St Bartholomews

It’s the final day of Maths Week! The children have had brilliant fun, whilst learning new skills and increasing their knowledge at the same time. As you can see, from the pictures above, our senior pupils are thoroughly enjoying themselves. They had to work collaboratively and systematically in order to answer ‘tricky’ questions ,which then allowed them to collect a number of clues that then contributed towards working out codes that would unlocked their respective boxes. It was exciting stuff…

Today, we are finishing Maths Week with a bang. Our family maths quiz takes place in the hall, younger children will take part with their families in the morning and then, senior pupils will do the same in the afternoon. Answers to the quiz will then be read out and after that, family members will be encouraged to take part in  the eight activities, set up in the hall.There are; games, puzzles,maths trails and lots of other fun activities for everyone to enjoy.Tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits  will then be served. A big thank you to Mrs MacFarlane for organising this event! We look forward to seeing you there.

Mrs Bolland

Our Primary 4/5 parents and carers are in for a treat this morning! As it is ‘Maths Week’, with the theme being ‘ Making Maths Count’, Ms Allington has organised a parental engagement event with this in mind. Parents and carers have been asked to join the children in class at 9.15am, this allows administrative tasks such as registration and lunch arrangements to be completed, prior to hosting this event. Parents are welcome to wait in our reception area after the bell has gone, and before the event.

Ms Allington has planned exciting maths tasks for the children to carry out alongside their parents. I’m sure everyone will have a super time and I look forward to popping in to Primary 4/5’s class to join in with the fun!
Mrs McLean has organised some fantastic events to take place this week, in the name of ‘ Maths Week’. The gym hall will be booked out all day as our infant pupils in Primary 1- Primary 3 will be taking part in some fantastic problem solving activities. The skills that the children will learn through this experience are invaluable and are readily transferred to future learning.
On a completely different note, please come along to our weekly prayer service in the oratory. This service is lead by the children and instills a great sense of duty and responsibility in them, whilst deepening their faith at the same time. It is a truly wonderful start to the day and as always, the invitation is extended to everyone in our parish community.
Mrs Bolland

Yesterday, we had ‘Alan’s road safety magic show’ in St Bart’s for our Primary 1-Primary 4 pupils and also for the same stage of pupils at Townhead primary. The laughter from the boys and girls could be heard at the other end of the school!Great fun was had by all, and all in the name of important information about road safety .What a super afternoon.

A big thank you to all of our parents and carers who attended the Kilbowie information evening. It was great to see such a good turn out and a number of people commented on how reassured they felt after the meeting. The children couldn’t hide their enthusiasm as they watched the video clip about Kilbowie, which gave a great insight into what to expect in terms of activities and day to day life. As always, during the trip to Kilbowie, we will continually keep parents up to date via Twitter and the blog, in order to follow the children’s progress.

Ian Webb from community learning and development will pop in today to speak to our Primary 7 children about the local youth group. Community projects like this are a fantastic opportunity for children from all over Townhead to get together and get to know one another a little better. Thank you Ian!
Mrs Bolland

I attended the Catholic Heads Association for the Primary Sector, (CHAPS) on Thursday and Friday of least week in St Andrew’s. There were many inspirational speakers at the conference, and a very common thread running throughout was how lucky we are in Scotland to have a wonderful community of Catholic schools.Next year marks the 100th anniversary of this community and I eagerly anticipate the wonderful plans that are already in place to mark this very important anniversary .I kept our parish community in my prayers, especially during mass at the conference , principally celebrated by Archbishop Phillip Tartaglia. The conference was made particularly special as it was Our Lady’s birthday and marked accordingly.I am looking forward to returning to St Bartholomew’s today and catching up with everyone’s news!
As always, it is a very busy week in St Bart’s. ‘Alan’s Road Safety magic show ‘ will present a fun but clear message about the importance of following road safety rules for our Primary 1 – Primary 4 pupils , in the afternoon session. We will be joined by pupils from the infant department in Townhead Primary ,to take part in the magic show. I know that the children from both school will enjoy this fantastic opportunity to learn about being safe whilst crossing roads.You are all very welcome!
A reminder to the parents and carers of our Primary 7 pupils that the Kilbowie information meeting will take place in the school at 6pm this evening. Expectations, basic rules and codes of behaviour will be addressed, there will also be an opportunity to learn about the itinerary and how the children will spend their time in Kilbowie. I have yet to meet a child who has not loved every minute of it! We are looking forward to seeing you then.
Mrs Bolland

Primary 1 – Eriann

Primary 1/2 – Enid

Primary 2/3 – Lucy

Primary 3 – Shay

Primary 4 – Arran

Primary 4/5 – David

Primary 5/6 – Arron

Primary 6/7 – Ellie

Primary 7 – Kai

You can see from the photograph, that children have been learning new skills and making a very good job of getting air into the mixture that will be transformed into a herb infused pizza base.Next week, children will make the toppings and assemble their own pizza. I will certainly make sure that I am around when the pizzas start coming out of the ovens!

Yesterday was a wonderful day for the children as they were entertained and educated by a fantastic company who performed and presented marvellous messages about social and emotional health. The aim of this presentation was to increase mindfulness and make children more aware of their thoughts and emotions. This was, of course, presented in a fun and entertaining way and the children were enthralled throughout the entire show.

I will be attending the annual Catholic Head Teachers conference in St Andrews over the next two days and will keep you up to date with the latest messages from the Bishops in Scotland.St Bartholomew’s will feature heavily in my prayers , and will include everyone in our parish community. I can relax and be in safe in the knowledge that Mrs MacIntyre and Mrs McLean will looking after the school in my absence and I look forward to catching up with all the news from St Bart’s, on my return.

Mrs Bolland

Some Primary 4 boys and girls will be leading us in our weekly prayer service this morning , in our beautiful oratory. This service provides a wonderful opportunity to start the day in a peaceful and spiritual way. As always, everyone in our Parish community is welcome and I would encourage you to join us.

The ‘Pray for our school’ group visited our school yesterday and were very impressed with the four pupils from Primary 7 who joined the group for a cuppa and a chat. This allows our senior pupil to engage with our parish community on a more relaxed and sociable level. The children were a credit to themselves, the school and their families. Well done boys and girls!

A big thank you to the parents and carers who support our request to allow the children a bit of space , before the bell at 9 o’clock. It is important that the children have an opportunity to prepare themselves, prior to the start of their learning. There are, however, some parents and carers who remain very close to the children in and around the lines in the infant department. Could I please ask that you remain behind the class lines, near the grassed area, to allow children and teachers a positive start to the day. The health and safety of all of our pupils is of paramount importance to us.Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this matter.

Mrs Bolland

We have a busy day scheduled at St Bartholomew’s today! Our Primary 4, 4/5 and Primary 5/6 pupils will be receiving practical cookery lessons today from Mrs Mc Ginness . We have parent helpers and students from St Ambrose, helping out in our busy kitchen. This is very much appreciated.

Pupils will receive cookery lessons, over a four week block, the remainder of pupils across the school will receive the same input, until all of our pupils have been scheduled for a block of cookery lessons before Christmas. We will then start the rotation again!
Our ‘Pray for Our School’ group will also be in St Bart’s today, for the first time this session. I know that our Primary 7 pupils are looking forward to spending time with this group of very special people. We are all looking forward to welcoming you.
We have other visitors in school today and I am becoming increasing aware of how much our school role is increasing, as it is more challenging to fit everyone in who very kindly visits us. There will always be a place for our friends in St Bartholomew’s Primary.
Our first Parent Council meeting took place last night, and was very productive. I will post the minutes of the meeting, so that all of our parents and carers have access to its content .This will be found on our ‘Parents Section’ on the St Bartholomew’s website.A big thank you to all of our parents and carers who took the time out of their schedule to contribute to the meeting. We also appreciate that Councillor Shields joined us at the Parent Council meeting and provided help and support in addressing important issues.
I am still receiving complaints regarding dogs in the playground. Please be advised that dog fouling is a hazard and a potential health and safety issue. Even the most good natured dogs can react impulsively , which can result in serious consequences. It is important that consideration is given to all of our pupils and parents ,who are entitled to a safe and hygienic environment. Thank you for your support with this important matter.

Mrs Bolland

The eight badges in the photograph above, belong to our newly nominated House Captains. I announced the winning candidates on Friday during assembly. All of the children in Primary 7 who bravely put themselves forward for this position were warmly congratulated, and their efforts appreciated at this time. As we have a boy and girl representing each house, we thought it best to give them both the title of Captain, as ordinarily, there is a Captain and a Vice Captain.

The winners are as follows;

Lochend, Des Kinnon and Gabrielle Linnen
Summerlee, Keira Fawcett and Stephen Glen
Monklands, William Paterson and Sophie Porter
Drumpellier, Stella Carlin and Oscar Duncan

Very well done to our new House Captains and I look forward to the fantastic work that they will carry out in the very near future, whilst representing St Bartholomew’s.

Practical cookery lessons start on Tuesday and we still need volunteers to help out in the morning. If you can spare an hour of your time, please phone Mrs Dunn or Mrs Clare in the office to inform them of your availability.Thank you.
I will be hosting our first Parent Council meeting this evening in St Bartholomew’s primary. Councillor Shields will be there and I know that he is keen to listen to the views of parents and carers from the school community. I would encourage parents and carers, both familiar to the school, and new parents and carers of Primary 1 pupils to get involved and contribute to the life of the school. I look forward to seeing you all at 6pm.

Mrs Bolland