A huge thank you to Mr Morris, one of our P1/P5 parents, for giving so generously of his time earlier this week to begin getting our library back into shape. Mr Morris worked the whole of Tuesday organising our non-fiction books into the Dewey system to allow pupils to locate books on different topics easily. He’ll be back in St Bart’s next week to put fiction books into alphabetical order and then our new library will be ready to open its doors to classes. Thank you, Mr Morris!

I’ve mentioned it on my blog before, but I really do want to highlight again the extraordinary dedication of St Bartholomew’s staff. There were three different after-school clubs on last night, all run by class teachers who had already had a busy day of teaching and still had a pile of marking to do. I know how much the children enjoy their clubs, and I’m sure the boys and girls’ enthusiasm makes the extra time and effort worth it for the teachers. However, I want staff to know that this extra work does not go unnoticed, either by myself or by parents and carers. Thank you!

We’re now into December and well through the first week of Advent. It’s lovely to see the Christmas decorations up, especially the crib in the foyer to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. Pantomimes, concerts, parties, advent calendars, cards, presents are just some of the things that will be fighting for our attention over the coming weeks. However, the words from today’s Gospel reading at Mass – ‘It’s not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven’ – challenge all of us not just to focus on the ‘surface’ things of Christmas, but to allow our hearts to be changed and to try our best to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves. Let’s not just sing about peace, love, hope and joy, but work together to bring peace, love, hope and joy to those around us and be ready to welcome Jesus into our hearts at Christmas.