A reminder that Friday is our Magic Mount Carmel Fun Day.  Children can come to school wearing their own clothes for this.  As always please no football clothes.

As we get to this time of the year we reflect back on what has happened this session and plan for next session.

In 2020-2021 our Improvement Plan focused on:

· Raising attainment in reading, spelling and phonics using Active Literacy approaches

· Improving outcomes in numeracy focusing on counting, place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

· Implementing year 2 of the PATHS programme to help improve outcomes in health and wellbeing.

As we know periods of lockdown and Covid restrictions severely impacted on our school and it has been a challenge to take some initiatives forward. We will fully evaluate the impact of these priorities when we compile our Standards and Quality report and Improvement Plan for 2021-2022 early in the new term.

In 2021-2022 our intention is to focus on the following priorities:

· Raising attainment in writing using a whole school approach to teaching specific types of text.

· Introducing Learning Journal in P1-3, which is safe on-line sharing platform.

· Raising attainment in numeracy, particularly in mental calculations.

· Improve outcomes in health and wellbeing, developing nurturing approaches across the school, building community through a refresh of our vision, values and aim reflecting Rights Respecting Schools and further develop our Respect for All Policy. Continuing with our PATHS approaches.

If you have any comments or suggestions please contact us at: carole.mcconville@eastayrshire.org.uk

A reminder that all children are going to Dean Park next week for their class summer trip.  If your child requires a packed lunch and you have not completed the letter for this please contact the school today.

Dean Park visits:

Monday 14th June – Primary 1 and Primary 5
Tuesday 15th June – Primay 1/2, Primary 6 and Primary 7
Wednesday 16th June – Primary 3 and Primary 4

Children should wear school polo shirt/jumper, a suitable jacket, suitable trousers and shoes/trainers.

All parents/carers must read the letter below from Public Health.

School No Contact Generic Parent Letter

A reminder that Sports Day is taking place on Wednesday 9th June.

Children should come to school wearing suitable clothing for PE activities.  This year children can wear any colours as Sports Day is not linked to House Colours.  Please no football tops.

Due to Covid restrictions parents/carers are not able to attend this.  Primary 6 will be filming aspects of this.  This will be shared with parents/carers via a password protected SWAY document.

Please click on the link below at provide your views on our current method for providing homework.  This survey closes on Sunday at midnight.  The survey should take around 4 minutes to complete.

Homework Questionnaire

Thank you for your time.

A reminder that Monday is a Bank Holiday and the children are on holiday.

Next week we are told that the weather should be nice.  Please remember to apply sun lotion before children come to school and send them with water.

This week all the boys and girls have taken part in an amazing set of Health Week activities.  This has been supported by Primary 5 and Mrs McGowan.

We as a a school would like to say a huge thank you to all of the people that have been involved in making this such as a special week.

Thank you for organising events:

Mrs Crawford

Mrs McGowan and Primary 5

Mr Bertoncini

Mrs McCreadie

Thank you to TESCO for providing fruit for the week.

Thank you to Stephanie and our amazing kitchen staff for healthy snacks.

Thank you for providing activities:

Active Schools – Mark Devlin

Dumfries House

North West Amateur Boxing Club

Phoenix Tae Kwan Do

Bellahouston Harriers

Kilmarnock Rugby Club

Kilmarnock Football Club

PC Dempster

And as always thank you to all of our amazing staff for other additional activities during the week.

The Health and Wellbeing of our pupils is an area close to the hearts of the staff at Mount Carmel Primary.  In order to provide continued support for this we are linked with PATHS.

We are delighted to offer a PATHS parent/carer information session presented by Jill McLarrie our PATHS partner.  All parents/carers are invited to attend this informal session as well as our new primary 1 parent/carers.

This will be via vscene on Wednesday 12th May at 4pm.

If you would like to attend this please complete the form below and access details will be forwarded on.

We are delighted to announce that we are having a special Health Week.  This has been organised by Primary 5 and Mrs McGowan.  The pupils will be taking part in a range of healthy activities throughout the week.  Some of the activities will be completed by their class teacher and others will be completed by coaches.

The activities are:

Football

Tennis

Safety with PC Dempster

Rugby

Basketball

Running (P5-P7)

Tae Kwon Do

Outdoor/Scouts

Boxing (P4-P7)

Children should wear suitable outdoor clothing throughout this week (no football colours).

Pupils should make a special effort to have a healthy snack everyday this week, and bring water to school.

Thank you you to all the groups who have offered to help for this week.

A reminder that homework will begin today for all children.  Primary 1 and 1/2 will have this emailed directly and Primary 3-7 can access this via TEAMS.  All completed homework should be emailed directly to the class teacher on a Thursday or earlier.

Please follow this link to view a beautiful piece of work by Ms Donnelly and some of the pupils from Mount Carmel.  Ms Donnelly has continued to run the school music service virtually for our pupils and they have enjoyed taking part in this.

Virtual Choir

Homework will resume from Monday 19th April.  This will now be issued weekly via MS Teams for Primary 3-7 and via email for Primary 1 and Primary 2.

Homework will consist of:

Literacy – phonics/spelling tasks and Bug Club reading tasks

Numeracy – mental maths and an appropriate maths task

Primary 6 and 7 will receive additional project work.

Homework will be issued on a Monday and should be returned via email to the class teacher by Thursday evening.  Homework can be completed on paper if preferred and photographs of this emailed to the class teacher.  Stationery and jotters can be provided if requested.

A reminder that tomorrow (Tuesday) is an optional Crazy Hair Day to help raise funds for SCIAF- £1 via ParentPay.

Unfortunately due to strong winds forecast for tomorrow (Monday 29th March) the planned trip to Dean Park for Primary 1/2 and Primary 5 will not take place. This will be rescheduled after the holidays.

Have a look at a video made by some of our Primary 6 children telling you all you need to know about our Easter Extravaganza Week.

Easter Extravaganza Week Monday 29th March

Information for Parents and Carers

Go to this Sway

Mount Carmel Primary is organising a special Easter Extravaganza for the children l to help raise money for SCIAF, a charity that is very close to the heart of our school.

This will take place on the week beginning Monday 29th March.  There will be a special theme for each day and we are asking for a £1 donation to take place on ParentPay for each item.

Monday 29th March – Silly Shoes and Socks

Tuesday 30th March – Crazy Hair Day

Wednesday 31st March – Decorated egg competition (please bring a decorated egg to school, one winner will be announced per class).

There will also be a special Easter raffle for each class.  Raffle tickets can be purchased via ParentPay – £1 for 5 tickets.  Each class raffle will be drawn on Thursday 1st April.

Our Magic Mount Carmel Theme Day will take place on Thursday 1st April (no donation for this).  Our theme day will be a pyjama and movie day.

Each class will also enjoy a Spring Walk to Dean Park.  A letter and permission form has been issued today.

Please complete this short survey and share your views on writing.  The survey should take around 5 minutes to complete and will close on Friday 19th March.

Currently within Mount Carmel Primary we are looking to improve our current writing provision.  We are keen to hear the opinions of all within the school community about writing and how we can take this forward.

If you would be interested in sharing your views there will be a parent/carers session on Tuesday 9th March at 2:00pm.  This will take place using vscene.

Please complete the form below and details of how to access this writing discussion group will then be sent to you.

Mrs Fergusson

As we continue with this period of remote learning if you are looking for some additional activities for your child then please follow these links:

Lockdown Live

Additional activities with links to videos – this week focuses on mystery objects, learning French numbers and Space.

Thinglink – Primary 4

Click on the icons in the picture to find lots of new and exciting activities

Thinglink – Primary 5-7

Click on the icons in the picture to find lots of new and exciting activities

Please see the letter below from our head teacher regarding the arrangements for the return of Primary 4-7.

Return of Primary 4-7

Currently within Mount Carmel Primary we are looking to improve our current writing provision.  We are keen to hear the opinions of all within the school community about writing and how we can take this forward.

If you would be interested in sharing your views there will be a parent/carers session on Tuesday 9th March at 2:00pm.  This will take place using vscene.

Please complete the form below and details of how to access this writing discussion group will then be sent to you.

Mrs Fergusson

As we continue with this period of remote learning if you are looking for some additional activities for your child then please follow these links:

Lockdown Live

Additional activities with links to videos – this week focuses on mystery objects, learning French numbers and Space.

Thinglink – Primary 4

Click on the icons in the picture to find lots of new and exciting activities

Thinglink – Primary 5-7

Click on the icons in the picture to find lots of new and exciting activities

Recently we asked pupils and parents/carers to provide their views on remote learning.  Please click on the links below to see the full responses to these surveys and the changes we made in response to this, ‘you said we did’.

Mount Carmel Primary School survey report

Mount Carmel Primary You Said We Did

Please see the letter below from Professor Jason Leitch

JL letter – 18 February

Please see the letter below regarding Remote Learning plans for Primary 4-7.

Remote learning Primary 4-7

Please see the letter below detailing our plans for pupil return on Monday 22nd February.

Return of Primary 1-3

Letters to Parents-Carers – 16 February 2021