We were so excited to kick off our SCIAF FUN DAY with a visit from STRYDER.

Stryder helps us to walk to school as much as we can as it helps us to keep fit and helps our environment too!!

We would like to congratulate our wonderful children in making their sacrament of Reconciliation. They were absolutely wonderful and we agree with Father Jim that they behaved like angels.

Well done everyone

We are delighted to announce that we will have a very special visitor in our playground tomorrow morning. Stryder will be in school before 9 o’clock to welcome the children in before the day begins, Make sure to give them a big wave if you see them!

Our wonderful P6 class were invited along to East Ayrshire’s STEM event at St Joseph’s Academy this week. There, they met the other P6 children from our Education group and began forming friendships which marks the beginning of their transition to the high school. The activities ranged from a virtual tour of a submarine from the Royal Navy, to programming and coding robots. Everyone had great fun!! We definitely have some future engineers at Mount Carmel.

Our next wider achievement assembly will take place on Friday the 28th March. As a school, we love to hear about all of the wonderful achievements our children are celebrating. Whether it is a swimming certificate, participation in a dance show or learning to ride their bike without stabilisers, we want to celebrate these achievements! 

Please send any photographs with a short sentence on what has been achieved to Mrs McCreadie  on eaMountCarmel.PS@eastayrshire.org.uk

Thank you!

Primary 6 – Term 3

Hi everyone. We hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. Primary 6 have welcomed Mrs Terras into their routine with no problems and we are very proud of how they have adapted to the changes so far. There is lots to get through in the term ahead but this is a challenge that we know Primary 6 will flourish in. Here is an update of what is coming up in the term ahead.

UNCRC

As part of our UNCRC (United Nations Convention for the Right of the Child), the class took part in activities for Human rights day in which we looked at rights across the world with a particular focus on the rights of the child. The children then took part in a competition with which they were asked to design a logo for their favourite article that we had looked at. There will be a winner from each class and these will be announced in the new term. As always, we will continue to work on the class’ understanding of what their rights are as well as their responsibilities that coincide with these rights.

IDL

Mrs Terras will teach our interdisciplinary topic of Scottish myths and legends. During this topic, the children will take on a research task to find out about some famous Scottish myths such as the Loch Ness Monster. They will also look into the famous Scottish Kelpies and investigate the structure of these magical sculptures.

Science

Towards the end of the term the children will explore renewable energy with Mrs McCreadie. Within this learning, the class will look at what renewable energy is and how Scotland benefits from this form of energy.

Literacy

Reading – Along with Mrs Terras, the class will be learning all about Scots language. There will be a particular focus on poetry within this teaching. They will also be learning about non- fiction reading skills which will focus on note taking, mind mapping and scanning to highlight key words and phrases.

Talking and Listening – This will also be taught through Scot’s language with the children also developing their presentation skills as part of this learning.

Spelling – The children will continue to develop their spelling skills which will take place across the week with both of their teachers. We will continue to work on our active spelling techniques and this will feed through into our homework.

Writing – The writing for this term will be taught by Mrs McCreadie. The genres that will be the focus for learning is persuasive and discursive writing. Within this, the class will continue to develop their tools for writing skills with a focus on using complex punctuation as well as enhancing vocabulary through the use of dictionaries and a thesaurus.

Numeracy

We will continue with the use of number talks which helps to encourage different learners to use and understand different strategies. The children show an excellent understanding of the strategies taught so far and are always eager to share their understanding with their peers.

Mrs McCreadie will concentrate on the teaching of beyond number topics this term. The first concept to be taught for this will be time. This will look at both analogue and digital times. We will then move on to look at data handling.

Mrs Terras will concentrate on the core number processes and will concentrate on multiplication and division this term.

Health and Wellbeing

Our P.E. days will change to a Tuesday and a Thursday this term. This allows the children to have a P.E. slot with both teachers. The focus for P.E. this term will be netball, gymnastics and fitness.

Primary 6 already participate in mindfulness every day, this is something that the entire class benefit from and have been doing this since the beginning of Primary 4.

Our PATHS programme will continue to help the children to develop positive relationships within the class and school.  Delving into the emotions that the children feel will help them to understand why they are feeling this way as well as giving them the tools to cope with these emotions. The children are also participating in the PATHS buddy scheme that helps support the infants in ‘how to play’ during lunchtimes.

Our core health and wellbeing teaching will focus on body hygiene and image. We will also be looking at what abuse is and some of the types of abuse that people experience at the hands of others.

R.E.

Core learning this term will focus predominantly on the work of the disciples and their importance in the bible. As the term progresses, we will begin to look at Lent and how we can celebrate this both in school and at home.

The class will also begin their Pope Francis Faith Award journey with Mrs Terras this term. This will span the remainder of their Mount Carmel journey with some of the award being completed this year and then some in Primary 7. The Pope Francis Faith Award is an award of the Bishops’ conference of Scotland, designed to help children show “signs of love” in their daily lives.

ICT

The children demonstrate an excellent understanding of how to use the new chrome books we have in school and as a result have also learned how to use Microsoft online. The next steps for the children will be to learn how to use TEAMS in preparation for P7. It is our intention to send homework through TEAMS in term 4 as this is how homework could be allocated in P7.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. The children have accepted the changes to their class structure and are managing this well. This term will be a busy one and as always, if you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Take care,

Mrs McCreadie and Mrs Terras

Hi everyone.

I hope you have had a lovely break during Christmas and New Year!!

This is a gentle reminder to please send in any photos of achievements that your child has accomplished outside of school. We will celebrate these  during our wider achievements assembly on the 17th January.  It can be anything from dancing awards to riding their bike without stabilisers. We can’t wait to hear from you and thank you!

Mrs McCreadie

Primary 6 took part in the Day of Dance which saw schools from all over East Ayrshire showcasing their talents. It was a wonderful day and the children represented the school beautifully. A great big well done to each and every one of them!

Primary 6 – Term 2

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a lovely October break. Primary 6 have worked extremely hard last term with lots of excellent learning taking place. They have settled well into their new classroom and routines. I am very proud of how they have adapted to the changes and embraced the responsibilities that they have inherited this year. Here is an update of what is coming in the term ahead.

UNCRC

This is a new part to our updates and is the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child. We have looked at this convention as a class and chosen articles from it that we wanted to focus on as a class. We decided on the following: Article 19 – ‘We have the right to be safe’, Article 28 – ‘We have the right to learn’, Article 29 – ‘we have the right to work and play in a clean environment’ and Article 31 – ‘we have the right to play.’ The class understands that with these rights come responsibilities. For example, if they have the article ‘we have the right to be safe’, the children know that they have a responsibility to try their very best to keep themselves safe also and avoid unsafe situations. We will be learning about this through our assemblies and community times.

IDL

Our interdisciplinary topic of Tornadoes, Hurricanes and Wildfires will continue into term 2 as we only briefly started it last term. During this topic, children will learn about the responses that are available by the emergency services, charities and international agencies during natural disasters. The class will also develop an awareness of the processes that actually causes natural disasters. There will be opportunities for learning through social sciences, literacy, expressive arts, health and well-being and technologies during this topic. The children will also be encouraged to complete an independent research task on a famous natural disaster that interests them.

Literacy

The class are loving reading our class novel, ‘Wonder’ by R.J Palacio. They have been completing tasks relating to the text and I am really impressed with their understanding of the text as well as their ability to analyse it. We will continue to complete tasks relating to this novel right up until the end of this term. In terms of bug club reading, this will continue to be completed at home for homework and in class as personal reading time.

Our writing genre for the term ahead is report writing and this will link into our IDL topic of tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires.  The class will be working on writing their piece, editing it and re-drafting it, focussing on layout in order to engage their reader. They will also look at headlines, sub titles and access all the success criteria that makes for an excellent report. This is when the children will access ICT in order to type their re draft piece of writing. The class will be encouraged to improve their writing through feedback received. In terms of the tools for writing, the children will continue to look at more sophisticated punctuation such as apostrophes, colons and semi-colons. I hope you will enjoy reading some of their spooky stories at our pupil progress meetings! They were absolutely wonderful!!

In terms of our listening and talking element of literacy, the children continue to contribute to discussions in relation to the class novel. They will also be encouraged to share their learning through a short independent research task which links into our topic.

As always, the class will complete handwriting every week within class and we would ask that this is promoted at home in terms of homework also.

Numeracy

The use of number talks to encourage different learners to use and understand different strategies will continue this year. The children show an excellent understanding of the strategies taught so far and are always eager to share their understanding with their peers. Alongside Mrs Terras, the children will also be looking at 2D and 3D shape as well as measure.

Our core learning through number processes will concentrate predominantly on addition and subtraction this term. We are still also going to be learning about money with a particular focus on budget and money management.

Health and Wellbeing

Our P.E. days are a Wednesday and a Friday. We are currently learning 8 different Scottish dance routines as we prepare to showcase this alongside other schools for East Ayrshire’s day of dance I November. I can honestly say, I am extremely impressed with the children’s attitudes and maturity when learning these dances. Our other topic within P.E will be football and the skills that are required for this. Alongside our football P.E. lessons, we will be taking a look at the ‘show racism the red card’ commitment made by the SPL.

Primary 6 already participate in mindfulness every day, this is something that the entire class benefit from and have been doing this since the beginning of Primary 4.

Our PATHS programme will help the children to develop positive relationships within the class and school.  Delving into the emotions that the children feel will help them to understand why they are feeling this way as well as giving them the tools to cope with these emotions. The children are also participating in the PATHS buddy scheme that helps support the infants in ‘how to play’ during lunchtimes.

Our core health and wellbeing teaching will focus on substance misuse and what affects these substances have on our bodies. Linked with our P.E. once again, we will look at how we accept people who are different from us individually, whether that is in colour, religion, culture, or even interests and link this to our R.E, and schools values.

R.E.

In learning about our faith, the month of November focuses predominantly on All Souls and All Saints days. There will be specific focusses on different saints as we move towards Advent and prepare for Christmas.

The class will also begin their Pope Francis Faith Award journey. This will span the remainder of their Mount Carmel journey with some of the award being completed this year and then some in Primary 7. The Pope Francis Faith Award is an award of the Bishops’ conference of Scotland, designed to help children show “signs of love” in their daily lives.

Expressive arts

This term, the class will be focussing on art through our IDL. We will look at blending colours and tones using different materials such as oil pastels and pencils. Mrs Terras will continue to teach music throughout this term. The children have enjoyed learning how to play musical instruments and this will be a focus moving forward into term 2.

ICT

The children have an excellent knowledge of how to use the computers and glow. They will continue to develop their understanding of how to research certain topics and how to transfer the information from what they have learned to a document that can be saved and retrieved at a later date. The children will also continue to practise emailing myself and their classmates (whilst using their emails responsibly and appropriately). This is the same as last term as we still need practise at completing these tasks. This will gradually become more difficult when we use attachments, hyperlinks and copy and pasting URL addresses for quick access to sites. The children will be using their knowledge of ICT to research natural disasters and will also use ICT to help present their findings to the class.

Modern Languages

This term will focus on learning how to describe objects using their colour and size in French. As the term develops, we will begin to learn about the French names for different animals.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. This term will be a busy one and I look forward to seeing everyone again at our Pupil Progress meetings. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate in contacting me.

Take care,

Mrs McCreadie

Primary 6 – Term 1

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a lovely summer break. The boys and girls are settling really well into Primary 6 and have already embraced the responsibilities that come with Primary 6. The first term is always a busy term; however the class have already started working hard and are very eager to learn.

UNCRC

This is a new part to our updates and is the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child. We have looked at this convention as a class and chosen articles from it that we wanted to focus on as a class. We decided on the following: Article 19 – ‘We have the right to be safe’, Article 28 – ‘We have the right to learn’, Article 29 – ‘we have the right to work and play in a clean environment’ and Article 31 – ‘we have the right to play.’ The class understands that with these right =s come responsibilities. For example, if they have the article ‘we have the right to be safe’, the children know that they have a responsibility to try their very best to keep themselves safe also and avoid unsafe situations. We will be learning about this through our assemblies and community times.

IDL

Our interdisciplinary topic this term is Tornadoes, Hurricanes and Wildfires. We will start this later on in the term where the children will learn about the responses that are available by the emergency services, charities and international agencies during natural disasters. The class will also develop an awareness of the processes that actually causes natural disasters.

Literacy

The class have already started reading our class novel, ‘Wonder’ by R.J Palacio. They have been completing tasks relating to the text and I am already impressed with their comprehension skills. This class novel will allow learning to take place across the curriculum and there will be lots of opportunity for discussion. Within reading this term, we will be looking at the main purpose of a text as well as the different genres of books as well as encouraging the children to explain and justify their preferences of reading in terms of authors and genres. We have an extensive class library that the children can access for personal choice and enjoyment, as well as our school library which we will also be visiting. The children will continue with bug club and this will have a learning focus of metalinguistics and visualisation. The children will develop their understanding of what they are reading and I am hopeful of your support at homework time to complete their reading online. All children will be encouraged to read their texts with expression and fluency.

Our writing genres for the term ahead are descriptive writing and narrative writing. The class will be working on writing their piece, editing it and re-drafting it, focussing on layout in order to engage their reader. This is when the children will access ICT in order to type their re draft piece of writing. The class will be encouraged to improve their writing through feedback received. In terms of the tools for writing, the children will be looking at more sophisticated punctuation such as apostrophes, colons and semi-colons.

In terms of our listening and talking element of literacy, the children will be focussing on group work and taking on differing roles and responsibilities. In this situation, the children must use their listening toolkits and show respect to each member of the group when they have something to contribute.

The class will complete handwriting every week within class and we would ask that this is promoted at home in terms of homework also.

Numeracy

The entire class will continue to work on their times tables throughout the year.  We have already began working on our understanding of place value and what value each digit holds within the columns. Depending on what group the children are in for their numeracy, they will be working on place value using units, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousand and millions.

Alongside Mrs Terras, the children will also be looking at rounding to the nearest ten, hundred and thousand. This will enable the children to develop their skill of estimating so they can then find approximate answers to calculations and problems.

Our whole school will concentrate on number talks throughout the year. These lessons encourage children to solve calculations using different strategies. This allows children to have ownership of their own learning by using the strategies that suit their learning style best.

In terms of beyond number, the class will be learning about money this term. Within this, we will look at retailers and how they use advertising to increase their best buys. APR and credit cards will also be covered alongside budgeting and how we can budget responsibly.

Health and Wellbeing

Our P.E. days are a Wednesday and a Friday. We are currently learning about badminton and are developing our ability to serve the shuttlecock properly and engage in a continuous game. After this topic, we will hopefully be moving onto to hockey and the skills involved with this.

Primary 6 already participate in mindfulness every day, this is something that the entire class benefit from and have been doing this since the beginning of Primary 4.

Our PATHS programme will help the children to develop positive relationships within the class and school.  Delving into the emotions that the children feel will help them to understand why they are feeling this way as well as giving them the tools to cope with these emotions. The children are also participating in the PATHS buddy scheme that helps support the infants in ‘how to play’ during lunchtimes.

Our core health and wellbeing teaching will focus on recognising healthy relationships and the roles of our parents and care givers. As we all know, every family is unique in how it is made up and we will explore what this means.

R.E.

Our class were given the responsibility of leading the first mass of the new school year and they were brilliant. Each and every one of them represented themselves and their school marvellously. We will learn about Jesus and the teachings of the bible as they year progresses looking at our own relationships with God as well as our relationships with our faith in general.

Expressive arts

This term, the class will be focussing on art through drawing. We will look at proportional faces using lines, tones and shades. We will also have a focus on painting creating effects and texture such as sand, salt and wax. The use of colour will be taught through still life painting and the colours used will help to express mood. Our music this term will be focussing on singing. This will be completed through our hymn practises and drama will be explored later in the year.

ICT

The children have an excellent knowledge of how to use the computers and glow. They will continue to develop their understanding of how to research certain topics and how to transfer the information from what they have learned to a document that can be saved and retrieved at a later date. The children will also continue to practise emailing myself and their classmates (whilst using their emails responsibly and appropriately).

French

This term will focus on learning the names of colours in French. We will also be learning about a French artist Claude Monet and his works.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support so far this term as well as last year, and look forward to everything that is to come. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate in contacting me.

Take care,

Mrs McCreadie

A gentle reminder that all children will be attending our final mass of the school year this morning at 11.30am. Then in the afternoon, we celebrate our Primary 7 leavers assembly as they prepare to move onto their new high schools. We wish them the very best of luck

As the end of term is fast approaching, the school would like to say a great big thank you to our parents and friends of Mount Carmel for organising this years fun day.

The children will take part in  day full of great activities including bouncy castles, obstacles courses and a visit to the ice cream van.

They will also be taking part in outdoor play session. The children are invited to bring in bikes and scooters for this activity (they also must bring a helmet for health and safety reasons)

And finally, the children are encouraged to wear their own clothes tomorrow. We ask that no child comes into school wearing football colours of any description. The children should wear comfortable clothes and shoes for all of the fun and active activities they will be taking part in.

As always, we thank you for your ongoing support.

All sponsor money should be brought into school tomorrow morning.

The children will enjoy a day of celebrating everything Father Martin loved from coming together as a school to singing and dancing.

The chidren are encouraged to wear clothes that represent the colours of Ecuador (yellow, blue and red), a place very loved by Father Martin. If your child down not own clothes with these colours, please do not worry. It is simply a non uniform day then.

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow and let’s raise some money for our dear friend

The upper school enjoyed an afternoon of celebrations as a reward for all of their hard work during the rehearsals and performances of Matilda

The staff and children would like to say a great big thank you to Beth for all of her hard work during rehearsals. She gave up her own free time to come along and help us choreograph the dances for our show. Take a Bow are very lucky to have such a talented girl on their staff