Class News

Year 2 class assembly

Posted on Tuesday 11 February 2025 by Mrs Taylor

We’re looking forward to sharing our learning at our class assembly tomorrow.

We hope to see you there at 2:40pm.

 

Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day!

Posted on Tuesday 11 February 2025 by Miss Birch

Safer Internet Day – 11.02.2025!

The theme for this year’s national Safer Internet Day is:

‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online.’

Over the week, we’ve had the opportunity to think about any worries we might have about using the internet, becoming equipped with the skills to be safe on the internet but also about celebrating all the fantastic things technology can help us with.

I know that some things online may not be true.

We discussed ‘fake news’ and what this means. We decided that if something is ‘fake’, it is not real and ‘news’ is information that is important. Fake news can be misleading and can give people the wrong impression or information.

We worked in groups to decide whether certain information was reliable and trustworthy.

Here are ways we could check if something is real or fake:

  • Where has it come from?
  • Who has posted this information?
  • Is it a reliable news source like Newsround or First News?
  • Can we see it across multiple reliable sources?
  • Ask a trusted adult.

I know it’s important to check with a trusted adult before sharing personal information online.

Personal information is any information that is about who you are and what you do.

Websites and apps can collect our personal information and data and use it to provide services to us. For example, supermarkets might need your address if they are delivering your food or an app might need to know your age to know that you are old enough.

We need to keep this information safe whilst online and not give it to just anyone! We must always speak to a trusted adult before sharing any information online.

We watched the BBC live lesson for Safer Internet Day as well as our school learning.

Help at home: Can you think of at least 4 pieces of personal information that we should keep private?

Safer Internet Day

Posted on Tuesday 11 February 2025 by Miss Newman

Today was Safer Internet Day! This was a day designated to all things online safety.

In Year 4, we focused on some key elements of online safety:

  • Fake news
  • Phishing
  • Sharing personal information
  • Scams

We began by discussing fake news and how we can spot it. Not everything we read online is true and we must make sure we don’t trust everything we read. Questions we can ask when deciding if an information source is trustworthy:

  • Who has written it?
  • Do they have a good reputation?
  • Why has it been written?
  • Is it opinion or fact?
  • Is it high quality?

We then explored some different sources of information all about Roblox and had to rank them from most trustworthy to least trustworthy – using our questions to help us.

It’s really important to always speak to a trusted adult if you’re unsure about something you read online.

We joined a great BBC live lesson for Safer Internet Day all about scamming and phishing.

Phishing involves tricking someone into giving out personal information online by pretending to be someone else.

We learnt how to spot a phishing scam using a helpful acronym.

Whenever we suspect a phishing scam, we should always tell a trusted adult and then block and report the scammer.

Finally, we discussed how to create a safe password. Our recipe for a strong and secure password:

Ingredients:

  • 3 random words
  • at least 1 number
  • at least 1 symbol
  • some capital letters

Method:

  • Combine ingredients and mix up the order.

Help at home: ask your children how they can spot a scam online and what they should do if they find one.

New school meal menu

Posted on Monday 10 February 2025 by Mrs Taylor

After February half term, we start our new menu which runs to the end of the year. It can be viewed here. Please review this with your child to help with their selection at the start of the day. We continue to offer meat free Mondays.

Like most schools in Leeds, we use Catering Leeds to provide our school meal service. Cooked meals, including a vegetarian option, are prepared daily in our kitchen and children are offered a choice of main courses and desserts. Fruit is always available. Catering Leeds provides food which meets national Food Standards criteria.

The cost of a school meal is £2.75, which should be paid in advance on the School Gateway app. We’re happy to accept payment for the week, month, half term or term. We prefer two weeks’ notice to change lunch arrangements.

All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive free school meals. If your child is in Year 3 to Year 6, and you are on benefits or a low income, your child may be eligible for free school meals.

Some people like to choose a mix of school dinners and packed lunch for their child – that’s absolutely fine, as long as it’s a the same pattern of school dinners and packed lunches every week. Just let office staff know which days you’d like to opt in for a school meal in the week, and which days you’d prefer to provide your child with a packed lunch.

We continue to gather feedback from children on our school meals. Shortly, we will be reviewing our vegetable choices to help to eliminate waste.

If you have any feedback. please do get in touch.

 

Geography: predicting eruptions

Posted on Sunday 09 February 2025 by Miss Newman

We’re geographers!

In Year 4, our geography topic this half-term has been volcanoes. As you would’ve seen in our class assembly, your children have been loving it and have become volcano experts!

We began exploring a case study of Mount Vesuvius and its devastating eruption that destroyed the town of Pompeii. Despite this tragic eruption, roughly 3,000,000 people still leave near Mount Vesuvius so we wanted to find out why.

Your children began by analysing some data of the major eruptions of Mount Vesuvius and the human death toll. They discussed how over time, the number of deaths from each eruption have declined.

So, we wanted to discover why this was. To do this, we learnt all about the different techniques that can help us predict eruptions and therefore protect people from them.

  • Seismometer – used to measure vibrations in the Earth which could show when an eruption is coming.

A Willmore seismometer monitors earthquakes

  • Tiltmeters and GPS satellites – used to monitor changes in the landscape as volcanoes tend to swell near an explosion.

Tiltmeter - Wikipedia

  • Spiders – robots called spiders are used to measure the gases escaping from a volcano.

The Geology P.A.G.E.: Geological Movie Review of Dante's Peak - Part 4

  • Thermometers – used to measure the temperature of the ground as volcanoes get hotter when magma starts to rise through the main vent.

How Thermal Imaging Helps Scientists Study Volcanic Eruptions | Fluke

  • Pattern spotting -looking back at previous eruptions means scientists can start to spot patterns.

Help at home: ask your child what they think the most effective technique for predicting eruptions would be and why?

Science: What is a fossil and how are they formed?

Posted on Sunday 09 February 2025 by Miss Birch

Hello!

Our current science topic is fossils!

This week, we learnt about what a fossil is and how they are formed.

A fossil is the remains or trace of a living thing that lived a very long time ago. They can be fossils of animals, plants or even animal poo!

We decided that fossils are important because they tell us a lot about the past. For example, we know a lot about dinosaurs, what they looked like and even what they ate because of fossils that we have found.

We used this video to help us understand the process of fossilisation…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z2ym2p3

Mary Anning is our key scientist as she is known as one of the greatest fossil hunters to have ever lived. We’ve read about her as part of our reading fluency sessions. She found fossils in Lyme-Regis and she made amazing discoveries just from observing and studying them!

If you have a fossil at home that you are happy to bring into school, please do! We would love to have a look at different fossils in real life.

Help at home: When you are travelling somewhere, quiz each other on whether an object is living or not living and whether it could be made into a fossil! Is this pen living? No! Is this rock living? No! Is this apple living?

Living and Learning: Online Safety

Posted on Friday 07 February 2025 by Mr McGriffiths

This week we had a visit from D:Side Dave. He came to talk to us about staying safe online. The children were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic to share their thoughts and ideas.

The children discussed how people use the internet and devices they might have seen or used to get on the internet.

We learnt about 3 rules to help us keep safe online.

  1. Always ask an adult for permission.

The children were very clear on asking an adult before using a device connected to the internet.

2. Only talk to people you know.

Everybody knew to only talk to people online that they know in real life. We also went through some information that we would never share online like our name, school, address etc.

3. Stick to places that are just right for you.

Dave spoke to the children about sticking to websites and games that are suitable for our age. We talked about the PEGI ratings on video games and how games with a higher age rating are not suitable for us.

Help at home by discussing how to stay safe online and what your children should do if they see or hear anything that upsets or worries them.

Spring 1: Week 5

Posted on Friday 07 February 2025 by Kay Lowry

Thank you to all those that attended the fine motor morning on Monday. For those that couldn’t attend, here is the presentation.

Early Writing 2024

As always, my door is always open if you have any questions.

Please feel free to give feedback via the QR code.

Phonics

We have been moving swiftly through our phase 3 phonic sounds this half term. The children have been doing a great job at applying these sounds in both their reading and writing.

Help at home: by practising the trigraphs air,ear,oi and the tricky words – you, they,are,all.

Our book for this week is Supertato. The children have been inspired by this to create their own superheroes.

The children have been developing their fine motor and counting skills during challenge time this week.

Skipping school

Posted on Friday 07 February 2025 by Mrs Lake

Yesterday, Year 2 welcomed Katie from skipping school to Moortown to show us lots of new skills.

The children were fantastic. Every child was resilient and determined. They gave the skipping 100% effort and some made amazing progress in one afternoon.

We are practising in school regularly ready for our competition in June.

 

Help at home by practising at home. You can purchase skipping ropes from school.

Reception parent/carer survey

Posted on Friday 07 February 2025 by Lottie Flynn

At Moortown Primary School, we’re always keen to hear your views. We hope that you let us know any questions, comments and concerns (as well as causes for celebration!) whenever these crop up, but we like to gather the views more generally so we can keep reviewing and improving what we do.

This short survey is just for you to think about your child’s experiences in our Reception class. (There’s another annual survey at the end of the year for all parents/carers.) It’ll only take a few minutes or so. You’ve plenty of time to do this – the deadline is Friday 28 February 2025.

We can’t guarantee to meet the needs and wants of every parent / carer, but we do assure you that we consider all the points raised and aim to act on specific points that are raised by many, or a useful idea raised by just a few.

Previously, based on your feedback, for example, we alternated the days Stay and Learns were held – to give all parents an opportunity to attend.

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. We’re looking forward to reading your views.