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Goodbye for summer

The end of a fantastic year for Year 2 has arrived. It’s been very sad this week to be taking down displays and giving out books to send the class on to Year 3 but very exciting as well. We’re all ready for moving up the school (and a holiday). A big thank you to all the children who have been a pleasure to teach and get to know.

True to last year’s farewell, I’ve prepared a little poem to say something about everybody.

Farewell, Year 2, it’s been a blast.

If only one more year, it could last.

Farai has grown so very tall

and talks so very much about football.

With Kai he talks, who is quite lovely

sitting next to Martha, who’s rather bubbly.

Want to know about space? Ask Ripley.

In a rocket he’ll go. On the moon he’ll be.

To Thomas and Filip you must go,

if you want to be in the know.

Smiles all round from Grace and Mia.

and what a fab year for happy Zia.

Ethan’s always teaching words anew.

Gabs and Noorpreet are children who,

are ready to go straight away

and with anyone caring Pia will play.

Ben, Humairah and Phoebe are sure

to be there for you to open the door.

So polite are Ishaan and Josh,

and all that rhymes with Josh is posh!

Isaiah and Isaac always try their best,

let’s now hear about the rest.

Theo’s jokes make me laugh (and cry),

About hotdogs Dylan talks, day and nigh’.

Ismail’s presence is such a treat,

And next to him – the wonderful Manpreet.

Lewis and Lory have a fab cheeky side,

and Nicky and Albert, how hard they’ve tried.

I’ve never met some one quite so kind,

and Sachpreet, always keeping others in mind.

And Alex I’m left with, so honest and true.

This poem is over. What a relief. Phew!

Have an amazing holiday, everyone. I’ll look forward to seeing you in September.

Goodbye, Reception Class!

We’ve come to the end of  a busy and exciting year!

The children have been a delight to teach and we will have very fond memories of them all…

Albie, Henka and Will have amazed us with their knowledge of the world. Well done, Emma and Sakina, for having better handwriting than the teachers! Emily, Hifza and Olivia have star potential with their singing and dancing and Ethan and Jasraj have both grown in confidence throughout the year. We’re so impressed with Georgie’s determination to form her letters correctly and we can now read her writing! Harris and Felix have been great mathematicians and Jemima, Phoebe, Leo and Safiya-Mishal have impressed us with their love of writing. Jessica and Raima have been happy and positive members of the class. Thank you, Liam, for fantastic tidying up and sweeping! Well done, Musa – you have amazed everybody with your progress and enthusiasm to learn. Pollyanna, we are sure you will be a famous artist one day and we’ve loved seeing your work. Sami and Rayn have been polite and helpful members of the class. Well done, Kashif  and Noah, for keeping us entertained and well done, Maya and Isabella, for being so caring. Taha, you have pleased us by trying new foods and being so enthusiastic about your learning. Well done, Yusayrah, for always doing your homework and being so kind and helpful.

Have a great summer and we look forward to hearing about your time in Y ear 1.

2015 Key Stage 2 data

Now that we’ve reached the end of the school year, we’d like to share with you some facts and figures about how well the Year 6 class have performed over the course of their time at Moortown Primary. To help make sense of the data, please bear in mind the following points:

• We’ve included the equivalent data for all schools in England for last year
• Level 4 is the expected level; more precisely, a Level 4b
• All figures relate to percentages
• ‘W’ refers to ‘working towards’ – where a child’s attainment falls below Level 1
• As a school, we had no pupils who were absent or not included in the tests / assessments; this matches the national average where so few are absent or not included that the average is 0%, so we’ve not included this data in the tables

Teacher assessments

The proportions reaching Level 4 or higher based on teacher assessments are:

• Reading: 93.5%
• Writing: 93.5%
• Maths: 96.8%

Tests

The proportions reaching Level 4 or higher in the tests are:

• Reading: 96.8%
• Grammar, punctuation and spelling: 96.8%
• Maths: 96.8%
• (There is no Writing test)

Disadvantaged pupils

In the cohort are three pupils who are entitled to pupil premium funding. Here’s how they got on in the tests:

• Reading: one pupil attained Level 4, the other two reached Level 5; all three pupils made three levels of progress since Year 2 (whilst the national standard is two)
• Writing (teacher assessment – there is no Writing test): one pupil attained Level 3, one at Level 4 and one at Level 5; two pupils made two levels of progress and one progressed by three levels since Year 2
• Grammar, punctuation and spelling: one pupil attained Level 3 in the test (and was one mark away from reaching Level 4!) whilst the other two reached Level 5; there is no Key Stage 1 data so we can’t measure progress for this aspect of learning
• Maths: all three pupils reached Level 4; one made three levels of progress since Year 2 whilst the other two made two levels

As a summary, the pupils’ attainment averages out at a Level 4a – a high Level 4.

Incidentally, this is the last year that schools are required to assess according to levels. Only Year 2 and Year 6 have continued to use levels as a way to assess children’s attainment. It’s not clear yet how the Department for Education will publish from 2016 assessment data for children at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2.

2015 Key Stage 1 data

Now that we’ve reached the end of the school year, we’d like to share with you some facts and figures about how well the Year 2 class have performed over the course of Key Stage 1. To help make sense of the data, please bear in mind the following points:

• We’ve included the equivalent data for all schools in England for last year
• Level 2 is the expected level; more precisely, a Level 2b
• All figures relate to percentages
• ‘W’ refers to ‘working towards’ – where a child’s attainment falls below Level 1
• ‘Disapplied’ refers to children who are not counted for some reason
• The subjects listed below are the core subjects’

Speaking and listening

Reading

Writing

Mathematics

Science

Disadvantaged pupils

In the cohort are three pupils who are entitled to pupil premium funding. Here’s how they got on:

• Reading: all three pupils attained Level 2b
• Writing: one pupil attained Level 2c and two pupils reached Level 2a
• Maths: two pupils attained Level 2b and the third attained Level 2a
• Speaking and listening: two pupils attained Level 2 and the third attained Level 1
• Science: similarly, two pupils attained Level 2 and the third attained Level 1

As a summary, the pupils’ attainment averages out at a Level 2b.

This year is the last that schools are required to assess according to levels. Only Year 2 and Year 6 have continued to use levels as a way to assess children’s attainment. It’s not clear yet how the Department for Education will publish from 2016 assessment data for children at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2.

Summer Reading Challenge 2015

This year, the Summer Reading Challenge returns with the challenge of breaking records!

It’s really simple to join in and complete the challenge. All you have to do is

1. Join any Leeds library (including mobile libraries).
2. Borrow three books and read them. (You could write a short book review on them too.)
3. You can borrow any book: stories, joke books, information books or even audio books.
4. Return these (to any Leeds library) and borrow another three books.
5. That means you need only borrow six books altogether – or more, of course!
6. Once you’ve returned your second lot of three books, your challenge is complete!

We’re hoping to get lots more children taking on the challenge this year and enjoying their reading over the summer. Try not to borrow thick books that you’re never going to finish and make sure you pick books you’re going to be interested in, or, try something new. For any more information, take a look at the leaflet below.

 

‘The Tiny Seed’ drama

On Friday, Year 2 really enjoyed a drama workshop focussing on the book, ‘The Tiny Seed’. Thank you to Zia’s mum, who organised the workshop for us!

We then became sculptors and clay. The sculptor had to mould the clay into a shoot coming out of the ground and then a fully grown flower.

We played a corners game. When a season was called, we had to go to that season and take on the role of a plant.

Finally, we worked in groups to act out the story of the tiny seed, finishing it off as a whole class.

10 July 2015

The spellings this week are a little different. The children won’t know the spelling list until the test. However, they have been told that the words will be from the three main spelling rules we talk about:

• drop the e for ing
• double up for short vowel sounds
• drop the y for an i

Children should look back at their learning lists for spelling lists featuring these rules.

Healthy Schools award

Following our School Health check earlier this year, to maintain our Healthy Schools status, we were proud to attend the Healthy Schools celebration event to receive our award.  Held in the debating chamber at Leeds Civic Hall, we enjoyed presentations from councillors and other schools around the 4 areas of Healthy Schools – physical activity, PSHE (personal, social and health education), healthy eating and emotional health.

Two of our sports leaders were invited to lead a practical session in the break for other pupils who were attending.  They did this with great confidence and encouragement.

As part of the event we also had the opportunity to use the voting system in the debating chamber to vote on key areas across health and wellbeing for councillors to consider on a city-wide strategic level.  Based on data from the 2014 My Health My School survey, our current Year 5 and 6 classes will be completing this survey for 2015.  The top priorities identified were levels of physical activity and eating 5 a day.

Summer sports and arts camp (Edward Lynch)

Edward Lynch, a local dance coach who has worked with children during our curriculum and extra-curricular dance sessions, is helping to run a local sport and arts camp called IMPACT in the summer holidays.

Healthy changes

As part of our SEAL theme of Changes, last week our SEAL statement focussed on making healthy changes. Some suggestions from Year 1 include:

• have fruit dessert instead of cake
• do more after-school clubs
• ride a bike more
• walk to the shops instead of driving
• do parkruns with your family
• go roller skating or skateboarding more
• walk to school more
• drink more water
• run somewhere every day
• eat more or different vegetables
• ask to go swimming more