Well …… busy is an understatement! I know I say it every month but the past 3 weeks has been jam packed full of fun. Please see below some SWAYs from December 🙂

Christmas Festivities 2025 Catrine ECC

Here at Catrine, we take this festive season very seriously!

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Sherrie was in The Brig learning all about the story of Christmas

The Story of Christmas

The children have been learning about the story of Christmas. We read the book and listened to the story on the smartboard. We used the dress up resources to explore the different character…

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Abby and her team of “Little Helper’s” were working hard in Santa’s Workshop

Santa’s workshop.

This month we have been very busy working as little elves in Santa’s workshop. We have been building toys, wrapping them up and putting them in Santa’s sleigh, we have been developing our f…

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Whilst in The Square playroom Carrie offered snack each day and once this was tidied away her main focus was on the action songs for our Christmas Carols in the Community. I think you will agree the children all did fantastic – and so did Carrie 🙂

Christmas experiences in the Square room

This month we have worked super hard to learn all our new Christmas songs. We have been learning the actions to the songs, makaton signs and had lots of practice using the props and hats. A…

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Julie and Leoni were exploring Christmas outdoors with the children, both in the community and within our garden areas

Christmas Outdoors

Within outdoors over the month of December with Leoni, Julie, Corrie and Lesleyanne, the children have been getting into the Christmas spirit as they have decorated the garden with tinsel a…

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If your child is in our Voes Room remember to check your child’s Learning Journal for extra photographs on Friday throughout the month. 

Thank you to the 9 parent/carers who completed our 2 Stars and a Wish FORM. We are always looking for your views and ideas on how we can improve our service and really appreciate the time you take to try to help us achieve this 🙂

I have collated the information and transferred it onto 2 posters and linked them below.

For easier reading, I have also displayed them in the ECC corridor.

Feedback 2 stars and a wish Dec 2025

Please see below our calendar for children transitioning to Catrine Primary School in August 2026. Please also note that registration for ALL CHILDREN going to school in August 2026, regardless of which school, is from Monday 12th January – Friday 16th January.

Transition Calendar 2025-26

Event have already taken place as noted in the calendar above and will continue to do so over the coming academic year.

More formal class visits with the teacher begin in March. These dates along with other events will be shared with parent/carers along with the January to June 2026 Dates for your Diary newsletter in the new year 🙂

If you have any further questions regarding transition please do not hesitate to speak to your child’s keyworker or Alana.

We cannot believe we are now at the end of November!

It has been yet again another busy month for the children and staff within the ECC.

Click on each of the links below to find out a little about what has been on over the past month.

Sherrie was out and about in the community lots looking for BEARS 🙂

We’ve been on a bear hunt!

We have been exploring a wide range of different activities based on the story We’re going on a bear hunt. Here are some of the activities we done, we listened to stories in different ways,…

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Plenty of exploring the village this month – Abby has been introducing the children to navigation and directional movement whilst out and about also.

Maps and direction

This month in the outdoor area we have been exploring positional language and direction. We have been using digital technology to explore maps we then used the information we had learned to…

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Julie was reinforcing ways in which we could regulate our emotions in the Square. We have taken resources away from this room to enable it be a calmer, quieter, more nurturing space for children who find the main playroom a little busy or overstimulating at times

How to regulate our emotions

This month in The Square we have been looking at ways on how we can regulate our emotions. To do this we have been participating within a variety of experiences such as: Breathing technique…

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A huge thank you to Cerys and Nighean’s mummy who came into the centre to support Leoni’s learning about the Police. The children thoroughly enjoyed it – as did the staff 🙂

Police

Over the month of November within the Brig room the children have been exploring the police and their job. To do this we:-

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And finally in The Mill Lesleyanne and Corrie were creating wonderful stories through a range of media and developing their creativity using loose parts

Story Creations, Dinosaurs and Loose Parts

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Children within the Voes – you can continue to find out about your room planning on your child’s monthly learning story and weekly photo dumps on Learning Journals 🙂

Have a great weekend, everyone, and we will see you all on Monday for the start of some festive fun 🙂

Reminder – Thursday 4th December from 9.15 – 10am is our Christmas Bookbug session with Alana, followed by optional mince pies and a hot drink if you wish to stay on afterwards.

Please click on the link below to book in and to allow for staff to purchase the correct amount of pies 🙂

Christmas Bookbug – Fill in form

Booking will close on Tuesday 2nd December at 4pm

Please click on the link below –

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKRqhoaEMY8FHkTJQGETc2XZUNDc3MDdWR0ZET1kyMEpVSlQ4TDFLTUYwNS4u

Last week we carried out interviews in an effort to fill our vacant Support Assistant post.

We are absolutely delighted to share that, after a fantastic interview Jordan Harkin, who has been covering the post since August, was successful. It was super to be able to offer the permanent job to her. Over the past few weeks Jordan has built positive relationships with the children, has demonstrated nurturing approaches at all times and has fit in with the staff team from the get-go.

Congratulations and welcome (officially) to the team, Jordan 🙂

However, unfortunately, with great news comes sad news for the team too. Our absolutely fantastic practitioner Michelle has been offered a temporary post as acting Senior ELCP at Netherthird ECC. This will be Michelle’s first promoted post and boy, does she deserve it. With the experience and calmness that Michelle brings to the job Netherthird are lucky to be getting her – and we are devasted to be losing her.

It is unknown at the moment how long Michelle will be covering in this post for, so to ensure consistency for the Voes Room we have ensured that we have another highly experienced ELCP coming in to join the Ducks and Swans. Amanda Hopkins is no stranger to the ECC and is another member of staff who already has positive relationships with many of our children, families and staff 🙂

As always, we look forward to welcoming Amanda back to the centre and into the Voes playroom alongside Julie T 🙂

Due to the nature of the post Michelle is going to fill it has been a requested that she be released as soon as possible so, as a team, we are sad to be saying goodbye to her tomorrow 🙁 as Michelle starts her new job on Monday.

Michelle, we are super proud of you and we know you will be an amazing senior. Netherthird are lucky to have you, and we will be waiting with open arms for you to come back to us soon 🙂

Congratulations, we will miss you loads and ………. try not to be late, if that’s possible :/

Thank you to everyone who came along to Michelle’s parent workshop this morning. The children had a ball and according to the feedback, parent/carers did too.

Huge well done to Michelle for the effort she put in to the set up of both rooms with super experiences on offer showcasing each of the schematic play styles.

Michelle’s Workshop – Schematic Play

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Christine is back again for the next 2 Wednesdays with Bookbug sessions (9.00 – 9.45am).

Also, look out for more information on our December parent engagement opportunities coming up.

Dates for your diary September to December 2025

Happy Halloween everyone

Click on our link below to see some Spooky pictures from the ECC

Halloween Party

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Click on each link below to find out what has been going on within our 3-5 playrooms this month 🙂

(Our Voes room will continue to see weekly photo updates on their child’s Learning Journals as well as their individual monthly story)

Pirates and Potions with Lesleyanne and Corrie outdoors

Pirates and potions

In the outdoor area this past month, we have been exploring pirates in our role play area. We have investigated an array of materials and resources in the mud kitchen area, whilst we made …

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Abby had a colourful time in The Brig

Exploring colour

In the Brig the children have been exploring colour and different sensory experiences the children have been using different resources such as spray bottles, stamps, light up boards, chalk …

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Roll up, roll up. Carrie’s room was putting on shows for their peers and exploring shadows in The Mill

Welcome to our puppet shows

In the month of October we have been taking part in drama experiences. We started off using the puppet theatre with hand/ finger puppets and put on our own shows. We then added masks, hats …

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“What is our mission today?” The Square was fighting crime with Sherrie.

Superheroes

The children have been taking on the role as superheroes over the past few weeks. They have used the dressing up resources, figures, vehicles and playdoh to develop their creative skills. O…

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Changing seasons within our Greenspace alongside Leoni

Greenspace Planning

Over the month of October the children have been exploring Autumn in greenspace. To do this we have:-

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ANOTHER FAB MONTH IN CATRINE ECC 🙂