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12 June 2014

This week’s homework is creative (combined with maths).

I can fin the perimeter of a shape.

We have looked at how to work out the perimeter of shapes this week by adding the length of all sides together. Here are some different ways you could practice doing this at home.

• Draw some shapes and measure their sides. Add them together to work out perimeter.
• Find actual objects to measure eg a table and work out its perimeter.
• Imagine how large a football pitch would be and work out its perimeter.
• Create a game that requires you to measure perimeter.

Governing body news

Mrs Janice Rush, our Chair of Governors, writes this review of the school year and the activities of the governing body…

At the start of this academic year, the governing body decided to reconstitute under new government guidelines. We kept the same number of governors overall but made some changes to how we select governors. There are still five elected parent governor positions but the majority of governors are now appointed on the basis of the skills they can bring to the school, the most important of these being the ability to ask questions to make sure they challenge and support – this ensures the school is providing the best it can for all our children.

In January of this year, as Chair of the Governing Body, I was designated as a National Leader for Governance which means I will spend some time working with other governing bodies in the area and can bring back ideas to ensure Moortown Governing Body keeps working at a high standard

Parent governor elections were also held in January. Mrs Deyes was re-elected and Mr Millar elected, both for a term of four years. Our local authority governor (Councillor Charlwood) stepped down in February prior to the birth of her second child and the position has yet to be filled.

As most of you will already know, the Governing Body has spent much of this year working with various groups to try to secure some playing field space for the school. At the time of writing nothing has yet been finalised.

Teaching, learning and curriculum sub-committee

The Teaching, Learning and Curriculum committee is made up of six governors, Mr Roundtree and members of the school’s Senior Leadership Team as required. The main purpose of the committee is to discuss and monitor all aspects of the school’s work around pupil attainment and progress, but this year it has also been ensuring that a new curriculum has been designed and is ready to be fully implemented in September in line with new government regulations.

The committee has met every term and link governors for Curriculum Enrichment, Standards and Achievement (Maths and English), and Early Years have held regular meetings with relevant staff to monitor how all areas of the school are performing.

Pupil support sub-committee

The Pupil Support committee is made up of four governors, Mr Roundtree and members of the Senior Leadership Team as required. The main purpose of the committee is to discuss and monitor all aspects of the school’s pastoral work which includes areas such as attendance, behaviour, safeguarding, SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision) and health.

The committee has met every term and link governors for Child Protection, Heath and Inclusion, have held regular meetings with relevant staff. These meeting are to cover such areas as ensuring all Child Protection policies are fully understood and are correctly implemented by all staff, and to monitor how the government PE grant is being spent to improve provision.

Resources sub-committee

The Resources committee is made up of six governors, Mr Roundtree and Mrs O’Malley. The main purpose of the committee is to ensure that the school spending remains within budget and that all funds are spent wisely to best meet the needs of the pupils. From September, this committee will also have to ensure that the performance management process for staff is being correctly implemented and any pay decisions made are in line with our policy.

The committee has met every term but quarterly reviews have also been held with the local authority finance officer and a governor attends the monthly budget meetings.

A governor has also accompanied Mrs O’Malley on regular premises inspections.

Assessing pupils’ progress and attainment

Teachers are busy finalising their end-of-year assessment data for reading, writing and maths. They do this at the end of every term, but the end-of-year data is especially important. This is definitely true for Mrs Burke, Miss Rushbrooke and Mr Owen because this data is sent to the local authority, the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted.

The attainment levels teachers give your child are based on lots of on-going assessment (marking, asking questions in class etc) and occasional tests. A few weeks ago, children from Y2 to Y6 all did some tests. The end of Key Stage 2 SAT tests done by Y6 are most well-known – these must be sent away to be marked. End of Key Stage 1 tests are done by Y2 pupils. Miss Rushbrooke marks these and uses the test scores and her own teacher assessment to come up with a final level (the test score ‘informs’ the final teacher assessment).

‘Moderation’ is a way to check and compare assessments with other schools. This year, a representative from the local authority visited to oversee the assessment process carried out in Reception. This helps to identify strengths and areas where we can improve (we only received minor suggestions to improve already strong practice). It’s really helpful in that it allows Mrs Burke to discuss her own assessments of Reception children with another Early Years expert. Because we’re a single form entry school so teachers don’t have a ‘partner teacher’ in the same year group, this is useful as a way to ‘check’.

This year, we’ve bought in the services of someone to do this each term for Reception, so we knew Mrs Burke’s judgements were accurate.  We’ve also bought in the services of someone to do something similar for Y2 and Y6 writing, to make sure levels given for writing are accurate – they are!

Also to check or ‘moderate’, this year, governors have decided to use an external organisation to mark the reading, writing and maths of Y3, Y4 and Y5 pupils following their tests and writing tasks.  This will mean we can analyse how our children are doing compared with others nationally (which we already do with the Y2 and Y6 data), and we’ll even get reports on which questions our children did well and less well in – this might help us to work out areas where we can make our teaching even better.

The chart below indicates the minimum level range which is expected for a typical child by the end of the year.  However, please note that over half of our Year 6 pupils attain Level 5 or even Level 6 – much higher than these minimum expectations.

Children in Reception have their development described differently: their attainment will be indicated as ‘emerging’, ‘expected’ and ‘exceeding’ – ‘exceeding’ means they may be working at 1c or higher in the chart above.

End-of-year reports

Teachers are busily writing the end-of-year report for your child, and the 29 other children in the class. It takes quite a while (hence no Class Newsletter this half-term). Once they write the reports, I read them (another task which takes a while!).

We’ll send final reports home for you on Tuesday 08 July this year – this is a little earlier than other schools so that you have the chance to meet with teachers to discuss the report.

For parents / carers of children in Reception, there is a third parents’ evening (Monday 14 July); for others, we encourage you to make an appointment with your child’s teacher (or someone else in school who can help) – especially important if you see that your child is working below expectations or has made only a little progress this year.

06 June 2014

This week’s homework is creative.

What was the seaside like in the past?

Choose any way to show what you know about what the seaside was like in the past. Why don’t you…

• create an information leaflet.
• draw a picture and label it.
• pretend you’re a child in the past and write a diary about your trip to the seaside.

06 June 2014

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

06 June 2014

This week’s homework is creative.  Please make sure it is handed in by Wednesday 11 June.

What was the seaside like in the past?

Remember, you can be as creative as you like:

• a picture detailing what the seaside might have looked like in the past
• a collage of pictures that you find on the internet
• a poster advertising “Punch and Judy”
• a timeline showing how the seaside might have changed
• a mirror image – one side showing the seaside today and the other showing the seaside in the past

We are looking forward to seeing what you have learnt about how the seaside has changed.

6 June 2014

This week’s homework is creative(ish) and is due Wednesday 11 June.

I can research a cyclist from the Tour de France.

The homework requires your child to complete a mini-research project on a well-known cyclist from the Tour de France. Your child has been given a booklet with certain information they must find out. Encourage your child to look in newspapers, magazines or online to investigate the life of their chosen cyclist.

The research your child uncovers will help inform next week’s Literacy lessons.

6 June 2014

As we are learning about the Tour de France this half-term, the spellings are all words which the children will come across during the topic.

Summer Reading Challenge 2014 – win a visit from a fabulous author!

A message from Michelle Ackroyd, Moor Allerton Library, West Area Librarian:

Summer Reading Challenge 2014- win a visit from a fabulous author!

I am writing regarding this year’s Summer Reading Challenge. Held in libraries across the country, every year we encourage children to continue reading over the summer and to try lots of new reading material. The challenge is designed to ensure children keep practising their reading skills and develop a life-long love of reading.

The Summer Reading Challenge can help to widen pupils’ reading repertoire and motivate them to read through the long summer holiday. Studies have shown that 80% of children taking part feel they are better readers as a result (Product Perceptions, 2003 and 2006).

How the Summer Reading Challenge works:

• Children sign up at their local library and receive a Mythical Maze poster.
• Children read six books of their choice collecting stickers and incentives along the way.
• Library staff will be on hand to advise and run family-friendly activities.
• Children who complete the challenge are presented with a certificate and medal.

This year, we’re offering children who join the opportunity to win a visit from a fabulous author/illustrator for their school – the highest number of school completers wins a visit!

We are currently offering assembly visits to local schools. I hope we can arrange a visit soon.