Primary 1 are off to Drumpellier Park this morning. The children had a visit from the ranger earlier this week and I’m sure they’ll have a great time following up on the ranger’s input in the park today… especially in this fantastic weather!

Sports Day was a huge success yesterday. The sun shone, the children did fantastically well and the crowd were full of enthusiasm! This year’s winning House was Drumpellier. Well done, boys and girls!

Many thanks, once again, to Mrs McLean for all the hard work she put into organising and co-ordinating this year’s Sports Day. It ran like clockwork! However, a HUGE thank you also needs to go to all of the Primary 6 pupils who worked their wee socks off getting the field set-up for the afternoon. Mature, responsible, organised and reliable are just four adjectives I could use to describe them! As a special thank-you treat for all their efforts, Mrs McLean is organising a picnic for the boys and girls in Drumpeillier Park tomorrow afternoon. Very well deserved, boys and girls!

Another bunch of St Bart’s superstars are the team of P6 and 7 pupils who took part in yesterday’s Gaelic football tournament. Mrs McFarlane reported that the boys and girls were model sportsmen and women and a real credit to the school. The girl’s team reached the finals and lost by only one point. In recognition of the children’s outstanding efforts, attitude and behaviour, the entire team will receive an extra playtime this morning. You can enjoy the whole grassed area to yourselves!

Please pray for Vhairi Bradley and Murray Rea as they prepare for their move to St Ambrose High School.

We have a very busy day ahead of us here at St Bartholomew’s.

A group of Primary 6 and 7 pupils are off to St Ambrose this morning to participate in a Gaelic football tournament. Good luck, team!

Our new Primary 1 pupils will be paying us another visit today. The boys and girls will receive a full tour of the school with their parents before enjoying their very first school lunch in the hall. P6 and 7 buddies will be ready to begin tours at 11.00am prompt.

Of course, the main event of today will be Sports Day which kicks-off at 1.15pm. According to the forecast, we’re going to be blessed with glorious sunshine throughout the afternoon to accompany our various sporting events. Many thanks to Mrs McLean who has done an absolutely fantastic job planning and co-ordinating this year’s Sports Day (Mr Hughes’ trainers were big shoes to fill!!!).

Please pray for Peter Collins and Kai Kelly as they prepare for their move to St Ambrose High School.

Our weekly prayer service takes place at 8.50am in the oratory today. There was a great turnout last week and it would be wonderful to see the same again this morning.

Primary 7 have a special treat today. They’re off to St Ambrose High School to enjoy the dress rehearsal of this year’s show, ‘Annie’. Have a great time, boys and girls!

Throughout this year, we have been using an innovative music programme called ABC Music. The children have loved the songs and activities on the interactive smart board and the resource has also built the confidence of staff across the school in teaching what can sometimes be a daunting area of the curriculum. An ABC Music tutor will be in St Bart’s all day today to work with the children. I know for a fact that the tutor will be delighted with the brand new SMART Boards which have been fitted since their last visit!

Please pray for Brandon McLaughlin and Jai Corner as they prepare for their move to St Ambrose High School.

I managed to have a quick catch-up at the end of Friday with one of our former pupils, now at St Ambrose High School. I was very impressed indeed when I saw the personalised pencil case he had made for his wee brother and I promised I’d post a picture of his handiwork on today’s blog.

The weather is looking settled for the week ahead and, as you can see below, sunshine is forecast for Sports Day on Wednesday. Great news!

Finally, the ranger from Drumpellier Park will be visiting Primary 1 rockets and stars this afternoon in preparation for their trip to the park this coming Thursday.

I had the pleasure of interviewing eight fantastic candidates for class teacher posts yesterday, each of whom expressed a genuine desire to join the St Bartholomew’s team. The panel’s recommendations have been forwarded to Personnel and we should know in a week or so who has been allocated permanently to the school. I’ll keep you posted.

Thankfully, the forecast is still looking dry for next week so, as intimated in the letter that went out yesterday, Sports Day will take place at 1.15pm on Wednesday. We can’t promise sunshine, but we CAN promise enthusiastic children with lots of energy and skill!

Our whole-school assembly takes place this morning, so please keep an eye on the website for pupils of the week, the winning house and the Cool Class.

Please pray for Kamil Krol as we prepares for his move to Braidhurst High School & School of Football.

We had a surprise visitor in St Bartholomew’s yesterday afternoon. Father Ben is visiting Scotland all the way from Uganda and he wanted to make his first port of call St Bartholomew’s Primary. As you know, St Bart’s raises money on an annual basis for Father Ben’s work, including the school located in his parish. Father Ben met with members of the Faith in Action group yesterday who gave him and Mrs Starrs a tour of our newly refurbished building. Of course, Father Ben was particularly impressed with the oratory (a space which didn’t exist the last time he visited the school) and he took the opportunity to pray with the children here before he left at 3 o’clock. The photo below shows Father Ben and Mrs Starrs next to our wall display on Uganda.

I will be shut away in my office throughout today interviewing candidates for permanent teaching posts within the school. We were absolutely delighted to receive 54 applications and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming new faces to the St Bart’s team come August. It will probably be one or two weeks before the Personnel Department confirm those who have been appointed. However, I will let you know as soon as I do.

Please pray for Megan Flannigan as she prepares for her move to St Ambrose High School.

IMPORTANT NOTICE!
The weather forecast for both Thursday and Friday is very poor and the grassed area of the playground is already water-logged. Unfortunately, we have no option but to postpone Sports Day. However, a dry spell is forecast from Saturday onwards and we now plan to hold Sports Day a week today, Wednesday 10th June. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience… that’s the Scottish weather for you!

We are really looking forward to welcoming our new Primary 1 pupils back to St Bartholomew’s at 9.15am this morning. All 36 of the children will be heading down to the Primary 1 classroom to spend some time with Mrs Carlin. The boys and girls were extremely well-behaved and polite when they visited the school last Wednesday and I’m sure they will really impress Mrs Carlin when they visit their Primary 1 classroom for the first time today.

Weather-wise, it has been a very disappointing start to June. It’s felt more like autumn than summer! However, walk through the doors down at Primary 1 and any depressing thoughts of the wild, wet weather simply disappear! As you can see from the photographs below, the boys and girls have created a beautiful wall display, filled with spring and summer flowers, which is absolutely bursting with colour! Thank you for brightening up our days, boys and girls!

Please pray for Eilidh Gilmour as she prepares for her move to St Ambrose High School.

Primary 3 are off on a trip to Calderglen Park in East Kilbride today. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is looking a bit unpredictable, so let’s hope for more sunshine than showers! The boys and girls will have lots of time to explore, visit the castle, play in the park and will also have a special animal workshop at the zoo. Have a fantastic day, everyone!

Primary 6 had a great trip to Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument yesterday. Check out Twitter for photographs of their historical adventure!

The parish Pray for our School group meets at 11.00am in the oratory this morning for their final meeting of the session. The lucky boys and girls who will enjoy a cup of tea and a biscuit with parishioners after the meeting will be those generous individuals who volunteered to be part of the choir for our First Communion Mass. Very well deserved!

Please pray for Scott Hamilton as he prepares for his move to St Ambrose High School.

Primary 6 are off to Stirling today for a trip related to their topic on the Scottish Wars of Independence. Unfortunately, the weather forecast isn’t the best. However, I’m sure the boys and girls will still have a fantastic day finding out about William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Have a super day, boys and girls!

Primary 7 are now back in St Bartholomew’s after their two induction days at St Ambrose High School. As the children begin their final month of Primary School, I thought it might be a nice idea to ask our school and parish communities (as well as friends from further afield who read the blog) to pray for each of our Primary 7 pupils in turn – one per day between now and the summer holidays. Moving to high school is an important milestone in the lives of our P7 pupils, so it’s important that we give the boys and girls as much support and encouragement as we can, including our prayers. So, please take the time to say a prayer (even a simple Our Father or Hail Mary) for the pupil whose name is posted on the blog each day over the coming weeks. Thank you.

Please pray for Morgan Hay as she prepares for her move to St Ambrose High School.