St Bartholomews

It’s panto day! The children have been looking forward to this day for some time now, and it has finally arrived. We will all be leaving St Bartholomew’s around 9.30am,for the 11 o’clock show at the Pavillion theatre in Glasgow. The children will be in for a treat as The Pavillion have decided to go back to a more traditional theme and I am sure that everyone will very readily get into the Christmas spirit and be very much in the mood for all that this festive season  has to offer.

Boys and girls are asked to bring a packed lunch along, and those in receipt of free meals will receive a pack a snack. Children will have the opportunity to eat this during the interval and will also receive an ice cream. At the end of the show, the cast will pop up to meet all the children. This is something that the children love and is a very nice ‘little extra’. All of this is courtesy Mark and Lucy Millar , who very kindly organise this for us, every year. We truly appreciate this generosity. Thank you Mark and Lucy.

We will all return before 3pm, in time for the bell. Be prepared for some very excited children!

Mrs Bolland

Our Primary 5 pupils had a fantastic time at the Time Capsule yesterday. They had the opportunity to learn new skills in the dry sports area and then swap over with the other half of the class to the swimming pool. Ms Kiernan reports that the boys and girls were a credit to the school and that everyone listened attentively to their instructions. Something that is very important when you are in a pool full of water!

Pupil Voice meetings are on today, where our various groups will meet together to discuss how to improve learning experiences for our pupils. Mrs McLean and I are looking forward to our ‘Business Meeting’ where a chairperson from each group will report back with the groups’ future plans.

Please look out for a Christmas newsletter in your child’s school bag. Mrs Dunn has organised a letter with all the necessary dates for your diary. There are so many different things going on at this time of year that we thought it necessary to provide a guide of what’s going on.

Mrs Bolland

As you can see from the photograph above, we are gold winners! We were visited by Sportscotland, yesterday, who awarded us a gold school sport award. This is in recognition for all of the hard work that staff, pupils ,parents/carers and of course Vikki from NLC Active Sports have contributed over the past year. The award is given on very specific criteria and a wide variety of supporting evidence must be presented to comply with achieving gold standard. Our boys and girls have proven that they are very active in sports related activities and that St Bartholomew’s provide a huge range of sporting activities and opportunities. Well done boys and girls!

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that I would provide a grand total from the Christmas Fayre. We are delighted to announce that £2429.80 was made from all of the efforts from this annual event. Much appreciation to everyone in the St Bart’s community. This money will be put to very good use in order to enhance the learning experiences of our very well deserving pupils.

A reminder to our Primary 5 parents and carers that  swimming lessons begin today. As always, we will share transport with Townhead Primary to visit the Time Capsule in Coatbridge, where children will take part in both dry sports in addition to swimming lessons. What a wonderful opportunity! Please remember locker money and  both swimming and gym kits.

Mrs Bolland

Priamry 1 – Ewan

Priamry 1/2 – Louisa

Priamry 2/3 – Lucie

Priamry 3 – Marysa

Priamry 4 – Brogan

Priamry 4/5 – Logan

Primary 5/6 – Gary

Priamry 6/7 – Keira

Primary 7 – John

The Christmas Fayre was a great success on Saturday and Mrs Dunn will be counting all of the contributions this morning. I will be able to post a final figure on how much we have raised on tomorrow’s blog. Fingers crossed, it is our best one yet! There was certainly lots of activity in our hall and most people left, laden with gifts and other goodies. Boys and girls, both from our school and out with, enjoyed their visit to Santa and they were able to let him know what they wanted for Christmas, in person.

A huge thank you to all of our parent helpers who spent a considerable amount of time and effort organising this event. As you can imagine, an awful lot of work goes on behind the scenes, so that we can all enjoy a fabulous day and raise as much money as we can. Thank you ladies.

I was back in Coatbridge yesterday, attending the sacramental enrolement  mass in St Bartholomew’s church at 11.30 am. Boys and girls from Primary 3, Primary 4, Primary 6 and Primary 7  were asked by Fr James to come along , with their families, to enrol themselves for their appropriate sacrament. It was lovely to see the Church so vibrant and full of our young people in the community. Long may it last!

Mrs Bolland

Happy St Andrew’s day everyone ! As always, our pupils are encouraged to wear a wee bit of Tartan today. A little bit of ribbon, a scarf or socks is absolutely fine. Please do not buy anything new for this very low key event. There are enough higher profile events coming up shortly, such as the Nativity play, Christmas Concert, parties and choir visits. St Bartholomew’s is a very place indeed!

Our Primary 7 pupils had a wonderful time yesterday, during their visit to St Ambrose High School. This was a great opportunity for our pupils to make connections with the staff and pupils. I am looking forward to hearing about in detail…

Our dedicated teaching staff had a development meeting last night about evaluating the catholicity of our school, in order to think about any future improvements that we can make. Fr James very kindly joined us and was impressed with the quality feedback that all of our teaching staff provided from this activity.Thank you for your input everyone.

Christmas plates will be judged today and prizes will be awarded to one lucky pupil from each class. I am looking forward to seeing all of the wonderful entries. I know from experience, last year, that this is a very tricky task! Thank you to everyone for all of your donations for class hampers and we will put them together tomorrow, in time for the Fayre on Saturday. Remember, the Fayre starts at 10am, tickets are on sale at the door. We look forward to welcoming you then.

Mrs Bolland

Our Primary 7 pupils will be taking part in an exciting transition event at St Ambrose High School today. Sixth year STEM leaders will be working with our boys and girls in small groups, whilst completing a series of short, fun experiments. This event will take place in the Community Centre, instead of the school hall, and I am reliably informed that the school’s hall will be full of sequence and fake tan as rehearsals for Strictly will be taking place today!

The children will set off from St Bart’s at 9.30 am as they have a prompt 9.45 am start . It would be greatly appreciated if boys and girls bring a packed lunch, and as always, those in receipt of free meals will be provided with a pack a snack from our dining hall. The reason for this is due to lunch time being out with that of the High  School’s and as a consequence,the canteen will be closed. The workshop will finish at 2.15pm, where the children will make their way back to school, in plenty of time for the 3pm bell. A big thank you to our parent helpers, who are supervising the children on this outing.

A quick reminder to parents and carers to hand in Christmas plates, for judging, on Thursday and it would also be very much appreciated if  any donations for class hampers could be handed in by this date. Thank you very much in advance for your support with this matter.

Mrs Bolland

Mrs McGuiness will be teaching cookery skills to our pupils, I’m unsure about what is on the menu, but I am very confident that it will be delicious! The children really look forward to learning about a number of ingredients, some that may be familiar and some that may not be. Apologies- I made a mistake last week and forgot that Mrs Mc Guinness was on holiday. She will definitely be in today and we look forward to welcoming her. High school pupils will be joining us in the afternoon, to provide an extra pair of hands during lessons. We have also been lucky to receive extra help from St Ambrose pupils, every Monday afternoon. These young people have been assisting in every class in the school and their efforts are appreciated.
Mrs Carlin very kindly organised a Glow workshop last night for P1 mum and dads . Glow is an exciting online tool to help assist with children’s learning. There was a good uptake by parents and carers, who took full advantage of this support. I think that the skills learned from this workshop will be put to good use in the very near future.
Our Parent Council group met last night and it was lovely that Fr James managed to pop in, we know that he has a very busy schedule and appreciate that he found the time to check in on this important group. I will be attending mass this Sunday, at St Bartholomew’s church in order to receive a gift, on behalf of all the staff at St Bartholomew’s Primary from the Millar foundation. I will also be presenting Fr James with a token of their appreciation. It is lovely that the community links between the church and Parish are recognised in such a nice way. Mark and Lucy Millar are also organising a lunch and entertainment event for local pensioners on Sunday the 17th of December. Our P6 &P7 choir will be providing some entertainment , by way of Christmas songs and hymns at end of event.The guests are certainly in for a treat!
A reminder to parents and carers of Primary 3, Primary 4, Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils that there will be an enrolement mass for sacramental classes, on Sunday 3rd of December. Please try your very best to attend this service if you intend your child to be presented for the sacraments. Your support with this matter is very much appreciated.
Mrs Bolland

I hope that our pupils, parents and staff have all had a restful weekend, despite all the colds and sickness bugs that appear to be doing the rounds at the moment! We all need to be fighting fit for Saturday, when our annual Christmas Fayre takes place. A huge thank you to all of our parent helpers who have worked tirelessly to make this event a success.

Could I ask that any donations for the bottle stall, toiletries, brick a brac and any other unwanted gifts etcher to  be left in the school office . All donations, no matter how small, are very gratefully received. As always, we would appreciate donations of home baking, nearer the time, to allow for this very popular stall to be well stocked!

Please be advised that tickets for this event will be on sale , on the day, at the door. The ticket price includes a cup of tea and a biscuit in our community cafe.Hot dogs will also be on sale, which have always proved very popular with our local community. We are all looking forward to welcoming you on Saturday 2nd December, from 10am. I hear that Santa is particularly looking forward to seeing all of our boys and girls!

Mrs Bolland

Primary 1 – Connor

Primary 1/2 – Aaron

Primary 2/3 – Harvey

Primary 3 – Naia

Primary 4 – Connor

Primary 4/5 – Ava

Primary 5/6 – Lucas

Primary 6/7 – Declan

Priamry 7 – Shakira

Cool Class: Priamry 7

Winning House: Drumpellier