St Bartholomews

We ran a Christmas card competition for St Bart’s pupils recently and the eight winning cards (one from each class) were sent off to the printers to be transformed into professionally-produced cards. The talented artists found out on Friday they had won and each pupil received a framed copy of their Christmas card, along with some sweets and a pack of all eight winning cards. You can see from the picture below just how delighted the boys and girls were at winning the competition.
Many thanks to Mrs Cummings, one of our P3 parents, for organising this fantastic competition and to the three sponsors whose generosity paid the full cost of printing. This means that every single penny raised from sales will go directly to school funds. So, PLEASE hold off buying your Christmas cards and pick up a fantastic pack of St Bart’s cards at the Christmas Fayre on the 26th.

Primary 1 – Chloe

Primary 2 – Sophie

Primary 2/3 – Connor

Primary 3 – Charlie

Primary 4 – Shannon

Primary 5 – Lucie

Primary 6 – Kai

Primary 6/7 – Liam

Winning House: Monklands

Cool Class Cup: Primary 4

Today is Remembrance Day, when the nation remembers all those who have died in various wars defending the freedom of our country. The boys and girls have had the opportunity to purchase a poppy this week and our whole school community will pause for a minute’s silence at 11.00am.
Our Primary 4 pupils had the privilege of spending yesterday with a team from an organisation called ‘Children of the Eucharistic’. The team, led by a lady called Antoinette Moynihan, travelled all the way from Ireland to be with us. The children, who are preparing for their First Holy Communion in May, learned about the Eucharist, the monstrance, Eucharistic adoration and the importance of spending quiet time with Jesus. Every one of the boys and girls commented on what a special experience it was. Following yesterday’s input from the team, we plan to make Eucharistic adoration a regular part of the life of St Bartholomew’s. Many thanks again to our three visitors and to Mrs O’Neill for organising the day.

Please remember to hand in donations for our Christmas Fayre as soon as possible. The 26th won’t be long in coming around!

I have thoroughly enjoyed being in St Bartholomew’s every day this week and am looking forward to celebrating the children’s hard work and successes at this morning’s assembly. I have three weeks’ worth of ‘Tea with Mr Young’ to fit in today, so I’m definitely going to need an extra table and a few more packets of biscuits!

Contractors informed me yesterday that the reflooring of the school will be completed this coming weekend. New top-quality entrance mats arrived yesterday, one for each of the four entrances to the school. Pupils will be reminded today that these are not just for decoration, but need to be used every single time they come into the building to ensure our fantastic new floors stay in tip-top condition. I know how proud the children are of the school and I have no doubt the boys and girls will take extra care now that the refurbishment of the building is complete.

Primary 5 had a special visitor, Dr Ross Fairgrieve, in their classroom yesterday to speak to them about his job. I heard directly from Dr Fairgrieve how impressed he was with the children… a real credit to themselves, Mrs McFarlane and their parents. Primary 5 have a further two visitors today to talk to them about the world of work: Mr McFarlane will be talking about his work with the YMCA and PC McQuade who will be taking questions on his work with Police Scotland. Many thanks to our three visitors for giving up their time to speak to St Bart’s pupils.

Scary thought, but our Christmas Fayre is only two weeks on Saturday (26th November)! We are still in need of donations of bottles, raffle prizes, brick-a-brac and – closer to the day – home baking. Please hand in all donations to the school office. The Christmas Fayre is our main fundraiser of the year, so please put the morning of the 26th in your diary and let your wider family and friends know about the event.

I can’t finish my blog today without thanking St Bartholomew’s staff for their willingness to run such a variety of after-school clubs for our pupils. Origami, running, art, Christmas crafts… I could go on! These clubs are out-with teachers’ contractual duties, so their commitment to go the extra mile for the children of St Bart’s is very, very much appreciated.

Our parent helpers that are furiously working hard behind the scenes on the Christmas Fayre have asked me to appeal for donations. This can be unwanted gifts such as cosmetics, toiletries, jewellery, confectionery…. the list goes on. Your contribution, whether large or small will be greatly appreciated and will enhance this much anticipated annual event on Saturday the 26th of November. Donations can be handed in to the office or given to the children to pas on. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this matter.

Our Primary 6 pupils will be visiting Buchanan High this afternoon for a Bible exhibition. The same event was attended by our Primary 6/7 class yesterday,who enjoyed themselves very much. I am confident that the P6 children will have the same experience. Thank you to parent helpers who are escorting the children to Buchanan High – we appreciate your help.

As always, we have an exciting line up of varied activities for after school clubs, with Netball, Art and Christmas Crafts on offer today. Our boys and girls are very lucky indeed.

Mrs Bolland

Our Primary 6/7 pupils are looking forward to visiting Buchanan High this afternoon. They are taking part in a Bible exhibition and I know that they will greatly benefit from this very special spiritual input.  I am looking forward to hearing about it when they return.

We have two after school clubs on today and as always, our Running club is featuring and children would be advised to wear long jogging trousers as the weather is certainly taking a turn for the worse! Thank you again to Mrs McLean for organising this very popular and worthwhile club.  Ms Seggie is starting the Origami after school club today and I know that the boys and girls are really looking forward to it. Thank you Ms Seggie for devoting your time in order to allow the children to experience this very interesting activity.

Mrs Bolland

The fitting of our new flooring will be completed by the end of this week. Mrs Clare is back in her own office and Mrs Bolland and Mrs McIntyre are now permanently based in what was Mrs Smillie’s office.

The cold weather has suddenly arrived and the maximum temperature for tomorrow is forecast to be a chilly 5 degrees. It’s definitely time to look out those winter jackets, gloves and scarves so that your child can enjoy the crisp sunshine at playtime without getting a chill.

Finally, please remember to take a few moments to complete the Parent Council survey:
Parent Council survey

Primary 1 – C-Jay

Primary 2 – Jamie

Primary 2/3 – Emma

Primary 3 – Emma

Primary 4 – Breagh

Primary 5 – Ciaran

Primary 6 – Stella

Primary 7 – John

Cool Class Cup: Primary 6

Winning House: Monklands

I’ve mentioned in a couple of previous blogs that St Bartholomew’s is part of a ‘family’ of schools who work together to offer support and challenge. I’ll be paying a visit to one of these schools this morning – St Bernadette’s in Motherwell – and am very much looking forward to learning from their good practice and picking up some new ideas.

Of course, I’ll be back in plenty of time for Primary 6’s class assembly. The boys and girls have been practising hard on their presentation on Spain and I’ve had to stop myself lurking around the hall for a sneak preview! The assembly kicks-off at 2.00pm, with the usual reception in the classroom afterwards. See you there!

Mrs Bolland will be taking the whole school assembly this morning, so keep an eye on the website for this week’s Pupils of the Week and trophy winners.

Finally, a massive thank you in advance to the team of mums who have volunteered to begin building our new library furniture today. There’s still room for more helpers, so please feel free to turn up (mums, dads, friends!) if you’d like to contribute your screw-driving skills!

The reflooring of the school is nearing completion and the whole place really is looking fantastic! Contractors will work over the weekend to fit the remainder of the corridors, so the end is in sight. Many of the children have made enthusiastic comments about the new classroom carpets and it’s great to see the boys and girls take such pride in their school.

Please can I put out another appeal for volunteers to help build the new library furniture. We have set St Andrew’s Day as the date to open our refurbished library, so we’re very keen to get going with the furniture. Please contact the school office if you are able to help. Thank you.

Finally, Mrs Clare informed me on Tuesday that the recent sponsored event has raised around £1200. This is a fantastic amount and will allow us to continue to subsidise school trips and to offer regular out-of-the-ordinary learning opportunities for the children, such as the samba workshop (coming up at the end of November) and Zoo Lab (booked for the new year). Thank you for helping us boost our school funds!