News

Track and field stars

Well done to our athletics team who came second in the first round of the North East  Leeds Sports hall athletics at Allerton Grange – a great achievement.  It was a new event for the school and, despite a few nerves, everyone performed to the best of their ability in every event.  Well done to all the children involved and to parents for their support.  Look out for details of the next round.

If you’d like to continue athletics, there is also a local athletics club that runs at Scott Hall Leisure Centre.

Be safe, be seen

With lots of media attention on serious risks to children, it’s sometimes easy to forget the more traditional messages. With the dark nights now upon us, it’s worth (re)emphasising with your child the Be Safe – Be Seen message.

Cardiff Council’s Road Safety team have a great page on their website which also includes a number of other links and resources. There’s also a government site with some games.

Learning workshops

Learning Workshops, led by teachers in school, are organised to help you support your child at home.

Two different Learning Workshops took place yesterday. One was intended for Reception and Year 1 parents and it focused on phonics and simple number facts:

• “Well explained in terms of the current methods in phonics and Maths teaching. Teachers were open to questions. Thanks – much appreciated.”
• “Good overview of early learning concepts and teaching methods. A useful workshop – thank you.”
• From a parent with older children at school: “Always nice to have a refresher workshop as many things – about phonics especially – come back to me which I’d forgotten.”

The second workshop, at 6.00pm, was all about grammar and writing:

• “Great to go through all the grammar – it’s years since I was at school so a brilliant overview!”
• “Very helpful ideas to assist my reluctant writer at home.”
• “Thanks for the grammar web links.”
• “Very clear and practical presentation of the subject. Helpful tips. Mr Owen made it simple and funny.”

Thank you to the parents who attended.

Forthcoming workshops and other ways to support your child at home are in the calendar (look for the events in blue) and listed below:

• What is ‘mastery’? workshop – Monday 16 November, 2.30pm and 6.00pm
• Reception phonics teaching – 18 / 19 / 20 November
• Maths workshop – Monday 23 November, 6.00pm
• Homework open afternoon – Wednesday 02 December (only suitable for Y1 – Y6)
• Open morning – Tuesday 08 December
• Reception phonics teaching – 20 / 21 / 22 January
• Open morning – Wednesday 27 January
• Topic open afternoon – Thursday 17 March
• Reception phonics teaching – 27 / 28 / 29 April

Top vegetable choices

If your child chooses school dinners, they are served two portions of vegetables or vegetables and a portion of salad with each meal.  As we are all aware of the importance of eating vegetables, all children have been consulted on their favourite vegetables based on the vegetables that currently feature on the school dinner menu.  The most popular choices will now feature more regularly on the menu.

We would also like your views on school dinners.  Look out for the school dinner survey due to be sent out next week.

8 Rs for learning - our new SEAL theme

This half-term, we’re thinking about the ‘8 Rs for learning’. This theme is about promoting good learning behaviour for your child. Each week, we’ll focus on different ‘Rs’. We use an animal to symbolise each ‘R’, which might help your child remember all eight – can your child remember which animal matches the correct ‘R’?

You can support your child at home – we’ve listed a few ideas to help you below. Ask us if you’ve any questions or comments.

Download top tips for promoting the 8Rs for good learning behaviour.

I can show I am ready to learn.

• Make sure your child is at school for a prompt start of 08:50.
• Make sure your child has had plenty of sleep so they are alert and ready to learn at all times.
• Encourage your child to ask lots of questions – that shows they want to learn!

I take responsibility for my own learning.

• Provide time and space at home so your child is able to organise themselves: their PE kit, reading book, homework, spellings and tables… Don’t organise everything for them!
• Make a link between rights and responsibilities: your child has the right to a great education, but needs to be responsible for their own learning.

I take a safe risk.

• Talk about the difference between a safe and unsafe risk. At school, we want your child to take a safe risk by having a go at answering, even if unsure; trying something new and attempting harder learning.

I am resilient.

• Encourage your child to keep going! Set a tricky challenge or puzzle for your child to do.
• Encourage your child to think of different ways of doing things.
• Don’t let your child win when they play a game – they need to experience losing, too!
• Celebrate mistakes as opportunities to learn – be happy that your child found some learning hard and encourage them to ‘bounce back’ and learn from the experience.

I respond to feedback.

• Ask your child if they remember their ‘stars’ and ‘steps’ in English and Maths.

I am resourceful.

• Encourage your child to be organised so they can play with a range of different toys.
• Encourage your child to try new ways to solve a tricky problem.

I remember.

• Make sure they have time to learn spellings, number bonds and times tables – a little practice daily is best.

Play memory games:

• Kim’s game: show them objects for 30 seconds… can they remember all the objects?
• Can they build up the sequence, ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple and a bike.’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple, a bike and a cucumber.’ etc … Take turns!

I reflect about my learning.

Talk with your child about what they’ve learnt, asking questions about:

• how they learnt
• why they learnt it
• when they’ll use their learning
• how they would teach this to someone else
• what learning might link with what they’ve learnt today
• etc

Attendance matters

The attendance data for the first half-term is below. Well done to Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 whose attendance is all above the school average.

• Reception: 96.7%
• Year 1: 98.2% – a great attendance figure… well done!
• Year 2: 97.5%
• Year 3: 97.9% – just higher than the school average… keep it up!
• Year 4: 97.4%
• Year 5: 98.9% – this is really high… brilliant!
• Year 6: 97.7% – just a tiny bit lower than the school average… nice one!

'Warmest congratulations' from the DfE

We’re delighted to receive a letter (27 October 2015) from Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Reform (part of the Department for Education), in which he expresses congratulations for the ‘very high standard of achievement in the 2015 phonics screening check‘.

The phonics screening check takes place towards the end of Year 1. The check is a short, ‘light-touch’ assessment to confirm whether individual children have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. It will identify the children who need extra help so they are given support In Year 2 to improve their reading and writing skills. It consists of a list of 40 words, half real words and half non-words, which Year 1 children read to a teacher in school – in our school, this person is Mrs Weekes.

Mr Gibb’s letter says:

We want to ensure that every child develops a firm grasp of phonics which is why I was delighted to see your results. With 100% of pupils at Moortown Primary School reaching or exceeding the pass mark in the check, your school is in the top 2% of all primary schools in the country.

This year’s figures show that 99% of pupils who reach or exceed the pass mark in the phonics check go on to achieve at least the expected standard in Key Stage 1 reading, which underlines the importance of developing the ability to decode words effectively at an early age.

I am pleased to learn that you have ensured that all Year 1 children in your school have a firm foundation in reading, from which they can develop further and become increasingly fluent readers.

Thank you for your work in this vital area of a child’s early education and congratulations again to you and your staff for your hard work and professionalism.

Well done to all the Year 1 (now Year 2) children, and to the staff in our Reception and Year 1 class. Thank you, also, to parents / carers who support their child so well at home, practising spellings and reading regularly.

Incidentally, earlier this year, we received a similar letter from David Laws (26 January 2015), congratulating the school on our Key Stage 2 results for disadvantaged pupils since 2012.

Gold!

The School Games Mark is a Government led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. Schools in England are able to assess themselves across bronze, silver and gold levels of the mark.

Following our assessment we are proud to reveal our gold award.  Having achieved silver last year, this is a great achievement demonstrating our increased participation in competitions, extra-curricular sporting activities, sports leadership and local club links.

We know from Parent Surveys that more competitive sport was something that was important for many of you – and we’ve listened.

An active half term

We’ve started the year with plenty of physical activities.  Here are some of the highlights.

Rugby World Cup

In September, the Rugby World Cup came to Leeds and we were lucky enough to win tickets to watch Italy play Canada at Elland Road.  There was a great response to our prize draw for tickets and our three lucky winners enjoyed the World Cup experience.

Active Schools

This year as part of our investment of the Primary PE and sport premium government funding for schools we have joined the Leeds Active Schools programme.  Their mission is to promote and develop, through collaboration and partnership, a sustainable system for physical activity, PE and sport that enriches the lives of all children and young people.  Already this year, as part of this programme, we’ve had the opportunity to take part in some great events.

Big sing Big dance

A group of our Year 3 pupils were part of over one thousand children from across Leeds who took part in the Rugby World Cup Big dance Big sing event in Millenium Square.

Singing and dancing to the Rugby World Cup theme tune ‘World in Union’, the event was to celebrate the rugby matches in Leeds.

• ‘I loved it and I tried my best.’
• ‘It was exciting when we did the dance.’
• ‘I enjoyed using the rugby balls for the dance and singing the song, too.’

Rugby World Cup fanzone

As part of the celebrations for the Rugby World Cup, a number of children had the opportunity to be involved in the fanzone in Millenium Square.  There was a carousel of activities including rugby activities and inflatables, a practical Tagtiv8 session and a visit to Leeds Library to meet author Tom Palmer.  Tom writes sports novels for children, including the Rugby Academy series.

• ‘I really enjoyed the event. It was fun, especially the bit with Tom Palmer.’
• ‘I loved it! I especially enjoyed when I won the rugby ball. It was so good I want to do it again.’
• ‘I enjoyed playing pass with my friends and learning how rugby started.’

Brownlee Triathlon

Harewood House recently hosted the Brownlee Triathlon.  Following this, a number of our children took part in the children’s Brownlee Triathlon held at the John Charles Centre.

The event involved a 30m swim, 1km cycle and a 400m run and was attended by Jonny Brownlee.

• ‘It was the best sporting event that I’ve ever done.’
• ‘It was great and was very challenging but in a good way.’
• ‘I have never done a triathlon.  It was amazing, especially the fact that I met the Brownlee brothers.’

Football

This year we continue to be part of the Leeds School Football Association leagues for Year 4, 5 and 6, led by Mr Lawton and Mr Catherall.  Here is a summary of their season so far.

The ‘Moortown Dragons’ (Year 4 football team) are learning quickly what it means to be part of a team: sticking together, working for each other, and keeping smiles on everyone’s faces. In our most recent game, they showed off some sharp passing as a team, gritty goalkeeping displays, and capped it off with a couple of stylish goals. ‘Make friends, make friends, never, never break friends!’

In the short time we’ve had, the Year 5 footballers have impressed with their passion for the game. They’ve started to show their desire to work for each other, and we’re looking forward to a good run of matches after half term. If they can show half the skills that they demonstrate daily in the playground, and keep looking out for each other, they’ll go far indeed.

The Year 6 football team have grown in confidence throughout each of their fixtures so far this year. With an emphasis on teamwork, enjoyment and working hard (on and off the ball), each team member has improved significantly. Their continued development as a team was, perhaps, most evident in the recent game against local rivals Gledhow. Well done to all! Keep it up and you’ll soon be rewarded for your efforts.

Events to look forward to next half term include more football matches, Leeds North East sports hall athletics competition, a Come and Try basketball session at Roundhay, cross country and a health-themed week, too.

Thank you to all parents who support with transport and accompanying children to these events.

Well done to all our competitors and participants who have represented the school.

Year 6 football heroes!

Our Year 6 football team have made a strong start to the new season.

Much improved on last year, the squad has displayed their talent against other local schools. With each player representing Moortown with pride, passion and (relentless) positivity – keep it up!

Their most recent outing, a very close 1-0 loss to neighbours Gledhow, was very impressive to watch. I’m certain our faithful supporters would agree!

Well done to all children who have represented our school so far this year and a huge thank you to the parents for your on-going support in transporting children to fixtures.