St Bartholomews

A very happy 80th Birthday to Pope Francis, who celebrated his special milestone on Saturday. Our school community prays for the Holy Father in a special way today as he continues to inspire and lead the church.

We’ve arrived at the day of our final Christmas show of 2016, with our P1-3 pupils taking to the stage this afternoon for their Nativity. The children had a very successful dress rehearsal on Friday and are all set to tell the Christmas story today to a packed hall. The words, songs and costumes, combined with the children’s enthusiasm (and, of course, bucket loads of the cute-factor!), are sure to captivate this afternoon’s audience. The Nativity begins at 2.00pm.

The remainder of this week will be taken up with our various Christmas parties, our end of term Mass on Thursday and our annual Movie-Duvet-Day on the last day. Please note that the school closes on Friday at the slightly earlier time of 2.00pm.

Finally, I had another sports superstar visit my office on Friday. This P2 girl can be seen proudly showing off her Hip-Hop trophies: one for participation and the other for coming 3rd in the competition. Well done!

What a great atmosphere there was in the hall yesterday for our Christmas lunch. The boys and girls were treated to some delicious turkey or steak pie, with all the trimmings, and a choice of five different desserts. A massive thank you to Susan and Sandra in the kitchen for all their hard work preparing for the biggest St Bart’s meal of the year, especially all those wee extras like table decorations and beautifully folded napkins. We were all treated like kings and queens!

Primary 5 and 7 will be off to St Bartholomew’s chapel hall with Mrs MacFarlane and I this morning to entertain parishioners with a selection of Christmas carols. This annual event is always a highlight of the Christmas season for all involved. The ladies always set out a fantastic buffet in the hall before the children arrive and this acts a bit like a carrot on a stick: the boys and girls to sing their wee hearts out knowing that there are biscuits, crisps, cakes and juice waiting for them after the last song!

Finally, two sports winners popped down to see me in my office this week. One P3 boy was keen to show off his blue belt in Tae Kwan Do, and one of our P7 girls was equally proud of her trophy for cheer leading. Well done to both of you!

I was so proud of our Primary 4 – 7 pupils yesterday for their fantastic Christmas concert. Every one of the boys and girls put in a great performance, bringing smiles, laughs and even a few tears to the audience. Well done to all four classes, and many thanks to the P4-7 staff for all their hard work in the lead up to the show. Of course, thanks too to everyone who bought a ticket and was part of the enthusiastic audience. We hope you enjoyed the festive selection of songs!

It’s our annual Christmas lunch today. As usual, the tables will be set with table cloths and napkins, there’ll be music in the background and the children will be served their Christmas dinner at their table by the staff. Please take the opportunity to share in the experience as it happens via our Twitter page.

A last minute reminder that tickets are still on sale from the school office, priced £1, for the P4-7  Christmas Concert today at 1.30pm. Tickets are still available for the P1-3 Christmas Nativity on Monday at 2pm, again priced £1. We also have a  Christmas raffle available and hope that you manage to win some super prizes, good luck everyone!

As we will have lots of visitors in the school building today and Monday, could I suggest that you take the opportunity to look at our wonderful Christmas themed wall displays. There is a great selection to choose from and allows you to experience a snapshot of the children’s learning…

We are looking forward to seeing you today…..

Mrs Bolland 😀

I was very pleasantly surprised to see two sister in my office today, both carrying impressive trophies. They recently took part in a freestyle dancing competition and won significant places in the competition. What a talented family!

Well done girls, I’m sure that your parents and extended family are as proud as all of your friends in St Bartholomew’s!

The rehearsals are going well for both the Infant Nativity and Christmas Concert. Mrs MacIntyre and I are often entertained with the sound of dulcet tones from the hall…we are all in for a treat!

Tickets are available from the office priced £1 for both performances. Our Primary 4-7 ‘s are performing on Wednesday 14th December at 1.30pm and our Infant Nativity is featuring on Monday 19th of December at 2pm.

Mrs Bolland😀

A huge well done to our nursery boys and girls for their fantastic performance in ‘Pop up Nativity’, which they performed to their parents and families on Friday. You looked and sounded absolutely fantastic and everyone was ultra-impressed by how well you remembered all those words! Well done to our nursery children, as well as to the staff for all their hard work.

Primary 4-7 (as well as Mr Young!) will spend much of today rehearsing for our Christmas concert. We’ve stuck to our usual format: two carols/songs and a Christmas reading from each class, sandwiched between all 100+ P4-7 pupils taking to the stage at the beginning and end of the concert to entertain the audience with a variety of festive songs. This year’s highlights include two Latin verses of Adeste Fideles, a jazzed-up version of Jingle Bells and a beautiful arrangement of ‘When Christmas comes to Town’ from Polar Express. The concert begins at 1.30pm, and tickets are on sale from the school office, priced £1.00.

We still have St Bartholomew’s Christmas cards left over from the Christmas Fayre. These will be on sale at this Wednesday’s concert and at next Monday’s P1-3 Nativity.

The boys and girls (as well as the adults!) thoroughly enjoyed the pantomime in Glasgow yesterday. ‘Elfie’s Magical Adventure’ went down a treat and the smiles and laughter are there for all to see on Twitter. A huge thank you, once again, to Mark Millar OBE for funding this annual trip.

Today sees the start of our Christmas shows/concerts, with our nursery children being the first to take to the stage. I’ve enjoyed listening and watching the boys and girls practise for their nativity over the past few weeks and am very much looking forward to seeing the two performances today. Of course, it’s no small feat getting a crowd of 3 and 4 year olds onto a stage and for them to remember all their words and songs… Thank you to the nursery staff for all your hard work, patience and perseverance!

Don’t forget to grab your tickets for next Wednesday’s P4-7 concert and for the P1-3 Nativity which takes place on Monday 19th.

A big thank you to our parent/ grandparent helpers who helped escort the Primary 5 children to the Time Capsule yesterday,for their weekly swimming lesson. Great fun was had by all and I hear that some of our pupils are showing great promise as good swimmers.

As always, both the Art and Christmas Crafts after school clubs are on today. I know that the boys and girls love to put their creative ideas into practice and I am looking forward to the results!

Our Primary 2 pupils were visiting Summerlee Heritage Park yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed their time there. Plenty of compliments were given to the boys and girls for their lovely manners and smart appearance. We don’t expect any less from St Bart’s boys and girls…

Mrs Bolland:)

Our primary 5 pupils will be visiting the Time Capsule again, as part of their Physical Education programme. Ms Duffy reported that the boys and girls were a credit to the school and that staff at the Time Capsule were very happy with the behaviour and good manners demonstrated by St Bartholomew’s children. Well done boys and girls! I am looking forward to a similar report later on this afternoon.

The Origami after school club will be on today and I am curious to see what creative pieces the children will be producing….. Thank you Ms Seggie for organising this wonderful club.

As always, our prayer service will take place in the Oratory tomorrow morning at 8.50am and a warm welcome is extended to everyone in our community. I can’t believe that we will be lighting the third candle on the advent wreath this Sunday! Time flies when you are having fun….

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Two weeks’ worth of Pupils of the Week will finally get Tea with Mr Young today. Thank you for waiting so patiently, boys and girls!

We’re all very excited about our annual whole-school trip to the pantomime this coming Thursday. Thanks, as always, to the generosity of Mark Millar OBE, our whole school community will make the short journey to Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre for ‘Elfie’s Magical Adventure’. What a treat!

A wee reminder of our other Christmas events before the end of term:

Friday 9th: Nursery Christmas Show (10.00am and 2.00pm)
Wednesday 14th: Primary 4-7 Christmas Concert (1.30pm)
Monday 19th: P1-3 Nativity (2.00pm)

Tuesday 20th: Primary 4 and 5 Christmas Party
Wednesday 21st: Primary 1 – 3 Christmas Party
Thursday 22nd: 6 and 7 Christmas Party