Author: Mrs Taylor

08 December 2017

The homework this week is creative and should be returned to class by Thursday 14 December.

The 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
  • the Sikh and Hindu festival Diwali
  • the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, coming up in December
  • the Christian festival (of course, celebrated by many non-Christians) of Christmas
  • and 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.  You can 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.

Road Safety Pantomime ‘The Gift of Life’

Yesterday, all pupils watched this lighthearted show that delivered important road safety messages.

Pupils joined Santa and Rudolf as they travelled back in time to prevent young Neil Downe from being knocked down. Whilst being fun and interactive, the pantomime covered the following road safety themes:

  • the Green Cross Code
  • seat belts
  • be bright, be seen
  • safer cycling

Ask your child about the performance and what messages they took away.

Cross Country qualifier

Congratulations to Grace in Year 6 who finished 6th in the Year 6 girls Leeds East North East Cross Country race at Cardinal Heenan school last week to qualify for the Leeds final next year.

Well done to all children who represented school in traditional cross country weather.  For some of the children, this was the first time they have taken part in a competitive event and spirits were still high despite the weather.

Mathletics stars

Mathletics is a great resource that can support maths learning at home.  Children all have login details, to gain access at home, and can complete tasks, based on learning in class.  Currently the tasks are money related.

There are a number of children who, on a weekly basis, complete some or all of their tasks.  Well done to Aadil, Christina, Hashim, Saahir, Sasha and Vedant.

We realise that not all children will have access to Mathletics at home so please let us know if this is the case so your child can access Mathletics at school where possible.

Finally, if you need us to resend your child’s login details, please let us know.

Packed lunches

On Monday, Caitlin Kitson, Nutritionist and Healthy Eating Adviser, delivered a whole school healthy eating assembly.  The main focus was the importance of healthy packed lunches.

We talked about the different food groups on the Eatwell Guide, why different proportions of each food group are important for our bodies and how to achieve this in a packed lunch.

It was great to hear the children’s excellent knowledge of the Eatwell Guide when answering Caitlin’s questions.

At Moortown Primary, our packed lunch guidance includes:

  • information about the different food groups
  • how to put together a healthy, balanced packed lunch
  • links to recipes and ideas for healthy packed lunches

Following the assembly, all children were given a copy of our packed lunch guidance and the Eatwell guide.

As an alternative to packed lunches, school meals, including a vegetarian option, are prepared daily in our kitchen and children are offered a choice of main courses and desserts.  Children select their main meal choice at the start of the day.  Catering Leeds provides food which meets national Food Standards criteria.  School meals can be combined with packed lunches.

Free school meals are available to all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.  They are also available to some older children according to family income.  It’s important to register for entitlement to free school meals, even if your child has a packed lunch or is in a younger class – this is so we can receive additional funding (called the pupil premium) which we can use to help your child.

What is our new school charity?

Part of our Who do you think you are? themed week was to learn about charities and how we can support them.

Our previous school charities, Leeds Mind and Yorkshire Air Ambulance Money, will benefit from £309.97 and £508.88 respectively as a result of fundraising and donations.  Thank you.

It is now time to change our school charity.  Each class discussed a range of charities, researched by the children for their homework, and voted on one charity they wanted to put forward for the school councillors to decide on.

Here were the class choices:

  • Year 1 Plastic Oceans Foundation
  • Year 2 Barnado’s
  • Year 3 RSPCA
  • Year 4 St Gemma’s Hospice
  • Year 5 Make a wish
  • Year 6 Diabetes UK

The final decision was a vote by the school council and the winning charity for 2017-2018 was Make A Wish.  We will support this charity for one year.

We look forward to welcoming representatives from the charity in January for an assembly where we will hear more about their valuable work.

Money, money, money

Year 2 are currently learning all about money and are working on the following Maths objectives (to be achieved by the end of the year).

26. recognise and use symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p); combine amounts to make a particular value
27. find different combinations of coins that equal the same amounts of money
28. solve simple problems in a practical context involving addition and subtraction of money of the same unit, including giving change

To support your child at home, give them the opportunity to count money by combining different coins/notes.  If you receive a supermarket or shop flyer in the post, let your child have a look at the cost of the items and attempt to add some of the amounts together.

Year 1 homework

Year 1 had a great discussion about different charities following their talk time homework.  It was great to hear about such a variety of good causes covering many areas from homelessness to giving shoes to children in Africa.  Some children also selected charities we had worked with in our themed week, for example RNIB.

Once we had come up with our full list, we held a vote for the charity we wanted to be the Year 1 choice.  Harry’s choice of Plastic Oceans Foundation was chosen by the children.  He was very passionate about this!

Keeping safe in the community

Year 1 became police officers for the afternoon during our themed week and were under the instruction of PCSO Michelle.

After an initial safety briefing, it was time to go outside school to learn about road and pedestrian safety in our immediate area.  Then, all children had the chance to check whether drivers were following the new 20mph speed limit along Shadwell Lane by using the hand held speed gun.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news with children catching drivers in excess of the 20mph limit.  We talked about the reasons for the new speed limit and the children were very concerned that not all cars were travelling as slow as they should have been.

Thank you to PCSO Michelle for working with us.  Make sure you say hello if you see her in the community.

24 November 2017

For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is creative and is due in on Thursday 30 November.

Following our whole school themed week this week, Who do you think you are?, children should consider the following statement by showing what they have learnt.

I know what community is.

As a guide, children could think about these aspects.

  • What is community?
  • Where is their community? Children could consider their school community to local community to wider community.  Moortown Community Group has lots of information about our local community.
  • Who is in their community?  Children could consider visits/visitors during our themed week.
  • Why is community important? Children could consider the terms ‘identity’ and ‘diversity’ discussed during our themed week.
  • How can we be a good citizen in our community?

This could be done in any creative way.

  • A story
  • A poem
  • A map
  • A comic strip
  • An advert
  • An interview
  • A game
  • A model

…or any other creative ideas!