Have a happy and healthy holiday
It’s the summer holidays at last, so there are no homework or spelling activities. Enjoy the holidays instead!
Does your child spend less time outdoors than prison inmates? A survey suggests three-quarters of children do, as the time spent playing in parks, woods and fields has shrunk dramatically due to lack of green spaces, digital technology and parents’ fears.
Research shows that playing outdoors promotes social skills, improves vision, reduces stress, increases attention span and provides vitamin D.
What healthy changes are you making?
Last week, our SEAL statement was I can make a healthy change.
It was great to hear all the changes that children were making and also encouraging their family to take part in.
Here are some examples from Year 3.
Children were also encouraged to travel to and from school on foot, by bike or scooter. The class with the most healthy changes and sustainable journeys were Year 5 with over 200 counters!
Here are some suggested healthy changes for over the holidays.
- Try tennis for free – these sessions continue monthly during the summer and are held locally at Roundhay Park tennis courts.
- Local leisure centres offer a range of holiday activities.
- Maybe you took part in the recent Sky Ride event and want to know how to maintain your bike? Halfords are running free bike maintenance sessions.
- The Little Gym is now open locally at the Moor Allerton Centre offering classes and summer camps.
- The Change4Life Sugar Smart app allows you to check levels of sugar in foods. How much sugar is in your snack? Is it time for a change?
- Change4Life and Disney have teamed up again with a 10 Minute Shake Up summer adventure, inspired by Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory.
We hope you have a happy and healthy active break.
Thank You
What an emotional day! Luckily, we haven’t had a day as teary as this since the start of the year when 30 fresh-faced Year 3s realised that a strange, bearded man was going to be in charge of their learning – we’ve come a long way since then!
I want to thank all the children for the effort and dedication they have put into their learning this year. They have all grown so much emotionally, academically and physically (some have shot up this year) and I am proud to have had them as my first “proper” class.
I would also like to thank all the staff at Moortown for their support and patience as I have gotten into the swing of being a full time teacher!
Furthermore, I want to thank all you parents. The hours you put into inspiring your children to succeed have really paid off. You all have children that have a passion and curiosity to discover the world around them. You should be really proud of what you have achieved.
I’m saying goodbye to Tropical World and heading “dawn sarf”. Mrs McKeon and I are both continuing our teaching careers in Shropshire – a move we have been planning for some time.
School Saving Club
Our next paying in session for children who have opened a School Saving Club account is this week: Wednesday 20 July 3.15pm.
It’s not too late to open an account. Please ask at the office for an application form.
Sports day Tuesday 19 July
Preparations are under way for this year’s sports day to be held on Tuesday at Roundhegians Rugby Club. Access to Roundhegians will be the pedestrian entrance off High Moor Avenue.
Please note: this year, we’ve swapped the morning and afternoon so that KS2 children compete from 9.30am whilst YR and KS1 start at 1.15pm. The format will remain the same with various races and also field events for KS2. Medals will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd and all children will be rewarded for taking part.
Another change is that children should come to school in their PE kit and they will stay in their kit all day. This includes, if possible, their team t-shirt – blue, red, green or white. If your child doesn’t have a t-shirt in their team colour they should wear their normal PE kit and they will be given a bib matching their team.
They will also need their water bottle, a hat and sun cream applied before school.
We look forward to seeing you there to support.
£117.77 = lots of pennies!
Remember all the pennies collected by each class during the recent Money Matters themed week?
They were then used to create a penny trail in our playground.
After lots of counting (thank you to Mrs Russell), our total amount raised is £117.77.
Thank you for all your contributions. The total will now be split between our two school charities.
Digimap Steve Backshall competition
Thank you very much for your entries to the Steve Backshall competition.
Unfortunately, our entries were not chosen as winners. Copied below is their announcement of the winners:
Thank you so much for entering our Digimap for Schools Wildlife Maps competition to win a school visit from Steve Backshall. The standard of entries was amazing and has totally delighted us. The judging panel met at the Royal Geographical Society and whittled the entries down to a shortlist. Steve Backshall then selected the winner. The delay in responding to you all was caused by Steve’s busy filming schedule and I am sorry it’s taken so long to announce a winner.
It was a difficult task to judge from all of the excellent entries, and the team thoroughly enjoyed looking through the variety of wildlife photos and the questions relating to the photos. Finally, Mengham Junior School in Hayling Island was selected as the overall winner, and will soon have a visit from Steve Backshall. The wildlife presenter, naturalist and all-around adventurer will spend a morning with the school next week, taking the winning class on a nature walk and talking to the school.
There were also two runners-up, from St John’s Mead Church of England Primary School in Eastbourne and Kitebrook Preparatory School in Gloucestershire, who will receive signed books from Steve Backshall. More information about the winning entry is on our blog today https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/2016/07/digimap-schools-competition-winner-announced/#more-21740
Thanks to Jack Elliott in Year 6 for letting me know about the competition and asking if we could enter. I know that some people had issues getting logged into the program and uploading your entry. I’m sorry about this. The password on the letter was correct and I’ve given feedback to Digimap.
Olympic themed menu
To celebrate the forthcoming Olympics, Catering Agency will be running a special themed menu for school dinners on Monday 18 July. Please contact the office if your child would like a school dinner on this day.
Swimming awards
Well done to our Year 3 class who are coming to the end of their swimming lessons as part of our PE curriculum.
It’s been great to see how the children have developed in skills and confidence over the year with an amazing 60% achieving 25m. This is the requirement for the end of Key Stage 2.
There will be plenty of awards to be given out following our final swim session next week.
Don’t forget Leeds Let’s Get Active offer free swimming sessions at local leisure centres to keep working on those swimming skills over the Summer holidays.
What healthy changes can you make?
As part of our SEAL theme of Changes, the SEAL statement next week is I can make a healthy change.
During the week, children will be encouraged to make a healthy change. This could be physically or emotionally and may include:
- being active after school rather than being on a computer
- having water with a packed lunch rather than a sugary drink
- having a water bottle at school
- taking part in a Sports Leader session at lunchtime
- bringing a piece of fruit for KS2 playtime and Year 3 swimming
- dealing with a problem in a positive way
- going to bed earlier
Here are some suggestions that have been made this week.
Another healthy change may be travelling to school in a sustainable way – walking, scooting and biking.
Each class will be recording their healthy changes with a reward for the class with the most changes. All journeys to and from school by foot, bike and scooter can also be counted.
At the end of the week, the whole school homework will be our annual pupil health questionnaire, this should be returned to your child’s class teacher by Wednesday 20 July.
Change4life, whose aim is ‘to motivate and support millions more people to make and sustain changes that will improve their health’, also provides lots of ideas.
We look forward to hearing all about your healthy changes.
