St Bartholomews

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

Primary 1 – Derek

Primary 1/2 – Aaron

Primary 2/3 – Kara

Primary 3 – Sophie

Primary 4 – Darragh

Primary 4/5 – Monique

Primary 5/6 – Sarah Louise

Primary 6/7 – Sean Michael

Primary 7 – Sophie

Cool Class – Primary 4

This young lady was extremely pleased with herself when she asked to see me today. She had been working very hard to understand  a new, and very tricky concept in maths. In the end, all of her answers were correct and quite rightly, felt a wonderful sense of achievement at her well deserved success. Well done!

Mrs Carlin and Ms Duffy  have both been working very hard so that their pupils feel a great sense of achievement in reading, alongside their parents. Mrs Carlin has organised for ‘Stay and Read’ session to begin today and then for a number of weeks thereafter. Ms Duffy has also ensured that her pupils and their parents, take part in the same initiative. I know that parents and carers are eagerly looking forward to this fantastic opportunity. As always, we look forward to welcoming you to St Bartholomew’s!

Today, at assembly,I will announce the successful candidates from the Primary 7  House Captain nominations.Our senior pupils are eagerly awaiting these results and we will share this with you on the blog as soon as possible.

Mrs Bolland

I thought I’d share some images of our ‘Bannan FitnessDay’ last week. As you can see, the children loved every minute of it.It was a brilliant opportunity to try new things and experience a variety of sports activities. A huge thank again to Bannan Fitness for volunteering their time so that our pupils could have such a great time!

Mrs MacIntyre is meeting with Vikki, from NLC Active Schools to organise after school clubs and future sporting events for our pupils. I look forward to hearing about and will let you know what is in the agenda this year.

I have organised for a termly newsletter to go out to all parents, so that important dates can be readily accessed.It might be a good idea to pop it on your fridge! I will continue to write a daily blog, to keep you up to date with day to day events.Some important dates are ; Parent Council Meeting Monday 4th September and Parents Information Evening the following Monday on 11th September. Both of these events start at 6pm.

Mrs Bolland

Mrs McGuiness, our cookery teacher was very impressed with our P1-3 pupils yesterday. The children were very well behaved and excited about the prospect of learning how to cook. Practical lessons will start next week and I’m sure I’ll manage a visit to the kitchen to sample some culinary creations. I will keep you posted…
Mrs Dunn is currently organising a termly newsletter, to keep all of our parents and carers up to date with important events that will happening from now until December. This will be with you shortly, so please look out for it in school bags.I will continue to report all of our events in the HT blog on a daily basis.
Could I please ask that parents and carers stand back from the children when they are lining up at 9am and keep a safe distance.The children need a couple of minutes, before the bell to get themselves ready for the day ahead and as little distraction as possible. It also allows the children to be more independent and less dependant, which is an important part of growing up.

Sometimes, parents and carers feel the need to discuss issues with their child’s teacher at 9am and as you can imagine, teachers simply want their pupils to start learning as soon as possible and this isn’t the right time to approach staff. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher through Dojo or for more serious issues, make an appointment at the office. We appreciate your continued support, thank you.

Mrs Bolland