I would like to thank you all for your patience over the last few months and also in respect of organization for August. While we have draft plans in place, we are still waiting for local authority confirmation in a number of key areas. Once these areas have been clarified we will be in a position to update you on salient information for your children returning to school after the holidays.
Below you will find:
A letter from the Executive Director
Frequently-asked questions
An important update on Hub provision including a link for booking purposes
I do apologize for sending so much information on a Friday afternoon however it was issued within the last few hours.
Please find a letter from the Executive Director and a section dedicated to frequently-asked questions. Thank you.
I hope you have all enjoyed Health Week and have being staying active.
Throughout this week you have been learning about different saints. You have learned about St. Anthony and St. John the Baptist. Today we are going to look at what it means to be a saint. What does someone have to do to be considered a saint?
Please cut and paste the link below to find out how someone can become a saint. Some of our younger children may wish to ask an adult to help them read the information.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/32772092
As the article explained, saints are very special people. Watch the video below to see what makes them so special.
Now choose one of the following tasks to show what you have learned.
Task 1:
In your jotter write down the five steps to becoming a saint. You may also wish to draw a picture to show each of the five steps.Â
Task 2:
Choose a saint you admire and complete the worksheet below. You may have to do some research. Can you find out what this person did to become a saint?
Good morning boys and girls. I hope you are all enjoying our ‘Health Week’ so far, keeping active and healthy!
Letâs start today as always with our morning prayer.
God Our Father, as we prepare to begin our work, we ask you to help us to use properly the many gifts that you have given us, so that we may fully benefit from our day together.
St Barbara Pray for us.đ
Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist.
During the month of June, we celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist. We celebrate his birth on the 24th June. So today, we are going to be learning about the ‘Birth of John the Baptist’.Â
Who is John the Baptist?
John was the first man to publicly identify Jesus as the coming Messiah.
Before he was born
 John the Baptist is a very special Saint, before Saint John the Baptist was even born. God announced his birth to Johnâs Father Zechariah through the angel Gabriel. We know of someone else who had a visit from the angel Gabriel? Can you think who this might be?
Letâs have a listen to the video below to find out more about his birth and why it is so important:
God had a plan. He had chosen John to be the special prophet who would announce the coming of Jesus the Messiah.
Before you were born. God already knew who you were going to be. In fact, before any of the World was created He already knew every person who was going to live in it!
Just like God had a special plan for Saint John the Baptist. He also has a special plan for you. He wants you to be a prophet-that is, a witness- to Jesus for your friends and family. To do this, you need to stay close to Jesus through prayer and the sacraments. Do your best to live out Godâs special plan for you!
Shortly before he died
John announced that the Messiah was coming soon, then baptised Jesus in the Jordan. After this, Jesus went into the desert for 40 days. When He returned, John pointed Him out to the first of Jesusâ disciples. Shortly after, John was arrested and Jesusâ public ministry took off.
Letâs listen to this story to find out more about Saint John the Baptist:
Task–
Letâs test our knowledge on how well we now know the ‘Birth of John the Baptist’ by completing one of these tasks below.
Challenge- write in the correct answer if it it false.
Here is a lovely picture that you could print off and colour in or you might like to try have a go at drawing this yourself.Â
Please send your work to your teacher’s glow email or tweet us @St_BarbarasPS.
It’s ‘Welcome Wednesday’ and a very warm St. Barbara’s welcome to our new intake…the new Primary 1 children and all of your families.
While many of you are familiar with the school, some of you have never seen it before and you will have that opportunity at some point today.
On this special page you will find lots of information about the school including a video tour, letters and pictures from your Buddies and a special ‘Expert Area.’
The Expert Area has been created especially for you by our current Primary 1 children.
We can’t wait to see you all in school in August. In the meantime, please scroll down and enjoy!
Good morning boys and girls, on Sunday we celebrated the feast of Christâs Body and Blood, this is also know as Corpus Christi so today we are going to take some time to celebrate Jesus-the bread of life. Make sure that you are comfortable, light a little candle đŻ (if a grown up is with you) this helps us to take time out of our day to remember that Jesus is with us.
When we go to mass there are two very important symbols that remind us of Christâs body and blood. Â Can anyone think of what they are?
The chalice (the cup) and the host (the bread). Â These are very important items we use at mass that become, or hold, Christâs body and blood.
Why do you think that we celebrate Christâs body and blood? Â Why is it important?
Christâs body and blood are gifts that Jesus began to give us at the Last Supper and finished after he rose from the dead. Â We also call it the Eucharist. Â We share the Eucharist together to remind us that we are all united. Â In school, the boys and girls in primary 5-7 have received Jesusâs body in communion – the Eucharist, however, it is important for us all to receive Jesus into our hearts. Â We can all do this when we show love and kindness towards others. Perhaps today you could try to show kindness to the people in your family. It could be something simple like helping to tidy your room, help to do the dishes or make a cup of tea. Â Think of something that will make someone happy.
Have a great day boys and girls, take care and remember to be kind. đđđ
Good morning everyone. It was lovely to see some of your wee faces visiting the Blessed Sacrament in the grounds of the Church on Sunday. I have attached a link for you to watch the marking of Corpus Christi, Father Campbell has been very busy this weekend.
Today’s lesson is about St Anthony of Padua.
Saturday (13th June) was the feast of St Anthony of Padua. Usually we would talk about him and learn about him if his feast day had fallen on a school day, therefore we will learn about him today because he is a very popular and beloved saint. Do you know why?
Yes, Saint Anthony is known as the saint you pray to if you have lost something. He is one of my favourite saints because he is my gran’s favourite and he has really helped her in the past. One day, my gran lost her favourite crucifix necklace, she was very, very upset and she prayed every day for almost two weeks. One day when she went back in the drawer to check once more, it was there! Just sitting where she had checked so many times! She was so very happy that she has continued to include St Anthony in her daily prayers ever since. For, as she explained to me, it’s okay to pray to St Anthony to ask for help but you must also remember to pray to him and thank him.
The Story of St Anthony
Anthony’s name was Fernando Martins. He was born in Portugal in 1195 to a wealthy family, but he wanted to become a priest and chose to live a life of poverty. After his ordination, the plan was for Anthony to travel to Morocco to help spread the Catholic faith. While there, he became very sick, therefore his superiors decided to send him back to Portugal. On the way home, a storm came and blew his ship off course. Instead of landing back in Portugal they landed in Sicily, not far from Italy. They then travelled to Tuscany which is in the middle of Italy. Being ill and weak, Anthonyâs superiors decided to have him stay with some local priests in the hope that he would get better. He spent a long time there praying and studying.
One day, Anthony was asked to give a homily at mass, he had not prepared for this and was nervous as he hadn’t done it before. His superior told him, âJust say what the Holy Spirit wants you to.â (In other words, donât prepare anything and God will give you the words to say.) His homily was so well received that he was from then on asked to preach to various groups. He became known as a great preacher. Anthony had the ability to teach to everyone, regardless if they were young or old, educated or not.
So why is he known as the saint to pray to for lost items? Well, Anthony had a special prayer book which he used in all his teachings. It had lots of notes and special prayers that he used during his homilies, but one day it was stolen. Anthony prayed and prayed for its return and eventually the thief returned it. But not only did he give it back, he began to worship and followed the teachings of Anthony.
Questions:
 Have you ever lost something and prayed hard for it’s return? What was it and why was it so special to you?
 What do you think makes a good preacher? (Qualities such as, friendly etc)
Task
Apart from school life, can you name someone in your family or circle of family friends who is a good teacher? It doesn’t have to be educational, it can be about anything, such as a grandfather who inspires you with stories or work, or a family friend who talks to groups of people about something important. Write a little about them. Who are they and what skills do they have that make them a good teacher?
For me, like I mentioned before, my gran is a good teacher. She has taught me many things about my religion over the years. She is interesting to listen to because she is a great story teller and uses her voice and facial expressions very well. She is also very funny and has the ability to laugh at herself when she makes mistakes, which is important!
I hope you all have a lovely day and tonight when you are saying your prayers, remember to include St Anthony.
Just a reminder that itâs health and wellbeing week this week. Â Please continue to work from the grid this week. Â The grid is in Mondayâs post if you have still to access it. Â In addition to this, RE is being uploaded every day too.
Good Morning everyone and welcome to a new and exciting week!
This is a busy week as we have nominated Wednesday 17th June to be our first ever…
‘Welcome Wednesday!’
On Wednesday we will launch a new webpage dedicated to the Primary 1 children who will be joining us in August. Normally we would have undertaken a range of activities in school with the children and their parents but this year we have created a series of video messages and powerpoints to welcome our new families. Make sure that you have a look on Wednesday as the current Primary 1 and Primary 6 children have been really very busy!
Health and Wellbeing
This week is Health and Wellbeing Week and there will be lots of activities for the children to enjoy both indoors and out.
Normally in June, we celebrate Health Week and we take part in lots of different activities. It is important that we keep our minds focused and positive during these difficult times and two great ways of doing that are by exercising and eating healthily.
This week I would like you to complete activities from the Keeping Healthy grid at the bottom of this page. On this grid you will find a range of activities for the Shanarri Indicators: Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible and Included. As well as HWB activities that you will be working on this week, I would like you to complete the RE activities which will be uploaded daily.
I would also like you to keep a record of the exercise that you complete (exercise logs below). Itâs recommended that children between the ages of 5-17 complete at least 60 minutes of exercise per day. There are different ways of exercising. You might go walking, running, play football, dance, play outdoor games or do some yoga. These are just some of the ways in which you can complete your daily exercise and stay active. I am sure you can think of lots more or take some ideas from the Keeping Healthy grid below.
Another way to help keep us feeling positive is to eat healthily. Why is it important to eat healthily? Imagine your body was a fancy sports car. What kind of petrol would you put in it? Would you give it the best petrol you could buy or whatever you could find? Your body is like a sports car. When you give your body healthy food every day, you have lots of energy. Your body also grows and becomes strong. If you give your body unhealthy food, it wonât work as well.
You might have less energy or get sick more often.
But how do we know what foods are healthy and what foods are not? Well, a healthy eating guide for the UK was developed. It is called the Eatwell Guide and can be found below.  You can use this Eatwell Guide when completing healthy tasks from the Keeping Healthy grid below. Please find below other tasks you may need from the grid too.
Have a fun filled week boys and girls and I hope you enjoy all the tasks on the grid. Please remember we want to see your pictures! If you can please tweet us @St_BarbarasPS or send pictures to your teacher’s glow account.
Good morning boys and girls. I hope you have all had a great weekend and are ready to learn some new things and enjoy some interesting activities.
Let’s start today as usual with our morning prayer.
God Our Father, as we prepare to begin our work, we ask you to help us to use properly the many gifts that you have given us, so that we may fully benefit from our day together at school.  St Barbara Pray for us.đ
As you know, June is the month of The Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is when we should focus on praying to and honouring The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ and try to understand his eternal love for us.
Hundreds of years ago a nun called Margaret Mary had a vision in which she saw Jesus – this is  known as The Great Apparition. She received twelve promises from Jesus for those who honour His Sacred Heart. Some of these promises are that Jesus will give devotees comfort, peace, holiness, and âall the graces necessary for their state in life.â In addition, Jesus promised that He would âbless every place where an image of his heart is exposed and honoured’.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is shown as a bright red human heart with flames and a halo of light. The heart is pierced and bleeding, referring to the manner of Jesusâ death on the cross. Â The heart is surrounded by a crown of thorns, symbolizing his passion. Above the heart is a cross, representing us being saved from sin. The heart is aflame, signifying purification. The whole symbol shines with rays of light, showing the holiness of the Lord.
Here is a very powerful prayer – called a novena – to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. You should try to learn it and say the prayer whenever you need to.
 Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus  O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.” Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of…..(here name your request)
Now say an Our Father….Hail Mary….Glory Be to the Father….Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.
This prayer will bring you closer to Jesus and his generous love.
Boys and girls here is a link to a website which will show you how to make a Sacred Heart medal all by yourselves.
Finally, here is a picture for you to colour. If you cant print the picture then try to copy it. When you have finished it, put it on a wall in your house.
God Our Father, as we prepare to begin our work, we ask you to help us to use properly the many gifts that you have given us, so that we may fully benefit from our day together at school.  St Barbara Pray for us.đ
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is shown as a bright red human heart with flames and a halo of light. The heart is pierced and bleeding, referring to the manner of Jesusâ death on the cross. Â The heart is surrounded by a crown of thorns, symbolizing his passion. Above the heart is a cross, representing us being saved from sin. The heart is aflame, signifying purification. The whole symbol shines with rays of light, showing the holiness of the Lord.
I hope you have a great day boys and girls.
