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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.

Be a part of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup

Fourteen teams are contesting the 2013 Rugby League World Cup through to the Final on 30th November at Old Trafford Stadium. The RL World Cup is coming to Leeds and Headingley Carnegie Stadium has the honour of hosting two international games, giving the city a perfect opportunity to be part of this unique event.

On Friday 8th November, New Zealand will play Papua New Guinea and on Friday 15th November the 1st Quarter Final match will be resolved.

Tickets are available from £15 for Adults and £7.50 for concessions and can be purchased online or through the 24 hour ticket hotline – 0844 847 2013. The RFL have announced a “Special Leeds Double Offer” for these games, buy a ticket for the NZ v Papua New Guinea game and get your Quarter Final ticket for half price.

A visitor for Key Stage 1

On Thursday, Year 1 and Year 2 had a surprise visitor in class. Florence Nightingale popped in to see Year 1 and hear all about what they had learned that afternoon about her life and she spent most of the afternoon teaching Year 2. The children were very interested to hear all about hospital conditions when Florence worked during the Crimean War and couldn’t believe it when she didn’t even know what lights or pens were!

Tasty and fun things to do for a healthy Autumn

A free children’s cookbook filled with healthy recipes has been developed by student health workers and members of the Watch It weight management programme for children in Leeds.

Along with recipes to get the whole family cooking together there are many ideas for activities around the city.

Watch It cookbook 2013 can be found in the publications section of the Watch It programme home page.

With a specific lunch section there are plenty of ideas for packed lunches!

It’s half-term…

…so no specific homework, spellings or tables this week.  It’s a good time to relax and enjoy some time with your children – have you visited the free exhibition of Anthony Browne pictures at Leeds City Museum, for example?

Building a Saxon Roundhouse

On Monday morning, Year 3 and 4 took part in a great workshop where they used their maths and DT skills to build a Saxon Roundhouse. Although tricky at times, the children worked together collaboratively to solve problems and build their own section of the house.

25 October 2013

There will be no homework or spellings over the half term but if you want to do some work with your child, here are some suggestions.

• Read every day, asking questions about what is happening and how they feel about the book.
• Whenever you use numbers (cooking, shopping, temperature etc…) discuss them with your child. What do they know about that number? How much is it? How much change do I need? Is it colder or warmer?
• Encourage them to write. Maybe they could keep a diary for one day of the holidays and we can stick it into our class diary so that everybody could read it.

“We’re eating a balanced meal.”

Last week, Year 2 were introduced to some new friends who helped us know how to eating healthily. We met Donny Dairy, Colin Carbohydrate, Victor Vitamin, Peter Protein and Freddy Fats. First, we sorted different foods into the five food groups.

Then, we planned our own balanced meal by choosing

• three items of food from Victor Vitamin and Colin Carbohydrate (the food groups we should eat most of)
• two items of food from Donny dairy and Peter Protein
• one or no types of food from Freddy fat.

On Friday, we made our meal and all ate a healthy, balanced meal together.

 When asked who had enjoyed their meal, here was the response!