St Bartholomews

I attended the annual Catholic Head Teachers’ conference in St Andrew’s on Thursday and Friday last week. The theme of the conference was ‘Teaching Scotland’s Catholic Future’ and speakers included Archbishop Tartaglia, Graham Donaldson (former Chief Inspector of schools) and John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Education. However, the highlight for me, as always, was the opportunity to meet Head Teachers from Catholic primary schools across Scotland. To quote the Faith section of our school website, I return to St Bartholomew’s today ‘deeply conscious of the huge responsibility that rests on each of us to be positive Christian role models for our pupils. Jesus was the ultimate teacher and we, as Catholic educators, must constantly endeavour to mirror and imitate Him in all we say and do so that our daily words and actions genuinely reflect the character and perfect example of Christ.’

Please can I take this opportunity to thank you for bearing with us at this time when we are short staffed in the office. As you know, Mrs Smillie retired before the summer holidays and her replacement will not be in post until sometime next month. There are pockets of the day when we are struggling to man the phones and, as I know you’ll understand, a cut knee or upset child always takes priority. Once again, thank you for your patience.

The nursery extension is nearing completion and the Care Inspectorate are scheduled to visit and sign things off two weeks on Thursday.

I think that some of our Primary 1 pupil’s have suddenly realised that school is a full five days a week operation! Some of our boys and girls, ( not just P1’s) are getting tired and are adjusting to the busy schedule – the holidays are definitely a dim and distant memory. As I have been in and out of classes, I have experienced the fantastic work that goes on in St Bartholomew’s. In actual fact, some of our pupils have brought their work up to the office so that I can have a good look at it –  a huge well done to all of our boys and girls for having a super start to the new school year.

Rebecca Nash from NLC Active School’s is popping in today, at Assembly in order to speak to all of our pupils about after school clubs at the Time Capsule. There are a number of different sports to choose from, and I know that gymnastics is one of them. Remember to ask your child about it over the weekend – there are some great , fun opportunities to be involved in.

The Coatbridge and Airdrie Advertiser’s photographer is visiting our school on Thursday 15th of September to photograph all of our fabulous Primary 1 children. Keep a look out for them in the paper!John Wilson photographers are visiting the folowing day on Friday 16th of September to take photographs of all our pupils – including the nursery. I know that all of our boys and girls are consistently smart , however, I know that mum’s and  dad’s appreciate a little bit of notice for this type of event. Best smiles boys and girls! Mrs Clare is drafting a letter to this effect and will be with you shortly.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Today is a very special day! It is Our Lady’s birthday…. or to give this feast day it’s ‘proper’ title, we would say today was the Feast of the Nativity of  the Blesseed Virgin Mary. We are reminded today that one of the very many important things that Our Lady does for us is to intercede for us in prayer and is a truly remarkable and exceptional person. She was  very quiet and thoughtful and we could learn so much from her humble approach to life…

We know so little about Mary’s life. Caryll Houselander mused in her wonderful book The Reed of God if this lack of detail isn’t also part of God’s plan. The one thing Mary does in the Gospels is the one thing we must all do: bear Christ into the world. Wrote Houselander, “If we had a picture of Our Lady’s personality we might be dazzled into thinking that only one sort of person could form Christ in himself, and we should miss the meaning of our own being.”

Micah 5:1–4a or Romans 8:28–30
Psalm 13:6ab, 6c
Matthew 1:1–16, 18–23 or 1:18–23

Mrs Bolland 🙂

As the September weekend approaches, you may be starting to think of activities to fill the days. Walking is one of the easiest ways for us to become more active and maintain a healthy lifestyle. North Lanarkshire Council is running a Walking Festival this September weekend, with lots of opportunities for adults and children to explore new places on foot and get fit at the same time.

One of the walks on offer is the Seven Lochs Trail, a 5 1/2 mile trek starting at Frankfield Loch and finishing at Drumpellier Park. The walk will take place on the afternoon of Monday 26th September and includes a free mini bus from the Visitors Centre at Drumpellier Park to the start of the route. Keep an eye out for the special leaflet which lists all of the walks, or email greenspac@northlan.gov.uk to book a place.

I’m presuming it was one of our parents who handed in a whole case of Thorntons chocolates to the school yesterday morning. However, it was such a busy time of the day, neither Mrs Clare nor I can remember who actually handed us the bag! If you’re reading this morning’s blog, THANK YOU! We’ll put your generous donation to good use in the raffles we do to purchase items for the Christmas Fayre.

On a similar note, many thanks to two of our parents, Mrs Woods and Mrs Linnen, for very kindly donating and wrapping our first two raffle prizes. These will be raffled off over the next two weeks. What a great bunch of parents we have!

Finally, you may have noticed that I have been in St Bartholomew’s every day this week. This is because I will be attending the annual Catholic Head Teachers’ conference in St Andrew’s on Thursday and Friday. As always, Mrs Bolland will at the helm in my absence.

As mentioned in last week’s blog, we are planning a sponsored obstacle course later this term. The provisional date is Wednesday 12th October, just before the holidays. Our school roll has now risen to 210, so even a small amount of sponsor money from each pupil could help us reach our best total yet and allow us to subsidise trips and treats throughout the coming year. Letters and sponsor forms will be distributed soon.

Things are progressing with the new flooring for the school. Classrooms and corridors were measured up yesterday and we are hoping to choose carpets and vinyl next week.

Contractors continue to be busy with the new nursery extension and it shouldn’t be too long before this is finished, along with an extended carpark. The management team and the police are continuing to monitor the increased traffic at the top gate, so please can I ask all parents/carers to continue to park and drop-off children safely and legally. Thank you for your cooperation.

St Bartholomew’s is very keen this year to create new opportunities for parents, carers and families to get involved in their child’s learning. Two new initiatives will be starting next week.

The first will begin on Thursday 15th September at the end of the school day and will be run by our new Community Learning Development worker, Richard McCabe. We’re going to call it ‘Make Some Noise’ and it will be an exciting opportunity for a pupil and their parent to create some music together using our fantastic music resources. This will include recording a piece of music at the last session using the ‘Garage Band’ iPad. app. The first ‘Make Some Noise’ sessions will be offered to our Primary 5 pupils and parents. Places will be limited and allocated on a strictly first come, first served basis, so please keep an eye out for the leaflet in your child’s bag later this week.

The second opportunity will be for parents and carers of our new Primary 1 pupils. Starting a week on Friday, we will be running ‘Stay and Read’ sessions in the library. Further details will be sent out in the coming days.

Finally, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was declared a saint by Pope Francis yesterday, only 19 years after her death. Her work amongst the poorest of the poor in India should inspire each of us to reach out a hand of love and care to every person we encounter, friend or stranger. We ask for St Teresa of Calcutta’s prayers today.

Primary 1 – Kara

Primary 2 – Patrick

Primary 2/3 – Gracie

Primary 3 – Arron

Primary 4 – Liam

Primary 5 – Brooke

Primary 6 – Neve

Primary 7 – Rebecca

Cool Class Cup: Primary 6

Winnng House: Monklands

St Bartholomew’s has been allocated a new Community Learning Development worker called Raymond McCabe. I’ll be meeting with Raymond this morning to discuss plans for the year ahead and I’m particularly excited about some new opportunities for pupils and parents to use our fantastic music facilities. Watch this space!

This autumn, the Scottish Government will be providing special numeracy and literacy resources to all Primary 1-3 St Bartholomew’s pupils. The ‘Read, Write, Count’ bags will contain a variety of materials to support the children in their reading, writing and maths. Once again, watch this space for further information and keep an eye out for the leaflet in your child’s bag today.

Friday means whole school assembly, which means Pupils of the Week, which means tea with Mr Young, which means a group of very proud pupils! Keep an eye on the website to find out who they are!

I’m delighted to inform parents and carers that thrifty use of last year’s budget has freed-up funds to allow St Bartholomew’s to invest in two areas of the school over the coming month or so. First of all, we will be investing a substantial amount of money in our library to create a high-quality space to inspire pupils across the school to get their nose in a book. This is perfect timing given the recent launch of the First Minister’s Reading Challenge. The second investment is going to be in a brand new area of the school. We will be creating a STEM Zone (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in the upper school corridor, jam-packed with a whole range of exciting construction and technology resources for St Bartholomew’s pupils. Watch this space for news and photographs of these two exciting developments…. and get ready for your child coming home with some enthusiastic stories of their exploits in the library and our new STEM Zone!

Please can I give advanced notice of a sponsored obstacle course which Vickie, our Active Schools Coordinator, will be organising towards the end of term. This will replace our traditional sponsored walk and funds, as in previous years, will be used to subsidise class trips throughout the year.

A quick reminder that our weekly Prayer Service is on this morning at 8.50am in our beautiful Oratory and of course, all are welcome!

Could I please ask our parents and carers to ensure that their children are NOT playing in the large mound of earth on the outskirts of the playground, either before 9 o’clock or after 3 o’clock. This soil is to be used when extending the car park and it is neither a very safe or hygenic place for the children to be playing.The children are always so neat and tidy first thing in the morning and it would be a shame if all of your efforts were in vain!

Keep praying for good weather as it looks set to be nice for the foreseeable future and maybe rumours of an Indian summer are true…

Thank you to all of our parents and carers for ensuring that homework and reading books are returned promptly – we appreciate your support with this very important matter.

Mrs Bolland 🙂