Today is Commonwealth Day and St Bartholomew’s staff and pupils are joining people across the world for ‘Sport Your Trainers’ to show our support for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. In addition to this, St Bartholomew’s will join tens of thousands of children and young people from hundreds of schools in over 30 countries for the World’s Biggest Assembly. P1-7 will come together in the hall this morning at 11.00 o’clock to reflect on two of the Commonwealth values:
– tolerance, respect and understanding
– peace and conflict resolution

Pupils are invited to donate £1 to wear their trainers today. The money raised will go to this year’s SCIAF Lent appeal.

There are probably not too many of you who are aware that three of our Primary 5 pupils are learning to play the bagpipes. The children receive lessons on a Friday morning form Mr McGowan and are making great progress. As is always the case when learning the bagpipes, the children have started off on the chanter. However, I look forward to seeing (and hearing!) them move onto actual bagpipes as they progress through the school. Keep up the good work, boys and girls!

It’s our whole-school assembly this morning. Look out for our Pupils of the Week and trophy winners on the website later today.

Next Friday is Primary 6’s class assembly. The boys and girls are busy practising and I look forward to seeing P6 parents, carers, family and friends a week today. As usual, the children will be doing some home-baking on Wednesday for their special event. You’re in for a treat!

Primary 4-7 are sounding absolutely fantastic during our song rehearsals for ‘Joseph’. Despite the huge amount of words, the children really are rising to the challenge and having huge amounts of fun at the same time! Mrs McFarlane has been busy coordinating auditions and the parts have now been picked – the children will find these out today. So, we’re now at the point where we can begin to get the cast onto the stage and really bring the songs to life. It’s all very exciting!

We had initially planned to put on the show this side of the Easter holidays. However, the official performance date has been set as THURSDAY 1st MAY with both an afternoon and an evening performance. Tickets will go on sale in a couple of weeks time. Make sure you put Thursday 1st May in your diary… it’s definitely not a show to be missed!

Today is Ash Wednesday and, as a faith community, we embark together on our Lenten journey. I imagine many of us will have already decided on what we intend to ‘give up’ over the coming weeks. However, it’s worth remembering the words of Isaiah:

“The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear.’ (Isaiah 58: 6 & 7)

This is very much in the spirit of Pope Francis’ Lenten message for this year, in which he challenges us to ensure our sacrifices genuinely ‘cost’ us something and make a real difference to those in need.

The weekly prayer service takes place in the oratory this morning at 8.45am. This is a wonderful way for us to begin the season of Lent. Although this formal prayer service only takes place once a week, individual pupils who wish to set aside some daily quiet time are free to use the oratory from 8.45am throughout Lent. This is something I’m personally going to endeavour to fit into my daily schedule during the coming weeks.

Please remember that all parents and carers are invited to join our school community for Mass in St Bartholomew’s Church this morning at 10.00am.

Mrs Dolan was putting the finishing touches to a new purple banner for our oratory lectern yesterday afternoon – a reminder that the beginning of Lent is now only a day away. Our school community will join the parish for Ash Wednesday Mass at 10.00am tomorrow morning. All parents and carers are welcome to join us at St Bartholomew’s Church.

The parish ‘Pray for our School Group’ meets in the oratory at 11am this morning. All parents, carers and parishioners are very welcome to attend.

Anyway, I really can’t believe it’s pancake Tuesday again. Honestly, it’s just crêped up on me!!!

Have a good day, everyone!

I was privileged to receive a ‘Starr Award’ on Friday evening from Elaine Smith, MP, at an event in St Bartholomew’s Church Hall. I very much appreciate this recognition from the local community. However, as I received the award, I was very conscious of the fact that everything achieved in St Bartholomew’s over the past year and a half has been a real team effort; I couldn’t have done it on my own. So, although my name appears on the certificate, I would like to acknowledge the unwavering dedication and hard work of the whole St Bartholomew’s school community – pupils, staff, parents and parishioners – and thank all of you for your enthusiasm and commitment to our fantastic school. I’ll pop the trophy in the display cabinet this morning… because it belongs to us all!

Many congratulations to St Bartholomew’s Nursery Class who received a Starr Award of their own in recognition of the fantastic start they give to pre-school children in the Townhead area. Well done to the nursery team!

Catholic Education Week draws to a close today. It really has been a special few days and everyone – pupils, staff, parents and parishioners – will have their own particular memories. To bring this year’s Catholic Education Week to a conclusion, Mr Lynch has cleared the chairs from the oratory and each class has set aside some time to pray the Stations of the Cross using the new images which were added to the oratory during its recent refurbishment (see below). Primary 1-3 prayed the stations yesterday and Primary 4-7 will visit the oratory during the course of this morning.

Our Personalisation & Choice modules continue this afternoon, including the ongoing crime-solving investigation into who stole the Cool Class Cup (!!!), some fantastic clay-modelling and jewellery-making, and lots of opportunities to keep fit across the school. A great way to spend a Friday afternoon!

As part of our Catholic Education Week events, we welcome Mark Booker from SCIAF to St Bartholomew’s today. Mark is the charity’s Schools Officer and will be working with our Primary 5 pupils this afternoon.

A huge thank you to Mr Joe Bannan, a St Bartholomew’s parishioner and grandfather of one of our P4 pupils, for making yesterday’s Eucharistic Adoration possible. There was an amazing sense of peace and stillness in the oratory and many of the boys and girls told me afterwards how much they appreciated the experience. Thank you, Joe, for giving so generously of your time. It is very much appreciated.

It’s been a busy, busy week, but I’m definitely going to find a space in my day to have ‘Tea with Mr Young’ for last week’s Pupil of the Week winners. Paul from P3 turned up on Monday afternoon and has been waiting patiently ever since. Well, today’s the day, Paul!

(A joke for the grown-ups!)

Many, many thanks to Father Paul Francis for his input to St Bartholomew’s school community yesterday afternoon. Primary 6 and 7 thoroughly enjoyed their question and answer session with him and staff greatly appreciated the opportunity to have some quiet reflection time and celebrate Mass at the end of the school day. It really was a perfect addition to this year’s Catholic Education Week.

Our Catholic Education Week events continue this afternoon with a short time of Eucharistic Adoration for Primary 4-7 pupils in the school oratory. This will take the form of a 15min prayer service for each class, providing the boys and girls with some quiet time away from the usual hustle and bustle of the school day.

Primary 7 will spend the first part of the afternoon down at St Ambrose High School for their Fairtrade Coffee Afternoon. As well as giving the children the opportunity to support this worthwhile cause, it will also allow the boys and girls to become familiar with their new school and get to know some of their new teachers.

Once again, we welcome pupils from Buchanan High School to St Bartholomew’s this afternoon. They’ll be joining Primary 6 in the hall to continue working on their special dance project. It’s beginning to look very impressive, indeed!

The Parent Council meets in the staffroom this evening at 6.00pm. Please remember that comments and suggestions for discussion at their monthly meetings can be emailed to the Parent Council.

We welcome Father Paul Francis Spencer to St Bartholomew’s today. Originally from Glasgow, Fr Paul Francis is the Vocations Director for the Passionists* and is currently based in Dublin. He will be doing some work with Primary 6 and 7 pupils this afternoon and will then lead a ‘retreat’ and celebrate Mass with staff at the end of the school day.

*The Passionists are a global order of priests, brothers, nuns, sisters and lay people who have a special emphasis on the passion (the suffering and death) of Jesus. This inspires them to share God’s love and compassion with others, especially those who are poor and neglected. Founded in 1741 by St Paul of the Cross, the Passionists continue to work in 59 countries throughout the world. The closest Passionist community to Townhead is St Mungo’s Church in Glasgow.

A very warm welcome to Father Paul Francis!