St Bartholomews

John Wilson photographers will be in St Bartholomew’s today to take our annual whole-school photograph. As was the case last year, the photograph will be created using some technical wizardry: each pupil and adult will have an individual photograph taken and these will be put together back in the studio using a computer to create the final photograph. Clever stuff, indeed!

Education Sunday falls this coming Sunday, 31st January, and will mark the start of Catholic Education Week. As always, St Bartholomew’s Primary will provide the music at the morning Mass in St Bartholomew’s Church and I will give the usual Head Teacher’s address. Letters have already been distributed to P4-7 pupils inviting them to be part of the choir. I would encourage as many pupils and families as possible to make a special effort to attend the Education Sunday Mass, when our school and parish communities will come together to give thanks for Catholic education and the work of St Bartholomew’s in particular. Mass begins at 11.00am.

Our Primary 6 and 7 pupils will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation a week on Thursday, 4th February. Please remember the boys and girls in your prayers over the coming days.

Finally, with it being Rabbie Burns Day, I thought I’d share some wise words from our national poet:

Primary 1 – Emily

Primary 1/2 – Nathan

Primary 2 – Sophie

Primary 2/3 – Logan

Primary 4 – Harvey Jo

Primary 5 – Amy

Primary 5/6 – Jade

Primary 7 – Kai

Winning House: Lochend

Cool Class Cup: Primary 7

Friday already! With it being the Year of Mercy, we will be continuing to reflect on the story of the Lost Son from the Gospel of St Luke at this week’s whole school assembly. Of course, we’ll have our usual certificates and trophies and names of winners will be posted on the website later in the morning.

Have a great weekend, everyone, and don’t forget about our whole-school photograph on Monday. White shirt, tie and bright, cheesy smiles, please!

St Bartholomew’s FC played a great match last night. Despite not being the winning side, they displayed fantastic team work and scored four cracking goals. There were also some phenomenal saves from our goal-keeper, Kai. Well done, St Bart’s!

A slip went home with all pupils yesterday reminding parents/carers about our whole-school photograph this coming Monday. This has become an annual St Bartholomew’s tradition in recent years and it’s always great to see our whole school community, young and not-so-young, smiling out from the wall!

Finally, a wee reminder to check out our class pages on a regular basis. There’s always something exciting going on in St Bart’s and it’s a great way to stay bang up-to-date with learning across the school.

It’s good to be back in St Bart’s this morning and I’m looking forward to catching up on all the boys and girls’ news.

I heard that the first day of the new cashless system ran like clockwork yesterday. This hasn’t been the case in every school, so well done to St Bart’s pupils and staff for making day one such a success.

St Bartholomew’s FC have their first match of 2016 after school today. The team will be heading down to St Ambrose for the fixture and I know they’ll do themselves and the school proud, as always. Mr McGinty has been coaching the team in Mr Fowler’s absence and he’ll be on the sidelines today to provide coaching and encouragement during the match. Of course, the team will have an extra burst of confidence and pride this afternoon as they don their brand new football strips. Keep an eye on Twitter and tomorrow’s blog for photographs of the smart new kit. Good luck, team!

Mr Young 🙂

Great news! Our ‘cashless’ system will be starting today. Technical services were in yesterday to ensure that the computer system is fully functioning and ready to go. All of our pupils will receive their own card with a photograph on it and the cards will stay in a colour coded box in classrooms. The plan is that pupils will put money on their card at the beginning of the week so that it saves them having the responsibility of looking after money on a daily basis. Please be advised that Primary 1 -3 do not need money for lunch as this is already paid for by the authority.

The cards will also be used to pay for snack at interval time, therefor, all pupils from primary 1- 7 will need money on their cards to pay for this.

It was also an exciting day for our netball team as they had their first game of the season. St Bartholomew’s netball team are playing in a local league and will be featuring in a number of games over the coming months. We wish them the best of luck and hope they go the distance and appear in the league finals! We will certainly keep you posted.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

St Bartholomew’s will be starting a ‘cashless’ system shortly .It seems like so long ago that parents and carers were informed about this, although the Christmas holidays have a lot to answer for! However, it is hoped that cards will be sorted out today, ready for D-Day tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

All of our wonderful pupils are back into the swing of things and have been working hard since their return after the holidays, long may this continue.

Our weekly prayer service at 8.50am continues every Tuesday morning and many thanks to our ‘Faith in Action’ group for organising this.

Mrs Bolland 🙂

Primary 1 – Lucas

Primary 1/2 – Gracie

Primary 2 – Sophie

Primary 2/3 – Jennifer

Primary 4 – Callum

Primary 5 – Ethan

Primary 5/6 – Andrew

Primary 7 – Connor

Winning House: Drumpellier

Cool Class Cup: Primary 2

It was lovely to have Bishop Toal in St Bartholomew’s yesterday morning. He spent time talking to Primary 6 and 7 about the sacrament of confirmation and also took the opportunity to visit each classroom to meet the teachers and pupils.

Our whole-school assembly takes place as usual this morning. Watch out for pupil of the week and trophy winners later today. There’s been great work and behaviour right across the school this week, so I think teachers will be struggling to choose today’s certificate winners (not a bad problem to have!).

One of our Primary 3 pupils was very keen yesterday to show off a trophy she was awarded for being part of the best Girls Brigade squad. I promised I’d post a photo on today’s blog.
Finally, my days at headquarters are slightly different next week. I will be out of school on Monday and Tuesday and back in St Bart’s Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Mr Young 🙂

I’m very much looking forward to being back in St Bart’s this morning. It’s been an interesting two days in headquarters, but I’ve missed the buzz of the school and being around the children. Many thanks to Mrs Bolland, Mrs MacFarlane and Mrs McLean for stepping up to their acting posts in my absence.

We are delighted to welcome Bishop Toal to St Bartholomew’s today. He will be visiting the school this morning to meet those Primary 6 and 7 pupils who will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation on Thursday 4th February. A very warm welcome, Bishop Toal!

Primary 1 registrations continue this afternoon. Tomorrow will be the final day to register your child for starting school in August 2016, so please ensure you pop into St Bartholomew’s between 1.30 – 3.00pm today or tomorrow to complete the relevant paperwork.

Mr Young 🙂