St Bartholomews

Well done to Primary 2 for a super assembly on Friday. Your presentation on friendship brought sunshine into the hall and left us all smiling from ear to ear!

Some parents/carers may have heard on the news a couple of weeks back about the new Pupil Equity Fund from the Scottish Government. St Bartholomew’s has been allocated a substantial amount of money for the 2016/17 financial year and I’m attending an event today, along with 300 other Head Teachers, to hear more about the equity fund and receive guidance on how the money can best be used. Watch this space!

Finally, tonight’s Parent Council has been cancelled; the next meeting will be at the end of March. Mrs Bolland, however, will be arranging a consultation with parents and carers around our new three-year plan. Please take the opportunity to give us your feedback on our aspirations for the next three years.

Primary 1 – Kaitlyn

Priamry 2/3 – Lee

Primary 3- Junior

Primary 4 – Kelsey

Primary 5 – Summer

Primary 6 – Shakira

Primary 6/7 – Lucy

Cool Claa Cup; Primary 3

Primary 2 are all set to welcome their family and friends to their class assembly this afternoon. Their presentation is all about friendship (something P2 are great at!) and the boys and girls are really excited about sharing their learning with their guests through words and music. As usual, the assembly begins at 2.00pm, followed by refreshments and a visit to the children’s classroom.

I had a great day in Primary 6 yesterday and was sooooooo impressed with the children’s discursive writing (William Wallace: villain or hero?) and the huge enthusiasm and skill they showed during maths. The thing I particularly liked was that the children were not afraid to make mistakes in their maths, but saw them as learning opportunities. The five members of the focus group who spoke to me at the end of the day said how much they enjoyed their learning in P6 and how proud they are of the progress they have made this year… and, of course, we managed a selfie!

I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day in P6/7 on Monday. Many thanks to the boys and girls and Miss Keirnan for making me feel so welcome. I rounded off the day by speaking to a ‘focus group’ and got some great feedback from the children, as well as a great selfie!
Today, I’ll be popping next door to join in with Primary 6’s learning. I’m very much looking forward to spending time with the children and joining in with their various learning activities throughout the day (and I’m sure we’ll find time for another selfie before 3 o’clock!).

Finally, a huge thank you to the two P7 pupils who so ably led our Prayer Service yesterday morning. Your reverence and clear voices helped everyone there to be still and pray and we’re looking forward to you leading the prayers each Wednesday throughout this term.

I’ll be spending much of today in Primary 6/7, joining in with the children’s learning, taking the opportunity to look at their work and chatting to them about their thoughts and feelings on being a pupil in St Bartholomew’s Primary. What a great way to start the week!

It’s the ime of year again when we formally seek feedback from parents and carers on how St Bartholomew’s is doing. A questionnaire will be sent out to all families next week and I would very much appreciate you taking the time to complete it: your views and suggestions are very important to us as we endeavour to make St Bartholomew’s the best school it can possibly be.

Primary 3 will be spending time in the new STEM Zone throughout this week. The zone was a major hit with P1, P2 and P1/2 and I’m sure the boys and girls in P3 will be equally enthusiastic and engaged as they get the opportunity to delve into all the exciting activities and challenges on offer. Keep an eye on Twitter to see the children in action!

Primary 1 – Lillie

Primary 2 – Ryan

Primary 2/3 – Ava

Primary 3 – Emily

Primary 4- Mia

Primary 5 – Nathan

Primary 6 – Derry

Primary 6/7 Katie

Cool Class Cup: Primary 6/7

Winning House: Lochend

The boys and girls have only had two days in school this week, so Friday has arrived in a flash!

Our six Pupil Voice groups meet after assembly this morning. We haven’t met since before Christmas, so there’s lots for the Forward Together, Eco, Citizenship, Faith in Action, Health for Life and JRSO groups to discuss. Minutes will be posted in the Pupil Voice section of our website after the business meeting next week.

Those of you who keep an eye on Twitter may have already seen the super owl-themed wall display produced by Primary 1 for our newly refurbished library. I love it so much, I want to show it off on today’s blog! Well done, boys and girls!

Welcome back, everyone. I hope you had a great long weekend and managed to enjoy the sunshine that came our way.

Please remember that, due to our whole school show at the end of March, this term’s Parents Evening is slightly earlier than usual. Parents Evening will take place three weeks today, Thursday 9th March, and appointment times will be sent out in due course.

As you know, things have been very tight in the school office this year following Mrs Smillie’s retirement at the end of last session. Thank you to parents and carers for your patience over the past seven months and many thanks to Mrs Clare for all the extra work she has put in to running the office on her own. I’m delighted to say that interviews for a new clerical assistant will take place this morning and we’ll be back to having two members of staff in the office in the very near future.

Last, but not least, a final formal farewell to Mrs O’Neill who left St Bart’s last Friday after twenty-five years in the school. We wish Mrs O’Neill well in her new role as full-time RE Advisor with Motherwell Diocese.

I received some very concerning news at the end of last week. Overall, the condition of the children’s teeth in St Bartholomew’s means we’re in the bottom twenty schools in North Lanarkshire. Given that North Lanarkshire has the poorest dental statistics out of all local authorities, this probably means we’re one of the bottom schools in the whole of Scotland. The dental nurse has been in school every day this week to support us with our daily tooth-brushing. However, tooth brushing alone will not be enough to tackle this serious problem: the main culprit is sugary snacks and both school and home will need to work together to reduce these in the children’s diet. To begin with, please can I encourage all parents and carers to consider replacing some sugary play-piece/packed-lunch items with healthier alternatives and to try to avoid fizzy juice completely. Small changes can make a huge difference.

The children are all set for their February treat. Last month, it was a whole-school samba workshop; this month it’s a visit from the Zoo-Lab team. The boy and girls will have the chance to learn about different creatures and even get to handle some of them. Have a super day, everyone!

Finally, please remember that this is the holiday weekend. St Bartholomew’s will be closed to pupils on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which is an inservice day. Enjoy the break, boys and girls, and see you on Thursday morning.

Both pupils and staff had the opportunity to recharge their spiritual batteries yesterday as part of our celebrations for Catholic Education Week:

Each Primary 4-7 class was guided in a short period of Eucharistic Adoration in the oratory, which was a really special opportunity for the children to spend some time in quiet prayer. Many thanks to Mrs Morris who brought the monstrance down from the church and stayed in the oratory throughout the afternoon.

Once the 3 o’clock bell went, it was the turn of staff to take some quiet time together. Father Frank Keevans from St Mungo’s Church in Glasgow led St Bartholomew’s teachers, along with some visiting Head Teachers from local schools, in a short reflection on scripture, followed by Mass. Many thanks to Fr Frank for leading such an inspiring and prayerful retreat… it was food for the mind and soul.

The Valentines discos take place tonight. As always, our fantastic team of parent volunteers have been busy in the background over the past few weeks getting ready for this evening’s event. The DJ is booked, the tickets are selling fast, the snack bags are made up, the prizes are bought, the decorations have been looked out ready to transform the hall at the end of the day. A huge thank you to our volunteers for all their hard work, and have a fantastic time tonight, boys and girls. As usual, the P1-3 disco is from 6.00 – 7.00pm and the P4 – 7 from 7.15 – 8.15pm.