Category: School News

2026 Sacramental Preparation – Register Now

We work closely with all three of our cluster parishes as part of the P3 and P4 Sacramental preparation. At the beginning of the year, our parishes are in touch with the parents of all children in P4 to register those who wish to receive the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist in the coming year, whilst P3 parents are contacted in January to register their child for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

To contact our parishes/ chaplains directly, please see the details below:

St Joseph’s RC Church – kilmarnock.stjoseph@rcdg.org.uk
15A Hill Street, Kilmarnock, KA3 1HB
Click here for the 2025/6 Sacramental Dates.
Fr Stephen McGrattan (Parish Priest) – stephen.mcgrattan@rcdg.org.uk
Fr Kevin Rennie (Assistant Priest) – kevin.rennie@rcdg.org.uk

Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Church – kilmarnock.olmc@rcdg.org.uk
Kirkton Road, Kilmarnock, KA3 2DF
Fr Jim Hayes (Parish Priest) – jim.hayes@rcdg.org.uk

St Matthew’s RC Church – kilmarnock.stmatthew@rcdg.org.uk
Grassyards Road, Kilmarnock, KA3 7SH
Fr Jim Hayes (Parish Priest) – jim.hayes@rcdg.org.uk

Youth Events for P6 & 7

ADVENT YOUTH RETREAT
Friday 28th – 30th November

The Advent Youth Retreat is open to all young people in P7 and up. The weekend includes:

  • A range of different outdoor activities, including: tree climbing, archery tag, nightline, and an escape room.
  • All food and accommodation, with young people accommodated in rooms of 4-5 with their friends and young people of the same age/ stage (within one year group).
  • A range of talks on the theme of Advent.
  • Times of prayer, discussion and reflection.
  • Lots of time for young people to relax with their friends: spending time with their friends and making new friends too.

The weekend costs £100, however grants and bursaries are available if required. For more information and to register go to: Advent Youth Retreat – RCDG Youth.

MONTHLY YOUTH EVENINGS
St Joseph’s RC Church, Hill Street
for all P6 & P7 in the St Joseph’s Academy Cluster

The monthly Youth Evenings in the St Joseph’s Academy Cluster, based out of St Joseph’s Church, 15A Hill Street, Kilmarnock, have now resumed.

The monthly evenings run from 5.00 – 7.00 pm and are open to all young people in P6 and up. Each evening begins with Mass at 5.00 pm, and continues in the hall from 5.30 pm with a range of different games and activities led by S3 Junior Leaders from the Academy, a short talk on the theme of the evening, and lots of pizza and snacks.

The evenings offer a great opportunity for young people to meet others from across the cluster and to make new friends ahead of the transition to secondary school. If your child is attending for the first time, you can complete a parental consent form online: Youth Events Registration – RCDG Youth.

MARY – THE MOTHER OF JESUS, AND A MOTHER TO US TOO
Sunday 26th October, 5.00 pm
St Joseph’s Church, Kilmarnock

Join P6 and up from across the cluster for their next monthly Youth Evening, this month reflecting on the theme of Mary: who she is and how she can help us. Join them for an evening of games, activities, pizza, and a short talk on the theme of Mary – all led by the S3 Junior Leaders from St Joseph’s Academy.

Interested? The evening is completely free of charge, just come along. If it’s your first time attending a Youth Office event, please complete a parental consent form online: Youth Events Registration – RCDG Youth.

 

To keep up to date with all the latest news & events from the Diocesan Youth Office:

Communications Policy

We recognise that it’s important that as a parent/ carer you have clear lines of communication with the school, knowing who to contact for different issues, and how we will communicate with you. Our revised Communications Policy aims to streamline this information making it simpler and more accessible to help you keep in touch.

To read our full Communications Policy, please click here.

Relationships Policy

As part of our continuing commitment to excellence and providing a respectful, safe, and loving environment to nurture your child through primary school we have updated our Relationships Policy. The new policy details the processes and procedures we follow and the support that we are able to provide you and your child in the event of any relationship issues arising in school.

To view the full video, prepared by our pupils, please on the thumbnail.

To read our full Relationships Policy, please click here.

Happy Easter

The staff and pupils of St Andrew’s Primary School and ECC wish you a Happy and Holy Easter as we celebrate the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ our Lord. We have had another great term here and wish you all a peaceful holiday. We look forward to welcoming all of the pupils back after the holidays.

Whilst we rest over the holidays, our parish communities and chaplains will be working hard celebrating Easter. To find Mass times in any of our local parishes, you can check out their website: www.rckilmarnock.org.uk

The school will be closed from 2.30 pm on Friday 4th April until 9.00 am on Tuesday 22nd April.

Diocesan Youth Easter Gathering

The Diocesan Youth Office invites young people in P6-S6 to join them for a day of fun, games, activities, and prayer as they gather to celebrate Easter on Saturday 26th April in St Teresa’s Church, Dumfries, from 11.00 am – 4.00 pm. The day will be run by S3/4 pupils from St Joseph’s Academy (Kilmarnock) and St Joseph’s College (Dumfries) and overseen by the Diocesan Youth Office team. There is no charge for the event and lunch (BBQ and pizza) will be provided for all young people. A free coach is available to travel to/ from the event with pick-up/ drop-off available from St Joseph’s Church, Kilmarnock (KA3 1HB).

To register your child and to book a place on the coach, please click here: https://forms.office.com/e/1nMaaHb9qf.

If you have any questions, you can contact the Diocesan Youth Chaplain, Fr Kevin Rennie, by emailing: youth@rcdg.org.uk.

Welcome to Mr Johnstone

Today at assembly we wished Mrs Hastings well who, at the end of the school day, will be beginning her maternity leave. Mrs Crawford presented Mrs Hastings with flowers on behalf of the school and, inviting our young people to vote on whether they thought Mrs Hastings would have a boy or a girl, the majority thought she’d have a baby boy – we’ll have to wait and see, but we wish Mrs Hastings well as she starts on her maternity leave.

During Mrs Hastings’ maternity leave Mr Jason Johnstone will be covering as acting head. Mr Johnstone has extensive experience as a head teacher, joining us for the year from Lainshaw Primary School (Kilmarnock). Mrs Hastings reminded our school community to be on their best behaviour for Mr Johnstone, living out and witnessing to our school values: ready, respectful, and safe.

We wish Mrs Hastings well on her maternity leave and welcome Mr Johnstone to our school community.

If you need to get in touch with Mr Johnstone, you can do so by phone (01563 549549) through our school office, or by email: jason.johnstone@eastayrshire.org.uk.

Meet Sunny the Bear

At Assembly this morning Mrs Hastings announced the winner of our design and name a bear competition. The competition was inspired by our Jubilee Bear who, for the Jubilee Year of Hope, has joined our school community – but without a name! We couldn’t let that continue and so the competition was held to design an outfit for our bear, and to give him a name.

Erin from P3V had the winning entry, and so we’re delighted to introduce you to ‘Sunshine the Explorer’ (or as we’ve nicknamed him ‘Sunny the Bear’). Sunny will be visiting our classes over the year and helping us to celebrate and learn more about the Jubilee Year.

P6 STEM Day

On Tuesday 4th March students from P6 joined with their peers from schools across the cluster as they gathered for the Royal Navy STEM day. Over the course of the day pupils took part in workshops covering areas from robotics, to bridge building and coding to name but a few. Everyone had a great day and it was a great opportunity for our pupils to learn some new skills and explore some of the opportunities available to them to study science and engineering in the future.

P6 STEM Day
P6 STEM Day
P6 STEM Day
P6 STEM Day