St Bartholomews

As you can see from our Twitter feed on the right of the HT blog, the boys and girls from Primary 7 are having a wonderful time in Kilbowie. Mr Fowler and Ms Duffy have both been in touch with daily updates to let me know how our children are enjoying themselves. Last night, the children walked into Oban and had the opportunity to investigate the surrounding area. Most of our pupils were out on safari and orienteering activities with their various instructors. Great fun was had by all! The weather was a little windy at one point in the day and the scheduled canoeing would have potentially been postponed, however the change in weather allowed for the canoeing activity to remain on the timetable. The children loved  it…

I know that gorge walking is on the cards today and yet again, will be another new experience for the children and one that they won’t forget in a hurry! I have been hearing that healthy appetites are very much in evidence and I am sure that mums and dads will be delighted about that. You certainly need lots of fuel to be able to keep up with all the activities that are on offer. Well done boys and girls for giving everything a go  – you are a credit to St Bartholomew’s and your families. We are all proud of you!

Talking of being proud…the nursery extension for our  2 year olds has come on leaps and bounds. We are receiving more and more applications and are filling up fast. Our very talented staff have made this such a beautiful space for our youngest children and I am sure that we will be the envy of many nurseries in North Lanarkshire Council. Thank you to all of our staff for contributing to this wonderful learning environment.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Primary 1 had a fabulous time at the Science Centre yesterday! They didn’t stop – between a forces workshop, magnets workshop and then exploration activities, there wasn’t much time left.It is a jam packed trip and as there is so much to see and do, many children go back with their families to catch up on the things that they may have missed…

A huge thank you to our parent helpers for volunteering their time to help and support our pupils. We couldn’t do it without you!

I spoke to Mr Fowler today to ask about how our Primary 7 children are doing. He couldn’t have been more positive- the boys and girls have been enjoying activities all day and were up bright and breezy this morning. There is a wide variety of photographs on Twitter so make sure that you are share in their adventures by following our Twitter feed. As the signal is very weak in Kilbowie, Mr Fowler and Ms Duffy tend to take pictures and post them at specific times. We are very lucky to be kept up to date as readily as that- thank you Ms Duffy and Mr Fowler.

Mrs Bolland 😀

Our very first ‘Tea with Mrs B’!

Six out of our eight classes were represented today at the ‘Pupil of the week’ reward. It was a great opportunity to catch up with the children and hear about their news, especially some of their adventures over the holidays.The two pupils who couldn’t make it had very good reasons- one of our pupils was in Kilbowie and another was sick, but I will make sure that they don’t miss out on cakes and juice when they return.

As promised, a text went out earlier this afternoon to all the Parents and carers of the children who are currently in Kilbowie.They all arrived safe and well and enjoyed their stop at ‘The Green Welly’. Everyone is settled in their rooms and have been out and about enjoying the many activities that Kilbowie has to offer. I don’t think that there will be many boys and girls being reminded about getting to sleep tonight!

Please remember to keep your eye on Twitter in order to be kept up to date with the latest adventures in Kilbowie. I am sure that mums and dads will be relieved to see happy and smiling faces and not have to worry too much…

Mrs Bolland 😀

Our Primary 7’s leave for Kilbowie today! I hope that the beautiful sunshine continues and is also shining in Oban, and especially for the rest of the week. Boys and girls should report to the music room first thing this morning with mums and dads. I appreciate that some children and their parents may be anxious as some may not have experienced 4 nights away from home before. I promise that Coatbridge will be a dim and distant memory for everyone when the activities and the meeting of new people begins. Enjoy yourselves everyone!

Mrs Dunn in the school office will send a text to all the Primary 7 parents to let them know that the children have arrived safely. I will be in regular contact with the centre for daily updates and will obviously pass this on via the blog.

Friday’s ‘Pupils of the week’ were posted under ‘This weeks Superstars’ on the blog and will be having ‘Tea with Mrs B’ today – I am looking forward to this immensely!

Our Parent Council meet tonight at 6pm in the staffroom to discuss current issues that affect our school community. We appreciate the hard work and dedication from our members. Thank you for all of your help and support.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Primary 1 – Orlaith

Primary 2 – Jayden

Primary 2/3 – Corey

Primay 3 – Darragh

Primary 4 – Keira

Primary 5 – Gary

Primary 6 – Annie

Primary 6/7 – Leigha

Cool Class Cup: Primary 4

Winning House: Joint Winners –  Lochend and SummerLee

We will welcome Claire from the Coatbridge dental team to St Bartholomew’s today. The importance of looking after our teeth and dental health is crucial to our general health and wellbeing.Thank you Claire for your input- we all appreciate your help and support.

Vikki from NLC active schools will be another welcome visitor to our school and will be in to meet with Mrs MacIntyre to discuss exciting future activities…watch this space!

Primary 4 have invited their parents/carers in to St Bartholomew’s today as part of First Communion preparations. The children are very excited about sharing their experiences with their families and I am sure that mums and dads feel the same.Receiving the Eucharist for the first time is a very special experience and one that the children will remember for the rest of their lives and the appropriate and relevant preparations that lead up to this special event are also very meaningful .We are delighted that mums and dads can share in this alongside their children.

I am looking forward to meeting all of our visitors today!

Mrs Bolland 😀

And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the
temple called “the Beautiful Gate” every day.
—ACTS 3:2

I heard about a book by Katherine Boo called Behind the Beautiful Forevers, about a slum in Mumbai. The title comes from a giant billboard that marks the edge of the makeshift settlement. In sunshine yellow, the sign advertises ceramic tiles by repeating the words “Beautiful” and “Forever.” Today’s reading has a similar irony. The lame and deformed and hungry gather under “the Beautiful Gate.” But it’s only ironic to those who can’t see beyond what people look like on the surface. Peter walked right up to the crippled man and “looked intently at him” and saw the man’s “jumping and praising” spirit. So he “took him by the right hand and raised him up.” The man stood and walked around and everyone else could finally see what the gate had already proclaimed.
Acts 3:1–10
Psalm 105:1–2,3–4,6–7,8–9
Luke 24:13–35

I think we can all learn something from looking beyond the surface and try to see ‘the contents page’ instead of simply looking at ‘the title page’…

Mrs Bolland 😀

What a fabulous first day back after the holidays! All of our boys and girls looked like new pins and were extremely well turned out. The enthusiasm from the children as I visited the classes was tremendous. I think that two weeks of relaxing was more than enough for a lot of our children and they were more than delighted to get back to work and learning new things. Long may it continue….

A meeting was held last night regarding Kilbowie and York for our Primary 7 parents. This was very well attended and the boys and girls were visibly excited about both of these very important excursions. I have been to both Kilbowie and York and can thoroughly recommend them as valuable opportunities to develop new skills, increase self confidence and to meet new friends. It is also a crucial step in developing maturity and independence through staying away from home, with the added bonus of being within a safe, secure and structured environment, with familiar faces. They will remember both of these excursions for a very long time!

Mrs Bolland 🙂

A huge welcome back to everyone and I hope and pray that all of our pupils, parents, carers and staff have had a happy and Holy Easter. As it is the most important feast within the Catholic calendar and allows for a prolonged period of reflection, forgiveness and new beginnings, it is quite apt that St Bartholomew’s is experiencing change and new beginnings at this time. As you know, I will be taking over from Mr Young and I am very much looking forward to the exciting challenges that lie ahead. As always, my door is continually open in order to spend time with parents and carers that may need to discuss concerns or share important information with me. I look forward sharing your news after the holidays!

We have a very busy term ahead and a meeting for Primary 7 parents and carers begins at 6pm this evening regarding the forthcoming Kilbowie trip next week. I look forward to seeing you then.I know that our senior pupils are very much looking forward to this and great fun and adventure are in store for all. We can’t wait to hear about it!

Mrs Bolland 😀

The children were absolutely fantastic in our school show, ‘A Night on Broadway’, last night. ‘THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC!’, boys and girls, and thank you to all the staff for doing such a fantastic job in the lead up to the show and behind the scenes yesterday. What a brilliant way to round off the term!

As it’s the last day of term, we have a non-uniform and crazy hair day today, with all £1 donations going to SCIAF. The children will be taking part in our annual egg decorating competition and there’s a prize for the winning egg from each class. We’ll also be squeezing in an Easter egg hunt before our assembly. Please remember that the school closes at the slightly earlier time of 2.30pm today.

I can’t quite believe that, after five years of sharing daily news on the school website, this is my last blog. I took the opportunity last night to look back at some blog entries from the past few years and it was a reminder of just what a special and vibrant school community St Bartholomew’s is. There’s never a day goes by without something exciting going on up and down the corridors of our fantastic wee school and I will be taking so many special memories with me as I hand over the reins to Mrs Bolland at the end of today.

Please can I take this opportunity to thank all pupils, staff, parents, carers and parishioners for their love and support over the past five years. You are an absolutely amazing bunch! Although I’m going to really miss being around the school every week, my full-time role in Headquarters will include giving support to St Bartholomew’s, so I’ll still be popping in from time to time. As the wee phrase says: Goodbyes are not forever, goodbyes are not the end, they only mean “I’ll miss you!” until we meet again.

Have a wonderful Easter holiday, everyone, and see you soon!

Mr Young 😘