over a week away from their induction days at St Ambrose High School. The children were busy writing their personal profiles yesterday in preparation for the transition; these profiles give the children the opportunity to outline their strengths and next steps in learning in each curricular area. Some of the children will receive their next keyboard lesson this morning from Miss McDonald, a member of staff from St Ambrose Music Department. I also notice from today’s diary that the children will be getting measured for their St Ambrose uniforms this afternoon. It’s an exciting time for the children as they prepare for this new chapter in their lives.

Primary 7 had an absolutely fantastic time in Yorkshire last week. It was a jam- packed week, with hardly a minute to spare. If you haven’t already done so, please check out Twitter to see photographs of the huge range of activities the children experienced during their four days away.

Our Primary 4 pupils made their First Holy Communion during the 10.00am Mass in St Bartholomew’s Church yesterday. The church was absolutely packed with parishioners, family and friends and the boys and girls did themselves, their parents and the school proud. Many congratulations to each and every one of you!

All teaching staff from St Bartholomew’s, St Augustine’s and St Kevin’s Primaries will gather together in our school hall at the end of today for input on assessment from Myra Young, a well-known education consultant. Myra has worked with us at various points throughout the year and this afternoon’s session will conclude her input. A very warm welcome to Myra and colleagues from our cluster schools.

Due to the Primary 7 trip to York, there will be no Head Teacher’s blog for the remainder of this week. However, please keep up-to-date with our adventures in Yorkshire throughout the next four days via Twitter. You can find us at @bartholomew_st, or simply click on the link on the website homepage.

Primary 5 presented an absolutely super assembly on the Romans on Friday. The boys and girls impressed the whole school with their singing and acting at the morning dress rehearsal before WOW-ing their invited guests in the afternoon. It was great to see such a fantastic turn-out; thank you to everyone who came to support the children.

It’s the Primary 7 York trip this week, so I will be out of school from Tuesday until we return on Friday evening. Although there will be no Head Teacher’s blog for the remainder of this week, you will be able to keep up-to-date with our adventures in Yorkshire via Twitter; photos and updates will be posted throughout each of the four days we are away.

Finally, Isabelle Boyd (Head of Service) shared the following with me at a meeting last week. It’s Pope Francis’ simple (but very wise!) approach to prayer. I know some of our pupils are already familiar with the Holy Father’s ‘Five finger prayer’, but this method is equally suitable for grown-ups, so I thought I’d post it on today’s blog.