Year 5 food technologists
Year 5 learnt a number of new baking skills while preparing our savoury scones including rubbing in. We’ve also learnt how to get ready to cook, about different ingredients and equipment used in a kitchen and also why some recipes need to be adapted to take account of food allergies.
The finished product appeared to be a popular after-school snack.
Bored in the car?
Next time your on a car journey, challenge your child (and you, and anyone else in the car!) with this number plate word power puzzle!
- Look at the three letters on the car in front.
- Use those letters, in that order, to create a word (it doesn’t need to start with the first letter).
For example, LS54TXS… Using TXS, you could come up with taxes.
Another (tougher) example: YK64EWV… Using EWV, the word could be screwdriver.
Goodbye
David Roundtree writes:
Moortown Primary is a happy and healthy place to learn, and also to work.
I was appointed as Headteacher around about this time of year, but way back in 2007. This has been my seventh teaching job. Having spent a year in a village school in Warwickshire, three years in a York school, a year working in a university, two years in Wetherby, three years in Harrogate and a year in a rural school as Acting Headteacher, it might have been predicted that I might stay at Moortown for maybe three or four years. The eight years and two terms proves how much I’ve loved my time here.
One of the first big changes we made was the logo. We went from this…
…to the familar orange, green and blue blobby people we see today.
The school councillors liked the different colours in the new logo, which they decided represented our different cultures, plus the jumping and dancing which represented energy and happiness, plus the connection of the characters as a symbol for friendships. (At the same time as this, we changed the uniform colour from dark green to red – another decision made entirely by pupils. I seem to remember this went down badly with the 2007-08 Year 6 pupils who wanted black tops – but the decision was a whole-school democratic one!)
This change might seem a bit shallow – just a cosmetic change? Not so. It helped to shift the culture of the school. It became a more dynamic, more modern, more forward-thinking place to be. And it led to our slogan: a happy and healthy place to learn – more than a slogan, really: something deep-rooted in what we do.
Following this came a new website. I hope you agree this gives you loads of information: ‘need to know’ facts along with ‘nice to know’ snapshots about all the great learning and activities that take place. Don’t forget the website offers lots of advice and suggestions about how to support your child at home, including lists of learning expectations for each year, for each subject. It’s a website that’s often copied by other schools – even in recent weeks, I’ve noticed content on websites in Leeds and London that seems really quite familiar!
The front playground used to be barren wasteland. A bleak and unused space is now a popular play destination, both during school and at the end of the day. Also implemented with the help of the school council, it’s another change which has proved really successful.
Not all the changes have been by choice, but we’ve always tried to approach everything we do with optimism and determination to be the best. When the government introduced changes in the curriculum, for example, this was an opportunity to overhaul ours: introduced more whole-school topics to reinforce the strong community culture we have, and we increased the amount of flexibility we have so we can adapt what we’re doing to match children’s interests. When the government increased the importance of grammar in schools, we were already ahead of the game but we took the opportunity to develop staff and children’s grammar skills even further. And when the government abandoned levels, we took the opportunity to implement a simpler, but more powerful, way to assess children’s learning and identify next steps for children. …mmm…lots of change introduced by those ‘experts’ in government (!).
Since 2007, there have been lots of changes amongst the teaching staff, too. Before actually starting, I was fortunate enough to be part of the recruitment of three teachers: Mrs Weekes as Inclusion Leader, and two newly-qualified teachers, Miss Kieran and Mr O’Leary (now teaching in Sweden and Dubai, respectively). Miss Hewson and Miss Beatson came first (now teaching in York and London). In 2010, a record four new teachers joined: Mr Owen, Mr Wilks, Mr Redfearn (known as the boyband!) and Miss Hazell. (Mr Redfearn enjoys teaching success in Manchester and Miss Hazell in Harrogate.) Mrs Maver as Assistant Headteacher came and went around this time, too. In 2013, we had another round of big change when Miss Rushbrooke, Miss Valentine and Mrs Keating joined us, and most recently we’ve welcomed Mr McKeon, Mrs Wells and Mr Catherall. In all this, Mrs Burke and Mrs Taylor have stood the test of time!
There have been some challenges. For example, our Ofsted inspection of 2011 was tough; despite being judged outstanding, it was hard to accept comments about the Reception class because we’d made lots of improvements. (I’m really proud about the wonderful things that happen here these days, and lots of experts from the local authority agree.) Sadly right now, we’re experiencing another challenge: we are missing the care and guidance of Mrs Wilson. (Mrs Weekes and I visited just yesterday, and she’s doing well, and was keen to hear about all the goings on.)
Nevertheless, I’m proud of so many things here at Moortown Primary.
I’m proud that amongst all this teacher turnover, we’ve seen some brilliant teaching, and we continue to do so – the teaching team we have now is quite probably the best we’ve ever had, and that includes our great teaching assistants. I don’t have space to list them all here, but they do a wonderful job. The office team and site staff, too, are quite probably the best we’ve ever had, too. Mrs O’Malley and Mrs Russell are the face of Moortown Primary and we’re all lucky to have such a friendly face!
Equally, I’m proud of our children. They are polite, pleasant and positive, always great ambassadors for our school. I’ve loved seeing children in Reception grow in confidence and skills over the years. It’s such a privilege to be able to observe so many different characters approach their learning, their friendships, in fact, their lives, in different ways.
School leaders are another reason to be proud. Mrs Weekes has done a fantastic job in supporting me as Deputy Headteacher; she, combined with the passion and commitment of Mr Owen and Mr Wilks, have been great colleagues to lead Moortown Primary in the last few years. Talking of school leaders, the governing body has grown in skills and effectiveness over the years. When I joined Moortown Primary, Janice Rush was new to the role of Chair; she was replaced my Becky Lawrence. Both have been fantastic Chairs. In the autumn, there will be a vacancy for a new Chair as Becky steps down. Whoever this may be, I’m confident the governing body will continue to provide a powerful balance of support and challenge, and remain committed to making the best strategic decisions for the school. Whilst you might not have direct experience of the governors, be assured we’re all privileged to have such an effective team.
Finally, I’m proud of you, our parents, too, and thank you for all your support over the years. This might be as parents who talk to us and tell us their thoughts, whether in person or in surveys or such like (we do listen, and we do try to respond), or simply as parents who take the time to say hello or goodbye each day.
Thank you to all pupils, staff, parents, school leaders. You’ve all helped to make this the happy and healthy place it is today.
New SEAL theme
At Moortown Primary, we’re dedicated to the value of SEAL in promoting a happy and healthy place to learn. However, we’re always thinking about other ways to meet our children’s needs and interests. That’s one of the reasons we choose to sometimes break away from the national SEAL themes to do something different.
This half term, we’ll think about our rights and responsibilities and, importantly, that if we have rights, we also have responsibilities. Children will consider their rights and responsibilities at home, at school and in other places. These may include:
Their right to eat food, their responsibility to eat healthily.
Their right to a good education, their responsibility to listen to the teacher.
Their right to use the internet, their responsibility to go on appropriate websites.
Each week this half-term, we’ll concentrate on a different area:
- Week beginning 18 April: learning
- Week beginning 25 April: playing
- Week beginning 02 May: expressing an opinion
- Week beginning 09 May: staying safe
- Week beginning 16 May: being healthy
- Week beginning 23 May: general
Perhaps you can support your child’s learning by discussing and promoting rights and responsibilities at home, too.
Matheletics has changed…
…to Spellodrome!
Two years ago, we entered into a three year contract for the whole school. We’ve incorporated Mathletics sessions into the weekly routine in school, and classes have sometimes been given Mathletics Practice Makes Perfect homework. Of course, we also hoped that you would encourage your child to log-in regularly at home, too.
As a school, we’ve been really happy with Matheletics. However, with one year left in our current contract, we thought it was time for a change. Spellodrome is created by the same people, so we’ve decided to swap to this for the final year.
Why?
Well, put simply, our children’s spellings need to be better. Despite being one of the top performing schools in the country in the phonics screening check which Year 1 children do (we received a letter from the Department of Education congratulating us for having 100% of children pass in 2015), our children’s spelling accuracy isn’t good enough.
We’re finding many children use their phonics knowledge to spell words which are phonetically readable, but not accurate. By this we mean, for example, Moortown might be Moretown, English might be Inglish, phonics might be fonicks. (I’ll include a couple of other examples below.) All these words can be read, but there are so many ways to make sounds in our language, and children are choosing the wrong ways (not weighs!).
Also, many children aren’t applying some common spelling rules which would really help – and which teachers practise a lot with their classes:
- double up for a short vowel sound (think of the difference between hoping and hopping; able and apple; diner and dinner)
- drop the ‘e’ for ‘ing’ (take becomes taking – no ‘e’; like becomes liking; accommodate becomes accommodating)
- drop the ‘y’ for an ‘i’ (so try becomes tries; party becomes parties; quality becomes qualities)
So, for the next year at least, the whole school is using Spellodrome. Please, please make sure (not shoor!) your child is regularly logging in.
Also, and probably more importantly, they should be reading. Reading will help to familiarise children with correct spellings in the correct contexts – and has so many other benefits, too (studies have found that children who read fiction for pleasure have increased empathy and better mental health in years to come).
Netball after-school club
High 5 netball club will move to a Tuesday evening after the Easter holiday for four more sessions, until our main Summer term after-school programme starts (week commencing 16 May).
Children who currently attend the club on a Thursday, and also any new members, are welcome to attend. Please return the permission slip sent home this week.
This continues to be a free club subsidised by part of our PE Premium.
Year 1 food technologists
Can your child recall some of the skills used in our savoury scone recipe today?
We’ve also learnt how to get ready to cook and about different ingredients and equipment used in a kitchen.
Hope they enjoyed their scone as an after-school snack.
Eatwell guide
Public Health England have launched a new Eatwell Guide. This relates to the Eatwell Plate, a key resource used in school, to show how much of what you eat overall should come from each food group.
‘Life’ topic skills review
This morning, we spent some time reflecting on the skills we practised whilst learning about our last Big Topic: ‘Life‘.
We chose to focus on the skills we need in order to learn because these are important for life-long learning. Knowledge is important, too, but it’s crucial not to neglect the skills that underpin our learning.
We worked in groups to create a ‘diamond 9’; the children were given seven skills and also had to choose two of our ‘8Rs for learning’.
Then, we reflected as a class and decided on this ‘diamond 9’:
At the top is the skill we all thought was most important: working with others. All the other skills are important, too!
Testing times…
Do you have a child Year 2 or Year 6?
If so, they will be taking the national curriculum tests (SATs) in May 2016. The tests will provide information about how your child is progressing, compared to children the same age nationally. The results are used to ensure that schools are teaching their pupils the essential knowledge and skills in the subjects that are the early building blocks. This is to ensure every child reaches their full potential. There are changes to the tests this year at both key stages. This is because the tests are based on the new national curriculum, which your child has been taught since September 2014.
The Standards and Testing Agency has published a leaflet and short video for parents about the 2016 tests.