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23 November 2012

We are revisiting one of our key spelling rules this week: double up for short vowel sounds. This week’s spellings are all in the past tense so have ed endings as well.

Children will be tested on eight out of the ten spellings on 30 November 2012.

23 November 2012

The spelling rule to chant this week is ‘double up for short vowel sounds’. They also all have a common suffix which is ‘ive’.

Paper plane pandemonium!

This afternoon, we’ve built and flown paper aeroplanes. Well done to Jawaad and Oliver for their winning flights!

Road Safety

This afternoon, we’ve been learning about road safety. We’ve learnt about how important it is to always wear a seatbelt – even for short journeys. We’ve learnt that children who are under 135cm tall should also use a booster seat when in a car.

All aboard for the National Railway Museum!

Year 3 and 4 had a fantastic trip on Wednesday to the National Railway Museum. We learnt about forces such as gravity and friction.

We saw lots of different types of trains. We even took a ride on the Chinese Bullet train!

We also did some sketching in our sketch books of our favourite trains.

Some of the wheels of the trains were taller than the children!

23 November 2012

This week’s whole school homework is creative.  It’s due in on Wednesday 28 November.

I can show what bullying means and how to stop it.

As part of the current SEAL theme of Getting On, this week is anti-bullying week.  Within class, the children have been asked to consider bullying including these key points:

• What is bullying?
• What are the different types of bullying?
• What should you do if you are bullied?
• What should you do if you see someone being bullied?

Useful websites to look at include:

• Childline (http://www.childline.org.uk/explore/bullying/Pages/Bullyinginfo.aspx)
• Go-givers (http://www.gogivers.org/)
• Kidshealth (http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/emotion/bullies.html)

You could produce:

• art work
• poetry
• a poster
• writing: diary, story, letter
• a rap
• a mindmap
• your own creative idea

23 November 2012

This week’s spellings are words ending in ‘ing’. Your child will be tested on Friday 30 November 2012.

• joining
• fishing
• floating
• reading
• teaching
• writing
• sleeping
• looking
• thinking
• beating

Reception class

Around this time last year, Ofsted inspectors visited school.  Whilst we were very happy with the school’s overall judgement of ‘outstanding’, we were disappointed that our Reception class was singled out as an area to improve.  Parents tell us (and told the inspectors) that they are happy with their child’s progress in the first year at Moortown Primary, but inspectors were less enthusiastic.

Since the inspection, we have thought hard about the next steps.  We didn’t want any knee-jerk reactions which would lead to only superficial improvements, if any.  Here’s how we’ve responded to the inspection so far.

This year, staff in the class are participating in a year-long project with a private, Early Years specialist, Early Excellence.  Six other primaries in the area are joining us.

Part of the project involves a visit from an Early Years specialist.  We’re delighted with the feedback so far; below are some extracts from her report.

• The staff team work extremely well together and support children’s interests sensitively.
• The staff were very tuned into the children and responded with useful ideas and possibilities that they could think about.
• Children are encouraged to share their work with each other and to celebrate good learning together at the regular plenary sessions.
• Staff were observed through the session pointing out and reporting to each other things that were happening all around the room and outside.
• Organisation of provision in the indoor space is challenging.  It is surprising how much staff have managed to fit in and are offering a good range of provision areas.
• There is a lot of encouragement for purposeful writing and mark-making in the areas – I like the writing wall in the role play area.
• The light and friendly ethos enables the children to feel secure and to take risks as they learn new skills and techniques.
• The headteacher is very supportive of development in the Early Years.
• The school clearly has a close-knit team that operates well together.

The report also praises the children in Reception, who ‘were observed working collaboratively together and talking spontaneously about their activities’.

As well as this project, we’ve invested in a lot of new furniture to help meet pupils’ needs even more, and new resources for children to play with and learn with.  Ofsted inspectors also advised that the school’s leadership team (the assistant headteachers and me, the headteacher) should improve their evaluations in Reception; with this in mind, a range of external experts will observe provision and evaluate it alongside the school’s leaders, and the headteacher will visit Reception classes in other schools to evaluate alongside other school leaders.

We believe the provision in our Reception class matched the good and outstanding teaching and learning elsewhere. Nevertheless, we are keen to move forward positively, and take the Ofsted recommendations as a constructive prompt to get even better.  We’ll continue to invest in training and resources to ensure the best provision and the best outcomes.

Astounding Artwork

Year Six have been given the challenge to produce a piece of group art with the title Rich.
I rather think they’ve succeeded!

Promoting social, moral, spiritual and cultural development

We’ve always taken your child’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural development seriously – and we’ve been successful, too.  Ofsted (November, 2011) judges us to be outstanding in this area, noting:

Their outstanding behaviour, together with their maturity as members of the school community, is reflected in their respect for different cultures. This leads to outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. A typical comment from pupils is that, ‘in this school we are all equal. We treat each other from different religions equally’. 

But what do the terms ‘social development’, ‘moral development’, ‘spiritual development’ and ‘cultural development’ mean?  When I seek your views on this area of our work in the annual survey of parents and carers, we typically get fewer responses for this question – I wonder if it’s because of the slightly mysterious nature of of terms!

Here’s how the Department for Education define the four aspects, and some comments (in italics) about how we’re promoting them at Moortown Primary School, especially through the homework tasks we set.

Social development

Pupils’ social development involves pupils acquiring an understanding of the responsibilities and rights of being members of families and communities (local, national and global), and an ability to relate to others and to work with others for the common good. They display a sense of belonging and an increasing willingness to participate. They develop the knowledge, skills, understanding, qualities and attitudes they need to make an active contribution to the democratic process in each of their communities.

It’s wrong to think that the best learning happens in a silent classroom!  At Moortown Primary, our classes are often buzzing with talk – talk for learning, that is.  We believe that lots of speaking and listening between pupils is vital – it’s a life skill and a great learning tool, too: it can help children develop their thoughts, check their answers for reassurance, embed their own learning… Linked closely with SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning), especially the current theme of Getting On, social development is happening all the time at Moortown Primary.  Teachers often set homework based around the SEAL theme; at the time of writing, for example, Mr Wilks and Mr Redfearn have asked the Year 3 and 4 children to do some Talk Time on different ways to get on with friends.  Next week, children in all classes are asked to consider bullying: what it is, what types of bullying there are, and how we can stop and prevent it.  Again, this stems from our SEAL themes and promotes social development.

Moral development

Pupils’ moral development involves pupils acquiring an understanding of the difference between right and wrong and of moral conflict, a concern for others and the will to do what is right. They are able and willing to reflect on the consequences of their actions and learn how to forgive themselves and others. They develop the knowledge, skills and understanding, qualities and attitudes they need in order to make responsible moral decisions and act on them.

Talk Time homework is the perfect way to have a healthy debate about a moral issue, and recently all the teachers in school set a moral question to consider at home: older children considered whether everyone should be paid the same wage (fitting in perfectly to their Big Topic, Rich and Poor); Y3 and Y4 children considered if households should have more than one car (linked to the All Aboard! Big Topic); and children in Key Stage One pondered whether animals should perform in circuses (which stems from the Roll Up! Roll Up! Big Topic).  As always with Talk Time homework, opinions which children have heard and considered at home (and hopefully some rich language, such as words like ‘Nevertheless,…’ and phrases like ‘I agree with most of what you say, but…’) are then a central part of class discussions.  Theses sorts of discussions, at both home and school, promotes social development, too! 

Spiritual development

Pupils’ spiritual development involves the growth of their sense of self, their unique potential, their understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and their will to achieve. As their curiosity about themselves and their place in the world increases, they try to answer for themselves some of life’s fundamental questions. They develop the knowledge, skills, understanding, qualities and attitudes they need to foster their own inner lives and non-material wellbeing.

As well as the obvious ways to promote this through Religious Education and assemblies, we recently asked children to respond to what a religious festival means to them. This was a creative homework: I can show what Eid or Diwali means to me and my community.  Teachers were very impressed by the quality of the homework.  Later in the year, we’ll repeat this homework task for festivals from the Jewish and Christian faith.

Cultural development

Pupils’ cultural development involves pupils acquiring an understanding of cultural traditions and an ability to appreciate and respond to a variety of aesthetic experiences. They acquire a respect for their own culture and that of others, an interest in others’ ways of doing things and curiosity about differences. They develop the knowledge, skills, understanding, qualities and attitudes they need to understand, appreciate and contribute to culture.

We value and respect children from all faiths.  Importantly, we value and respect children with no particular faith, too.  As an alternative to the homework described above, children might have chosen to respond from a cultural prompt: I can respond to a book I’ve recently read.  Again, the quality of the homework was great.  Later in the year, there will be an opportunity to respond to a film or television programme (your child’s chance to become a film or TV critic!) and to a work of art. 

As always, if you’d like to know more about this or any other aspect of the teaching and learning at Moortown Primary, please do contact me.