St Bartholomews

As we are heading towards the Easter holiday, it is worth highlighting a few important pieces of information. Firstly, we have the slightly earlier finish time on Thursday of 2.30m and as such, the dismissal times for each class has to be amended. The following times have been arranged:

Bottom gate,Dunvegan Avenue

Primary 1 2.30pm
Primary 2, 2.25pm
Primary 3, 2.20pm

Top gate, Rannoch Avenue
Primary 4/5 and Primary 5/6, 2.30pm
Primary 4 and Primary 7a, 2.20pm
Primary 6 and Primary 7b, 2.10pm

Thank you in advance for your continued cooperation with adhering to these times as it makes such a difference to the safety of all of our pupils and staff. Could I also ask that parents are mindful of ensuring the gates are clear on entry and exit of pupils, agin this keeps our school community safe. Again, thank you for the consistent use of face masks at the gate as this greatly helps with preventing community transmission of the virus. We have been fortunate to be one of the very few schools who have not been adversely affected by COVID and long my that continue. This is of course a direct result of our mitigation’s and robust adherence to government guidelines.

It was lovely to see our P3 children and others, taking part in the sacrament of Reconciliation today and it was lovely to welcome Fr Jame to our school. He was most impressed with our boys and girls and how well prepared they were by MsDuffy.
I would like to wish you all a wonderful Easter holiday and enjoy some peace and relaxation with your families. Something we all need just now!
Have a happy and Holy Easter,

Deirdre Bolland,
Head Teacher

Please click on the link below to view the newsletter:

St Bartholomew’s Primary School Newsletter March 21

Schools update 16.2.21

Following confirmation from the First Minister, all children attending early years establishments (those eligible will continue to receive 1140 hours), pupils in primaries 1 to 3 and a small number of senior pupils on a limited basis will return to schools and centres from Monday 22 February 2021.

This includes children and young people in additional support needs (ASN) schools.

Early Years: All children should return to centres and nurseries as normal including partner providers.

P1-3: All children should return to school as normal including ASN pupils. School transport will be in place for those who are eligible. For those in composite classes, only children in P3 should attend school and those in P4 will be taught via online learning. All children in P1-3 will receive universal free school meal provision on return to school.

Please note that shielding children and young people should continue to shield under current lockdown guidelines, unless otherwise directed by a clinician.

Senior phase: Schools will be in touch with young people directly to outline when they should attend school to complete critical practical work in relation to qualifications. There will only ever be around 5-8% of the secondary school roll in school at any one time (excluding vulnerable children and key worker children). Arrangements will be made locally but for those who are eligible for school transport, this will be in place twice a day (morning and afternoon) and pupils should attend normal pick-up points. Those who are eligible for taxi transport, normal arrangements will resume from Monday 22 February.

Senior phase pupils in S4-6 are reminded that they must ensure they maintain two-metre social distancing in school and on school transport, as well as adhering to normal restrictions outside of school. School meals will be available for purchase (free for those who are eligible). In addition, at-home lateral flow testing kits will be available to senior phase pupils twice a week through their school and schools will be in direct contact to outline arrangements for distribution.

ASN pupils: Head teachers will be in touch directly with parents/carers of ASN children and young people in S4-6 to work with them to agree arrangements for in-school support should it be required. For those who are eligible for transport (taxi or ASN transport), the school or transport operator will be in touch to make arrangements.

Schools continue to remain open to provide learning and support for vulnerable children and children of key workers only.

Dear parents/carers,

I hope that you all continue to remain safe and well? Digital learning has been challenging for some and we all appreciate your efforts to adapt to this new way of working. Our teachers have guided many of you through the technical elements of accessing various platforms and especially OneNote, where all learning tasks are accessed. We are pleased to report that 92% of pupils are accessing digital learning and continue to support those who for one reason or another are unable to do this on a regular basis. As many of you know, literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing tasks are posted on a daily basis, with both video and audio clips to explain specific learning. This allows for children to access new learning and progress their skills. In order for us to support progress we are monitoring the engagement of all pupils and from the wide variety of tasks and activities that are planned for and posted on a daily basis, we would hope that nearly all of our pupils are able to submit 3 literacy and numeracy tasks along with a health and wellbeing tasks every day. This means that daily spelling, reading and writing skills are consistently improved as will mental maths and core maths skills. We all appreciate that parents and carers are concerned about children’s progress, as are we, hence the reason that such measures are in place to best support this. As always, please get in touch should you require any help or support.
I would urge you to keep up to date with emails, texts, twitter and this blog in order to access the most up to date information in relation to changes to the return of children to full time in school education. As you are no doubt aware, the First Minister announced the return of our nursery and Primary 1 to 3 pupils from the 22nd of February, should transmission rates allow. We will keep you posted on the practicalities of this return as and when appropriate. Again, thank you for your continued support and hard work in relation to digital learning and I am sure that you will join me in expressing a huge thank you to all of our wonderful staff who have provided such a robust digital offering to support learning for all of our pupils.

Keep safe and well,

Deirdre Bolland,
Head Teacher

Dear parent/carer,

I hope that you and your families continue to stay well in these very challenging times.
As you are all aware, learning and teaching will now take place on digital platforms from Monday 11th January until at least February. We will continue to update you with the latest information as and when it arrives.
In terms of our digital offering, we have a wide variety of activities and opportunities for all of our pupils to access. Firstly, I would ask you to access class DOJO where you will be able to register your child for the day and will be directed to OneNote, where all of your child’s learning activities will be found. In order to assist you and your child with access, Ms Allington has compiled a very useful instructional video about gaining access to the Virtual Classroom and One Note. This can be found on Class DOJO.

What you can expect

Please log in every morning by 9.15am through Class DOJO where you will be registered and directed to One Note through Glow. The class teacher will upload a welcome message with a summary of the day’s learning and children will be asked to engage with this learning and return completed tasks. Class teachers have worked extremely hard to create a wide variety of learning opportunities for your child to engage with. Children will receive ‘stars’ as a reward for their registration and the return of completed work. There will be a ‘Star of the Week’ in each class and a prize for a pupil in each class with the most stars at the end of the digital learning period.

Teachers will direct children to a ‘room’ in the virtual classroom where a variety of activities can be found. The appropriate colour of room will be shared with you and your child on DOJO and through Glow. The school have a number of subscription programmes such as Accelerated Reading and MYON that allow children to access a number of books and their corresponding assessments.
We have also placed instructions on how to access digital learning through Xbox and Play station on class Dojo, twitter, HT Blog and Glow should families not have access to laptops and/ or tablets.

Please be rest assured that class teacher will be able to support your child at all times and should technical issues or other barriers to learning arise, please make the class teacher aware and the Senior Management Team will be on hand to assist.

Kind regards,
Deirdre Bolland,
Head Teacher

Please see the latest information below from Derek Brown, our Executive Director, in relation to the recent statement from The First Minister:

Dear parent/carer,

Clarification of January arrangements

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone the very best of health, success and happiness for 2021. In light of national events, I wanted to get in touch with you before schools, family learning centres and nurseries return this week.

It is important that we continue to provide quality learning and education for all our children and young people without widespread disruption to their learning but it is vital that we do this within appropriate environments and with hygiene and physical distancing guidance in place to reduce the risk of transmission of coronavirus.

You will be aware that the First Minister previously announced that there would be an extended Christmas holiday break for pupils until 11 January (the exception to that is the vulnerable and key worker children for whom schools are asked to provide childcare from 6 – 8 January).

Yesterday the First Minister clarified that in light of the rise in COVID-19 cases nationally, the arrangements previously announced for schools for the January have changed. All children and young people return to learning on Monday 11 January 2021 when online learning will be in place until 1 February 2021. There is a possibility that these arrangements could continue on for a longer period, subject to review on 18 January.

Under these arrangements, schools are closed for most pupils, who will instead be provided with a programme of remote learning, based on digital experiences and supplemented with other resources, where that is applicable.

The change in guidance from the Scottish Government will make care and support for our children and young people challenging, but keeping them as safe as possible is paramount while we work through this health emergency as well as ensuring continuity of education provision through online learning at home.

Government guidance also stipulates that childminders can stay open to all children and should operate in accordance with Level 4 guidance.

Teachers will be in direct contact with pupils who will be able to access online learning through GLOW and Teams. In addition, this will be supplemented by the council’s Digital School offering, which is currently available to primary and secondary schools. All content on the digital school will be regularly updated to ensure pupils have access to quality materials based on the curriculum. Further information will come directly from your school in relation to the digital offering before pupils return on the 11 January 2021.

In line with Scottish Government guidance, all schools, including primary, secondary, LCSC and additional support needs, as well as family learning centres and nurseries (local authority and partner providers), will be open from Wednesday 6 until Friday 8 January only for children of key workers and vulnerable families when childcare support will be provided.

If you are a key worker and are unable to work from home, all schools, family learning centres and nurseries will be open for children and young people during existing times, when they will receive in-class learning. Lunch will be provided.

This service is only available to children of key workers (in the list attached) and vulnerable families. If another parent/carer is able to work from home, then your child must stay at home. Key worker support should only be accessed where you have no other alternative. Parents/carers who are key workers only should complete the attached key worker support form and send to the dedicated mailbox:keyworkerschools@northlan.gov.uk
Further details will be provided nearer the time.

Key workers are being contacted separately by members of our central team today to confirm receipt of their application and that their children can attend school on 6 January.

Schools have been given information about who key workers are and who to expect to attend. Those key workers who have not submitted the on-line form can still access the service, but need to make contact with their child’s/children’s school directly on Wednesday 6 January.

Children who were previously categorised as shielding must not attend, and under no circumstances should any child with symptoms of coronavirus present at a school or early years’ facility.

Access to Schools and Early Learning Centres for Vulnerable Children

Under the Scottish Government arrangements, vulnerable children are expected to attend school and Early Years settings. Prior to Christmas schools identified children and young people in that category. They will make arrangements for these children to attend from the 6 January onwards.

A full list of criteria for establishing vulnerable children is available on the Scottish Government website
https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-school-re-opening-arrangements-for-january-2021/pages/vulnerable-children-and-young-people/”>https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-school-re-opening-arrangements-for-january-2021/pages/vulnerable-children-and-young-people

Vulnerable family support

Direct contact by their lead professional (social worker, health worker or school link) will be made with families of vulnerable children.  If you are unable to contact your lead professional (social worker, health visitor, school link) to discuss attendance at school, please contact the Duty Officer – Education and Families on 01236 856326 (Monday to Friday, 8.45am-4.45pm) or social work emergency service on 0800 121 4114 (public holidays, weekends and out of office hours).

Transportation

If your child is attending school because you are a key worker or a vulnerable family, school transport will continue as normal from 6 – 8 January. You will be advised by your head teacher of any changes following this date, should there be any need to revise arrangements.

Additional Support Needs

I would like to thank ASN parent councils for working with us throughout this challenging time. Schools are planning for a bespoke learning package for individual children and young people. Head teachers/heads of centre or lead professionals will be in contact with parents/carers of children and young people with additional support needs to communicate arrangements and plans.

Free school meals

For all those who are eligible for free school meals, whether because of universal provision for P1-P3 or because you are otherwise entitled, Paypoint vouchers will be administered by SMS for the period 6 January – 1 February when children and young people are learning from home.

This is an unparalleled situation and one that is changing rapidly but the council is focused on providing all our children and young people with quality education until schools and ELC establishments can return to a more normal routine.

I appreciate that you will still have questions around schools, centres and nurseries and about ongoing practical considerations and I aim to provide a further update when children and young people return to learning on 11 January 2021. Information is available

https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/coronavirus/advice-parents-coronavirus/latest-school-updates/latest-school-updates

Yours,

Derek Brown

Executive Director

Education and Families

Dear parent/carer,

Please see below, a copy of a letter from Derek Brown, our Executive Director, outlining arrangements for January. It is worth noting that both parents must be key workers and unable to work from home in order to access in-class learning. Our digital offering is very robust and  children should all benefit from this, therefore it is important that children log in every morning to engage with their teacher. Thank you in advance for your continued support and from everyone in the St Bartholomew’s family, have a very happy and Holy Christmas. We look forward to seeing and hearing from you in the New Year.

Kind regards,

Deirdre Bolland,

Head Teacher

Dear parent/carer,
Clarification for January arrangements
You will be aware that the First Minister announced at the weekend that the school Christmas holiday will now be extended to Monday 11 January 2021 for all pupils. While we await further clarification from the Scottish Government, I wanted to get in touch with you before schools, family learning centres and nurseries finish for the festive break to outline our plans for the return in the new year.
The change in guidance from the Scottish Government will make care and support for our children and young people challenging, but keeping them as safe as possible is paramount while we work through this health emergency as well as ensuring continuity of education provision through online learning at home.
In line with Scottish Government guidance, all schools, including primary, secondary, LCSC and additional support needs, as well as family learning centres and nurseries (local authority and partner providers), will be open from Wednesday 6 until Friday 8 January only for children of key workers and vulnerable families when childcare support will be provided.
Government guidance also stipulates that childminders can stay open to all children and should operate in accordance with Level 4 guidance.
All children and young people return to learning on Monday 11 January 2021 when online learning will be in place at least until 18 January 2021.
Online learning
Teachers will be in direct contact with pupils who will be able to access online learning through GLOW and Teams. In addition, this will be supplemented by the council’s Digital School offering, which is currently available to primary and secondary schools. All content on the digital school will be regularly updated to ensure pupils have access to quality materials based on the curriculum. Further information will come directly from your school in relation to the digital offering before pupils return on the 11 January 2021.

Key worker and vulnerable family support
If you are a key worker and are unable to work from home, all schools, family learning centres and nurseries will be open for children and young people during existing times, when they will receive in-class learning. Lunch will be provided.
This service is only available to children of key workers (in the list attached) and vulnerable families. If another parent/carer is able to work from home, then your child must stay at home. Key worker support should only be accessed where you have no other alternative. Parents/carers who are key workers only should complete the attached key worker support form and send to the dedicated mailbox: keyworkerschools@northlan.gov.uk. Further details will be provided nearer the time.
Direct contact by their lead professional (social worker, health worker or school link) will be made with families of vulnerable children. If you are unable to contact your lead professional (social worker, health visitor, school link) to discuss attendance at school, please contact the Duty Officer – Education and Families on 01236 856326 (Monday to Friday, 8.45am-4.45pm) or social work emergency service on 0800 121 4114 (public holidays, weekends and out of office hours).
If you are using this service because you are a key worker or a vulnerable family, school transport will continue as normal week commencing Monday 11 January. You will be advised by your head teacher of any changes.
Additional Support Needs
I would like to thank ASN parent councils for working with us throughout this challenging time. Schools are planning for a bespoke learning package for individual children and young people. Head teachers/heads of centre or your lead professional will be in contact with parents/carers of children and young people with additional support needs to communicate arrangements and plans.
Free school meals
For all those who are eligible for free school meals, whether because of universal provision for P1-P3 or because you are otherwise entitled, Paypoint vouchers will be administered by SMS for the period 6 – 15 January when children and young people are learning from home.
This is an unparalleled situation and one that is changing rapidly but the council is focused on providing all our children and young people with quality education until schools and ELC establishments can return to a more normal routine.
I appreciate that you will still have questions around schools, centres and nurseries and about ongoing practical considerations and I aim to provide a further update when children and young people return to learning on 11 January 2021. More information will be available at northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schoolplans.
I would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Regards,

Derek Brown
Executive Director
Education and Families

Please see the additional photographs of the remaining hampers to be raffled on Friday. The very best of luck everyone! Huge thanks to all of our parents and carers who have very kindly donated items towards the hampers.

Please remember that we finish up for the Christmas holidays on Tuesday 22nd December at 2.30pm.

On behalf of all the St Bartholomew’s family, we wish you all a very happy and Holy Christmas.

Mrs Bolland

The photographs above display most of the fabulous Christmas hampers that our classes    our together over the past few weeks with the very generous support and donations from our fabulous families. The raffles will be drawn on Friday so get in quick for last minutes tickets!

The photographs above illustrate some of the wonderful examples of the increased skills and knowledge that our senior pupils have gained this session. Well done boys and girls and a huge thank you to their wonderful teachers.

The Parent Council met yesterday evening, albeit in a virtual setting and discussed a number of issues. The main points included the upcoming ‘Walking Bus’ pilot that we are undertaking, Halloween arrangements and ongoing congestion at the gates.  As you know the Walking Bus project starts on Monday 2nd November, all going well and no changes to government guidelines. Arrangements are in place for children who come to school in a car to be safely dropped off at a choice of 2 pick up points. These are the corner of Leven Road and Townhead Road, where the children will depart at 8.40am and Tantallon Drive at the corner of Belmont Street, where the children will depart at 8.50am. Please note that 2 parent volunteers will be placed at each pick up point with the addition of 4 Primary 7 House Captains at each point. Emma from NLC Active Schools will also be at the first pick up point to supervise the walk in it’s entirety.
The main reason for being involved in this project is to reduce the amount of cars on the road in the surrounding school area. Drivers have been parking with a lack of consideration for pedestrians, many of whom are children. This is a potential hazard. Other benefits that the project can achieve are a reduction in car emissions and the fac5 that children can increase their fitness levels through walking before school starts. It’s also great for health and wellbeing and helping to clear the head before getting down to work at school. We would like to thank the parents who have volunteered already and this is very much appreciated and would encourage more parents to volunteer so that it becomes less onerous and a rota can be created. Thank you in advance.

Again, our wonderful Parent Council have organised Halloween fun on Friday afternoon and there are prizes for bingo,fun activities and lots of treats! Thank you for organising this and we are all looking forward to seeing the wonderful ‘ Crazy  Halloween Hair’ that some of our children will be wearing on Friday. Could I please remind parents and carers that no Halloween costumes should be worn or any toys etc brought in from home.
Another suggestions at the Parent Council meeting was to ask parents to wait on the pavements on the opposite side of the road from the school gates. This will ensure that children can gather in an organised fashion prior to the bell without additional congestion. Teachers are then more able to identify their pupils clearly, thus ensuring their safety more readily.

Thank you to all of our parents and carers who have been very supportive in adhering to the 2 metre distancing guidelines at the school gates, this is very much appreciated to ensure the safety of our pupils and staff.

Mrs Bolland