Author: Mrs Taylor

New SEAL theme – Good to be me

Our upcoming Moortown’s Got Talent event showcases some of our children’s talents – showing it is ‘Good to be me’.

Our new SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme for this half-term, Good to be me, focuses on three main areas of learning:

•Self-awareness – feeling good about yourself, taking risks.

•Managing Feelings – understanding feelings, and why and how they lead us to behave the way we do – particularly the feelings of being excited, proud, surprised, hopeful, disappointed, worried and anxious and standing up for yourself –assertiveness skills, standing up for your views.

•Empathy

This theme explores feelings in the context of the child as an individual, developing self-awareness and helping the child to realise that it really is ‘Good to be me’. The theme is about understanding our feelings as well as considering our strengths and weaknesses as learners.

The key ideas and concepts behind this theme are:

Building emotional resilience

Children need to become resilient if they are to be healthy and effective life-long learners.

Coping with anxiety and worrying

Worry and anxiety are major features in many children’s lives. Many children have good reasons to be anxious. Exploring worries is important.

Calming down

Although getting stressed, anxious or angry are important and useful emotions, sometimes these feelings can be overwhelming.

Assertiveness

The theme encourages children to become assertive – that is, able to recognise and stand up for their rights while recognising and respecting the rights of others.

Understanding feelings and how they influence behaviour

The theme explores the relationship between ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ and the way each impacts on our behaviour. It looks at Flight or Fight rapid response to situations of threat and our responses to feeling threatened /under stress.

‘I respond to difficult situations in a positive way’ is the first SEAL statement for the theme of Good to be me.

 

Cross country

Recently some pupils from Key Stage 2 took part in the Leeds North East School Sports Partnership KS2 cross-country festival at Cardinal Heenan.  Here is a report from the event.

‘On Monday, I was really excited to go to the cross country. It was time for my race. My friend stood next to me.  Just then, the whistle blew.  I ran as fast as my legs could take me!  I slowed down but didn’t stand still.  I was near the back but that didn’t stop me.  Nothing could get in my way and I caught up with some others.  I sprinted to the end and passed a few people as I crossed the finish line.  My smile was from ear to ear.  I wasn’t near the front but I wasn’t the last.  Everyone cheered and patted me on the back.  I felt like I was first.’

Well done to all the children who took part.

 

KS2 tuck shop free portion

As an incentive for selecting the pre-pay option, we’re able to offer you one week free.

As an incentive for selecting the pre-pay option, we’re able to offer you one week free. Therefore, the cost for one portion of fruit from 06 January to 31 March 2015 inclusive (12 weeks) is £2.20 (11 x 20p) and the cost for two portions is £4.40 (11 x 40p). Please note that if you choose to pay in advance, your payment is non-refundable and must be made in cash with the exact money.

If you prefer your child to continue paying in cash on a weekly basis, that’s fine – we’ll continue to operate this system.

If you would like to pay in advance for your child to visit the tuck shop, please return the slip and money to the office by Monday 15 December 2014.

KS2 fruit tuck shop takes place every Tuesday morning playtime.

 

05 December 2014

The whole school homework this week is creative: children are invited to respond to something from either a cultural or spiritual perspective.

I can show what I know and think about something cultural.

We’d like children to present their responses about a recent book they’ve read, film they’ve watched, piece of art they’ve looked at, piece of music they’ve listened to – anything cultural in fact. We’re interested to read some sort of description (a summary, for example) and then your child’s opinions. This review might include pictures, an interview (your child could write a fictional script between himself/herself and the artist, for example), a letter (eg to or from a character, or perhaps even the author) – anything which might include your child’s responses!

However, your child might prefer to do the following:

I can show what I know about a festival.

Over the course of this term, some children in school will have celebrated a religious festival of some sort. This might have been

  • the Muslim festival of Eid ul Adha, this year in October
  • the Sikh and Hindu festival Diwali, also in October
  • the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, coming up in December
  • the Christian festival (of course, celebrated by many non-Christians, too) of Christmas
  • the Chinese New Year festival which next year will be in February

There are lots of other festivals and celebrations which you and your child together might want to reflect on, from the anniversary of the crowning of Selassie (a festival which might be celebrated by Rastafarians) to the Winter Solstice (a Pagan festival). You can also research more festivals.

We invite children to respond to the sentence above – they might include a recount (like a diary entry), pictures, an interview (perhaps in a script). Your child might also choose to research a completely unknown festival, or they might even think about creating a brand new festival, one that everyone will celebrate.

Whether inspired culturally or spiritually, your child’s homework is due on Wednesday 10 December.

Several times on purpose

During national anti-bullying week, School Councillors have revised our whole school definition of bullying.

Alongside our Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds themed week it has been national anti-bullying week.

Our school definition has been discussed by the School Council and has been amended, 10.11.14, to incorporate the stop message.

‘Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.’

Following a whole school assembly, Leeds Anti-Social Behaviour Team have delivered Show Racism the Red Card workshops across school and in class children have discussed these aspects of bullying:

  • Our revised definition of bullying (above)
  • Types of bullying – cyber-bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion and belief, special educational need and disability
  • What to do if children experience bullying. The key message is to tell someone (start telling other people)

Bullying resources can be found at…

Children tell us what they would do if they were bullied ‘…I would tell an adult, teacher or someone I trust.’

All classes have access to their class SEAL box or a whole school worry box where they can tell an adult any concerns about bullying or any other issues.

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds

Our themed week has provided lots of experiences to help us to have healthy bodies and healthy minds.

Our themed week, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds,  has been filled with visits and visitors providing a variety of experiences for the whole school.

We would like to thank the following for their support with our themed week:

Finally, thank you to all staff and pupils who have fully engaged with all the learning throughout the week.  Take a look at the Class News sections of the website to find out what each class have been doing.  We have enjoyed a fun-filled week.

For further information about healthy bodies and healthy minds have a look at the Kids health website and Leeds Let’s Change for advice on more local health issues.

 

And an extra note from me, Mr Roundtree: I’d like to also thank Mrs Taylor for continuing to organise wonderful, packed themed weeks around being healthy or staying safe.  She puts an incredible amount of effort into ensuring our pupils enjoy some wonderful learning opportunities from staff and visitors. 

Healthy bodies, healthy minds

What a fun filled week of learning about keeping healthy bodies and healthy minds.  We’ve had a variety of visitors throughout the week and we’ve been out and about too.  Year 1 have certainly been resilient and taken some safe risks as part of their learning. Take a look at what we’ve been doing…

Using the Eat well plate we learnt about the importance of eating lots of fruit and vegetable (5 a day).  Did you know this could be fresh, frozen, dried, tinned or fresh juice.  Ask your child how big a portion is.

We named lots of different fruit and vegetables, tasted some dried fruits and then learnt the bridge and claw cutting techniques to create our own Mr Potato Heads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day.  A healthy breakfast gives you energy to start your day and your learning.  We loved our porridge and banana slices – hopefully there have been some requests to have this at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When learning about ‘healthy’ drinks, we found out that water and milk are the best drinks to have to keep us hydrated.  We couldn’t believe the amount of sugar in some of these other drinks aimed at children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now time for some physical activity which also helped us to relax our minds – tai chi and karate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve been busy doing other physical activities too – dance at Allerton Grange and Year 6 took over our PE lesson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D:side visited us on Tuesday and we met Q who had come to found out about humans.  We learnt about parts of our body and their functions, healthy foods and the safe use of medicines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A highlight of the week was our Farm to Fork trail at Tesco.  Starting in the bakery we saw the process of making bread and we even brought some back to school to taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next was the fish counter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the cheese counter, we tried two different types of cheese: Wensleydale and Cheddar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We learnt about lots of different fruits and vegetables – some we had never seen before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally we took a look inside the fridges and freezers.  It really was freezing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re looking forward to seeing all your homework to show how to keep a healthy body and healthy mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

21 November 2014

Following our Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds themed week, our whole school creative homework this week is:

I know how to have a healthy body and healthy mind.

Each class has taken part in a variety of learning this week including a range of visitors to support our teaching of keeping healthy bodies and healthy minds.  These include physical activities such as karate, tai chi, tennis, Leeds United football, assemblies by Leeds Rhinos and Leeds anti-social behaviour unit, class talks by Heart Research UK, d:side (drug education), various parents with health-related jobs and visits to Tesco for their Farm to Fork scheme and Allerton Grange.  Class-based learning has also included dental health, hand-washing, the importance of sleep and breakfast, healthy eating and food preparation and mental health.

Your child could present this creative homework in a variety of different ways:

  • a quiz which tests the knowledge of other children
  • art work
  • poetry
  • a poster
  • writing: diary, story, letter, instructions, report
  • a rap
  • a mindmap
  • your own creative idea

We look forward to seeing your creative ideas to demonstrate how to keep a healthy body and healthy mind.

Please return this homework by Wednesday 26 November.

Gymnastics

Year 4, 5, and 6 have been working with gym coaches, Jane and Charlotte, from Temple Newsam gymnastics club.  This initiative is part of our investment of the PE government funding to up-skill class teachers in their teaching of gymnastics and provide high quality gymnastic sessions for our pupils.

For any children who want to develop their gymnastics skills further, Jane and Charlotte run after-school classes at their gym centres, Barwick village hall and Temple Moor high school.