Our last weekly message of the year comes from Mrs Weekes.

I hope you all have a relaxing break over the Christmas holidays and get to spend time with your families. We’ll see you back in school on Tuesday 03 January 2023.

I’d like to thank you for your continued support throughout 2022, and wish you happy times over the Christmas holiday period. All the best, David Roundtree.

Our message this week is has just three points, all of which are important…

Bank holidays and training days

On Friday 25 November, we told you about the additional bank holiday marking King Charles III’s coronation. This will be on Monday 8 May 2023.

This has had a knock-on effect:

1. It means all the Key Stage 2 tests (the Year 6 SATs) will take place one day later than originally planned
2. …and this means the training day on Friday 12 May is now on Monday 15 May instead.

We know this may cause some inconvenience – as you can see, the situation is beyond our control. Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

The dates of the Key Stage 2 tests are now:

On Monday, there was an online safety parent workshop – thank you to those who were able to attend. This week’s message reinforces the guidance that was shared. It comes from Mrs Weekes, the Safeguarding Leader across our three Sphere Federation schools…

You may think that we talk too much about Online Safety but the issues and challenges that our children may face change every day. It’s really important to keep online safety high on your radar so that, together, we can keep our young people safe.

Research shows that 44% of six year olds go online in their bedroom. If your child is accessing the internet on their own devices, it’s really hard to know what they’re seeing or what they’re doing. While it’s important that children have time to themselves and have some independence, it’s also crucial that we make sure they’re keeping safe. There are many ways you can do this but here are some top tips:

• Make sure that parental controls are enabled on devices and the household internet; there are many parent guides to help you do this if you’re not sure.
• If your child is using a device, make sure they’re in the same room as you or other responsible members of the family – they shouldn’t be alone in their bedroom.
• Show an interest in what they’re doing online – every now and again, ask them what they’re watching or doing.
• Don’t assume that sites you use are ok – many children are seeing inappropriate content on YouTube so make sure you know what they’re watching.
• Check their devices on a daily basis to see which websites they’ve accessed.

Here’s some further guidance for some particular issues…

Inappropriate content

Despite the controls you put in place, your child might still view something that’s inappropriate. It’s important that you’re able to deal with this situation if it arises.

• Have an age appropriate conversation and explain that there are some things online that are for adults only and if they see something that upsets them online, they should always come and tell you.
• It may be a good time to help your child think critically about the images they see online and offline.
• Try to give them coping strategies to help them deal with any online content that they’re uncomfortable with.
• Reassure them that they can always come to you and that they aren’t at fault.
• Be prepared that they may have questions about sex and relationships or other issues.
• Discuss the problem with other parents to share experiences and solutions.
• Block any inappropriate content.

Social media

Many of our children are accessing social media platforms on a daily basis. If your child has social media accounts, it’s important that you know some facts about these apps.

• Check age limits – the majority of social media have a minimum age of 13 years (WhatsApp has a minimum age of 16 years and TikTok has just introduced a minimum age of 18 years for any live posts).
• Make sure privacy settings are on and that location services are turned off
• Help your child to be a good role model online – think before they post.
• Make sure they know no to share personal information – maybe even create an alias so they’re not using their real name.
• Use a strong password and different passwords for different accounts.
• Don’t accept or send friend requests to anyone they don’t know.

Screen time

There are benefits and challenges with screen time. Make sure the rules in your house are clear, balanced and work for your family. Here are some suggestions:

• Create screen time rules together.
• Take an active role in their digital life.
• Use tools to manage their screen time and access to media – even as simple as setting a time limit and an alarm.
• Encourage them to be selective in how they spend their time online and offline.

And finally…

Always ask:

• What’s your child seeing or doing online?
• Who might your child be chatting to online?
• How might their online experiences affect them?
• Check out this guide to social media and how it links with mental health – it links nicely with our current Living and Learning theme (mental health), too.

If you’ve any specific concerns, do ask us. Let’s work together to keep our children happy and healthy in every way.

This week’s message is in six parts: an important announcement, a celebration, a reminder, a question, a word about Ofsted, and an article to support your child at home.

May’s extra bank holiday and training day

This morning, we’ve received an important email that affects the training day we had planned for Friday 12 May and the Key Stage 2 SAT tests:

An additional bank holiday in honour of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III will take place on Monday 8 May 2023. As this date had previously been announced as the first day of the 2023 key stage 2 (KS2) test week in England, a change to the KS2 test schedule next year will be necessary.

Ministers have considered the situation carefully and have decided that KS2 tests will take place in the same week with tests following the usual order but each taking place one day later than originally planned.

This means that the tests will now run from Tuesday to Friday, and this has a knock-on effect on Friday’s training day which needs to be re-arranged. We know this may cause some inconvenience – as you can see, the situation is beyond our control.

We’re exploring ways to overcome this problem (such as to move the training day one day later, too, so it would be on Monday 15 May). We’ll confirm details as soon as we can.

Times tables

In last week’s message, we talked about the Year 4 multiplication tables check.

Yesterday, the government released data about the 2022 check – the one that our current Year 5 pupils took in June.

Nationally, 27% of pupils scored 25 out of 25. At Moortown Primary, 40% scored top marks.

Nationally, the average score was 19.8 out of 25. The average at Moortown was 22.6.

Well done to the Year 5 pupils for such a great achievement, and thank you to adults at home for helping your child to practise their times tables. (Next step is to continue to practise – a little and often – to maintain that rapid recall!)

Top topic

Next Friday from 2.30pm, teachers and children will welcome you to the class to share the great learning they’ve been doing during Topic Time.

This is a drop-in session – come and have a look at your child’s topic learning from 2.30pm.

(Parents of children in Reception should look out for other ways they can join in with their child’s learning journey.)

A question of behaviour…

All schools in England are required to have a Behaviour Policy. We’re currently reviewing our Positive Relationships Policy (that’s the name we use for our Behaviour Policy).

We usually ask about behaviour in our annual survey of parents – this year, 100% of of you who expressed an opinion said you were happy with how we make sure our pupils are well-behaved.

During our review, it’d be great to hear from you. If you’ve any particular views or suggestions, please let us know: [email protected]

Ofsted

As you’ll know, we have an outstanding judgement from Ofsted. This was from quite a while ago (2011, to be exact) – the reason for this is that schools judged to be outstanding have been exempt from routine inspections. That’s no longer the case – outstanding schools are now inspected, just like other schools – and there’s now been a full year of inspections.

This BBC article reports that 80% of the re-inspected schools previously outstanding are now rated ‘good’ or ‘requires improvement’ (with a very small number judged ‘inadequate’).

At Moortown Primary, we’re expecting an Ofsted inspection at some point over the next year. We’re confident that whatever the outcome of the inspection, we continue to be a happy and healthy and great place to learn!

Finally this week, a message from Mr Catherall, one of our English leaders, about effective speaking and listening…

Support your child’s oracy

In Sphere Federation schools, we place a high emphasis on oracy: the ability to communicate and express yourself effectively. It’s about having the vocabulary to be able to say what you want to say and the grammatical awareness to structure your thoughts in a logical way.

Oracy is a crucial life skill:

• it increases engagement in learning
• it improves academic outcomes
• it fosters wellbeing and confidence
• it supports transitions and enhances employability
• it equips students to thrive in later life
• if all children develop good oracy skills, it promotes equality in society

How can you help at home?

• Be an oracy role model: model good speaking and listening skills to your
  child, and when they’re in ear-shot.
• Don’t ‘dumb down’ your language: try not to avoid using more complex
  vocabulary. Instead, use complicated language but then succinctly explain
  what it means.
• Complete the Talk Time homework we provide each week: these are a great opportunity to have a conversation and model good oracy skills.

Have a go this weekend!