St Bartholomews

Three ex-pupils from St Bartholomew’s are helping out on a Monday afternoon in P6/7,P2/3 and P1. Pupils and  staff are delighted to have an extra pair of hands from the St Ambrose senior pupils in the classrooom and I have heard that they are already proving to be an asset to the class! A big thank you for all your help from everyone at St Bart’s.

From tomorrow and until the rest of week, there will be no after school clubs. This is a result of the By- Election on Thursday, where the school building has to be vacated shortly after 3pm and the school is closed to pupils on Thursday. Friday and Monday are obviously the September weekend and school is closed to staff and pupils alike. Our staff and pupils certainly deserve a well earned break as the start of term is always incredibly busy! After school clubs will resume as normal the following week.

The Parent Council met last night, with the addition of Councillor McPake, who has been a great support to the school . We would like to take thos opportunity to extend a  huge thank you for managing to pop along to our school during  such a busy schedule. It is much appreciated.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Our two parent/family events were a huge success on Friday. It was great to see Primary 1 parents and carers choosing and reading a book with their child and it was equally fantastic to see Primary 5 mums, dads, grannies, grandpas, aunties and uncles getting stuck into some Roald Dahl activities (with a little help from the boys and girls!). Check out Twitter and the Primary 1 and Primary 5 class pages for photographs of these two events, and please keep your eye out for more opportunities to join in your child’s learning in the coming months. Many thanks to Mrs Carlin and Mrs MacFarlane for open their doors on Friday.

I can now confirm that the entire corridor, from the infant department all the way up to Primary 7, will be fitted with new vinyl flooring and that all classrooms and offices will be fitted with new carpet. I am absolutely delighted the decision has been made to re-floor the entire school: some of the floors have been down since the school opened in 1950 and the new vinyl and carpet will transform the interior of St Bart’s, bringing our four years of refurbishment to a close. Work will begin during the October holidays. Please can I express the sincere thanks of our whole school community to North Lanarkshire Council for their financial investment in St Bartholomew’s over the past few years and particularly to Counsellor Michael McPake for his ongoing commitment to our school. I popped onto Google maps to remind myself what St Bartholomew’s looked like when I walked up the playground for the first time back in 2012…I still can’t quite believe the transformation, both inside and out! Take a look for yourself:

Priamry 1 – Jasmin

Primary 2 – Kaidyn

Primary 2/3 – Lilianna

Primary 3 – Harrison

Primary 4 – Leah

Primary 5 – Leon

Primary 6 – David

Primary 6/7 – Andrew

Winning House: Drumpellier

Cool Class Cup: Primary 1

I’m not quite sure how we’re going to manage to fit in all our various activities today!

First of all, some of our Primary 1 parents and carers will be taking part in a ‘Stay and Read’ session in the school library this morning. Many thanks to Mrs Carlin and Miss Duffy for organising this. On the topic of our library, Mrs MacFarlane has been busy choosing new furniture and rugs to make this a really special space for our pupils to enjoy a book. There’s going to be a bit of an underwater theme… watch this space!

Our six Pupil Voice groups have their first meeting of the session this morning. All 212 of our P1-7 pupils are a member of a group and whether it’s Eco, JRSO, Citizenship, Faith in Action, Forward Together or Health for Life, there’s plenty to talk about and lots of things to plan!

Primary 5 will be celebrating Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday with a special party this afternoon. There will be lots for the boys and girls’ parents to see as well as a performance of Pure Imagination from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory… and, of course, some delicious cakes to enjoy! I’m looking forward to joining Primary 5 for their special event.

In amongst all of the above, John Wilson photographers will be in school to take individual and family photographs.

Finally, I need to squeeze in a VERY quick assembly to give out Pupil of the Week certificates AND catch up on four weeks of ‘Tea with Mr Young’! The plan is for the 32 certificate winners to have an extra playtime and a choc-ice… a perfect solution for what’s forecast to be a sunny day!

It’s good to be back in St Bartholomew’s this morning after two days at Headquarters.

A new after school club begins today. A number of our Primary 5 pupils and their parents have signed-up for ‘Make Some Noise’, an opportunity to use our fantastic music facilities to create and record some music together. The club will be run by Raymond McCabe, our new Community Learning & Development Worker, but I imagine I’ll be sticking my nose in now and again too!

The Coatbridge Advertiser will be in St Bartholomew’s today to take a class photograph of our new Primary 1 pupils. Then tomorrow, it will be the turn of all of our pupils, including the nursery, as John Wilson makes his annual visit to the school to take individual and family pictures. Don’t forget to do up those top buttons and tighten your ties, boys and girls!

I have been in and out of classes today and been amazed at some of the wonderful work going on! It would have been Roald Dahl’s  100th Birthday today and as result, children all over the country have been producing some fantastic work during their literacy lessons in commemoration of this. St Bartholomew’s children will be hard to beat on the creative front and I would encourage you to check out our Twitter page to see for yourself….

As you know , over the past four years , we have improved the quality of our school building – inside and out. Further refurbishments are on their way, in the form of lovely new carpets in the classrooms and new lino in the corridors.Measurements were confirmed yesterday and an order will be placed shortly – we can’t wait for them to be fitted.

Talking about refurbishments… our new nursery extension is looking good and the contractors have made great progress over the past weeks. Finishing touches are being added and hopefully furniture and resources will follow shortly. We will keep you posted.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Hopefully, you checked your child’s bag at the end of the day yesterday and found the ‘Dates for your Diary’ sheet which lists our various events over the coming months. I have included the sheet on today’s blog and, if you happen to lose your paper copy at any point, a copy can also be found in the ‘Information’ section of the website under ‘Diary Dates’.

Please can I draw your attention in particular to the dates of our class assemblies, the first of which is the Primary 1 Prayer Service on Friday 30th September.

Primary 1 – Kaiden

Primary 2 – Ava

Primary 2/3 – Calvin

Primary 3 – Eva

Primary 4- Daniel

Primary 5 – Declan

Primary 6 – Oscar

Primary 6/7 – Olivia

Cool Class: Primary 2/3

Winning House:  Monklands

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 🙂