News

SEAL statement 26 April

‘I know things to do to make others feel better’ is the new statement for this week.

SEAL statement 18 April

Relationships is the new SEAL theme for this half term and our statement for this week is ‘I know how I feel and how others make me feel.’

This theme explores feelings within the context of our important relationships including family and friends.  The key areas of learning are self-awareness, managing feelings and empathy.

There is a focus throughout the theme on helping children understand the feelings associated with an experience that we all need to cope with at some time: that of loss – whether of a favourite possession, a friend, a family home, or a loved one.  Although relatively few children are bereaved, most will experience losses of other kinds during their childhood; losing a home, losing friends because of moving house or changing schools, or losing a pet are examples.

We would therefore ask for parents /carers to alert us to any experiences your child has had that might make this area particularly difficult for them – for example, a bereavement.

How are we doing?

The local authority has regularly monitored the performance of schools.  This system of monitoring, challenge and support may change due to local authority and government re-organisation (and cutbacks?), but here are some comments from the most recent report about Moortown Primary:

“Rigorous monitoring of teaching ensures close scrutiny of learning.”

“There is clear evidence that the school is systematically tracking the progress and attainment of a variety of pupil groups.”

“Staff track progress and attainment of specific groups.  The electronic tracking system across school has simplified analysis and collection of data and allows for quick interpretation of data and identification of individuals who may require additional support.  The Headteacher closely monitors and supports less experienced teachers to ensure assessment remains consistent.”

“Three paired lesson observations were carried out during the visit.  The Headteacher and Local Authority representative were in complete agreement regarding overall judgements and the quality of aspects within lessons.  In all lessons behaviour and discipline was excellent.” 

“Relationships between newly qualified teachers and pupils are very good with the right balance of inter-action and respect.  Technology was used well in all lessons and is clearly an intrinsic part of the teachers’ tools for delivery.  It was also clear that in all lessons pupils were enjoying learning.”

“The Headteacher has a clear understanding of the strengths and areas for development for each teacher and has worked extensively with each to ensure consistent practices are used and areas for development are improved – the quality of all the lessons is testament to this approach.”

“The systems in place for supporting and developing newly qualified teachers are excellent.  Teachers are provided with systematic, comprehensive written feedback which is supportive and useful.  The Headteacher regularly checks that expectations are met and that quality of provision is as high as possible.  New staff are clearly responding to this.”

“Newly Qualified Teachers have already met Ofsted standards and in some aspects are exceeding basic expectations.  All three show strong potential.”

It’s more evidence of the excellent provision we have at Moortown Primary, a happy and healthy place to learn.

Pupil voice

In the news today, schools ‘should let children help pick teachers’:

More schools should involve pupils in the recruitment of teachers, says the children’s commissioner for England.  A survey of 2,000 children aged nine to 16 for commissioner Maggie Atkinson found two-thirds would like a role in the recruitment process.

This is nothing new for Moortown, where pupils feedback each time we recruit a teacher. Most recently, when we recruited four new teachers, pupils were involved in three ways:

• candidates taught a short lesson and pupil reactions and learning was closely observed;
• a selection of pupils gave feedback – they were asked what they liked about the lesson and what they learnt;
• the School Council fed-back to a governor their views of the candidates – again, only the positive features of each candidate were discussed.

Interestingly, pupils could describe many aspects of the four successful candidates they liked and thought all four would be right for Moortown; their comments matched what adults also thought, having watched lessons, interviewed and assessed other selection tasks on the day.

Even as far back as my recruitment, around four years ago, the School Council were involved: they interviewed all the candidates and then passed on their views of each, with the whole process watched by an adult interested in how candidate and councillors interacted.

Some critics express concern that this undermines teachers.  We feel that pupil voice can be one of a number of selection procedures, and won’t undermine the profession if the discussion only considers positive aspects of teachers and what they can bring to the school.

SEAL statement 28 March

Our final Good to be me weekly statement is ‘I can recognise my talents.’ There are many hidden and known talents within our school and this week children will share their talents in a proud, not boastful, way.

On Friday evening, we took part in a KS2 dance showcase alongside other local primary schools at Allerton Grange.  The children who were part of the group can all recognise their talent for dance!  It was a fantastic performance following weeks of hard work learning their routine.

The Stephen Lawrence Standard

The Stephen Lawrence Education Standard is unique to Leeds. It was developed in partnership between Education Leeds, the Leeds City Council and Black and Minority community representatives, in response to the tragic murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and the publication of the MacPherson Inquiry Report into Stephen’s death in 1999. The Standard was launched in 2003, the first of its kind in the country.

At Moortown Primary School, we have had the award for some time now.  We now want to update it. We know Moortown Primary School is a happy and healthy place to learn. Children tell us, parents and carers tell us, and awards such as this one, the Healthy Schools status and the Inclusion Chartermark prove it. 

We want everyone in our community to be treated fairly.  We want to recognise everybody’s similarities and their differences – and celebrate their differences. We make sure this happens by our Visual Ethos Statement that underlies everything we do.  Our ethos is talked about – children know what the symbols mean, including the globe which shows that we are a multi-cultural school with pupils and staff from many different countries, the four children holding hands that show that we all work together and the religious symbols you can see represent children who have different faiths (or no faith at all).

The children linking arms is echoed in our school logo: children are represented as happy, healthy and co-operative.  When our school council chose this logo in 2008, the different colours in the logo was suggested by a councillor as being symbolic of the different ethnicities in school.  This went further than the original design remit and represents the confidence and positive awareness we try to nurture amongst all our stakeholders.

Practical means to promote awareness, cohesion and equality range from SEAL, a fundamental, on-going theme in our school, to themed weeks, such as the forthcoming ‘My Community’ week (the second themed week to celebrate and learn about belonging, identity and differences such as race).  Our growing links with Shallcross Primary in South Africa will further enhance children’s and adults’ understanding and empathy.

The Stephen Lawrence Standard means a lot to us.  We know we’re doing things right and we want to be recognised for this as well as learn more about what we can do in the future to be even better.

SEAL Statement 21 March

‘I can receive a compliment in a sensible way’ is the new SEAL statement for this week.

Children are often keen to give compliments or ‘friendship tokens‘ but receiving a compliment can make some children feel self- conscious.  Responding with a simple thank you would be a sensible way to accept the compliment.  It’s nice to let someone know that you value their kind words.

SEAL statement 14 March

‘I can help someone with a worry’ is the new SEAL statement for this week.  We will be looking at developing empathy skills to recognise if others are worried and how children can help others in these situations.

Each class has a SEAL box where children can ‘post’ any suggestions, news or worries to share with their teacher, class or school councillors.  In addition to this is the worry box, available for the whole school to use, monitored by Mrs Wilson, our Learning Mentor.

We really are happy and healthy!

At Moortown, we pride ourselves on being a happy and healthy place to learn. We monitor this closely to make sure that it’s not just an empty slogan but a true picture of life in our community.

For the past three years, one of our classes has been taking part in a short survey (‘Me and My School’) which looks at responses in relation to emotional difficulties, behavioural difficulties and school climate. The results help us to ensure our provision best suits the needs of our children – and we receive vouchers to spend on play equipment, too!

There is strong evidence that there is a higher proportion of pupils with low anger and aggression scores at Moortown Primary School than participating pupils both nationally and locally. The school climate is rated better at Moortown Primary School than schools nationally and locally. The emotional difficulty scores of pupils at Moortown are lower.

As well as Moortown, 181 other schools across England took part. A total of 20 schools in Leeds completed the ‘Me and My School’ questionnaire. Children responded to a series of statements, answering ‘Never’, ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Always’.

SEAL statement 07 March

For this week our SEAL statement is ‘I can respond to difficult situations in a positive way.‘

The mouse character in the Good to be me SEAL assembly last week responded to a difficult situation by recognising her gift and releasing the animals.  She believed in herself.