St Bartholomews

A huge welcome to everyone from Mrs Bolland, on my first day as Acting Head Teacher! I am looking forward to a Tuesday and Wednesday when I will be keeping an extra close eye on all the boys and girls in St Bartholomew’s and helping out parents and carers with any issues they may have.

Please be advised that Primary 1 enrolments will continue this afternoon from 1.30pm until 3pm.It has been wonderful to see some of our own nursery boys and girls as well as some new faces that will be wearing the St Bartholomew’s uniform very shortly.

We have also heard the fantastic news that Liam and Patrick from Primary 5/6 have experienced great success at a recent Karate tournament in Dumfries – well done boys.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Registrations for new Primary 1 pupils take place every afternoon this week, from 1.30 – 3.00pm. Please note that your child’s birth certificate and a proof of address (eg. a council tax bill) are required for registration. If you know of any relatives, friends or neighbours who have children eligible to start school in August, please could you bring the above arrangements to their attention. Thank you for your help.

Tomorrow will be my first day working in headquarters and Mrs Bolland’s first day as acting Head Teacher. Mrs Bolland will be based in the Head Teacher’s office on a Tuesday and Wednesday. She will also be writing the blog on these two days… a wee break from my daily blethering!

Mr Young 🙂

Peimary 1 – Jamie

Primary 1/2 – Shay

Primary 2 – Layla

Primary 2/3 – Daniel

Primary 4 – Gary

Primary 5 – Des

Primary 5/6 – Andrew

Primary 7 – Kyle

Cool Class Cup – Primary 5

We’ve reached the end of the first week in no time at all, and what a great start to the term it’s been! We have our first whole-school assembly of 2016 this morning and our proud certificate and trophy winners will be posted on the website later today.

Primary 1 enrolments take place every afternoon next week. Full details will be posted on Monday’s blog.

Finally, some of our Primary 6 pupils are participating in a karate tournament in my hometown of Dumfries today. I’m looking forward to hearing how they get on when they return to school on Monday. Good luck, boys!

The new term got off to a super start yesterday, with the boys and girls returning to school with their usual enthusiasm, positive attitude, good behaviour and great work ethic. Well done to you all!

As outlined in the letter sent to all parents/carers yesterday, I have been asked by Isabelle Boyd, Head of Service, to work in Headquarters two days a week from next Tuesday onwards. I have been carrying out some additional work for the local authority for a number of months and have now been allocated time to develop this further. From 12th January, therefore, I will be out of school every Tuesday and Wednesday; this will allow me to be in St Bartholomew’s at both the beginning and end of the school week.

Mrs Bolland will take up the position of acting Head Teacher on a Tuesday and Wednesday and Mrs MacFarlane and Mrs McLean will share the acting Principal Teacher post. Mr T. Dunz, a new member of staff, will teach Primary 4 on a Tuesday and Primary 7 on a Wednesday to allow Mrs McLean and Mrs MacFarlane to carry out their Principal Teacher duties; there will be no disruption to the learning of these two classes.

St Bartholomew’s is in a very settled position this year, with a fantastic team of highly competent teachers, and I have absolutely no concerns leaving the school in Mrs Bolland’s very capable hands.

Welcome back, everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas break and are feeling refreshed and ready for the new term.

May I suggest these recent words of Pope Francis as a new year resolution for each of us:

‘One goal for each day: to convey the tenderness of Christ to those who are most in need.‘

After a very busy few weeks, we’ve finally reached the last day of term. Our school community will be rounding off the term with our annual ‘Movie-Duvet Day’: time to chill out and enjoy some Christmas films together before school closes for the holidays at the earlier time of 2.30pm.

Please can I take this opportunity to thank pupils and staff for all their hard work during the course of the term. You only need to look back on the Head Teacher’s blog and the class pages to see just how much we’ve achieved as a team over the past few months. We’ve got lots to be proud of!

Thank you too to parents, carers, parishioners and friends for all your support this term. It was great to see our various Christmas events so busy and well supported.

To pupils, staff and everyone who has a connection with St Bartholomew’s, best wishes for a peaceful and holy Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. See you on Wednesday 6th January.

The last of our Christmas events take place today.

Mrs MacFarlane and I will be accompanying a group of Primary 6 and 7 pupils to St Bartholomew’s church hall this morning to entertain the parishioners with a selection of Christmas carols. This has become a popular annual tradition for parishioners and pupils alike: the parishioners get entertained and the children get to munch their way through lots of goodies afterwards! Everyone’s a winner!

Primary 1-3 have their Christmas party this afternoon. Santa has been kind enough to block-off some time in his diary today to visit St Bartholomew’s. He has some small pre-Christmas gifts to give our Primary 1-3 children and also wants to make some final checks before Christmas Eve that the boys and girls have been good. I’m sure Santa will be very pleased!

Fr Doherty will be visiting St Bartholomew’s this morning to celebrate Mass. It has been a busy few weeks, and our various festive events aren’t over yet, so this will be a very welcome opportunity for our school community to step away from the busyness and spend some time reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas.

Primary 5/6 and 7 have their Christmas party this afternoon. Have fun, boys and girls!

Finally, some beautiful Christmas wall displays have appeared in the foyer over the past week, bringing a real festive atmosphere to St Bartholomew’s. I thought I’d share these on the blog today.

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A HUGE well done to Primary 1-3 for their fantastic nativity, ‘It’s a Baby’, yesterday afternoon. You all looked amazing in your costumes and I can’t quite believe you managed to remember all those lines! You brought joy, laughter and a few emotional tears to St Bartholomew’s hall with your beautiful re-telling of the Christmas story. Well done to each and every one of you, and many thanks to all the staff who did so much behind the scenes.

The nursery boys and girls had their Christmas party yesterday, which included a visit from Santa Claus himself! There are some great photographs on the nursery blog – simply click the link on the right to check them out.

Now that the infant nativity is over, it’s time for Primary 1-7 to get into the party spirit too. Primary 4 and 5 have their party today. Have a great afternoon, boys and girls!