Author: Mr Roundtree

Have you checked out these useful resources yet?

Think U Know is a great website for children and young people – there are pages that cover children aged 5-8, aged 8-10, aged 11-13 and aged 14+. There are also really useful pages for parents/carers.

The NSPCC also has great guidance to the social networks your child might be using.

Finally (for now!), Vodafone has been particularly supportive of parents with their Digital Parenting magazine. They’ve produced this for five years now. The magazine is available as a downloadable pdf.

Many of you will be aware that this week, our Year 6 pupils have been sitting SATs tests. On Monday, they had an hour-long Reading test; on Tuesday, they had a Grammar and Punctuation test and a separate Spelling test; yesterday, they had two Maths tests (one on arithmetic, which focussed on calculations, and one on reasoning, which is about using and applying their mathematical skills in problem-solving). Today, there is one more Maths test (another reasoning one). We wish all our Year 6 children lots of success.

The SATs tests can be a stressful time, but our children have performed well. Thank you for your support at home in making sure your child is in school, feeling as relaxed as they can be, and bright and alert having had enough sleep the night before.

The Department for Education places a great deal of importance on these tests as one way to measure a school’s performance. To this end, representatives from the local authority make unannounced spot-checks on schools to check that the administration of the tests is all done correctly – checking, for example, that the papers have been stored securely beforehand and that they are not opened privately before the tests are due to begin. The Department for Education also encourage schools to arrange a monitoring visit from someone who is able to check proceedings from a more independent standpoint; they suggest a governor or someone from a local secondary school.

It’s hard to arrange a visit from the latter – lots of primary schools would want a teacher to visit in the same week, so secondary schools struggle to provide this. However, we did arrange visits from governors who checked what was going on. One governor report describes checks on ‘Where test scripts are securely kept, who has access / keys. Observed securely sealed scripts, removal, opening and distribution of scripts.’ (Her report continues to describe the secure proceedings over the course of a morning.) Thank you to those governors who carried out this extra check to ensure there is no maladministration.

Thank you also to the staff who have provided help and reassurances to our children, and again to you, for your support. Most of all, thank you to the Year 6 children for putting in lots of extra effort in this tough week – we hope you enjoy your day off tomorrow (it’s a training day for the whole school).

 

The more time your pupil is in school, the more good learning they can do. In Leeds overall, primary attendance is at 95.9% and secondary at 93.9% for the 2016-17 academic year to date. The city has made great improvements in school attendance, with more children and young people in school and learning.

At Moortown, attendance is 96.7%. This is a good figure, comfortably above the Leeds average.

You might also like to see how each year group is doing. Figures in green are higher than the school average – well done especially to pupils (and their parents/carers) in Reception and in all the Key Stage 2 classes!

• Reception – 97.7%… this is a fantastic figure – well done!
• Year 1 – 94.3%… this is the only figure which is below the Leeds average
• Year 2 – 96.6%
• Year 3 – 97.0%
• Year 4 – 97.1%
• Year 5 – 97.2%
• Year 6 – 97.2%

From time to time, we like to alert you to any new trends in online activity that we think you should know about. There’s a new website called sayat.me. Here’s how the site describes what to do:

1. Create your personal feedback web address
2. Spread the link through Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc.
3. Read what people think about you
4. Publish your favourite feedback

‘Your favourite feedback’ might sound positive. However, inevitably there will be young people who see an anonymous feedback tool and spot an opportunity to be abusive and offensive.

There is growing evidence of the harm that this site has already created. Safeguarding leaders are reporting a growing number of incidents of damaging cyberbullying as a result of it.

Please make sure you keep an eye on what apps and websites your child is using, and how they’re using them.

Books about safeguarding-related issues

We all love a good story. Stories can make us laugh, cry, shudder and think. Reading stories out loud with your child is a valuable opportunity to build up the relationship with your child. It’s good to spend some relaxing time together, and stories can help us both learn and think about the lives of others.

We all have our favourite books. However, the following book lists might help you to identify some new stories you might not know.

Books focusing on identity, belonging, conflict, migrant and refugee experiences

Books about kindness, compassion and empathy

Books about bullying for 8-12s

Books about depression

Books about grief and loss

Books about eating disorders

Books about dementia (More and more children are now living in families where an older relative has dementia.)

End of Key Stage 2 SAT tests take place next week:

• Monday 08 May: reading
• Tuesday 09 May: grammar, punctuation and spelling
• Wednesday 10 May: maths (arithmetic and reasoning)
• Thursday 11 May: maths (reasoning)

The Standards and Testing Agency has produced a leaflet and videos aimed at parents with children in year 2 and year 6. They provide information on the purpose and format of tests, how parents can support their children and how results will be reported.