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08 November 2013

This week’s homework is practice makes perfect.

This week’s learning in maths has been all about counting and recognising numbers.  It’s really important that your child knows the value of each digit in a number eg they need to know that a 16 is actually a 10 and a 6, one ten and six units.  While they are doing their homework,  talk to them about the numbers they are writing and make sure they are writing them the right way round.

This homework needs to be handed in by Wednesday 13 November.

08 November 2013

Here are this week’s spellings.  They will be tested on Thursday 14 November 2013 (Friday is a training day so school is closed).

Be proud of our bodies

This week Year 1 had a Doctor! Doctor! themed yoga session with Angela from Yogabugs.  We did a variety of yoga poses for most parts of our amazing bodies!  Then we enjoyed some well-earned relaxation.

Lots of gym stars

Over the last few weeks, Year 1 have been developing some fantastic gymnastic skills, including jumps, travelling and shapes with coaches Jane and Charlotte Townend.  The class have shown great progression over the sessions.  Ask them to show you their bunny jumps, travelling like a spider, star jumps and seated tuck shape to name a few.

Jane and Charlotte run after school classes in Barwick-in-Elmet and at Temple Moor High School if your child is interested in developing their gymnastics further.

New SEAL theme – Getting on

The SEAL theme Getting On covers four main aspects:

• developing the social skills of friendship
• working well together in a group
• managing anger
• resolving conflict

Group work takes place across all lessons and even at lunchtime and playtimes. Some questions for children to consider are:

• Did everyone take turns?
• Did everyone listen to what other people thought?
• Did each person have chance to tell the group what they thought?
• If people had different ideas could the group reach a compromise?

The key areas of learning throughout this theme are empathy, managing feelings and social skills.

Within this theme is Antibullying Week, 18 November – 22 November.

08 November 2013

This week our homework is practice makes perfect.

I can tell the time.

We have been learning how to tell the time this week. All of the children have completed similar tasks in lesson but a bit of extra practice will make sure we’re ready to take on a challenge next week. Give them every opportunity to be telling the time throughout the day too, especially for o’ clock, half past and quarter past.

This homework is due on Wednesday 13 November.

Have fun, you marvellous mathematicians!

08 November 2013

The homework this week is practice makes perfect and it’s due in on Wednesday 13 November.

To plan a narrative (story) from any genre using ‘OBDER’.

This homework fits in with our literacy learning this week. We have been learning about the types (genre) of story and talking about which ones we prefer. Here’s a list of some of our favourite genres of story:

• scary/horror
• fantasy
• adventure
• love
• familiar setting
• fairy tale
• humorous

This week, children have to plan a story from a genre of their choice. They have to use OBDER to plan the story. Your child should be able to tell you what OBDER is and how they should plan their story. However, just in case…

We use OBDER to sequence the events in the story:

• O is for opening
• B is for build-up
• D is for dilemma
• E is for events
• R is for resolution

We have taught the children to start the plan with the dilemma so that they know where the story is heading. Once they have decided the dilemma, they can then go back to the opening and work through the rest of the sections in order.  Remember, the children aren’t expected to write the story, they are just planning it so each section should just have the main ideas about what will happen and possibly some ambitious vocabulary they want to use in each section or how the character is feeling. We also use DAD to help us when we are planning stories – ask your child about DAD!

08 November 2013

It’s a welcome back to school and a welcome back to one of our key spelling rules this week: double up for short vowel sounds. This week’s spellings all have le endings as well.

How are we doing?

At this time of year, schools start to receive lots of reports and summaries to do with how well their pupils have done in Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.  The reports come from all sorts of bodies: Ofsted, for example, but also Fischer Family Trust and the local authority.  At Moortown Primary, our assessment data is thoroughly and continuously analysed, so we keep ahead of the game.  However, it’s always useful to have a fresh perspective on how we’re doing.

On Monday, we have a visit from our local authority school improvement adviser, who will work with the school’s leadership team and a governor on our assessment data.  Here are some of the strengths (from a list of 29) which she has identified in preparation for the meeting:

• Year 1 phonics test scores are above the national average and above last year’s result for our school.
• At the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2), a higher proportion of pupils than nationally are at (or above) national expectations (a Level 2B) in Reading, Writing and Maths; the proportion of pupils working at Level 3 (higher than national expectations) is also higher in all three subjects.  2012 saw a significant improvement in attainment at Key Stage 1, especially the numbers reaching Level 3 in Reading and those reaching a high Level 2A in Writing and Maths.
• Levels at which children work are translated to point scores (for example, Level 2b is 15 or 16 points).  The average point score at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, across all pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 in Reading, Writing and Maths, is above national average.
• At Key Stage 1, there has been a three year upward trend in the amount of pupils reaching Level 2b+, Level 3 and average point scores in Reading, Writing and Maths.
• In Key Stage 2, attainment in all subjects at both Level 4 (the nationally expected level at the end of Year 6) and Level 5 is above national averages.  The amount of children who reached Level 4 or higher and the amount who reached Level 5 or higher in all three subjects combined (Reading, Writing and Maths) is above national figures.
• The gap between children who have English as their first language and those who have English as an additional language (EAL) is narrowing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
• During Key Stage 2, the amount of children who make two levels of progress (eg moving from Level 2 to Level 4 or Level 3 to Level 5) in Reading, Writing and Maths is above national averages.
• Attendance has been above national average for the last three years.

She goes on to list 13 more strengths relating to our performance and how Ofsted view it.  For example, attainment and average point scores at Key Stage 2 has been significantly higher than nationally in Reading, Writing and Maths (all three combined) for the last four years, significantly higher in Maths for three out of the last four years, and significantly higher in Reading and Writing for two out of the last three years.  Progress measures are similarly strong.

All schools need to keep striving to get better and better and it’s always possible to find some areas of development or issue we need to think about.  Our local authority school improvement advisor listed six points (my comments are in italics):

In Early Years (Reception), the number of pupils reaching what is referred to as a ‘Good Level of Development’ is above national average but has been declining for the last three years.  It’s slightly unfair to compare 2012 data with earlier, because the government has changed the benchmarks for how to assess children in Early Years.  Nearly all schools had a decline in numbers for this measure.  It’s good that the data is consistently above the national figures – and the data is in-line with or higher than the ten most similar schools in Leeds.

Girls outperform boys in the Year 1 phonics test.  …As they do nationally.  Just as much as girls, boys need to have stories read to them and even more encouragement to read lots (factual books and comics are popular choices for many boys).  Please keep supporting your child at home with phonics games to help them practise letters and sounds – ask us for help, and refer to all the different guides we’ve produced, including one for phonics, too.

There are performance gaps between children with free school meals and those who are not entitled to free school meals, and the gap between some ethnic groups is significant and is widening.  This is true and is a concern.  A closer analysis of the pupils who fall into these groups show that there is a clear link with attendance and learning.  We have six children who are classed as persistent absentees and their poor attendance last year affects the data for specific groups in school.

Writing at Level 4 or more is lower than previous two years.  Last year’s class made lots of progress, despite remarkably high turnover of pupils.  Some children who joined in Year 6 did not reach the levels we want.  We predict the current Year 6 class should attain highly as a class.

There has been a decline in Level 5 in all subjects over the past three years.  Level 5 is higher than the nationally expected level (a Level 4).  There has not really been a decline – see the response to the following point for the reason as to this apparent ‘decline’.  Further, we expect there to be a significant rise this year.  (Incidentally, in the last three years, there has been a steady rise in Level 6 attainment in Maths – an even higher level.)

There has been a decline in combined Reading, Writing and Maths at Level 4 or more over the past three years.  This is not really a decline: the data is consistently high across five years, and the ‘decline’ reflects a very strong cohort of children creating a very impressive peak a few years ago, with all children reaching Level 4 or more in all the subjects.  The proportion attaining the expected level or higher remains far greater than other Leeds schools and those nationally.  We monitor and support children closely, ensuring children make as much progress as they can – data shows progress is very high.

Boys under-perform girls at Key Stage 2.  It’s not yet clear on what basis this comment is made; on some measures this is so, on others, it is the contrary.  For example, more boys reach Level 6 than girls, and more boys make higher than expected progress in Key Stage 2.

Rest assured we will continue to build on the strengths and do all we can to address these concerns.  Your continued support at home – especially making sure your children read lots and know their times tables – will help.  If you’d like to speak with me more about our performance data, please do arrange a meeting.

Yogabugs

We had a visit from Yogabugs today and did some yoga linked to our big topic on houses.