Dear Parents/Carers

As we come to the end of the first week of this difficult situation the team at Mount Carmel would like to thank you for your understanding and support. We would also like to thank the many key workers from our school community who are caring for and supporting East Ayrshire.

It’s difficult to comprehend how much has changed over so short a time.

From Monday 30th March our Home Learning Zone will contain activities posted on each class blog.

There will be three core activities and a selection of additional tasks. The Home Learning Zone will be updated regularly. I anticipate there will be a few teething problems but we will work through them just as we have with glow access this week.

It’s important that children and families feel supported and not isolated. You can contact us anytime using our online form and we will get back to you as soon as we can. We are happy to hear any suggestions you have or ideas you want to share. We are also here if you want to just have a chat. We will continue to post ideas and suggestions in our Health and Wellbeing area. It’s important we all look after ourselves and each other.

I don’t underestimate the impact this pandemic is having and will continue to have on us all for the foreseeable future but as the school family of Mount Carmel we will get through this.

Mrs McConville

Head Teacher

Our team have been working hard to create fun educational experiences for your child.  Our very own Mrs Taylor has created an amazing Bookbug session.  Grad a teddy and join in the fun!

Mrs Taylor – you are amazing.

Team MC

Soon we will add pupil activities to be completed by each class. This will be in the form of 3 areas:

Literacy

Numeracy

IDL

These tasks will be posted to each class blog.  Each area will contain 3 core tasks which all pupils should aim to complete. There will also be a selection of additional tasks which can be completed if you wish.  We are committed to doing all that we can to support our pupils and families. Together we are all Team MC.

If you require further support or guidance please complete the contact us form.

Class teachers are in the process of emailing all pupils through GLOW please ask your child to respond to this. They may need your help.

This week please continue to work on these tasks as suggested in our main Home Learning Zone.

Week Beginning Monday 23rd March. Below is a set of 25 suggested activities that can be completed by most primary age children.  There is no expectation that your child should complete all of these tasks, please use your own judgement and complete as many or as few as you wish.

Also remember to include some exercise in your daily routine, this an excellent resource and one that your child has used previously in school.

Daily PE with Joe

Other useful links:

David Walliams elevenses – a 20 minute story released each day

Together we are Team MC

If your child is entitled to Free School Meals please follow this link and complete this form.

Free School Meals

East Ayrshire Council will continue to support families with children in Education who have Free School Meal entitlement, by providing them with a light lunch or small dinner. If your family falls into this category and you wish to utilise this service, please complete the form.

Please note we will require 24 hours’ notice to start this service.

During these difficult times we have all found new methods to communicate with others.  If you have queries for our team please complete the form below.

Team MC

Our fantastic Mount Carmel team have been working hard to get Home Learning Tasks organised for all.

Class teachers will soon be sending an email to each child to checkin with them.

Please find a step by step video for accessing GLOW mail for the first time. Created by our talented Miss Mudge.

Team MC

Looking for a little bit of time during the day for the kids to just take a pause. David Walliams is now releasing a short story a day for the kids to enjoy. Fantastic! We know how much our Mount Carmel boys and girls love hearing stories so give this a try today.

Click on the image below.

Schools and early childhood centres – latest update from EAC

We would like to thank all parents/carers and staff for heeding our advice and helping us to make sure that we could provide childcare for our most critical key workers today.

It has been enormously helpful that everyone has respected our advice to use our schools as a last resort. Now that we know the number of young people who are continuing to attend our schools and early childhood centres (ECC), we are in a position to revise this further and re-organise according to most needed areas. As a result tomorrow, Tuesday 24 March we will move to a ‘hub’ provision.

Register for our hubs

To use our hub, please fill in our e-form so that we have your details logged in advance of your child’s arrival. Remember we need to reduce social contact, and even if you are a key worker, please only  send your child as a last resort and if you absolutely need to.

No child will be turned away on the first day of this revised provision, providing they have been registered.

One of our colleagues will contact you if you do not qualify for a keyworker place.

The hub provision for Mount Carmel Primary School is now James Hamilton Primary Hub.

The Coronavirus outbreak has led to a high degree of worry, uncertainty and concern for both children and adults.  Our children are very aware of what is taking place and it may cause them to feel anxious and unsure about their safety.

It is important to encourage children to talk their feelings within a safe context, at the same time as maintaining a sense of normality, routine and calm. Supporting children will enable them to process and manage their feelings and help build resilience.

You may find these suggestions helpful:
– Reassure children and young people that they are safe: Children benefit from regular reassurance that they are safe, and being reminded that adults will do what they can to keep them safe.
– Let children know that it is alright to be upset, all feelings are okay.
– Create a routine include some work, play and exercise in this.
– Emphasise their resilience and strengths: Focus on the strengths of our children and young people, in terms of their daily life. Help them to see and acknowledge that they have many strengths to help them cope if they are feeling anxious or upset.
– Look for opportunities to help others: Acts of kindness, charity and humanity help to restore positivity and has huge benefits for our own well-being.

Please have a look at our new Home Learning Zone.

This area will continue to evolve over the coming days and weeks.

Saturday 21st March 2020 20:27
Dear Parent/Carer

We appreciate fully that many parents are concerned about keyworker status.

The guidance we have received from the Scottish Government is that “if one parent is a key worker and the other is not, the non-key worker should normally be expected to provide childcare. If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.”

Having checked the UK Government guidance, it is different and says that if only one parent is a key worker, they can send their children to school if required.

In light of this contradictory position, we will deal with each case on its merits. If there is no other childcare option then we would look for confirmation of this.

We want to do all we can to support key workers. We need them to look after those who are going to get sick and to keep our vital services running, but we also need to avoid social contact so, if key workers can make any other arrangements for their children,  we ask them to do so.

Head Teachers will not turn away any child on Monday, but will need to seek some form of  confirmation of key worker status for future attendances. Going forward we will need to keep matters under review with staff absences rising as more of our staff require to self isolate and we know parents will understand.

Remember we need to reduce social contact, and even if you are a key worker, please only send your child as a last resort and if you absolutely need to.

Kind regards

Linda McAulay-Griffiths
Head of Education

Dear Parents/Carers

A further reminder to all parents/carers to please understand that our emergency provision is absolutely only as a final option.  We are sure that our parents/carers will understand and respect this to help keep our pupils, staff and families safe.

We are still encountering some questions regarding emergency provision from Monday.  Clearly all adults in the child’s household must be keyworkers to access the service.  Where this is not the case, the other adults are expected to provide care.

Please refer to the website for the key worker categories:

https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/CouncilAndGovernment/Coronavirus/Schools-ecc.aspx

Kindest regards

Linda McAulay-Griffiths
Head of Education

Each child was provided with a Home Learning Pack.

This included login details for:

GLOW

Sumdog

BugClub

If you require password details to be reset then please complete the form below.

Please find a link to a youtube guide to accessing glow

Friday 20th March 2020 16:27

Dear Parent/Carer,

Linda McAulay-Griffiths
Head of Education

Further Update from the Head of Education.  We have had some requests from parents regarding the definition of a key worker.  There will be a full and final definition of this provided by EAC later today.  This will then be provided to parents via the app and school website.

The staff at Mount Carmel PS would like to thank you for your support and understanding during these unsettled and worrying times.

All children have currently been issued with a home learning pack which includes EAC’s list of suggested websites, ideas for indoor play and their personal logins for Glow, Bug Club and SumDog. If children were absent from school this week their packs were delivered to them by school staff.

We are following the advice given from East Ayrshire Council and will continue to update you as information becomes available to us. It is anticipated that there will be further guidance from EAC today.

Letter to all parents and carers – 19.3.2020

Well done to Evie McIntosh from Primary 6 who correctly guessed the bear’s birthday as 16th July (Feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel).

As a result of this fundraising activity we raised £93.10!

A fantastic amount.

Please be advised that our upcoming parent’s afternoon and evening are cancelled . They will be rescheduled in due course.

Thanks you for your understanding in this matter.

On Friday 28th February the boys and girls of Mount Carmel Primary all came together to receive a great presentation from Primary 6 all about the weather cycle.

Congratulations to P5 on their superb recent class assembly all about the continents.

Hand washing.

In response to concerns about Coronavirus, staff are making sure children are washing their hands throughout the  school day. We have spoken at assembly about correct hand washing and watched video clips showing the correct procedure. East Ayrshire Council has given us extra resources to ensure we have sufficient supplies of soap and paper products.

We have taken the decision today to cancel ALL after school activities/clubs with immediate effect, until further notice.

Thank you for your understanding on this matter.