SEAL statement 19 September
‘I know how others might feel when they are in a new situation’ is the SEAL statement this week.
We have a number of new children and members of staff who have joined Moortown Primary school this September. We hope they are settling in well. How do you think they might feel in their new school?
Staying Safe themed week 26 September
We are looking for parents / carers who have a job related to safety.
If you can spare some time, during our Staying Safe themed week (26 September), to come in to talk to the children about how safety affects your work please speak to your child’s class teacher or leave a message at the office.
Thank you.
Write away!
Did you know we have two published authors in our school community?
Year 3 parent, Emma Barnes, has a new book out for children called How (Not) to Make Bad Children Good. Aimed at 7-10s, it’s the story of naughty child, Martha, who is so bad that an Interstellar Agent, Fred, is sent to Earth to try and sort her out. Emma will be appearing at Waterstones on Saturday 24 September.
We’re all very proud that Carolyn Hazell, our Year 6 teacher, is also a published author. Her book, Pav the Plumber Saves the Day, is popular amongst our children, and a great resource in school to promote reading and writing. Our current Year 6 pupils are being inspired to write great character descriptions, and a former pupil described Miss Hazell as ‘inspiring’ as a teacher and writer.
Find and compare schools' performance
The following information is an extract from a recent email from the Department of Education to schools. Parents / carers who need to consider what school their child should move on to after Moortown Primary might find it helpful. Please note that the most up-to-date 2011 exam or test results may not yet be available.
The Department for Education has launched a new web tool helping parents / carers find and compare local schools’ performance. It significantly improves parents’ ability to choose the right school for their child.
The ‘compare schools’ tool brings together a wide range of performance data in a single place.
Parents can find schools by name, keyword or location or browse via an interactive map. Each school has its own mini-site with a range of useful information such as spend per pupil and test and exam results. Parents can also compare their school with others nearby – or with any other school in England.
For the first time on the Department’s website, parents can:
- select the schools that interest them and compare performance side by side
- view a full list of schools in England and filter to find schools with similar characteristics
- use an interactive map to view local, regional and national averages for school performance.
For more information, visit http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/search
SEAL statement 12 September
Our SEAL statement for this week is ‘I understand what SEAL means.’
This week we are looking more closely at what SEAL represents and in particular what are the social and emotional skills and aspects of learning that SEAL is trying to develop.
The aspects of learning are:
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Self awareness |
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Managing feelings |
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Motivation |
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Empathy |
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Social skills |
These aspects are often considered to fall into two categories – personal (eg self awareness) and interpersonal (eg social skills).
Within each of these aspects of learning there are many skills.
The SEAL resources allow children to develop the concepts, understanding and skills over time, building on what they have previously learned.
New SEAL statement and theme
As we start the new school year, our SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme focuses on New Beginnings and ‘I can make someone feel welcome‘ is the statement for this week.
New Beginnings
New beginnings allows children the opportunity to discuss and reflect on how they or others may feel in a new situation or setting. This SEAL theme offers children the opportunity to see themselves as valued individuals within a community, and to contribute to shaping a welcoming, safe and fair learning community for all.
The key areas of learning throughout this theme are empathy, self-awareness, social skills and motivation.
Through discrete SEAL lessons, circle times and across the curriculum, children will explore feelings of happiness and excitement, sadness, anxiety and fearfulness, while learning (and putting into practice) shared models for calming down and problem-solving.
New beginnings supports the development of a learning community in each classroom where all members feel that they belong. Class contracts, produced at the start of the year, allow children to contribute to how they feel they can achieve a safe and fair learning community.
Moortown Making a Positive Contribution
It’s been a busy half-term, including lots of money-raising activities going on. Here’s an update on three events at which you have generously donated money:
- Our Summer Fair this year raised £1148.94 for the PTA. This is a tremendous demonstration of the commitment and goodwill parents /carers, children and staff have for our school and its community. It’s even more significant when we remember just a few months ago we were wondering if the Summer Fair would go ahead due to the absence of a PTA Chair at the moment, and it should help to motivate us all to continue to raise funds. Money raised currently goes towards class trips and other activities. If you’ve other ideas about fund-raising events or how we should spend the money, please contact Mrs Maver. (Please note: the winner of the Half ‘n’ Half Jar has still not come forward to collect their prize of £100.50 – it’s ticket 176. We’ll donate this money to the PTA if nobody claims the prize soon.)
- The Hot Shots sponsored football event during Community Week raised £341.10. This money has been donated to a charity helping victims of Japan’s earthquake – an idea put forward to the School Council a few months ago.
- Most recently, £75.11 was donated at the Year 5 and 6 production of Bugsy Malone. This money will be donated to our current two charities, WWF and NSPCC. As well as being hugely enjoyable and great for children’s confidence and engagement, it’s great that our termly productions can be supported by family and friends in this way.
Thank you to all for your continued support.
The Really Big Summer Adventure
Change4Life have launched their new campaign to run throughout the six week summer holiday to inspire children and their families to increase their physical activity and healthy eating.
Year 3, 4 and 5 will be receiving their Really Big Summer Adventure maps this week full of daily activities, weekly challenges and gold medal rewards to keep active all summer long.
However, all children, parents and carers are encouraged to use the Change4Life Fun Generator with over 100 fun activities to keep children up and about during the summer holidays.
Have a happy and healthy summer!
SEAL statement 11 July
‘I am ready to cope with a change of teacher’ is the final SEAL statement for our Changes theme.
This week the children will be spending an afternoon with their new teacher and teaching assistant in their new classroom.
During the session the children will be able to ask questions about their new class and get to know their new teacher, helping them to get ready for this upcoming change.
Pupil Participation
We’re often featured in the local press for the great work we do. Here’s the most recent article, describing a recent event where Mrs Taylor, Cydnee, Arjun and Farhan represented our school:
Pupils deliver involvement message to other schools
Youngsters from 12 primary and secondary schools have been giving pupils and staff from another 50 schools a lesson in taking a more active role.
The event this week celebrated a range of programmes in primary, secondary and special schools that relate to pupil participation.
Each of the workshops lasted 45 minutes and were delivered by children and young people.
Councillor Judith Blake, executive member for Children’s Services, said: “I am impressed that so many children and young people want to take an active role in their school community. This fantastic event highlights the advantages it brings to all involved and shows how easy it is to take part. Participation in school life will develop children and young people’s knowledge and skills in many different ways, providing valuable experience to help them as they progress through life.”
Schools leading the workshops included Moortown Primary School, Bruntcliffe High School and Raynville Primary School.