World Book Day themed menu
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Thursday 5th March. Please contact the office, in the next few days, if your child would like a school dinner on this day (no action needed if your child normally has a school meal on this day).
Attendance matters
Our whole-school attendance figure up until February half-term is just short of 96.8%.
Here are the figures for each year group:
- Reception: 96.86% That’s brilliant – keep it up!
- Year 1: 96.61%
- Year 2: 97.52% The best in school – well done!
- Year 3: 97.45% A close second – good stuff!
- Year 4: 96.13%
- Year 5: 96.15%
- Year 6: 96.79% Good stuff
Let’s aim for the whole-school average to be even higher by Easter!
If you’d like to know the up-to-date score for your child, please ask at the office.
School will be open
School will be open today as normal.
The roads are currently bad, so take your time travelling to school safely.
The forecast shows an improving picture, with rain later, and dry this afternoon; temperatures are above freezing.
Is your child in Year 4?
The government is introducing a new assessment for Year 4 pupils. In June, each child in Year 4 is set to complete an online multiplication tables check (MTC). Read more about this new assessment.
There will be 25 questions covering the full range of facts children are expected to know, which means questions going up to 12 x 12. However, there’s slightly more weighting towards multiplication facts involving 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 due to these being the most difficult to learn. For example, there will be between 2 and 4 questions involving multiplying by 6.
For each question, children are presented with a multiplication fact and an empty box. This may be written as __ x 6 or as 6 x __ .
If you’d like to practise at home, our own website has lots of spreadsheets you can download.
There are also lots of websites that you can use. This one is very similar to the MTC. It’s possible to alter the settings on this website to focus on particular times tables.
Another exciting way to practise times tables is through the ‘Times Tables Rockstars’ website. Every child has their own individual login details that enables them to access their account at school and at home. Feedback so far is that this is proving an enjoyable way to practise times tables facts at home!
PE and Sport Premium
We are required to publish details of how we invest our PE and Sport Premium funding.
What is the Primary PE and Sport Premium?
The government provides funding to improve provision of physical education and sport in primary schools. This funding is ring-fenced and therefore can only be spent on provision of PE and sport in school.
For 2019/20, our grant allocation is £17,800.
How will we invest this at Moortown Primary School?
At Moortown we have developed a provision plan to ensure this funding is invested (rather than ‘spent’) to maximise the long term impact of our PE provision for pupils and staff. The funding is invested in various ways and the impact of these initiatives is closely monitored through assessment of children’s skills, staff and pupil feedback, uptake of clubs etc. At Moortown Primary, we pride ourselves on being a happy and healthy place to learn.
Our 2018/19 PE provision plan is fully evaluated with impact from last year’s investment.
Our 2019/20 PE provision plan detailing proposed investment is also published.
New school dinner menu
Our new spring/summer school meal menu, starting after February half term, is now available on our Meals page. It continues to follow a three week cycle.
The menu has been created in liaison with Catering Leeds to ensure it meets the School Food Standards. We have also incorporated feedback from our school cook, pupils and parents/carers. We will continue to offer a meat free day every week. This will be every Tuesday.
Pupils will continue to make their daily food choices at the start of the day to ensure they receive their first choice of main meal.
If you would like a paper copy of the menu, please ask at the office.
Remember, children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 continue to receive free school meals and we encourage pupils to take up this offer. For families in other year groups, please check if you are eligible to receive free school meals for your child/children.
We welcome feedback on the school dinner menu from pupils and parents/carers.
Staying safe online - guides for parents/carers
Today is Safer Internet Day. What can you do at home to make sure your child is safe online?
The e-Safety Office has produced twelve guides for parents, covering a range of topics including app safety, YouTube, cyberbullying and selfies. Check them out.
Living and Learning: Children's Mental Health Week
Set up by children’s mental health charity Place2Be, Children’s Mental Health Week shines a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health.
Young Minds is also a great source of information and support about young people’s mental health.
Mental health forms part of our Living and Learning long term plan and we encourage pupils to look after their mental health as well as their physical health. This maybe through the use of mindfulness and calming down techniques, recognising their own and others’ emotions and knowing how to seek help if needed. This guide shares some of the techniques we use.
In addition to Children’s Mental Health Week, Every Mind Matters is a national mental health campaign from Public Health England.
Does your child Swiggle?
Swiggle is a child-friendly search engine – it’s aimed at children in Key Stage 2.
Swiggle gives children a great start in encouraging responsible online searching. The internet is a vast resource, and some content is not appropriate for children.
The search engine has been designed and developed by South-West Grid for Learning, a charity dedicated to empowering the safe and secure use of technology. SWGfL recommends adding Swiggle to your browser or put the Screen Cover link on your bookmark bar.
It’s powered by Google Custom Search, the results are filtered using Google SafeSearch, and SWGfL has configured the results to prioritise educational resources. Swiggle also filters the search terms to check that it’s not being used to search for inappropriate content.
Happy and healthiest place to learn!
Moortown Primary is a happy and healthy place to learn. In fact, we’re one of the healthiest in Leeds!
In a School Games update for PE and Sports Leaders around Leeds, we were delighted to note that Moortown Primary was one of only four Leeds schools in total to achieve the School Games Mark Platinum Award.
