Author: Mrs Govans

Mrs Cook, Mrs Ferguson and I have really enjoyed getting to know our new Primary 1’s during our transition mornings in the school playground.  The children have had lots of fun getting to know their new teachers and buddies.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing their photos.

Unfortunately we are unable to welcome parents and carers into the school at the moment.  However we would very much like to meet you and introduce ourselves.

On the morning of Wednesday 16th June Mrs Ferguson, Mrs Cook and myself will be in the ECC playground during drop off time to say hello and answer any questions you may have.

I have included some useful information for your child’s first few days at Catrine Primary.  Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions.

• All pupils return to school on Thursday 19th August.  P1 pupils will start at 9.30am on both Thursday 19th and Friday 20th. Pupils should be brought to the main gates at the front of the school.  Please note that only one adult will be permitted to bring their child into the playground and we will make every effort to ensure you are able to take a photograph of this special moment.
• Pupils should be collected at 2.30pm on these two days from the school gates.  The class teacher will bring your child to the school gates and ensure they are handed over to an adult.
• From Monday 23rd August the school day starts at 9am and finishes at 3pm.
• Pupils should bring a snack for their morning break.  Details on  using the Parent Pay app to order school lunches will follow.
• School uniforms can be purchased at Donsport in Cumnock, Just Jeans in Auchinleck or at the School Wear Centre in Kilmarnock.  Our uniform consists of shirt and tie/Polo shirt /Sweatshirt/ Cardigan/ Black trousers/skirt/pinafore
• Please ensure you put your child’s name on all their clothing, especially their jumpers.
• At the moment we advise that pupils don’t bring a school bag or PE kit.  PE will most likely take place outside and we will let you know in August what days PE will take place.

As we know, things can change very quickly in the current climate so please continue to visit Catrine Primary School blog and download the School App for Parents. Updates on any changes to regulations will be posted before the start of term.

This video highlights some of the experiences your child can expect during their time in Primary 1.

https://sway.office.com/98qZNKnvLI2gvKbO

Mrs Cook, Mrs Ferguson and I look forward to seeing you at the ECC on Wednesday morning.

Mrs Schendel, Principal Teacher

ECC Group 2 Transition Visit

Please click on the Catrine Primary School link above to see how much fun our second group of pre-school children had during their visit to the primary school yesterday. They met Mrs Cook, who will be their Primary 1 teacher in August.

Today we had a lovely morning taking our first group of ECC children up to the primary school for their ‘Numeracy’ transition morning.  The children enjoyed visiting the playground, having a picnic snack and meeting their siblings and new teachers. What a lovely morning we all had!

Catrine is a Winter Wonderland today and both the Primary School and the ECC are open as usual.

Please ensure your child comes wearing warm clothes and suitable footwear for a snowy day in our playgrounds.

Take care.  Mrs Govans

Please find attached a letter outlining the arrangements for the return/start of children to Catrine ECC, starting from Wednesday 12th August 2020.

It highlights our ‘soft start’ approach for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week, aiming for our ECC children joining us for 2 1/2 days per week from Monday 17th August.

I am aware that there is a lot of information to take in, as this start of a new term is different for us all, so please get in touch with either Alana or myself with any issues or concerns. We can’t wait to welcome our children into Catrine ECC – the whole staff is looking forward to hearing about their adventures!  Thanks, Mrs Govans

Catrine ECC letter 08.08.20

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

alana.speirs@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Information has been published on the Catrine PS Glow page today outlining the arrangements for our return to school, starting from Wednesday 12th August 2020.

Please note that this information is for our Primary School pupils only, at this time.  We are awaiting further government and EAC guidance before we can share our plans for our ECC.

Alana and I will let you know the details for our children returning to Catrine ECC as soon as possible, and we thank you for your patience and understanding during these unsettled times.

Thanks, Mrs Govans

With the PS and ECC closing today at 1.00pm for the start of the summer holidays, I would like to take this opportunity to say a few thank yous …

Thanks to the staff in both establishments – ELCP practitioners, office staff, Classroom Assistants and teachers –  for their flexibility, enthusiasm and commitment in working together to get organised for our August return.  Our playrooms and classrooms are set up, resources are organised and timetables are done – no doubt there will be changes to be made over the summer and we will continue to update you via our ECC and PS blog and APP.

Special thanks to …

• Helen Hall who has worked throughout this time at Auchinleck Academy kitchen whilst cleaning our PS
• Janet Fleming for working weekly at the Auchinleck Hub along with her ECC committments
• Stuart McCreath for his great help with the physical set-up of our classrooms and PS areas
• Mrs McDicken, Kim and Deborah for their brilliant resource-ordering skills over the last few weeks to ensure that our establishments are well stocked and ready for our pupils to return
• Alana, Depute Manager at Catrine ECC, and Mrs Schendel, Principal Teacher, for the hours spent on groupings, timetabling, staff rotas and planning
• our PS Parent Council for their continued support
• the parents/carers, family and friends of our pupils for your brilliant efforts at home learning during this time – you have organised some truly wonderful learning activities for your children and they have loved spending this time with you
• and last, but by no means least, to the children of Catrine ECC and PS who have risen wonderfully to the challenge of home learning. They had to adapt so quickly to a whole new way of learning, away from their friends, teachers and ECC and school environment and we have missed them every day

At the end of any school year there are always goodbyes to be said too.

At the ECC we wish Marion well as she starts her new job, and at the PS we say goodbye to Miss Robb, Miss Robertson and Mr Speirs as they move onto the next stage of their education careers. I would like to thank them all for their professionalism and dedication to the children of Catrine – they have all been such important members of our staff teams.

Good luck to our Primary 7 pupils as they move onto secondary school – we had a brilliant visit with them and their parents yesterday in our playground and it was great to see them.  We have a ‘proper’ P7 Leavers Day still to come – details to follow …

Good luck to our ECC leavers – we look forward to welcoming our new P1 pupils into Catrine PS and I’m sure our pupils heading to other schools will settle in quickly too.

So I’ll sign off as usual, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.

Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

 

Happy, glorious, sunny Thursday morning to you all.

I can’t believe this is the second last day of Term 4 – I’ve thoroughly enjoyed posting my silly tasks for you to try during this time and I’ve loved seeing your posts and photos – they’ve made me smile every Tuesday and Thursday so thank you !

Lots of activity in the ECC this week – staff cleaning resources and setting up playrooms for brilliant learning environments for our August return.  I hope you’ve all had a chance to see the wonderful ‘ECC Virtual Tour’ video produced by the staff – I know they had a great laugh doing their filming!

It was great to meet up with our new P1 parents for an information session at the PS on Tuesday – they had lots of questions and Miss Burleigh and Michelle can’t wait for our 12 new Primary 1 pupils to join us in August – they have so many brilliant activities in store for them.

I know lots of you are waiting for information from the ECC about sessions, days and times for August – please know that we will be in touch as soon as we have a confirmed way forward for our children.  Over the summer, please email Alana or myself with any concerns or questions – we can always access our email and will always get back to you.

Today’s challenge is a singing one and a wee bit different from the PS singing challenge as their song is REALLY fast!  I hope you enjoy hopping, skipping and twirling with this one …

As always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning on the last Tuesday of Term 4.

I can hardly believe that it’s the last week of the summer term, and that the school and ECC finishes for the summer holidays on Friday.  This has definitely been the strangest term in my 25 years of teaching!!

I am so proud of the staff of both Catrine ECC and PS, who have been working in both establishments over the last few weeks.  They have organised our teaching and learning spaces into safe, fun and inviting spaces for our pupils to start back to in August – it hasn’t been easy as there’s so much guidance to follow but their creativity, enthusiasm and teamwork has ensured that we feel really prepared for the start of next session.  Look out for a couple of videos over the next few days as they share our August preparations with you.

Today’s challenge could be tricky…  Remember I challenged you before to build a tower the height of yourself using all different objects – and lots of you completed the challenge brilliantly! 

I’m challenging you to be creative again – your challenge is to create a line of DIFFERENT objects from one wall of your house to the other side of your house (for instance, in my house I would start at my dining room door, go through into the hall and finish at the front door – that’s quite a distance) and you must use different objects – you can’t just create a line of pencils and think you’ve solved the challenge.  Each object must be different, and must be touching the object in front and behind it.

So get your thinking caps on and I look forward to seeing your great efforts – you never fail to impress! 🙂

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Happy Thursday morning to you all. 🙂

It’s been a lovely week in the ECC and school as staff have been back in – we’re only allowed a certain number of staff members in each day to comply with guidelines, but it’s been just great to catch up with everyone.

Lots of updates from EAC and the school will be coming your way over the next few days so please check our GLOW page and the ECC APP every day.

We are all, understandably, feeling a bit anxious about what ECC and school is going to look like in August so if you have any questions after reading the updates, please get in touch.

Today’s challenge is another one that is trickier than it sounds …

I challenge you to find an object in your house that is EXACTLY the same height or length as you.  Not something that is a wee bit taller or smaller but EXACTLY the same height or length.  In my house it took me ages to find something but I’ve discovered that the clothes horse/drying rail (or winter dykes as my mum calls them!) is EXACTLY the same height as me.  Let me know how you get on.

As always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch. Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Happy Tuesday morning to you all 🙂

Staff are allowed back in the Primary School and ECC this week, so Alana and Lesleyanne were in the ECC yesterday, with all of the other staff members coming in over the next few days.  It’s going to be great seeing them again – we’ve not seen each other since March!

Today’s challenge is another Estimation Challenge, as you all seemed to have such good fun with the Doors Estimation Challenge last week. 

Can you guess how many pairs of shoes you own?  Shoes can be any kind of footwear – trainers, sandals, slippers, football boots, wellies … Estimate how many pairs you have and then go and count them. 

Was your estimate close to your final answer?  Challenge some other people in your family to make a guess about their shoes total too.  Let me know how you get on.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning and happy Thursday to you all – this week is just flying in!

We were delighted to be chosen as the winners in the Dunelm Kilmarnock Outdoor Toys competition – thank you to everyone who nominated both the ECC and the PS.  Alana, our ECC Deputy Manager, collected the toys yesterday – look out for her post and photo today and I’m sure the wide selection of toys will be well played with by pupils at both establishments.

As we had such a horrible wet day yesterday I’m giving you a skiddly challenge today – The Water Bucket Challenge.

You will need – one bucket/container filled with water, one empty bucket/container, a plastic cup and a timer.

This can get messy so this challenge is best done outdoors (and it might be even more skiddly fun if it’s done in the rain!)

Place the empty container at one end of the garden or path, and place the container filled with water at the other end.  Start the timer for one minute.  Starting at the end of the garden/path with the filled container, fill up your cup and run to the empty container, pour your water in and then repeat until your minute is up.  How many cups of water can you fill the container with in one minute?  Challenge the rest of your family and see who can empty the most cups into the container in one minute.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

 

Please note – ​​​​​​​an article was released in a local newspaper yesterday which stated that all EAC schools and ECCs  were starting back on 18th August 2020 – this is not the case. 

A starting date has still to be confirmed for a return for both pupils and staff.  Further information will follow regarding the start date for the August term.

On behalf of Linda McAulay-Griffiths, Head of Education

Happy Tuesday to you all 🙂

Thank you to all pupils, parents, family and friends who participated in our Health Week and Sports Day last week.  It was wonderful seeing so many photos and videos of your Family Sports Day events – lots of effort had gone into preparing for races and organising equipment and it was brilliant to see.  I was lucky enough to see April and her big brother, Kerr, enjoying their races with their mum and gran – they had a welly throw competition, obstacle race and a dressing up race.  They were having a great time!

All staff are gearing up towards getting back into both the school and ECC from next week – we are making plans for when we return in August and will share these with you as soon as they are approved by EAC.  The health and safety of our children is our main priority so we’re taking on board both local and national guidelines to make sure we get it right.

Today’s challenge is an Estimation Challenge, and it might sound easier than it actually is.  Sit yourself down in the living room of your house and count how many doors there are in your entire house. Easy peasy!  Or is it?? 

Remember that there are external doors, internal doors, cupboard doors, cabinet doors, dolls house doors … the list is endless!  With the help of someone in your house guess how many doors there are – make an estimate – and then go around your whole house and count all the doors and see how close your estimate was to the correct answer.  You’ll be amazed how many doors there are in your house!  Challenge the other people in your house to make an estimate too. Let me know who got the closest answer in your household.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

East Ayrshire Council have developed a dedicated Wellbeing Website at  https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/SocialCareAndHealth/Wellbeing/Wellbeing.aspx which is filled with advice on mental wellbeing, exercise, healthy eating and new activities to try. It also has a range of supports for those who may be struggling. There is a dedicated section for Children, Young People, Parents and Carers which I hope you will find particularly helpful during these challenging times. We will continue to add to this section therefore it would be helpful if you could email any suggestions to healthandsafety@east-ayrshire.gov.uk together with any feedback on the current content.

Thank you.  Nicola Stewart, Principal Educational Psychologist for East Ayrshire Council

Please click on the link below to see the letters from Linda McAulay-Griffiths, Head of Education for East Ayrshire Council

Letter to parents and carers June 2020

Letter to pupils June 2020

Good morning and welcome to Health Week Thursday 🙂

What brilliant activities our ECC staff have planned for you throughout this week and the plan for Friday’s Sports Day is awesome!

I loved the Dance blog today – my two boys even joined in with a few dances although they’ll deny it if you ask them!

Today’s challenge is a singing one – we sing this song regularly at school assembly and I know you’ll pick it up quickly and love the whistling at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73_y1ESHxqI

As always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning and Happy Health Week 🙂

Another glorious weekend in the sunshine – and what a great way to start our Health Week.  Staff in both the PS and ECC have great activities planned for you all every day and we look forward to hearing about your health adventures throughout the week.

Today’s challenge is another food one …

Try to think of a fruit or vegetable for every letter of your name. I’ve managed most of my name but I’m stuck on letter V!  Answers would be appreciated!

M – mushrooms

R – radishes

S – strawberries

G – grapes

O – oranges

V – ????

A – apples

N – nectarines

S – spring onion

You can’t use the same fruit or vegetable twice, and if you’ve got a short name try to do your surname too.  During last week’s food tasting challenge we discovered that Eli likes beetroot, and that I like grapefruit but not pineapple 🙁

Wishing you all a brilliant Health Week and looking forward to our Sports Day on Friday 5th June.  As always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch. 

Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning to another glorious Thursday morning 🙂

The ECC staff are all loving their phone calls to the children that they’ve made so far – they’re so pleased to hear about your lockdown adventures and stories.  If your keyworker hasn’t phoned you yet – don’t worry!  They’ll be phoning over the next few days and possibly into next week as they’re blethering so much that the phone calls are taking much longer than anticipated!

Back in April I gave you a Food Tasting Challenge, and I received so many brilliant success stories about foods that you now like that I’m challenging you again – but with a twist.

Today’s Challenge is a Fruit/Vegetable Food Challenge. 

My oldest son has discovered that he now likes strawberries … after years of being offered strawberries and turning his nose up at them, they are now his most favourite food in the world!

There are so many delicious fruits and vegetables in the shops right now that I challenge you to try 3 new food items that you’ve always thought you never liked, or just haven’t tasted before.  Remember to let me know if you find a new favourite fruit or vegetable. I’m going to try pineapple, grapefruit and courgettes – I’ll let you know how I get on …

Tuesday’s Tower Challenge was a big hit – I’ve received so many brilliant photos of the most creative towers.  Well done to everyone who completed the challenge, including Oscar who had suitcases, pots and pans in his tower!

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk