Our P2 &  P5-7 classes participated in a live lesson and workshop as part of ‘Climate Action Week’. Our Eco Committee have been working hard already this year, and in our classes, we were keen to learn  more about climate change.

The live lesson was lead by Nicola Davidson (KSB), who explained how the effect of our lifestyles through the ages has lead to climate changes and how an American Scientist, Eunice Newton- Foote, discovered  the ‘Greenhouse gas effect’ in the 1950s, showing our planet was ‘heating up’ due to increased CO2. This was officially recognised by governments globally in the 1980s and now we are seriously trying to make positive changes to combat this through world climate conferences such as the upcoming, COP30, in Brazil.  In Primary 2,  Miss Livingston’s class were treated to a puppet show.

Here are some photos of our workshop and live lesson…

Last week,  we celebrated World Environment Day and took part in a nationwide call along with other Eco Schools to discuss action on tackling our plastic waste problem.

Thank you to our lovely Miss Dorby in P5 for organising  a link to this for P4-7. Each class had the opportunity to learn about the current issues our environment faces and discuss/ share ideas with each other on how to solve this collectively.  We got a couple of ‘shout outs’ online as a school which was fabulous. Well done to all involved. Our Mount Carmel Eco Committee have now got some great ideas for next year. Here are some photos of our contributions…

#WorldEnvironmentDay2025

Please note changes in bulletin…

A rehearsal practise will take place after 11:30am mass now on Sunday 15th June for the pupils making their First Communion the following weekend at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church (OLMC).

Sunday 22nd June –  Celebration of First Communion – (Please note children to arrive at the Sacristy by 11:15am.)  Mass begins at 11:30am. Please ensure to arrive in plenty of time, allowing for parking and seating.

A reminder for any P4 making their Sacrament of First Holy Communion that there will be a retreat this Sunday, in case you  missed it this week in the bulletin. Details Below…

Retreat Day tomorrow at St Matthew’s (Sat 17th May 10am mass then retreat until 2pm, followed by a short parents meeting. Please bring a packed lunch.

First Communion Rehearsal on Sunday 15th June, after 11:30am mass. Please bring along your ‘I Belong’ book.

This week is our Walk to School Week, please see below for details….

Walk to School Week

19^th – 23^rd May 2025

Monday	Wear a hat or sunglasses
Tuesday	Happy Shoesday!
Wednesday	Wear bright clothes or accessories
Thursday	Wear odd socks
Friday	Crazy hair Day!!!

Our Eco Committee would like to share that next week is…..

Walk to School Week

19^th – 23^rd May 2025

Please join in with us next week and have some fun whilst choosing an active healthy option whilst helping our environment!

Monday	Wear a hat or sunglasses
Tuesday	Happy Shoesday!
Wednesday	Wear bright clothes or accessories
Thursday	Wear odd socks
Friday	Crazy hair Day!!!

Welcome back to term 4! I hope you have had a restful time over the Easter break. I am looking forward to a wonderful new term involving lots of new learning, more fun, trips, school shows and many more new experiences for our fantastic P4 class.

Literacy

For our reading focus this term, we will focus on our Class novel ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ linking in to our recent Fairtrade Topic.  We will continue building expression and fluency when reading aloud to others, as well as,  developing our comprehension through enhancing our inferential skills. We will continue to work on different comprehension strategies we have learned, develop our questioning skills and how we can use the text to help us with this. Please ensure your child accesses their Bug Club weekly for homework to support their reading or accesses personal reading material to forge these skills.

In writing this last term, we will look at Persuasive writing, focusing on our use of persuasive language and how to style and structure this piece of writing to enable us to convince others. As well as this, we will briefly cover Procedural writing  which is Instructional e.g. a recipe, How to…). Lastly, we will continue to develop our descriptive language in our writing in relation to our class novel and topic, and start to incorporate the use of ICT for re-drafting some of our pieces of writing.

Spelling will take the form of active spelling activities and the children will experience phonemes and blends at their working level.

French This term along with developing our basic conversational vocabulary, we will look at ‘Sports’, ‘Our home’ and ‘Famous French People and Landmarks’.

Numeracy & Maths

The Class will continue our interactive mental maths input each day and  number talks. This term, we will continue to build on our work with the four operations, in particular, how Fractions are related to Division. We will look at the meaning of the numerator and denominator and will be able to order, compare and look at equivalent fractions within our working groups and developing our division strategies.

In Beyond Number, Miss Campbell will complete our Money focus with P4 in April. In May, we will focus on Measure looking at length, mass and area. Pupils will learn to recognise estimates of length, height, mass and capacity, as well as record measurements accurately and convert between appropriate units e.g. m, cm, mm or litres. In June, pupils will then move on to look at Information Handling where children will explore collecting, analysing and recording information. They will present their finding in a graph.

Health and Wellbeing

We will continue with our PATHs programme, looking at problem solving and the idea of fair/unfair and accident and on purpose. We will continue with our Pupil of the Day, so keep a look out for your children coming home with their compliment sheet!

The class are also engaging in a mindful activity each day. Through our Do Be Mindful programme and other class activities, we are learning about building and developing life enhancing skills, tools and habits that will foster emotional and mental wellbeing.

PE

PE is on a Wednesday and Friday. This term we will be covering:

Tennis /Badminton racquet skills       Athletics

Football Input (Kilmarnock FC)        Outdoor Team Games

PE kit must be brought in and left at the start of each term. Before the holiday, the kit was sent home for washing to be freshened up and should now be returned for the current term. Lessons will be outdoors if weather permits, so remember to pack extra water and sunscreen if Sunny this term.  No jewellery please on PE days.

IDL – Social Studies & Science (Apr/May)

P4 will be complete our Fairtrade topic this term looking at Food production. We will complete a comparison study between food production in Scotland and in another country.

We are very excited to visit the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine this term as a class, to build our STEM skills and take part in some workshops linking to previous learning and topics such as boat building (Vikings) as we explore our Scottish history and engineering past. We are really excited for this visit and it will be a lovely ending to our recent P4 topic.

IDL / Expressive Arts (Apr –June)

Our exciting main focus and topic for term 4 will be our forthcoming summer school show – ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’. We will link themes and our learning across all subjects in the curriculum to our show.

Religious Education

This term we will mainly be focusing on the importance of the Eucharist, linking to the Last Supper. We are all very excited to support our P4 children who will prepare for and celebrate their First Holy Communion later in our term, on Sunday 22^nd June.

During May, we will focus on ‘Our Lady’ and learn about the Rosary to become familiar with this beautiful prayer.  In addition, as we approach the end of May, we will also look at the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost in June. As a school, we will continue to attend Mass this term.

As part of our God’s Loving Plan focus, Primary 4 will reflect on the story of creation and friendships. As the children develop their understanding of hygiene and the human body, they will learn that their bodies are a gift from God which must be respected and cared for. We will also be exploring the negative results of substances such as tobacco, drugs and alcohol. Pupils will discuss how to stay safe and be cyberaware.

 RRS/UNCRC

This term as we continue our RRS journey, we will focus on the following Articles as a Rights Respecting School through…

• May – Mental Health Awareness Week – Article 24
• June – World Day Against Child Labour (12th June) Articles 32 and 35
• June – World Refugee Day (20th June) – Articles 10 and 22

Homework will be distributed on a Monday to be completed, signed and returned by Friday. Keep an eye on the class blog for regular updates to what is happening in class, recent learning and relevant upcoming events.

Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to an exciting and wonderful last term together with P4!

Mrs McIntyre.

Here are some pictures of P4 enjoying our ‘Crazy hair and Odd Sock’ Day’.  Some of our class even managed to incorporate their class topic ‘Fairtrade’ into the day.

What a talented P4 and her mum,  these look delicious….

Can you spot the owner of the odd socks?

P4 have enjoyed getting outside more as the weather starts to brighten up. We planned for a ‘Bike and Scooter’ Rainbow Reward time and even though it rained earlier on, that did not dampen our spirits. A  pogo stick even made an appearance. Here are some fun pictures we took below.

P4 enjoyed their visit from Bishop Frank Dougan  last Thursday.    We were able to ask Bishop Frank lots of questions about being a Bishop and what it involves.

We spoke about the Sacrament of Confirmation and afterwards  we were excited to see some of the special clothing a Bishop  wears.     P4 pupils were able to try on the ceremonial hats such as a miter and our particular class favourite –  The bishop’s zucchetto, which is a  purple skullcap. We also looked at the pontifical ring which we learned is always worn on the Bishop’s right hand, as well as his cross and Bishop’s crosier (symbolically shaped like a shepherd’s staff).

Click here to see photos from Bishop Dougan’s visit

On the last day before the holidays, we participated as a whole school in ‘Zero Power Day’ in support of our Mount Carmel Eco Committee. Click on the SWAY below to see what we got up to when we powered off to sav …

Let’s Go Zero Day – 7th February

Go to this Sway

A quick reminder for parents that this Saturday our Sacrament children will have a special mass and retreat day held at St Joseph’s Church & Hall. There will be a short meeting  for parents afterwards.

Details Below..

Children’ s Retreat day– Saturday 1st February

10am Mass – Finish at 2pm at St Joseph’s Church & Hall

*Children should also bring a packed lunch with them*

There is no charge involved.

Parent’s meeting – Saturday 1st February (At end of Retreat Day)

Parents of Children making their sacraments are invited to a short meeting afterwards from 2pm – 2:30pm also at St Joseph’s Church & Hall.

Other important dates to note :

*Rite of Enrolment – Sunday 16th February*

11:30am Mass at OLMC Church

**Rite of Confirmation – Sunday 23rd February** -11:30am Mass

Bishop Frank Dougan will preside.

Important March News

Before making their Sacrament of First Holy Communion at the end of June, the P4 sacrament children will need to attend the Rite of Reconciliation and make their confession again and alongside the P4s on Wed 19th March at OLMC  (7-8pm).

Any parent who requires a registration form these are available from Fr Jim or  contact the school office please.

This is just a quick reminder of some important dates  in the next few weeks for our pupils who will be making their Sacrament of Confirmation at the end of next month.

Session 3 – Sunday 26th January

11:30am Mass – Finish at 1:30pm at OLMC Church

(‘I Belong’ book – Chapters 5 & 6 after Mass)

Children’ s Retreat day– Saturday 1st February

10am Mass – Finish at 2pm at St Joseph’s Church & Hall

*Children should also bring a packed lunch with them*

There is no charge involved.

Parent’s meeting – Saturday 1st February (At end of Retreat Day)

Parents of Children making their sacraments are invited to a short meeting afterwards from 2pm – 2:30pm also at St Joseph’s Church & Hall.

*Rite of Enrolment – Sunday 16th February*

11:30am Mass at OLMC Church

**Rite of Confirmation – Sunday 23rd February** -11:30am Mass

Bishop Frank Dougan will preside

Any parent who requires a registration form these are available from Fr Jim or  contact the school office please.

Hello and welcome back to term 3 in P4! We hope you have enjoyed the festive period. We are looking forward to a New Year and another busy term ahead and lots of amazing learning in our P4 class. 

Literacy 

For our reading focus this term, we will continue to focus on building fluency and accuracy when reading aloud. We will also continue using our comprehension strategies to support our understanding of different texts through our mini Scottish topic as well as weekly with our Bug Club readers. This term we are focussing on inference. 

In writing, we will focus on poetry and report writing, with relevance to our Scottish topic about Loch Ness which we will cover during the month of January, exploring Scots language, and some well-known Scots poems. Pupils create their own poetry and tales from Scots inspired myths and folklore. 

Children will continue accessing active spelling activities where they will work individually and in groups using their skills and strategies to tackle new and unfamiliar spelling phonemes. There will be opportunities for presentations at assembly and mass to incorporate our listening and talking targets. 

Numeracy & Maths. 

This term we will look at strategies for solving multiplication and division problems. We will continue with our number talk and mental maths activities daily to further develop our use of mathematical language and confidence in solving a range of problems. Focus on revision of times tables regularly at home would be encouraged to support your child’s learning in class as they build strategies in their numeracy work. In Beyond Number, we will be looking in January/February at ‘Money’ and identifying the value of notes/coins up to £20 and using them in addition and subtraction to calculate overall cost or exact change up to £10. In March until Easter we will finish with a ‘Data Handling’ topic where we will collate information, organise it, present it and finally analyse the data we have. 

Health and Wellbeing 

We will continue with our PATHs programme, with our Pupil of the Day, where your child will have the chance to have compliments within the class and have the opportunity to take home their compliment sheet! There will also be a focus on relationships; how we develop and grow our friendships and the importance of a good manners and having a sense of responsibility. 

We will also link our Health and Well-being with our topic work, looking at the functions of our human body and how we can keep ourselves healthy by making better choices to our lifestyle.  

PE 

PE is on a Tuesday and Friday.  This term we will be covering team games, basketball and Fitness. Please make sure your child has a full PE kit with them (includes suitable indoor shoes), this can remain on their peg within school.  Thank you for making sure that no jewellery is worn on PE days.   

Expressive Arts 

P4 will continue to develop their artistic skills focusing on our class novel, where we will link this to Loch Ness focusing on colour, tone, line drawings and using varied materials. There will also be opportunities to look at inspirational famous ‘Local artists’. 

In Music, P4 will have the opportunity this term to take part in a local music project called ‘I’ve got Rhythm’ with a visiting specialist, Mrs Leibold, who will support this programme within our class/school on Tuesdays. We look forward to fabulous results from our budding musicians, especially after hearing our wonderful P4 choir. 

French 

In French we will look at using everyday language in different conversational situations e.g., buying food, ordering in a café, school life (subjects/classroom objects) and finally sports and hobbies. We will also learn topic specific vocabulary nearing Easter and French prayers during Lent. 

IDL 

Our topics this term will include a mini-Scottish focus in January. In February and March, we will then look at ‘Fairtrade and Food Production’ as our topic focus with links to Science (food chains / food webs).  

 Religious Education 

This term we will looking at some of the political, historical, social and religious elements of first century Palestine to help us gain an understanding of Jesus’ life on earth. As we journey towards Lent, we will reflect on the signs and symbols of the season and relate these to our own personal journey. In preparation for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation in February, we will be looking at the meaning of the sacrament and learn more about the role and gifts of the Holy Spirit within our lives. 

For the children who will be celebrating the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion, the workbooks will be completed in class. Home sessions can be completed and discussed with your child alongside their ‘I Belong’ book completed at Church Sacrament sessions. Please have a look at this regularly with your child at home and discuss this with them as they prepare for an important step in their faith journey.  

Homework will be distributed on a Monday to be completed, signed and returned by Friday.  

Keep an eye on the class blog for regular updates to what is happening in class, recent learning and relevant upcoming events. 

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to another fabulous term inP4! 

Mrs McIntyre and Miss Grimley. 

We hope you enjoyed seeing the photos of us out in the community and look forward to sharing more of our activities in the next few weeks.

Welcome back! What a great first term Primary 4 have had; the children have settled well into their new class and routine and are making good progress. We are looking forward to another fun filled term with lots of fabulous learning taking place.

Here is an update on the upcoming term.

Literacy

For our reading focus, we will continue to build on the use of our reading comprehension skills, such as prediction, visualisation, metalinguistic and summarising. The children will engage with a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts which include their Bug Club readers and our class novel, ‘There’s a Viking in My Bed’ which is linked to our Viking Voyagers topic.

During writing, we will continue to build on the skills developed during our descriptive block and we will now focus on narrative writing. The children will explore the features of narrative writing and will create their own narrative pieces.

Spelling will take the form of active spelling activities, and the children will experience phonemes and blends at their working level and will continue to practise their spelling strategies.

We will continue to build on our knowledge of various elements of grammar, linking this to our reading and writing tasks.

Numeracy & Maths

The children will continue with a daily number talk, to develop a range of mental maths strategies. We have been looking at various strategies for solving addition problems and will move on to subtraction problems. With Mrs McIntyre, the children will be working on telling the time at different intervals, as well as looking at 24hr time and durations. We will also be focusing on word problems and times tables weekly

Health and Wellbeing

We will be continuing with our PATHs programme focussing on making good choices and working effectively with others. We have been following the Do Be Mindful programme focussing on mindful attention, we will continue with this as well as our various daily mindful tasks. This term, P4 are delighted to be taking part in a range of intergenerational activities with the residents at Crossgate’s Care Home. As a class we have discussed various ideas that we think they would like such as arts and crafts, reading, singing, board games and bingo.

PE

PE is on a Wednesday and Friday. This term we will be covering social dancing, hockey and gymnastics. Please make sure your child has a full PE kit with them (includes suitable indoor shoes), this can remain on their peg within school.

Thank you for making sure that no jewellery is worn on PE days.

French 

We will be continuing with our French conversational skills and greetings. We will be looking at numbers t0 100. The children will engage in a range of listening, talking and writing tasks. We are also learning our ‘Hail Mary’ in French. As the term progresses, we will also look at Christmas traditions in France.

IDL

The children have really enjoyed getting started on our new Novel ‘There’s a Viking in My Bed’ which is related to our Viking Voyagers topic this term. We will explore the life of Vikings, including their culture, voyages and influence on Scotland. We will develop our skills in reading and writing through our topic.

Expressive Arts 

We will link our artwork this term to our topic, exploring and creating Viking artefacts using various materials and techniques. Last term we have been learning about rhythm and beat with our glockenspiels, we will continue to develop our skills this term and we will start to learn Christmas songs as the term progresses. We will also share some of our musical skills during our visits to Crossgate’s Care home.

Religious Education

This term we will be reflecting on the lives of various saints including St. Margaret, St. Andrew, St Ignatius, St. Francis and St. Columba. The children will be preparing for Advent and their forthcoming Sacrament of Reconciliation by taking part in class prayers and School Masses, and we will continue to build on our knowledge of common prayers and Mass responses. Approaching Advent, we will also look at the meaning of the Liturgical Calendar and become familiar with the meaning and importance of the various feasts and associated liturgical colours.

Homework will continue in the same format as last term, it will be distributed on a Monday to be completed and returned by Friday.

Keep an eye on the School blog and Learning Journals for updates on some of our wonderful activities and learning.

Thank you as always for your continued support,

Mrs McIntyre & Mrs MacDonald.

Term 2 is upon us! Primary 6 are making progress in all areas and are showing leadership across the school.

Literacy

Listening and Talking

Listening and Talking will continue to be a focus across the curriculum. Pupils will participate in a range of activities to allow for this.

Reading

The class novel this term is ‘Titanic Detective Agency’ by Lindsay Littleson. The pupils will complete various reading and writing tasks related to this appropriate to their level. This novel study also has links to our Social Studies and Science topic ‘Titanic’.

We will also continue using the ‘Bug Club’ reading resource to aid our comprehension skills.

Spelling

Spelling will be individualised to groups and will form a focus for homework as well as class tasks.

 Numeracy

All groups made great progress last term and will continue with addition and subtraction this term, this will be followed by a topic of multiplication and division, so get practising those tables! Outcomes are determined in groups.

Money will be a focus during beyond number lessons again differentiated across the class. Please discuss financial aspects with children at home; topics could include budgeting, credit and debit and savings.

 Health and Wellbeing

Our focus this term is Health and Wellbeing Champions, pupils will participate in an authority wide topic via ‘Teams’, this will allow participation from P6 classes across the area where they will collaborate in challenges from the comfort of our classroom!

Primary 6 will continue to be PATHs playground leaders; an important responsibility, and one we are more than ready for!

Children will also continue to follow the PATHs resources, this helps pupils to identify their emotions, act accordingly and build resilience.

‘Do be mindful’ strategies and mindful learning blocks will reinforce all that we do.

Religious Education

Children will examine the initial stages of the ‘Pope Francis Faith Award’ this term, this focusses on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the unique qualities we all possess. We will look at 3 gifts this term and will continue this journey into primary 7. There will be an occasional homework task related to this.

French

Our French skills are developing and pupils are becoming more confident in this area. We will focus our attention this term on discussing pets and familiarising ourselves with accessing French dictionaries.

  Homework

Homework will be issued weekly and at primary 6 level children should be able to complete these tasks individually with limited support. Please check that your child is accessing these tasks and is becoming responsible around this. Homework will always be issued to reinforce learning and children will have been taught the area in class. Homework creates routine and independence and will be an expectation at every stage of school life especially secondary school. In developing good habits in the upper primary this will ease that transition when the time comes.

 As always your continued support is appreciated across the school year.

Mrs Crawford and Mrs McIntyre.

Welcome back! The summer seems like an already distant memory and primary 6 have settled into their new routine well.

Children are encouraged to have all items they require daily and a PE kit which remains in school please.

Our learning this term:

 Literacy

A focus on legible and cursive handwriting will be a priority this term with individuals being supported accordingly around this.

Reading

The class novel this term is ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl. The pupils will complete various reading and writing tasks related to this appropriate to their level. This novel study also has links to other curricular areas including Health and Well-being, art and drama.

We will also continue using the ‘Bug Club’ reading resource to aid our comprehension skills.

Spelling will be individualised to groups and will form a focus for homework as well as class tasks.

Numeracy

Children have completed necessary revision of previous learning and are ready to tackle their new learning. This term the class will focus on place value; outcomes are determined in groups, this will lead to a period of addition and subtraction across the groups.

Time will be a focus during beyond number lessons again differentiated across the class. Children will be focussing on duration and digital as well as analogue. Circles and Rectangles will also explore 24hr conversion. Please provide opportunities for time telling at home.  Children will also look at 2D and 3D shape this term, they will investigate properties and tiling.

Health and Wellbeing

Our focus this term is ‘Class Community’ we are together creating a charter for our class rights and expectations. Pupils are involved in discussions around areas that we define as ‘Quality’. Children will also choose a school community group to join. This will allow pupils to showcase their upper primary maturity and help drive the school priorities and community forward.

Children will also continue to follow the PATHs resources, this helps pupils to identify their emotions, act accordingly and build resilience.

‘Do be mindful’ strategies and mindful learning blocks will reinforce all that we do.

Religious Education

 Pupils will be encouraged to join discussions around biblical stories, particularly ‘Creation’ with a focus on science and religion. We will explore when the two compliment each other. They will be encouraged to think ‘deeper’ and ask questions to help develop their faith.

 French

Primary 6 have looked at ‘Francophone’ countries and are developing an understanding of the French language in travel and economy. We will be revising colours and numbers to 100 this term. Dates and times will also be reinforced.

  Homework

Homework will be issued weekly and at primary 6 level children should be able to complete these tasks individually with limited support. Please check that your child is accessing these tasks and is becoming responsible around this. Homework will always be issued to reinforce learning and children will have been taught the area in class. Homework creates routine and independence and will be an expectation at every stage of school life especially secondary school. In developing good habits in the upper primary this will ease that transition when the time comes.

As always your continued support is appreciated across the school year. We look forward to working with you and your child this academic session.

 Mrs Crawford and Mrs McIntyre.

As part of their ‘Charities’ topic and SCIAF Lenten fundraising, P4 put on a fabulous Outdoor activity- based afternoon for the whole school on Friday.  Pupils had a ‘wheely’ good time bringing in their scooters/bikes and even Hoverboard Segways  to whizz around the playground.

Here are some of our action-packed photos of our class enjoying their outdoor scooter/bike day afternoon…

Thank you Primary 4!

Yesterday, the whole school celebrated World Book Day 2022 and our P5 class took part in various activities during the day.

Here are some of the fabulous costumes:

Yesterday, we dressed up as characters from our favourite books. We all watched an ‘Authors’ Live’ session with  Simon Farnaby, the actor from ‘Horrible Histories’. He has released a new book ‘The Wizard and Me’ about a talking guinea pig called Bubbles who is very funny and cheeky. It had us all laughing in class. He challenged us to write about an animal and use your imagination.

By Victoria P5

In the afternoon, at an assembly we took part in a parade and got to look at all the different costumes. They were all great! We really enjoyed the live session and looking at the ‘Flanimals’ by Ricky Gervais, we decided to create our own ‘Flanimals’ and develop their characters giving them  human characteristics and using descriptive writing techniques.

By Archie and Millie Mc P5

Here are some ‘Flanimals’ you may not have heard of….