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League tables

The primary league tables have been published.

The Department for Education site publishes the percentage of children at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6) achieving Level 4 or more in both English (reading and writing) and Maths together.  It shows at Moortown Primary, this percentage has gone from 78% in 2009 to consistently over 90%.  In 2012, 94% of children achieved Level 4 or more.

What the league tables don’t show is the stories behind the data.  We’re proud of this figure: 94% continues to place us amongst the highest in the country.  But it’s a little lower than 2010 and 2011.  One child missed out on a Level 4 by a couple of marks in Maths but achieved Level 4 in English – this is shame, especially since Ms Hazell reports that the pupil was working quite securely at Level 4 for much of the year (perhaps SAT nerves or test technique let this pupil down on the day…?).  Another much-loved child has very specific special needs meaning he could not do the tests at all, but is included in our school results – parents and carers are often surprised to hear even pupils with quite extreme special needs are included in the league tables.

The BBC version of the league tables publishes the percentage of pupils reaching Level 5 (the level of a typical 14 year old) or more in both subjects.  Our percentage is 45%.

Again, it’s useful to put that figure in a context.  First of all, it’s very good, although not quite as high as some other high-performing schools.  Our data for this particular class of children shows 61% of pupils achieved Level 5 in English and 52% in Maths.  It can be a lottery of a kind to find out which of those children achieved Level 5 in both.

Additionally, the BBC describes this aspect of the league tables as ‘high-achieving pupils’.

However, we like to think that children who make lots of progress as high-achieving – and many of our children exceeded average progress expectations.

Moreover, in Maths, we have a high percentage of pupils who achieved not just Level 5 but Level 6: 13%.  This is a result of their hard work at home, in class and at supplementary sessions – our Tough Stuff Maths club!  (Very few pupils nationally achieved Level 6 in English – most teachers and headteachers were struck by just how hard the test for this was.)  This year, we continue to challenge and support those with potential to work towards this very significant level.

Well done to all our pupils in the 2011-11 cohort.  You achieved well socially, emotionally and academically.  We’re proud of you all.

14 December 2012

This week’s spellings are words starting with ‘wh’.

Your child will be tested on Friday 21 December 2012.

14 December 2012

This week’s spellings are tricky words. Your child will be tested on Friday 21 December 2012.

After the holidays, the children will be split into different spelling groups. You will know which group your child is in as it will be written on the inside of their spelling book.

• their (used for a name/person)
• there (used for places and has the word ‘here’ in it)
• people
• asked
• could
• saw
• thought
• friend
• once
• were

Christmas news

We have a number of exciting events coming up:

PTA Christmas Fayre

The Christmas Fayre is taking place on Friday 14 December between 2.30 and 4.30pm.  As well as the popular Bun Stall, there’ll be games, tombola and an opportunity to visit Santa.  If you are able to help at the Fayre, please leave your contact details at the office.

Reception and Key Stage 1 Christmas Production

Hey, Ewe! Why are the sheep so restless?  Reception and Key Stage 1 families can find out by coming along to one of the performances on either Tuesday 18 or Wednesday 19 December.  A booking slip has already been sent home.

Key Stage 2 Carol Singing

To continue making a positive contribution within our local community, we have carol singing arranged for the last week of term.  On Thursday 20 December groups will be singing carols outside Marks and Spencer.  Year 3 and 4 will sing from around 10.30 to 11.00am and Year 5 and 6 from around 11.15 to 11.45am.  Please come along and support your child.  We understand that you may prefer for your child not to attend.  If you do not want your child to participate in this carol singing session, please leave a message at the office.

Class Christmas Parties

Key Stage 1 parties will be on Thursday 20 December and Key Stage 2 parties on Friday 21 December.  Party treats are funded by the PTA.

Finally, we hope you all have an enjoyable Christmas break and we’ll see you when school re-opens on Monday 07 January 2013.

07 December 2012

Spellings this week are all ly words – ‘ly’ is a consonant suffix which usually makes the words adverbs.  Consonant suffixes can be added without changing the base word, except for words ending in y which changes to i.

Spellings will be tested on Friday 15 December.

• secretive > secretively
• joking > jokingly
• unfortunate > unfortunately
• strange > strangely
• normal > normally
• real > really
• total > totally
• happy > happily
• speedy > speedily

07 December 2012

This week homework is Practice Makes Perfect.

I can describe a scene and create a mood.

Children have been given four pictures of four different settings. The task this week is to describe two of the scenes using the follwing writing skills that they use in class:

• great punctuation
• adjectives
• similes
• adverbs
• metaphors
• alliteration
• a variety of sentence types and sentence starters

Homework is due in on Wednesday 12 December 2012.

What an action-packed week!

A busy week rehearsing for the Christmas performance meant that some much needed fresh air and physical exercise were needed. Some great fun outside in the front playground…

…and some balancing in PE.

This is a good chance to remind you that children must have their PE kits in school every Tuesday and Thursday.

More yoga

Yoga

We were lucky to be visited by Yogabugs who taught us some circus-themed yoga moves. I was very impressed by a lot of the children’s balancing skills!

Dance

We visited Allerton Grange to take part in a dance workshop. Take a look at some of the moves we learnt!