What a great start we have had to term one in P5/6. The children have settled in well and are already showing off their talents and skills just two weeks in.

We have developed our Class Charter and explored the UNCRC and highlighted the rights that are important to us in school.  In Maths we started our Number Talks strategies as well as taking part in lots of new interactive number games online. Our class novel, Matilda, is well underway and we have started our Interdisciplinary Learning topic, Victorians.

Our walls are looking bright and welcoming and jam-packed with our learning already. Take a look at the photos of our Charter, our Queen Victorian portraits and the maths working wall.

Due to the changes in our school lunch service at the moment, with lunches being eaten in the classrooms, it is really important that parents/carers order their child’s lunch in advance through our ParentPay lunch ordering service.  We had six children with no lunch ordered today and as our lunches are delivered from Auchinleck Academy we have no facility to organise additional lunches.  We will always ensure that every child receives a lunch, but it’s so much easier if all lunches are ordered in advance.

In the past, we were sometimes able to add lunches if parents/carers phoned the school – we now can’t do this so it’s even more important that your child’s school lunch is ordered in advance.  Please phone the school if you have any issues with ordering lunches.

Due to pupils in our school suffering from sever nut allergies, please help us by ensuring all food brought into the school is “nut free”. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

We’ve survived our first week back – and what a great week we’ve had being back together.

Special thanks to Mrs Cook and Primary 3 for their wonderful efforts today in tidying up our playgrounds – they had so much fun pulling weeds and cutting hedges! Thanks to Mrs Goudie and Mrs Watt for cleaning up after our very enthusiastic helpers!

Throughout this week we’ve tried various timetables and made some changes to our day-to-day running to ensure our school continues to be a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment for our pupils, staff and parents/carers.

• We are continuing with our staggered start and finish times so P1/2, P3 and P5/6 will start at 9.00am/finish at 3.00pm with P2, P4/5 and P6/7 starting at 9.10am/finish 3.10pm
• We appreciate when children arrive in our school playground just before their bell rings as this avoids any confusion and mixing of classes/stages
• We are having one interval and one lunchtime now – lunches will continue to be eaten in classes and children then go out to their designated playground area. This system is working well and our pupils are being so creative with their playground equipment and games
• We have established ‘hand washing stations’ so pupils in P3, P4/5, P5/6 and P6/7 are washing their hands outside before returning to class after interval and lunch
• We have sanitisers situated throughout the school and our pupils are using them confidently and regularly
• Pupils are encouraged to bring a bottle of water with them to drink from throughout the day in class, as well as a snack/drink for interval/lunch
• Pupils don’t need to bring a bag to school – all necessary resources will be provided by the school
• We are delighted to welcome Miss Harrigan, a COVID Recovery teacher employed by EAC, to our school every Thursday and Friday throughout this term. She will be working alongside our teaching staff to assess learning and set individual targets for pupils as we continue to ease back into our learning and teaching programmes.

Have a lovely weekend – see you all on Monday.

Mrs Govans

The Best Start Grant School Age Payment is a £250.00 payment made around the time a child normally starts Primary 1. Please click on the PDF to view full details:

Best Start Grant Information

Please ensure all immunisation forms are returned to the school as soon as possible.

If you wish any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Thank you.

East Ayrshire Council are running a promotional event for Half Price Schools Meals from Monday 17-08-20 to Friday 28-08-20.  During this period pupils will be charged £1.08 for their lunch (please note that this is only on the reduced lunch menus that we are serving at the moment).

If you have any difficulty accessing the lunch menu on ParentPay, please contact the school office.

Thank you.

We want to hear from our children and young people between the ages of 8 – 26 years! 

In partnership with our Children and Young People’s Cabinet, we have launched our brand new campaign, 5000 Voices, where we are seeking the views and opinions of 5000 children and young people throughout East Ayrshire about what matters to them most.

We will be using this information to help shape our future provision and to improve opportunities for children and young people throughout East Ayrshire.

You can watch the video that we created with our young people here: https://www.facebook.com/eavibrantcommunities/videos/868135550639156/ 

You will find the survey here: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/5000voices.  Please share this far and wide and encourage our children and young people to take part!  There is a chance to win a £50 voucher for a randomly selected young person who has completed the survey.  

If you would like further information regarding 5000 Voices, please email: vibrantcommunites@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Another brilliant morning at Catrine PS, with pupils meeting up as a whole class for the first time since March 2020. Our school has been full of laughing, blethering and playful children today – it’s been simply wonderful!!

Remember that, for today only, our pupils are finishing early – see details below.

Arrangements for Friday 14th August only  …
P1/2 – finish at 1.00pm
P2 – finish at 1.10pm
P3 – finish at 1.00pm
P4/5 – finish at 1.10pm
P5/6 – finish at 1.00pm
P6/7 – finish at 1.10pm

All pupils will have eaten their lunch when they leave school, and with the sun still shining they’ll be able to enjoy the early start to their weekend.

Primary 6/7 made some great discoveries in the playground this morning! The pupils found a ladybird, a frog and a caterpillar. The caterpillar is getting reading to turn into a butterfly, we learned that this is called metamorphosis. We are looking forward to watching this happen over the next 10-14 days.

We’ve enjoyed a lovely day with our Group B pupils at Catrine PS today. Again, our pupils returned with such  positive attitudes and were full of questions about the changes that we’ve made to ensure the health and safety of everyone in our school.  Thanks also to our parents/carers for their great consideration when they are dropping off/picking up our pupils – we had another smooth start and finish to our day.
Our Group B Primary 1 pupils were wee superstars – what a brilliant day they’ve had with Miss Burleigh and Michelle.

Tomorrow, Friday 14th, we welcome ALL of our pupils back to their classes, sticking with our staggered start at 9.00am and 9.10am.
For tomorrow only, our pupils are being released early to give staff a chance to review our new procedures and organise any necessary changes, and to move tables and chairs etc so that we’re all ready for Monday 17th, when our pupils are in all day, every day.

All pupils will have eaten their lunch when they leave school tomorrow, and hopefully the sun will still be shining and they’ll be able to enjoy the early start to their weekend.

Arrangements for Friday 14th August …
P1/2 – start at 9.00am (ALL P1 pupils still start at 9.30am) and finish at 1.00pm
P2 – start at 9.10am and finish at 1.10pm
P3 – start at 9.00am and finish at 1.00pm
P4/5 – start at 9.10am and finish at 1.10pm
P5/6 – start at 9.00am and finish at 1.00pm
P6/7 – start at 9.10am and finish at 1.10pm

Thanks to the Catrine PS community for your consideration, cooperation and understanding this week – it has been much appreciated.  Mrs Govans

What a brilliant first day back at school we had with our Group A children!  Thanks to all parents/carers and, especially, our pupils for starting back with such positivity and enthusiasm.  They embraced all of the new changes with no problems, and it was as if they’d never been away – we are so pleased with how today has gone. A special mention to our new Primary 1 pupils who started today – they all settled in quickly and had a great time.

Tomorrow, Thursday 13th, we are delighted to be welcoming back our Group B children, with P1/2, P3 and P5/6 in school from 9.00am to 3.00pm, and P2, P4/5 and P6/7 in school from 9.10am to 3.10pm, with Group B Primary 1 pupils starting at 9.30am.  Looking forward to seeing them all!  Mrs Govans

Information has been posted today on the Catrine ECC GLOW blog page outlining the arrangements for the start/return of children to Catrine ECC from Wednesday 12th August.

Please contact Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk or alana.speirs@east-ayrshire.gov.uk with any concerns or issues.

We thank all parents/carers for their continued patience and understanding during these unsettled times.

Thanks, Mrs Govans

Please find attached a letter outlining the arrangements for the return of pupils to Catrine PS, starting from Wednesday 12th August 2020.  It highlights our ‘soft start’ for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week, aiming for a full pupil return on Monday 17th August.

I am aware that there is a lot of information to take in, so please get in touch with any issues or concerns at Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk.

We can’t wait to welcome our pupils back – we have missed them all so much!  Please note that information regarding Catrine ECC is still being finalised – Alana and I hope to be able to share that with parents/carers as soon as possible.

Thanks, Mrs Govans

parent letter 05.08.20

Attention all P7 Leavers – your new Robert Burns Academy school ties are ready to be collected! 

We are delighted to present you with your new tie, as we wish you well on this next step of your educational journey.

I’ll be in school tomorrow – Tuesday 4th August – from 1.00-3.00pm so please come to the Main Entrance to collect your tie.
Remember that whilst social distancing rules have relaxed for under 12s they are still in place for adults.

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow – Emily and Dylan were first up to the collect their hoodies so I wonder who’ll be first to collect their ties?!?!?
Mrs Govans 🙂

For attention of P7 Leavers …. Your Leavers Hoodies are here!!!

I’ll be in school tomorrow – Tuesday 14th July – from 10.00am to 12.00pm so please pop in, if you can, to collect your hoodie.  Please enter by the car park gates and come round to the main entrance.

Remember social distancing rules may have changed for under-12s, but not for adults, so the same rules will be in place at the school.

If you can’t make it to the school tomorrow morning, don’t worry – I’ll get your hoodie to your home address over the next few days.

Thanks for your patience, and I can’t wait to see you all wearing your Leavers Hoodies – they’re smashing!!
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

This past week many of you have been participating in the East Ayrshire Sumdog competition and I just had to share our successes with you as I am so proud of your achievements.

On Wednesday P4/5 were the daily winners!!  That’s out of 35 other classes across East Ayrshire…what an achievement!

At the end of the week P4/5 finished in 2nd place overall and P5/6 finished 9th.  Wow!!

429 students took part in the competition and 3 of our pupils made the top 50.  These were:

Robbie P4/5 – 13th place

Jayden P4/5 – 17th place

Daryl P5/6 – 34th place

Very well done to the three of you!  Some of you also did extremely well so thank you too for your contributions which put us so high up the leaderboard.

Can I take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you for working hard at home and doing your very best as always.  It has not been easy being away from your friends and family, having to turn your homes into classrooms and missing out on all the activities you love to do.  I have loved seeing your blogs, reading your emails, talking to you and parents on the phone and seeing your efforts online.   I am so proud of you all. I have missed you so much and I can not wait to see you all back in school in August.

Have a great summer and stay safe.

Mrs Schendel

The last day of term has finally arrived and all of the staff at Catrine Primary would like to wish our P7 pupils the best of luck as they move on to the academy in August. It is certainly not the way we had hoped the year would end! Good luck P7 and all the best as you start your next adventure at secondary school.

For Attention of Primary 7 Parents/Carers

East Ayrshire Council School Transport application form has now gone live. Please click on the link below to apply:

https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/TravellingToSchool/Schooltransport/Schooltransport.aspx