St Bartholomews

Throughout the remainder of this week, Miss Connor and Primary 2 will be running a ‘guess the number of sweets in the jar’ fundraiser in aid of Mary’s Meals. It will be 20p for one guess and representatives from the class will locate themselves in the open area outside the gym hall during break times.

An exciting whole-school project reached an important milestone yesterday. Every single St Bart’s pupil drew a miniature self-portrait last week and these have now been carefully arranged and stuck down by Mrs Ruddy and Mrs Dolan. The finished collage, which you can see below, will be sent away today and turned into a fantastic tea towel! A total of 200 will be produced and these will be available to purchase in time for Christmas. Watch this space!

Welcome back everyone. I hope you had a great long weekend, despite the atrocious weather!

Our prayer service takes place as usual in the oratory this morning at 8.50am. All pupils, staff, parents and parishioners are most welcome, especially as we pray for the many innocent people caught up in the terrible events in Paris on Friday.

Flu vaccinations, in the form of a nasal spray, will be administered by NHS staff today. Last year’s vaccinations ran like clockwork and I’m sure today will be no different.

Pupils of the Week

Primary 1 – Olivia

Primary 1/2 – Rhys

Primary 2 – Charlie

Primary 2/3 – Sarah Louise

Primary 4 – Nathan

Primary 5 – Amy

Primary 5/6 – Heather

Primary 7 – Daniel

I’m delighted to announce that P1/2’s cake sale on Wednesday raised the fantastic sum of £122 for Mary’s Meals! A huge well done to P1/2 and Mrs Carlin for organising this fundraiser and to the Faith in Action group for helping man the stall.

As announced on Wednesday’s blog, the boys and girls are in for a special treat today. ‘ZooLab’ will be in St Bartholomew’s and all eight classes will have the opportunity to view and handle some exotic animals. You can see photographs below from several other schools, but keep an eye on Twitter today to see photographs of our own pupils enjoying finding out about some fascinating creatures. You can find us at @bartholomew_st

Although there’s no whole-school assembly today, Pupil of the Week certificates, House points and the Cool Class Cup will be awarded as usual. Keep an eye on the website for names of our proud winners!

Poor Miss Connor and Primary 2 have had to put up with a very tatty classroom carpet, long past its best. However, that’s all about to change today when a brand new carpet is fitted. The boys and girls have been decanted to the Performing Arts Studio for the day, but they can look forward to returning to their posh new classroom tomorrow morning!

Primary 1/2’s cake sale attracted a massive number of customers yesterday and the Faith in Action group raised almost £80 for Mary’s Meals during morning break alone. The stall was opened again over lunchtime, raising even more money for Mary’s Meals. Well done P1/2, Mrs Carlin and the Faith in Action group! The grand total will be posted on the blog later today.

Today, 11th November, is Armistice Day, when we remember those who gave their lives in the two World Wars and more recent conflicts. Our school community will pause to mark a one-minute silence at 11.00am.

Please remember Primary 1/2’s cake sale this morning, in aid of Mary’s Meals. Many thanks to Mrs Carlin and the Faith in Action group for organising today’s event.

You may have noticed scaffolding around part of the building yesterday. This is in place to allow contractors to fit solar panels to the roof today. This is great news for the Eco Committee and will greatly reduce the school’s energy consumption (as well as our electricity bills!).

Finally, the BIG announcement about the BIG surprise which I know all St Bart’s pupils have been patiently waiting for: I’m delighted to announce that Zoo Lab will be in St Bartholomew’s on Friday to work with all 202 Primary 1-7 pupils. The children will have the opportunity to see and handle (optional!) some exotic animals as well as take part in a workshop. Primary 1-3 will be learning about autumn while P4-7 pupils will be finding out how they can be more Eco-friendly. It’s another well-deserved treat for our phenomenal pupils! Keep an eye on Twitter for photographs of our special day.

The rain that suddenly appeared just before the 9 o’clock bell yesterday morning was like something out of the story of Noah and I’m sure many of our pupils and parents would have appreciated an ark to get them to the front door! Primary 5’s new wall display (below) made me smile when I saw a line of soggy pupils trudging past it on the way to class!

Primary 1/2 are holding a cake sale in aid of Mary’s Meals tomorrow (details on the poster below). Please support this very worthwhile cause.

There are still a couple of dates to confirm before the newsletter goes out this week. I’m waiting to hear back from Mark Millar about the definite date for this year’s trip to the pantomime and I’m still in discussions with the diocese about the date for confirmations.

We have the final three stories from some of our current Primary 2 pupils, published in the book, ‘My First Story’. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them over the past few days. Today’s stories are by Gracie, Rhys and Aimee.

Pupils of the Week

Primary 1 – Ellie

Primary 1/2 – Carla

Primary 2 – Emma

Primary 2/3 – Stephanie

Primary 4 – Ellie

Primary 5 – Justin

Primary 5/6 – Lauren

Primary 7 – Ryan

Winning House:  Summerlee

Cool Class Cup: Primary 1/2

 

St Bartholomew’s reached a special (and very encouraging) milestone earlier this week when a new pupil started in Primary 7. For the first time in many, many years, the Primary 1-7 school roll officially reached 200 pupils: up by 60 children from this time three years ago. And with prospective parents looking around St Bart’s yesterday afternoon, it looks as if the roll is set to increase even more. This is great news and testament to our phenomenal pupils, talented and committed staff and supportive parents and carers. What a team!

The authors of today’s adventure stories, published in the book ‘My First Story’, are Cara and Connor.