This week’s message part 2 (Friday 22 July 2022)

The bulk of our last message of the school year comes from Mrs Weekes. Before that, we’ve an updated uniform policy. Also, we’ve been asked by Leeds City Council to provide you with some important information…

Uniform

Most parents and carers stock up on fresh uniform over the summer holiday, so we want to let you know about our updated policy now.

This year, we’ve been trialling something we introduced in Covid times: wearing PE kit on PE days. Overall, we like this: it increases time for PE (no changing into kit) and there’s less lost property. However, we’ve seen some deviation from our uniform policy on PE days with lots of branded tops and shorts sneaking in. Take a look at our helpful guide for what is acceptable and what isn’t. We hope you’ll agree that the changes should actually save you money and be much more convenient for you.

Prevent

This letter is to help raise your awareness of the dangers of radicalisation and to let you know where to get more information, advice and support if you do have any concerns. This leaflet provides a summary about the Prevent programme and how, through the ACT Early website and Support Line, those who are vulnerable to radicalisation can get the help they may need.

And now over to Mrs Weekes…

It’s hard to believe that we’re at the end of the summer term. It’s been a hot and long week but we’ve made it. As always, it’s been a busy year, particularly following the pandemic, but it’s also been very successful. Y6 and Y2 have completed their end of Key Stage assessments. They worked really hard and the results are very positive – well done to all of them and to all the teachers who have worked tirelessly to help them make the progress.

We’ve been busy behind the scenes with ‘The Green’ – you may have noticed that there’s a bit of a difference at the back of school beyond the temporary fence. A company has been in this week to clear it. The next step will be level it out and get some turf sorted. It’s great to see the actual space and get an idea of what it looks like.

In contrast, and with a great deal of frustration, we’ve been told of likely delays with the replacement for the Y5,6 building. We’re working hard to explore solutions, but it’s a possibility this may have to be delayed.

Thank you for all your support with PTA events this year. It’s been lovely to be able to build up events over the year and finally have friends and family in school to support us again. Profits from this term are nearing £1900 which is amazing. This includes Freeze Pop Friday and the Summer Fair. A fantastic comeback!

Finally, it’s time to say goodbye to some of our Moortown family. Mrs Burke is hanging up her Reception toolkit and retiring while she can still enjoy it. She’s looking forward to cheaper holidays, staying in bed longer, drinking real ale and doing what she wants when she wants. (More seriously, she’s planning to take on quite a bit of charity work and we wish her all the best with that.) I’m sure you will join me in sending best wishes and luck for the future and her next exciting venture. We also say goodbye to Year 6 – they’ve been great role models throughout their time at Moortown Primary: great learning behaviour, positive attitudes and hard working. We’ll miss Mrs Burke and all of the Y6 children.

With departures come arrivals: we’re excited to welcome Miss Goswami (Y5) and to welcome back Mrs Wood and Mrs Boulton (Reception) joining us in September.

Have a fabulous summer – stay happy and healthy and remember to enter our summer competition. We’ll see you back in school on Tuesday 05 September.

This week’s message part 1 (Tuesday 19 July 2022)

It’s the last week of term. This week, we’ve two messages.

This first one kicks off with a thank you to all of you who worked with us, sending your child into school despite the extreme temperatures. We worked hard to ensure the children remained as comfortable as possible – on the whole, I think we succeeded!

The rest of this message has contents that come from other organisation, but which you may find helpful, especially the first item…

Using A&E?

Leeds Teaching Hospitals are experiencing extreme demand for services. They’re seeing increasing visits to paediatric emergency department with needs that may be better met in other ways.

With consistent, accurate and trustworthy healthcare advice, the West Yorkshire Healthier Together website is available to support families to decide if a visit to A&E is appropriate.

The information on the site has been reviewed  by local paediatricians, GPs and clinicians across the region to ensure it aligns with current practices and procedures.

You can use the quick links, search bar, or menus to find clear advice with easy to use traffic light guide, red, amber, green found in the parents/carers section. This will help to identify when, where, and how you should seek help for your poorly baby or child.

Parent and carers can also look through the site for practical guidance such as ‘should my child go to school’.

Music summer club

Leeds City Council and ArtForms are hosting free music summer clubs this August, with a range of music activities for children in Leeds aged 8 and above.

The sessions will take place between 08 and 10 August at Horsforth School. Read more.

Child friendly Leeds

This July marks the tenth year since the launch of Child Friendly Leeds. To mark the event, you and your child might want to attend the Our Leeds Wishes Display | Leeds Inspired this weekend.

Look out for our final message of the school on Friday.

Extreme temperatures - an update

Extreme temperatures forecast

We all know about the extreme temperatures forecast for the first part of next week. The Department for Education is not advising that schools close; instead they have issued guidance to schools.

Please note there is a possibility we may need to close early, or invite you to collect your child from 1.30pm. We’ll let you know if this is the case as soon as we can.

Apologies: we haven’t advised on this earlier as we’ve been waiting more guidance and continued monitoring of weather forecasts. (And a lot depends on the day: a strong breeze, like today, will help make the next couple of days bearable, if there is one.)

In case you missed Friday’s message, the guidance sets out sensible points to follow – make sure you consider each of the following:

• make sure your child comes to school with a large bottle (it could have water previously frozen)
• your child should wear a sun hat and loose, cool clothing (we’re relaxing the rules around school uniform – replace uniform items with things that are cooler eg open sandals rather than shoes, uniform shorts with lighter PE shorts – try to stay as smart as possible)
• your child should be wearing Factor 50 sunblock when they arrive at school and may apply more during the day

In school, we’ll take as many actions as we can. These will include indoor lunchtimes, avoiding vigorous activity, and avoiding being in large groups in one indoor space for a longer time.

This week’s message (Friday 15 July 2022)

It’s our penultimate message of the year… This one’s a short one, but with two links to something longer if you’re interested…

Before we start the message, a note about extreme temperatures forecast for the first part of next week. The Department for Education is not advising that schools close; instead they have issued guidance to schools. The guidance sets out sensible points to follow – make sure you consider each of the following:

• make sure your child comes to school with a large bottle (it could have water previously frozen)
• your child should wear a sun hat and loose, cool clothing (we’re relaxing the rules around school uniform – replace uniform items with things that are cooler eg open sandals rather than shoes, uniform shorts with lighter PE shorts – try to stay as smart as possible)
• your child should be wearing Factor 50 sunblock when they arrive at school and may apply more during the day

In school, we’ll take as many actions as we can. These will include indoor lunchtimes, avoiding vigorous activity, and avoiding being in large groups in one indoor space for a longer time.

Governance

Governing bodies aren’t required to produce an annual report; however,  Sphere Federation governors believe communicating with our school community is important. Check out their annual governance statement.

Summer Fun

Breeze is for all children and young people aged 0-19 from Leeds (and their families) who are looking for positive things to do. Although Breeze is run by Leeds City Council, the information they list comes from all sorts of organisations and partners working positively with children, young people and their families in Leeds, not just the council. Check out the 27 days of fun: Breeze in the Park.

Have a good weekend. Next week, look out for the return of our Summer competition!

This week’s message (Friday 08 July 2022)

It’s a busy time of year in school. Sports day, productions, reports… This week, you should have received an end-of-year report for your child – if you haven’t, please let us know.

At this time of year, you might be already thinking about uniform for next year. This week’s message starts with a reminder that we’ve updated our school uniform policy…

School uniform

Due to a recent change in guidance about school uniform, we’ve recently updated our school uniform policy.

Wearing a school uniform brings with it many benefits, and everyone following the policy brings a sense of fairness.

There’s no change as to what uniform is required in our policy: as has always been the case, branded items are available, but they’re optional. As well as having at least three suppliers for branded items (with different price ranges), you’re able to purchase generic items from a range of retailers, giving you choice and value for money. Second hand uniform items can also benefit parents / carers and, by extending the life of items, are more sustainable. Some items may be available in school (unclaimed and unnamed lost property at the end of term) or at the Leeds School Uniform Exchange.  Check out the website for more information on suppliers and the policy.

We do expect all children to follow this policy, including wearing the correct kit on PE days.

Thank you for supporting us with this.

TikTok

Last week’s message mentioned TikTok. Here’s an extract from a weekly email we receive from a safeguarding expert:

A few days ago I spent a rather disturbing half-an-hour on TikTok… Clicking in to TikTok Live was worse than I had thought it would be… there were a number of video streams that I think should concern us from a safeguarding perspective. Livestreams from the school bus, school playgrounds and even from tutor time in classrooms. There was even a group of primary aged boys trying to out-swear each other while they waited for the bell.

Check out these parents’ guides: one from Common Sense Media and one from Internet Matters.

Some summer reading

You might like to read the latest edition of Raring2go. It’s got lots of ideas for the Summer holidays.

Some summer support 

The approach to providing free school meals during holidays has changed in line with government guidance. 

As a result of this change in government guidance, Leeds City Council has decided to support those households in receipt of council tax support. This will include most households receiving free school meals but this will no longer be the driver of eligibility. More detail on how the council is spending the funding can be found here.

Anyone in urgent need of support for food, rent and other household bills can contact the Leeds Welfare Support Team. Details are available at: Help with food and bills (leeds.gov.uk). The Healthy Holidays scheme will also continue to provide support during the summer holidays to those most in need.

The forecast is looking good… Have a happy and healthy weekend!

This week’s message (Friday 01 July 2022)

Our message this week is a short one, but an important one. We know we send lots of messages about online safety, but please do take on board what we’re saying – this year, we’ve experienced more issues, and more serious issues, than ever before.

Ofcom recently published a report looking at media use, attitudes and understanding among children and young people aged 3-17. It also includes findings on parents’ views about their children’s media use, and how parents of children and young people aged 3-17 monitor and manage their children’s use.

The summary of key points (below) comes from a safeguarding email we receive each week in school. The bold text is from us:

• Children were more likely to experience being bullied via technology than face-to-face: 84% of 8-17s said they had been bullied this way (ie via text or messaging, on social media, in online games, through phone or video calls, or via other apps and sites).
• Nearly all children went online in 2021 (99%); the majority used a mobile phone (72%) or tablet (69%) to do so.
• Using video-sharing platforms (VSPs) such as YouTube or TikTok was the most popular online activity among children aged 3-17 (95%).
• Among all types of online platforms, YouTube was the most widely used by children; 89% used it, compared to half using TikTok. But TikTok was more popular than YouTube for posting content.
• A majority of children under 13 had their own profile on at least one social media app or site; 33% of parents of 5-7s said their child had a profile, and 60% of 8-11s said they had one. This is despite the minimum age for most social platforms being 13.
• Just four in ten parents of 3-17s knew the minimum age requirement for using most social media; 42% correctly said 13. Four in ten parents of 8-11-year-olds said they would allow their child to use social media (38%).
• Six in ten children aged 3-17 played games online in 2021, increasing to three-quarters of 12 – 17s.
• More than a third of 8-17s who gamed online played with people they didn’t know (36%); overall, 16% of 8-17s chatted to people they didn’t know, via the messaging/ chat functions in games. You wouldn’t let your child play out with random strangers – for the same reasons, talk to you child about who they may be chatting with online.

Check out our online safety tips.

As always, if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns, do speak with us.

Have a good weekend.

This week’s message (Friday 17 June 2022)

To kick off this week, do check out this exciting event happening in Leeds: Little Amal has travelled over 8,000km and is in Leeds on Monday evening.

This week’s message comes from Mr Wilks, who leads on Science and foundation subjects across Sphere Federation…

What do we mean by topics?

Topics are the vehicle for delivering much of the learning in the foundation subjects (eg history, art, geography…). Each half-termly topic has a driving subject – the main focus for teaching pupils the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. The driver changes with each topic to ensure a broad and balanced curriculum.

Although the learning in each topic will be provided by the driving subject, there are opportunities for enrichment through other subjects. For example, learning in an art topic may be enriched by geography – learning about where an artist was born and lived.

Read more about the intent, implementation and impact of our topics.

What is this half-term’s topic?

Design and Technology is the driving subject for this half-term and it’s a great topic to finish the year! The focus for all classes this year is textiles (next year, it’s construction), so your child will be busy designing and making products using fabric.

A key aspect of the Design and Technology curriculum is the understanding that products don’t just get made. Instead, they go through a design process that includes three key elements: evaluate, design and make. Think of this process as a cycle. For example, Sphere Motors want to create a new family car. Before the car is made, they need to evaluate existing products and talk to customers so that they’re clear about what the new car needs to have. They will then design the car and evaluate those designs. They may make a prototype of the car to help them evaluate the designs. Next, they’ll decide on a final design that will go into production and get made. This finished product will be evaluated and the whole process starts again.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. See page 17 and 18 of our Curriculum Statement.

Years 1 and 2

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a hand puppet. They’ll start by learning about the design process before looking at and evaluating existing hand puppet products. They’ll then learn to use an over stitch and practise threading needles and tying knots. Following this, they’ll be introduced to all the materials they can use to create their puppet. Once they’re familiar with the materials, they’ll design their puppet. Next, it’s on to the making stage. They’ve already honed their sewing skills so they should be confident making and then decorating their puppets according to their designs. Finally, it’s evaluation time: children will compare their designs to their finished products. They’ll reflect on successes and things they’d do differently next time.

Years 3 and 4

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a pouch. The function of this pouch is entirely up to them. It could be used to store some pens, trading cards, a shell collection. Children can be as creative as they like – as long as the pouch can be made using a 23cm² piece of felt!

Before they begin to design their pouch, they’ll learn about a famous designer and how they became a designer. They’ll also learn some important skills that a designer needs. Children will then evaluate existing pouches, with a focus on fastenings, and will then design their pouch. They’ll practise their sewing skills, becoming proficient using a running stitch. They’ll then begin to make their pouches. First, they’ll create a template which they’ll use to cut out the pieces. Next, they’ll join the pieces using their running stitch and create a fastening for their pouch. Finally, they’ll evaluate their designs by comparing them to their designs, testing whether they’re fit for purpose and reflecting on their successes and areas to improve.

Years 5 and 6

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a cushion. Before they get stuck into their cushion, they’ll learn about some designers who changed the world: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, George Stephenson, Lewis Latimer and Jony Ive. They’ll learn about their creations and their impact and look for things that link the designers. Following this, children will learn about the importance of design criteria when designing a product. After this, they’ll be practising their sewing skills and learn how to sew using a backstitch. Next, they’ll evaluate existing cushions. They’ll then decide on the specific design criteria for their cushions and create their designs using an annotated sketch, detailing the dimensions of their product. They’ll learn about the importance of using sustainable materials when researching the filling used for their cushion (the plan is to use old, unwanted pieces of fabric to stuff the cushions rather than Polyfill so please have a look through your wardrobe and keep hold of any old t-shirts or other clothes as we’ll need them later in the half-term).

Children will use a template to cut out the shapes, use a backstitch to add decoration to their cushion before finally sewing the pieces together and stuffing them. The final stage is to evaluate the designs against the design criteria.

Help at home

Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning in class. The class news page of the school website is a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.

The school library and local libraries will have some books about Design and Technology which your child will be able to borrow and develop both their reading skills and design knowledge.

Finally, there are a lot of programmes on CBBC and CBeebies with a Design and Technology focus:

• Bitz and Bob
• Grace’s Amazing Machines
• Junk Rescue
• Maddie’s Do You Know?
• The Dengineers

This week’s message (Friday 10 June 2022)

And we’re into the last half-term of the year – we hope you and your family had a good half-term break. This week’s message has just two parts: a reminder to complete the annual survey and some important news about classes and teachers next year.

Annual survey

Every year, we invite you to complete a short survey. Your views matter. They help to shape what we do in the forthcoming year(s).

Complete the Moortown Primary survey here.

(It’s worth bearing in mind that the survey isn’t the best place to raise individual, specific concerns – hopefully, you’re comfortable to speak with Mrs Weekes or a class teacher about these instead.)

Staffing in 2022-23

With Mrs Burke retiring and Miss Wilson on maternity leave, there are a couple of new faces who’ll be joining the Moortown team next year – one of whom you may have seen before! Here are the teachers and classes for next year:

• Y6: Mr Wain, supported by Mr Fayers as a trainee teacher
• Y5: Miss Goswami (a new teacher joining our team from a school in Harrogate)
• Y4: Miss Birch
• Y3: Miss Needham
• Y2: Mrs Taylor and Mrs Lake
• Y1: Mr McGriffiths
• YR: Mrs Wood (another new face, but some of you may remember Mrs        Wood because she was a Reception teaching assistant a few years back, albeit with the name Miss Marsden at the time!)

Mrs Weekes and Mr Wilks will be non-class based.

As usual, there will also be support staff in each class – that’s a jigsaw puzzle to be completed!

Mrs Burke and Miss Wilson will be greatly missed, and obviously never replaced, but we still have a great team for a great year ahead of us.

As always, if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns, please do speak with us. Have a good weekend.

This week’s message (Friday 27 May 2022)

The last message for this half-term comes from Mrs Weekes, our Head of School. There’s also a reminder about Moortown’s annual survey of parents and carers.

Today, the PTA did a grand job of decorating the school for the Queen’s Jubilee – thank you to them. The children have enjoyed a red, white and blue day with dancing from the decades, a picnic lunch and lots of royal fun.

This term is absolutely flying by – it’s hard to keep up. The longer days and warmer weather seem to be keeping smiles on faces, so long may it last!

We’re cracking on behind the scenes to move things along with The Green – the green space at the back of school. We’ve had a meeting with a contractor; he seemed extremely positive about the fact that we can clear the space well and make it safe to use. We’re looking to level an area of the land and get the grass sorted first and then we’ll make some wood chippings to create a path around the edge. Once the area is level and grassed then it can be used and we can develop other features over time.

While we’re talking about site issues, we’ve had a visit from the Health and Safety team this week to check that our school and procedures are as safe as they can be. The feedback from the visit was very positive which was fantastic to hear.

We’re really proud of our Y6 and Y2 children who have been doing the end of Key Stage assessments. They’ve all worked really hard and tried their best – that’s all we can ask! Well done, Y2 and Y6.

Year 4 have just had a really successful residential visit to Herd Farm; they were away for two nights (a few parents enjoyed their time off, skipping out of school!). It was great to hear that the staff at Herd Farm commented on how polite the children were – really great feedback.

Very best wishes to Miss Wilson who leaves today (temporarily) to start her maternity leave. Hopefully, she’ll get a little bit of rest before the baby makes an appearance.

Have a great half term holiday. Enjoy the Jubilee celebrations (we enjoyed ours today!) and we’ll see you back in school on Monday 06 June.

And here’s a reminder about the annual survey…

Your views matter. Every year, we invite you to complete a short survey. Complete the Moortown Primary survey here. It’ll only take a few minutes to complete – thanks!

Whatever you and your child get up to, have a happy and healthy half-term holiday.