To close or not to close...?
The BBC website has described the dilemma headteachers face regarding whether they should close their school or not. Schools can’t please all parents on this issue: this week, most parents have praised us for staying open whilst many other Leeds schools haven’t, but there have been one or two parents complaining that we should also have closed. Today, many parents wanted to know if we would be open tomorrow – but closing our school is a last resort and a decision I don’t take lightly.
The article lists many different factors and conflicting opinions that have to be considered. For example, people have today been advised that they should only travel when it is “essential”. The Department for Education regards travelling to school as essential and says both staff and pupils should try to do so safely, but the National Union of Teachers disagrees, arguing that “essential” should mean emergency services, gritters etc.
When making a decision to stay open or close, my main priority is safety: the safety of children, obviously, but also the safety of parents and carers who need to collect their child, the safety of staff who face challenging journeys home, and even the safety of our neighbours on Shadwell Lane, a road that can get severely clogged up with traffic (this has in the past blocked emergency vehicles from gaining access).
At Moortown, we’re lucky in that many staff live locally. Teachers and support staff stayed for as long as they could today: Mr Owen and Mr Wilks, for example, stayed until after lunchtime so that they were around to provide extra supervision, and then faced very long journeys home on foot, whilst Mrs Weekes, Mrs Wilson, Mrs O’Malley, Mrs Sherriff and Mr Wilson stayed throughout the day ensuring those children still at school were safe, and that parents need not dangerously hurry to school.
I’m extremely grateful to all staff for their efforts and to parents who collected their child as soon as it was safe to do so.
Please continue to be patient and check our website for the most up-to-date information, which will be in the blue Twitter box. You might also like to receive the tweets on your mobile phone – text follow moortownprimary to 86444. This is free and works for all networks except T-Mobile.
SEAL statement 29 November
This week our SEAL statement is ‘I can use peaceful problem solving to sort out difficulties.’
As part of our Getting On SEAL theme the children look at the peaceful problem solving process to sort out any ‘getting on’ problems with each other.
This approach to resolving problems encourages children to:
- ensure they both feel calm (using calming down techniques)
- tell each other how they feel
- come up with their own solution to solve the problem
Look out for the Peaceful Problem Solving poster displayed around school and reminder cards can be found on keyrings in all classrooms. (Download it, too, so you can use it at home.)
Health Protection Agency advice
The Health Protection Agency report that they expect this to be a ‘normal’ flu season; they are no longer experiencing a pandemic. The virus that caused the 2009 pandemic, ‘swine flu’, may be one of the common flu viruses circulating this winter, but this is not a pandemic as the virus has been circulating in our communities for some time.
The most important measure to prevent the spread of flu is to have a flu vaccination of those in high risk groups. If any pupils are in high risk groups, they should get vaccinated through their GP surgery.
It is very important to try and prevent the spread of flu within schools by following the measures listed below:
- Any child with a fever should stay at home.
- They should not return to the school until they have had at least 48 hours without fever or other flu symptoms.
- Mouths should be covered when coughing and paper tissues used when noses are blown. The paper tissues should be promptly placed in a waste bin for disposal. We have tissues at school but it’s a good idea for your child to have their own, too.
- Because flu viruses can be carried on hands, please encourage your child to regularly wash their hands, particularly after noses are blown or wiped.
- People affected by fever should be encouraged to rest and to drink plenty of water or other fluids. This will speed up recovery. Some paracetamol in small amounts should make things more comfortable.
Most people affected by flu–like illness will start to improve after 2 to 3 days – children tend to get better quicker than adults. Rarely, those affected by flu-like illness may develop breathing problems. If that happens, they should contact their GP.
Year 6 Forums
Our Year 6 forums will start next week. I spoke to the older members of our School Council about some guidelines that our pupils should follow so that they can communicate effectively but quickly. We agreed that the forums should be a balance of expressing opinions, demonstrating learning and asking questions, but also representing our school and our high standards.
Here are the guidelines that our councillors came up with:
- We will use positive language (just like everywhere at Moortown Primary).
- We will use capitals and full stops.
- We will try to spell all words correctly, but know that one or two words might be typos (accidental errors when we use a keyboard) and some words might be hard to spell but we still want to use (‘wow words’, for example).
- We will not use text speak (we know this is better for informal communications).
- We know that our teacher might choose not to publish a post that has too many errors, or might choose to correct these.
Thank you to Sally, Chanda, Rene and Aqsa for setting these guidelines.
SEAL statement 22 November
‘I can keep calm or help others to calm down’ is the new SEAL statement for this week.
In class children will be learning about a variety of techniques to use if they need to calm down.
Some of these techniques include:
- taking deep breaths
- walking away from the situation
- tell someone how you feel
- have a drink of water
Have a look at the calming down keyrings in each classroom for more ideas.
Anti-Bullying Week SEAL statement 15 November
As part of Anti-Bullying Week this week our SEAL statement is ‘I can be kind to someone feeling left out.’ This year’s theme for Anti-Bullying Week is ‘Taking Action Together’
During this week classes will cover Anti-Bullying as part of their SEAL lessons. In addition, some classes will be working with visiting drama companies to look at issues such as cyber bullying.
Further information can be found at:
http://www.childline.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx
http://www.parentlineplus.org.uk/default.aspx?page=bullying&tags=19
Takeover Day 2010
Tomorrow is Takeover Day!
This is a national event that we promote and celebrate at Moortown Primary. It offers the chance for children and young people across the country to work with adults and get involved in decision-making. Children can gain skills, knowledge and inspiration and experience in some way the world of work.
Last year, we were one of two Leeds schools to be selected to go to Merrion House and visit the Chief Executive of Education Leeds. The children had a working lunch and considered various issues facing schools today. They also enjoyed visiting the offices and seeing all the different people who support teaching and learning in Leeds.
This year, we’ve volunteered our skills again! A group of older children will visit the Healthy Schools team for Leeds. We’re such a great example of a happy and healthy school, I’m sure our children will be able to help the team in many ways!
Tomorrow, children in each class will take over part of the day. They might teach the new spelling rules, they might read a story, they might talk about topics! One child from each class will also lead the Friday Assembly – they’ll choose the people who deserve certificates, for example!
Health Group meeting 12 Nov 2.45pm
Our Health Group (parents / carers) will be meeting this Friday 12 November at 2.45pm in the school library.
We shall be discussing food in school and drug education.
All are welcome to attend – hope to see you there.
SEAL statement 08 November
‘I can be a good friend’ is the SEAL statement for this week.
Following our SEAL assembly last week, there have been plenty of friendship tokens given out by children and staff alike.
How do you think you can be a good friend?
Are you a pushy parent?
A recent article published on the BBC website suggests being a pushy parent is not such a bad thing.
Recent research suggests that parents who push their children to work hard at school have a big impact on their child’s academic success. The effort a parent puts into ensuring their child buckles down to schoolwork has a greater impact than that put in by the child or the school, according to researchers at Leicester and Leeds universities. Amongst the aspects the researchers considered were how much time parents read to a child and how often they attended school meetings.
Most parents / carers tell me they’d like to support their child more, but don’t know where to start.
Well, a good starting point is our own website – go to the blue section (‘Learn More’) and look at the National Expectations section which outlines standards and in bold, there are practical ideas.
You can also use the BBC website – it has some great activities and advice to support you and your child to learn more. (I like Digger and the Gang to support maths – Nash, Flick and Sprat will help your child get their numerical skills on track!)
And most importantly, get involved in hearing your child read (ideally on a daily basis, even if just for five minutes), and help them to learn their times tables and spellings – check out our homework information including the Parents and Carers Guide which you can download.