Beautiful morning. Pancakes for breakfast then some climbing, obstacle course and fire starting!
School holiday
Reminder that school will be closed for pupils on Monday 10/2 & Tuesday 11/2 and will reopen on Wednesday 12/2 at 9am.
Barcaple 2025 – Thursday
Busy day completing the challenge course and forest adventure before dinner.
Galloway Youth Night P7 – S6
Barcaple 2025 – Thursday
Misty morning on the camp. Fuelling up for a action packed day
Barcaple 2025 – Wednesday
Yass!! Lets play hidey in the dark 😂😂😂
Barcaple 2025 Wednesday
Busy day of climbing and crate stacking.
Galloway Youth Night 16/2
Read Write and Count Parent Survey
Please take a few moments to complete the survey using the barcode below. Once completed you will be entered into a prize draw. The survey will close at the end of March.
Thank you
Barcaple 2025
After a good sleep, eating breakfast and getting ready for our busy day. And the weather looks decent!
Barcaple 2025
Archery, bushcraft and abseiling before dinner
Barcaple 2025
We have arrived, getting the tour and getting fed before our first activity!
Barcaple 2025
P7s on our way to our residential!
All smiles but a few early casualties!🤣😴
February Newsletter
Please find link below for our February Newsletter
|
Handball
P4 Sacrament Retreat Day
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.
January Raffle
Our January Raffle is live on Parentpay!
Don’t forget to buy your tickets to be in with a chance of winning a fabulous prize!
Tickets as always are £1 per strip of 5. The raffle closes on Thursday 6th February and will be drawn on Friday 7th.
Rag Bag
It’s that time again! If you could do with a New Year clear out, then please send any bags of clothing/shoes which you no longer need into the school on Friday 14th February. Please place all items in bin bags (as Rag Bag no longer issue us with bags) and tie securely.
Thank you
Upper Car Park
Upper Car park
As you are aware the school car park and upper car park are for the sole use of staff and school visitors. Parents and carers should not be accessing the school car park at any point, this includes the upper overflow car park. Please also be aware of our safety concerns for parents/carers that have been accessing this space and then lifting children over the fence. Please use the lower school main gate to access the playground.
Thank you for your support with this.
Storm Damage
Storm Damage
Unfortunately two of our trees have come down during the storm last week. These are currently blocking our gates between the upper playground and the lower school playground. Parents and carers can only access the lower school playground via the lower school gate and the upper school playground via the main gate. At the end of the school day children from P4-7 that would normally meet adults in the lower playground will exit via the primary 2 door instead.
We also have damage to our main bell. This means there will be no bell at the start or end of the school day. Children will exit to the playground as normal.
Thank you for your support and understanding as we await removal and repair work.
Primary 6 Learner Journals
There are new updates on Primary 6 Learner Journals. Log in to your child’s individual Learner Journal to see all the wonderful learning taking place this term.
Mrs Terras and Mrs McCreadie
Schools/ECC Closure Tomorrow 24/1/25
The Met Office has now issued a red warning for wind from 10am until 5pm on Friday 24 January.
Storm Eowyn will cause very dangerous conditions and there will be significant disruption. The Council has taken the decision to close all schools and Early Childhood Centres, plus SL33 and SL66 on Friday 24 January.
This is a difficult decision to take and the Council understands the impact on parents and carers, however the safety of children and young people is paramount.
Chinese New year Menu 30/1
P7 Term 3 Curriculum Update
Happy New Year and I hope Santa was good to you all. And so we enter P7’s final year at primary!! Good to see all the pupils back after the holidays. Here is a brief overview of our learning focus this term.
Literacy
Our focus this term will continue to develop all reading skills through Bug Club guided reading texts. We will also be reading texts to identify fact and opinion and discuss the reliability of sources of information. For writing, we are concentrating on discussion texts, building upon persuasive writing from last term until the February holiday then look at the recount genre where we will retell events from what we have watched or experienced. For a short period, we will also be looking at Scottish texts, using Scots language and looking at Scottish poems and authors.
Numeracy
The emphasis of our numeracy this term is on fractions, decimals and percentages and how they interlink. Having completed the set Number Talk discussions, we will continue to use Number Talk strategies to develop mental strategies using all four processes. The class are also working on numeracy skills with Mrs McCreadie and will be investigating other aspects of measurement as well as data handling.
Health and Wellbeing
The PATHS focus this term is looking at respect and how to deal with conflicts and identifying positive steps to de-escalate situations. We will also continue to praise and compliment children through Pupil of the Day. We are also exploring risk taking behaviour including substance misuse and practise basic first aid procedures.
Our PE days are still Wednesday and Thursday. We will be first concentrating on fun fitness, creating personal fitness plans and setting personal goals. We also aim to develop our team game skills through netball where we will understand different roles within the team.
IDL
The topic this term is Scottish based and is looking at the Highland Clearances. We will be investigating important historical figures involved in the event, how people lived during that time and the mass emigration from the Highland area.
RE
This term we will be aiming to complete our Pope Francis Faith Award journals, revising all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and giving evidence of them being used in the school, at home and in the community or Parish. As well as this, there will be a final reflection on how the Gifts will help support them as they develop and grow.
French
French this term will consist of learning how to say other countries and nationalities and looking in to current affairs within France as well as using the verb etre (to be).
Technologies
This term P7 will look at coding and understand its importance within society. We will use block coding software to program small digital devices and explore various commands to create games and move characters within games.
UNCRC
We will be looking at the articles and rights involved and associated in Holocaust Memorial Day in late January, Safe Internet Day and Children’s Mental Health Week in February, and World Book Day and World Water Day in March.
I look forward to working with P7 in their final year and will enjoy accompanying them on their trip to Barcaple this term.
Mr Bertoncini
The Christmas Recipe
After School Clubs🏸🏐🎽
The following After School Clubs are due to start soon. Letters for each club were given out to pupils yesterday (20/1). There are a maximum of 20 places available per club which will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
If your child wishes to attend, please complete and return the permission slip at the bottom of the letter. Thanks
Primary 2&3- Games and Multi-sports Club
Tues 28th January until Tues 25th February (Exc. Tues 11th Feb)
Primary 4 &5 – Racquet Sports Club
Thurs 30th January until Thurs 20th February
Primary 6 &7 Handball Club
Mon 27th January until Mon 24th February (Exc. Mon 10th Feb)
P4 Confirmation Dates
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.
Scouts
Primary 6 curricular update
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
Primary 3 Curriculum update Term 3
Welcome back! I hope that you all had a peaceful festive period. It is lovely to be back with Primary 3, and we are all ready for another busy term. Here is an update on the upcoming term.
At the beginning of our first term, we explored the UNCRC Rights of the Child, and together created a meaningful Class Charter to ensure that our classroom is a place where we feel safe and where we can learn and grow together. As we continue into term 3 we will refer back to this ensuring our Class Charter is relevant and ‘felt’ within our classroom. As a school community, some of the UNCRC articles that we will have a focus on, are Articles 17 and 19 relating to internet safety and Articles 24, 27 for World Water Day.
Literacy
We will be looking at a range of texts this term. We will start the term with story ‘Lewis Clowns Around’ which will link into our mini Scotland topic. We will use this whole class text to develop our prediction, summarising and ‘Find it, prove it’ comprehension strategies. We will also access Bug Club readers as we continue to work on decoding and fluency skills.
During writing, we will look at report writing before moving on to explanatory texts. We will look the structure of these genres and write our own texts. We will continue to have a focus on the use of accurate punctuation as well as beginning to develop the skill of proof reading our work.
Spelling will take the form of active spelling activities and the children will experience phonemes and blends at their working level.
Numeracy & Maths
We will move on to looking at multiplication and division; using a range of concrete materials, we will develop our understanding of groups of a number before investigating the concept of arrays. We will look at the patterns in various times tables and will use this knowledge to solve a range of problems. The children will participate in a daily number talk activity as we develop our confidence in the use of mathematical language to explain our thinking.
In Beyond Number, we will continue to explore measure with Mrs Strachan, before moving on to time.
Health and Wellbeing
This term we will continue with the PATHS programme, reflecting and discussing a range of emotions and what these might look and feel like. We will also continue with the Do Be Mindful programme which will allow us, through the use of a range of strategies, to look at ways we can take a mindful moment each day.
PE is on a Monday and Friday. This term we will be covering;
Fun Fitness
Ball Skills
Children will require PE kit each PE day. Please make sure your child is not wearing jewellery on these days as they will be unable to participate in the lesson for health and safety reasons. If your child cannot take part for any reason, please contact the school.
Religious Education
This term we will be continuing to learn a range of well-known prayers and will have opportunities each day for quiet prayer and reflection time.
We will reflect on Jesus’ early life, investigating the Jewish Community that He was born into. Then, as we begin our preparation for celebrating First Confession, we will look at the parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin. We will look at the significance of the sacrament and become familiar with how it is celebrated.
As we approach the Holy season of Lent, we will think about the importance of prayer, almsgiving and fasting and how we can prepare for the great feast of Easter.
French
Through a range of songs, activities and games we will continue to develop confidence in counting and greetings, we will also look at months of the year in French.
IDL
We will begin the term with a mini Scotland topic, looking at some Scottish music, art and poetry, as well as exploring some features of the Scottish landscape. This will lead into our main topic this term which is Farming in Scotland. We will consider different types of farms and the various produce from these farms. We will look at the food journey – how it changes from farm to fork and will plant some potatoes and carrots, which will allow us to get first-hand experience of growing our own crops.
Homework will be distributed on a Monday to be completed, and returned by Friday.
Keep an eye on the School App and your child’s Learning Journal profile for a snapshot of some of our wonderful learning!
Thank you as always for your support and I’m looking forward to a really great term with P3.
Mrs. MacKinnon.
