St Bartholomews

St Bartholomew’s Primary seems to be ever expanding, as I was greeted by two very happy and excited young ladies in the playground yesterday! They are starting in Primary 1 and Primary 2 and make a very welcome addition to both classes. I spoke to them at the end of the day and they reported that they were made to feel very welcome by our wonderful pupils and staff. We are all delighted that you have chosen St Bartholomew’s…

Just a reminder that our prayer service is now on a Wednesday morning at 8.50am and as always, we extend a very warm welcome to our faith community to join us. It is indeed a lovely start to the day and a big thank you to Mrs O’Neill and helpers from our ‘Faith in Action’ group. We appreciate all of your efforts.

I know that Mr Young has expressed concern about parking around the school and I would also  like to highlight a safety issue about children walking through the staff car park, before 9 o’clock and at 3 o’clock. This can be a very dangerous and busy place, and I would respectfully ask that you discourage your child from walking through this area. Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation with this matter.

We are very lucky in St Bartholomew’s to have a number of  St Ambrose pupils wishing to carry out their work experience with us – many of them are in actual fact, ex pupils. Four pupils will be helping us out from next week in various classes around the nursery and school. We are looking forward to working with you…

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Many congratulations to your newly elected House Captains and Vice House Captains. As part of the Forward Together group, these boys and girls will play a lead role in driving forward improvements in St Bartholomew’s as well as encouraging their House teams throughout the year.

MONKLANDS
House Captain: Leah
Vice House Captain: Lauren

LOCHEND
House Captain: Rebecca
Vice House Captain: Nathan

DRUMPELLIER
House Captain: Niamh
Vice House Captain: Jade

SUMMERLEE
House Captain: Leigha
Vice House Captain: Lucy

I have been contacted by a number of parents and local residents concerned about dangerous parking at the top gate at the beginning and end of the school day. The safety of St Bartholomew’s pupils is my highest priority, so I will be positioning myself at the top gate this morning to see the situation for myself. If necessary, I will contact the police to monitor the area from tomorrow onwards. I realise the building work at the nursery is currently causing some disruption, but please can I urge parents and carers who drive their children to school to drop-off and park safely and legally. The forecast is good for the coming week, so you may wish to consider leaving the car at home and walking your child to school if it’s not too far. Thank you, in advance, for your support and cooperation in addressing this situation.

Primary 1 – Arran

Primary 2 – Ellie

Prinary 2/3 – Malinka

Primary 3 – Brogan

Primary 4 – Jennifer

Primary 5 – Cian

Primary 6 – Annie

Primary 7 –

Cool Class Cup – Primary 1

Primary 7 have a very special morning ahead. The boys and girls will be joining around 4000 pupils from across Motherwell Diocese for a special Mass at Carfin Grotto to mark the Year of Mercy. Given the huge numbers, the Mass will be held outdoors. Thankfully, the weather is looking dry, with the possibility of some sunshine. Please pray for our P7 pupils today as they join Bishop Toll, priests from across the diocese and pupils from numerous other schools for what is sure to be an inspiring and memorable celebration.

We’ve reached the end of our first full week of the new school year. The boys and girls have been absolute starts and it’s going to be very difficult indeed for teachers to choose their first Pupil of the Week. However, choose them they must! Keep an eye on the website to find out our first Pupils of the Week and Cool Class.

Great news to share today! I have received official confirmation that new flooring will soon be fitted in the upper school corridor and in classrooms and offices. This is very welcome news as the flooring in the upper corridor is the original 1950s tiles and the carpets in seven of our classrooms are well past their best. We’ll have the tricky, but pleasurable, task of selecting samples next week. Pupils and staff can then look forward to the transformation of St Bart’s over the coming months. Please can I take this opportunity to thank Counsellor Michael McPaik and Mr Dennis Fallon, chair of our Parent Council, for their efforts in securing these improvements to the school building.

We are so lucky to have such a beautiful day, especially as we are walking to mass this morning. This is our Patron Saint’s feast day and we are all delighted to be celebrating this very special day as a community.I know that our pupils will be a credit to themselves and their families with their fantastic manners and behaviour at mass today!

The children have only been back at school a week today and uniforms are still perfect- well done boys and girls! I would recommend that children’s names are put on everything- school uniform, school bags,gym kits and lunch boxes.Quite often children have exactly the same jumpers, bags and lunch boxes and it prevents the children from being upset. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Mrs Bolland😀

Vickie, our Active Schools Co-ordinator, will be meeting Mrs McIntyre today to kick-start plans for this year’s programme of after school clubs. A variety of clubs will run throughout the year, many of them made possible by the generosity and commitment of St Bart’s class teachers, so please encourage your child to make the most of all the opportunities that will come their way in 2016/17.

Tomorrow is the feast of our school patron, St Bartholomew, and all parents and carers are very welcome to join our school community for Mass in St Bartholomew’s Church at 10.00am.

Finally today, a reminder of some wise words of Pope Francis which are displayed on the wall of our gym hall. Even for us who are not so young, they’re still worth reflecting on!

We start our first full week after the summer holidays. The children are already back into the swing of things and it was great to see all 208 of them so settled and focused last week. Our 25 Primary 1 pupils were absolute stars and our new Primary 7s, proudly wearing their senior pupil ties, have already shown a high level of maturity and responsibility. Well done to you all all!

Thank you for your continued patience with the building work. The nursery extension and new car park will hopefully be completed in around three weeks.

The nursery extension has resulted in quite a large part of our playground being used up and this has left us particularly tight for space down at the infant door. Now that the P1s have had a few days to settle in, please can I ask that parents and carers move back from the lines once teachers arrive to take in their class at 9.00am. Around 70 children enter through that particular door and it’s important that teachers are able to quickly see where their class is, get them into line and then into school to begin their day. Thank you for your support and cooperation. It’s very much appreciated.

Well, we’ve arrived at the end of the first week already. Well done to each and every one of our pupils: you’ve made a fantastic start to the year and I really am proud of you! Enjoy a well-earned rest over the weekend.

In last year’s feedback questionnaire, parents and carers told us that they would value more regular information on their child’s progress. In response to this, pupils will receive three separate reports this year (two short and one more detailed report), the first of which will be sent out round about the September weekend. This will be a valuable opportunity for teachers to let parents know how their child is settling into their new class, help parents/carers stay better informed about their child’s progress and also act as an incentive for pupils to maintain high standards of work and behaviour.

Our class pages on the website will be up and running again in the next week or so and this is a great way of keeping up-to-date with your child’s learning. Class Dojo is also now used throughout the school and this is an absolutely fantastic way for school and home to maintain close links. A Dojo event is being planned for the very near future to allow parents to learn about everything Class Dojo has to offer. Watch this space!

What a fantastic start to the new school year we had yesterday! 208 smart, cheerful and enthusiastic pupils turned up in the morning and spent the rest of the day impressing their teachers with their superb attitude, effort and work. Our new Primary 1 children were particularly impressive and settled in quickly to their first day in school. Well done to every St Bart’s pupil… keep up the great work!

I was unable to make the announcement before the summer holidays, but Mrs Smillie officially retired as our senior clerical assistant at the end of July. Mrs Smillie was the first point of contact for many new St Bartholomew’s parents and a friendly, familiar face to pupils, staff and parents alike throughout the ten years she worked in the school office. She will be greatly missed, but we wish her a very long and happy retirement. There will be an opportunity for parents and carers to contribute to a gift for Mrs Smillie over the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, Mrs Smillie has yet to be replaced and this will place additional pressure on the school office over the coming days and weeks. Please bear with us in this period of transition: it may take us longer to answer the phone, deal with queries or process admin. Thank you for your support.

A list of dates for the coming year will be sent out next week. However, please can I give advanced notice of an additional holiday for St Bartholomew’s pupils. The school will be used as a polling station on THURSDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER and will be closed to pupils on this day. Thursday 22nd is the day immediately prior to the September weekend so will mean an extra long weekend for pupils… and perhaps an opportunity for some of our families to plan an extra day away at the caravan, especially if we’re blessed with warm weather next month.