Big Walk and Wheel
Get set… we’re taking part in Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel 2022 (the new name for Big Pedal), the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge. The challenge runs from 21 March to 1 April. It’s free and we would love everyone to be involved.
What do you need to do?
Encourage your child(ren) to walk, scoot or cycle to school on as many days as possible during the event. Park and stride (parking your car further away from school, for example, Marks and Spencer car park and walking, scooting or biking the final part of the journey) also counts.
Why we are taking part
As a happy and healthy school, Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is a great way to build physical activity in children’s daily routine which is important for their physical health and mental wellbeing.
Active school runs also help to reduce congestion and air pollution outside the school gate. A 2021 YouGov study showed nearly half of UK children worry about air pollution near their school. Children thought active travel was the best away to bring down these pollution levels.
Plus there are some great prizes to be won every day if we get enough children taking part!
Useful resources
To help you prepare, Sustrans has developed a handy free guide packed with advice, games and challenges to help you have hassle-free cycle, walk or scoot to school.
Download your free family guide here.
We are gymnasts!
Last Friday, Year 5 completed a series of gymnastic challenges in the hall.
Check out the pictures below to see some graceful gymnasts!
Cross country runners
Well done to pupils who took part in the Leeds Schools Athletics Association Saturday morning race at Middleton Park. These races are open to Key Stage 2 children. This was the final race for the season but we will continue to offer these races next year.
It was great to hear they were encouraging each other at the event. Great work!
World Book Day
Check out Y5’s costumes for World Book Day! Can you recognise any of the characters?
Cross country opportunity
We are pleased to invite KS2 children to compete in an upcoming cross country race as part of the Leeds Schools Athletics Association cross country programme of Saturday morning races. Children will compete against pupils from other Leeds schools.
The race will take place at 10am on Saturday 5th March at Middleton Park (next to the John Charles Centre for Sport, Middleton Grove, Leeds, LS11 5DJ).
There are opportunities for Year 3 and 4 girls and boys (under 9) to race 900m and Year 5 and 6 girls and boys (under 11) to race 1500m. Once your child has completed their race, you are free to leave the event.
Please note, parents/carers are responsible for taking and supervising their child/children.
If your child is interested in taking part, please respond to the the message recently sent out.
We look forward to pupils representing our school at this event.
If you are unable to take part in this event, you may want to join the free Sunday morning junior parkruns held locally at Roundhay Park, Temple Newsam and Boddington.
Half term Dog’s Trust workshop
Rachael, from the Dog’s Trust in Leeds, visited all classes last week in our Staying Safe themed week.
She is holding a half term workshop next week and she would like us to share this with our families.
Contact Rachael, by email, if your child is interested in attending.
Living and Learning: Safety Week
This week, Moortown Primary School has been taking part in Safety Week.
Year 5 have been learning lots about different ways that they can stay safe both inside and outside of school.
Some highlights include…
A visit from Dogs Trust informing us how we stay safe around dogs – be that our own dog or a dog we might not know.
Road Safety learning:
Safer Internet Day: a whole day dedicated to learning about how we can stay safe online. The children really impressed me with their knowledge about how they stay safe online.
A visit from Moortown Fire Service where the children were able to ask questions about how to prevent a fire and stay safe in the event of one. Something that really resonated with the class was the importance of sleeping with your door closed. Ask your child if they can remember why this is important.
And a quiet half an hour where we read this book about consent.
If you or your child have any questions about anything we have discussed this week please don’t hesitate to ask.
Evolution
In Science, Year 5 have been learning about evolution and how things adapt over time.
We learnt about Darwin’s finches – a study conducted by Charles Darwin where he explained why different birds had different beaks. Darwin hypothesised that birds with long, pointy beaks had adapted in order to eat insects. On the other hand, birds with shorter, sharp beaks had adapted to eat hard fruits.
We conducted an experiment to see which beaks would be better suited to eat sunflower eats. We used chopsticks to represent the long, pointy beaks with chopsticks and tweezers to represent the shorter, sharp beaks.
Ask your child which instrument was better for picking up the sunflower seeds and therefore what we concluded from this experiment!
Living and Learning: Identity
Over the past two weeks, Year 5 have been learning about identity. Identity is what makes you, you!
Year 5 were great at explaining the similarities and difference between themselves in a respectful way.
Last Friday, we also took part in Identity Day. This was an amazing opportunity to show who we are as people by coming into school wearing clothes that show a community we are a part of.
All the children were extremely proud of their identity – as they should be! And I was proud of them, too, for expressing themselves so confidently but respectfully with their classmates.
Great job, Year 5!
Spring term after-school clubs
After-school clubs will be restarting next week and they will run for eight weeks until the Easter break. Places can be booked via Gateway.
Our physical activity clubs continue to be heavily subsidised through the investment of our PE and Sport Premium.
Please contact the office if you have any queries about the clubs or the booking system.
