This week’s been a busy one – the first of our two themed weeks in the year. This one’s been Me and My Money. Ask your child what they’ve been learning about. Our Living and Learning Curriculum Guide lists the learning that we’ve been focusing on in school – see page 17.

Sticking to Living and Learning…

Bullying, Odd Socks and STOP

Next Monday, 13 November, is Anti-Bullying Day. This year’s theme is ‘Make noise about bullying’ and we will be taking part in Odd Socks Day on this day.

Odd Socks Day raises awareness of our differences, individuality and personal choice. Your child can come to school wearing odd socks (with their uniform) to celebrate what makes them unique.

Check out this parent and carer pack about bullying.

Remember our two STOP acronyms about bullying:

• the definition: Several Times On Purpose
• the solution: Start Telling Other People

Attendance matters

The whole-school attendance figure for Autumn 1 half-term was 96.9%. The national figure from 11 September to 13 October 2023 was 93.7% – we’re over three percentage points higher than national! Thank you for making sure your child attends school as much as possible.

Here’s a breakdown for each class…

• Reception – 91.5%
• Year 1 – 96.8%
• Year 2 – 98.3% – brilliant!
• Year 3 – 98.4% – amazing attendance!
• Year 4 – 97.9%
• Year 5 – 98.6%
• Year 6 – 96.7%

Remember to check this new NHS website if you’re not sure whether your child is ill enough to miss out on school.

Rocking Rockstars

If your child’s in Year 3, 4, 5 or 6, they should be practising their times tables regularly at home – a little every day is best for most children. Children in Year 4 are expected to know their times tables with quick recall, and the matching division facts – check out this guide.

A good way to practise is to use Times Tables Rock Stars. The Times Tables Rock Stars website has just been updated, including:

• intro video
• parent guide
• the importance of times tables
• FAQs
• free downloadables

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

We’re really proud of our 2023 end of Key Stage 2 outcomes. They’re well above the national outcomes.

Recently released by Ofsted is another way to view the outcomes: using percentiles. This means, basically, putting all the schools in England in order from lowest to highest outcomes, and then dividing them into 100 similar performing groups, with the first percentile being the lowest performing groups and the 100th percentile being the top-performing group.

All of the outcomes listed below are regarded as being ‘significantly above national’ – considerably higher than the national assessment figures in 2023.

Attainment at expected standard

• Reading: 96th percentile
• Writing: 100th percentile
• Maths: 95th percentile
• Reading, Writing and Maths (combined): 98th percentile
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 100th percentile

Attainment at greater depth standard (the higher standard)

• Reading: significantly above national and in the 96th percentile
• Maths: significantly above national and in the 96th percentile
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: significantly above national and in the 98th percentile

Progress

• Reading: significantly above national and in the 91st percentile
• Writing: significantly above national and in the 98th percentile
• Maths: significantly above national and in the 95th percentile

Well done to all the pupils in the 2022-23 Year 6 class.

It’s our last Friday’s message of Autumn 1 half-term.

Today’s a training day in school. All the teachers across Sphere Federation have gathered together to learn more about Maths, PE and Art. They’re learning about it in a carousel of phases – Early Years and Y1,2 in one, Y3,4 in another, and Y5,6 in the third.

In last week’s message, we announced our new Junior Leadership Team. This week, we thought you might like to read some of their favourite aspects of Moortown Primary…

• YR Edie – “I like being a JLT leader and wearing my badge.”
• YR Gurjeevan – “I love Phonics!”
• Y1 Avraj – “Our PE lessons are fun because we get to play fun games.”
• Y1 Thomas – “I like school because we get to play dodgeball, basketball and dodgeball in the MUGA.”
• Y2 Isla – “I like learning new and tricky words in my writing lessons.”
• Y2 Henna – “I like assemblies because Mr Wilks asks us lots of questions and I can put my hand up and answer them.”
• Y3 Jayan – “I enjoy learning how to multiply and divide tricky numbers in Maths.”
• Y3 Ralph – “I like Wake Up Shake Up because we get to exercise and it’s like a mini PE session.”
• Y4 Luke – “I like Maths because I enjoy learning methods like column addition and subtraction.”
• Y4 Nate – “The kind environment makes me feel happy and relaxed.”
• Y5 Will – “I like the playgrounds because there’s lots of space to run around.”
• Y5 Ayanna – “I enjoy assemblies, especially Tuesday Viewsday because we get to learn about different topics.”
• Y6 Danny – “School trips are always entertaining and fun!”
• Y6 Penelope – “I loved reading with Reception because we got to mix with the younger children and learn about them.”

These comments now feature at the foot of the homepage of our website, too.

Leeds City Council Admissions Policy – consultation

Leeds City Council is running a public consultation on the 2025/2026 admission policy for Leeds community and voluntary controlled schools. You can share your views until 4 December. Share your views.

It’s been an extra long Autumn 1 half-term – eight weeks. Lots of children are tired – a break will be welcome to relax and recuperate. We hope you’re able to enjoy a longer weekend and a great half-term break.

This week’s message comes from Mrs Weekes…

Our Living and Learning message this week has been about respecting yourself. Have a conversation at home about this. What can your child feel especially proud of at home? And at school? Share examples of you feeling proud, too. How can feeling proud and believing in ourselves help us?

Junior Leadership Team

We’ve recently launched this year’s Junior Leadership Team election process. Our Junior Leadership Team (JLT) is one of the ways that children are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.

The election process allows children to develop an understanding of one of the British Values, democracy, with two representatives from each class chosen democratically by their peers.

Here are some of the qualities our current Junior Leaders think are needed to be an effective JLT member:

• use the 8Rs for learning
• be respectful and polite
• help others
• be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)
• share and be confident with your ideas
• let others speak
• accept the views of others even if you don’t agree
• be friendly and approachable
• follow our school rules and make good choices in class and around school

This week’s whole school homework is all about the election and democracy, ready for the elections next Thursday 19 October.

Talking of pupil voice…

The Big Ambition

The Children’s Commissioner for England has recently launched ‘The Big Ambition’ to hear directly from children, young people, and parents across the country.

This is an opportunity to hear from all children, in every part of the country and in every setting. The survey will be used to encourage policymakers to think about children and young people’s needs, to ensure children’s voices are reflected in the decisions that will affect them in years to come.

Encourage your child to take part in The Big Ambition survey. 

Measles

Measles cases are rising across the country.

• 9 out of 10 unvaccinated children can catch measles if someone in their class has it.
• 102,000 children starting school in England are at risk of catching measles.

Check your child is up to date with their MMR vaccinations.

Measles is highly infectious and if left unvaccinated nine out of ten children in a classroom can catch the disease if just one child is infectious.

 

I hope Friday 13th hasn’t been bad luck for you! Have a happy and healthy weekend.