Category Archives: School News

Festive Week – Diary

Just a wee reminder of our school diary for the remainder of this final festive week of term:

Tuesday 16th December

  • P1-4 Christmas Party – after lunch.  Children can come to school dressed in their party wear or can change into their party clothes after lunch (pupils can be assisted by staff if required).  Lunches will be at the usual times.
  • P5-7 – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – movie showing.  PG film, if parents do not wish their child to see this film, please contact the school office.

 

Wednesday 17th December

  • Whole school outing to the Galleon Centre to see ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Panto– leaving school at 9:00am prompt.  Buses should be back to school by no later than 1pm, but in case of delay, Soup and Sandwich lunch available to all pupils (Please amend order on ParentPay to reflect the change should a school lunch be required). A small individual snack (no nut products and no share bags please) and drink (no fizzy or canned juice) is permitted.

 

Thursday 18th December

  • P5-7 Christmas Party – after lunch. Children can come to school dressed in their party wear or can change into their party clothes after lunch.  Lunches will be at the usual times.

 

Friday 19th December

  • School closes at 2:30pm – bus pupils will be collected at 2pm.  Pupils will return on Monday 5th January 2026 at 8:50am.

Please feel free to contact the school should you have any queries.

Thank you

Bethlehem: The Musical

The countdown is on to our 2025 Nativity; only 4 days to go!!

We are looking forward to seeing our pupils perform on Friday 12th December, 9:30am, Ochiltree Parish Church. Doors will open at 9:15am.

PLEASE NOTE: no photographs or filming is allowed during the performance at the church. There will be an opportunity for parents / carers to get a photo of their performer(s) in their costumes back at the school after the nativity.

Refreshments will be served at the school following the performance.

We look forward to seeing you all on Friday.

Thank you

P7 Transition to Secondary – TO ACTION

This is a reminder that this application needs to be completed by Friday 12th December 2025. Thank you to everyone who has already applied.

Dear Parent/Carer

As you are no doubt aware, your child is due to transfer from primary to secondary education at the beginning of the new school session (August 2026).

Secondary school hand books are available at: https://eastayrshi.re/SchoolHandbooks

You must complete the online P7 transfer application at http://eastayrshi.re/p7transfer no later than Friday 12 December 2025 to ensure your child is allocated a place within their secondary school.

Thank you

Depute Head Teacher Announcement

Dear Parents / Carers,

As you will be aware the school has been without a designated Depute Head Teacher (DHT) since Mrs Lockie’s retiral.

We have had the support of Mrs Meek and Mrs Kane in an acting capacity and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for their hard work taking on this role.

We are however delighted to be welcoming Ms Maxine Gorman in the role of DHT .

Maxine will be joining us after the Christmas break and I know she is as excited as we are to get to know everyone and to support our continuing improvement journey here at Ochiltree Primary School .

le durachdan

Mrs Denise MacColl

Nativity 2025 – Bethlehem: The Musical

Our pupils have been very busy rehearsing and are well on the way to being ready for their Nativity performance of Bethlehem: The Musical.

We are in the process of finalising the costumes for the nativity and your child(ren) will be provided a costume for the performance. However, our Wardrobe Department would be grateful if you could help out with clothing underneath their costumes; but only if you have them already at home.

Please do not feel that you have to go out and buy new items for the Nativity performance, especially at this late stage.  We apologise for the tight deadline.

Ideally these clothing items should be sent into school in a separate, clearly labelled bag with your child(ren)s name on it by Wednesday 10th December.

ANGELS:

  • white / light coloured or sparkly leggings or tights. But, plain grey or black leggings would be fine.
  • Ballet pumps would be lovely, but only if the girls already own these.

ALL OTHER ROLES:

  • black long-legged leggings or trousers (preferably no jogging bottoms).
  • Plain crew-necked t-shirt (no collars), preferably white or neutral coloured, with no patterns and no football tops. T-shirts can be worn inside out if printed designs need to be hidden.

FOOTWEAR:

  • plain black school shoes, if pupils have these, or black boots or black plimsoles or any other plain black footwear.

Please feel free to contact the school on Monday if you gave any queries.

We look forward to seeing you all at Ochiltree Parish Church on Friday 12th December at 9:30am. Doors will open at 9:15am. You are invited to stay for tea and coffee served in the school after the Nativity.

Thank you

Nativity

The countdown is on to our 2025 Nativity; only one week to go!!

We are looking forward to seeing our pupils perform on Friday 12th December, 9:30am, Ochiltree Parish Church. Refreshments will be served at the school following the performance.

Hope you’re all able to make it along.

Can all children with speaking parts in this year’s nativity please practice their script as often as possible at home. Scripts are in bags and they should be brought to school every day.

Thank you

Class Blogs

To keep up to date with what your child is doing in class, what homework they are requested to complete, or any other class information being sent out by class teachers, parents / carers are signposted to the class blogs.

These can be found on our school blog under the heading Classes (above), or can be found at this link – Class Blogs

Alternatively, you can access the blogs via the school app. At the home page where you see the blue square Latest News, swipe left and select the purple square Website, you will be directed to the school blog. Select the hamburger icon on the right-hand side, scroll down and select the heading Classes, or the class blog that you wish to view.

We hope this helps, but if you have any difficulties accessing this information, please feel free to contact the school office.

Thank you

Nativity – Performers Practice

The countdown is on to our 2025 Nativity; only two weeks to go!!

Can all children with speaking parts in this year’s nativity please practice their script as often as possible at home.

Scripts are in bags and they should be brought to school every day.

Looking forward to seeing our pupils perform on Friday 12th December, 9:30am, Ochiltree Parish Church. Refreshments will be served at the school following the performance.

Hope you’re all able to make it along.

Thank you

NEC Free Travel Card

National Entitlement Card and Young Person’s National Entitlement Card – Free Bus Travel Scheme

The National Entitlement Card (NEC) is Scotland’s National Smartcard, offering access to many public services across the country. You may recognise or know the NEC as a bus pass, library card or Young Scot card, however this one card may be able to grant you access to multiple other services as well.

Especially for our P7 young people who are thinking ahead to transitioning to secondary school, if you have not already done so, an application for an NEC or Young Person’s NEC may be useful for free bus travel.

Applications can be made for all children between age 5 up to age 15.  The application forms can be found on our school blog under School Information and Documents, Kidz Card / NEC Applications or by accessing this link:

NEC Applications

If you have any queries, or would like assistance with applications, please contact the school office

Thank you

House Points and Rewards

House Points and Rewards

This session, as part of our focus on school values, we have been gaining points for our houses.

We have decided to reward the winning house, each term, with a fun experience.

This term, with support from Into Film, we have received free cinema tickets and the winning house will be going to the Kilmarnock Odeon to see The Sloth Lane.

The points will be reset each term to give all the houses a chance to experience an extra curricular activity.

We will, however, gather the totals over the year to award the house cup at our summer celebration.

We hope, in this way, to further promote our values, alongside our new award system, based on the four curricular capacities:

Thank you

Achievement Assembly – Friday 14th November 2025

Achievement Assembly – Friday 14th November 2025

After celebrating our in-house achievements
many pupils shared their wider achievements
with the school; please see the Sway.

Well done everyone, we are so proud of you all.

Achievement Assembly 14/11/25
After celebrating our in house achievements we had many pupils share their wider achievements with the school. We loved hearing about what our young people have been up to. We have a super …

 

Book Week Scotland

Book Week Scotland

This week we are celebrating Book Week Scotland.

Pupils will take part in a range of activities organised by the reading leadership group.

Children are welcome to bring in a ‘Scottish story’ from home to share with their class if they wish to do so.

Primary 1-3 pupils will receive a Book Bug at some point during the week; look out for those coming home.

Thank you