St Bartholomews

Primary 1 – Harvey

Primary 2 – Ella

Primary 2/3 – Naia

Primary 3 – Sophie

Primary 4 – Sean

Primary 5 – Luka

Primary 6 – Charlie Joe

Primary 6/7 – Patrick

It was great to see such a healthy turnout at Parents’ Evening last night. Thank you for taking the time to complete our annual parent/carer questionnaire and for giving your feedback on our updated three-year strategic plan. This information will be collated over the next week and used to shape future developments and improvements in St Bartholomew’s.

Thank you too for all your kind words following the announcement that I will be beginning a secondment in headquarters at the end of this term. What was most encouraging for me, however, was the overwhelming sense of confidence and optimism amongst parents about the future of our school. If I have managed to lead the school to a place where it has the capacity to continue to develop and flourish without me, then I have succeeded in doing what I set out to do five years ago. Thank you for the huge vote of confidence in St Bart’s last night! As the letter that was sent out on Monday said: “One thing’s for sure: the future’s bright and exciting for St Bart’s!”

Our whole-school assembly this morning will focus on our school show, ‘A Night on Broadway’, which takes to the stage on Thursday 30th March. Each class will perform one of their songs to the rest of the school today to help build their confidence and get them over any wee touches of stage fright. The children are sounding fantastic already and the show’s guaranteed to be a fantastic end to the term. Tickets go on sale next week.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at Parents’ Evening after school today and I know the teachers have lots of good news to share about the children’s learning and progress.

We would appreciate it if you would take the opportunity to complete our annual parent/carer questionnaire when you arrive this evening. Your views and feedback are vital in helping St Bartholomew’s make ongoing improvements.

The Book Fayre will be open as usual, with a wide range of books for all ages. Please remember that the school receives commission on every book sold, so every sale will help add to the stock of our library.

Sports Leaders from St Ambrose High School will be in today to work with our Primary 6’s. The children have loved  this experience so far as the leaders provide a good role model and example of how accessible it is to be in a leadership role. It also allows our children to look ahead in to the not too distant future at the many opportunities that can come their way with a little hard work and dedication.

Claire Gordon from Oral Health will also be in today to work with some of our pupils. Healthy teeth is very important to overall health and wellbeing and is something that we hope to invest more time and resources to. Claire always reminds the children how much regular brushing makes to maintaining healthy teeth and gums. Thank you Claire, we appreciate your support!

The second session of Box Finess after school club is on today. I know that the children thoroughly enjoyed it last week and are very much looking forward to it in the coming weeks.

We are all looking forward to seeing you at Parents’ evening tomorrow and will be happy to hear about the children’s success. Seee you all soon.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Thank you to Primary 5 for making me feel so welcome in their class yesterday. I was so impressed with the children’s maturity, work ethic, independence and focus. I almost felt as if I was in a P7 classroom! I spoke to a focus group at the end of the afternoon (see selfie below!) and the children spoke very positively about their class and the school:
“Being in Primary 5 is fantastic! Mrs McFarlane always has good fun with us.”
“I like that the class is so quiet and happy; I can always get on with my work.”
“Mrs McFarlane gives us lots of choice and makes homework fun.”
“I think the class and the school are amazing! The staff are friendly and the building is really nice.”
“This school is outstanding! It’s really calm and people are well behaved. The dinners are good too!”
I know that many of you will have already read the important letter that was put in school bags yesterday. However, for readers who are not parents/carers, I thought it would be a good idea to include the letter on today’s blog.

As mentioned in my blog last week, we received a visit from Angela Glover from the North Lanarkshire Literacy Base on Thursday. I was very touched to discover the following message from Mrs Glover when I logged onto the blog over the weekend:

Dear Mr Young,

Angela Glover

Thank you for your kind words; they mean a lot to both pupils and staff.

I’ll be spending much of today in Primary 5 and I’m very much looking forward to joining in with the children’s learning and having the opportunity to chat to the boys and girls about their views on being a St Bartholomew’s pupil.

The Book Fayre arrived on Friday and will be open throughout this week. As usual, there will be the opportunity to purchase books at Parents Evening on Thursday.

I had a great day in Primary 2 yesterday and was very impressed indeed with the children’s enthusiasm and hard work. Of course, we made sure we grabbed a selfie before I headed back to my office!
There are two exciting school trips today:

Primary 5 are off to Tullie House Museum in the historic city of Carlisle to learn more about the Romans. The museum has a life-size model of Hadrian’s Wall, along with some genuine Roman artefacts. Have a super day south of the border, boys and girls.

Meanwhile, Primary 4 are travelling closer to home. They’re off to Scotland Street School in Glasgow to find out more about life in Victorian Britain. The highlight of the day is sure to be the chance to dress up and experience what it was like to be a pupil in a Victorian school. Scary stuff!

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What an absolute treat it was to spend Tuesday with Primary 1! I thoroughly enjoyed joining in with the children’s learning and it was fantastic to see such an enthusiastic and hard-working bunch of boys and girls. They really impressed me with their reading, writing, maths and computer skills and I even got a pancake delivered to my office at the end of the day! Many thanks to Mrs Carlin and P1 for making me feel so welcome.

I’m popping along the corridor today to spend some time with Primary 2. Once again, I’ll be joining in with the children’s literacy and numeracy lessons and chatting to the boys and girls about their learning.

Please remember that Parents Evening is a week today, Thursday 9th March. This is slightly earlier than usual to accommodate our school show, ‘A Night on Broadway’, which takes place on Thursday 30th March, just before the Easter break.

A very warm welcome this morning to Angela Glover from the North Lanarkshire Literacy Base. Mrs Glover has heard about the various literacy initiatives we’ve been developing in St Bart’s this year and has decided to come for a wee nosey. We hope you enjoy your visit!

Finally, some words from Pope Francis as we begin our Lenten journey:
‘When the journey is uncertain and you fall, God, rich in mercy, will extend his hand to pick you up.’

As it is Ash Wednesday today, the whole school will be attending mass  at 10am in St Bartholomew’s church. We will be walking to church with the assistance of parent helpers – a big thank you to our volunteers. We would be stuck without you!

Ash Wednesday is considered a day to cleanse the soul before Lent begins. Ashes are used to mark a cross on the foreheads of parishoners to symbolise repentance for sin. Palm crosses from the last Palm Sunday are burned and the ash is used to mark parishioners. This is a period of reflection and a time for fasting from food and festivities.

It symbolises the days which lead up to Jesus’ crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, when Christ spent 40 days and nights alone in the Judean Desert being tempted by Satan. Lent is traditionally marked with fasting, abstinence and prayer. Most people tend to give up something until Lent ends to “purify” their bodies. For children it could be something such as chocolate, sweets, television, tablets, laptops or certain toys, others use the time to volunteer at a charity or donate money to a good cause. Some people also think about this time in terms of carrying out ‘good deeds’ instead of giving something up… I know that in the past, children have told me that they help around the house, in the garden and consider vulnerable neighbours.

On annother note…A reminder to parents that the first session of Box Fitness after school club starts today. All children who handed in application forms are included in the club and in fact, limited spaces are still available. Please ask at the office if you require a form and Mrs Claire will be more than happy to help!

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Happy Shrove Tuesday!

Shrove Tuesday is the day that precedes Ash Wednesday and we will be joining St Bartholomew’s parish community at church tomorrow for 10 am mass. As it is determined by Easter, for which the actual date changes on an annual basis. It always falls 47 days before Easter so the date moves but always falls between February 3 and March 9.This year Pancake Day takes place on Tuesday 28th February. I know that there will be lots of pancake making going on in the Nursery today and I will certainly make a point of popping down there to join the fun… I hope that you all enjoy some delicious treats at home later on.

Mr Young will be in today and spending a very large part of his day in Primary 1, both experiencing and joining in with the wonderful activities and learning that take place there. I know that he is very much looking forward to it.

As always, our running after school club is on today – please remember kits etc. Thank you again to Mrs McLean for organising this and I know that the boys and girls look forward to this brilliant club every Tuesday. Fingers crossed for dry weather so that our runners can experience the wonderful fresh air of Coatbridge!

Mrs Bolland 🙂