Thank you for taking part in our Virtual Sports Day.  As promised here are some of the highlights.

Well done boys and girls!

If your child requires transport to school from August 2020, you will be able to apply online as of today (Thursday 25th June) at:

http://orlo.uk/transport_wT2hw

Welcome to Primary 4! I am Mrs McIntyre. Most of you will probably remember me as your Primary 1 teacher, I certainly remember you all and all the fun we had together from greedy number hunt monsters, tadpoles, Katie Morag’s Post Office and who could forget about the wild woo in the woods! I am so lucky to have the chance to teach some of you again. If you don’t know me, please don’t worry as  I am super excited to get to know you as your teacher along with Mrs Travers on a Thursday and Friday. We’re going to have an awesome time learning this year.  I know you can’t wait to see your friends but it won’t be long now and I definitley can’t wait to see all of your faces in August – I’ve been missing you all! I have been busy setting up a new classroom just along from the other P4 classroom and I have taken some pictures to let you see what it may look like after the summer. I can’t wait for you all to help me decorate my room with your fabulous work!

Here are a few photos …

I would love to hear from you, even if you are in on a Monday or Tuesday as we may see each other in the future.  Please send me a message on glow to say ‘hello’ .  I have sent you one below.  I’ve recorded a short message to remind you what i look like incase you’ve forgotten me in the link below!

Welcome message new P4

Any ideas you have  for our class charter then you can send me your thoughts and suggestions and it would be great if we could use one of them.

Keep posted for more news from myself and Mrs Travers shortly! Have a fantastic summer holiday!

Can’t wait to see you all very soon…

“Air Hug”

Mrs McIntyre

Welcome Primary 1/2!!

I am Mrs Dunsmore, your new teacher. I am super lucky to have met and got to know all of you during this past year and during all of our wonderful transition days. I can’t wait to be your teacher and make lots of amazing memories together!

Boys and girls going into Primary 2, you are so lucky because you are going to meet some brand new classmates … our wonderful Primary 1s! I know you will be the best role models for your new friends!

I  have been really busy in school getting everything ready for you coming back/starting. I thought you might like a look at how your new classroom looks. I can’t wait to fill our walls with all your fantastic work! Below you will see the photos I have taken as well as a special message from me (just in case you have forgotten what I look like). Click on the link to watch the video.

Welcome video Mrs Dunsmore

Have a wonderful summer! I can’t wait to see you all in August!

Lots of Love

Mrs Dunsmore xox

A big hello to our brand-new primary 4 class. I have really missed being in school with everyone over the last few months and I am really looking forward to being back with you all in August and being your primary 4 teacher!

I thought it might be useful to have a look at what our classroom may look like come August. The classroom might look quite different to our normal classroom set up, but we will support you all on our return and make the transition back to school as easy on you as possible.

I would love to hear from you, so please send me a message and say hello. Here is a little ‘hello’ from me:

IMG_1951

I look forward to seeing you all in August but for now, take care, stay safe and have fun over the holidays.

Mrs Travers

Hi boys and girls.

I am so excited to be the teacher in the Willow room and Oak room next session. I might not be working with many of you…BUT…. I still want to see your lovely little faces around the school so remember to say hi when you see me. If you are going to be part of the nurture classes, I cannot wait to work with you, we are going to have great fun!!

I am missing you all lots and cannot wait to see you in August. Have a great summer with your families and I will see you all soon.

Lots of Love from Mrs McCreadie xxxx

Hello to everyone in the new primary 6/7 class!

Last year I had taught P5 with Mrs McIntyre and also taught HWB with other classes.  But this year I will have you all to myself!  I am excited to be your new class teacher and can’t wait to get started.  The class is still a bit bare but you will help me decorate it with all your hard work.  One of the first jobs we will do together is create our class charter, so if you have any cool ideas, send me an email and we might use yours for our display.

Having taught most of you before, I’m looking forward to working with you again in August.  I’ve uploaded a wee video so you remember what my face looks like as it’s been so long since we’ve been at school! (I may have a few extra wrinkles!)  There’s also a few pictures of what the class will look like.

Enjoy your summer holidays and I will see you ready to go in August.

Mr Bertoncini  😎

P6/7 Video

Please find below information about our first week of term following the Blended Learning Approach.

Hi boys and girls.

I hope you are all taking care. I have been busy getting ready for your return to school in August. I am really missing you all and hope you all have a brilliant summer. Here are some photographs of what the Willow room will look like in August. I know that the classrooms look very different but I do not want you to worry. The teachers have all been working hard to make sure that you are all safe, but most importantly that we can have fun when you come back.

Lots of love, Mrs McCreadie

Please find below the link to the St. Joseph’s Academy teaching model for August going forward:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/ea/public/stjosephsacademy/uploads/sites/2043/2020/06/19071907/SJA-August-Model-Letter.pdf

Hi Primary 3. Well done for making it to the last week of school. I am so proud of how well you have engaged in your learning during lockdown and can see how much you have all grown up since we last seen each other in March. Below is your final weeks work for literacy, numeracy and topic. Try to do what you can whenever you can and remember to email me to say hello!! Missing all of your gorgeous little faces. Speak to you all very soon…probably when you are big Primary 4s and are too cool to speak to me!!

Literacy

Literacy mat primary 3 22.6.20

green Spelling word for the week beginning 22.6.20

red Spelling word for the week beginning 22.6.20

Blue Spelling word for the week beginning 22.6.20

sun safety

Numeracy

P3 Numeracy Learning Grid 22.6.20

number bonds to 20

cfe2-m-102-rounding-to-10-and-100-with-real-world-contexts-powerpoint_ver_1

IDL

P1 to 3 IDL Grid 22.6.20

Dissolving

Fireworks in a Glass

Primary 2, you have made it! It’s the last week before the summer holidays begin! I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone. You have worked so hard both at school and at home. Although these past few months have been rather strange I hope you have enjoyed your time in Primary 2 as much as I have! As you begin your last week as a Primary 2, remember you are a SUPERSTAR and you can do anything you put your mind to!

Below you will find your literacy, numeracy and IDL home learning grids for WB 22.6.20.  Your literacy and numeracy task sheets have been sent to your individual email accounts.

P2 Literacy Learning Grid 22.6.20

P2 Numeracy Learning Grid 22.6.20

P1 to 3 IDL Grid 22.6.20

French Flag

Fireworks in a Glass

Dissolving

There is no suggested timetable for this week. Just do what you can, when you can and remember, there is no expectation that all tasks will be completed.

Mrs Dunsmore x

All of new Primary 1 families have been sent an email detailing the group for your child. If we do  not have an email address then Mrs McGahon has contacted you directly.

We look forward to welcoming you all in August.

Hi P5,

Well, you made it.  The last week is upon us.  You have worked hard this year and continued to do so at home.  We are very proud of you all. I hope you enjoyed looking at Throwback Thursday.  It was good to relive the memories we made in P5.  Please find below the grids for the last week of term.

Numeracy

P5 Numeracy Grid 22nd June

Algebra Puzzle 22620

Literacy

P5 Literacy Grid 22nd June

Pokemon Go! Activity

Mr Gum reading task 22620

Connectives Worksheet

IDL

Mount Carmel P4-7

Beano-PPT

Beano Worksheet: Brave and Resilient

We hope you all have a fab summer holiday and we are excited about seeing you all when we return to school in August.

Mr Bertoncini and Mrs McIntyre

Please click to enlarge the image below showing our Blended Learning Approach.

Please click below to read the letter from Mrs McConville detailing the arrangements for pupils returning to Mount Carmel Primary School.

Head Teacher letter – Return of Pupils to Mount Carmel

Hello boys and girls,

Welcome to our assembly today. Let’s start our time together with a prayer and hymn from Fr Martin.

Thank you Fr Martin for such a lovely start today.

Last week we had all of our amazing sports events. Thank you all so much for taking. We have an exciting video to premier next week showing your fabulous achievements.

The participating teams were:

Team Hoy

Team Doyle

Team Granger

Team Murray

We are excited to announce that the winning team with 5,355 points (which Mrs McGahon studiously counted) is:

Team Granger!!!!

Well done Team Granger we are so proud of all you.

Certificates will be sent to the email addresses all the children that participated and special winning certificates will also be emailed to you.

Congratulations again to you all!

As we come closer to the end of our academic session… MCPS presents…

#ThrowbackThursday!

What a year it has been at MCPS! Although it has been different, we still have lots to celebrate. We the staff, are so proud of our remarkable pupils who have shone all year!

Here are some of our magic memories!

Please follow this link:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/ea/mountcarmelps2017/2020/06/18/throwback-thursday/

We hope you enjoyed our trip down memory lane.

Look at our blog and emails next week for some messages from your new class teachers and photographs of your new classroom.

Continue to take care boys and girls.

With love from us all,

#Team MC

Dear Parent/Carer,

I hope that this letter once again finds you and your families well, and can I reiterate a warm thank you for your amazing work with our young people during this period of lockdown. Following my recent communication, I was keen to ensure you were updated in regards to our plan for careful and considered return of our young people and staff to school.

In reaching the following proposals, I would like to express a debt of gratitude to your Head Teachers, your Parent Council Chairs and parents who have formed part of our renewal workstreams in the Council.

In addition, I am deeply grateful to the huge numbers of you who have completed our parent survey, which has had over 3000 responses to date. The plans to return have been jointly developed by a huge number of council services who have worked alongside us to reach this stage, including Facilities Management, Catering, Health and Safety, Human Resources and Transport, to name but a few. In reaching our model, we have considered, at the front and centre of our thinking, the safety and wellbeing of our young people, staff and their families as we are so aware that this will be your prime concern.

To this end, can we advise of some of the following headline measures as being applicable to all of our schools:

• Cleaning patterns and routines have been established for our schools to support the prevention of spread of COVID-19, these are specific to each school.
• Shared materials in classrooms have been removed and young people are being issued with personal equipment and stationery that they will be able to take home to support blended learning. Where young people have to share materials, e.g. practical subjects, this is addressed specifically using cleaning routines.
• Transport has clearly been a very detailed issue and working capacities have been changed to ensure social distancing on all forms of school transport, schools will provide separate communications to those requiring transport.
• Risk assessments for pupil and staff return have been carried out and are in place, given that we already have some staff and pupils attending in June.
• Social distancing of 2m has been a pre-requisite for the setup of classrooms and other spaces that your child will use, in addition child-friendly communications and graphics will be present in all of our schools. Some schools will adopt a “social bubble” approach, this will be made clear in the school specific communication you will receive.
• Individual schools have planned for the safe arrival and pick-up of pupils in a measured fashion and this too will be communicated to you in school-specific communications.

Pupil attendance in all schools

The attendance model for all schools in East Ayrshire has been agreed at a consistent level to ensure equity for all of our learners, and we have also clearly ensured that our children who are more vulnerable have been appropriately considered. Due to the particular needs of young people in our specialist sector schools, these arrangements will be communicated on a school by school basis. Guidance on re-opening early childhood centres has just been released this week, thus further details will be forthcoming in this regard.

Primary school pupils

Your child will attend primary school two days per week (or equivalent), in a pattern that will be released by your school via the school app or other means. The limited attendance is governed by the current social distancing requirements which restricts the number of young people we can have in our schools at any one time. Some young people may attend on further days, this is a matter delegated to the school, in regards to young people in a vulnerable situation.

Secondary school pupils

The attendance model for secondary schools in East Ayrshire is clearly more complex, due to significant differentials in school roll, capacity and available staffing in regard to specific subjects. We are therefore taking a phased and measured approach to ensure the safety of the full school community, and also protect the wellbeing of young people in operating initially with lower numbers as they return, and adapt to what will be very different circumstances.

This model will operate as follows:-

Wednesday 12th – Friday 28th August – 1 day per week for all pupils (or equivalent), with added time enhancement for senior phase to be released by individual schools. This permits secondary schools working on a two week rotation model to see a full run of their timetable and address any concerns before upscaling pupil attendance.

Subject to review, all pupils will begin attending 2 days per week, again with added time enhancement for senior phase w/b 31st August.

Clearly this situation is completely dynamic and we will continue to be guided by government and public health guidance and advice, and where we can safely increase attendance, this will absolutely be the case.

I am also very aware that the proposed pattern, when released by your school, will not meet the needs of everyone, and I ask you to bear with your school as they answer queries specific to individual family circumstances. A position has not yet been reached by the Scottish Government in regards to the provision of childcare for keyworkers for August, I therefore ask for your understanding that we cannot answer any questions in this regard until the position is declared nationally.

In addition to many aspects of pupil return, we know that parents and carers will have many questions, and we hope that some of these may be answered in some of the statements below:

• Children do NOT require to wear uniform if any family have been unable to access this due to lockdown or other circumstances. Our priority is absolutely having our young people back with us.
• We have asked schools, where possible, that siblings who attend the same school, attend on the same days.
• Government guidance advises that young people may not leave the premises at lunch to access home lunch or outside catering, we ask for your understanding on this during this return phase. Children are welcome to bring a packed lunch and free school meals and paid catering will be provided on a trolley service to classrooms, this has also freed up extra capacity to house more young people in our schools.
• Transport should still be applied for in the normal way and you can check entitlement and apply for free school meals and footwear and clothing grants online. It is important that parents enrol for our Parent Pay system as cash will not be handled in schools.

• If your family have booked a holiday for the week including 12th August, the absence of your young person will be authorised given the unanticipated change to the Summer break.

Summer holidays

Information on emergency childcare over the forthcoming Summer holiday has already been sent to all parents and carers who are already registered for this provision, as this childcare will change over the Summer break.

Blended learning

Clearly face-to-face teaching is only one part of a rigorous blended learning approach, we are preparing supplementary information for all parents and carers, as we move into a new phase of learning, this will be made available to parents and carers in the new school term.

Next steps

I am meeting again with your Parent Council Chairs on Wednesday 24th June where we will have further discussion around the safe recovery of schools and discuss the findings of the parent survey as we move into our new phase of learning. These will also be shared with your individual schools to influence provision on a local level.

Can I please ask for your understanding in working with your schools over the last week of term as they move towards the Summer Holiday, your Head Teachers have put an incredible amount of time and thought into their return models and they too appreciate that parents and carers are incredibly anxious about school return and patterns of attendance. I ask that this is borne in mind in any discussions you may require to have with your schools going forward.

Finally, can I advise that, as has been the case throughout this crisis, that there will be a separate release of information for our young people returning to school, they too have been part of an authority-wide survey and have met in their pupil council groupings in all schools over the past weeks, as an integral part of our thinking as we return.

Can I wish you and your families a very happy Summer, and please know that our central education team will remain in place over this time should the situation change in any way that would see us able to implement a further return of young people as intimated.

With all my best wishes to you and your families at this time.

LINDA McAULAY-GRIFFITHS
Head of Education

If you have good quality school uniform that no longer fits we would be very grateful if it could be freshly cleaned and then dropped at the school over the next few days.  A box will be available outside the school to leave these items.

Next week we will then place a school uniform bank outside the main door, anyone may collect uniform from this.

We could not let our Primary 7 children move to St Joseph’s Academy without one final goodbye.  All of the Primary 7 children are invited to attend the school on Thursday 25th June at 10am for about 30mins.  Due to restrictions no adults can enter the building with the children.

Children will come to the school hall where they will presented with a gift from Mount Carmel Primary School.  The children will also have returned to them items which they had left behind in school.

Two more of your buddies would like to say hello!

MAY HUME

Hi there! My name is May, I’m in P7. I hope to see you all soon, and I hope you enjoy your stay here as much as I have.

MICHAEL JOHN HOWAT

Hi my name is Michael John I am in Primary 6. I’m really looking forward to meeting you. Mount Carmel is a great school and you will have lots of fun!!