St Bartholomews

 Primary 1 – Ciaran

Primary 2 – Kerry

Primary 2/3 – Lewis

Primary 3 – Amaranth

Primary 4 – Sarah Louise

Primary 5 -Harvey Jo

Primary 6 – Adam

Primary6/7 – Paula

Winning House: Lochend

Primary 5 have been learning about the world of work this term and, as mentioned in my blog last week, have had the opportunity to hear from people with various jobs and careers, including a doctor and a policeman. The children have even been doing their own interviews! Today, at their class assembly, Primary 5 will be presenting what they have learned to their parents, family and friends. The assembly begins at 2.00pm, with the usual opportunity to visit the children’s classroom afterwards and enjoy some refreshments. Looking forward to seeing you there.

We will have four visitors in the school next Wednesday and Thursday. The local authority’s Continuous Improvement Service will be in St Bartholomew’s for two days to observe learning and teaching across the school and hear the key messages of our own self-evaluation. This visit will be very much led by the school community – pupils, staff and myself – and will give an opportunity for all the fantastic work that goes on in St Bart’s every single day to be recognised and celebrated. It will also give us the chance to get some feedback on what we can improve and help us fine-tune our plans for ongoing improvement. St Bartholomew’s has an absolutely fantastic team of pupils and staff (and let’s not forget our parents, parishioners and friends!) and I have absolutely no doubt that we’ll shine next week… We have lots to be very, very proud of!

Finally, please remember that Monday is an Inservice day and that the school will be closed to pupils. See you on Tuesday morning.

We are gradually getting the school back to normal following the fitting of the new flooring. Pupils and staff will be particularly pleased to know that we have our computer suite up and running today. Vinyl flooring has still to be fitted in a few areas, including just inside the main entrance. However, we hope this will be done by the time the children return to school after Monday’s Inservice day.

We are particularly excited about our new library which is slowly beginning to take shape. There was great excitement from P1 and 2 children yesterday morning when they spotted the new pirate ship which will form the centrepiece of our sea-themed library. We hope to be open to book-bugs of all ages within the next week or so. Watch this space!

Our annual trip to the pantomime at the Pavillion Theatre in Glasgow has now been booked. We’ll be off to Glasgow to see ‘Elfie’s Magical Adventure’ on the morning of Thursday 8th December. What a fantastic start to the Christmas season! Once again, thanks to the generosity of Mr Mark Millar, this trip will be entirely free for all P1-7 pupils. Thank you for your friendship and generosity, Mark.

Primary 7 are off to Glasgow today for a workshop at Glasgow Film Theatre. The trip sounds very intriguing and I’m looking forward to hearing all about it from P7 tomorrow morning. Have a great day, boys and girls.

Our Primary 2/3’s had a fabulous time with Vicki from NLC Active School’s. The children had over an hour of fun games and activities and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. A huge thank you to Vicki for her contribution – we really appreciate it!

Thank you very much to all of our parents and carers who have generously contributed to the Christmas Fayre so far. All donations are very welcome, no matter how small and every little helps. Please ensure that all donations are handed in to the office for the attention of Mrs Cummings, who has very kindly volunteered to coordinate events for the Christmas Fayre. Again, a big thank you to all of our parent helpers who have been very busy behind the scenes. We can’t wait until Saturday the 26th of November …

Mrs Bolland 😀

A big congratulations to Primary 2/3, who won the ‘ Healthy Snack’ initiative that has been running over the past two weeks. Our Health for Life pupil voice group organised this event as they felt that children were eating snacks at interval time that were both inappropriate in size and high in sugar. As already mentioned, the reward for the winning class is to have Vicki from NLC Active School’s to take the class for fun activities as part of an extended play time. I know that the children are very excited about their reward and it is very well deserved!

The Health for Life group will be organising this event again in February and May next year so that there is plenty opportunity to try and win…..

Our Primary 2/3 pupils can’t wait until later on this morning to take part in fun activities from Vicki!

Our regular timetable of after school activities continues today as we have both the Origami and Running Club on from 3 o’ clock until 4 O’Clock.

Mrs Bolland 😀

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 🙂