Today we received the welcome news that boys and girls in Primary 1-3 would return to school as of Monday 22nd February.  An update will be provided tomorrow detailing our return to school plans.

The-Exchange is now providing counselling and emotional and psychological support for Mount Carmel Primary.  The service provides a private space where children and young people can talk about things which are troubling them.  Talking things over with a professional can help children to find better ways to cope with difficulties.  If your child’s teacher or a key adult within the school feels that counselling may be beneficial to them, they will always contact you before making a referral to The-Exchange.  For children under the age of 12, parental consent is required in order for the child to attend the counselling or psychological support sessions.  When supporting children under the age of 12, The Exchange involve parents at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the process with an aim to improve the overall resilience and psychological wellbeing of the family. This service will be available for children aged 10 and over.

If you would like further information, please contact Mrs Fergusson.

If you have not already completed out Remote Learning Survey then please follow this link. This survey will close at midnight on Wednesday 3rd February.

Thank you for your support.

Please find below information detailing our plan for the coming weeks.

Remote learning 1st Feb parent letter

During this period of Remote Learning the children are being introduced to new concepts.  When working on this class teachers will generally revise a piece of related learning and then introduce the new learning.  If your child finds this new learning challenging please try to reassure them that they will develop in their understanding.  Class teachers will make it clear to children when new learning is taking place.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Class teachers have been completing check-in phonecalls with children.  If your child is currently receiving in school provision then they will not receive a class teacher phonecall as they are having check-ins in school.

Thank you.

Please click on the link below to complete a short survey on our recent approach to Remote Learning.

If you are looking for some additional activities for your child please follow this link to BBC Bitesize.  Here you will find lots of different activities for a wide range of areas and extension tasks for Literacy and Numeracy.

It is a superb resource and is recommended for use by Education Scotland.

BBC Bitesize

Between Monday 18th January and Friday 29th January class teachers will complete one check-in phonecall with each child.

Children attending school during this time should come to the front entrance just  for 9am.  They should not be dropped at school before this as there is no supervision available in the morning.

Literacy

Imaginary Writing -David Walliams Group – Friday 15th January

Imaginary Writing -Roald Dahl Group – Friday 15th January

Imaginary Writing -Michael Morpurgo Group – Friday 15th January

Spelling Test Task Friday 15th January

Numeracy

Circles and Rectangles mental maths Friday 15th February

Numeracy task instructions Circles and Rectangles Friday 15th January

Square group Mental maths Friday 15th January 2021

IDL

IDL Friday 15th January

During this period of Remote Learning it is still good to have some sort of structure for your day.

This could be:

9.00-9.30 Daily Exercise (Cosmic Kids or Joe Wicks)

9.30-10.30 Literacy Activities

10.30-11.00 Snack and time playing outdoors

11.00-12.00 Maths Activities

12.00-1.00 Lunch and time playing outdoors

1.00-2.00 IDL/Health and Wellbeing

2.00-3.00 Out for a walk

Hello Primary 5,

Well done to all of you that have been able to access the activities for Monday and Tuesday.  It has been great to see your comments on Teams and to see the work that you have completed.  I can see that you have been trying so keep up the good work.

Your activities for Wednesday 13th January have been added to your Teams page but I have also added them below just incase you cannot acccess Teams.  If you are having difficulties please email me and I will see how I can help you.

Have a lovely day and remember to take some time to go outside and go for a walk or have a play.

Tasks for Wednesday

Literacy         Numeracy         IDL

Mrs McGowan

Literacy

For literacy today you have two tasks – one for spelling and one for reading.  Please try to complete both of these.

Literacy Tasks Wednesday 13th January

Numeracy Tasks

For Numeracy you have two activities to complete one is Mental Maths and one is a core maths task.  Please look for your group name and try to complete both activities.

Circles and Rectangles

Circles and Rectangles mental maths

Numeracy task instructions Circles and Rectangles

Squares

Square group Mental maths Wednesday 13th January 2021

Numeracy task instructions Square Group

IDL

Your final task for today is all about New Beginnings – This is an additional activity.  You can complete this is you have some extra time.

IDL Wednesday 13th January

Activities for Wednesday 13th January will be posted on class blogs as well as Teams.  From Thursday activities will be posted on Teams only.

A reminder that as of Wednesday 13th January all activities for children in P3-7 will only be accessible through Teams.

Please make sure that your child has logged in to Teams today and is able to access the resources.

Further guidance on how to do this can be found in our dedicated IT issues section.

If you require a password or have a different enquiry please  use the Contact Us form

Please click the link below for information regarding Mount Carmel’s guidance on Remote Learning.

Letter to parent/ carers – Remote Learning

If your child is due to start school in August 2021 we would be delighted for them to join our Mount Carmel family.

Due to the current situation registration will not take place at individual schools. Registration will be completed online between Monday 11th and Friday 15th January.

Please follow this link to complete Primary 1 registration.

To complete the online registration you will require to upload:

• a copy of your child’s birth certificate
• two proofs of your residency within the catchment area, for example, Council Tax Notice and utility bill.

You must register your child in only one school, either the denominational or non-denominational school for your catchment area. If you are unable to register online then please phone your local school who will assist you to register your child.

As you are aware Primary 3-7 from Wednesday 13th January will use the Glow app Teams to receive work on a daily basis.  We ask that all children access Glow and Teams on Monday/Tuesday.  When the are on Teams they should see their class Team.  All children should post a message to their teacher.

Please follow this link for a guide to using Teams.  Please be aware that this has not been produced by the school.  The first two minutes is the most helpful.

If you are unsure of this please use the IT issues area of the school website for support.

A dedicated support page has been created.  This is available on the main menu.

IT Issues – Guide page

Password Resets

To request a Glow password reset, please contact us using the ‘Contacting Team MC’ form on our website.

Logging Into Glow
Follow this link for details of how to login.

Accessing Teams through Glow

Microsoft-Teams-Guidance-for-Parents.docx.pdf.

Downloading Microsoft Teams Apps

Where possible, we encourage pupils to download the dedicated App for Microsoft Teams. We also encourage pupils to install Teams on their PC or Laptop if using one to access learning via Teams. Instructions can be found here (page 2 only):

Issue – Can’t open Email, Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. so can’t complete work issued

All pupils can download office for free and it will work on all devices. You can download Outlook, Word, PowerPoint etc to use on your phone, tablet, laptop or PC. For instructions click here:

Issue– Can’t access Microsoft Teams. 

To find Teams, pupils simply click on the Teams tile in Glow, and they should see any teams they are part of.  For specific and additional guidance, click here:

Issue – I am using a mobile phone, and when I sign in to Glow, I can’t see the tiles for Teams or Google Classrooms

We do not recommend that phones are used.  If this is your only form of accessing content please contact the school directly. If using this for a short time when you sign in, near the top you will see a grey box with ‘My Launch Pad’ and a small grey triangle. Click the triangle, and from the drop down menu, select ‘Mount Carmel Primary’. Once you move to the school launch pad you will see the Teams tile, click on a tile to access content.

Issue– I want to use my Xbox or Playstation to sign in to Glow

It is possible to use your console to access Glow. However, we do not recommend that you do so as some of the features within Glow do not work via Xbox or Playstation. Please contact the school directly if this is your only way of accessing content.

Hi Primary 5.

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas. I am really looking forward to working with you all again this year. I miss you all so much and wish we could be in class, but unfortunately we’ve got to keep each other safe and work online just now. Enjoy your weekend and I look forward to hearing from you all on Monday.

Love

Mrs McGowan

Please click the links below for the tasks for Monday and Tuesday, these can also be found in the Primary 5 Teams page.  Follow these instructions for how to access this.

Microsoft Teams Guidance for Parents.docx

Primary 5 Mrs McGowan

P5 Mental Maths

P5 Spelling

Children will continue to be dropped off at 9am and collected at 3pm via the main entrance.  This will continue until further notice.

Monday 11th January

Option 1 – Sausage sizzler, milk, biscuit, fruit

Option 2 – Baked Potato and cheese, milk, biscuit, fruit

Tuesday 12th January

Option 1 – Chicken goujons and wedges, water, yogurt

Option 2 – Tomato Pasta, water, yogurt

Wednesday 13th January

Option 1 – Steak Pie, milk and yogurt

Option 2 – Chicken fajitas, milk, yogurt

Thursday 14th January

Option 1- Fish and Chips, Jelly, milk

Option 2 – Cheese Panini, jelly, milk

Friday 15th January

Option 1 – Pizza and salad, water, cake

Option 2 – Stir fry noodles, water, cake

Children attending on Friday will be collected by staff from the main entrance at 9am.  Children will be dismissed from the main entrance at 3pm.

We have adapted our format for Home Learning.  For P1 and P2 work will be shared on the class blogs area of the website.  For P3-P7 children will be using the TEAMS tool as the main platform for receiving and sharing work.  The TEAMS tool is accessible through GLOW.  Please follow this link for guidance on accessing Teams Microsoft Teams Guidance for Parents.docx.  Children have received a copy of their GLOW email and password. If your child is unsure of this  please use the website query page.

On Monday 11^th and Tuesday 12^th January, activities will be accessible on class blogs for all children and added to the P3-P7 TEAMS pages.

On Monday and Tuesday there will be literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing tasks.  From Wednesday children will receive daily tasks in literacy and numeracy.  There will also be a further other curricular area (IDL) activity.  We request that literacy and numeracy tasks are completed daily, IDL tasks can be completed if time allows.  Completed work can be emailed directly to class teachers.

Primary 1 – Mrs Duff karen.duff@eastayrshire.org.uk

Primary 1/2 – Mrs Dunsmore alana.baird@eastayrshire.org.uk

Primary 3 – Mrs Strachan aisling.strachan@eastayrshire.org.uk

Primary 4 – Mrs Travers susan.travers@eastayrshire.org.uk

Primary 5 – Mrs McGowan angela.mcgowan@eastayrshire.org.uk

Primary 6 – Miss Mudge nicola.mudge@eastayrshire.org.uk

Primary 6/7 – Mr Bertoncini elio.bertoncini@eastayrshire.org.uk

We are currently awaiting further guidance from East Ayrshire Council and will be in touch with arrangements for subsequent weeks.

Mrs McConville

Head Teacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

On behalf of all the staff in Mount Carmel I would like to wish you and your family a Happy New Year.

Unfortunately we will not be welcoming all our children back as we would have wished. Circumstances require us to move to a period of home learning for most. I know that the previous period of lockdown was difficult for some families. We have taken on board your comments from our survey of September 2020 and had put plans in place based on these and the experiences of staff who were organising home learning.

Unlike the previous period of lockdown our school will remain open and children of key workers will attend Mount Carmel rather than a Hub. Our staff will work on a rota basis within the school to support these children and when not in school teachers will prepare home learning activities.

As we are able to be in school it will be easier for us to contact you and the children and to adapt to any changing circumstances.

Tomorrow we will give details of how home learning will be organised initially.

I know this is a difficult and worrying time for everyone. Please be assure we will support our children the best we can.

Mrs McConville

Head Teacher

🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
Today our children all had a fantastic Christmas Party day.  This was made extra special with a delivery of 30 Dominoes Pizzas. Thank you to a very kind parent who donated this for our fabulous day.

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕

If children wish to they can come to school on Friday in their pyjamas for some end of term fun in their class.

Today Santa took some time out of his day to make a special visit to the school. He walked around the school grounds, waving at the children and even had a chat with some of the children through the window.  Santa left a selection box for each of us to enjoy.

Thank you Santa, we love you!🎅

If your child wishes to send Christmas cards to school please put these in their homework folder on Thursday 3rd December or Thursday 10th December.  These will then be handed out on the Monday.

Thank you for your co-operation with this.