KEY DIARY DATES for SEPTEMBER
Thursday 1st – NURSERY photographs taken
Friday 2nd – First Friday Mass & PTA meeting @
10am – Planning for the Term
Monday 5th – PARENT COUNCIL meeting @ 7pm
ALL WELCOME
ST. BRIDE’S SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
ST. BRIDE’S SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Dear Parents and friends,
Saturday 3rd- Sunday 11th
Bothwell Scarecrow Festival – Look out for the
David Livingstone Scarecrow made by P7
Tuesday 6th – Hamilton Townhouse Awards (
see over)
Wednesday 7th – P7 Mass – Holy Cross @
6.30pm – Parents & Children welcome.
Thursday 8th ( pm) P4 to visit the Library
Friday 9th (pm) P1-3 to visit Bothwell PS for
Storytelling session with Renita Boyle ( see
over for details)
Saturday 10th – PTA Cake & Candy Stall at the
Festival. Donations to be handed into the
school NO LATER than Friday 9th. Thank you!
11th
Sunday
– Festival Parade @ 1pm – ALL
WELCOME!
SUNDAY 18th _ P1 WELCOME MASS @ 10am &
PTA Mac Millan Coffee Morning in the Pastoral
Centre after Mass – Home –Baking very
welcome . Please hand into the school NO
LATER than FRIDAY 16th. Thank you!
ALL WELCOME.
Tuesday 20th – P7 ( small gp) to meet Scottish/
Chinese Government re: Confucius Project.
WEDNESDAY 21st – CURRICULUM NIGHT/ MEET
THE TEACHER @ 6.30pm – Details to follow
separately
SEPTEMBER WEEKEND
School closed – FRIDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER
and MONDAY 26th SEPTEMBER
School reopens @ 9.00am on Tuesday 27th
September
P1 have settled really well into the full day routine and from
visits to the classes and chats in the corridor they are
already showing a real keenness to learn and enthusiasm
for their work. I hope they keep working this hard for the
rest of the year!
Homework and After-School Clubs started this week. I
would ask parents to sign Homework Diaries to confirm that
it has been seen and completed.
Can I please remind parents if your child has signed up for
the classes they must attend regularly and come ready for
their class, with PE Kit for sport classes and always a bottle
of water for the end of the day.
SEPTEMBER SCARECROWS!
As usual the school will be buzzing with all things Scarecrow
over the next week as we become involved in the local
Festival. This year as well as promoting the children’s
Scarecrow Treasure Hunt and events during the Festival
weekend. We are hosting the Talent Show on Saturday 10th
in the Main Hall
This year Bothwell Primary will play host to the P1-3
Children from both Primaries for a Storytelling session on
Friday 9th in the afternoon with Renita Boyle.
We are looking for Parents willing to escort the children
over in the afternoon. We will leave after lunch to be back
for the end of the day. We need 10 in total and if you are
available please contact the school office by email to let us
know. Unfortunately Bothwell cannot accommodate babies
or buggies due to the number of children involved. Mrs
O’Neill will confirm with you as soon as we have our 10
names. Thank you
Curricular Night on WEDNESDAY 21st SEPTEMBER @ 6.30pm. This is an opportunity to make a short visit to the school,
meet your child’s new teacher, hear about their plans and expectations for the year ahead and have a look at new
resources, programmes of work etc we will be using this year. A change from previous years – the evening will start with a
Class Teacher presentation @ 6.30pm in class then an opportunity to look around the class/ school and see new
resources. We hope to see you all there.
WELCOME MASS for P1 children in St Bride’s Church at 10.00am on SUNDAY 18th SEPTEMBER – ALL WELCOME!
This Mass is a very special event in the School and Church Calendar and we would invite all of the children and their
families to come along. I would encourage the children across the school to come along and support our infants. I would
like the children to wear their uniform as it sends a clear message to the congregation that we are first and foremost a
community who work, learn and pray together. It also clearly highlights our wonderful P1 children. Everyone should try
to be at Church before 10.00am ( 9.55am ) as the P1 children will be seated at the front of the Church with their
classmates and teachers.
The P1 children will sing their welcome song to the congregation at the end of Mass from the altar.
The PTA and our “Teeny-Tuesday Club” ( group of P6 & 7 girls) will be hosting the Mac Millan Coffee Morning after Mass
in the Pastoral Centre and all donations of Home-baking, cakes and goodies gratefully received by the school no later than
FRIDAY 16th or before 10am in the Pastoral Centre on Sunday 18th. Thank you
Congratulations…
To all of the children who took part in the Summer Reading Challenge. Due to your enthusiasm and avid reading we are
one of the top 4 schools in South Lanarkshire who took part and eligible for the Council Award. The children in P4-7 who
were involved have been invited along to the Townhouse in Hamilton tomorrow for a morning of celebration and to hear
the final result. Fingers crossed!
PTA News.
Already two meetings in and plans are taking shape for the year ahead. Please keep an eye on the outdoor noticeboard
for updates, Meeting dates and times as well as contact details for the committee. They are a very enthusiastic bunch and
keen to get as many parents on board as they can. The first two meetings were at the usual time of 10am on First Friday
but as suggested there will be different meeting times throughout the year to hopefully encourage other parents to come
along. The next meeting is WEDNESDAY 5th OCTOBER @ 2pm – please come along if you can. A hot coffee and goodies
await!
End of day arrangements for the children As the school grows in size and the number of children attending clubs, groups,
activities outside of school increases the organisation for a safe end to the day is becoming an increasingly onerous task.
Last week we had 62 phone calls across the week changing arrangements for children at the end of the day – primarily in
P4-7.Many of these were swaps to Bus or BOOSC some relating to playdates and different parents collecting children at
the end of the day. Nearly all of these messages were received between 2.30-3.00pm.
As you can appreciate every call requires an action, sometimes involving children from different classes. We have only 2
members of staff in the office at the end of the day and with both of them passing on messages and out of the office
there is an increasing concern that messages will be missed or not passed on at this busy time in the day or indeed we
may miss an urgent call seriously compromising our children’s safety To try to continue to support parents while keeping
our children safe I am asking for your support. Please see below…
BUS & BOOSC – The school has a list of names of children who attend BOOSC & travel by Bus given to us at the start of
every session, based on information given by parents to SLC and BOOSC Co-ordinators. We use this list to organise the
end of the day.
I would ask where there are changes to your child’s weekly routine regarding days on the BUS or attending BOOSC
PLEASE notify the staff by e-mail before 12.00 on MONDAY of every week outlining the changes to be made. This will
be used to update your child’s information for one week only. This is common practice across the local primaries and
seems to work well. Hopefully this allows for those occasions when work patterns, childcare has been changed due to
holidays etc.
Children in P4-7 should know their own routine and will be sent for at 2.50pm requiring little organisation at the end of
the day. The children in P1-3 will continue to be collected from class to avoid any miscommunication.
Phone calls are always welcome but should only be required in the event of an emergency or unplanned change to the
end of day routine.
After-school Clubs have started for this Term – We presume every child will be at their chosen club every week. Please
notify us if there are any changes to arrangements by email to update information.
This Term the Health & Wellbeing focus for the School is “We are Responsible and Respected” this is another opportunity
for our children to show how capable and independent they are. Please be assured our children’s safety is paramount and
if we are in any doubt we will be contacting you! Thank you for your support.
And finally………..
School website update…
Our school website is up and running with our newly appointed “Web Wizards” on hand to manage the class pages on the
site keeping you up to date with photographs, comments, posts about their learning to keep parents up to date and in
touch with the work of the class.
Minutes from the PTA, Parent Council will be uploaded after meetings are held and next meeting dates advertised in good
time for parents.
My HT “ blog” every week with school news which for one reason or another doesn’t always get into the Monthly
newsletters! Hopefully this will be less lengthy than my Newsletters and still keep you in the loop! You can subscribe to it
by pushing the button on the website and will be e-mailed when a new post appears!!!
Please use the comments sheet to let us know what information, you as parents, would find useful listed on the websiteperhaps Homework tasks, useful websites, curriculum information..
We still have our Wednesday Surgery for questions and queries if you prefer to chat rather than e-mail or phone.
Looking forward to another successful year and thank you for all the support you have shown the school in these first
weeks. It is much appreciated!
Kind regards,
Mrs Pacitti
YOU SUGGESTED IT – WE LISTENED!
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