This week’s Practice Makes Perfect homework revises all of the wonderful work we’ve done on fractions since half term – we should be fraction masters by now!
To be able to calculate with fractions.
I’ve created addition, subtraction, multiplication and division questions, all of which we’ve learnt how to solve this term, for the children to go over, remind themselves how to do it and not make any silly mistakes. We’ll go through the answers together on Thursday 15 December 2016.
…about the proposed new University Technical Colleges (UTCs) in Leeds.
University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are government-funded schools that offer 14-19 year olds something different. UTCs are schools for 14-18 year olds specialising in the delivery of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. The purpose of a UTC is to develop the advanced technical skills required to ensure that the UK prospers in the 21st century and provide students with a deep understanding of the sectors they can apply their skills in as they learn.
A proposal is being put together for a new UTC here in Leeds.
The people setting this up are keen to hear your views. They need to gauge the level of interest in this alternative education institution.
They write:
In a fast-paced, ever-changing digital world and increasingly competitive job market there is a real chance for the students of this proposed secondary school to be one step ahead.
If the bid is successful, Leeds Creative Digital UTC students will gain invaluable skills and be well equipped for the world of work with unrivalled digital expertise – both technical and practical in nature.
Not only will this help develop the future employment potential of our children it will play a huge part in supporting the local area by addressing and improving youth qualifications and unemployment in our region.
Why do we need a UTC?
The UK needs advanced technical skills to prosper in a service-centric world economy – and more importantly, we need young people entering higher education and the technical professions who have the skills, knowledge and experience to be productive from the outset.Leeds City Region has the largest digital sector outside of London and employs almost 50,000 people, accounting for 4% of the workforce.
In July 2015, Leeds had over 640 active Digital & ICT vacancies on 120 company websites. Sky has created 400 jobs at their New Dock office in Leeds. With 150 empty chairs, Sky’s growth will only be limited by the availability of talent.
The traditional school system is based around a curriculum which changes slowly and offers little opportunity for employers to contribute to developing their ideal job applicants – UTCs address that and also act as a route to workplace degree apprenticeships or for universities to nurture their future intakes.
UTC students work closely with employers, who take an active role – regularly mentoring students and providing opportunities for work experience in a number of areas. Students will work on real-world projects with access to world-class facilities and equipment, with a “working day” that usually starts at 8.30 and finishes at 5 – leaving evenings free for other activities.
Read more about the proposed new UTC.
The ‘zipit’ app can help young people stay safe.
It’s easy to think your child is safe once they’re indoors. And it’s easy to think your child will always be responsible and safe online.
However, most older children and young people can be on-line, meaning they’re not quite so protected as you might think. And it’s easier than you think for a child to make a choice that they wouldn’t do in person.
Increasingly, we’re being told of problems on social networking sites. These include grooming.
The ‘zipit’ app is a download from Childline for iOS and Android. The app aims to help young people safely respond to requests for inappropriate images by sending back a ‘joke’ image. Using it might help your child maintain some credibility as well as staying safe.
More advice about safeguarding on sport.
The continued disclosures in football have rightly started a national conversation about the sexual abuse of children by people in positions of responsibility.
Talking to your children about sexual abuse?
The BBC published an article last week, ‘How do you talk to your children about sexual abuse?’ which is a good summary of the different ways parents can have conversations about keeping safe with their children.
FA captains’ video raises awareness
Captains of three England football teams have taken part in a film about how to keep children safe in the sport. The video for the NSPCC and the FA explains how parents and children can raise concerns they may have about adults working in football.
Don’t forget we published an article with advice about safeguarding in sport back in October, too.
We’ve been exploring words ending in …tious and …cious for our spelling activity and next week these are the spellings we’ll be tested on.
Ten words will be tested on Friday which could be from this list or could be in one of these word’s word family.
Word families are a great way to practise spelling: infect, infectious, infecting, infected, disinfect, disinfectant. Not only do I have to write the spelling pattern over and over again, but it also highlights that there’s a ‘t’ in all of these words therefore, I’ll use a ‘t’ for the …tious spelling.
This week’s Practice Makes Perfect homework is in response to a SPaG test we’ve done this week and the mistakes we’ve picked out and addressed as a class.
Work your way through the questions, remembering what we’ve gone over together. See whether you can explain your answers clearly to an adult as this will not only prove that you understand but also improve your understanding. As a class, we’ll look through these questions together on Thursday 08 December, 2016.
This week’s Talk Time homework focuses on the 8Rs for learning: reflect, remember, resilience,responsibility, safe risk, resourceful, respond, readiness.
We’ve come to the end of our SEAL theme which focuses on these Rs so it’s now time to engage our reflection skills and decide which we’re good at and which we need to improve on. Think about each R in turn and decide whether this is a strength or a weakness for you. Then consider how you can maintain those which are strengths and improve those which are weaknesses.
We’ll discuss our strengths and weaknesses on Thursday 08 December so make sure you’ve made notes and have your book for then.
Thanks to those parents who joined us for our weekly homework review. As I expected, there were a number of brilliant homeworks, celebrating the great learning we did throughout STEM week.
Here are a few of our favourites.
Great job, Year 6!
Children don’t have to be be in distress to find Childline information helpful.
This year is the 30th anniversary of Childline. It’s often thought that Childline is just a phone number, but their website is full of useful information in different formats. If you haven’t looked at the site, check it out, and encourage your child to visit, too. Remind children that they don’t have to be be in distress to find the Childline information helpful.
Why do children contact Childline?
The two most common reasons children contact Childline are low mood/unhappiness and family relationships. Childline made 4,005 referrals in 2015/16 on behalf of 3,609 children to external agencies, a 7% increase in referrals since 2014/15. There was a 49% increase in referrals about mental health since 2014/15. (Source: How safe are our children 2016, NSPCC, 2016)
Following last week’s disclosures, the importance of effective policies and procedures has been brought into sharp focus.
Sport is a terrific way for young people to develop their physical skills, team work and confidence. Thousands of people give up their time to coach and encourage youngsters, but occasionally incidents of grooming and abuse occur. Ensuring that children in sport are as safe as possible is much more rigorous than ever before.
Following last week’s disclosures by Andy Woodward, Steve Walters and Paul Stewart about the abuse they suffered as young footballers, the importance of effective policies and procedures has been brought into sharp focus. We have to remember that the abuse of children by adults they trust can occur in any context.
The NSPCC have dedicated resources for safeguarding children in sport.
Below is a Moortown Primary news story from 01 October on this subject:
It’s important that you check that any sports club or activity that your child attends has your child’s safety as its priority. Even if the club seems professional, there are four key questions that you should ask to make sure that they have all the necessary safeguarding measures in place:
1. Can I see your safeguarding policy?
A good organisation or club should have up-to-date safeguarding procedures in place and be happy to show you copies.2. Who is your Welfare Officer?
The club should have a designated Welfare Officer who is responsible for dealing with any safeguarding concerns that may arise.3. Do you follow safer recruitment procedures?
Every organisation providing sporting activities to young people must ensure they have the correct recruitment processes in place which includes interviews, references and have undertaken the appropriate police checks for their volunteers and staff.4. How do you promote the welfare of children and young people?
The club should be able to demonstrate how they actively promote safeguarding. This includes listening and responding to the views of children and young people.
Don’t be afraid to question. A good and professional organisation will already have procedures in place and will welcome the chance to demonstrate that they are providing a safe environment for your child. Download this leaflet for further guidance on safeguarding in sports.