St Bartholomews

Although it wasn’t one of my usual St Bart’s days yesterday, I managed to spend the full morning in school. It was good to catch up with pupils and staff and hear about all the great work that has been going on this week, both in classrooms and at our various after-school clubs. Of course, it was slightly quieter without our Primary 7 pupils… we wish them all the best for their second induction day at St Ambrose today.

I will be attending the annual Motherwell Diocese Catholic Primary Head Teachers’ conference today. Bishop Toal will be celebrating Mass and it will be good to catch up with other Head Teachers from across the diocese.

The Parent Council AGM takes place this coming Tuesday at 6.00pm. The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced significant plans for Scottish education in parliament yesterday, including increased parental involvement in schools. This is an exciting time to get involved in the Parent Council and contribute to ongoing improvement in St Bartholomew’s.

As intimated in the slip that went home yesterday, this year’s Sports Day will take place (weather permitting!!!) on Tuesday 7th June at 1.00pm. There will be an early lunch on the day from 12.00 – 12.45pm.

Please remember that the school is closed tomorrow and Monday for the long weekend. Let’s hope the sun shines! Have a great holiday weekend and see you back bright and breezy on Tuesday morning!

Our ‘Faith in Action’ group hosted a coffee morning at morning break for staff and invited guests in order to raise funds for Mary’s Meals. It was a great success and £135.34 was raised. This is a fantastic sum of money and will be put to good use for this very worthy cause. A huge thank you to Mrs O’Neil, Mrs Carlin and the children from the Faith in Action group for organising this event.

In the photograph below you can see some of the boys and girls selling cakes and biscuits to the children at interval time.

We had a bit of excitement in the afternoon, when we had two Fire Engines at the school! This was a false alarm, however we take the safety of all of our pupils very seriously and ensured that we got the ‘all clear’ before escorting the children back into the building. The children thoroughly enjoyed seeing the firemen and especially appreciated them driving around the school waving at the children and tooting their horns.

We wish all of our Primary 7 pupils the very best of luck today and Thursday when they are visiting St Ambrose and having a ‘trial run’ at being a first year pupil. I’m looking forward to hearing all about it on Friday…

Mrs Bolland 😀

As always, a very warm welcome to everyone in our faith community to join us for our weekly prayer service in the Oratory. The more the merrier!

We have Logo Xpres in today to measure our P7’s for their High School uniforms, what an exciting time for them.The two day transition event to St Ambrose is this Wednesday and Thursday and I know that St Bartholomew’s pupils will do themselves, their families and their school proud. Good luck boys and girls.

There are 3 after school clubs on today and again, a big thank you to our staff who devote their own time to organise this and further contribute to the children’s learning.

Having spoken to quite a few P7’s yesterday, the recurring theme on York is most certainly a very positive one. Everyone had a fantastic time and both the Chocolate shop and Flamingo Land were firm favourites. I think there were certainly a few sleepy heads on Saturday morning after the weeks’ exertions!

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Primary 7 had an absolutely fantastic trip to Yorkshire last week, packed with an array of exciting activities. As well as enjoying a comfortable stay in the Greno hotel, complete with stunning sea views, the children had the opportunity to find out about World War II at Eden Camp, see some of the world’s great locomotives at the National Railway Museum, find out where chocolate comes from and how it is made at York’s Chocolate Story, hear some gory tales on a ghost walk, fill an entire day with unlimited rides at Flamingo Land theme park and enjoy a science show, motion ride and the planetarium at the Life Science Centre in Newcastle. If you didn’t manage to follow us on Twitter last week, please take the opportunity to browse through the photographs of our trip… the children’s smiles tell the story!

It’s another important week for Primary 7. The boys and girls will be off to St Ambrose High School on Wednesday and Thursday for their two induction days. The children are very excited and I know that they’ll impress their new teachers with their good manners, positive attitude and hard work.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached this stage in the year again, with the summer holidays now only five weeks away. Please remember that the school will be closed this coming Friday and next Monday for the May bank holiday.

Primary 1 – Kaidyn

Primary 1/2 – David

Primary 2 – Sophie

Primary 2/3  – Arron

Primary 4 – Ellie

Primary 5 – Keira

Primary 5/6 – Andrew

It was yet another great day in St Bartholomew’s. Every time I was in a classroom today, I was constantly reminded about what a great group of children we have here! I also had Cody from primary 1 in my office, showing me his fantastic story writing this morning. It’s hard to believe how far our primary 1’s have come since August.

Talking of primary 1 – I happened to be walking along our infant corridor and Miss Duffy was hard at work creating a beautiful wall display. It showcases the children’s work on science, where they have been learning about living things and how they grow. You can see from the photograph below just how hard they are working in class!

Our primary 7’s are having a fabulous time in Flamingo Land today and you should check out our Twitter feed to see some great pictures. I am sure we will have some very tired boys and girls tonight…

Mrs Bolland😀

Yet another after school club is on offer in St Bartholomew’s! Primary 1 children are invited to apply for a place in the After school Library club. It will start on Wednesday the 25th of May from 3pm until 4pm. The cost is £4 and it will run every Wednesday until the 22nd of June. Look out for forms in your child’s bag…

A number of parents have voiced their concerns about dogs in the playground at 3pm. This is an issue for both health and safety reasons and the fact that some children are frightened of dogs who are running free. Could I please ask respectfully that parents/ carers do not bring dogs into our playground.

Finally, our primary 7’s are having a fantastic time in York today. They have been on a ghost walk and visited many attractions in York itself, it has been a very busy day! I’m sure they will provide their friends and families with many entertaining and interesting stories of their adventures on their return.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Our Primary 7’s are having a great time and I spoke to Mr Young  yesterday when everyone was having a brilliant time at Eden Camp . The hotel is only a 45 minute journey from there and I’m sure the children would be ready for their spaghetti bolognese, especially after all their adventures!

Today is a fun packed day in York with lots of different activities and places to see. Remember to check on Twitter for up to date photographs on how the children are getting on.

I had a very pleased young lady in my office today with a fabulous football trophy so I promised to include her in my blog…well done from all your friends at St Bartholomew’s!

Just a quick reminder that our Art after school club is back on today from 3pm until 4pm. I can’t wait to see all the fantastic masterpieces…

Mrs Bolland 😀

As always, our prayer service in the Oratory begins at 8.50am and would encourage our entire faith community to come along.

St Bartholomew’s is a very busy place, both within the hours of 9am until 3pm and beyond. There are three different after school clubs on today: Golf, Making Healthy Snacks and Running. A big thank you to all the staff who organise these club and devote their own time to ensuring the children have these fabulous opportunities.

One of our Primary 1 pupils from Primary 1/2, Liliana Hassell had some brilliant news  to tell us yesterday – she has won a medal and six trophies for her fabulous achievements in dancing. Well done Liliana!

A fond farewell to our Primary Seven pupils who leave for York today at 8.30am. This is a brilliant trip and I remember that it is packed full of activities and great fun. Keep your eyes on Twitter as Mr Young will be tweeting about all of the great experiences that the children are having. I will keep you up to date on Friday with the journey home.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

St Bartholomew’s Church was packed to the doors yesterday morning for First Holy Communions. Our Primary 4 pupils were perfect in every way and kept their minds and hearts focused on the true meaning of the day throughout the Mass. There was a lovely atmosphere in the church and I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents, carers, family and friends for turning up in such great numbers to support the children. Special thanks to Mrs McLean for preparing the children for the sacrament, to Fr Doherty for all his support over the past few months, to parishioners for preparing the church and to Mrs McFarlane and the P5-7 choir for leading the music at yesterday’s Mass. We continue to pray for our Primary 4 pupils this week. It just seems like yesterday that they were walking into St Bart’s as Primary 1s!

This will be the last blog I will personally write this week as I will be spending the week in Yorkshire with Primary 7. We’ll be leaving the school at 8.30am tomorrow, with our first port of call being Eden Camp World War II museum in Malton. This is a fascinating museum and only a 45 minute journey to our final destination of Scarborough. Of course, although Mrs Bolland will be writing the blog, I certainly won’t be disappearing: keep an eye on Twitter for updates throughout the coming days of all the exciting things Primary 7 get up to during the trip!