St Bartholomews

It was lovely to see some of our prospective primary 1 boys and girls yesterday. I am looking forward to seeing a number of familiar faces this week, from our nursery and , of course, further afield. All are welcome.Could I please ask that parents and carers remind parents in the local community with school age children to register their child, in order to achieve their place at school for August. Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

As you can see, it is snowing this morning. Please make sure that your child is wrapped up well with warm coats,scarves,gloves etc. The snow is scheduled to continue today and tomorrow. As always, please check north Lanarkshire council’s website for notification of school closure. We will endeavour to text all parents in this eventuality. Please access the website below for further information. ;http://https//:www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk

We have plenty of activities posted on Glow in the event of inclement weather, if this is required.

Mrs Bolland

This is an exciting week in St Bartholomew’s Primary School as we are enrolling boys and girls who will be starting school in August. We are all looking forward to meeting our prospective Primary 1 children. I know that there will be a number of familiar faces coming through our doors this week as many our new Primary 1 pupils currently attend our nursery. Familiar and unfamiliar faces alike, you are all most welcome!

The important  information that parents and carers need to be aware of is;

Your child must have reached 5 years of age between 1st March 2018 and the 28th February 2019.

Registration takes place from Monday 15th January to Friday 19th January 2018, from 10am – 2.30pm each day.

Please bring your child’s birth certificate and proof of address in the form of council tax notice.

Parents/carers have the right to make a placing request for their child(ren) to be educated in a school other than the one which serves this area. You have the right to make a placing request to another school.This form will be issued to you at enrolment at your catchment school.

St Bartholomew’s staff are very much looking forward to meeting our new Primary 1 boys and girls and their families and to working with you in the very near  future .

Mrs Bolland

Primary 1 – Ryan

Primary 1/2 – Kaiden

Primary 2/3 – Jada

Primary 3 – Calvin

Primary 4 – Brodie

Primary 4/5 – Emma

Primary 5/6 – Cameron

Primary 6/7 – Aidan

Primary 7 – Stella

Cool Class Cup: Primary 3

Winning House: Summerlee

We are looking forward to listening to Vikki from NLC Active Schools today at assembly. Vikki will be talking about the after school clubs  on offer this term and providing our boys and girls with information about; dance, netball,gymnastics and  running club. She will also be telling us about forthcoming events such as ‘Fun Games’ and the ‘Walking Challenge’.

There are so many benefits to join an after school club and I would ask you to encourage your child to get involved in as many as possible. It is  a brilliant opportunity to get fit and active and also to be sociable and perhaps meet new friends. We are incredibly fortunate to have Vikki as an integral member of our team and has coordinated so many physical  and active learning experiences for our children. Thank you Vikki.

I am sure that we are all looking forward to finding out who our ‘Pupil of the Week’ from each class is today. The lucky boys and girls will enjoy ‘ Tea with Mrs B’ as a reward for this achievement, in addition to the pride and delight that it will bring their families.

Mrs Bolland

Clare from the Lanarkshire NHS dental team visited us yesterday and was impressed with our boys and girls toothbrushing technique! Especially, our infant and nursery department where much improved skills have been noted. Maintaining good oral health and hygiene is so important and contributes to good general health. A big thank you to Claire for all of her support and looking after our toothbrushing resources so well. The lovely bonus to all of this hard work is that our pupils will all have beautiful, gleaming smiles. Sounds good to me!

Joe Bradley, our Gaelic football coach was in school yesterday and was very impressed with our P5/6 pupils, who started a taster session with him for the next four weeks. Gaelic football coaching will then recommence with Primary 7 on the 7th of February. Joe has offered us the opportunity to take part in a ‘Sport Move and Learn’ programme that he is creating. This will allow children to enhance their physical skills with a sporting activity and then receive a theoretical input in class. There is real potential for impact with this scheme. Thank you for thinking about us Joe.

I hope that a significant number of our parents and carers have managed to spare 10 minutes or so to complete the survey from Education Scotland Inspectors and perhaps arrange a meeting with them.Your support with this is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Mrs Bolland

You will have recently received a text,and then a letter in your child’s school bag about our forthcoming visit from HM Inspectors from Education Scotland . They will be visiting us to conduct an inspection during the week commencing 22nd January.
As part of the inspection, Inspectors gather the views of stakeholders via an online survey which is available from;

https://forms.education.gov.scot/s/GZYOH/

I would be very grateful if you could find 10 minutes of your time to complete the survey, either from the direct link above, or alternatively from the web address in the letter that you can access from your browser.As key stakeholders, your continued support is very much appreciated and we are grateful to you for taking the time to take part in the allocated survey and look forward to your response.Inspectors will also be meeting with groups of parents during the inspection so to be part of that discussion you should complete the survey with additional links provided to indicate your interest in taking part.You should complete the survey by 15th January 2018 for one child or for each of your children in attendance. Children from Primary 4 to Primary 7 have also been asked to share their views, as have our  staff and all of our external partners.

We are looking forward to extending a warm welcome to the Inspection team from Education Scotland to St Bartholomew’s Primary and look forward to their feedback.

I am very happy to report that all  of our pupils have settled back in to school life after the Christmas holidays, and are working hard. It has been lovely to share in their news about all of the exciting experiences that this time of year brings.Well done boys and girls!

Mrs Bolland

Our Primary 7 pupils and Primary 4/5 pupils will be enjoying some exciting experiences in the kitchen today! Mrs McGuiness will be teaching the children some vital culinary skills and imparting a great deal of important knowledge for the future. I am pretty sure that we have some budding chefs amongst us. The lovely aromas coming from the kitchen prove very tempting and I am looking forward to sampling some of the wonderful creations.

Our Primary 5 boys and girls will be visiting the Time Capsule this afternoon in order to enhance their techniques in both swimming and ball skills. I am looking forward to another wonderful report from the staff at the Time Capsule and parent helpers who have very kindly volunteered their time . Well done boys and girls.

Could I please respectfully remind parents and carers that Breakfast Club starts at 8.15am. There have been reported incidents of children arriving unsupervised before 8am in the morning. Breakfast Club is supervised with staff from 8.15 am until 8.50 am, where children can be looked after safely and leave with a full tummy for a great start to the day.Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this matter.

Mrs Bolland

Welcome back everyone! I hope that a good time and a well deserved rest has been had by all over the past two weeks. It’s now back to business as usual at St Bart’s, where lots of fun and hard work will be in store, this term. As always, we will will keep you up to date with events and important dates for your diary.

As you know, Sunday was the feast of the Epiphany and could be in fact, be called the Feast of the Stars. A star guided the wise men to the stable in Bethlehem; stars have guided travellers and sea- farmers through the centuries.Stars represent the glory of God.The bible is full of references to the stars. In their multitude, the stars represent the multitude of the angels, God’s special servants. It was not that long ago that we witnessed our infant pupils performing on stage, many dressed as angels, with many stars decorating the stage. Everything created comes from God’s hand, so every created thing speaks to us with a richness of meaning which the scriptures, inspired by the Holy Spirit, open up to us.May we all be open to the Holy Spirit, this year, and for the foreseeable future.

Mrs Bolland

It’s the last day of school, before the Christmas holidays! As tradition has dictated for the past few years, it’s a fun filled day. The ‘Forward Together’ pupil voice group have organised our ‘Movie Duvet Day’. Children are invited to come to school, dressed in Christmas jumpers, or at least, in comfortable clothes. There will be a choice of dvd’s to choose from and the fun starts first thing in the morning!

Morning mass at St Bartholomew’s church, yesterday , was lovely. Fr O’Kane took time to speak to our pupils and ask them about the gifts that Jesus has bestowed on all of us. The boys and girls talked about knowledge, joy, wisdom, understanding, caring, kindness and many others. Our pupils were a credit to themselves and their families, both during mass , and also in walking to church and back.Thank you to our parent helpers- we couldn’t do it without you. We all felt suitably blessed and filled with God’s love in order to truly appreciate the  special day, that is Jesus’ birthday.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our Parish community for their continued support,this year, and I am sure, in many more years to come. It is indeed, a privilege, to serve the community of Townhead and one that all of our staff are delighted to do.

A very happy and Holy Christmas to all.

Mrs Bolland

St Bartholomew’s Primary school staff and pupils will be joining our Parish community this morning at 10 O’Clock mass in St Bartholomew’s church. This is to mark the end of term and to bless all of our school community in a happy and Holy Christmas. Mrs MacFarlane will lead us in singing some beautiful hymns that we all know well and some Primary 7 pupils will read the prayers of the faithful. We appreciate Fr O’Kane welcoming us to share in morning worship, and will provide us with a wonderful start to the holidays.

A big thank you to our parent helpers, who are supervising the children in the walk to church. Fingers crossed that the frost stays away until our safe return from church.

Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils will enjoy their Christmas party in the afternoon. Again, I know that they have been working hard on their ‘dashing white sergeant ‘ and other traditional dances that they will have the opportunity to demonstrate. Enjoy the party games and fun back in class!

Mrs Bolland