St Bartholomews

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!

Primary 1-3 take to the stage this afternoon for their nativity, ‘It’s a Baby’. The boys and girls have been working exceptionally hard and looked and sounded fantastic at yesterday’s dress rehearsal; you really are in for a treat! Today’s performance begins at 1.30pm.

Christmas parties begin tomorrow, starting with Primary 4 and 5. Primary 6 and 7’s party is on Friday afternoon and Primary 1-3 on Monday afternoon, which will include a visit from Santa! As always, each child is asked to bring a contribution for their class ‘buffet’ such as a packet of biscuits, bag of crisps or some Haribos. Pupils can either bring their party clothes to get changed into after lunch or, alternatively, pop home at 12.30pm to get into their gear.

I’m absolutely delighted to announce that St Bartholomew’s has raised the fantastic sum of £320.75 for Mary’s Meals. Our original aim was for each class to raise £12.20, the amount it costs to feed one child in a developing country for an entire year. £320.75 allows us to feed 26 children – the equivalent of an entire class! If this isn’t good enough news, the government has pledged to double any money raised for Mary’s Meals, bringing our actual St Bart’s total to a phenomenal £641.50: 52 children fed for an entire year! A huge thank you to pupils and staff for your incredible fund-raising efforts. What a fitting start to the ‘Year of Mercy’ when we are called to give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty.

Our P1-3 nativity, ‘It’s a Baby’ is now only a day away. The dress rehearsal takes place this morning, giving us a chance to iron out any last minute issues. I got a big surprise when I walked into the hall at the end of the day yesterday. Mrs Ruddy, Mrs Dolan and Mr Lynch had been busy adding finishing touches to the stage, including a beautiful star of Bethlehem. The photograph below doesn’t do it justice… you’ll need to wait until tomorrow’s performance to see it in all its glory!

Finally, two very proud Primary 3 girls appeared at my office yesterday afternoon to show me the dancing awards they won over the weekend. What a talented bunch of children we have in St Bart’s! Well done, girls!

We are now into the Third Week of Advent, with Christmas less than two weeks away. I attended a friend’s ordination to the priesthood on Saturday and there was a beautiful Advent quotation on the back of the order of service. Part of this read:

‘I would like you to celebrate the coming feast of Christmas in the poor stable of your heart where the gentle Jesus will be born spiritually.’ (St Paul of the Cross).

As a school community, let is continue throughout the coming week to prepare our hearts for Christmas.

The Nursery nativity on Friday was wonderful! The children looked absolutely fantastic in their costumes and had the audience transfixed as they retold the Christmas story in words and song. Well done boys and girls (and thank you to the nursery staff for all your hard work)!

We embark on the final two days of rehearsals for the Primary 1-3 nativity; this takes place on Wednesday at 1.30pm. Tickets are still available from the office, priced £1.00.

Our nursery children take to the stage today for their Christmas show, ‘The Nativity Party’. The boys and girls have been practising hard over the past few weeks and are sounding absolutely great! You really are in for a treat! Performances are at 10.30am and 2.00pm.

There was a lovely festive atmosphere in the dinner hall yesterday for our school community Christmas dinner. The catering staff prepared an absolutely delicious meal and Mrs Clare and Mr Lynch did a fantastic job preparing the tables with festive tablecloths and napkins. Many thanks to staff for helping serve the boys and girls at their tables; it made the occasion all the more special for the children. Check out Twitter for photographs of St Bart’s Christmas Dinner 2015!

A huge well done to Primary 4-7 for a fantastic Christmas concert yesterday afternoon; you truly brought Christmas to St Bartholomew’s with your beautiful singing. What a talented bunch you are!

Despite it only being the 10th December, it’s our school community Christmas dinner today. To create a relaxed, festive atmosphere, only two classes will be in the hall at any one time, with younger year groups being paired with older classes. The children will also have the special treat of being served food at their tables by the grown ups… just like a restaurant, but without having to leave a tip! Keep an eye on Twitter for photographs of our festive feast!