St Bartholomews

Our boys and girls are very much looking forward to the Halloween disco this evening,Primary 1 to 3’s celebrations start at 6pm until 7pm. Primary 4 to 7’s start at 7.15pm until 8.15pm. As always, a DJ is booked, the hall is decorated with lots of ‘spooky’ characters and there are plenty of snacks and drinks for everyone. Again, a big thank you to all of our parent helpers for coordinating all of this.

Primary 4 have an extra special treat tomorrow as they are on an excursion to the Science Centre where they will take part in workshops and have the opportunity to experience all of the wonderful learning opportunities in the centre itself. I am looking forward to finding out how they got on…

Our catering department are hosting an event on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week. This is to help raise 25,00 meals during World Food Week this year to help feed kids in Kenya. Children are encouraged to take part and  the menu has a very international feel and is a bit of a departure from the usual fayre. We would appreciate your support with this worthwhile cause.

The ‘Health for Life’ group are also organising an event during World Food Week by introducing a healthy snack chart in each class. Pupils are encouraged to bring in a healthy snack such as fruit, yogurts, cereal bars and dried fruits instead of unhealthy alternatives that contain high sugar levels. We would encourage you to support this promotion as it will run for 2 weeks from the 31st of October. The class with the most points on their chart will win a prize of an activity session with Vicki, our Active School’s coordinator. Thank you in advance for your support!

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Yesterday our pupils were outside in the sunshine, walking around the playground a number of times in order to keep fit and active.These efforts will contribute towards the ‘Walking Ben Nevis challenge’ and consequential Gold award from Sport Scotland.A big thank you to Vicki from NLC Active School’s for her contribution and support with this initiative.As you can see below, the children had a great time, well done boys and girls!

On a completely different note… Hallowe’en disco tickets are available from the school office, priced at £1.50.This takes place on Thursday and I know that our boys and girls are very excited about dressing up and giving us all a fright! We are looking forward to joining in on all the fun.Many thanks again to our parent helpers for organising this, we couldn’t do it without your help.

Unfortunately we were presented with bad news this morning- there was a number of graffiti on our outside walls.This is very disappointing and disheartening as we all take great pride in our school and so much time and effort has been put in to ensuring that we have a high quality learning environment for all of our pupils. Mr Young very quickly arranged for the painters to come in and cover up this eye sore. Could we please ask that everyone in our school community is vigilant and ensures that unwelcome behaviour is quickly eradicated .Don’t hesitate to phone the Police as this type of behaviour can quickly escalate.

Mrs Bolland 😀

Primary 6 and 7 thoroughly enjoyed their input from Euan McArthur from the Apostleship of the Sea yesterday. The children found out lots of information about the charity and reflected on how the organisation’s work relates to the Year of Mercy. Euan was extremely impressed with the children’s behaviour, manners, listening and eagerness to learn and also commented on the fantastic questions the boys and girls asked. The Apostleship of the Sea will be St Bartholomew’s Advent charity this year and Euan will be back in the school on St Andrew’s Day to launch this. Here’s a photograph taken at the end of yesterday’s visit:
New flooring has been fitted in almost all of the corridors and has transformed the interior of the building, particularly in the upper school where there were still the original 1950’s tiles. New carpets will be fitted in classrooms throughout this week. Primary 4 were the first to receive their makeover yesterday and you can see from the photograph just how delighted the boys and girls are!

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Welcome back, everyone! I hope you had a great October break.
We welcome Euan McArthur from the Apostleship of the Sea to St Bartholomew’s this morning. The Apostleship of the Sea – perhaps unfamiliar to many of you – is a Catholic charity supporting sailors and seafarers worldwide. The organisation provides practical and pastoral care to all seafarers, regardless of nationality, belief or race. Euan will be working with our Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils today, providing the children with information on the charity and helping them reflect on the Year of Mercy. A very warm welcome to St Bartholomew’s, Euan; we hope you feel very much at home.

Staying on the theme of charity, a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated a tin of food on the last day of term as part of our non-uniform day. Here’s a photograph of pupils from the Faith in Action group with just some of the items that were donated for the Helping Hands Soup Kitchen in Whifflet.
Contractors have been busy over the holidays laying new flooring in the corridors. As usual, I’m writing today’s blog before I actually arrive at school, but I’m very excited about seeing the transformation when I walk into St Bart’s this morning. Keep an eye on Twitter today and on tomorrow’s blog for photographs of the new flooring.

Finally, please remember to get any remaining sponsor money in by the end of this week. Thank you.

Primary 1 – Lilly

Primary 2 – Jada

Primary 2/3 – Aimee

Primary 3 – Molly

Primary 4 – Rhys

Primary 5 – Aiden

Primary 6 – Gabrielle

Primary 6/7 – Lucy

Cool Class Cup: Primary 1 & Primary 2

Winning House: Monklands

Main Raffle Prize Winner : Harrison

Today is a non-uniform day. All pupils are asked to bring in an item of tinned food, with all donations going to the Whifflet food bank.

There was a great turnout at Parents Evening yesterday and – as always – huge smiles from lots of parents and carers as they left the hall. There must have been plenty of good reports! I’ll be encouraging the children at today’s assembly to take on board any advice they were given last night and to begin next term with a determination to do their absolute best and reach their full potential.

Please can I take this opportunity to thank all St Bartholomew’s staff for their commitment and hard work last night; I know you will have been tried at the end of the evening. However, the October holidays are now only a few hours away and a well-earned break awaits!

Many thanks to Mrs Di Cacca for running the Book Fayre. It’s always a busy place on Parents Evening, but never fails to run like clockwork in your capable hands! Thanks too to Mrs Woods for organising the raffle: we now have a healthy pot of money to cover any outlays for the Christmas Fayre.

Finally, thank you to Mr Fowler for gathering the views of parents and carers on the essential learning experiences parents feel St Bartholomew’s pupils should encounter during their seven years in the school and to Miss Duffy for promoting and providing input on Class Dojo.

There will be Pupil of the Week certificates and trophy awards as usual this morning, and this week’s raffles will also be drawn at assembly. All winners (including for the raffles) will be posted on the website later today.

Have a fantastic holiday, everyone, and see you on Monday 24th!

The children had a fantastic time taking part in yesterday’s sponsored obstacle course. You can check out Twitter for some photographs of the children making their way through the various challenges. Many thanks to Vicky, our Active Schools Co-ordinator, for organising yesterday’s event and a HUGE well done to all the boys and girls for their efforts. Please can I encourage everyone to get their sponsor money in as soon as possible, ideally by the end of the first week back after the October break. Thank you.

The children will be staying in their gym kit today for some football coaching. This input is being delivered to all classes and I’m sure the boys and girls will thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to improve their football skills.

It will be a quick turn-around in the hall after football to get things set up for Parents Evening. As you know, an interim report card was sent out a few weeks ago; we hope parents and carers found this information helpful. Tonight will give parents an opportunity to speak directly with their child’s teacher and to have a look at their work. Mr Fowler will be gathering the views of parents and carers on the essential experiences they think their child should have during their time in St Bart’s. These will be used to inform our revised curriculum programmes, so please do take the opportunity to jot down your ideas on a post-it. Miss Duffy will be providing information on Class Dojo and, as always, the Book Fayre will be open throughout the evening. Of course, a St Bart’s Parents Evening just wouldn’t be complete without a raffle! I look forward to seeing you this evening.

Yesterday our  boys and girls from the after school running club represented St Bartholomew’s Primary at the outdoor centre in Langloan for a cross country event.Mr Fowler reported that the children did us all proud and displayed beautiful manners at all times.You can see by the happy and smiling faces below that the children really enjoyed taking part in this event.Well done boys and girls!

Remember it’s our sponsored obstacle course today and the children can come to school with their gym clothes on. Primary 2/3 are  visiting the Botanic Gardens and surrounding area today and have been asked to come along dressed for the outdoors.I am looking forward to hearing all about it when the children return to school…

All of our pupils will have a chance to take part in ‘Fun Football Sessions’ on Thursday and are asked to bring their gym kits to school.Uniform is required to be worn to school that day.

Friday, however is a non uniform day as the ‘Faith in Action’ group have organised a charity event to support Whifflet Soup Kitchen.This is a very worthwhile cause and I would respectfully ask that child bring along a tin of soup,meat or whatever you can spare.All donations are much appreciated.

Mrs Bolland 😀

Our book fair has created lots of excitement this year, with boys and girls showing plenty of interest in new and exciting book titles.A huge thank you to our parent helpers, we couldn’t do it without you!

Tomorrow, Wednesday 12th of October we have our sponsored obstacle course. This will be set up in the gym hall and we are all looking forward to having fun, keeeping fit and raising money…all at the same time. Remember that children come to school dressed in their gym clothes –  I would suggest that either jogging trousers or track suit bottoms would be more suitable than shorts. The weather is certainly not warm enough for them and the children would be more comfortable in long trousers as they go through the course. Thank you in advance for your support with this matter.

As you know, Parent’s Evening is on Thursday and we are very much looking forward to catching up with everyone and sharing your good news. We like to hear your views and appreciate and value all of your suggestions, and as result, we would like to canvas some of your thoughts and opinions on Thursday. Mr Fowler from the school and Mrs Whelan from the nursery will be in the foyer to ask you a few questions so that we can incorporate your views into our plans for the future.

We also have have a link below that would simply take a few minutes of your time in order to comment on future plans for our school grounds and would appreciate it if you could take part in this small survey.
Parent Council survey

Mrs Bolland 🙂

We’re now into the last week of term, with the October holidays beginning this coming Friday. Where does the time go?!!

Please remember that our sponsored obstacle course takes place on Wednesday. It would be fantastic if every St Bart’s pupil could collect two or three sponsors… as mentioned in last week’s blog, if every child manages to get £5 of sponsors, we will make over £1000 to boost school funds.

A few parents and carers will be meeting first thing this morning to begin organising this year’s Christmas Fayre. This short meeting is simply to get things off the ground, and I’m hoping that other parents, carers and friends of the school will be able to help out with all the various jobs between now and the big event on Saturday 26th November. If you’re able to help, please speak to Mrs Clare in the office.

St Bartholomew’s will be hosting a Motherwell Diocesan event this afternoon. Many of you will know that Mrs O’Neill, one of our class teachers, also works as the Diocesan Religious Education Advisor two days per week; Mrs O’Neill thought the Performing Arts Studio and our oratory would be the perfect venue for today’s course. A warm welcome to all those attending.