St Bartholomews

Last week saw many new faces visit our school as part of our Primary 1 enrolment process. Our numbers are looking very healthy with our highest numbers yet for placing requests in to St Bartholomew’s. Parents and carers have obviously heard about all of the great work and support that our pupils receive. A very warm welcome to our new Primary 1 pupils and their families.

On Monday  this week, Clare from NHS Scotland dental team will visit us to ensure that our boys and girls’ teeth are healthy and looked after.  The dance after school club will also be on today. As always, please remember to provide children with appropriate kits and water bottles.

On Tuesday, myself and Mrs MacIntyre will be visiting the Literacy Base in Bellshill in order to keep up to date with current interventions so that all of our pupils progress well at their own level. A representative from Speech and Language will visit us today to support one of our pupils. I will be hosting a ‘ Family Group’ meeting in St Bartholomew’s so that Head Teachers of Schools from a similar demographic to St Bart’s can work collegiately in order to create improvements for our pupils.

On Wednesday Mrs MacIntyre will attend a collaborative meeting in a nursery in Wishaw, along with some of our dedicated staff in order to discuss improvements. Our nursery boys and girls are very lucky! Primary 3 pupils will benefit from an outdoor learning scheme that will allow children to enhance skills and knowledge.  The Netball after school club will be taking place in school today and as always, your support with appropriate kits and water bottles is much appreciated.

On Thursday, one of our nursery staff will be attending VERP training which allows for enhanced practice and as a consequence, improved outcomes for children.  Some of our younger pupils will enjoy the fun games after school club today. We are very lucky to have Kaitlyn, a former pupil, leading this club. Thank you Kaitlyn.

On Friday, we will look forward to our weekly assembly and sharing in the success of our ‘Pupil’s of the week’ , ‘ Cool Class Cup’ and winning house. Sally will be visiting us today and will be delivering Kodaly to our Primary 5 children. Boys and girls in P1 will be super excited to visit Stirling Castle, as part of their school topic. We look forward to sharing in the fun through twitter. Have fun boys and girls!

Mrs Bolland

Primary 1 – John David

Primary 2 – Woody

Primary 3 -Arran

Primary 4 – Amy

Primary 4/5 – Layla

Primary 5 – Emma

Primary 6 – Liam

Primary 7 – Aiden

Cool Class Cup: Primary 2

Winning House: Monklands

This very talented pupil arrived in my office, super excited about her achievements in dance. Very well done from all of your friends at St Bartholomew’s.

This week sees the start of enrolments for Primary 1 in August. Please note that this will take place between 9.30 am and 11.30am and then between 2pm and 3pm. We look forward to welcoming you to the St Bart’s family. Please bring along your child’s birth certificate and proof of address( council tax bill) alon* with a baptismal certificate, if appropriate. We will keep you informed about transistion meetings, nearer the time.

Our netball team are very excited to take part in a local tournament on Monday. Mrs Dolan will escort the children. Best of luck! We look forward to hearing about how you get on. Clare from the NHS dental team willl be visiting us today. Thank you again for all of your help and support with keeping oral health a priority.

On Tuesday , our Primary 1 and Primary 7 children will be assessed by the community dental team. This is a great support and much appreciated by all. Our Education Psychologist will be visiting our school today to support some of our pupils and discuss future plans with myself.

On Wednesday, I will be attending a locality Primary Head Teacher’s meeting at the  Glow Centre in Motherwell . This is a great opportunity to meet with colleagues and hear about the lates5 initiatives from NLC. I will keep you up to date with improvements. Primary 3 will be taking part in a new outdoor learning initiative that enhances literacy through the use of the outdoors. I am looking forward to following the children’s progress. A few of our teachers will be attending Low Intensity Anxiety Management (LIAM) training today. This will allow for some of our pupils to access specific support when it is required.  The Netball after school club will take place today. As always, please provide appropriate kits and bottles of water. Thank you.

On Thursday, the ‘Fun Games’ after school club will take place. Again, please ensure your child has appropriate kit and a bottle of water to support this activity.

Mrs Bolland

Primary 1 – Stefania

Primary 2 – Ewan

Primary 3 – Lucy

Primary 4 – Kaidyn

Primary 4/5 – Marysa

Primary 5 – Lucy

Primary 6 – Sarah Louise

Primary 7 – Lucy

Cool Class: Primary 5

Winning House: Summerlee

Happy New Year to all friends and family of St Bartholomew’s Primary School! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful time over the festive period and a very warm welcome back to all.

A big thank you to all of our parents and carers who supported the last week of term’s events and we were very grateful for contributions to Christmas parties. Thank you. On the last day of term some of our pupils enjoyed goodies from the chocolate fountain and as you know, the monies raised contributed to a very worthwhile charity, SCIAF. Our Faith in Action group are delighted!

On Monday, all of our dedicated staff are looking forward to welcoming back all of our pupils, both in the nursery and school. We can’t wait to hear all about your adventures over the holidays!

On Thursday, I will be attending a STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) working party that has been put together by North Lanarkshire Council. I am looking forward to accessing the latest research and ideas from this very important and forward thinking group in order to provide improvements to our pupils’ skills and knowledge. I will keep you posted.

On Friday, I will be attending a Head Teacher’s meeting in Motherwell and look forward to learning about the latest initiatives and information from the Education and Families division.

Next week will see enrolments for our new Primary 1 pupils start on Monday. Please see letters for specific times and the necessary documentation that is required. We look forward to welcoming new pupils and their families to St Bartholomew’s.

Mrs Bolland

Huge congratulations to one of our upper school pupils- he is now the proud owner of a black belt in Taekwondo! What a fabulous personal achievement. This is testament to the hard work and dedication that is necessary to achieve such a prestigious award. Very well done from all of your friends at St Bartholomew’s.

As you can imagine,this week is extremely busy with the many planned Christmas activities and events.

On Monday, our Primary 1 to Primary 3 children will be performing the Nativity on stage. Teachers and children have been working extremely hard to deliver an outstanding show and I can assure you that you are in for a treat. They sound fantastic! Doors open at 1.45pm for a sharp 2 O’Clock start. We look forward to welcoming you.

On Tuesday, Fr O’Kane will visit our school in order to hear confessions from our Primary 4 to Primary 7 children. This will help prepare our pupils spiritually for the birth of our Lord. Thank you Fr O’Kane. Sr Maria Goretti from the Innocents Society will also be visiting us in order to receive a layette for a baby in need of our support. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, it is much appreciated. In the afternoon,  Primary 6 and Primary 7 children are having their Christmas party. Children come to school in uniform and are free to change at lunch time for their party in the afternoon. They will enjoy music, dancing and prizes. Children are encouraged to bring in snacks for the class party. Thank you for your help and support with this.

On Wednesday afternoon , our Primary 4 and Primary 5 children will enjoy their class Christmas party. Again, children are asked to come to school in uniform and then change at lunch time.

On Thursday afternoon; Primary 1, Primary 2 and Primary 3 will enjoy their class Christmas parties. A special visitor will be visiting our youngest pupils…The same routine applies as above for all other classes. Again,  thank  you for your help and support with this.

On Friday, it’s Movie Duvet day! Children are encouraged to wear something  with a Christmas related theme .We will also have the very popular Chocolate fountain available for £1 a portion, all monies raise from  this will contribute towards very worthwhile charities such as SCIAF.

Mrs Bolland

As you can see from our photographs above, the talent continues at St Bartholomew’s! Trophies were awarded for dancing and a medal awarded for skills in running at the Santa dash. Well done boys and girls.

On Monday, we welcome Clare from NHS Lanarkshire dental team. Thank you for all of your help with toothbrushing. Our pupils really benefit from your input.Mr Graham from the SAM group will also be visiting us to help some of our pupils with digital technology. A representative from SCIAF shall be  delivering  a Pope Francis Faith Award workshop with our upper school pupils.

On Tuesday, Mrs Brown and Ms Fallon will be researching some effective ideas in outdoor play at other establishments in NLC. Good luck ladies…Mrs McLean will be supporting the recruitment process of  prospective students to Strathclyde University as a member of the interview panel for those wishing to establish a career in teaching. I am sure that this will be a very interesting experience.

On Wednesday, Primary 4 to Primary 7 pupils will be performing our annual Christmas Concert on the stage at 1.45pm, doors will open at 1.30pm.Tickets are available from the office. I have heard the children during rehearsals and can assure you that you are in for a treat! Raffle tickets will also be available at the door and your support with this is very much appreciated.

On Thursday, it’s the panto! Mark and Lucy Millar are supporting this fabulous event for all of our pupils. We are very grateful for the tickets and the children absolutely love it. The performance at the Pavillion theatre is Cinderella this year, and the children will look forward to a visit from the cast at the end of the show. What a great opportunity! Again, a huge thank you to Mark and Lucy for their continued support with funding this super event.

On Friday, the Nursery are hosting their annual Christmas Nativity play at 9.30am and 2pm in order to accommodate both morning and afternoon children. Again, I have been lucky enough to hear rehearsals and the children sound great, well done boys and girls!

Mrs Bolland

Primary 1 – Sinead

Primary 2 – Connor

Primary 3 – Ciaran

Primary 4 – Kalinka

Primary 4/5 – – Emma

Primary 5 – Jim

Primary 6 – Zaynab

Primary 7 – Harvey Jo

Cool Class Cup: Primary 6

Winning House: Lochend

Healthy Breakfast Diary Winners – Sarah Louise, Malinka & Maddison

As you can see from the photographs above, great fun was had on Saturday  at the Christmas Fayre. A huge thank you to our parent helpers who tirelessly supported the school, and as a consequence, all of our boys and girls. The tremendous figure of £2316.35 was raised on the day and  funds from this will contribute towards keeping the price of outings as low as possible and allow our pupils to have access to as many opportunities as possible. Thank you to all of our parents and carers who supported this important fundraising event.

You may have noticed that the Christmas plates competition produced some great work and prizes were awarded to the worthy winners. The winners are as follows;

Primary 1, Liam  Gray,

Primary 2, Brooke Malone

Primary 3, Harvey McGhee

Primary 4, Ava Menzies

Primary 4/5, Maya Kirkland

Primary 5, Molly Maguire

Primary 6, Zaynab Abram

Primary 7, Ami McGhee

The winner of the large elf soft toy was Brodie and Bridget won the unicorn. Well done, you guessed the correct date of birth and name respectively. What fabulous prizes!

Mrs Dunn has kindly produced a December newsletter, which is a reminder of all of the dates pertaining to parties, concerts etc that will be coming up within the next few weeks. All of the dates included in this already appear in your term 2 newsletter.

Mrs Bolland

Again, the photographs above illustrate some very talented pupils in St Bartholomew’s who have been rewarded for their success in dance.Well done girls!

A huge thank you to our parent volunteers who have donated their time and efforts in order to prepare for our Christmas Fayre on Saturday. There are lots of exciting things to look forward to-; Santa’s grotto, glitter tattoos, hair bows, chocolate fountain, children’s Christmas crafts, cup cakes, class hampers, tombola, raffles, toys /bric a brac and much more. Please look in school bags for a letter detailing some wonderful opportunities for our boys and girls to win fabulous elf and unicorn soft toys. We would also be very grateful for Christmas plates to be returned so that they can be judged in time for the Fayre and prizes awarded for best entries. Thank you in advance.

On Monday, Mrs Kinniburgh will be visiting the school in order to support some pupils with an input from Educational Psychology. As always, visitors to our school are always welcome. Our staff will be meeting after school today to work collegiately to make improvements to key areas such as Stem, literacy and numeracy.

On Tuesday,Mrs Newton from Community Learning and Development will be working with some of our parents, alongside our  first aid partners. This is a wonderful opportunity for our parents to achieve formal qualifications. Thank you Mrs Newton. Our parent council will also meet today at 6 O’Clock in the staffroom. As always, all are welcome and an open invitation is extended to all of our parents, from Primary 1 to Primary 7. We look forward to seeing you then.

On Thursday, we welcome Ms  McLeary from Strathclyde University  who is undertaking a tutor visit for Ms Clark. I am confident that she will be impressed with all of the fabulous work that goes on in Primary 1. Our Primary 6 children will receive an input from Celtic coaches. The boys and girls particularly enjoy the dual aspect of this, where they take part in both physical activities alongside classroom tasks.

On Friday, we will be very busy with preparations for the Christmas Fayre and transforming our school into a ‘Christmas like’ environment. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

Mrs Bolland