Happy New to our entire St Bartholomew’s school and Parish community! It is very much hoped that everyone has had a very restful holiday and enjoyed the festivities over the Christmas and New Year period.
I appreciate that many parents and carers will be looking forward to the children starting back school on Monday and I know that many of our pupils miss the routine of school and are looking forward to seeing all of their friends and teachers again. All of the staff in St Bartholomew’s look forward to welcoming back our wonderful pupils.

Sunday was the wonderful feast of the epiphany as well as World Day of Peace and the gospel reminds us that the wise men who visited Jesus’ crib were not Jewish. The fact that they were Gentiles demonstrates how open non Jews were to the arrival of the Messiah and how they recognised him as such when the Jewish authorities could not. The gifts that the wise brought were highly symbolic : Gold- associated with royalty and therefore recognising the kingship of Jesus. Frankincense- used in worship and thus demonstrating that Jesus should be worshipped. Myrrh- a perfume used in the embalming of dead bodies, foreseeing the death of Jesus.
In relation to World Day of Peace, It is perhaps worth noting in Evangelli Gaudium,         concern for the vulnerable, 216.

‘ Small yet strong in the love of God, like St Francis of Assisi, all of us, as Christians, are called to watch over and protect the fragile world in which we live, and all its peoples’.