News

SEAL statement 20 June

‘I can change my behaviour for the better’ is our ‘Changes’ SEAL statement for this week. 

As stated in our Positive Relationships policy:

It is the responsibility of pupils to make good choices at all times and with all adults and pupils in school. This will lead to pupils behaving well and building up and maintaining good relationships. Pupils should follow three simple rules to avoid bad choices:

• follow instructions
• use positive language (including body language)
• keep hands, feet and objects to themselves

Therefore a change in behaviour can be made by making positive choices rather than negative choices.  

Working together for good behaviour in schools is a helpful document for parents.

Bike Week 20 - 24 June

Next week is Bike Week.  Why not use our cycle rack and bike to school during this week?

Throughout the week each time you cycle to school you will be entered into a prize draw from Leeds City Council to win lots of cycling related prizes.  Let your class teacher know each time you come to school on your bike.

Year 5 and Year 6 have both recently had their cycling training and what a better way to put these new cycling skills into practice than to bike to school during Bike Week.

For more information about Bike Week visit www.bikeweek.org or www.leeds.gov.uk/bikeweek

For more information about cycling in Leeds visit www.leeds.gov.uk/cyclemaps

2011-2012 classes

Last year, I told you about four new teachers starting. The teachers we recruited went through a very rigorous process and I’m delighted to say that the four – Mr Redfearn, Mr Wilks, Mr Owen and Miss Hazell – have all had a fantastic year at Moortown Primary School.

There will be only a few small changes to teaching staff next year:

• I’m sure you’ll all be delighted to hear the news that Mrs Taylor is expecting her second child. She will be leaving us, probably around Autumn half-term, but will return, hopefully for September 2012 (and some visits sooner, we hope!). Mrs Taylor’s role in school, as Health Leader, will not be replaced in her absence by a new teacher.
• Mr Redfearn and Miss Hewson swap year groups – having taught Year 4 for three years, Miss Hewson wants to widen her experience; it’s good for the school to move teachers, too, so that they bring fresh ideas to the new age groups.

Here is a list of who’s teaching which year group for 2011-12:

Later this term, your child will spend some time getting to know his or her new teacher, teaching assistants and classroom. In the meantime, if you’ve got any questions, comments or concerns, as always please contact me.

Fantastic feedback

We regularly receive feedback from visitors into school – it’s always great to read what others think about our community.  For example, Gareth from Total Sports Coaching, recently complimented the school as one he always looks forward to visiting because all our pupils listen and behave so well.

Here’s feedback from Richard, a member of Leeds Healthy Schools and Wellbeing Service, following a recent visit:

Just a quick email – as you know I met with some children this afternoon to help plan their workshop at the Pupil Voice Showcase Event.  The planning meeting went really well and – as always – your pupils excelled themselves and amazed me with their creativity and general approach to the task at hand.

After the meeting the three of them gave me a little tour of the school which was great as I’ve never visited before – just wanted to say what I’m sure you knew already: ‘Wow! What a great school!’

SEAL statement 13 June

‘I can get better at my learning‘ is the SEAL statement for this week.  In some instances, ‘changes‘ may relate to a change in a child’s learning behaviour.  By focussing on and improving learning skills such as listening, concentration and communication, this in turn can help the child to get better at their learning.

SEAL statement 06 June

Our final SEAL theme for this year is ‘Changes’ and this week we will be focussing on, ‘I can cope with an unexpected change.’

This SEAL theme tackles the issue of change and aims to equip children with an understanding of different types of change, positive and negative, and common responses to change. The key ideas and concepts behind this theme are:

• Change can be uncomfortable, because it can threaten our basic needs to feel safe and to belong
• Change can also be stimulating and welcome
• Both adults and children can experience a range of powerful and conflicting emotions as a result of change – for example, excitement, anxiety, uncertainty, loss, anger, resentment
• Worries about change can be made worse by uncertainty, lack of information, or misinformation and lack of support from others
• People’s responses to and ability to cope with change are very variable, and might be influenced by individual temperament, previous experience of change, and the nature of the change – chosen or imposed, expected or unexpected, within our control or out of our control

Some children may welcome most forms of change and dislike routine and predictability.  Other children may find even small changes very difficult.

Within school, children, who are coping with or have undergone significant change, are supported in a variety of ways:

• Our positive ethos within school
• Support systems, from staff and peers, for children who have undergone change or who maybe new to the school
• SEAL and circle time sessions where children feel safe to talk about their feelings
• Class SEAL boxes for children to record any concerns
• Preparing children wherever possible for planned changes for example, a change of class teacher, Key Stage or even school

SEAL statement 23 May

It’s ‘My Community Week’!  This week our statement reflects this: ‘I can make a positive contribution in my community.’

Over this week the children will be learning:

• what is meant by ‘community’
• what communities we belong to
• we are all part of a ‘world community’

More success at Moortown!

The Quality Mark is a recognition that some schools choose to work towards to help them monitor what they do for their learners and to celebrate successes within school.  Because Ofsted chose not to inspect our school this year due to our continued good provision, we welcome feedback from other external bodies.  This year, therefore, we decided to be re-assessed for the Quality Mark.

The re-assessment visit happened on Monday 16 May 2011.  I’m delighted to say we’ve yet again been recognised for the great teaching and learning at Moortown. Here are some extracts of the visiting assessor’s report:

“The assessor felt that this was one of the most impressive visits he has ever made in nine years of visiting Quality Mark schools. David, the head, has lots of plans – he needs no points of action or areas to develop suggested from us. It was a privilege to visit.”

“Since the monitoring visit, the school has accomplished an impressive amount of progress.”

“The school has radically reshaped the intervention programme it operates with pupils… It has put into action what many other schools are now realising – that the huge weight of strategies that have been recommended to schools over the past ten years are of limited effectiveness unless they are tailored to exactly what the pupil needs at the time that s/he needs it.”

“Classrooms all show consistency of approach in teaching – learning objectives visible, use of speaking and listening partners, learning walls for each class…  Consistency in marking of writing is assured through a detailed and very clear marking policy.  The Year 6 pupils who showed the assessor around school were at pains to draw his attention to these features and kept up a running commentary of how pupils learn (including telling the assessor that in the Reception class it’s ‘learning through play, you know!’).”

“Moortown has successfully devised and implemented a curriculum and teaching methodology that involves pupils in their own learning, is rigorous and demanding whilst at the same time makes learning an enjoyable experience for pupils.”

Thanks to the dedication and support of staff, parents / carers and children, I know we do a fantastic job at Moortown.  It’s great to know that visitors to school are struck by this great work, too.

I’m grateful to the five parents who spoke with the Quality Mark assessor, and to the two Y6 pupils who provided a tour of the school.

SEAL statement 16 May

Following our encouraging SATs week for Year 6, some of our other classes are completing assessments this week and ‘I can feel proud of others‘ is the new Relationships SEAL statement.  Recognising and acknowledging the achievements and efforts of others forms part of our work on relationships.

Subscribe to our calendar

We publish a calendar of all our school events and holidays on our website. We’ve just announced the dates of our five training days for next year – the first school in the city to do so.

Did you know that if you use an electronic calendar at home or at work you can subscribe to ours? This means that you’ll always have accurate information about what’s going on in school, alongside all your own appointments.

If you’ve previously subscribed to our calendars, you’ll need to resubscribe as we’ve changed the URL (website address) at which they’re published. Sorry for the inconvenience. This is a one-off change; you won’t have to update them again.

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