The annual ‘Rich man – Poor man’ event raised the fantastic sum of £47.00 for SCIAF yesterday. Many thanks to the Faith in Action group for organising the event and to all the boys and girls who took part for their generous donations.

Lynn Hendry from the Hunter Foundation (linked to the STV Appeal) was thoroughly impressed during her visit to St Bartholomew’s yesterday morning. A fantastic group of P5-7 pupils gave Lynn a guided tour of the school and talked to her about everything that makes St Bart’s a great place to learn. I am hoping that Lynn will be able to support us in further developing the performing arts in St Bartholomew’s, especially now that we have the Mark Millar Performing Arts Studio and our new state of the art stage lighting and sound system. Watch this space!

The Faith in Action group’s annual Lenten ‘Rich man – Poor man’ event takes place at playtime today. The cost for a snack (either ‘rich’ or ‘poor’) is 50p, with all proceeds going to SCIAF.

I will be meeting with Lynn Hendry from STV this morning to discuss possible ways in which the STV Appeal might benefit St Bartholomew’s. I’ll keep you posted on any developments.

We welcome the parish ‘Pray for our School’ group to St Bartholomew’s today. The group will be back in the oratory following its refurbishment and I am sure everyone will be absolutely delighted when they see the new benches. As always, the parishioners will enjoy a cup of tea and a blether with some of our pupils.

Primary 7’s performance of ‘Divided City’ is only a week away now so this morning’s rehearsal is very important indeed. Both the boys and girls from St Bart’s and Townhead Primaries were looking and sounding great last week, so I’m sure today’s rehearsal will run like clockwork. I can’t wait to see the show!

Finally, we received a surprise postcard from Badger the Mystical Mutt yesterday. It looks like he enjoyed his visit last week!

Primary 1 had a fantastic trip to Summerlee Heritage Park on Friday. Check out Twitter (@bartholomew_st) for photographs of their fun day away.

I’m delighted to announce that two of our P6 pupils, Ryan and Kaitlin, have qualified for the cross-country finals on 24th March. Well done to both of you!

Our netball team is participating in league matches today. Mrs Ruddy has told me the boys and girls are going from strength to strength, so I have no doubt they’ll do very well in today’s matches.

As you know, the new benches for our oratory arrived at the end of last week. They fit in perfectly to their new home and make our oratory an even more beautiful space to spend a few quiet moments in.

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.’ “