Cathy moves on
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ONE of Keith’s best loved teachers, Cathy Francis, is leaving St Thomas’s Primary next week after 19 years at the school.
Cathy, who lives at Grange with husband Ian and their children Eric and Zara, who are both at university, is off to teach at Portsoy Primary, Aberdeenshire.
After graduating in applied biology from Bangor University, Cathy then did teacher training in Cambridge. Ian’s employment as a flight navigator meant the family moved around England and Germany with the RAF, where she held various teaching posts.
But a posting to RAF Lossiemouth 20 years ago resulted in the family settling at Grange, with both children schooled in Keith.
Her move to Portsoy was a new challenge, she said.
“I’ll have mixed feelings about leaving St Thomas’s, but I fancied a new challenge and one of my main roles at Portsoy is to encourage outdoor learning, something I just love. I find working with kids outdoors is fascinating.”
Her passion also led her to embark on a PhD part-time at Aberdeen University last year in outdoor learning.
“I’ve another four-and-a-half years to go, all being well,” she said.
When asked about how she finds time to combine a full-time teaching job with studying, as well as looking after the family’s three horses, cats, guinea pigs, dogs, chickens and fish, she said: “I love learning. I like teaching, but I love learning more and for me there is nothing more satisfying than sitting in a university library. The whole idea of this new job is to rebalance my life and build in time for my PhD.”
Cathy will leave St Thomas’s on Wednesday.
