To the wonderful families of Mount Carmel Primary, thank you for all of the love and support you have shown me during my time with you.

It truly has been a joy and a privilege to work with  your amazing children. Team MC will forever be in my heart.

God bless and farewell.

Mrs McGahon

On World Children’s Day we celebrate children’s rights as it is the birthday of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This year, this human rights law for children became a part of the law in Scotland.

This morning P4, P5 and P7 took part in a special online assembly led by Nicola Killean, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner. During the assembly we learned about the link between climate change and children’s rights, heard from other children who have created climate campaigns in their local area and shared our views with children across Scotland.

We are feeling inspired!

#rightsrespectingschools #climatechange #cleangreenayrshire

As part of Catholic Education Week P5 explored the letter which Pope Francis has written to people all over the world telling them about the Jubilee Year of 2025.

The theme is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, and it will be a year of hope for a world suffering the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of COVID-19 pandemic, and a climate crisis.

After discussing the main messages of the letter P5 designed their own ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ logos!

Our special Pudsey Menu went down a treat at lunchtime, especially the popcorn! 🍿☺️ It has been lovely seeing everyone in their Children in Need outfits!
Remember you can still donate online following the link of Parent Pay 👍🏻

Unfortunately we are having major network issues this morning.  We have no access to the school email address and are not able to phone out.

Our main phone line – 01563 525897 – is accepting incoming calls at the moment.

We will keep you updated with the progress of this and thank you in advance for your understanding.

Team Mount Carmel were delighted to welcome back all of our pupils today and loved saying hello to our new P1s! We are looking forward to a wonderful year of learning and fun involving our whole school community 💙

#faith #kindness  #responsibility

As we enter into our final week of term Primary 7 are busily preparing for their Leavers’ Assembly.

This will take place on Thursday 27th June at 2.00pm.

Parents/carers of P7 pupils are invited to attend and may arrive at the main school entrance from 1.50pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

We could not be more proud of our incredible P6 and P7 ‘Disco Divas’ who performed at The Gaiety Theatre in Ayr tonight as part of Dance Fest 24. They gave their all and most importantly had fun! Well done girls!  🤩👏🏻 🪩💙

#expressivearts #mcpsvalues #letyourlightshine

Our P7s arrived safe and sound at Lockerbie yesterday evening and have already been very busy taking part in a range of activities!

Follow their daily updates on our school Twitter (X) page @eacMountCarmel

We have had a wonderful day celebrating the life of Robert Burns and Scots language. At our morning assembly we were entertained with amazing performances from every class and enjoyed singing The Jeely Piece Song and Auld Lang Syne as a whole school. Lunchtime brought lots of happy faces as we tucked into a menu of haggis, neeps and tatties, steak pie and some delicious shortbread! 

A huge thank you to all of the families who donated to our reverse advent calendar over the last few weeks. As a school community we were able to give Fr Jim an amazing number of parcels to take to the food bank. These will be distributed to those who need them most in time for Christmas.

#teammc #community #faithinaction

Our boys and girls in Fire House had a fun filled morning on Tuesday at Jungle Madness! The children enjoyed lots of play, delicious party food and a visit from a special guest! A huge thank you to Darren and his team for once again giving us a fantastic celebration.

Our wonderful P4-7 choir have been out and about spreading Christmas cheer in our local community. Last Friday they entertained residents and staff at Crossgate Care Home, and on Monday of this week they performed at Tesco. Well done everyone!

Welcome to the P3 curriculum overview for term 2. This will be a busy term with lots of new learning as well as  fun and exciting activities to prepare for Advent and Christmas.

Literacy

Our focus in term 1 was using our class novel to create descriptive writing by describing the main character, Horton, and using rhyming words and adjectives to describe what he hears and the things he sees. Through descriptive writing, we also have been using our topic about vertebrates and invertebrates when using descriptive bubbles. During term 2 we will now focus on narrative and report writing. As well as talking and listening games and activities such as Show and Tell.

P3 have been participating in reading and spelling activities and children have been working within groups to revisit previous sounds and texts, ready to use their skills and strategies to tackle new and unfamiliar spelling sounds and reading books.  Our writing focus is currently descriptive writing, and these written pieces will come from our class novel and topic of Vertebrates.

Numeracy

Our focus in numeracy has been place value, however, this is something we will regularly revisit with children consolidating previous learning on 2-digit numbers, initially to 99. Then the children moving to three-digit numbers beyond 100.  Children were and will continue to partition these numbers and confidently discuss this in terms of (H) hundreds, tens (T) and units (u), whilst building on their understanding of number and number patterns. In term 2 the focus will be using addition with two-digit numbers before moving to three-digit numbers. Word problems will also continue to be a focus to consolidate our strategies within this operation of number.  Children have been using their ‘Thinking it through’ jotters as the term progresses to develop problem solving skills, applying knowledge of number to new contexts and develop strategies for number problems.

Beyond number, children have been focusing on measurement and using different equipment to measure in cm and metres. Children have been estimating using rulers and metre sticks before measuring objects to see how close their predictions were. For term 2 the focus will be 2D and 3D shape identifying real life examples, comparing the properties of 2D and 3D objects, and creating their own 3D shapes.

Health & Wellbeing

All children have now had the opportunity to be Pupil of the Day and will start to be chosen for the second time in term 2. Our Pupil of the Day has been receiving lots of compliments.  We will continue to explore emotions, and how we recognise these emotions within ourselves and in others and learning how to control them.

In P.E, our sessions will continue to take place on a Tuesday and a Thursday and our focus in term 2 this time will be, Social Dance, Football and Gymnastics. In term 1 children were participating in hockey and badminton.  Children will use their transferrable skills when playing in a team.

Our focus during R.E sessions has been Mary in October, moving to Saints and Remembrance, the routines of the church and the celebration of Mass.  We will also spend some time reading and discussing bible stories relating to friendship and love, whilst considering how each of us are unique and have our own God given talents.

Topic

The children will be participating in activities in different areas of the curriculum including social studies and will be focusing on climates and weather around the world.  Children have been exploring and developing an understanding of living things as this was a focus on our topic Vertebrates topic where  children have been sorting and categorising living things into vertebrates and non-vertebrates.

We hope this is the start of a very fun filled successful term and that the children enjoy learning across the curriculum.

Take care,

Miss Grimley

We are delighted to introduce the newest member of our Mount Carmel family – Penelope Terras.

Huge congratulations to Mrs Terras, her husband and big sister Phoebe who welcomed Penelope on 19th October.

A reminder that lunch tomorrow will be served at 11.30am. Children can have lentil soup with either a ham, cheese or tuna sandwich.

Thank you.

What an incredible opening night of “The Wizard of Oz” ⭐️ Our cast were sensational and received rave views from their audience! We can’t wait to do it all again tomorrow!

#teammc #onthestage #shiningstars #achieving

Through our work with Mission to the Moon we have been learning about the many important reasons to walk to school and the difference it can make for individuals, communities and the planet!

Walk to School Week begins on Monday 15th of May and we would like to invite you to make an extra effort to walk to school if you can – remember this can include park and stride as well as coming to school on your bike or scooter.

Each day will have a different theme –

Monday – walk wearing odd socks.
Tuesday – walk singing your favourite songs.
Wednesday – walk wearing sunglasses.
Thursday – walk wearing something bright to be seen.
Friday – walk with crazy hair/special hair accessory.

Bonus S-Miles will be awarded for those who take part each day.

We hope you enjoy Walk to School Week!

We are delighted that we are now able to welcome parents/carers back in to school more regulary to support with a variety of  activities. If you would like to put yourself forward to be part of our Volunteer Bank List then please complete the below survey by Friday 28th April.

Please note that to become an in school volunteer you would be required to apply for and cover the costs for a PVG approval.

Survey link – https://forms.office.com/e/C3ACwB45GR

Thank you.

Please remember that for Wednesday’s trip to the Pantomime we ask that children only bring 1 small snack (small packet of sweets, crisps or 1 chocolate bar) and 1 small drink (bottle only, no fizzy juice). Thank you.

As of Monday 23rd August each class will have 1 indoor and 1 outdoor session of PE per week.  The PE days will be as follows –

P1 –  Tuesday and Thursday

P1/2 – Monday and Thursday

P2/3 – Monday and Thursday

P4 – Tuesday and Thursday

P5 – Monday and Friday

P6 – Wednesday and Friday

P7 –  Tuesday and Wednesday

We ask that on PE days children come to school wearing their school polo shirt and sweatshirt with plain tracksuit bottoms/leggings and trainers. They should also have a pair of gym shoes to change into for indoor sessions – these will be kept in school.

We can’t wait to welcome our new P1 pupils on their first day at school on Thursday.  Please find below details of drop off and collection times for the first few weeks.

Thursday 19th August

Drop off :  9.15am – 9,30am with time for ‘My First Day at School’ photographs

Collection: 2.30pm – 3.00pm

Friday 20th August

Drop off: 9.15am

Collection: 2.30pm – 3.00pm

Monday 23rd August – Friday 27th August 

Drop off: 9.00am (parents allowed in playground)

Collection: 3.00pm

Monday 30th August onwards

Drop off: 9.00am (parents to drop pupils off at infant playground gate)

Collection: 3.00pm

An email with all of this information has been sent to all P1 parent/carers today.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

From August there will be some changes to the entrance gates and lining up areas for each class.

P1, P1/2 and P2/3 should enter the school grounds from the side Infant Gate.

P4 – 7 should enter the school grounds from the Main Gate.

Please look at the map below to see where your child’s class should line up at 9.00am each morning. This is also the door from which they will be dismissed at 3.00pm.

We ask that no parents/carers are in the playground for morning drop off. New P1 parents/carers only will be in the playground for the first full week (23rd – 27th August).

At afternoon pick up parents/carers are asked to wait in the playground area closest to their child’s access door. Please remember to wear face coverings and socially distance from other families at these times.

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support.

#togetherweareteamMC 💙

Thank you to everyone who has donated to our Uniform Exchange.  We now have a wide range of items in various sizes available for families. These can be collected from outside our main school office until 12.00pm on Friday.

Please remember that when accessing the Uniform Exchange adults should wear face coverings and maintain social distancing from other families. Hand sanitiser will also be available.

Thank you.

A special end of year gift from Mrs Dunsmore is available for collection from outside the main school office. Many of the gifts have already been passed on to siblings within the school. If you have still to receive your gift please collect it by 12.00pm on Friday.

Please remember when collecting the bags adults should wear face coverings and maintain social distancing from other families.

Thank you.

The gift bags for our new P1 pupils are all ready and waiting to be collected from outside the main school office.  Each bag is individually labelled with your child’s name and will be available until 12.00pm on Friday.

Please remember when collecting the bags adults should wear face coverings and maintain social distancing from other families.

Thank you.

Primary 1 had a wonderful day at Dean Park! We went on a nature trail, played games in front of the castle, visited the animals and had lots of fun at the park!

Primary 1 have been learning all about the Muslim festival of Eid and today we finished our mini-topic by having our very own Eid party!

Dressed in our finest clothes, we decorated the party table with our personal Mendhi designs, danced with our Moon and Star wands, made special Eid cards for our friends and even had some tasty treats. Have a look at all of the fun we had!