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06 February 2015

The Practice Makes Perfect homework this week is two Mathletics addition activities involving large numbers. Children must ensure that they don’t try to solve these problems in their heads. They should use a pencil and paper and not rush!

06 February 2015

Group 1 – The spellings this week are all words which end with tious. There aren’t many words with this ending so you also have the words with some prefixes. Think about what these prefixes do to the word and find other words which have this prefix.

Group 2 – This week, we’re continuing with words which contain silent letters. This time, the silent letters in the words are either a b or an h.

Parents’ evening

In the Autumn term, at Parents’ Evening, we sent the first Learning Update to you – a document showing where your child’s attainment is. We did this because, in the Annual Surveys, lots of you told us you want more frequent updates about how your child is doing. The second Learning Update will be given to you at Parents’ Evening next week.

You will notice this version looks a bit different. This is because we’re trialling a new assessment system to track pupils’ attainment.

This change is a result of the current government’s decision to withdraw the system of ‘levels’ used to report children’s attainment and progress. Instead, schools are being encouraged to monitor and report whether children are on track to meet end-of-year age-related expectations.

Terms such as ‘Level 4’ or ‘Level 5’ are being phased out. The current Year 2 and Year 6 classes are the last who will be given levels at the end of the year. (A Year 2 child is expected to reach Level 2B or 2A; a child in Year 6 is expected to reach Level 4 and ideally at least a Level 4B.)

There are three important things to note:

1. The new National Curriculum has much higher expectations. Last term’s Learning Ladder was based on the old National Curriculum whereas this one is on the new, more demanding curriculum. As a result, you may find your child does not appear to have made progress – this is due to the higher expectations.
2. Schools are being encouraged not to push children too quickly towards learning in older year groups. Instead, children should develop “mastery” and “deep understanding” – this means ensuring children can use and apply their skills and knowledge more independently and in more circumstances. This point is most relevant in Maths.
3. Your child’s attainment  in spelling, punctuation and grammar (‘SPAG’) will be included in our amended Learning Updates, reflecting increased importance placed by the current government on this aspect of your child’s education.

At the moment, like all schools, we’re in a period of change. If you have any questions or concerns, please do speak with me or Mrs Weekes.

Thank you for coming to our class assembly…

…It was great to see a record number of parents at the assembly!

Here are a few of your comments:

• “Lovely poems. Very impressed with the children’s contribution.”
• “Fabulous timing – just lovely.”
• “Fantastic performance from the Reception class. Looking forward to the next one.”
• “Very enjoyable – great to see all the children contributing.”
• “Well done! Loved the interactions and the singing.”

06 February 2015

Here are this week’s spellings.   There will be a spelling test on Friday 13 February.

Frozen!

06 February 2015

For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is talk time and is due in on Wednesday 11 February.

I can prepare a speech (School Council elections).

or

I know the importance of voting.

It’s time for children to consider if they would like to stand for election for our new school council.  With two representatives from each class, chosen democratically by their peers, all children at Moortown Primary are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.

Elections for our new school council will take place next Thursday 12 February with our polling station and ballot boxes at the ready.  Candidates will have the opportunity to give their election speech to their class on Wednesday 11 February.

What makes a good school councillor has been considered by our current school council.

• ‘Communicating with others – pupils and adults.’
• ‘Having good listening skills to know what to contribute in meetings.’
• ‘Thinking of realistic ideas to suggest in meetings.’

Hints for your speech include:

• What skills and abilities would a good school councillor have?
• What are you particularly good at that would help you to be a great school councillor?
• What do you think would make the school better? What could you do that people would really like?
• Think of things that are realistic, maybe that you could do yourself, rather than having to ask other people to do?

Thank you to our current school councillors for all their ideas and contributions over the last year.  We hope you have enjoyed this role and responsibility and you are welcome to stand again for election.

Good luck to all children who decide to stand in the elections.  Results will be announced in our assembly on Thursday 12 February.

If you choose not to stand in the election then you should consider the importance of voting.

Contraption Designs

This week’s homeworks are great! We’ve got loads of ideas to help us continue to build our contraption. Many of them are ideas we could use and a few are a bit more fantastical which we may struggle to execute. Here are a few highlights chosen by the children:

Forces homeworks!

Here are a couple of sets of fantastic forces homeworks the class have done this half-term:

These were all great but I did have a favourite: Ethan’s very scientific idea of getting his hamster to test the friction of different surfaces by getting him to walk across them. “His legs were splayed” was a comment I particularly liked about Rex’s difficulty walking across laminate flooring!

These homeworks are examples of our Forces in Action homework.

School council elections

Our current school councillors held their final meeting recently as we prepare to elect our new school council.

Children from every class, including Reception, are encouraged to prepare a speech to present to their class as part of the election process.  Our whole school homework before the election date will give children the chance to plan their speech.

Thank you to our existing school council who have been involved with many decisions and discussions throughout the year.  Most recently they have selected books for our library and pupil prizes as rewards in class.