St Bartholomews

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.

Welcome back everyone and an especially warm welcome to our new Primary 1 pupils. I hope you all had a fantastic summer holiday.

Our new Primary 1 children will start at the slightly later time of 9.45am this morning to allow the rest of the pupils to get in and settled.

I am absolutely delighted to inform you that Mr Fowler will be remaining at St Bartholomew’s after all. Great news for him and our whole school community!

Many of you will have noticed that the new nursery extension has appeared at the end of the playground. Unfortunately, the building work is incomplete and will continue over the next few weeks. This means that pupils and parents/carers will need to use the top gate to enter and exit the playground until further notice. It also means that spaces will be extremely limited in the car-park. Please can I ask, therefore, that the car-park is only used for essential reasons to ensure that as many spaces as possible are kept free for staff. Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Finally, I received the following message from a former pupil over the holidays. Hopefully some of last year’s P7 pupils will read today’s blog and pick up Daniel’s message.

Dear Former Primary 7 and both Mrs MacFarlane and Mr.Young,

Former Student of St. Bartholomew’s, Daniel McGregor

Have a fantastic first day back, everyone!

What a special and memorable afternoon it was yesterday at St Bartholomew’s. The Leavers’ Mass was both joyful and moving and we are truly grateful to Fr Patrick Duffy for stepping in at such short notice. The Prize Giving was uplifting, with some kind words from Mark Millar OBE and a beautiful performance of the song ‘Seasons of Love’ from our Primary 7 pupils.

The evening saw the hall transformed into a seaside-themed party zone, complete with disco and bouncy castle. Our P7 pupils had an absolutely fantastic night and there were a few of us holding back the tears when we formed a circle for ‘Loch Lomond’ at the end of the night. A MASSIVE thank you to the team of parent helpers who organised and ran last night’s event. You are very, very much appreciated by both pupils and staff alike. We wish our P7s all the very best as they move on to high school.

Today is the Feast of St Peter and St Paul and is a holiday of obligation. Our school community will be attending the 10.00am Mass at St Bartholomew’s Church this morning and all parents and carers are welcome to join us.

On this last day of term, please can I take this opportunity to thank St Bartholomew’s staff – both teaching and support staff – for their dedication, enthusiasm and hard work throughout this year. The pupils and parents of St Bartholomew’s are very blessed indeed to have you! We’re very sorry to see Miss Brennan and Mr Fowler leave St Bart’s today, but wish them all the very best in their new schools. Enjoy a well-deserved summer holiday, everyone!

So, we arrive at the end of another school year. You only need to look back through the Head Teacher’s blog and our Class Pages to see what an action-packed, fruitful and exciting year it’s been. We’re definitely ready for our holidays! To all St Bart’s pupils, parents, parishioners and friends: have a fantastic summer and see you for the start of the 2016/17 school year on Wednesday 17th August (9.00am start for Primary 2 – 7 and 9.45am start for our new Primary 1 pupils).

LET THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS BEGIN!

Our Primary 7 Leavers’ Mass and Prize Giving takes place this afternoon at 1.30pm. This year’s class have been an absolutely fantastic bunch and today will give our whole school community, along with parents, family and friends, the opportunity to give thanks to God for the children’s year in Primary 7, pray for the boys and girls as they move onto high school and, in the Prize Giving, celebrate their many, many successes and achievements. Mark and Lucy Millar have, once again, taken time out of their busy schedule to be with us this afternoon and Mark posted the following Tweet yesterday:

Mark currently has 75,500+ followers on Twitter, so it looks as if our Leavers’ Mass and Prize Giving are common knowledge across the globe!

Please can I also extend a very warm welcome to Joe McAvoy, our former Quality Improvement Manager, who has been a good friend to the school over the years. Joe will be retiring in a few weeks and we’re delighted he has agreed to join us for today’s proceedings.

Unfortunately, Father Doherty will be unable to attend today’s Mass. However, Father Patrick Duffy from the Conforti Institute has very kindly agreed to step in at extremely short notice to celebrate Mass. Many thanks, Father Duffy, and a very warm welcome to St Bartholomew’s!

Finally, I was delighted to receive a visit from one of our Primary 7 pupils yesterday when he popped down to my office to show off a trophy he was awarded by Dunbeth Football Club. You can see him proudly holding the Rab Campbell Achievement Award for his outstanding attitude and consistent performance throughout the year. Well done! What a great achievement!

We’ve arrived not only at the last week of term, but the final week of the year. Where does the time go?!!

We’ll be busy today with final preparations for tomorrow’s Leavers’ Mass and Prize Giving. The Mass begins at 1.30pm prompt and will be immediately followed by the P7 Prize Giving. We look forward to welcoming the parents, carers, families and friends of our P7 pupils at tomorrow’s special event.

It was a real pleasure reading the children’s report cards over the past couple of weeks. These were sent home on Friday and I hope each and every parent was as delighted as I was reading about the progress and achievements of their child. St Bart’s pupils really are a fantastic bunch!

Our final Tea with Mr Young takes place today, with a total of 24 Pupils of the Week enjoying some time away from the classroom as a reward for their outstanding work and behaviour. Well done to you all!

Finally, Mrs McConnell (PT English) and Mrs Timmons (PT Maths) from St Ambrose High School had a great visit to St Bartholomew’s on Friday and left the following comment on our website:

‘Mrs McConnell and Mrs Timmons thoroughly enjoyed visiting P7 today. What fantastic boys and girls! Looking forward to seeing you in August.’

Primary 1 – Patrick

Primary 1/2 – Kalvin

Primary 2 – Sophie

Primary 3 – Stephanie

Primary 4 – Katie

Primary 5 – Gabrielle

Primary 5/6 – Andrew

Primary 7 – Caius

Cool Class Cup: Primary 1/2

Winning House: Lochend

We welcome Mrs McConnell, Principal Teacher of English at St Ambrose High School, to St Bartholomew’s this morning, along with a member of staff from their maths department. They will be meeting our Primary 7s to see and hear about some of the literacy and numeracy work the children have been doing in recent months. This is a great opportunity for our P7 pupils to do a last bit of transition work before heading off to high school in August.

On that note, please can I remind P7 parents and carers that the Leavers’ Mass and Prize Giving takes place on Tuesday afternoon at 1.30pm. Mark and Lucy Millar will be awarding prizes and Joe McAvoy, our former Quality Improvement Manager, will also be attending.

As mentioned in last week’s blog, Councillor Michael McPake visited St Bartholomew’s on Thursday to have a look at the various improvements to the school building and to see the remaining work needing done, particularly the flooring in the upper school corridor. I’m delighted to say that Cllr McPake has progressed things very quickly and that the original 1950s flooring in the top corridor will be replaced next session. We’re absolutely delighted!

Finally, please note that report cards will be sent out today. Check those school bags at 3 o’clock!

Our Primary 1, Primary 1/2 and Primary 2 children had a lovely picnic in the park yesterday and although it wasn’t particularly sunny, the weather was decent enough so that the children could play and eat outdoors. Good fun was had by all and it was perhaps a nice end to a very busy year! Primary 3 also had a fabulous day out at Summerlee on Monday and our parent helpers were very impressed with the  children’s excellent behaviour. Well done boys and girls!

A reminder to all parents and Carers again that both the gardening and reading after school clubs will NOT be on due to preparations for voting. Children will not attend school this Thursday as St Bartholomew’s Primary will be a polling station for the elections.

Craig from North Lanarkshire Active School’s was speaking to the children on Monday and Tuesday of this week at assembly about Summer Sport Camps. All of our pupils have a leaflet with all of the necessary information which is pictured below An important link to obtain further information is: www.nlleisure.co.uk

I had a lovely visit from three wonderful pupils today! One of our Primary 4 girls has achieved great success at a dancing competition and she brought in a fabulous selection of photographs. There were so many that she needed help from two of her friends!

Our talented dancer is on the right!!

Mrs Bolland 😀