School Council elections 11 February
Our current school councillors held their final meeting today as we prepare to elect our new school council. This year’s election date is Thursday 11 February.
Children from every class, including Reception, are encouraged to prepare a speech to present to their class as part of the election process. Our whole school homework before the election date (05 February) will give children the chance to plan their speech.
Thank you to our existing school council who have been involved with many decisions and discussions throughout the year. On today’s agenda, there have been discussions around the new school dinner menu, classroom reading areas, e-safety and general suggestions put forward by children in each class. It appears they have enjoyed the role as they all intend to stand again at the elections.
Borrow a book, borrow a bike
With 100 days to this year’s Tour De Yorkshire, a local bike library has been set up locally at Moor Allerton Library.
Leeds City Council has introduced a new Yorkshire Bike Bank which will allow residents to borrow bikes as well as books from the library.
School charities
Moortown Primary is a happy, healthy and caring place to be.
That’s why we support two charities for two years. In 2014 and 2015, we supported Cancer Research UK and St Gemma’s Hospice.
In 2014 and 2015, we raised £2,205.36 for Cancer Research UK and £2,164.66 for St Gemma’s Hospice. (The amounts are slightly different because of the different fund-raising events over the two years – some are specifically for just one of the two charities.)
Thank you for your support.
Two new charities will be chosen by pupils this month. There will be a Talk Time homework – your child will discuss ideas at home. Following this, each class will discuss ideas so make sure your child can talk about their preferred charities with reasons why they think Moortown Primary should support them. At the end of the discussion, two charities from each class will be nominated. The School Council will then consider the charities from this shortlist and finally agree on the two charities we will support in 2016 and 2017.
Let's get sugar smart
Today has seen a new campaign launch by Change 4 Life, the government’s public health initiative, aimed at reducing the amount of sugar that children consume.
The free Sugar Smart App can tell you the amount of sugar in items by scanning the barcode, and then displaying the result as a number of cubes or in grams. The app can be used as a way of revealing the hidden sugar content in foods and to make us more aware of what children are consuming.
Public Health England, which runs the Change 4 Life campaign, hopes the Sugar Smart app and campaign will help combat tooth decay, obesity and type two diabetes and encourage families to choose healthier alternatives.
New SEAL theme...Good to be me
Our new SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme for this half-term, Good to be me, focuses on three main areas of learning:
•Self-awareness – feeling good about yourself, taking risks.
•Managing Feelings – understanding feelings, and why and how they lead us to behave the way we do – particularly the feelings of being excited, proud, surprised, hopeful, disappointed, worried and anxious and standing up for yourself –assertiveness skills, standing up for your views.
•Empathy
This theme explores feelings in the context of the child as an individual, developing self-awareness and helping the child to realise that it really is ‘Good to be me’. The theme is about understanding our feelings as well as considering our strengths and weaknesses as learners.
As part of our current mini topic, What’s the matter?, children will also ask ‘What’s the matter?’ from a social and emotional point of view, understanding feelings and thinking about how they can solve problems.
The key ideas and concepts behind the theme of Good to be me are:
Building emotional resilience
Children need to become resilient if they are to be healthy and effective life-long learners.
Coping with anxiety and worrying
Worry and anxiety are major features in many children’s lives. Many children have good reasons to be anxious. Exploring worries is important.
Calming down
Although getting stressed, anxious or angry are important and useful emotions, sometimes these feelings can be overwhelming.
Assertiveness
The theme encourages children to become assertive – that is, able to recognise and stand up for their rights while recognising and respecting the rights of others.
Understanding feelings and how they influence behaviour
The theme explores the relationship between ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ and the way each impacts on our behaviour. It looks at Flight or Fight rapid response to situations of threat and our responses to feeling threatened /under stress.
‘I respond to difficult situations in a positive way’ is the first SEAL statement for this theme.
Latest competitions
We’ve had a busy end to the term with two recent competitions.
Firstly, our Year 5 and 6 cross country teams braved the elements in traditional cross country weather to take part in the Leeds North East competition at Cardinal Heenan. Despite the conditions, all the children were keen to compete and a special well done to Gloria, finishing 14th in her race.
Back indoors was the second round of the Sports Hall Athletics competition at Roundhay School. Unfortunately we didn’t progress to the next round but the children never gave up and there were lots of cheering and encouragement to support the team. Well done to all children who took part. They’ve learnt lots of new track and field events in the process.
We certainly looked the part with our new school polo shirts and hooded tops purchased by the PTA.
Think you know...?
An updated version of Thinkuknow, the child internet safety website for parents and carers, is now live at www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents.
The new site is still in a trial period. It offers a completely refreshed suite of articles and guidance on all aspects of child internet safety. Please do have a look around the new site. You might also help by completing the user survey (this appears as a pop up when you visit) – your comments and ideas will help shape the final content and improve resources and support to families.
Families can visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents to access advice and support on how to keep children safe from sexual abuse, both online and off. Articles provide guidance on topics as diverse as:
- challenging harmful sexual attitudes and promoting positive behaviours;
- helping a child with autism negotiate life online;
- supporting a child who has been sexually abused; and
- dealing with a range of online issues such as sending nude selfies and viewing pornography.
Users will find films, downloadable guides and useful links to support organisations. Families can also use the website to access the CEOP Safety Centre where they can report abuse and exploitation direct to Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).
Bedtime reading
We like these top tips to promote bedtime reading from Book Trust.
Although these are specifically for children who are starting to read by themselves, there are plenty of tips to support children of all ages.
(The Book Trust’s advent calendar is brilliant, too!)
Health highlights
Our health themed week has been filled with visitors and learning, providing a variety of experiences for the whole school.
- ‘It was really educational and fun.’
- ‘I enjoyed health week as there were so many activities.’
- ‘I learnt a lot about sugar in foods. I learnt about drugs: good or bad.’
- ‘One of my highlights was judo. We learnt different skills and it has now inspired me to take classes out of school.’
- ‘I did learn a lot and now I am even healthier than before.’
- ‘I learnt how to cope with emotional health.’
- ‘I learnt how to make sure I have my 5 a day.’
- ‘I learnt how to choose the right food.’
We would like to thank the following for their support with our themed week:
- Heart Research UK
- d:side (drug education)
- Tsukuru Judo Academy
- Tom Bosworth, Team GB race walker
- Claire Sparrow, pilates instructor
- Catering Leeds food nutritionists
- Leeds Force basketball
- Leeds City Council road safety team
- Leeds University dental students
- Leeds anti-social behaviour team
- Rachel Frazer, yoga teacher
- Dr Natwar Tibrewal, Corner House dental surgery
- Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds North East
- Public health resource centre for the loan of resources and providing health related leaflets
Finally, thank you to all staff and pupils who have fully engaged with all the learning throughout the week. Take a look at the Class News sections of the website to find out what each class have been doing. We have enjoyed a fun-filled week.
For further information about keeping healthy have a look at change4life, KidsHealth, NHS choices, Leeds Let’s Change and Leeds Let’s Get Active (for advice on more local health issues).
And an extra note from Mr Roundtree: Thanks, once again, to Mrs Taylor for organising such a wonderful themed week.
One of your 5 a day for free
Our weekly fruit tuck shop runs on a Tuesday playtime. It’s for Key Stage 2 children, with a charge of 20p per portion and a pre-payment option available.
Today, as part of health week, all children, including Reception and Key Stage 1, were invited to an extra tuck shop free of charge. This gave children who might not normally come to the tuck shop the chance to try it out.
It was great to see everyone enjoying a fruit-filled playtime.
