Uncategorised

06 November 2015

The homework this week is creative and is due in on Wednesday 11 November.

I know what a safe risk is.

The SEAL theme this half-term is the 8 Rs for learning. One of the 8 Rs is being able to take a safe risk. In this homework, I’d like children to show me that they know what a safe risk is. Examples of safe risks children make are putting their hand up in a lesson to answer a question or crossing a road at a safe crossing point.

06 November 2015

Here are the spellings for this week:

8 Rs for learning – our new SEAL theme

This half-term, we’re thinking about the ‘8 Rs for learning’. This theme is about promoting good learning behaviour for your child. Each week, we’ll focus on different ‘Rs’. We use an animal to symbolise each ‘R’, which might help your child remember all eight – can your child remember which animal matches the correct ‘R’?

You can support your child at home – we’ve listed a few ideas to help you below. Ask us if you’ve any questions or comments.

Download top tips for promoting the 8Rs for good learning behaviour.

I can show I am ready to learn.

• Make sure your child is at school for a prompt start of 08:50.
• Make sure your child has had plenty of sleep so they are alert and ready to learn at all times.
• Encourage your child to ask lots of questions – that shows they want to learn!

I take responsibility for my own learning.

• Provide time and space at home so your child is able to organise themselves: their PE kit, reading book, homework, spellings and tables… Don’t organise everything for them!
• Make a link between rights and responsibilities: your child has the right to a great education, but needs to be responsible for their own learning.

I take a safe risk.

• Talk about the difference between a safe and unsafe risk. At school, we want your child to take a safe risk by having a go at answering, even if unsure; trying something new and attempting harder learning.

I am resilient.

• Encourage your child to keep going! Set a tricky challenge or puzzle for your child to do.
• Encourage your child to think of different ways of doing things.
• Don’t let your child win when they play a game – they need to experience losing, too!
• Celebrate mistakes as opportunities to learn – be happy that your child found some learning hard and encourage them to ‘bounce back’ and learn from the experience.

I respond to feedback.

• Ask your child if they remember their ‘stars’ and ‘steps’ in English and Maths.

I am resourceful.

• Encourage your child to be organised so they can play with a range of different toys.
• Encourage your child to try new ways to solve a tricky problem.

I remember.

• Make sure they have time to learn spellings, number bonds and times tables – a little practice daily is best.

Play memory games:

• Kim’s game: show them objects for 30 seconds… can they remember all the objects?
• Can they build up the sequence, ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple and a bike.’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple, a bike and a cucumber.’ etc … Take turns!

I reflect about my learning.

Talk with your child about what they’ve learnt, asking questions about:

• how they learnt
• why they learnt it
• when they’ll use their learning
• how they would teach this to someone else
• what learning might link with what they’ve learnt today
• etc

Some great PE

With a new half term, we’re changing focus in our PE lessons. Students from Leeds Beckett University joined us today and we really enjoyed their session. It tired us out and was great fun, too! We look forward to working with them each Wednesday this half term. 

Don’t forget to always have your PE kit in school on Mondays and Wednesdays.

What’s cooking?

Lots of cooking skills were practised this afternoon with Mrs Taylor. The wraps looked delicious and very healthy! I’m sure your child can now be a great help in the kitchen!

Also, tomorrow is our class assembly. It would be great for you to see how hard the class have worked!

Athens or Sparta – which was better?

As part of our Holidays Big Topic, we have been studying Ancient Greece. In class today, we split into two groups, Athenians and Spartans, to debate which polis (city) was better.

Our team leaders were picked based on how each polis used to decide their leaders. Athens had a democracy so that group had a vote. Sparta was ruled by a tyrant so the group didn’t get a say as to who would lead them. After that, we split into groups and decided why each polis was better than the other.

We then debated our points but could not decide overall which polis was better.

Why not ask your child which polis they think is better?

Changing direction

Clockwise, anti-clockwise, quarter turn and half turn are all vocabulary Year 2 have been using when giving instructions to move in different directions.  Using clocks as a reminder for clockwise and anti-clockwise, the children had to move across the world map to the different continents and oceans.  This is one way our maths learning can be linked to our Big Topic about holidays.

Attendance matters

The attendance data for the first half-term is below. Well done to Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 whose attendance is all above the school average.

• Reception: 96.7%
• Year 1: 98.2% – a great attendance figure… well done!
• Year 2: 97.5%
• Year 3: 97.9% – just higher than the school average… keep it up!
• Year 4: 97.4%
• Year 5: 98.9% – this is really high… brilliant!
• Year 6: 97.7% – just a tiny bit lower than the school average… nice one!

‘Warmest congratulations’ from the DfE

We’re delighted to receive a letter (27 October 2015) from Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Reform (part of the Department for Education), in which he expresses congratulations for the ‘very high standard of achievement in the 2015 phonics screening check‘.

The phonics screening check takes place towards the end of Year 1. The check is a short, ‘light-touch’ assessment to confirm whether individual children have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. It will identify the children who need extra help so they are given support In Year 2 to improve their reading and writing skills. It consists of a list of 40 words, half real words and half non-words, which Year 1 children read to a teacher in school – in our school, this person is Mrs Weekes.

Mr Gibb’s letter says:

We want to ensure that every child develops a firm grasp of phonics which is why I was delighted to see your results. With 100% of pupils at Moortown Primary School reaching or exceeding the pass mark in the check, your school is in the top 2% of all primary schools in the country.

This year’s figures show that 99% of pupils who reach or exceed the pass mark in the phonics check go on to achieve at least the expected standard in Key Stage 1 reading, which underlines the importance of developing the ability to decode words effectively at an early age.

I am pleased to learn that you have ensured that all Year 1 children in your school have a firm foundation in reading, from which they can develop further and become increasingly fluent readers.

Thank you for your work in this vital area of a child’s early education and congratulations again to you and your staff for your hard work and professionalism.

Well done to all the Year 1 (now Year 2) children, and to the staff in our Reception and Year 1 class. Thank you, also, to parents / carers who support their child so well at home, practising spellings and reading regularly.

Incidentally, earlier this year, we received a similar letter from David Laws (26 January 2015), congratulating the school on our Key Stage 2 results for disadvantaged pupils since 2012.

Gold!

The School Games Mark is a Government led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. Schools in England are able to assess themselves across bronze, silver and gold levels of the mark.

Following our assessment we are proud to reveal our gold award.  Having achieved silver last year, this is a great achievement demonstrating our increased participation in competitions, extra-curricular sporting activities, sports leadership and local club links.

We know from Parent Surveys that more competitive sport was something that was important for many of you – and we’ve listened.