News

Outstanding outcomes

Posted on Sunday 05 November 2023 by Mr Roundtree

We’re really proud of our 2023 end of Key Stage 2 outcomes. They’re well above the national outcomes.

Recently released by Ofsted is another way to view the outcomes: using percentiles. This means, basically, putting all the schools in England in order from lowest to highest outcomes, and then dividing them into 100 similar performing groups, with the first percentile being the lowest performing groups and the 100th percentile being the top-performing group.

All of the outcomes listed below are regarded as being ‘significantly above national’ – considerably higher than the national assessment figures in 2023.

Attainment at expected standard

  • Reading: 96th percentile
  • Writing: 100th percentile
  • Maths: 95th percentile
  • Reading, Writing and Maths (combined): 98th percentile
  • Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 100th percentile

Attainment at greater depth standard (the higher standard)

  • Reading: significantly above national and in the 96th percentile
  • Maths: significantly above national and in the 96th percentile
  • Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: significantly above national and in the 98th percentile

Progress

  • Reading: significantly above national and in the 91st percentile
  • Writing: significantly above national and in the 98th percentile
  • Maths: significantly above national and in the 95th percentile

Well done to all the pupils in the 2022-23 Year 6 class.

This week’s message (Friday 27 October 2023)

Posted on Friday 27 October 2023 by Mr Roundtree

It’s our last Friday’s message of Autumn 1 half-term.

Today’s a training day in school. All the teachers across Sphere Federation have gathered together to learn more about Maths, PE and Art. They’re learning about it in a carousel of phases – Early Years and Y1,2 in one, Y3,4 in another, and Y5,6 in the third.

In last week’s message, we announced our new Junior Leadership Team. This week, we thought you might like to read some of their favourite aspects of Moortown Primary…

  • YR Edie – “I like being a JLT leader and wearing my badge.”
  • YR Gurjeevan – “I love Phonics!”
  • Y1 Avraj – “Our PE lessons are fun because we get to play fun games.”
  • Y1 Thomas – “I like school because we get to play dodgeball, basketball and dodgeball in the MUGA.”
  • Y2 Isla – “I like learning new and tricky words in my writing lessons.”
  • Y2 Henna – “I like assemblies because Mr Wilks asks us lots of questions and I can put my hand up and answer them.”
  • Y3 Jayan – “I enjoy learning how to multiply and divide tricky numbers in Maths.”
  • Y3 Ralph – “I like Wake Up Shake Up because we get to exercise and it’s like a mini PE session.”
  • Y4 Luke – “I like Maths because I enjoy learning methods like column addition and subtraction.”
  • Y4 Nate – “The kind environment makes me feel happy and relaxed.”
  • Y5 Will – “I like the playgrounds because there’s lots of space to run around.”
  • Y5 Ayanna – “I enjoy assemblies, especially Tuesday Viewsday because we get to learn about different topics.”
  • Y6 Danny – “School trips are always entertaining and fun!”
  • Y6 Penelope – “I loved reading with Reception because we got to mix with the younger children and learn about them.”

These comments now feature at the foot of the homepage of our website, too.

Leeds City Council Admissions Policy – consultation

Leeds City Council is running a public consultation on the 2025/2026 admission policy for Leeds community and voluntary controlled schools. You can share your views until 4 December. Share your views.

It’s been an extra long Autumn 1 half-term – eight weeks. Lots of children are tired – a break will be welcome to relax and recuperate. We hope you’re able to enjoy a longer weekend and a great half-term break.

This week’s message (Friday 20 October 2023)

Posted on Friday 20 October 2023 by Mr Roundtree

This week’s message comes from Mrs Weekes…

Yesterday was an important day at Moortown Primary: the day of the Junior Leadership Team (JLT) elections. The polling station was set up with voting papers ready for all children to vote for their new Junior Leaders.

All week, the children have been listening to speeches from their friends who wanted to be on the JLT. There were some fantastic efforts from children in all classes with some really important messages. Today was the day that children had to make the hard decision of who to vote for.

It was a close contest, particularly in Year 6 and Year 4.

The new JLT are:

  • Reception: Edie and Gurjeevan
  • Year 1: Avraj and Thomas
  • Year 2: Henna and Isla
  • Year 3: Jayan and Ralph
  • Year 4: Luke and Nate
  • Year 5: Ayanna and Will
  • Year 6: Penelope and Danny

Congratulations to these children and to everybody who had a go.

This year’s JLT has a hard act to follow. The previous JLT did all sorts to help the school and to make sure that the children of Moortown Primary have a voice. A significant job was their role in supporting the chosen charity for 2022/23; this included actually helping to choose the charity and then planning and organising different fundraising events to donate to the chosen charity, St Gemma’s Hospice. Several visits to St Gemma’s were made by the JLT to take donations, find out more about what they do and very importantly, to choose a Christmas tree!

We’re looking forward to the year ahead working with our new Junior Leadership Team.

And one last message this week… Need any ideas for half-term?

Carnegie Great Outdoors have an activity camp happening this coming October half term at Leeds Beckett University. There are options to sign up for three days or just a single day.

Have a great weekend.

This week’s message (Friday 13 October 2023)

Posted on Friday 13 October 2023 by Mr Roundtree

Our Living and Learning message this week has been about respecting yourself. Have a conversation at home about this. What can your child feel especially proud of at home? And at school? Share examples of you feeling proud, too. How can feeling proud and believing in ourselves help us?

Junior Leadership Team

We’ve recently launched this year’s Junior Leadership Team election process. Our Junior Leadership Team (JLT) is one of the ways that children are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.

The election process allows children to develop an understanding of one of the British Valuesdemocracy, with two representatives from each class chosen democratically by their peers.

Here are some of the qualities our current Junior Leaders think are needed to be an effective JLT member:

  • use the 8Rs for learning
  • be respectful and polite
  • help others
  • be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)
  • share and be confident with your ideas
  • let others speak
  • accept the views of others even if you don’t agree
  • be friendly and approachable
  • follow our school rules and make good choices in class and around school

This week’s whole school homework is all about the election and democracy, ready for the elections next Thursday 19 October.

Talking of pupil voice…

The Big Ambition

The Children’s Commissioner for England has recently launched ‘The Big Ambition’ to hear directly from children, young people, and parents across the country.

This is an opportunity to hear from all children, in every part of the country and in every setting. The survey will be used to encourage policymakers to think about children and young people’s needs, to ensure children’s voices are reflected in the decisions that will affect them in years to come.

Encourage your child to take part in The Big Ambition survey

Measles

Measles cases are rising across the country.

  • 9 out of 10 unvaccinated children can catch measles if someone in their class has it.
  • 102,000 children starting school in England are at risk of catching measles.

Check your child is up to date with their MMR vaccinations.

Measles is highly infectious and if left unvaccinated nine out of ten children in a classroom can catch the disease if just one child is infectious.

 

I hope Friday 13th hasn’t been bad luck for you! Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Great British Brunch Menu – Thursday 09 November

Posted on Tuesday 10 October 2023 by Mrs Quirk

On Thursday 09 November, we’ll be serving a ‘Great British Brunch’ menu, in place of the usual option. Here’s a copy of the menu.

No need to pre-order. Just order, as usual, on the day.

This week’s message (Friday 06 October 2023)

Posted on Friday 06 October 2023 by Mr Roundtree

Thank you if you voted in the recent governor elections to find a new parent governors, and a particular thank you to the five parents who put themselves forward. In total, there were 139 votes – a good spread across the three Sphere Federation schools. The candidate with the most votes was Candidate B on the voting form: Steven Trangmar, who’s a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University.

The main parts of this week’s message come from two of the Sphere Federation leaders. Mrs Latham, the Early Reading and Phonics Leaders, has written the first section. Miss Wilson, the Reading Leader. has written the second.

For children at the early stages of reading…

We’re off to a flying start with our reading! Our Reception children started phonics lessons in Week 2 and are rapidly acquiring the skills to become readers. We use the government validated systematic synthetic phonics scheme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.

Children in Year 1 and Year 2 have also got back into phonics lessons quickly. The lessons happen every day and last half an hour (Reception build up to this over time). In these lessons, children are taught how a letter or letters (‘graphemes’) match to sounds (‘phonemes’).

We also have reading practice groups for children to use and apply their phonics skills four times a week. These are small group sessions, led by an adult, where children read a book that is matched to the phonics they know. The focus is very much on practising reading.

Your child can then share their phonics reading success at home by accessing the same text as an e-book. Please make sure you do this every week. We monitor if and when children are accessing the e-books.

Year 1 or 2 children who have secure phonic knowledge will begin to access a wider variety of books in school and to take home.

Children also take a sharing book home. These books are to enjoy together and read for pleasure. The focus is very much on enjoyment – developing a love of reading. Enjoy stories, predict what might happen and use different voices for the characters. Information books (non-fiction) can also be so much fun to share – finding out facts and discussing new information. Above all: make it enjoyable!

For more experienced readers…

We’ve made a fantastic start to reading this year and have already read a variety of texts – we’ve learned about scientists, read poetry and really got stuck into our class novels.

  • Ask your child what they’re reading this week.
  • What do they like or dislike about it?
  • Who’s the author?
  • Can they give you a ten second summary? What about a ten word summary?Children in Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6) are engaging well with their weekly Reading Record activities (as directed on their homework sheet). Make sure your child reads at home every day for at least 10-15 minutes and, depending on their age and confidence, read and discuss the book together wherever possible.When you’re reading at home and discussing the book, try the following:
  • Give your child plenty of time to find the answer to your question.
  • Decide on the best places to pause to convey shock, concern or, sometimes, just to tease. Pausing builds anticipation.
  • Tell your child the definitions of words if they don’t know. There’s no point in guessing.
  • Use asides to show your reactions to particular events. For example, ‘Oh, no! This isn’t looking like things will turn out well for him!’
  • Colour your voice to give words meaning: whooped, wondered, wailed. Or perform an action as you read: sprouted, quivered, squirmed.

Enjoy a weekend of reading!

Cross country success

Posted on Thursday 05 October 2023 by Mrs Weekes

It is the season for cross country again (you can’t have cross country without mud!) and we had a team of eager runners take part in the first event of the year on Saturday. Five children from KS2 took part along with a Y2 child who sneaked in to the Y3/Y4 category!

They all ran really well but a particular mention to this young lady who came 33rd even though she was racing with children who were two years older than her – watch this space for more running from her!

Here are some more photos from the day – well done to all of you and thank you for staying to cheer on one of our former pupils who was running too. Thanks to all the parents who went along to support them on our behalf.

This week’s message (Friday 29 September 2023)

Posted on Friday 29 September 2023 by Mr Roundtree

We’re approaching the end of the first month back at school. The new school year continues to go really well – children are happy, healthy learners with great behaviour. Our Reception children have settled in really well, too.

Thank you to the parents who responded with interest in becoming a parent governor. Because there was more than one person interested, it means there are elections. We’ve sent you a link so you can vote online after reading their expressions of interest. Look out for the reminder message about this. The deadline for votes is noon on Wednesday next week.

Is your child well enough to be in school?

Post-lockdowns, there’s growing concern about the low attendance rate for pupils. This letter to school leaders illustrates the point.

There is wide agreement among health professionals and educational professionals that school attendance is vital to the life chances of children and young people. Being in school improves health, wellbeing and socialisation

The letter makes two things clear:

  • ‘It is usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school with mild respiratory illnesses. This would include general cold symptoms: a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat.’
  • ‘Worry and mild or moderate anxiety, whilst sometimes difficult emotions, can be a normal part of growing up for many children and young people. Being in school can often help alleviate the underlying issues. A prolonged period of absence is likely to heighten a child’s anxiety about attending in the future, rather than reduce it.’

We’ve shared the link already, but do check out this NHS website to help you decide if your child is well enough to attend school.

Also worth checking out is this parent’s guide to keeping kids healthy this school year.

Finally, Leeds has produced this short document intended for parents and carers of primary school aged children.

Last year’s school attendance here at Moortown Primary was certainly better than the national figures – please, let’s keep it like that in 2023-24.

Finally this week, thank you to Preston Baker, the estate agent. They’re celebrating their 15th birthday and have donated 15 books to 15 schools, including us!

Outstanding outcomes

Posted on Wednesday 27 September 2023 by Mr Roundtree

We’re really proud of our 2022-23 Year 6 pupils. They’ve now left our school and are enjoying Year 7, but they leave us with great memories, not least their great attitudes to learning and how they supported each other.

In May each year, pupils in Year 6 do end-of-key stage assessments – the SATs. We get the results of these tests before the end of the school year, but it takes some time for the results to come through to help us evaluate their attainment and progress.

Check out our Outcomes page to see how well the children did compared to national assessment figures.

In a nutshell…

The proportions reaching national expectations are significantly above national figures:

  • Reading: 94% meeting expected standards (national: 73%)
  • Writing: 100% meeting expected standards (national: 71%)
  • Maths: 94% meeting expected standards (national: 73%)

The proportions reaching greater depth are also consistently higher than national:

  • Reading: 55% reaching greater depth (national: 29%)
  • Writing: 36% reaching greater depth (national: 13%)
  • Maths: 48% reaching greater depth (national: 24%)

The Department for Education measures progress from Key Stage 1 (KS1) to Key Stage 2 (KS2). Expected progress is zero, with anything above that being better than expected and negative numbers showing less than expected progress:

  • +3.3 average progress in Reading
  • +4.4 average progress in Writing
  • +3.9 average progress in Maths

Well done to all the 2022-23 pupils, and thank you to their parents, carers and other adults for their fantastic support throughout the years.

Allergy Aware

Posted on Tuesday 26 September 2023 by Mrs Weekes

At Moortown Primary, we want all our pupils to be happy and healthy, and safe too. This includes pupils with allergies – they need to feel safe at school too.

At our school, we have pupils with a range of allergies including:

  • all types of nuts – the allergies might be if a nut or trace of nut is eaten, but also if a trace of nut is in the air
  • carrots
  • gluten

We have at least one child who has a severe reaction if they ingest nuts or are in the vicinity of nuts.

These pupils are at risk of serious harm if they have an allergic reaction. Because of this, we ask that everyone does what they can to help us keep them safe.

How can you help?

  • let us know if your child has an allergy
  • talk to your child about allergies and that they: mustn’t share food; must wash their hands before eating; take allergies seriously; and that they can be supportive of friends who have allergies
  • label your child’s water bottle to avoid any confusion
  • avoid sending in food that contains nuts for your child’s packed lunch or snack
  • as always, avoid sending food or sweets in for birthdays or other occasions – a long-standing policy to make sure we’re a happy and healthy school

If you’re inviting your child’s friends over for a playdate or party, talk to their parents or carers about any allergies and think about how you can accommodate their needs. Try your best to exclude the allergen, not the child.

If you’ve any questions or concerns about allergies, please get in touch with school.

Thanks for your support.