07 November 2014
This week’s homework is creative and is due on Wednesday 12 November.
I can be an artist.
As we’ve been looking at so many pieces of art and tried a few ideas out in class, it’s now time to see what we can do ourselves. Create any piece of art you want. Don’t forget, there are all sorts of types of art. Choose the one you like best or one you’ve never tried before…
- painting
- sketching
- pastel/chalk
- sculpture
- ICT
- photography
…and many more. We’re really looking forward to seeing your amazing art.
Moortown Festive Lights Switch-On
Moortown Community Group invite you to join in the Moortown Festive Lights Switch-On at 6.45pm (for 7.00pm start) on Wednesday 19 November.
The Community Group will gather outside the ‘Transform’ premises, opposite Marks & Spencer, where mulled wine and mince pies, fruit juice and decorated biscuits will be served – all kindly donated by Marks and Spencer and Cooplands.
For more information please see the Moortown Community Group website or their Facebook page.
Governor vacancy
Becky Lawrence, our Chair of Governors, writes:
The governing body has a strategic leadership role in school. For example, governors are a source of challenge and support to the headteacher, and they ensure that money is well spent in school.
This term there have been some changes to the Governing Body at Moortown Primary School. The new chair of governors is Becky Lawrence, who is a co-opted governor, and the new vice-chair is Rachel Greenhalgh, who is a parent governor. Co-opted governors are people who are appointed by the governing body based on the skills required to contribute to the success of the school. There is currently an opportunity for another parent to join the governing body as a co-opted governor.
Governors use skills from other areas of their lives to help the school. We would be particularly interested to hear from anyone with experience of premises management, strategic or financial planning, or data analysis. Most of all, however, governors need to be committed to helping improve the learning experience for all pupils at Moortown Primary and have an ability to ask questions.
If you are interested in becoming a co-opted governor, please email Becky Lawrence: beckylawrence@moortown.leeds.sch.uk
You might also want to discuss the role informally with Rachel Greenhalgh, who’s around school at the start and end of most days – ask Mr Roundtree to put you in touch if you’re unsure of who she is.
Working for Catering Leeds
Looking for work to fit in with school hours? School holidays hard to cover?
Leeds City Council’s School Meals Service is recruiting kitchen assistants to help provide and serve meals to the children of Leeds.
- Local jobs
- Term-time only contracts
- Working hours between 11.30am and 1.30pm
- £6.54 per hour
- No experience necessary as training and support will be provided
- Equality of opportunity – applications are welcome from all, irrespective of sex, race, marital status, age, disability or whether lesbian or gay
You will need to:
- Be enthusiastic and a good team player
- Be reliable and hard working
- Enjoy working with children
Appointments are subject to a satisfactory enhanced DBS (Criminal Records) check.
For more information or to apply, phone Catering Leeds on 0113 37 82323, email helen.collins@leeds.gov.uk or apply online.
Starting school in September 2015?
Information about applying for primary places to start September 2015
The application process (including the on-line system) opened on 01 November 2014 and runs until the deadline of 15 January 2015. If you have a child due to start school in September 2015, you should have received a letter and ‘quick guide’ from Leeds Admissions team inviting you to apply. The letter and guide includes information about important dates, how to apply, types of schools, our admissions policy and waiting lists etc.
If you haven’t received this letter from the Admissions team, please feel free to contact us or contact the Admissions team directly on 0113 2224414 to confirm that we have your correct address details.
Remember: even if you have a child in school or attending early years provision, you must still apply for a place.
Computing in Y5
Scratching away at a maze game!
Train to teach
Train to Teach Roadshow Event
When? Saturday, November 29, 10.00am-1.00pm
Where? DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Leeds City Centre, Granary Wharf, LS1 4BR
Train to Teach Roadshows are designed to provide you with information on pursuing a career in teaching and how to apply for training in your region. There will be a 45-minute presentation to provide general guidance on the routes into teaching and information on writing a great application. After attending a presentation, you can find out more by:
- Speaking to our teaching experts in the advice zone; they can give you one-to-one advice on your training options
- Meeting teacher training providers from your region, who can tell you about the courses they offer and their entry requirements
- Meeting School Direct schools within your region, who can tell you more about the places they have on the School Direct training programme
- Talking to current teachers in the ‘Meet the Teachers’ area
Get into Teaching has lots of information about how to get into teaching and the various training options available.
Learning to write
The children are progressing quickly with their phonics learning and reading. Alongside blending to read, the children also need to segment words to spell. Children often find this harder and lack confidence in their ability to write.
In Reception, the children take part in shared writing activities where they can ‘have a go’ on whiteboards with the support of adults. We then encourage independent writing in all the areas of provision. This includes writing a label for their model, writing a shopping list in the role-play shop or writing a letter to a friend. At the moment the children are busy writing messages to their favourite superheroes! We value all the children’s attempts at writing and model writing (and making mistakes) to them.
You can help at home by:
- Providing plenty of different types of pens and pencils and encouraging your child to use a correct grip
- Encouraging them to use the school’s handwriting style and to use lower case letters; we teach that a capital letter is required for the first letter in a name and at the beginning of a sentence
- Spelling is harder than reading words – praise, don’t criticise. Little whiteboards and pens are a good way for children to try out spellings and practise their handwriting
- Remember that at this stage children’s phonetic attempts are valued. They will learn the correct spellings of words later. We want the children to become confident writers by ‘having a go’ and using their phonetic knowledge independently.
- To be able to write, children need to be well co-ordinated through their whole body, not just their hands and fingers. Games that help co-ordination include throwing balls at a target, under-arm and over-arm, and bouncing balls – also skipping on the spot, throwing a Frisbee, picking up pebbles from the beach and throwing them into the sea.
Have fun!
ChildLine
The ChildLine Schools Service has recently visited children in Years 5 and 6 to provide them with key messages about keeping safe. It can be beneficial for these messages to be reinforced at home. The NSPCC has developed some guides for all parents of primary school aged children to speak to your child about keeping safe – called the Underwear rule.
Find guides to the Underwear Rule to help you have simple conversations about keeping safe from abuse.
You can speak to an advisor for further advice or request a hard-copy guide for parents and carers by phoning the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000.
Read more advice on keeping your child safe.
Gymnastics
Year 4, 5, and 6 have been working with gym coaches, Jane and Charlotte, from Temple Newsam gymnastics club. This initiative is part of our investment of the PE government funding to up-skill class teachers in their teaching of gymnastics and provide high quality gymnastic sessions for our pupils.
For any children who want to develop their gymnastics skills further, Jane and Charlotte run after-school classes at their gym centres, Barwick village hall and Temple Moor high school.
