Our weekly message: Friday 01 May 2026

Don’t forget Monday is a bank holiday, so we’ll see you next week on Tuesday.

Now, let’s find out more about our Summer 1 topic…

What is this half-term’s topic?

This half-term we are geographers. The topic is called Explorers.

In this geography-driven topic, we’re comparing a place in the United Kingdom with a place in another country. Y1,2 children are heading to Kenya in Africa, Y3,4 children are having a mini-break in Venice, and finally, Y5,6 children are trekking through the Amazon Rainforest in South America.

Across the year groups, children will develop their understanding of some key geographical concepts:

• Location is a position (eg a country, a city), often described in a clear, precise way (ie using a latitude and longitude). It is separate from people’s perceptions and experiences.
• Place = location + meaning. This will include the physical and human geography that make a place unique. Importantly, place is not rigid. It is changing and can be perceived in different ways.
• Scale is defined by the relative sizes of places. This could be differences in area, population or distances. Scale can also be defined by our view of the world. For example, we may consider an aspect of geography on a local, national and international scale.
• Interdependence is the idea that the world is connected and that countries or individuals do not act in isolation. Our actions here affect people in different countries around the world, for example, food, energy, holidays, climate.

Check out our Topic Curriculum Guide for more information about key concepts (page 17) and age-related expectations and vocabulary (page 20 and 21).

Year 1,2

Children have begun the topic by learning about the different continents and oceans in the world. They’ll learn about the equator and how it splits the Earth into two hemispheres. They’ll then focus on a specific continent, Africa, and a specific country within that continent, Kenya. They’ll compare a city in Kenya, Nairobi, to Leeds with a focus on the physical and human geography of these two places. They’ll then take a visit into the countryside and compare features of the Yorkshire Dales with a National Park just outside Nairobi.

Year 3,4

Children will develop learning about the equator and hemispheres by learning about the tropics and climate zones. A focus on European and world cities and countries will follow and will link to climate zone learning. They’ll then focus in on Venice in Italy and its physical and human geography which they’ll compare with York. They’ll learn about the positives and negatives that tourism brings, putting themselves in the shoes of both tourists visiting the places and locals who live there. Finally, they’ll learn about the problems posed by flooding in both localities and the solutions introduced to limit the consequences of flooding.

Year 5,6

Children will learn about the different types of biomes found on Earth and how these are linked to climate. They’ll then focus on the biomes found in Brazil and the UK. They’ll then focus on Brazil more generally, building their understanding of it as a place. Next, they’ll focus on the Amazon Rainforest and its importance to Brazil in terms of the economy as well as its importance ecologically. They’ll learn about the threats to the rainforest and the impact that deforestation is having. Finally, children will learn about what Brazil needs to do to slow deforestation and what we can do to slow deforestation.

How can you help?

Regardless of the year group your child is in, Google Earth is a brilliant tool to help develop children’s understanding of space, place, scale and interdependence. Zoom right in on your home and then zoom out to reveal the area of Leeds that you live in. Zoom further out to see what city you live in. Zoom further for the county. A little further and you might start to spot some national parks. Further still and you can see the country that we live in. Keep zooming and you’ll see the continent we live in (though this isn’t labelled). Before you know it, you’re floating in space and circling the Earth!

Google Maps is another great tool for comparing places. Try the street view option and you can walk along a street in Nairobi and a street in London. Take a drive through the lush Yorkshire Dales and compare this to the Kenyan countryside. You could wander down the Shambles in York and compare this to the streets in Venice. You can also compare images of the same street from different points in time.

Quizzing your children about some locational knowledge will help them to remember important information. I’ve listed some examples below. Use the age-related expectations to find the right pitch for your child.

• Which continent do we live in?
• Which country do we live in?
• In which hemisphere is our country located?
• Which county do we live in?
• Which city do we live in?
• Which part of Leeds do we live in?
• Which four countries make up the United Kingdom?

If you can, go to the library and get some geography-related books, especially an atlas. You could compare maps of the same place to see what type of information they show. For example, you find lots of maps of the United Kingdom. One might show the countries and capital cities. Another might show the mountains, rivers and national parks. Another might give information about the climate.

For KS2 children, there are lots of different games and activities on Ordnance Survey Mapzone. I especially like the jigsaws in the Map Puzzles section of the Games.

Also for KS2 children, there is lots of information and some tasks and quizzes on BBC Bitesize.

Have a happy and healthy long weekend – see you on Tuesday.

Our weekly message: Friday 24 April 2026

We hope you had a good break over Easter.

A quick reminder: if you’ve got any new contact details for you or other contacts, please remember to let us know. We need up-to-date details for the people on our lists in case of emergencies. (The people on our lists are the ones you gave us when your child started school – in most cases, this will be three different people.)

Living and Learning

Next week’s Living and Learning theme is an important one: I know that a person’s body belongs to them.

The NSPCC’s Speak Out, Stay Safe message is an important one. It helps children understand more about this week’s theme and supports them to speak out if they have any concerns. At home, make sure your child is aware of Childline.

Attendance matters

The national attendance rate so far this year for primary schools is 94.8%.

At Moortown Primary, the attendance rate is 96.4%. That’s comfortably higher than the national figure. It’s even higher than last year’s figure for Moortown Primary (96.2%). Sadly, some pupils have attendance much lower. This might be because of illness and we’re happy to work with families to support this. But it also might be because of repeated term-time holidays – we’ll refer such an absence for a penalty notice or take other legal action.

Brushing teeth

We love this new guide all about brushing teeth. Even though it’s part of a series of guides for younger children to give them the best start in life, it’s full of good advice for everyone.

For example, one of the top tips is to try different flavours of toothpaste or brushes of varies sizes and textures.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Thursday 02 April 2026

This week’s message is a day earlier than normal. First up, here’s a repeat of part of last week’s message, in case you missed it…

Easter

With Easter on the way, please see this list of free and low-cost things to do over the Easter school holidays in Leeds.

Also (and not in last week’s message), check out this Child Friendly Leeds guide to help children and families in Leeds navigate their way through the Easter holidays.

Sir David Hattenscarf and the Wonders of the World

Our Y3 and Y4 friends did a grand job of their production: great singing, great acting, and an insight into who might end up on the stage in the future! It also taught us a very important message about looking after our environment for the future. Well done to all the children and thank you to all the staff involved in putting it together. Your donations will go to our current school charity, Martin House.

400 words for Leeds

Did you know Leeds is celebrating 400 years since Leeds received its Royal Charter from King Charles I back in 1626? Leeds Lit Fest invite your child to get involved in the 400 Words for Leeds 400 writing competition.

If you were an engineer, what would you do?

That’s a queestion one of our Year 2 pupils thought about recently. She took part in the Primary Engineer Leaders Award Competition, where she explored that very question.

Through this experience, she engaged thoughtfully with the engineering design process, identifying a real-world problem and developing a clear and imaginative solution. Her work reflects curiosity, creativity, and a genuine desire to help others – key qualities of a young engineer.

Each entry in the competition is reviewed by a professional engineer and awarded a grade, recognising the effort and innovation demonstrated.

Have a look at her entry – a brain divider…

We love this idea for catching up on some sleep!

SEND parent carer monthly drop-in sessions

Are you a parent or carer of a child with special educational needs and/or disabilities or waiting for your child’s needs to be assessed? You might like to join one of the monthly drop-in sessions at the Reginald Centre or Moor Allerton Community Hub.

Finally, an ‘egg-stra’ addition

Have a happy and healthy Easter holiday.

Our weekly message: Friday 27 March 2026

First of all… Thanks for your donations for last week’s Comic Relief. We raised £155.99.

Top talent!

One of our Y5 friends has once again won the Beatrice Stables Cup at the Rothwell Competitive Music festival, in the under 11 Cello Solo category. He has also successfully auditioned for the City Of Leeds Youth Training Orchestra – some amazing musical talent!

More top talent…

As part of the Leeds Well Schools Partnership, ten of our Year 3 and 4 children took part in a football competition at Boddington this week. Throughout the day, they worked hard as a team to play some great football. Well done to all the children who represented school so well, and well done because they’ve qualified for the Leeds final next month.

This week, our Year 5/6 netball team took part in the Leeds Well Schools Partnership netball competition at Allerton High. Despite the rain, the team played some great netball and managed to finish second in their group. For some of the children, this was their first time representing school at netball and for some it will be their last after many years of coming to our netball club so well done to all the children who competed.

The rest of this week’s message centres around working with us in a constructive way. It’s prompted by a recent guide from Parentkind and a recent blog from Ofsted, both of which we talk about here.

We want Moortown Primary to be a happy and healthy place for all. Your views are important – they can help us to get better and better. Our Questions, Comments and Concerns page sets out how you can help with this.

Parentkind

Parentkind can support your child’s learning and wellbeing. They offer parents free webinars, practical toolkits, and a Be School Ready guide to support new starters, alongside a wide range of expert resources and practical guidance.

Working alongside the Department for Education and Ofsted, they’ve recently produced a guide to school complaints – it’s more of a step-by-step support to help you resolve any concerns quickly, easily and positively.

You’ll notice the first piece of advice is What kind of issue is it? They highlight feedback, concerns and complaints. This matches our Comments, Concerns and Complaints Policy which follows best practice guidance for schools from the Department for Education.

Ofsted

Ofsted has recently published a blog called How we consider complaints about schools – it’s an interesting read.

In the blog, they make it clear that it’s important parents follow a school’s complaints policy:

Before contacting us, a parent should:

• contact the school informally – for example, by talking to a teacher about the problem
• if things cannot be resolved this way, consider making a formal complaint to the school
• if they’re still dissatisfied, follow the next steps in the school’s complaint procedure – for example, making a complaint to the governing body or another organisation

When a parent comes to us directly, we encourage them to approach the school first. We will continue to stress to parents that we can’t resolve differences between them and a school or affect the results of a school’s complaints process.

This matches the advice in Parentkind’s guide to school complaints.

Ofsted receives hundreds of complaints each year, but very few of these are investigated because they don’t meet the criteria for Ofsted to investigate (in the last year, only about 1 in 10 were investigated).

School

Here are a few ways you can express your views here at Moortown Primary…

• After various school events, such as our recent Topic Review session, we like to gather your views on how the session went with a short online survey.
• Towards the end of the school year, we invite you to take part in a longer survey, too – there’s typically a final question or two which are more open-ended so you can comment on anything you like.
• Don’t wait until these surveys, though! We’d like to hear from you. You could send us an email (moortownoffice@spherefederation.org) or simply have a chat with your child’s class teacher or one of us at the start or end of the day at the school gate,

Thank you for supporting the positive relationships between home and here at Moortown Primary.

Easter

Finally this week, with Easter on the way, please see this list of free and low-cost things to do over the Easter school holidays in Leeds, including Story Explorers at the Central Library; a hat exhibition at Temple Newsam House; a Roman-themed Rabbits Trail at City Museum; newborn animals at Temple Newsam Home Farm; a dragon egg quest at Lotherton; and various activities (alongside the usual delicious food stalls) at Kirkgate Market.

Enjoy a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 20 March 2026

We’ll start this week’s message with a few thank yous…

Thank you

If your child made a donation to today’s Comic Relief Day, many thanks.

Thank you to everyone who attended Monday’s Topic Review session and for your feedback…

It was good to see kids engaging and working collaboratively with their peers. I really liked the support provided by the teachers throughout the session.

And a third thank you…

A few weeks ago, we had a sponsored Number Facts Challenge in school. We raised £518, half of which goes to this year’s school charity, Martin House, and half to our PTA. Thank you for your donations.

Uniform Policy

Today’s been a day when uniform has been optional, raising money for Comic Relief. Every now and again, it’s worth reading through our Uniform Policy to remind yourself of expectations on a more typical day in school. Here’s a few key points to remember…

No jewellery during PE. Advisors recommend no earrings are worn for PE; therefore, we will ask your child to remove earrings before the lesson and put them back in after the lesson. This will be carried out by your child. If they’re unable to remove or put their earrings back in by themselves, they must not wear them on the day they have PE. If you want your child’s ears pierced, it makes life easier for everyone if this is done at the start of the summer holiday.

Only discreet stud earrings are allowed. This means earrings should be small and not brightly coloured. The only other jewellery allowed are items that are absolutely required by a religion.

Devices that connect to the internet or that can record are not allowed. This means that things like smart watches are not allowed. This is for safeguarding reasons.

Please keep PE kit as plain as possible and avoid branding. For the past few years, we’ve allowed PE kit on PE days – this saves time and reduces lost property. However, we still want our children to look smart.

Staying safe while gaming

We’ve been made aware of some websites that children are able to access with inappropriate content. The websites allow children to bypass any restrictions to access games. Two of the websites we’ve come across are Unblocked WTF and Unblocked FreezeNova but we think there are more. Please be vigilant at home when your child is online.

An ‘eggs-citing’ competition

It’s time to to get eggs-tra creative in our annual egg decorating competition!

Let your imagination run wild and decorate an egg in any way you like – paint it, dress it up, or even give it a silly hat! The more exciting and original, the better. You can use a real egg (just make sure it is hard-boiled or blown to avoid any egg-splosions), or get crafty with materials like card or clay!

Bring your decorated egg to school on Thursday 02 April and there will be a winner from each year group, each receiving a delicious chocolate egg prize.

We suggest a £1 donation per entry (or whatever you can give). All proceeds will go to PTA. Thank you for helping us make a difference.

For those celebrating Eid today, we wish you a happy and healthy day.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 13 March 2026

We’ll start this week with a couple of reminders of pages on our website you might not check out very often, but it’s useful to know they’re there…

• the Safeguarding page gives you a broad overview of some aspects of safeguarding that we consider carefully – it even includes a list of support services for domestic violence and abuse
• the Join in Beyond School page includes a physical activity guide suggesting out-of-school physical activities available to families in our local area

Next week

A couple of events next week…

On Monday, there’s a topic review session at 2.30pm. This is the second of two drop-in sessions – a chance to look at your child’s topic learning. If you’re coming, please arrive promptly.

The vast majority of children enjoy sharing their learning – it’s a cause for celebration and feeling proud. We recognise there might be one or two who struggle with the change or the extra people – please consult your child’s class teacher if you’ve concerns.

Next Friday is Red Nose Day. (This is a day that wasn’t in our calendar in September because they hadn’t announced the date.) This year, we asked our Junior Leaders how they’d like to raise money, giving them five options to discuss and vote on. They’ve decided…that everyone can come to school in their pyjamas.

As always with non-uniform days, please continue to respect our Uniform Policy. Here’s what it says about non-uniform days:

Pupils should dress appropriately and respectfully, even on non-uniform days. Clothes are inappropriate if they, for example, glorify violence, feature bad language, are very short (eg crop tops), or relate to age-inappropriate topics. When consulted (18.03.21), junior leaders described this as ‘setting-appropriate’ clothing and clothing that is ‘well-judged’. Make-up (other than face paints as part of a specific costume) is not allowed. Flipflops or high-heeled shoes are not allowed, even on non-uniform days, because they’re dangerous when running.

Super skippers

Well done, Year 4. This week, they participated in the Leeds Skipping Festival 2026 and won! They’re now through to the final in June. They showed great support for each other and the other teams while demonstrating brilliant determination, teamwork and respect.

Personal hygiene

Reception parents survey

There’s a few days left to complete this short survey. for parents of children in Reception – it closes on Wednesday 18 March. It’ll only take a few minutes and your views can make a difference. (If you’d like us to follow-up any of your responses with you, we can only do this if you leave your name.)

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 06 March 2026

This week’s Weekly Message is a busy one…

World Book Day

Look at these interesting characters who arrived at school yesterday…

Competing in cross country

We’ve had two cross country events this week.

First of all, it was the final Saturday morning race at Middleton Park. Well done to all of the children who have taken part in the four races held across the year.

Second, all three schools in Sphere Federation had children competing in the West Yorkshire cross country final at Temple Newsam on Tuesday.

Five of our Key Stage 2 children represented Leeds. We’re very proud of all five who raced in tough, competitive conditions with the best runners from across West Yorkshire. They all put in 100% effort and were a great support for each other. The children should feel proud of competing at this level.

A special mention to our Year 5 runner who finished 10th place out of 151 runners and has now qualified for the national cross country final later this month. One of our Year 4 runners narrowly missed out on this qualification by two places.

Thank you to parents who helped in both events.

Reception parents survey

Before that, if you’re a parent of a child in Reception, please complete this short survey. At Moortown Primary, we’re always trying to keep getting better and better. Your views help us to do that. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete and you’ve got until Wednesday 18 March to complete. (If you’d like us to follow-up any of your responses with you, we can only do this if you leave your name.)

The rest of this week’s message is an overview about our current half-term topic. It seems long, but just read the sections that apply to your child… 

What is this half-term’s topic?

This half-term, it’s Computing. We’re developing our knowledge of computers and computer programming.

Computer programming is super. Creating games, animations and solving real world problems is fun, encourages creativity and is challenging! Importantly, the skills the children develop and use are transferable to other subjects and areas of life. For example, the concept of decomposition in programming is concerned with breaking down a large task into smaller chunks. This concept could be used when writing a story, solving a maths problem or tidying a particularly messy bedroom! Debugging is the skill of identifying and fixing an error in a program. It requires systematic, objective thinking and plenty of resilience.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. See pages 12 and 13 of our Topic Curriculum Guide.

Years 1 and 2

Children will learn about how technology is used all around us. They’ll begin to consider what a computer is and isn’t.

In programming lessons, they’ll be introduced to algorithms and will learn about how they need to be written in the correct sequence.

They’ll create their own algorithms in ‘unplugged computing’ lessons and will debug errors in their own and others’ algorithms. Next, they’ll plan and create their own unplugged game where they have to create an algorithm to move a character from one place to another using positional language.

Children will then use the same concepts using Beebots – simple robots which can be programmed to move and turn. Finally, it’ll be time to create their own game using Beebots.

Years 3 and 4

Pupils will begin with some ‘unplugged computing’. They’ll create and debug unplugged programs which use sequence and repetition before they then create their own unplugged game which will require some decomposition. Next, pupils will explore how branching databases help us organise and use information. They’ll start by asking and creating yes/no questions to sort objects into groups, learn how to build and structure a branching database, and think about attributes that help with classification. Across the six lessons, they’ll make their own branching databases, plan how to structure them, and compare different ways of presenting information. By the end of the unit they will test their database by using it as an identification tool and think about how similar systems are used in the real world.

Years 5 and 6

Children will begin the topic by reasoning about what makes a computer a computer. They’ll then learn about how search engines work and how to best use them. In programming lessons, they’ll use Scratch to gain a deeper understanding of concepts like sequence and repetition before learning about selection and variables. Some of this vocabulary may sound alien to you. However, before the end of the topic, your child will be able to tell you what they mean and give examples of how they’ve used them in their projects. Some of the projects your children will create are:

• A Spirograph style drawing animation with some potentially psychedelic visual effects!
• A chatbot program which will ask you questions and decide if your responses are correct or not.
• A times table quiz program that will test you on randomly selected times table questions within a set time limit.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning in class. Our Class News is a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.

The school library and local libraries have lots of books about coding and computer games which your child will be able to borrow and develop both their reading skills and computing knowledge.

Finally, try programming with your child. There are loads of programming apps and software available to download, often for free. Here’s a list:

Key Stage 1:

• Beebot
• Code for Life: Rapid Router
• Lightbot
• Scratch Jr

Key Stage 2:

• Code for Life: Rapid Router
• Lightbot
• Scratch Jr
• Scratch

Our weekly message: Friday 27 February 2026

Spring has sprung… It’s felt great to start and end our school day with more daylight and  – even sometimes – a glimpse of the sun! To cap it all, this Sunday marks the start of meteorological spring.

Number challenge

Does your child know their times tables and other number facts? On Wednesday, children did their number challenge for the second time – has your child’s scores improved?

Thank you for all the sponsor money collected.

World Book Day

Here’s a re-cap on an email we sent earlier this week…

Next Thursday is World Book Day. We’ll celebrate with lots of brilliant book-based activities through the day!

We alternate years when we dress up – this year is a dressing up year.
If your child wants to, they can come dressed as a book character or anything else book-related (but please don’t feel the need to go out and spend money on a costume).

In a reading-themed day, children will hear teachers read aloud their favourite stories, spend time in other classes reading with different children and explore new authors and books.

Attendance

Good news… Our attendance so far this year is 96.2% – this is a higher than the national figure for primary schools (94.8%).

Our current attendance rate matches our overall 2024-25 attendance rate. Let’s see if we can beat this by the end of the year!

Please continue to check the NHS site, Is My Child Too Ill For School.

Our weekly message: Friday 13 February 2026

It’s the last Weekly Message of Spring 1. It’s incredible to think we’ve already reached half-way through the school year!

Staying safe online

Tuesday was Safer Internet Day. Do you speak with your child about staying safe online? Do you check your child’s devices and online history regularly? Do you make sure your child is online only in a busy room, with other people at home around them?

The government is launching a new website on 16 February 2026 to support families and encourage regular conversations about what they’re seeing online, asking simple questions, like ‘who shared this’ and ‘why?’. Based on parents’ main concerns and needs, it provides:

• tips for parents’ conversations with their children
• actions to support each stage of their child’s life
• parental controls information

The website will also feature signposting to trusted resources from charities and third parties, where parents can access other forms of support (like speaking to an expert).

The website will continue to grow and be developed this year, supporting the Online Safety Act and wider government aims.

Check out Kids online safety.

Young artists

Now in its eighth year, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged 4–18 studying in the UK. Artworks are judged by a panel of artists and arts professionals, with selected artworks displayed online and on-site at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Click here for more information about the competition. We’ve registered Moortown Primary and now it’s over to you to register and submit an artwork. Submissions close on 4 March 2026 at 5pm.

Attendance matters

Each term , the Department for Education produces a report which analyses each school’s attendance and compares attendance with a small group of similar schools. Here are some highlights from the Autumn term…

• Attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals was 95.8%, higher than all 20 similar schools.
• Attendance on Monday mornings was 96.3%, higher than 18 out of 20 similar schools.
• Attendance on Wednesday mornings was 97.1%, higher than 17 out of 20 similar schools.

Thank you to everyone who helps to make sure their child attends school with no unnecessary absences.

Policies

Sphere Federation governors have asked me to include a reminder to you all that some key policies are available on our website.

Any docs and content on the website is available as a paper copy if you ask.

Swimming

This is a reminder about changes to Swimming lessons…

Previously, children in Year 3 attended weekly swimming lessons at a local pool. However, once travel and changing time were factored in, these lessons took up a large part of the afternoon – often for just a short amount of time in the water.

We’re introducing a new and improved approach: a pop-up pool – a purpose-built, heated, temporary swimming pool, located right on school grounds. Moortown Primary and Scholes (Elmet) Primary (another Sphere Federation school) will share this pool in an alternating cycle each year.

Each school will have access to the pool for a three-week block. During this time, children in Years 3 and 4 will swim every day for 45 minutes. Lessons will be delivered by fully qualified, external swimming instructors. This means your child will get 15 high-quality swimming lessons in just three weeks – a more focused and effective way to learn.

There are no swimming lessons this year. That’s because in 2025–26, Scholes (Elmet) Primary will use the pool. In 2026–27, Moortown Primary will have the pool on-site. Over this two-year cycle, all children in Years 3 and 4 across both schools will benefit from this enhanced model.

We understand this may seem like fewer lessons overall. However, the intensive daily format has been shown to significantly boost children’s progress.

We’re confident that this change will give children a stronger foundation in swimming– and do so in a way that’s efficient, inclusive, and enjoyable. As always, if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns, please let us know.

We hope you and your family enjoy the Spring half-term break – hopefully, it’ll stop raining at some point… See you on Monday 23 February.

February half term holiday clubs in school

They’re running clubs across multiple schools… the coaches are buzzing to get started, and they’re putting the final touches on an action-packed itinerary full of sports, games, challenges, creativity, and plenty of smiles. Every session is designed to help children stay active, build confidence, make friends, and have an amazing time — whatever their ability.

To book your child’s place, please follow this link: https://pepartner.coordinate.cloud/list

The clubs at Moortown, Scholes, and St James’ are OFSTED registered, meaning childcare payment schemes can be used.

Refer a friend and earn £6.50 credit…

PE Partner can’t wait to deliver another brilliant school holiday club in our schools, helping children be more active, more confident, and happier, more often.