St Bartholomews

St Bartholomew’s is delighted to welcome the SSPCA to the school today. A representative from the charity will be working with all classes and the children will have the opportunity to learn about animals – familiar and unfamiliar – and their various habitats.

We are now into the second week of Lent. Lent is not simply about giving things up. It’s also about doing those small extra things that bring us closer to God, and prayer is at the heart of this. Please remember that our weekly prayer service takes place in the oratory tomorrow morning at 8.50am. It would be wonderful to see a ‘full house’!

‘Our prayer cannot be reduced to an hour on Sundays. It is important to have a daily relationship with the Lord.’ (Pope Francis)

Primary 1 – Liam

Primary 1/2 – Monique

Primary 2 – Aiden

Primary 3 – Leah

Primary 4 – Katie

Primary 5 – Charlie Joe

Primay 5/6 – Liam

Primary 7 – Kaitlin

Cool Class Cup: Primary 5/6

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! Head-lice are out and about in St Bart’s. Please take the time to check your child’s hair over the weekend and, if necessary, treat them before they return to school on Monday. Together, we can beat the little blighters!!!

Wasn’t it fantastic to see the sunshine yesterday! The boys and girls really appreciated the opportunity to get out into the fresh air at playtime and lunchtime… a welcome change from the recent stormy weather!

Primary 6 and 7 thoroughly enjoyed the input they received from the NSPCC/Childline yesterday. It gave them a lot to think about and our guests were very impressed with the children’s mature attitude. Mrs MacFarlane posted a few pictures of the workshop on Twitter which you may wish to check out.

As this is one of my days in headquarters, there will be no assembly today. However, Mrs Bolland will be popping round classes to award Pupil of the Week certificates and will also be choosing the Cool Class. As usual, winners will be posted on the website later today.

Finally, in this first week of Lent, some words to reflect on from Pope Francis:
“God wants to live amidst his sons and daughters. Let us make space for him in our hearts.”

Let’s make time and space to grow closer to God in these coming weeks.

Mr Young 🙂

Welcome back, everyone! I hope you had a fantastic February break and enjoyed the long-awaited sunshine we were blessed with.
We welcome representatives from the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) to St Bartholomew’s today. The charity will be delivering the ChildLine Schools Programme to our Primary 6 and 7 pupils which will include input on the important issue of internet safety.

Our Valentine disco takes place this evening. Tickets are still available from the school office and can also be bought at the door. The P1-3 disco runs from 6.00-7.00pm and the P4-7 disco from 7.15-8.15pm. Many thanks to the fantastic team of parent helpers who have organised tonight’s disco. You’re absolute stars!

There was a beautiful atmosphere in St Bartholomew’s Church last night for the confirmation Mass. Many congratulations to our Primary 6 and 7 pupils. I hope you felt God’s presence with you in a special way; we’ll be praying for you as you continue on your journey of faith. The closing words from my address at last Sunday’s education Mass are of particular relevance to those pupils who were confirmed last night:

Head Teacher’s address for Education Sunday, 2016: Part 4
“I want to leave you this morning with some powerful words from the Bible, words which recently inspired Primary 1/2 to create a beautiful wall display. They’re from the prophet Micah and, for me, capture what the Year of Mercy is about, what the Church is about, what St Bartholomew’s is about and, indeed, what each and every one of us – pupils, staff, parents, families, parishioners – should be about as we endeavour to live out our Catholic faith:

‘The LORD has shown you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.’ “

As the children are only in school on Thursday and Friday next week, we are holding off awarding Pupil of the Week certificates, house points and the Cool Class Cup until next Friday.

And this brings me to the last piece of information on today’s blog: please remember that St Bartholomew’s will be closed to pupils on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Have a fun and relaxing long weekend, everyone, and see you back in St Bart’s on Thursday morning. Enjoy your pancakes on Tuesday!

Today is sure to create special memories for our Primary 6 and 7 pupils. Bishop Toal will celebrate Mass in St Bartholomew’s Church at 7.00pm, during which he will confer the Sacrament of Confirmation on the children. Please can I invite our whole school community, along with parishioners and friends, to pray for the boys and girls in these final hours of preparation.

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on those receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this evening.
Grant them:
the gift of WISDOM to see the world through Your eyes;
the gift of COUNSEL to make difficult decisions;
the gifts of KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING to use their minds to know You and to love You;
the gift of FORTITUDE to have the courage to live out their faith, despite difficulties and disappointments;
the gift of PIETY to be able to express their love and commitment to You;
the right kind of awesome FEAR that makes them pause each day to wonder at and revere God’s amazing love.
Amen

Another brilliant day in St Bartholomew’s… every time I was in a classroom today, the quality of work and wonderful ‘can do’ attitude was very apparent. Well done boys and girls.
It also seems like there is a constant stream of new faces, with new pupils joining us all the time. We are delighted to have you!
Primary 6 and 7 walked down to the church today to ensure that they know exactly what to do and what is expected of them on Thursday evening for their confirmation. Mrs MacFarlane and Mrs MacIntyre reported that the children were brilliant and listened very attentively. I am sure that the whole school community is praying for our confirmandi.
Following on from the last couple of days, an extract from Mr Young’s address on Education Sunday is as follows:
Our love for God should always, of course, lead us to love others: ‘Love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind’, Jesus said… ‘and love your neighbour as yourself.’

In today’s reading from 1st Corinthians, St Paul hits home the message that love is an action, not an emotion. The kind of love Paul talks about is seen, experienced, and demonstrated. This is contrary to our culture that puts huge value on personal feelings. We do what we want when we want because we “feel” like it. And if we don’t “feel” like it, we don’t do it.

In contrast to this mindset, Pope Francis encourages each of us in this Year of Mercy to reflect upon and practice the ‘works of mercy’, both corporal and spiritual. Each of us has a responsibility to feed and clothe those in need; we should all welcome the stranger into our communities, our parishes, our schools. We also have a responsibility for the spiritual care of others: helping those trapped in despair or loneliness, showing love and patience towards those who might cause us harm, remembering all – whether living or dead – in our prayers.

During this Year of Mercy, St Bartholomew’s staff will make a special effort to help pupils make sense of these ‘works of mercy’ and to connect them to the words and actions of Jesus. We will be exploring the parables of mercy – the Lost Son, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin – and will learn what they teach us about the unfailing mercy of God.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Our usual weekly prayer service will take place today in our beautiful oratory and I would encourage as many pupils, parents and carers to come along. With Lent around the corner and the year of Mercy a huge consideration, it is particularly important to pray at this time.

As promised, in yesterday’s blog, a second extract from Mr Young’s speech from Education Sunday’s address is as follows:

I’m sure you will have noticed the simple motto that appears on our school website and also greets us at the main entrance to the school: Love God, Love others, Love learning. Loving God lies at the heart of St Bartholomew’s. When we pause for prayer at various points through the day, we invite God into the ordinariness of our daily routine and these brief moments of lifting the heart and mind to God are simple expressions of our love for him. We also show our love for God when we gather for Mass, and our school community celebrations of the Eucharist are always special and moving moments of grace. Of course, we are particularly blessed in St Bartholomew’s to have the Blessed Sacrament reserved in our school oratory, and what better way to express our love for God than to spend some quiet moments each day before the tabernacle. As we pour out our love for God in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, He, in turn, pours out his unlimited and perfect love upon us. Pope Francis describes it like this:

“Do you allow yourselves to be gazed upon by the Lord? But how do you do this? You look at the tabernacle and you let yourselves be looked at . . . it is that simple! It can sometimes be a bit boring; I sometimes fall asleep. Fall asleep then! He is still looking at you. Know for sure he is still looking at you!”

An important reminder for our Primary 7 pupils and carers – An Information Evening is taking place this evening at 7pm at St Ambrose High School. This will equip both parents and pupils with essential knowledge about this imminent transition to High School.

I would recommend that tickets for the Valentine Disco next Thursday are bought this week. As you know, children have a mid-term break next week and return on Thursday the 12^th of February. This is the day of the disco so it might be an idea to think about buying tickets as soon as possible.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

A huge thank you to all pupils, staff, parents, parishioners and friends who joined us for yesterday’s Education Sunday Mass. It was fantastic to see such a packed church. As usual, I gave the Head Teacher’s address and extracts from this will be included in the blog over the coming days.

Yesterday’s mass officially marked the opening of Catholic Education Week, 2016. This year’s theme is ‘Learning to Merciful’ and staff will be helping pupils throughout the next five days (and, indeed, throughout this Year of Mercy) to reflect on the mercy of God and think about how they can show mercy to others. Please remember the pupils and staff of St Bartholomew’s in your prayers this week and, if you can, pop along to the parish ‘Pray for our School’ group which meets in the school oratory tomorrow morning at 11.00am.

Head Teacher’s Education Sunday address, 2016: Part 1
“Catholic Education is about partnership: the three dimensions of home, school and parish working together to ensure the very best for our pupils. On this Education Sunday, I would like to take the opportunity to thank those numerous individuals who support the work of St Bartholomew’s in so many ways and who faithfully pass on the faith to our children. To the staff for their dedication, hard work and their genuine personal faith. To our parents and carers for coming today to show their commitment to Catholic education and for their ongoing support of all that we do in St Bartholomew’s. To the parish for being such an enthusiastic, supportive and spiritual bunch of people. To Father Doherty for the support he gives us as chaplain to the school. Of course, my biggest vote of thanks goes to the pupils of St Bartholomew’s. We must never forget that they’re the reason why we get up in the morning! Particular thanks to those pupils who have joined us for Mass this morning.

How appropriate, in this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, that today’s second reading presents us with St Paul’s well-known words on love from his first letter to the Corinthians. If we don’t have love – even if we have every other gift or talent imaginable – then we have nothing. Love is the greatest gift; love never fails.”

Primary 1 – Bridgit

Primary 1/2 – Maddison

Primary 2 – Lucy

Primary 2/3 – Kelsey

Primary 4 – Jake

Primary 5 – Luca

Primary 5/6 – Rebecca

Primary 7 – Julia

Winning House: Lochend

Cool Class Cup: Primary 1/2