Our homework policy
Our Homework Policy was written to support and engage as many learners as we can, and to provide opportunities for others – family, friends – to support in a positive, constructive way. It’s great to see more and more children are putting more and more effort into their homework. Recently, a few parents have asked about expectations. I hope the following will clarify what we can expect and what you can expect:
Talk Time
Teachers have noticed that, in some instances, a lot of time has been taken on the presentation of the Talk Time homework. Children are welcome to do this although it is not necessary. The purpose of Talk Time homework is to encourage a conversation around their current learning. Any notes made in their homework book should simply be there to aid them as a prompt when it is discussed in class the following week. For this reason, teachers tend to give verbal feedback during their talk time session in class. We want our children to be expert talkers, using a variety of sentences and expressions, and able to back up their points or disagree with others in a polite way – this is more important than written notes for Talk Time. Simply: it’s hard to be a good writer if you’re not a good speaker, so Talk Times using ambitious words, useful phrases, interesting sentences is the best way to support your child.
Creative
This is where your child’s creative juices can flow! Creative homework is an opportunity for your child to choose whatever they want to demonstrate some learning. For example, the Y3 and Y4 homework this week is Creative: I can show what I know about food chains. Your child could present all their learning in so many different ways, from a diagram with notes to a story or comic strip. Parents’ and carers’ role is to support, encourage, help but (obviously) never to take over and do the homework! Teachers always look forward to seeing how creative children can be. If you notice the work has not been marked, please don’t worry. Teachers will have looked at and celebrated the homework in another way – the work might have been viewed by the whole class using a visualiser which allows the work to be projected to the whole class and a discussion of ‘stars and steps’ will happen. Peer assessment is also effective – children are very able to share what’s good and what needs improving! These sorts of verbal feedback strategies are often more effective than a written comment because it’s more instant and it makes sure the child understands (and their work is praised publicly!).
Practice makes Perfect
This is similar to what you might consider traditional homework: it may be a worksheet or a writing task (such as Y5’s current homework: I can write instructions). Practice Makes Perfect is useful homework when something has been taught in school but needs consolidation. The work should be fairly straightforward for the child as there should be no need for new learning, so just some encouragement from you is needed. However, it would be a great time to get your child to teach you – they should be able to explain the key points or processes! We use this type of homework less often because usually the best practice is where a teacher can keep feeding back and presenting new challenges when they see it as appropriate. Teachers mark these activities in line with our marking policy.
As always, please ask if you’ve any questions or concerns.
What a great week!
Year Six should be congratulated this week on the amount of learning that has gone on in class.
Children have been working with new maths partners. Bronwen and Angel have achieved great success, as have Bradley and Adam. Matthew has worked extremely hard: so hard he received a cerificate in assembly, with Mr Roundtree also noticing his progress in reading. SEAL has been all about having the right to learn and taking responsibility for our own learning; Lauren‘s suggestions in this lesson were outstanding.
I’d also like to say well done for the excellent homework produced by the class and the amazingly sensible, mature and informed discussion we had about charities afterwards.
Here’s to another great week next week!
Animation at Allerton Grange
Year Six were lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to the City Learning Centre at Allerton Grange to try their hand at animating. Their work included making models, backgrounds and using ‘I Can Animate’ to create Mini Movies about Greek Myths.
The work they completed was excellent. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of how great their marvellous models were.
Hobby Half Day
Check out our fantastic photos of our first Hobby Half Day!
Children from Year 1 to Year 6 had the opportunity to participate in an afternoon of learning something new. The activities ranged from everyday baking and cooking to the unusual: creating their own carbon footprint.
Vote Bronwen for Leeds Mayor!
We’re very proud that Bronwen, a Year 6 pupil here at Moortown Primary, has been selected as one of ten finalists for the Leeds Children’s Mayor competition. All the Year 6 children completed a manifesto of what they would like to change if they could become Mayor for the day and Bronwen was chosen as our entrant for the competition. Her manifesto is brilliant, meeting all the criteria set (see below).
Vote for Bronwen! Voting has now opened for the finalists and anyone with a Leeds Learning account can vote. If you know of anyone who has one, please encourage them to vote.
Voting will remain open until midday on Friday 04 November.
Representatives of Leeds Children’s Services and Leeds Council undertook the difficult task of short listing the twenty Children’s Mayor entries they received down to a final ten. In order to make the short listing a fair and transparent process, they used score cards and scored the manifestos individually against four criteria:
- How clear and focused the manifesto idea was
- How practical, achievable and affordable the manifesto idea was
- The number of children and young people who would benefit from the manifesto idea
- The extent to which children would work alongside adults to make the idea a reality
As well as Moortown Primary, the schools whose entrants made the final this year are Allerton Bywater Primary School, Bramley St Peters Primary School, Calverley C of E Primary School, Hill Top Primary School, Kippax North Junior & Infant School, Queensway Primary School, Shire Oak Primary School, Strawberry Fields Primary School and Whinmoor St Paul’s Primary School
This whole programme is about encouraging children to show an interest in democracy and to get them into the habit of voting on issues that affect them.
We know children at Moortown Primary already make a positive contribution to the school and their community through the School Council, litter-picking, raising money for charity etc. It’s great individuals like Bronwen want to go the extra mile to have their views heard!
Cycling and Buddies
Year Six have had a great week.
Monday saw many of the children continuing the cycle training that they started in Year Five. The instructors told me how impressed they were with the attitude and enthusiasm exhibited by the group. This made me very pleased. It’s always great to have such positive feedback! (Mr Roundtree was pleased to hear that Angel didn’t fall off this time!)
Many of your children have been buddies to the new reception children and have given up their lunchtimes to show their new friends the routines and expectations in the canteen and dinner hall. Again, it’s really pleasing to see how the class has volunteered to help out the new children and make their first day at Moortown a success.
Well done Year Six. You’ve made a fabulous start to being in the oldest age group in school.
Staying Safe themed week 26 September
We are looking for parents / carers who have a job related to safety.
If you can spare some time, during our Staying Safe themed week (26 September), to come in to talk to the children about how safety affects your work please speak to your child’s class teacher or leave a message at the office.
Thank you.
Hello from Mrs Hazell
Hello there and welcome to Year Six’s Class News, 2011-12.
It’s been an excellent start to the year with everyone showing a positive attitude to their learning. The children are already focused and committed to being the best they possibly can.
Here’s just a few reminders and some information to start the year off:
Reading
I read with every child in a small group once a week. Other staff in the class may read with them too, but it’s really important that children read at home as well. It doesn’t have to be story books – factual books, newspapers (children’s ones are available if you look), comics, magazines or websites are all good, too. This year, we’re going to be concentrating on understanding the meaning behind the words authors use and why characters behave and react as they do. You can help your child by asking questions about characters’ plots and settings rather than simply hearing them read.
Homework
Homework is due nearly every week, just like the rest of the school. It’s given out on Fridays and is due on Wednesdays. This gives children three evenings and two whole weekend days to do the homework, which should be plenty of time. At Moortown, we expect each piece of homework to take around 30 mins – 1 hour. This could be done in three 15 minute sessions or one long fun session. One of the Year 6 team will mark the homework and feedback to the children their stars (things they have done well) and their steps (things that need a little more work). This will either be done verbally or in writing.
Spellings
Spellings are given out on Fridays and tested the following Friday. Children should practise them by whatever works for them, but I recommend the tried and tested method: READ IT> COVER IT > WRITE IT > CHECK IT.
Times Tables
Each week children are asked to practise their times tables. By Year 4, children should know their tables, so by Year 6, they should be really quick and accurate with all tables (and division facts) up to their 10s. If your child isn’t up to speed, I can’t stress enough how important it is for them to spend more time practising. Children’s ability with number affects loads of their maths and times tables is a vital part of that. 5 – 10 minutes every day is perfect. Don’t forget division facts too.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to pop in and see me.
Write away!
Did you know we have two published authors in our school community?
Year 3 parent, Emma Barnes, has a new book out for children called How (Not) to Make Bad Children Good. Aimed at 7-10s, it’s the story of naughty child, Martha, who is so bad that an Interstellar Agent, Fred, is sent to Earth to try and sort her out. Emma will be appearing at Waterstones on Saturday 24 September.
We’re all very proud that Carolyn Hazell, our Year 6 teacher, is also a published author. Her book, Pav the Plumber Saves the Day, is popular amongst our children, and a great resource in school to promote reading and writing. Our current Year 6 pupils are being inspired to write great character descriptions, and a former pupil described Miss Hazell as ‘inspiring’ as a teacher and writer.
Find and compare schools’ performance
The following information is an extract from a recent email from the Department of Education to schools. Parents / carers who need to consider what school their child should move on to after Moortown Primary might find it helpful. Please note that the most up-to-date 2011 exam or test results may not yet be available.
The Department for Education has launched a new web tool helping parents / carers find and compare local schools’ performance. It significantly improves parents’ ability to choose the right school for their child.
The ‘compare schools’ tool brings together a wide range of performance data in a single place.
Parents can find schools by name, keyword or location or browse via an interactive map. Each school has its own mini-site with a range of useful information such as spend per pupil and test and exam results. Parents can also compare their school with others nearby – or with any other school in England.
For the first time on the Department’s website, parents can:
- select the schools that interest them and compare performance side by side
- view a full list of schools in England and filter to find schools with similar characteristics
- use an interactive map to view local, regional and national averages for school performance.
For more information, visit http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/search