Is your child safe on-line?
Today has been Safer Internet Day and children across the country have been learning about how to stay safe online.
At Moortown Primary, we know how important staying safe is, and we know you’re always keen to promote ways to stay safe at home, too. Safe and responsible use of the internet is something which is growing and growing in importance – we hear so many shocking stories in the media – so please do take an active approach at home to promote your child’s online safety.
First of all, are you aware that social networking sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook have a minimum age requirement of 13? (For some sites, it’s older.)
E-safety is a key part of our curriculum for both Computing and Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education (PSHCE). Read the age-related expectations for e-safety and digital literacy.
As teachers and parents, we’re aware of the ways in which the use of social media, online gaming and the internet have become part of young people’s lives. We embrace the educational and social benefits of these new technologies and encourage responsible internet use. We’re also increasingly aware of the potential dangers and opportunities for misuse these technologies offer. Key to promoting online safety is open and honest discussions about the sites we’re using and the ways we’re using them – keep the dialogue open with your children about their internet use.
The following list contains lots of ideas and resources to help you to promote online safety – tell us if you know any more good resources. These links are always on our website’s online safety page.
The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has published a short, really helpful guide for parents and carers whose children are using social media. The guide includes practical tips about the use of safety and privacy features on apps and platforms, as well as conversation prompts to help families begin talking about online safety. It also contains pointers to further advice and support.
A family agreement is a great way to start a conversation with your whole family about how you all use the internet and discuss together how to behave in a positive way when online at home, at school or at a friend’s house. To support parents in creating a family agreement, Childnet International have put together some free advice and a family agreement template.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance has joined forces with internet security company McAfee to produce a series of videos on the topic, looking at how and why cyberbullying occurs; advice for children and young people to protect themselves and tips to pass on to parents about steps they can take at home.
This video from Common Sense Media gives students five basic rules for engaging with social media, including switching on privacy settings and turning off location tracking features that harvest data (parents might be interested to watch this Guardian video which explores this in more detail).
Common Sense has also created videos explaining how the most popular apps and sites work, so if you have ever found yourself wondering what Snapchat, Vine and Instagram are, these are a good place to start your education.
For younger children (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2), there are a number of picture books available online (and in print), including the tale of Digiduck, who shares a nasty picture of a friend, and Smartie the penguin, who runs into trouble with his new computer.
The ever-brilliant Horrible Histories tackles similar themes in a sidelong way, with Lady Jane Grey clicking a dodgy link and getting spammed; a prudish Victorian lying about his age and stumbling across scandalous content (ladies without gloves); and Guy Fawkes learning a valuable lesson about privacy settings as his plot fizzles out.
Other resources are:
- www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers This site provides a whole host of useful ways to keep your child safe, with useful pages of advice, key advice, hot topics and tips for discussing online safety.
- www.internetmatters.org Lots of useful advice for parents on a range of issues including cyber bullying, online reputations and online grooming. There is also a link to a useful ‘guide for parents’.
- www.parentinfo.org Useful articles on a range of current e-safety issues and new apps and websites including Minecraft, Snapchat and ooVoo. New articles are added regularly.
- www.ceop.police.uk The official site of the National Crime Agency’s CEOP (formerly the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre), containing advice and useful information and a link for reporting online abuse, exploitation or inappropriate images.
- http://www.saferinternet.org More links and advice for parents and children including resources linked to Safer Internet Day.
- www.nspcc.org.uk NSPCCs own website with lots of safety advice including video to watch with your children and a link to their work with O2.
- www.mumsnet.com Lots of e-safety advice including a section specifically for pre-school and primary.
School Council Elections
Following in-class election speeches this week, our School Council elections will take place on Thursday, 11 February. All children have the opportunity to vote at our polling station using the following instructions.
Before voting, please read the following:
- Vote once for one person.
- Place one X only on this ballot paper beside the name of the candidate you have chosen.
- Do not write or mark anything else on the ballot paper; if you do, your paper will be invalid and your vote will not be counted.
- When you have marked the ballot paper, fold the paper and place it in the box provided.
Results will be counted on Thursday and our new School Council will be announced at the end of the day. This will be made up of two children from each class with the highest number of votes.
Good luck to all our candidates.
Learn more about the new tests for your child
You’ll be aware that there have been lots of changes in education in the last few years, including a new curriculum with greater expectations and assessment without levels.
There are also new end of key stage tests (commonly called the SATs) coming up in May. Children in Year 2 (end of KS1) and Year 6 (end of KS2) will be the first to sit these new tests.
Find out more about the Key Stage 1 tests: watch this short video and/or read this booklet.
Find out more about the Key Stage 2 test: watch this short video and/or read this booklet.
Another congratulations from the DfE
We’ve had a third letter congratulating us!
On 26 January 2015, David Laws MP (Minister of State for Schools) wrote a letter congratulating us on the results for disadvantaged pupils.
On 27 October 2015, Nick Gibb MP (Minister of State for School Reform) congratulated us on very high achievement for pupils in the 2015 Year 1 phonics screening check.
Now, just over twelve months on, we receive a third letter. This time, Sam Gyimah MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Childcare and Education) sends us congratulations, again for the results of pupils who are entitled to pupil premium – often referred to as disadvantaged pupils. He writes:
It gives me great pleasure to write to you and congratulate your school on winning a local award in the key stage 2 category of the Pupil Premium Awards 2016…
The reason you have been selected is that you are one of the high achieving schools in the country in terms of the attainment and progress of your disadvantaged pupils since 2011. It is clear that you and your staff have provided pupils with a good start in life and prepared them well for secondary school. I would like to congratulate your governors, parents and pupils for their hard work and success, and thank you for your leadership in making such a difference to the future success of your pupils.
We’re very proud of the successes of all our pupils, whether it be those in receipt of pupil premium funding or not. We are always 100% committed to supporting and challenging all pupils in their learning (and in their social and emotional skills, too!). Moortown Primary is a happy and healthy and highly successful place to learn!
Meanwood Park orienteering
This week, linking with their learning about owls, Year 3 helped to create two of the owl markers for a new orienteering project at Meanwood Park.
Further details about the trail will follow once the rest of the owls, from other local schools, are ready and in place.
School dinners
Our school dinner menu was discussed by our School Council this week. They also talked about ways to encourage others to try some of the new meals that are on the Spring term menu.
Did you know the menu is available to view on our website and also displayed on our dining room window. This is a good way to make your child aware of what the daily meals are.
The menu follows a three week cycle and it changed on a termly basis.
Here are the options for today.
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.
