Healthy packed lunches
As it is health week, copies of our Guide to Healthy Packed Lunches have been given out at lunchtime today as a reminder for children who choose to bring a packed lunch to school.
We encourage at least one piece of fruit or vegetable in packed lunches and snack items occasionally, as a treat, but aim for healthy options. Lots of learning has taken place in health week looking at quantities of sugar in drinks and the importance of drinking water to keep hydrated. We therefore encourage water which is freely available for packed lunch children.
There were also some prizes for healthy packed lunches.
What's for breakfast in your home?
Porridge? Cereal? An egg and toast?
It’s Health Week and a timely reminder about the importance of enjoying a healthy breakfast before school.
A new study has revealed that primary pupils who eat breakfast are up to twice as likely to do well at school as those who do not.
In particular, the research showed a strong link between a healthy breakfast – such as cereal, bread, dairy products or fruit – and doing well at school.
The study of around 5,000 pupils was led by a team at Cardiff University and looked at performance in Key Stage 2 teacher assessments.
Supporting your child
Learning workshops are a chance for you to find out more about the best ways to support your child’s learning at home. The last of these workshops took place last night – a Maths one.
Once again, parents and carers who came were very positive:
- ‘Discovering the Maths videos on the website and knowing the expectations for times tables for different year groups was good.’
- ‘Very useful session and well-delivered. Will help reinforce learning at home.’
- ‘I’ve now got a better understanding of the on-line resources and the language to use at home. I’ve a clearer understanding of what [my Reception daughter] will be doing now. It was well-structured and delivered.’
Thank you to Mr Owen and Miss Rushbrooke for running these sessions – much of the feedback chose to praise them:
‘I enjoyed listening to both teachers highlighting the teaching and ideas in school and how to support at home. Thank you for offering your time.’
Whilst this was the last learning workshop, we have other events coming up to support your child at home:
- Homework open afternoon, 2.40pm on Wednesday 02 December – parents/carers of children in Years 1 – 6 are invited into the classroom to help you to be aware of the standards of homework in your child’s class; it will also give you an insight into how we give feedback to your child even if the homework does not appear to be marked.
- Core skills open morning, 9.00am-10.30am on Tuesday 08 December – we invite all parents/carers into school to see some Maths and English teaching and learning taking place, and then to review what was observed with Mr Roundtree and/or Mrs Weekes (those who came last year found it helped to know what was happening so they could talk more with their child about their learning, and it raised some expectations, too!).
- Reception phonics teaching, 9.00am-9.30am on 20 / 21 / 22 January – the second chance to see how your child is learning these essential skills to support reading and writing; over the course of the three mornings, all Reception parents/carers are expected to attend.
- Core skills open morning, 9.00am-10.30am on Wednesday 27 January – a second invitation for parents/carers to see some Maths and English teaching and learning taking place.
- Topic open afternoon, 2.30pm on Thursday 17 March – you’ll get a chance to share in the review of the Big Topic on Life which will be coming to its end (parents/carers are welcome, too, although Reception children will not necessarily have joined in on this whole-school topic).
- Reception phonics teaching, 9.00am-9.30am on 27 / 28 / 29 April – the third chance to see how your child is learning phonics; again, all Reception parents/carers are expected to attend on one of the mornings.
It's all about health
This week is the first themed week of the year and it’s all about health.
Over the week classes will work with different visitors to school including:
- d:side (drug education)
- Catering Leeds (food nutritionists)
- Leeds Force basketball
- Leeds City Council road safety team
- Tsukuru Judo Academy
- Leeds University dental students
- Rachel Frazer – Yoga teacher
- Heart Research UK
- Dr Natwar – Corner House dental surgery
- Claire Sparrow – pilates teacher
There will be lots of learning in class too – hand washing, body image, emotional health, 5 a day and much more. Keep an eye on our class news pages to find out more.
On Monday 23 November, 3:00-3:30pm, there will be an information session for parents, led by d:side, where you can find out more about the drug education sessions delivered to each class this week. No need to book – just come along.
Phonics feedback
Mrs Burke and the other Reception staff were delighted to welcome nearly all parents / carers into the classroom this week to watch the Reception children learn phonics – so important in developing reading and writing skills.
Parents who visited either on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday gained an insight into the general teaching that goes on in Reception, but more specifically learnt about how we teach phonics and how they should support their child’s learning at home:
‘It was useful to see the step-by-step process in which the children are taught so that I can attempt to support in a similar fashion at home. It was helpful to hear the language used in context (grapheme, phoneme etc).’
‘Very informative and well-organised. Definitely helps with how to support at home.’
Lots of parents left impressed by the children’s learning behaviour:
‘I was happy to see how well the children are engaged.’
Finally, we asked how we can make these sessions even better. We had a couple of suggestions – a longer session was suggested, and the session a little bit earlier in the year. We’ll consider these, although in previous years we’ve tried different things and this seems about right for most people. One parent suggested that we should remind others ‘that phonics is not the be all and end all’ and that we should ’emphasise the importance of reading for fun’ – we agree. The purpose of the session was kept quite specific, but Mrs Burke will include some reminders about this in subsequent newsletters because we certainly want to promote a love of reading.
Thanks again to everyone who came along. The next sessions are on 20, 21 and 22 January.
What is 'mastery'?
Mr Owen welcomed quite a lot of parents to the two workshops he ran on Monday (one at 2.30pm, one at 6.00pm). Once again, the feedback was really positive – parents who came appreciated the information and Mr Owen’s relaxing, friendly and clear delivery style. One parent summed up the session well by describing it as ‘really informative with useful handouts and great delivery’ and went on to conclude, ‘Pleased Moortown offer these workshops for parents.’
Other comments include:
- ‘Convinced by the concept – I now understand it. Really stimulating.’
- ‘Mr Owen is very passionate about his job and very good at ensuring parents understand concepts.’
- ‘Great explanation of the teaching that is happening in school. Really helpful to see how you are supporting children in this way so that we can do this at home, too.’
I’m really pleased to read so many comments such as the last one – these workshops are intended to help you support your child at home.
Moortown 2 - 3 Our Lady's
This evening, our Year 6 football team made the short trip to Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School.
Despite the wintery conditions, Moortown were ready for battle and made a very strong start. After several minutes of early dominance, Bailey poked the ball in to give Moortown the lead.
However, the game did not ‘pan out’ as Moortown had hoped. Remembering previous games, in which one goal hasn’t been enough to secure victory, Moortown took the risk and continued to attack. After a quick counter-attack, Our Lady’s drew the game level: 1-1.
Despite being very resourceful in finding different ways to unlock the sturdy Our Lady’s defence, Moortown could not convert their pressure into goals. In fact, for the 10 minutes either side of half time, the game became very scrappy. It was Our Lady’s who benefitted, scoring further unanswered goals to make it 3-1.
Moortown knew they had to respond and respond they did! The last 10 minutes saw both teams miss numerous chances as the game opened up. Each player took responsibility for their performance and, with two minutes to go, Moortown pulled a goal back: 3-2. Could they?
Unfortunately, with the light fading, the final whistle blew and Moortown suffered another narrow defeat. Captain for the day, Lennox, reflected on the game: “It was a hard game but it was very fun. I thought everyone was very resilient!”. Well summarised, Lennox (and thanks for mentioning our 8th ‘R’ for learning).
Next week, Moortown face Immaculate Heart of Mary in what is sure to be another close encounter!
Responding to terrorism
Our current SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) has as its theme the 8 Rs for Learning, one of which is responding. This ‘R’ is around developing children’s ability to respond constructively and positively towards feedback about their learning. Similarly, responding constructively and positively is something we must do following events which feature from time to time in the news, such as the attacks in Paris on Friday. Children can’t avoid being aware of news stories such as this, and it’s important to support children appropriately. This website post is intended to help you support your child at home.
The terrible events in Paris on Friday highlights the very unsettled world in which we live. Deaths, explosions and violence are seen on 24-hour television, web and newspapers and children are often totally exposed to this media, often with no explanation. Some of our pupils may have visited Paris, played on a Tunisian beach or flown on a plane out of Sharm el-Sheikh. We don’t know what effect hearing about these events has on children, but we need to be sensitive to their needs, questions, concerns and fears.
There is very little information on the internet offering advice to help children understand terrorist events. Much of the information comes from America and dates from September 11 2001, or offers support after a school shooting. Below is some of the available material – do check them out before using them with your child.
- Helping Children Cope in Unsettling Times (Somerset County Council, 2010)
- Parent’s Guide to Talking to Their Children about War (City of New York)
- Tips for Parents on Media Coverage (National Child Traumatic Stress Network, USA)
- Talking to Children about Terrorism and War (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
Books to help children explore world issues
After the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015, author Sita Brahmachari wrote in The Guardian about why it’s more important than ever to write stories for children that explore our differences and common humanity. The article includes a diverse list of contemporary authors whose books have helped children and young people understand and empathise with some of the most complicated situations faced in the world today. Download the list of books.
Takeover Day
Next Friday, 20 November, is Takeover Day.
What is Takeover Day?
It’s a national initiative organised each year by the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield OBE. Takeover gives children and young people the chance to work with adults for the day and to be involved in decision-making processes. Children and young people benefit from the opportunity to experience the world of work and make their voices heard, while adults and organisations gain a fresh perspective on what they do.
Recently our School Council discussed how children could be involved in ‘taking over’ at school. Takeover activities will include school dinners (representatives from Year 4), the office (representatives from Year 5), assembly (representatives from Year 6) and KS2 tuck shop on 24 November (representatives from Year 2).
In addition there will be opportunities within class where children will takeover. For example, spelling/times table tests, parts of lessons, PE warm ups and guided reading.
Check our class news pages to see this in action.
Make a noise about bullying
Next week it is national anti-bullying week.
Our school definition has recently been reviewed by the School Council and remains unchanged.
‘Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.’
This year the theme of the week is Make a noise about bullying and our children are familiar with another STOP message to address this, start telling other people.
Leeds Anti-Social Behaviour Team will once again deliver Show Racism the Red Card workshops across school and in class children will discuss these aspects of bullying:
- Our definition of bullying (above)
- Types of bullying – cyber-bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion and belief, special educational need and disability
- What to do if children experience bullying. The key message is to tell someone (start telling other people)
Bullying resources can be found at…
- http://www.childline.org.uk/explore/bullying/pages/bullying.aspx
- http://www.bullying.co.uk/advice-for-parents/
- http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_parents/worried_about_your_child/bullying
Children tell us what they would do if they were bullied: ‘I would tell an adult, teacher or someone I trust.’
All classes have access to their class SEAL box or a whole school worry box where they can tell an adult any concerns about bullying or any other issues.