Let us entertain you!
Today, the whole school were invited to watch some of our talented musicians in action. Year 4 showcased their skills on the ukulele. Having learnt a few simple chords and some basic strumming patterns, the children confidently played some popular tunes for us to enjoy. 
Across the year groups, we have a selection of children who are learning to play the guitar. This group of musicians also demonstrated their skills.
Well done all!
Money Week – It’s party time!
Today, Year 4 took part in a Money Sense workshop. The children were asked to plan and organise a party.
Learning objectives:
• Identify what makes a good birthday party
• Plan and organise a party by making
decisions about what to include within
a set budget
• Identify costs and show an understanding
of value for money
For this lesson, we were joined by a volunteer from a bank. After hearing about her role, the children were able to ask our visitor some questions.
What’s it like working in a bank?
Do you need to be good at communicating with people?
How did you get into banking?
Why do people use banks?
Can people come to you for advice about money?
How is the bank, and its workers kept safe?
Year 4 worked in groups through a sequence of tasks. 
Firstly, they discussed some questions.
How can birthday parties be different?
How can they be similar?
What might people do at a birthday party?
What is the best birthday party you have
been to? Why was it so good?
Have you been to a party you didn’t enjoy?
Why didn’t you enjoy it?
Then, the class were encouraged to consider: 
Who will you organise a party for? Why did
you choose this child?
What type of party might they like? Why do
you think that?
What ideas do you have for a great party?
Why would these things make it a
great party?
Following this, how will we plan the birthday party?
When the groups had agreed a theme for their chosen child’s birthday party, they then needed to decide what will happen at their party and what they will need to provide to make it a success. Decisions were made as a group and roles were delegated.
What would you like to happen
at this party? Why?
What costs might be involved when organising this party?
How many people will you invite and how will you invite them? What is the cheapest way to do this? Why do you think that?
What will you give people to eat and
drink? Why?
Where could you buy the food and drink?
How will you know the best prices for the
items you need?
Where will you buy the cake? Will this provide
the best value? How do you know?
What type of entertainment will you provide?
How much will this cost? Could you have provided this entertainment any cheaper?
Using a price list activity sheet, each person had to fully cost the aspect of the party they were responsible for. As they were to be competing with the other groups, the children had to budget well to provide the best-value party. 
Finally, each group presented their work to the rest of the class. All the groups were under the given budget. Throughout this lesson, it was great to see some superb teamwork and lots of the children challenging themselves with the various mathematical calculations.
Walk to School Week competition update
For pupils who are completing the #WalktoSchoolWeek story this week, as school is closed tomorrow, the missing words for Thursday AND Friday can all be found on Friday in the usual locations. Happy Walking!
Remember to bring in your completed sheet on Friday to be entered in the prize draw for four £10 vouchers.
Big Pedal
Our involvement in the recent Sustrans Big Pedal initiative has been recognised in the latest Leeds City Council Influencing Travel Behaviour newsletter.
Thank you to all the schools who took part in The Big Pedal this year. An amazing 2299 schools across the country took part and 36 of them were from Leeds which is brilliant!
Well done to Moortown Primary School who came 38th out of 500 in the small school category!
It’s great to see such positive engagement in these active travel initiatives to ensure families have a healthy and active start to the day. Thank you to Moortown Living Street group for their support with our active travel initiatives.
Living and Learning: MoneySense
Over this week, we are holding MoneySense sessions for each class with support from volunteers from NatWest.
MoneySense is an impartial financial education programme that uses real-life experiences to help young people develop good money habits.
Catherine from NatWest, supported our ‘How we use money’ Year 1, 2 and 3 sessions yesterday and gave some great feedback.
Money Matters themed week – School Savings Club
As it is our Money Matters themed week, we are holding an information and paying in session tomorrow after school for the School Savings Club pupil accounts.
Jordan Francis, from Leeds Credit Union, will be available to give more details and hand out application forms for these pupil accounts. As there is not minimum deposit requirement, it is a great way for your child/children to learn the importance of money. Paying in sessions are held every half term.
As always, if you are unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be paid in, to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Mrs Tiffany.
Girls Golf Rocks
Would your child like to give golf a try?
Here’s details of a FREE local project targeting girls golf taking place in the half term break.
Geography: physical and human aspects
As we begin our next topic (Extreme Earth), Year 4 studied the layers that make up planet Earth. Then, we boarded an underground explorer and ventured deep below our feet. The children were fascinated by just how much goes on beneath us. Using a peach, we compared the internal structure of both the earth and the fruit. 
Following this, we went on to compare Leeds with the coastal town of Whitby. Using an atlas, map or globe, the children were asked to locate both places.
Remembering some prior learning, the class used some basic OS map symbols and the eight points of a compass to find and describe the whereabouts of each location.
I found the river that runs through Whitby. It is called the river Esk and runs for 45km. – Albie.
Albie was given the challenge to find the start and end points of the river. He tracked the flow of the river using Google Maps and commented on some of the geographical features alongside the water. Well done, Albie!
We discussed industries in both locations and Year 4 were able to confidently described aspects of human geography (eg land use, types of settlement) and physical geography (eg rivers and mountains, coastlines).
Living and Learning: I recognise the importance of money.
In preparation for our ‘Money’ themed week, Year 4 used their session today to discuss the importance of money. Lots of the children were able to recognise the reasons as to why we need money.
We need money to live.
Money is earnt.
When you are older, you need to pay your bills.
Saving money is important.
You can buy nice things.
It is good to see how much different things cost.
Money is not just cash.
Following this, we then thought about whether or not money makes people happy.
I think lots of money would make you happy.
What if you have money but no family or friends?
Money can help to make people happy because they might not worry about it.
Money can’t buy happiness.
Earning money might make some people feel happy because they have worked for it.
Well done, Year 4! Some very mature suggestions here.
Our ‘Money’ themed week begins on Monday 20th May.
What makes a good sports leader?
Thank you to our current Year 6 Sports Leaders who have fulfilled this role for the past year. It’s now time to train up some new leaders to take over lunchtime physical activity sessions.
Year 5 were invited to sign up for the roles and we had some great applications.
Today, fifteen Year 5 pupils began their training to gain their Mini Leaders Award. As well as learning a variety of physical activities, the group worked on their communication, explanation and organisational skills. After their second training session on Friday, they will be ready to lead sessions to the rest of the school from next week.
Walk to school week
To celebrate Walk to School week, next week, we’re working with Moortown Living Streets to run a fun daily quiz to help get more feet on the street! It is also our Money Matters themed week so what a better way to travel to school for free!
We all know that reducing school gate traffic improves air quality and safety and by walking some or all of the way families benefit from a healthier and more pleasant start to the day.
During Walk to School Week, Living Streets Moortown will be hiding ten words along the routes to school. See your child’s entry form for more details.
Find them each day to fill in the blanks and complete the story – remember to take a pen or pencil! There are also some daily ACTIONS for you to try – see if you can do them all!
At the end of Walk to School Week, your child should hand their completed story in to their class teacher for a chance to WIN one of four £10 Love to Shop vouchers!
