News

Attendance matters!

Put simply: taking a term-time absence will affect your child’s attainment – this conclusion is based on data over the past five school years. Research shows:

• the higher the percentage of sessions missed across Key Stage 2, the lower the likely level of attainment at the end of Year 6
• there is a gradual decrease in achievement as overall absence rates increase
• pupils with no absence are 1.6 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above, and 4.7 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above, than pupils that missed 15-20 per cent of all sessions
• pupils with the lowest five per cent of overall absence rates are 1.4 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above in reading and maths tests and 3.3 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above in reading and maths tests than pupils with the highest five per cent of overall absence rates

This research is based on national data. At Moortown, the picture is similar:

Read the full story from the Department for Education here.

Read the research here.

Supporting your child's maths at home

This article is a thought-provoking read, and might inspire you to support your child in different ways; in it, Professor Jo Boaler sets out this list of top tips for parents who want to support their child in Maths:

1. Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games at home. Anything with a dice will help them enjoy maths and develop numeracy and logic skills.
2. Never tell children they are wrong when they are working on maths problems. There is always some logic to what they are doing. So if your child multiplies three by four and gets seven, try: “Oh I see what you are thinking, you are using what you know about addition to add three and four. When we multiply we have four groups of three…”
3. Maths is not about speed. In younger years, forcing kids to work fast on maths is the best way to start maths anxiety, especially among girls.
4. Don’t tell your children you were bad at maths at school. Or that you disliked it. This is especially important if you are a mother.
5. Encourage number sense*. What separates high and low achievers in primary school is number sense.
6. Encourage a “growth mindset” – the idea that ability changes as you work more and learn more.

More homework? No - more encouragement

We had a record number of parents / carers who attended parents’ evenings this week – thank you to all who showed up.

A small number of parents asked for more homework. Please bear in mind we asked your views about homework in the Annual Survey last year, and the findings were quite mixed: some thought there was too much whilst about the same proportion thought there was not enough. The majority agreed with us: the amount of homework we set is about right.

Taken from our Homework Policy, this is our rationale for giving homework:

Educational experience that a school by itself provides is limited; children benefit from wider, complementary experiences out of school. However, some prompts and guidance from school can direct these experiences and develop greater learning. We see homework as an important example of cooperation between teachers and parents / carers. An aim of our teaching is to promote independent learners; homework is one of the ways in which children can acquire the skill of independent learning.

We recognise the importance of quality family time; this policy should help to promote opportunities to be creative rather than labour over frequent worksheets or carry out activities that pupils and / or parents / carers may not understand.

Whilst homework develops children’s learning and independence, quality family time, play and free time are also important. Homework should not prevent children from taking part in wider activities such as those offered by out-of-school clubs and other organisations. Children develop their interests and skills to the full only when parents/carers encourage them to make maximum use of the opportunities available outside school.

Also in our Homework Policy is this statement:

We believe the frequency of homework set out here provides the right balance for pupils and meets the expectations of most parents (whose opinions we sought in the Annual Survey, 2014). Staff may occasionally provide additional homework; this will amount to two or three extra pieces across the year. As an alternative, staff will be happy to suggest to parents other ways they can support their child’s learning at home.

Please do not expect extra homework for you child to be set as a matter of routine. Governors want to protect teachers work / life balance, but – importantly – we believe extra homework would not be helpful for most pupils.

Parents' evening

In the Autumn term, at Parents’ Evening, we sent the first Learning Update to you – a document showing where your child’s attainment is. We did this because, in the Annual Surveys, lots of you told us you want more frequent updates about how your child is doing. The second Learning Update will be given to you at Parents’ Evening next week.

You will notice this version looks a bit different. This is because we’re trialling a new assessment system to track pupils’ attainment.

This change is a result of the current government’s decision to withdraw the system of ‘levels’ used to report children’s attainment and progress. Instead, schools are being encouraged to monitor and report whether children are on track to meet end-of-year age-related expectations.

Terms such as ‘Level 4’ or ‘Level 5’ are being phased out. The current Year 2 and Year 6 classes are the last who will be given levels at the end of the year. (A Year 2 child is expected to reach Level 2B or 2A; a child in Year 6 is expected to reach Level 4 and ideally at least a Level 4B.)

There are three important things to note:

1. The new National Curriculum has much higher expectations. Last term’s Learning Ladder was based on the old National Curriculum whereas this one is on the new, more demanding curriculum. As a result, you may find your child does not appear to have made progress – this is due to the higher expectations.
2. Schools are being encouraged not to push children too quickly towards learning in older year groups. Instead, children should develop “mastery” and “deep understanding” – this means ensuring children can use and apply their skills and knowledge more independently and in more circumstances. This point is most relevant in Maths.
3. Your child’s attainment  in spelling, punctuation and grammar (‘SPAG’) will be included in our amended Learning Updates, reflecting increased importance placed by the current government on this aspect of your child’s education.

At the moment, like all schools, we’re in a period of change. If you have any questions or concerns, please do speak with me or Mrs Weekes.

School council elections

Our current school councillors held their final meeting recently as we prepare to elect our new school council.

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 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.  Most recently they have selected books for our library and pupil prizes as rewards in class.

Our second open morning

This morning, we welcomed more parents into school to watch some lessons – thanks to the parents who visited. We hold these open mornings because you tell us in the Annual Survey that you’d like to know more about how you can support your child at home.

Like our last open morning on 13 January, each parent watched the teaching and learning in two classes (30 minutes each), then discussed what they’d seen with Mrs Weekes and me. We’re very happy to receive feedback which was as positive as the last open morning. Here are some of the comments:

• “I really liked the focus on children’s needs and their abilities in the Year 1 class.”
• “The English lesson in Year 6 was very dynamic and interesting. The teacher interacted with the children really well. I received good tips from the teacher about how to support my child at home.”
• “Teaching assistants worked well.”
• “It was interesting to find out from the Reception teacher how children learn throughout the day.”
• “The Year 2 teacher was fantastic and the children were very happy and confident in their learning.”
• “Fantastic and a real eye-opener. Great to see two very different classes and teaching styles in action.”
• “I picked up some ideas that I will take home to help with my child.”

Parents encouraged us to have more, similar events. Based on this, we’ve planned in three open afternoons where parents can come in up to half an hour earlier than the close of school to look at homework and / or topic learning:

• Wednesday 04 March (homework review)
• Wednesday 18 March (Big Topic review)
• Friday 01 May (setting homework).

Please do try to attend.

Congratulations from the Minister of State for Schools...

We’re delighted to have received a letter (26 January 2015) from Rt Hon David Laws, Minister of State for Schools, congratulating us on our work with disadvantaged pupils:

It gives me great pleasure to write to you and congratulate your school on your key stage 2 results for disadvantaged pupils since 2012.

Your results show that you are highly effective in educating your disadvantaged pupils.  It is clear that you and your staff have provided your disadvantaged pupils with a good start in life and prepared them well for secondary school.

[The letter then refers to the Pupil Premium Awards.]

I would like to congratulate your staff, 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.  Finally, I would also encourage you to share your achievements with other schools so that they learn from your strengths and experience.

Yours sincerely

David Laws MP

Our new neighbours

Some of you may know that, here at Moortown Primary School, we’ll soon have new neighbours. The building next door, which used to be Search Laboratories, is soon to become a nursery and a pre-school and after school care provider. Whilst we don’t endorse one provider over another, we thought you might like to hear more about this news as it’s so local to our school. Here’s a message from the new owners:

Hello there. I’m Helen Gration and I’m honoured to have gained planning permission to open the ‘Moortown Montessori Nursery’ next to your outstanding school.

Our passion for supporting children in their early years reflects the same values that have right here in your school – high-quality care, outstanding education, and staff with some of the best hearts in childcare. Our nursery will be open 7.30am – 6.30pm and there’ll be an out-of-school service for those who need it too. We already have two children’s nurseries in York where we have gained ‘outstanding’ judgements from Ofsted and we’ll be bringing those values with us.

Work on the Old Chapel next door will start very soon and we’re heading for an opening for the Summer term. We’ll keep you posted but, if you’ve any questions, you can email us on leedsmontnurtury@aol.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you in the neighbourhood!

Open morning

Thank you to the parents who visited us this morning. Each parent watched the teaching and learning in two classes (30 minutes each), then discussed what they’d seen with Mrs Weekes and me. The feedback was really positive and very useful. Here are some of the comments:

• “This was a great opportunity to visit the school and see lessons taking place.  Great behaviour in classes.  Nice mix of teaching styles.”
• “Great teaching and behaviour and lots of learning… All the children were on task and knew what they were doing.”
• “In Year 4, there was excellent rapport with kids who were on-task and motivated.”
• “The varied teaching methods, the engagement of the classes, the level of knowledge all impressed me.”
• “In Year 2, lots of support and the children knew what they were doing.”
• “Everyone was involved in Year 1 – all the children were concentrating despite being so young.  There were lots of methods to teach.”

Parents raised some points for us to consider:

A happy and healthy AND EFFECTIVE place to learn!

A recent survey says that parents don’t find performance tables especially helpful: “Fewer than a third of parents check league tables when choosing schools for their children, suggests a UK-wide survey for a teaching union.” (BBC, 09.01.15). However, we find lots of parents and prospective parents are interested to know how we’re doing and do check out the league tables which the Department for Education publish each Autumn term.

They are very detailed, covering such aspects of performance as pupil progress and attainment, attendance, three year averages and how disadvantaged pupils (those in receipt of pupil premium) perform – they even cover finance and workforce characteristics. We find it’s best to start by looking at just primary schools and Leeds.

Here’s an overview of learning in 2013-14 for Moortown Primary compared to the 62 other primary schools (or those which include primary pupils) in a three mile radius, based on 2014 Key Stage 2 results.

• the proportion of pupils reaching Level 4 or more in reading, writing and maths combined is 93% – joint 4th of schools in a three mile radius and 14 percentage points higher than nationally (79%)
• the proportion reaching Level 4B (a mid Level 4, which the current government describes as a level indicating a pupil is ‘secondary ready’) or more in reading, writing and maths combined is 93% – joint 2nd and significantly higher than national (67%)
• 100% made expected progress in reading, writing and maths – one of only seven schools in a three mile radius to achieve this and about 10 percentage points higher than for England as a whole
• the average level for our pupils was a 5C, which matches quite a few schools in Leeds, but only two schools had a higher level (5B)
• 57% of pupils attained a Level 5 in reading, writing and maths combined – 3rd in a three mile radius and 4th highest across all 255 primaries Leeds

Well done to the 2013-14 Year 6 class (and their parents), to Mr Owen, Mrs Raseta and to all the previous teachers who have supported the class.

Looking at results for just one year group is only a snapshot. The league tables also allow you to look at three year averages:

• the proportion reaching Level 4 or more in reading, writing and maths combined is 93% – with just ten schools across the local authority’s 255 primary ahead of us (the average in England is 76%)
• for disadvantaged pupils (those in receipt of pupil premium funding), our performance is even better: proportion reaching Level 4 or more in reading, writing and maths combined is 94% – this is 5th in the local authority (average in England is 64%)
• this shows the difference between disadvantaged pupils and others is just 1% – nationally, the ‘gap’ is 17% and in the local authority it’s 20% – indicating that we invest pupil premium money very effectively

If you’d like to know more about how we’re doing, please ask… and equally, please ask if you want more information about how your child is performing.