Our weekly message: Friday 12 September 2025

Let’s start this week with a well done to Finley in Year 3. In the summer holidays, Finley took on a mammoth challenge to raise money for St Gemma’s: a 20km walk up Ingleborough. It took him 6.15 hrs (and we’re guessing a huge amount of determination and resilience!). In the last 12 months, Finley’s raised just over £1290 for the charity, and already has next year’s planned out!

The rest of this week’s message comes from Mr Wilks, who leads on Science and Foundation subjects. It’s all about the half-term topic we’ve just started in Key Stages 1 and 2.

What do we mean by topics?

For children in Key Stage 1 and 2, topics are the vehicle for delivering much of the learning in foundation subjects (History, Art, Geography, for example). Each half-termly topic has a driving subject: the main focus for teaching your child the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. The driver changes with each topic.

Although there’s a focus on one subject in each topic, there are opportunities for enrichment through other subjects. For example, learning in a History driven subject may be enriched by observational drawing of an artefact. In this example, the enricher is art.

For more information about our topics, click here.

What is this half-term’s topic?

This half-term, we’re geographers. The topic is called Where in the world am I?

We’re focusing on the geography of the United Kingdom and helping to develop children’s sense of where they live through the use of fieldwork. As you read about the learning planned in each phase, you’ll see how the learning progresses across the primary age range.

Children in Years 1 and 2 will learn about the different countries that make up the United Kingdom and their capital cities. They’ll learn about the difference between physical and human geography and identify examples of both in the local area. They’ll also learn about the four compass points and use geographical vocabulary to describe what is north, south, east or west of them. A big chunk of the learning will have a focus on fieldwork. They’ll think of questions about the locality. For example, what types of trees are growing in the school grounds? They’ll then collect and present data to answer the question.

Children in Years 3 and 4 will develop their locational knowledge by using maps and atlases to locate some of the other cities in the United Kingdom. They’ll learn about counties and use the eight compass points to describe locations. The big focus for this phase is on maps. They’ll learn how to use Ordnance Survey maps and their keys. They’ll learn about four figure grid references and use these to locate features. They’ll then apply this learning more locally by mapping a route in the locality.

Children in Year 5 and 6 will learn about national parks, using maps to locate them. They’ll then learn about urban green spaces and their importance before learning about how Leeds has expanded over time. Importantly, children will get an understanding of how a geographer works by completing fieldwork in the locality. They’ll gather data about the amount of carbon stored in trees and present that data.

How can you help?

To kick off with, check out the links for each phase (above) to explore more about the United Kingdom, Ordnance Survey and national parks.

Regardless of the year group your child is in, Google Earth is a brilliant tool to help develop children’s understanding of their sense of place in the world. Zoom right in on your home and then zoom out to reveal the area of Leeds that you live in. Zoom further out to see what city you live. Zoom further for the county. A little further and you might start to spot some national parks. Further still and you can see the country that we live in. Keep zooming and you’ll see the continent we live in (though this isn’t labelled). Before you know it, you’re floating in space and circling the Earth!

Google Maps is another great tool for investigating where you live. Try the street view option and you can walk along your street. You can even toggle between different data points to see what your house or garden looked like in previous years. (My lack of gardening skills were laid bare in a staff meeting when we compared my unkempt garden in 2019 to the lush, wildlife haven the previous owners had lovingly created in 2008!)

Have a quiz with your child about some locational knowledge to help them remember important information. I’ve listed some examples below. Use the age-related expectations and vocabulary on page 17 and 18 to find the right pitch for your child.

• What country do we live in?
• Which county do we live in?
• Which city do we live in?
• Which part of Leeds do we live in?
• Which four countries make up the United Kingdom?
• Which national parks are located in Yorkshire?

If you can, go to the library and get some geography related books, especially an atlas. You could compare maps of the same place to see what type of information they show. For example, you find lots of maps of the United Kingdom. One might show the countries and capital cities. Another might show the mountains, rivers and national parks. Another might give information about the climate.

Children could draw a plan/map of their bedroom with a key. Older children could try to do this for each room of their house. Children could also create a map of a mythical location with an accompanying key.

For children in Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6), there are lots of different games and activities on Ordnance Survey Mapzone. I especially like the jigsaws in the Map Puzzles section of the Games.

Also for KS2 children, there’s a lot of information and some tasks and quizzes on BBC Bitesize.

A happy and healthy summer

Over the summer, Moortown children were taking photos of anything and everything that represented being ‘happy and healthy’. We had so many entries which is great.

Here are some photos showing all of the entries and our three winning entries. Well done to everybody who entered – some great photos!

Our weekly message: Friday 05 September 2025

The start of a new school year, after six weeks away, can be a tricky time for everyone. Despite this, the atmosphere in school has been a happy and healthy one – children have settled in really well. We’ve enjoyed welcoming children back to school – and welcoming new children joining us, too. We’ve loved hearing children greet us happily each morning!

After extending our wraparound care timings, we’ve welcomed children into school from 7.30am and are open until 6.00pm. It’s been a great success this week and there’s been fun and games and a lovely smell of toast – a great way to start the day!

Summer competition

Did you enter our Summer competition this year?

Thank you to those of you who did. We invited you to send in a smiley face spotted at some time in the holidays. Monday’s the deadline to send in a pic.

Dates

In case you missed an earlier email, here’s a list of key events across the year.

For a fuller and up-to-date picture of what’s going on, check out our school calendar.

(Have a look at our weekly Living and Learning theme at the start of each week in the calendar, too – this week, our theme’s been ‘I follow the school rules’ so please talk about these at home.)

A few reminders

Our website

As it’s the start of a new school year, we thought it might be a good time for a quick ‘tour’ of some of the key pages of our website.

The Find Out section is there mainly for the key information you need to know about. One of the pages to be aware of is Policies and Other Points – this page contains lots of information, including our Positive Relationships policies and our Uniform policy.

The Join In section describes lots of different ways that you and your child can get involved, from wraparound care and clubs to any job vacancies we may have. There’s information about our Governing Body in this section, too.

The Learn More page is where to go for ways to support your child’s learning. The Class News pages are always the some of the most visited pages – they help to keep you up to date with what your child’s learning. Other pages give you information about different subjects – Reading, Writing, Maths and other curriculum subjects. If you’re a parent of a child in Reception, check out the Early Years page, too.

Talking of supporting your child at home, next week we’ll talk about our new topic for children in Years 1-6. It’s a Geography topic – start asking your child now what they’ve been learning in Geography!

Summer smile competition

Have you captured a smile for our Summer competition yet? This summer, we’re looking for smiley faces to sum up our happy and healthy place to achieve and believe!

Over the Summer holiday, we want you to stay alert to happy and healthy faces all around you… and take a pic of any hidden smiley faces in your surroundings: a day out at the beach might include creating a smiley face, for example! Here’s our suggestion (look for the smiling face!)…

…but we’re sure you can do better!

Look out for things around you that show a hidden smiley face – a happy and healthy face – or encourage your child to create their own from things around them (pebbles, leaves, Lego…).

To help you get started, look out for some intended smiling faces like McCain Potato Smiles or commercial logos with a hidden smile but they’ll be too obvious to win the competition!

To enter, email your pics to moortownoffice@spherefederation.org by Monday 08 September. Enter ‘Summer competition’ as the subject.

All entries will be displayed in a happy and healthy display in school, and there are prizes for our favourites.

Our last weekly school message of the year: Friday 18 July 2025

We’ve reached the end of the school year – we hope it’s been a happy and healthy one at Moortown Primary for you and your child. Our message this week is a long one:

1. Our first message is about swimming – it’s especially important for parents of children moving into Year 3 next year
2. We’ve a uniform update – this is for everyone
3. Also for everyone are some links for holiday ideas
4. After this, we’ve an array of celebrations of our happy and healthy school!

Swimming lessons at Moortown Primary

We’re making an exciting change to how children in Years 3 and 4 access swimming lessons.

Currently, children in Year 3 go swimming. With travel included, it takes up a large part of the afternoon for a relatively short weekly lesson.

From next year, Moortown Primary and Scholes (Elmet) Primary (another Sphere Federation school) will share a time slot in the year for a pop-up pool – a purpose-built, temporary swimming pool. It will mean children in Key Stage 2 will benefit from an intensive 3 week block of lessons where they will swim for 45 minutes every day with fully qualified, external swimming instructors.

This alternating cycle begins with Scholes (Elmet) Primary in 2025-26 (so there are no swimming lessons next year for Moortown children). In 2026-27, we’ll have the pool. Across the two year cycle, all children in Key Stage 2 will benefit: children will either swim in Years 3 and 5 or in Years 4 and 6 during their time in Key Stage 2.

We understand this may seem like fewer lessons overall. However, the intensive, daily format has been shown to significantly boost children’s progress. Here’s why:

• Faster skill development: Swimming every day builds confidence and skill without the gap between weekly lessons that often leads to forgetting.
• More time in the water: Without the need for travel, children get more meaningful lesson time.
• Less disruption to learning: A concentrated block avoids weekly interruptions across the year, protecting curriculum time.
• Improved outcomes: Qualified instructors can better tailor lessons to each child’s needs, helping more pupils learn to swim and develop water confidence.

We’re confident this change will mean even more children can learn to swim whilst also saving on learning time lost throughout the year.

Uniform update

Please remind yourself of our Uniform Policy so you and your child can be ready for September. We’ve made a couple of minor changes: nothing major, mainly making the guidance around additional items hopefully a bit clearly.

Our weekly message: Friday 11 July 2025

This week has been our Being Healthy themed week, the second of our Living and Learning themed weeks in the year. A particular favourite was our Sports Day. Here are the results:

• Key Stage 2: 1st place to the blue team, second place to the red team, third to the white team and fourth to the green team.
• Reception and Key Stage 1: 1st place to the red team, second place to the blue team, third to the green team and fourth to the white team.
• Overall: the blue team won, with the red team in second, white team in third and fourth place goes to the green team.

Sports Day is one of our end of year highlights. Despite the heat, a fun day was had by all. Thank you to everyone who came along and particularly those who helped in any way.

Home learning

Our first message this week is here for two reasons:

• to help parents of children going into Year 1 in September know about home learning
• to make sure other parents are aware of our expectations for home learning (this stems from feedback in our 2025 annual survey)

At Moortown Primary, we set out five home learning tasks for children to do:

• Reading – daily for at least 10-15 minutes
• Number fluency – use NumBots or TimesTables Rock Stars for about ten minutes each day
• Spellings – daily for 5-10 minutes
• Talk Time – weekly for about 15 minutes
• Living and Learning– weekly for about 15 minutes

Altogether, this varied diet of home learning totals about 35 minutes each day (that’s allowing for a day or two off). Read our Home Learning Policy. This includes a Homework Guide which you might want to print off and keep somewhere for easy reference.

Summer production

The Year 6 leavers’ production of ‘We’ll Meet Again’ was a huge success. Well done to all of the children and staff involved in putting on a wonderful performance. Thank you, also, to all of you who managed to attend. We hope you enjoyed it.

Governance

For those of you interested to read more about our Governing Board, the Sphere Federation Annual Governance Statement for 2024-25 has been published.

We do still have a vacancy on the Governing Board. Please mention this to any friends or relatives! Anyone interested should contact the chair of governors, Mrs Rachel Cooper: rachelcooper@spherefederation.org

That’s a date!

At Sphere Federation, we like to be organised because we know many of you do, too. That’s why you’ll find most of the key dates in our calendar for 2025-26. Because we’ve got these planned in so far in advance, there’s a small chance one or two might need to be changed (we’ve not had to do this very often this year!). Well over 50 events are listed, including:

• Christmas events
• Class assemblies
• Easter productions
• Early Years events such as Stay and Learn sessions
• all our Living and Learning statements (with improved prompts for continuing the  learning at home)
• Living and Learning themed weeks (Me and My Money and Staying Safe)
• Living and Learning themed days (Anti-bullying day and Safer Internet Day)
• National assessments
• Productions across the year
• Watch us while we work sessions (so you can see some teaching and learning in core skills like Reading, Writing and Maths)
• Topic review sessions (come and and see the learning in Art and Computing)
• Some online presentations (Y6 SATs and residential; Y1, Y2 phonics and early reading; online safety)
• Parent-teacher meetings (in October and February)
• Photographer (for individual and class photos)
• lots of events to celebrate Reading
• Sports Day

Safeguarding over the Summer break

During the Summer holiday, you might have a concern about a child that you feel needs acting on. In term time, we would encourage you to share the concern with us at school but this isn’t possible when school is closed.

Here are some options for you if you have any concerns:

• During office hours: You can call Children’s Social Work Services on 0113 222 4403 (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, except Wednesdays when they’re open from 10am). You can also discuss your concerns with someone who works with children and families, such as your health visitor or your GP
• Out of office hours: If you think a child is in immediate danger call the police on 999
• Our Federation Safeguarding Lead will also be picking up emails. You can contact her using our safeguarding email address: stayingsafe@spherefederation.org

Talking of summer, don’t forget…

Our Summer competition

The aim is simple: capture or create a smiley face to sum up our happy and healthy place to learn! We want you to stay alert to happy and healthy faces all around you… and take a pic of any hidden smiley faces in your surroundings: a day out at the beach might include creating a smiley face in the sand, for example! We’re sure you and your child can do than our suggestion (look for the smiling face!)…

Look out for things around you that show a hidden smiley face – a happy and healthy face – or encourage your child to create their own from things around them (pebbles, leaves, Lego…).

To enter, email your pics to moortownoffice@spherefederation.org by Monday 08 September. Enter ‘Summer competition’ as the subject. All entries will be displayed in a happy and healthy display in school, and there are prizes for our favourites.

Next week’s our last week of the 2024-25 school year. The last day of term is Friday 18 July (it’s a non-uniform day). If your child’s in Year 6, we’re looking forward to seeing you for our Leavers’ Assembly on Wednesday at 2.15pm.

Our weekly message: Friday 04 July 2025

You should have received your child’s annual report this week. Please contact your child’s teacher if you’d like to discuss the report – your questions, comments and concerns are important.

This week’s message has a few repeats of previous messages so you’re prepared…

Themed week: Being Healthy

Next week is the second of two themed weeks in the year. Here are a few reminders.

• Children should wear PE kit throughout the week, but please make sure it follows our Uniform Policy:

• Travel actively to school! For the chance to win a voucher, send your photos to moortownoffice@spherefederation.org by Thursday 10 July.
• Monday 07 July 2:20pm: You’re invited to watch the children’s skipping skills with Skipping School.
• Thursday 10 July is our Sports Day: Key Stage 2 from 9.30-11.30am, Reception and Key Stage from 1 1.30-3.00pm. The event is at Roundhegians Rugby Club – use the entrance from Chelwood Drive, LS8 2AT
• Friday 11 July 3.00pm: a d:side representative will be in the playground ready to answer any questions you might have about the drug education sessions taking place for all classes.
• We’re raising funds for our school charity, Yorkshire Air Ambulance with our Personal Best Challenge – you can donate via the Gateway app a £1 minimum donation
• Pupils have an online health questionnaire at home for their homework.

To help us continue with themed weeks such as this, we’re asking for a small contribution: £2 per pupil (Gateway) will help us to pay for visitors for themed weeks. Visitors include Skipping School, British Military Martial Arts, Tatty Bumpkin yoga & mindfulness, City of Leeds Basketball, Hello Hip Hop, d:side health charity & Foot-tech. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.

Production

Don’t forget our Key Stage 2 Summer production next week, too. There are two performances:

• Tuesday at 6.00pm
• Wednesday at 6.00pm

Teachers next year

With the end of term approaching, it’s time to let you know of a few changes in staffing for the new school year.

As some of you may know, Miss Wilson (Year 6) is pregnant. She’ll start her maternity leave early in September. To replace Miss Wilson (but not in Year 6). we’ll be welcoming a new teacher to the Moortown team, Mr Volpe.

We’re also saying goodbye to Mrs Lake – she’s moving from Moortown Primary to another Sphere Federation school. Mrs Palmer, who already works in the federation, will be joining us in September.

The final update is that Miss Kidd, one of our fantastic teaching assistants, is starting a year of teacher training; she may be back later in the year for one of her placements so watch this space!

In September, the teaching staff will be:

• Reception – Mrs Wood
• Year 1 – Mr Volpe
• Year 2 – Mrs Palmer (M, T, W); Mrs Taylor (Th , F)
• Year 3 – Miss Birch
• Year 4 – Miss Newman
• Year 5 – Mr McGriffiths
• Year 6 – Miss Goswami

Your child met their teacher yesterday. We’re sure they’ll have lots to tell you about it.

That’s all for this week. Before we end, here’s an idea if there’s a summer birthday in your household…

Herd Farm is a council-run activity centre offering a range of outdoor activities and pursuits for both adults and children. They’ve recently launched a Birthday Adventure Offer which they’re trialling during the summer holidays. Interested? Check out this video clip.

Meet the teacher

With the end of term approaching, it’s time to let you know of a few changes in staffing for the new academic year.
As some of you may know, Miss Wilson (Year 6) is pregnant. She’ll start her maternity leave early in September. To replace Miss Wilson (but not in Year 6), we’ll welcome a new teacher to the Moortown team, Mr Volpe.
We’re also saying goodbye to Mrs Lake – she is moving from Moortown Primary to another Sphere Federation school. Mrs Palmer, who already works in the federation, will join us in September.
The final update is that Miss Kidd, one of our fantastic teaching assistants, is starting a year of teacher training; she may be back later in the year for one of her placements so watch this space!
In September, the teaching staff will be:
Reception – Mrs Wood
Year 1 – Mr Volpe
Year 2 – Mrs Palmer (M, T, W); Mrs Taylor (Th , F)
Year 3 – Miss Birch
Year 4 – Miss Newman
Year 5 – Mr McGriffiths
Year 6 – Miss Goswami
Your child met their teacher today. We’re sure they will have lots to tell you about it.

Our weekly message: Friday 27 June 2025

We start with a few questions this week…

Have you noticed our outside clock isn’t working? It was faulty and we’re getting a replacement (under warranty). It will hopefully be with us and fitted over the summer holiday.

Do you know someone who’s lost a hearing aid? We’ve found one and it’s in the school office.

This weekend, why not pay a compliment or two?

Our Living and Learning statement this week…

…has been I can say one good thing about myself.

Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself. These feelings can change as things in your life change, such as going to a new school or becoming a brother or sister. Does your child recognise their strengths? Do they know subjects at school they’re strongest at? Outside school, do they know what skills are they especially good at? Just as importantly, what are their strengths in their character?

At home this weekend, have a chat about strengths. Think about questions such as:

• What are they?
• How did they become strengths – practise or a natural talent or luck?
• How can we maintain them?

Attendance matters

This year, the government introduced new measures to tackle unnecessary term-time absence.

• Since August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country has been £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days.
• If a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160.
• If there’s a third time, other action like a parenting order or prosecution will be considered. If you’re prosecuted and attend court because your child hasn’t been attending school, you could get a fine of up to £2,500. 

Leeds has issued 7,410 penalty notices so far this year and will continue to issue notices across Summer. This figure includes second fines for some parents following two separate periods of absence in the year. It doesn’t include situations where there is a third instance because this results in legal action.

At Moortown Primary, attendance for the vast majority of pupils is good. Thank you for avoiding unnecessary term-time absence.

It’s time to get your thinking caps on for the return of our Summer competition. This year, it’s the return of smiley faces to sum up our happy and healthy place to learn!

Our Summer competition

Over the Summer weeks, we want you to stay alert to happy and healthy faces all around you… and take a pic of any hidden smiley faces in your surroundings: a day out at the beach might include creating a smiley face, for example! Here’s our suggestion (look for the smiling face!)…

…but we’re sure you can do better!

Look out for things around you that show a hidden smiley face – a happy and healthy face – or encourage your child to create their own from things around them (pebbles, leaves, Lego…).

To help you get started, look out for some intended smiling faces like McCain Potato Smiles or commercial logos with a hidden smile but they’ll be too obvious to win the competition!

To enter, email your pics to moortownoffice@spherefederation.org by Monday 08 September. Enter ‘Summer competition’ as the subject.

All entries will be displayed in a happy and healthy display in school, and there are prizes for our favourites.

Phenomenal piano playing

One of our Y4 friends is showing amazing talent in his piano playing (playing one of J.S Bach’s preludes). He has been awarded the 2nd place winner in the Rising Talents of Europe International Music Competition this year – impressive stuff! He was very pleased and really enjoys learning Bach’s baroque pieces.

Thank you to everyone who donated an item for the Summer Fair today. We’re looking forward to welcoming you all to the fair on Friday 04 July at 3.15pm. There’s still time to buy tokens on Gateway but you can use cash if you’d prefer. It’ll be great to see you there.

As we approach the end of the year, the next few weeks are busy ones – please keep an eye on our calendar. Next week…

• the annual report for your child will be emailed – the day for this depends on your child’s year group
• on Thursday, your child will meet their 2025-26 teacher
• also on Thursday, for parents of pupils in Year 2, there’s a Ready to Read celebration assembly
• on Friday, we welcome you to our PTA Summer Fair

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 20 June 2025

Have you completed our annual survey yet?

If you have – thank you. We’ll spend time over the next few weeks considering what you’ve said (and making sure we pass on any compliments).

If you haven’t, there’s still time! We’ll close the survey at 6pm today. Complete the Moortown Primary survey here.

Vacancy

We’ve a vacancy for a Senior Administrator here at Moortown Primary. Hours are negotiable but around 23.75 hrs per week, term time plus two days (11.45am – 4.30pm, Monday to Friday). Read more about the post.

Sports Day

This year’s sports day takes place on Thursday 10 July 2025 at Roundhegians Rugby Club LS8 2AT.

• Key Stage 2: 9.30am – 11.30am
• Reception and Key Stage 1: 1.30pm – 3.00pm

If weather conditions mean we have to change the date, the reserve date is Tuesday 15 July with the same timings.

Spectators are welcome and access to Roundhegians Rugby Club is from Chelwood Drive. Please bring your own seating. We will walk the children to Roundhegians on the day so if you’re able to help accompany the children, please let the office know.

For sports day, our teams will be green, blue, white and red. Your child will be told what colour team they are in. If possible, please could your child wear a t-shirt matching their team colour.

Please ensure your child has their water bottle and a cap/hat at school. It would also be useful if you could apply sun cream before your child comes to school.

Normal lunch time and end of school collection arrangements will still apply on this day.

Happy and healthy highlights

Well done to the Year 2 class for winning their skipping festival this week. This is the third year in a row our Year 2 class have achieved this. All the class worked hard as a team to earn as many skips as possible in their individual and group events. Dexter’s 99 single bounce skips in 30 seconds certainly helped to contribute to our winning total!

We know it’s technically a month or so too late, but we love this Moortown Maypole tradition! Our Reception friends are learning how to dance round the maypole. There is much perseverance, practice and patience needed (and that’s just the staff!) but the smiles show how much the children enjoy it.

Our Reception children will showcase their skills to open the Summer Fair on 04 July at 3.15pm. 

Staying with the happy and heathy theme…

Back in the Autumn term, our DT: Food project in Key Stage 1 was to make fruit smooothies. More recently, a homework task was to to prepare some food at home. Here’s a great example…