It is hard to believe that we have reached the end of another busy term and that when we return we will find ourselves in the final one of this school session.

It has been an exceptionally busy term as we found ourselves being able to come together as a whole school for the first time in 2 years and our children were able to, once again, make visits off site.

Here is a reminder of some of the amazing things that happened in our school between January – March.

January

All classes experienced learning through the context of Scotland, it’s language, culture and history.   This ended with a fantastic celebration of Scots language with our Annual Poetry and Song competition.   We were joined by Mr Sullivan, from the East Ayrshire Instrumental Service, who had the very difficult job of judging.  The standard was so high.  Once again, we congratulate all our children for their efforts and performances and a huge well done to all the finalists.  If you missed it the first time round,  here is a little show reel of the event. Click Here 

The Scottish Government expansion of free school meals means that all pupils from P1 – P5 can now enjoy free school lunch provision.  This will be expanded further to include P6 & P7 in the future.

School enrolment took place for children aged to start primary school in August 2022.  We are delighted that we have 17 confirmed enrolments at the moment.  We cannot wait to welcome these children and their families into the St. Patrick’s family  through our transition programme very soon.

At the other end of the school, P7 children enrolled for the transition to S1.  We have learners moving on to St. Joseph‘s Academy and Robert Burns Academy.

Mrs Sinclair took up her new post as Depute Head Teacher.  We were delighted to be joined again by Mrs Gilhooley and Mrs Cunningham on a temporary basis.  Miss Walker was successful in being appointed to a temporary class teacher position and will be with us full time until June.

February

Our school participated in Number Day 2022.  This day was spent thinking about all things maths and number related while raising money for NSPCC.

We sent information out to parents/Carers about Safer Internet Day and Children’s Mental Health week.  These are topics that we continue to discuss in school.  We would encourage you to get in touch with us should you require information about these issues  at anytime.

Eight of our primary 4 pupils received the Sacrament of Confirmation alongside children from across our Deanery at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Kilmarnock.

In response to the Humanitarian crisis caused by war in Ukraine, we collected items to support refugees who have fled to Poland.  These items were safely transported to Poland by Mossgiel farm.

Our ragbag collection in school helped raise vital funds for our school.

P5/6 pupils graduated as Health and Well-being Ambassadors after completing a block of training in partnership with East Ayrshire Health and Well-being Team.

A refurbishment programme is underway and our P4/5 classroom and staffroom have had a makeover.  We look forward to the ongoing programme enhancing our learning environment in the coming weeks and months.

March

Our first whole school gathering for 2 years took place on Ash Wednesday.  Huge thanks to Fr Phillip, for ensuring this was a truly spiritual and special occasion.

All classes participated in events for world book day.  Staff had the opportunity to visit other classes and share the enjoyment of reading and talk about their own  favourite stories.  Mrs Bradley shared a special video message with one of her favourite books with all classes.  You can view it here.

We were joined by student teachers from the University of the West of Scotland.  This is a great opportunity for the students, our pupils and staff to work together in supporting a new generation of teachers.  We know that Miss Farrow, Miss Edgar, Miss Higgins, Miss Frame and Miss Ramsay will be missed by the pupils they worked with and we wish them every success on their continued journey.

Primary 3 visited the church to celebrate alongside Ezra and Callagh, who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

St. Patrick’s Day was another truly special occasion.  Our first whole school mass of the year.  Special thanks to Mrs McCrorie, Fr Phillip, all our readers, pupils and staff for making it so wonderful.  Highlights of the day can be watched here.  Click Here

We were joined by Mr Devlin, our active schools coordinator, who provided lunch time activities for P1 & P2, PE lessons for P2 and an after school football club for P6 & P7.

Cumnock Rugby Club provided rugby training to P4/5, P5/6 and P6/7.

Our parent appointments took place via telephone calls.  If you have not yet spoken with your child’s class teacher, please get in touch and we will organise this for after the holidays.

4 of our Primary 6 pupils represented St. Patricks’s in the East Ayrshire heat of the EuroQuiz.  Although our team didn’t win on this occasion they did us proud! An amazing performance. Well done!

P2 and P4/5 took part in the East Ayrshire DanceFest by visiting the Palace Theatre in Kilmarnock and performing on stage! We cannot wait to see the recording of the finished performance.

Mrs Millar from the East Ayrshire SAC (Scottish Attainment Challenge) team is working with us developing the learning and teaching of numeracy, this will continue into our final term.

Pulze photography visited – look out for the proofs coming home after the holiday if you opted into this.

Our Lenten fundraising took place through the month of March.  We are so grateful for your support with this.

We finished our term with a Whole School visit to Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Patrick’s Church to celebrate Mass.

As you can see we have had a busy term and this doesn’t include the learning experiences that class teachers and support staff provide every single day your child is in school.   Our staff go above and beyond to ensure that our learners experience the very best and are supported to be their very best.

We know that this continues to be an unsettling time for so many families.  The continued media information about the rise in living costs, the impact of Covid and the ongoing conflict in the world,  all have a huge impact on wellbeing.  Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us should things be overwhelming for you or your child.   We are here to help.

Mrs Hay, who has worked in St. Patrick’s for the last 15 months, starts her maternity leave today.  Mrs Hay is permanent to the local authority and sadly the last two weeks were spent in other establishments to cover staff absence.  We are so excited to meet baby Hay when they make their arrival into our wonderful world.  We will be sure to keep you updated and we have been promised a visit to meet the new arrival next term.

We have so much planned for term 4, we hope that it will bring the opportunity to have you along to our school grounds.   We have so missed the opportunity to meet with parents face to face and share our learning in this way.

Your children are loved so much by all our staff, they are amazing and continue to fill our days with so much joy and happiness.  We are so proud of each and everyone of them.

I personally want to thank every single member of staff in our school.  Our support staff, teaching staff and catering staff are amazing and continue to ensure that St. Patrick’s really is the best place to be.  It is impossible to capture the commitment and passion that they give to their role of supporting our children.  They are hands down the best team in the Country!

Wish you a happy holiday period filled with sunshine, peace, love and Hope.  To all our families beginning the holy month of Ramadan today, we wish you every blessing.

With love and best wishes,

Mrs Bradley and All the staff

 

 

 

 

 

Please see our attached leaflet regarding our preloved school uniform access.

uniform – reduce-reuse-recycle

Please see the dates for your diary for next term below.

Some dates (marked with *) are still to be confirmed.

Tuesday 19th April –  School Reopens at 9am

Friday 22nd, 29th April  – Rugby P4/5, P5/6, P6/7

Monday 2nd May – HOLIDAY

Thursday 5th May – In Service day (school closed to pupils)

Tuesdays 10th – 31st May – Tennis, P4/5, P5/6, P6/7

Tuesday 10th May – Session 1, group 1, new P1 transition

Monday 16th May – walk to School week starts (all classes will take part in the daily mile)

Tuesday 17th May – Session 1, group 2, new P1 transition

Tuesday 24th May – Session 1, group 3, new P1 transition

Wednesday 25th May – all P4 & p5 pupils to Spring Festival of Farming, Dumfries House

Thursday 26th May – Ascension Thursday Mass, whole school to St. Thomas’, Muirkirk

Wednesday 1st June – Session 2, new P1 transition

Thursday 2nd June – HOLIDAY

Friday 3rd June – HOLIDAY

Tuesday 7th June – Sports Day

Wednesday 8th June – P1 parent information evening

Thursday 9th June* – P7 activity day and evening

Thursday 16th June – New P1 and current P1 & P2, teddy bear’s picnic

Friday 17th June – Report Cards Issued

Tuesday 21st June – Leavers’ Service

Monday 27th June *– Whole School Outing

Tuesday 28th June – Closing Mass, whole school to St. John’s, Cumnock

Wednesday 29th June – School closes at 1pm

 

PLEASE NOTE SESSION 2022/23 STARTS ON

THURSDAY 18TH AUGUST 2022

 

 

Thank you so much for your generosity and support with our Lenten Fundraising.

We are delighted to let you know that we have raised around £700.

This will make a huge difference to the people of Malawi who are the focus of the SCIAF campaign this Lent.

Congratulations to all our winners.

Our Easter Hamper was won by Oran, with class prizes going to Marlene, Anna, Amber, Alexander, Kai J and Hayley.

Our Bear shared a birthday with Pope Francis, the date was the 17th December.  Well done to Eilidh who had the closest guess.

Ada guessed the most staff members correctly, with Ezra in 2nd place.   Answers can be found by clicking here.  Guess Who – answers

Our winner for the skipping contest was Noah with the following people winning within their class: Eternity, Nicholas, Jessica, Cody and Lillie.

Huge thanks go to the pupils that have helped in organising all the events and demonstrating their leadership skills.  Special thanks to Mrs Reid for dealing with all the payments.

Welcome to another School Update.

Originally we had planned that updates would be sent weekly.  It has just not been possible – we will update the blog as often as possible – the school app is our main communication channel and we would urge parents and carers to ensure that this is downloaded.  It is possible to set up push notifications on devices to ensure you receive all up to date communication.

No doubt you will be aware of the prevalence of Covid across Scotland and in particular East Ayrshire.  We are very fortunate that we have not seen this reflected within our school.   We do have a few cases and this has mainly affected staffing.  Next week is going to be challenging in terms of staffing and we ask that you are patient if you are waiting on a response from someone.  Our staff in St. Patrick’s are amazing and are going above and beyond to ensure the continuity in learning and teaching.  All Parents appointments on Tuesday are going ahead as planned.

We ask that you continue to be vigilant of any symptoms and if you or your child is a close contact then LFT testing is carried out each day for 7 days.  If you or your child develop symptoms then a PCR must be booked.

St. Patrick’s Day

We had a wonderful day celebrating the Patron Saint of our school.  Thanks go to all the pupils, staff and Fr Phillip who made sure this was a joyful and special occasion.  We are confident that next year, we will once again be able to celebrate alongside you all in our school.

Please see the link at the end of this blog post to watch the highlights of the day.

End of Term Mass

We hope to be able to attend Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Patrick’s Church to celebrate mass with the parish on Friday 1st April at 10am mass.  This is very much dependant on the Covid cases at the time.  We will keep you posted.

SCIAF Fundraising

link to watch the SCIAF video

Thank you so much for your continued support with this.  Loose change can be brought into school and put into the SCIAF  box inside each classroom.   Next week is our walk/pedal to school week.  We are encouraging everyone to walk/cycle/scoot to school rather than travelling by car.  This is one of the Acts of Hope that we can do together as a whole school and help fight climate change.   We look forward to seeing as many pupils and staff as possible travelling actively to school.   Where it is not possible, we ask that you consider journeys during the week that you can make without the car.

This week pupils can also have a go at guessing the Bear’s Birthday.  If you have purchased this through ParentPay your child will be able to choose dates from the calendar.  Mrs Bradley will miss the bear when they leave the office but we know that whoever wins will look after them and make sure they are well loved and cared for.

A video of the week 3 fundraising obstacle course can be found at the end of the blog.  Thank you so much to P6/7 and Miss Quinn for ensuring that this was so successful!  Well done!

Transition Visits

P7 pupils will all visit their respective secondary schools this week.  Those going to St. Joseph’s will visit on Wednesday and the visit to Robert Burns Academy takes place on Thursday.  Please keep our P7 pupils in your prayers as they embark on this next chapter of the educational journey.

Student Teachers

We have been joined by student teachers from the University of the West of Scotland this term.  School placements are a fundamental part of the Initial Teacher Education programme.  Due to Covid, placements have been unable to take place until now.  We are so grateful to be part of the process of developing the next generation of teachers.  We gain so much from their enthusiasm and creativity – it is a two way development process.  Miss Farrow finished with us on Friday, Miss Edgar and Miss Ramsay will finish on Friday 25th and Miss Frame and Miss Higgins will finish on 1st April.   We wish our students all the best with the remainder of their studies and training.

What’s Happening Next Week

All Week – sponsored walk to school week – donations can be made via ParentPay

Tuesday – P2 DanceFest at Palace Theatre Kilmarnock

Wednesday – P7 Transition Visit to St. Joseph’s Academy

Thursday – P4/5 DanceFest at Palace Theatre Kilmarnock

P7 Transition Visit to Robert Burns Academy

East Ayrshire Heat of EuroQuiz

Friday – School Photographs

P4/5, P5/6, P6/7 Rugby

Guess the Bear’s Birthday (donations via parent pay)

Staffing 

We have a temporary classroom assistant post advertised.  This can be found on the My Job Scotland website.  This is funded through additional Scottish Government Funding.  This post is temporary until the end of May 2022.  In the coming days we expect to advertise another post which is funded through Pupil Equity Funding.  This post will be temporary until the end of June.   Please share this with anyone who might be interested.  The hours are Monday – Friday, 8.45am – 3.00pm.

We continue to keep our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in our prayers and indeed all who are affected by war in our world.  We pray for peace in our world and our own communities.

From all the staff,  have a wonderful weekend in the spring  sunshine.  Don’t  forget to view the videos before you go.  

SCIAF – Week 3

St. Patrick’s Day

 

Welcome to this week’s update, although it is really an update from the month of February.    Apologies that we didn’t get our blog out weekly!   When our children are working so hard and learning so much it keeps us extremely busy!

This week eight of our children received the Sacrament of Confirmation.   We are so proud of them all.   Thank you so much to all our parents and carers, Fr Philip and Mrs Dumigan who supported the children in preparing for this.   I know you will join us in keeping these children in your prayers.

Bishop Nolan administered the sacrament on Tuesday and as you will know, he leaves Galloway Diocese next week to fulfil the role of Archbishop of Glasgow.  Bishop Nolan has been a great support to the catholic schools in our Diocese and is a true advocate of social justice and the message of love, hope and compassion.  We wish him all the very best in his new role.

Our P5/6 learners have completed a programme of learning with our East Ayrshire Health and Wellbeing Team.  They have completed training on becoming Health and Wellbeing Champions and we look forward to planning how we will use their new knowledge and skills to support learning across the school.

We are currently undergoing some refurbishment in the school.  Our classrooms are part of an ongoing programme that will modernise them and create better learning environments.   Our P6/7 class already had new flooring laid as part of this and at the Easter break there will be further improvements in this space.  From the week beginning the 7th March, P4/5 will temporarily  relocate to the digital learning room.  Their classroom will be fitted with new blinds, flooring, sink unit, white boards and have a complete repaint.   There will be new furniture in this room too.   We can’t wait to show it to off to you.

From Monday 28th February we are able to hold school assemblies again.   The first whole school event will be our Ash Wednesday Service.  This will be the first time that our P1 and P2 pupils have ever experienced this.   Please be aware that assemblies are still subject to some mitigations.  There will be increased ventilation, classes will still sit within their own space and staff will maintain a 2m distance from each other and pupils.   If there are any new covid cases in a class and a pupil was in attendance during the infectious period, this class will not be able to attend the assembly.    This has been one of the most missed experiences within school communities, to be able to come together as one to celebrate the start of Lent is something we will cherish.

Please notify the school if you DO NOT wish your child to receive ashes at our service.

Our Pupil Leadership Team have devised a programme of fundraising events for SCIAF during lent.  These were sent via the app.  Further details will follow and donations can be made from next week.

Please click here to watch the reflection for Malawi

Please remember to return all RagBags to school on Monday. 

As we come to the end of this week, the thoughts and prayers of our whole school community are shared with the people of Ukraine.   We pray for a world that can heal from the terrible events that are happening right now in Ukraine and other regions of the world experiencing war and that together we can build a world that finds peaceful solutions rather than conflict.

Have a fantastic weekend and we look forward to seeing all our children again on Monday.

Friday 28th January 2022

A huge well done and thank you to P5/6 for our twitter takeover this week.  We have loved reading about your learning.  It looked like so much fun.  If you have not had a chance to see all the tweeting this week – be sure to pop over to our twitter feed.  You do not need a twitter account to see what was going on.  Just click the link.  https://twitter.com/@eacStPatricksPS  

We wonder which class will take over twitter next week?  Check the link again next week to find out.

Community Opportunities

Active Schools are running free sports sessions in Auchinleck starting next week.  Please see the posters below for information of how to access these.

 

 

In Assembly today we joined the rest of the world in remembrance of the Holocaust.   This event is held annually on the 27th January.  We prayed that the sufferings of the past are not forgotten and for the courage and strength to create a world without discrimination.  Pope Francis had asked everyone to join him this week in praying for peaceful solutions to the ongoing uncertainty in Ukraine.  We prayed the Our Father together for hope and for peace.

 

Next week we will be taking part in Number Day 2022.  Information about this was sent out on the school app.   Pupils (and staff) have the opportunity to dress up or accessorise with a number theme.

Donations for NSPCC will be able to be made on ParentPay next week.

Scots Verse and Singing Competition

Class heats will take place this week with finalists performing in the competition on 9th February.   Thank you to all of you for supporting your child with this.  It’s going to be a tough decision.  The standard is very high.   In preparation for this, classes have created some stunning art work for the hall.

To ensure safety and comfort during PE lessons, all pupils are asked to wear appropriate clothing for physical activity.

This comprises of

• t – shirt
• gym shorts or active wear leggings or tracksuit trousers
• indoor PE shoes

Pupils should ensure that PE kit is available on their PE days to get changed into.   School uniform should be worn as normal.

We have taken the decision to allow longer length leg coverings in response to pupil requests.  Please discourage your child from wearing tights under shorts or leg coverings.  If your child wears tights to school they can bring a pair of socks for use during PE lessons.

A reminder of PE days is below:
P1 – Monday, Wednesday
P2 – Tuesday, Thursday
P3 – Wednesday, Friday
P4/5 – Wednesday, Friday
P5/6 – Monday, Thursday
P6/7 – Tuesday, Thursday

If you have difficulty sourcing PE kit for your child please contact the school and we can see what we can do to help.

In line with East Ayrshire’s PE risk assessment jewellery is not permitted to be worn in PE.  This includes stud earrings.  Pupils must be able to take their own earrings in and out for PE.  Unfortunately your child will not be able to participate if they are wearing jewellery.   They will be tasked with completing an observation and evaluation task linked to the curriculum instead.

Our school uniform consists of a bottle green sweatshirt, gold polo shirt and black/grey trousers or skirt.  There is also a tartan skirt in the school colours that can be worn.  Although leggings are allowed during PE, they are not our school uniform and we would encourage a skirt or trousers.  Thank you.

Outdoor Learning

Some of our learning takes place outside.  Please ensure your child comes to school with suitable clothing that will keep them warm should the class go outdoors.   We’ve had a lot of cold children this week.   If you have any problems getting uniform, PE kit or outdoor clothing for your child please get in touch and we will see what we can do to help.

Golden Book

This week’s Golden book nominees are as follows:

Faith, Alysa, Max, Cayden, Elliot, Karah, Isaac, Alexander, Reilley, Tyler K, Skye, Starr, Shauna, Oliver, Alyssa and Kallen.

 

Bronze Awards go to :

Alysa, Kallen, Max, Cayden, Oliver, Jackson, Reilley and Skye.

 

Covid

It has been a very challenging week for us with positive cases.  We ask that everyone remains vigilant for any symptoms.  We are increasingly seeing that this is a headache,  upset stomach , sore throat or high temperature in our children.  Please look out for these symptoms as well as the new persistent dry cough and loss of taste or smell.   A PCR should be booked for all symptoms.

Please do not send your child to school if they display any of these symptoms.

We encourage everyone to test regularly with a Lateral Flow Device (LFD).  These can be collected from pharmacies and some local authority venues.  We have a limited number in school that we can give to families that are unable to get them from elsewhere.

If your child’s class received a stage 3 letter you are asked to carry out LFD test on your child for the next 7 days.   If anyone in the household has a positive test then everyone else should test everyday for 7 days.

Homework

Homework and Home Learning are available online.

P4 – P7 pupils can access this through TEAMs.

Parents and Carers of P1 – P3 pupils should access this through Learning Journals.

Wishing you a fantastic weekend,

from all the staff.

Please see some of this week’s learning in the gallery below.

Friday 21st January 2022

This week has seen all classes continue their learning about Scots language.  Hopefully some of our learners have been sharing poems and songs with you at home as we gear up for our poetry and singing competition.

You will all have noticed the increase in warn and inform letters that have been issued this week.  We have seen a significant number of positive covid cases among pupils.    We have issued a FAQs sheet that will hopefully help clarify the guidance.   This was posted on the school app yesterday.

We cannot stress enough how important it is to keep your child at home if they are displaying any symptoms.  If your child does show symptoms please book a PCR test.  These can be booked at local drive through sites, walk through sites and through a home testing kit.  An appointment must be booked.  It is not possible to visit a test centre without one.   A LFD test is not suitable for people who have symptoms.  Symptoms can seem mild but we urge everyone to be vigilant.

PCR tests can be booked by following this link

Click here to book a PCR Test

We are grateful to all those who are supporting us by following the guidance with LFD testing.  These should be used if someone your child lives with has a positive test (either LFT or PCR).  Your child can continue coming to school as long as they take a LFD test each day for 7 days and upload the negative results.  The results are uploaded to here.

Click here to upload result.

Staffing

Last week I told you that we had carried out interviews for  a temporary class teacher.  I am delighted to confirm that Miss Rebecca Walker has been appointed.  This will commence when the pre employment checks have finished.  Miss Walker has previously worked in the school and I know that the children and staff are excited about having Miss Walker with us until June.

This week’s assembly linked to our Laudato Si’ journey.  Ask your children about the Global Goals.

Transitions

P7 pupils were joined by Mr Dempster from Robert Burns Academy (virtually) earlier this week and if your child is going to Robert Burns Academy you should have received a letter outlining some of the transition programme.

Miss Cathie from St. Joseph’s Academy has also been in touch with us to organise transitions.  As soon as we have information for parents we will get this out to you.

Some of you will have received an email inviting you to a Transition Meeting.  These are for pupils who receive additional support or for who there is essential information to pass onto the secondary school.   If your child has a child’s plan that was shared with you in September they will be included in this.   If you think your child requires this and you have not received an email please contact the school.

GOLDEN BOOK 

Well done to all those in our Golden Book this week.

Phoebe, James, Oliver, Ford, Janey, Logan, Autumn, Eva, Juliette, Ada, Noah P, Archie N, Hope, Lilla, Jack, Eternity, Jessica, Kai, Myia and Sofia

 

Bronze Awards

Jack, Lilla, Sofia, Logan, Jessica, Myia,

Ford and Phoebe

 

Have a great weekend, especially if you are supporting a certain local football team.

Take Care,

From All in St. Patrick’s Team

We will leave you with a gallery of some of the learning from the last two weeks.

 

 

 

Friday 14th January 2022

Although we are only 2 weeks into the new year it seems like it started so long ago.   We hope that you all shared some special times with those you love over the holiday period.   We are so pleased to be back at school and have (almost) all of our learners back too.  The majority of pupils are out of isolation periods and Monday, will again, see the return of some others we have not seen since before Christmas.

COVID

Household contacts no longer need to isolate.  That means that pupils can continue to come to school as long as they are taking a test on a lateral flow device each day for 7 days.  We appreciate that of an adult is self isolating or unwell within the house it can prove difficult to support children getting to school.  Please get in touch with us.  There are lots of ways in which we can help.  We want to have pupils in school learning and if we can avoid long periods at home we will do whatever it takes.

Please continue to upload all LFT results online.

Information about the universal LFD testing can be found here. 

Using a LFD is not suitable for those with symptoms.  A PCR should be booked if you develop any symptoms.

Changes to Timetables

PE days are now as follows:

P1 – Monday, Wednesday

P2 – Tuesday, Thursday

P3 – Wednesday, Friday

P4/5 – Wednesday. Friday

P5/6 – Monday, Thursday

P6/7 – Tuesday, Thursday

Staffing

Before Christmas we wrote to tell you that Mrs Sinclair was appointed as Depute Head Teacher.  Mrs Sinclair has now started in her new role.  This has meant some changes to class staffing.

Primary 5/6 will now be taught by Mrs McCrorie on Mondays and Tuesdays and Mrs Sinclair Wednesday – Friday.

We continue to be joined by Miss Smith on a temporary basis who is providing support in P6/7, P5/6, P1.

Mrs Cunningham is back with us two days a week on a temporary basis providing support in P4/5 and P2.

Mrs Gilhooley is supporting P3 on a temporary basis.

This morning we held interviews for a temporary fulltime class teacher post.  This post will continue until the end of June 2022.  Once all the relevant departments have been informed of the successful candidate we will let you know.

Primary 1 Registration

This closes today.  We are looking forward to welcoming the newest members of the St. Patrick’s family in due course.  We are really pleased to have so many joining us in August 2022.

P7/S1 Transition

Transition forms are available to fill in online until the end of January.  Our P7s were visited by St. Joseph’s academy prior to the holiday period.  Next week they will take part in a virtual meeting with staff from Robert Burns Academy.  We are hopeful that the transition programmes for P7 will include some visits this year.  We’ve all got our fingers crossed.

Laudato Si ‘ CHANGE FOR GOOD

Today’s assembly was used to hold our Prayer Service of Commitment as a Laudato Si’ school.  This is our commitment to the calling of Pope Francis to look after our common home.  Throughout the coming months we will Learn, Pray and Act together to meet the Holy Father’s goal.

There will be opportunities for parents, carers, parishioners and the wider community to get involved along our journey.

Whole School IDL

During the first few weeks of the new year all classes are learning through an Interdisciplinary Learning Context.  All classes are learning about Scots language and Scotland. 

At the beginning of February we will hold our poetry and singing competition.  More details will follow.

Big Talk Homework

The topics for Big Talk Homework this session were chosen by our Pupil Council.  Look out for the first of these being published on Tuesday.

As always, please get in touch if there is anything we can support you with.  We are looking forward to a successful and fulfilling 2022!

Have a great weekend from all in Team St. Patrick’s.

Friday 10th December 

With so much happening in school the weeks just seem to be flashing past us.

We know that this week will have been tough for so many of you with the added worry of the omicron variant and the announcement yesterday about the changes to self isolation.

In school, we have been working on our contingency plans in the event that we have full classes isolating or staff shortages due to an increase in isolation.

You will now know, that should we have a positive case in school that is suspected to be connected to omicron the whole class may be asked to isolate along with any member of staff working with the class.  Should this happen, home learning will be provided via TEAMs for pupils in P4 – P7 and via Learning Journals for P1- P3.

We still have almost half of P1 – P3 parents who have not returned the consent form for learning journals.  This was available  to be completed online and then through paper copies that was sent home.  We will reissue paper copies to those who have not returned it.  We ask that these are returned as soon as possible, this will be necessary should the class have to isolate.

In the event that a member of teaching staff has to isolate through being a close contact outwith school or being absent due to others reasons, we have a plan in place to allow us to cover up to three absences.  Should it go beyond this, we have a contingency plan in place to prioritise in-school provision.  This would mean one or more classes learning at home.  Please be assured that all our staff are taking every precaution both inside and outside of school to minimise the risk of this happening.

If your child is entitled to Free School Meals,  provision will be made during a 10 day isolation.  This is for pupils granted meals through the application process and not all P1-P4. We will be in touch with you if this should happen.

We would encourage our parents and carers to follow the national guidance by continuing to use lateral flow devices before meeting up with others and to self isolate and book a PCR test if any symptoms develop.

Please get in touch with us if there is ANYTHING we can do to support you at this time.   Sometimes even a quick chat over the phone can do wonders.

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We have so much to be thankful for this week.

A huge big shout out to our catering team, Shirley, Amanda, Marlene and Paula.  The ladies went above and beyond to ensure our children and staff had an amazing Christmas lunch.  We are so lucky to have an amazing team that care so much about our children.  THANK YOU!

 

P6/7 organised our fantastic Reindeer Run in aid of CHAS.  The weather was kind to us and all classes completed their run without rain.  P6/7 organised the event so well – they prepared motivational speeches to set the classes off, marshalled the event and closed each run with a thank you speech.  Well done everyone and thanks to Miss Quinn for supporting this. (more photographs at the end of the blog)

We loved seeing all the Christmas jumpers.  Thank you for all your donations for Save the Children.    If you have Christmas jumpers that your children have outgrown please hand them in to us.  We will collect them, store them and next December make them available instead of buying a new one.  Not only does this help our eco message of reuse, it will also help us cut costs to families.  We are passionate about helping our children learn about the value of the three ‘Rs’ – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

This week has been a busy one with the production of our school Christmas film.  We are so grateful for all the staff working behind the scenes to make this possible.  Special thanks go to Mrs McCrorie who has been working tirelessly with classes to film this, Mrs Gilhooley and Mrs Goudie for the mammoth task of sorting out costumes and to Mrs Fleming for ensuring equipment was where it needed to be.   Mrs Reid has also been vey busy with all the calendar orders and our fantastic 2021 Christmas card – these look amazing.  A massive Thank You.  We are so glad we left the judging of the Christmas Card competition to the Pupil Leadership Team! The standard was very high!

All your donations to our foodbank appeal will be gratefully received by EA Foodbank.  Thank you so much to each and every one of you who contributed to this.

Thank you to P1 and Mrs Duffy for a fantastic Twitter Takeover this week.  If you haven’t followed their learning this week you can find it at @eacStPatricksPS

We hope you all have a fantastic weekend.  Please remember that all the dates for activities happening in school are on the school app.

From all the Staff.