Author: Mr Roundtree

Another well done for Moortown!

It’s always good to have our teaching and learning evaluated by someone from outside school so they can provide a fresh pair of eyes…

We have a new School Improvement Advisor (SIA). This is someone from the Local Authority who visits us from time to time and monitors, evaluates and provides any support we may seek. Here are some of the words and phrases that help to sum up his report:

  • ‘every inch of space available [is used] to create an effective and 21st century learning environment’
  • ‘professional approach’
  • ‘consistency is a key feature…displays, routines and learning behaviour’
  • ‘bright and imaginative displays captured the current theme’
  • ‘purposeful application of knowledge and skills’
  • ‘sound teacher and other adult relationships had secured the best in terms of learning behaviours from the pupils’

The School Improvement Advisor saw two classes in particular. In Year 5, he saw ‘skillful’, ‘impressive’ teaching with ‘a natural command’ and, from the children, ‘some high quality speaking and listening’. In Reception, he praises the ‘highly effective indoor and outdoor areas … imaginatively created’ and the children’s engagement and ‘purposeful learning’.

He was also impressed by the quality of support staff: ‘…skilfully held the children’s attention in an outdoor PE session’.

 

04 November 2016

This week’s IXL homework is based around spelling and sentence work.

  • Greek and Latin roots: PP.2 
  • Sentence, fragments and run-ons: C.2

IXL is a programme we’re trialling to decide whether we want to purchase it for use by school. The children all have log-ins which are written in to their homework books. If they then go to Y6 English, there will be a section which correspond with the subheadings above and an activity with the corresponding code. I’ve shown the children which activities they’ll be doing and how to get to it.

For IXL, it doesn’t ask a number of questions, instead the activity is complete once 100 points are achieved. Questions remain easier if mistakes are being made and, whenever a mistake is made, it explains what the mistake was. If children are answering questions correctly, they will get harder.

  • run ons = squashed sentences

04 November 2016

This week, it’s time to get creative with Maths.

What are fractions?

We’re starting a unit on fractions which will keep us busy for the whole half term! On Thursday, we created a word study on the word fractions, thinking about what it means, how we could represent it as a picture, how it links to other maths and much more. Now it’s the children’s turn to be creative with it and answer the question in any way they choose. Here are a few ideas from me:

  • a game involving adding fractions
  • photographs of examples of fractions around the house or situations in which they might be used
  • a story all about a family of fractions
  • a page which teaches people how to do a certain skills to do with fractions

Save the Scholes swimming pool

Help to save the swimming pool at Scholes Primary, one of the Sphere Federation partner schools.

Scholes (Elmet) Primary is one of our Sphere Federation partner schools. It’s also very unusual in that it has its own swimming pool. It’s a small, shallow one, but is great for introducing younger children to swimming. Sadly, the pool has been closed for essential maintenance and a massive fundraising campaign is underway. We need you now to vote for the school to benefit from a grant.

From today, voting opens for the Aviva Community Fund, and the campaign to Save Scholes Pool is one of the potential grant winners. If the school gets the most votes we could be granted between £5,000 and £10,000. Please vote here.

21 October 2016

It’s half-term, so there’s no homework. Enjoy the holiday instead: hunt down a collection of chestnuts on a walk at Roundhay Park, enjoy a cinema trip on a damp day, go further afield and visit somewhere new…

Whatever you do, have a good break.

The first half term

Well, the first half term of Year 6 comes to an end and what a great one it’s been!

We finished our planes and, although we came up against a few design faults, we were really proud of our finished products.

We’re about half way through our class novel, The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, and are enjoying it whilst learning lots of news, words and facts about the war as we read.

Perhaps most of us would say the highlight of the term has been completing our independent projects which the children took great ownership of. They produced some incredible pieces of work too.

After the half term, our topic continues for another three weeks. Having sent an email to my grandma this week, we’ll be hoping to read her response; as we all love an opportunity to dress up, we’ll experience a day as war time children; and we’ll get the chance to finish the class novel and find out how it ends – though we do all know it’s a sad one.

Have a lovely break and, although there’ll be no homework, it’s our class assembly when we come back (which we hope to see you at – 02 November) so take the time to see whether your child knows their lines and what they’ll be doing for it.

Anxiety in young people

Some resources to help parents cope with anxious children.

As we approach the break, Halloween seems to have come early, with the ‘clowns’ craze around the country. Many children find Halloween a terrifying time in any case, particularly young people on the autism spectrum. You might find these resources useful in helping children manage their anxiety:

Anxious Child (Mental Health Foundation)
Anxiety and Phobias (Young Minds)
Worries and Anxieties (Royal College of Psychiatrists)

The underwear rule

The NSPCC has launched the second phase of the Underwear Rule campaign, designed to encourage and empower parents of 5-11 year olds to talk to their children about keeping safe from sexual abuse.

The NSPCC has launched the second phase of the Underwear Rule campaign, designed to encourage and empower parents of 5-11 year olds to talk to their children about keeping safe from sexual abuse.  The Underwear Rule is an easy way to teach children that their body belongs to them and to talk to a trusted adult if they ever feel scared or upset.

The aim of the campaign is to reach even more parents to increase their confidence and knowledge in how to broach this tricky subject in an age appropriate way using the Underwear Rule.

NSPCC research shows that the proportion of parents who had spoken to their children about keeping safe from sexual abuse rose significantly from 46%, before the first phase of the campaign last summer, to 64% afterwards. They now want to build on that progress and reach even more parents, giving them the tools to have simple conversations with their children about keeping safe from abuse.

Ensuring that parents and carers teach their children the Underwear Rule, and that keeping safe from abuse – like the Green Cross Code – becomes an integral part of parents’ conversations about safety with their children, is vital in the fight against child abuse.

14 October 2016

This week’s homework is Talk Time and will be discussed on Thursday 21 October.

You’re completing an independent project at the moment. Discuss what you’re doing at home and think about how it’s going, whether you’re enjoying it and how you could work more effectively.

We’ll then use this discussion to reflect on our independent learning in class.