St Bartholomews

PUPILS OF THE WEEK
Primary 1: Ryan
Primary 1/2: Ellie
Primary 2: Jim
Primary 2/3: Arron
Primary 4: Aiden
Primary 5: Adam
Primary 5/6: Leigha
Primary 7: Ava

COOL CLASS CUP: Primary 4

HOUSE TROPHY: Monklands

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It has been an absolute delight watching this year’s Primary 7s rise to the challenge of being the oldest pupils in the school. They have been enthusiastic, responsible, hard-working and reliable from day one and have been perfect role models for the younger boys and girls. In recognition of their outstanding attitude and behaviour, a special P7 tie has been commissioned. This is now with the manufacturers and will be ready for the beginning of Term 2. You can see one of our House Captains proudly wearing the prototype in the photographs above and I know every other P7 will wear their new tie with the same pride once it is presented to them. Very well-deserved, P7. We’re really proud of you!

It’s Friday which means assembly, certificates, trophies and tea with Mr Young! Now that our new website has been launched, certificate and trophy awards will be posted directly onto the Head Teacher’s blog on a Friday morning. I wonder who the proud winners will be today?

IMPORTANT NEWS!

An opportunity has arisen for GB Hammer Thrower Chris Bennett to visit the school on Friday 2nd October. Chris was born and bred in Glasgow and began focusing on hammer throw in 2005. Chris is 4th of Scotland’s All Time Rankings and 7th in the Commonwealth. Chris will be leading a sponsored fitness circuit with all pupils and will follow-up with a talk and question & answer session. The aim of the event is to inspire St Bart’s pupils to take up sport generally as well as encourage them to discover and pursue their passion in life. Due to Chris’s visit including a sponsored event, I have made the decision to cancel this year’s sponsored walk which was scheduled for a week today. However, I’m sure you’ll agree this is just too good an opportunity to miss.

John Wilson photographers will be in St Bartholomew’s today to take individual and family photographs. The boys and girls always look ultra-smart in their St Bart’s uniforms, but I’m sure a few pupils will be taking a wee bit extra time with the hair gel this morning, brushing those shiny teeth for a few extra seconds and making sure their tie is absolutely perfect!

It’s only two weeks before Primary 7 head off to Oban for an action-packed week at Kilbowie. An information evening for pupils and parents/carers will take place this evening at 6.00pm in the Performing Arts Studio.

Finally, I noticed on Twitter last night that Primary 1/2 have a new addition to their class. This individual, however, won’t be donning a St Bart’s tie or lining up with the rest of the class as he’s actually a goldfish! I’m looking forward to meeting him (or her?) today and finding out their name. What a great opportunity for the children to learn how to care for one of God’s amazing creatures! St Francis, the patron saint of animals, will be very pleased indeed!

Please remember that John Wilson photographers will be in St Bartholomew’s tomorrow to take individual and family photographs.

The School Improvement Report for the 2014/15 session, along with this year’s School Improvement Plan, are now available on our new website. Both documents can be found in the ‘Information’ section. You may be interested to know that the school lunch menu is also available in the Information section by scrolling down to ‘Catering’. This will help you and your child plan their meals for each week in advance.

Class pages are in a different location on our new website. These pages will begin to appear over the next few days and can be accessed on the sidebar on the right of the homepage, immediately next to the Head Teacher’s blog. Please also remember that you can leave comments/messages on both the Head Teacher’s blog and individual class pages. It’s always good to hear from parents, carers and friends!

Welcome to our new-look website which went live yesterday! As you can see, it takes you straight to the Head Teacher’s blog as soon as you log-on. The new system features drop-down menus and also includes a mobile-friendly version when you access the website on your phone. Many thanks to Mrs McIntyre for all her hard work behind the scenes.

I’m not sure where the days are disappearing to this term… we’re into week 4 already! This means that our annual sponsored walk, scheduled for Thursday 17th September, is fast-approaching! Sponsor forms will go out either today or tomorrow. Every little helps, so even collecting 50p or £1 will help towards boosting our school funds and ensuring we can continue to bring the absolute best of resources and learning experiences to the pupils of St Bartholomew’s. Many thanks in advance for your support.

Primary 5 have their weekly swimming lesson at the Time Capsule today. This is a great opportunity for the children to extend their learning beyond the classroom as well as develop their health and well-being.

Finally, please remember that the weekly prayer service takes place in the oratory at 8.50am this morning. It’s a great way to start the day, especially with it being the Feast of the Birthday of Our Lady.

Having been out of school for much of last week, it’s great to be back in St Bartholomew’s this morning. The theme of this year’s Catholic Head Teachers’ conference, which I attended on Thursday and Friday, was ‘Renewing your vocation’. It was good to be reminded that St Bartholomew’s Primary exists for the service of others: parents, the parish, our local community and – most important of all – the 275 children we are privileged to have in our care. I’m looking forward to catching up with the boys and girls today!

The Scottish Catholic Education Service is holding a special event for parents next month. Details are given below.

It’s the second day of the annual Catholic Head Teachers’ conference. Bishop Robson from Dunkeld Diocese opened the conference yesterday with a thought-provoking address on renewing our vocation. We then heard from Patricia Watson from Education Scotland about the new ‘How Good is Our School?’ self-evaluation document which will be released at the end of this month. Michael McGrath from the Scottish Catholic Education Service also focused on school self-evaluation after lunch, introducing a new resource called ‘Developing in Faith’ before the afternoon closed with Mass. The annual dinner took place in the evening and this was a great chance to catch up with Head Teachers from across Scotland. Of course, the blethering continued into the early hours and I’m a bit bleary-eyed as I write the blog this morning! We’ll be hearing from Professor Bart McGettrick and Sir John Jones this morning – both unfamiliar speakers to me, so I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the conference.

Although there will be no whole-school assembly back in St Bart’s this morning, there will still be Pupil of the Week certificates and the Cool Class Cup and house points will also be awarded. Make sure you check out the website later today.