Living and Learning: Penny trail
It was great to see the generosity and enthusiasm of the children during our Me and My Money themed week to try and fill their class collecting tubes. They were filling up by the end of the week.
On Friday, all the classes ventured into the playground to use their pennies to create a huge ‘Moortown’ penny trail. We had so many 1ps and 2ps that we ended up doubling and tripling up our coins.
The total amount raised for Yorkshire Air Ambulance was a fantastic £123.53 so thank you for your donations.
Anti-Bullying Day
Today was anti-bullying day. This year’s theme is ‘power for good’. Year 6 thinks that we can use our power for good by:
- not being a bystander
- standing up for ourselves
- being valiant and standing up for others
- telling a trusted adult
- blocking and reporting online
We watched a BBC live lesson which had a range of challenges to help us think about how to stop bullying.
We looked at the definition of bullying which our JLT members created:
“Bullying is when you hurt someone physically or emotionally (including online), Several Times On Purpose”
Whilst we hope this would never be the case in our school, we also discussed what you can do if you were to experience bullying at Moortown Primary School:
“Start Telling Other People. You could use the Living and Learning box, the worry box, tell a trusted adult, email [email protected] or even call Childline (0800 1111).”
The school came in odd socks today to show that we are all unique but should still all respect each other.
In class we discussed how to be respectful and safe online. The children suggested making sure to send kind messages to each other and only playing with people they know. We also discussed what to do if someone is mean online; Year 6 said you could step away and ignore, you could report or block and you can tell an adult or even the police if it is a serious incident.
Help at home: Who are the trusted adults your child could go to? What would they do if someone was mean online? What could happen if they were mean online?
Guided Reading Week 1
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 14th November.
Divine Freaks: up to page 67
Spirit Walker: up to page 66
How to Train your Dragon: up to page 75
The Considine Curse: up to page 63
The Switch: up to page 61
Me and My Money
This week, we’ve been learning all about money. We started off by looking at how online games and websites make money by trying to persuade you to stay online for longer. We created posters to show how they do this and how to stay safe online. The children discussed how the companies are making a bad moral choice as they know people should limit their screen time.
On Monday afternoon, we had a zoom with HSBC where they showed us how we can spot a fraudulent message about your banking accounts.
The children created a list of things to look out for to spot fraud:
- spelling mistakes
- a link to another website
- grammar mistakes
- tense mistakes
- a general ‘customer’ message rather than your name
- asking you to call a number immediately
Help at home: What might be fraudulent about these messages?
On Tuesday, we learnt how to convert currencies. Currency is the official money a country uses to buy things, like the British pound or the US dollar. The children looked at the exchange rate for the day and converted Euros and US Dollars into Great British Pounds; they estimated this using a formula on a calculator and then checked online for the accurate answer.
In the afternoon, we had a visit from Virgin Money. They have a fun, engaging project for primary school pupils designed to help kids draw out their enterprising skills, along with equipping them with important financial knowledge. They will create a business idea in small groups to try and create a profit. We will have a school fair where they will share what they have been doing – more to be revealed at a later date.
On Wednesday, we joined an online assembly about number confidence.
Help at home: Answer these questions and discuss how to calculate the answers.
In the afternoon, we learnt all about the differences of bank accounts and looked at the pros and cons of credit and debit cards.
Debit Cards
Credit Cards
We also looked at how to find the unit price for items. We do this to find the cheapest option.
On Thursday, we had some visitors from the Yorkshire Building Society to help teach us about budgeting. To help with this knowledge the children were given the task to plan a party with a hypothetical budget of £400. We discussed the difference between needs and wants and the difference between fixed and variable costs.
On Friday, we talked about taxes: what they are, why we have it and if we think if it’s important or not.
Help at Home: Discuss 3 things they learnt this week. What did they find the most interesting? What did they already know? When might they need to know this knowledge later in life?
Anti-bullying day/Odd socks day Monday 10 November
Guided Reading Information
This week, Year 6 have been given their guided reading books.
The class have been divided into groups and each group has been given a book to read at home. This will last for this half term.
During our Book Club sessions each Friday, each group will discuss what they have read so far and share their reading record activities related to their book. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the children to explore characters and storylines more than they might do normally!
Every Friday during Book Club, each group will be given a new page to read to for the next Friday. This information will be posted every week on our class news.
What to remember:
- Your child has a book that they need to read every week (up to a chosen point marked with a post-it note).
- The reading record activity needs to be completed using their new book.
- A comment from a grown up needs to be written in their reading record.
- Group reading books and reading records need to be brought in every Friday.
Help at home: listen to your child read their new book and ask questions about the book to help prepare them for class discussions.
I look forward to hearing the children’s discussions next week!
Do you have a child due to start primary school in 2026?
A video and FAQ’s are available for more support and guidance with applications.
Training day – Arty ideas !
We thought you’d enjoy hearing a little about what went on during our recent teacher training day! Part of the day was dedicated to developing our art knowledge and skills with our resident art teacher, Mrs Boulton.
Teachers got hands-on with paints, pastels and even soap! There was plenty of colour, laughter, and even a bit of friendly competition as we experimented with new techniques and ideas for upcoming art lessons.
The rest of the day focussed on other important areas too, including maths and inclusion. It was a full, productive day – and we left feeling ready and excited for the next half-term!
Half term basketball camps
As a partner school of City of Leeds Basketball Club and one of our after-school club providers, we’re pleased to share details of their half term camps held locally at Allerton High School.
Living and Learning: Me and my money themed week
