News

Wednesday is here again

Hello everyone – I hope that you’re all ok and are fully aware that it is Wednesday (yes, parents, you’re half way through the week!).

I don’t know about you but this beautiful weather is certainly helping my mood – the fact that we can sit outside for a coffee or just a break is brilliant.  I’ve loved seeing all the photos on the website of the different learning that is going on – on my walk last week, I saw some rainbow sticks emerging from a hedge and they made me smile so much, I took a photo.  After looking at the website yesterday, it seems that it was one of our families who had made them so, thank you, it cheered me up no end.

Talking about smiling, click on the link below to see some photos that were sent from the Reception class.  They really made Mrs Burke and me very happy this morning – hope they make you smile too.

Take care everyone – stay happy, healthy and safe.

Reception friends

Home learning and other support (21 April 2020)

(In case you weren’t aware, these messages appear on both on our website and by email a little later.)

Yesterday, we talked about two main things:

• how tough it might be to get back into the swing of things with home learning
• some new daily lessons available online from Oak National Academy and BBC Bitesize

This BBC article links these two points. The article flags up the importance of routine, and offers three top tips to achieve a safe structure for the day (and one that will help parents working from home, too).

…what is more important, say educationalists, is maintaining a degree of normality, rather than worrying about a child’s progress in English or maths. Home-schooling for now is “about encouraging parents to help their children create regular routines and study habits”, says Prof Becky Francis, of the UCL Institute of Education.

In an attempt to support you more with the home learning, we’re making one important change: from Wednesday, teachers will publish the home learning at 7pm the day before.

This change stems from requests that we publish the tasks the night before so that you can prepare:

• some parents like to have things printed off in advance
• some parents want to prepare for the home learning at a time when they themselves free, ie when they’re not working from home at the same time
• some parents say their child is awake early and wanting to get going sooner
• some parents even mention the clash with PE with Joe Wicks starting at the same time!

So, tomorrow, home learning will go live at 9am (the usual time), but also tomorrow, there’ll be another post at 7pm – this will be Thursday’s home learning. And we’ll continue like this; for example, Monday’s home learning will be published on Sunday at 7pm (with the Monday date).

Thanks to the various parents for making this suggestion.

Finally today, a lot of families rely on friends, grandparents and organisations to help with childcare. Your child might be missing these people just now.

The Invisible String by Patrice Karst might provide comfort – it’s read here by one of our Sphere Federation teaching assistants (thanks, Gemma!).

Home learning and other support (20 April 2020)

Our daily home learning tasks started again today. As we said on Friday, we know it’ll be tough for everyone getting back into that routine – getting that momentum going again is bound to be hard.

You may have heard about some new online initiatives which aim to ‘teach’ children through a series of virtual lessons. Oak National Academy and BBC Bitesize are the two most widely spoken about – both have just launched today, although we’ve encouraged you to check out BBC Teach for a while now). These resources look great and we’re certainly exploring them – they’ve both got pros and cons, just like the daily package of home learning tasks we’ve been providing you. What you might notice is teachers beginning to refer to these resources when they provide the home learning tasks for your child. We ask for your patience with this: we don’t want to use online links that actually take more of your time to explain.

We’re also exploring ways to present more online lessons. Some parents/carers have suggested using Zoom or something similar, but these interactive approaches do present problems. Teachers are starting to try out other things. These might take a little extra time to put together but will absolutely meet the needs of our learners.

We’re trying hard to make your job as ‘teacher’ as easy as possible and have always acknowledged that learning is going to look different in these extraordinary times.

It might help to remember some of the tips we’ve talked about before:

• try to develop a timetable for the tasks and stick to it – children benefit from the routine and it becomes easier
• build in practical tasks like cooking or planning an online shop so your child can use and apply the skills they have
• use different devices to access the tasks if you’ve more than one child, or let them have a go at the same task, but provide extra support for the younger, or additional challenge for the older
• if a task looks too complicated for your child, be flexible – they could access the task set by a teacher in one of the other Sphere schools, or they could access some learning from our menu of home learning resources.
• let your child’s teacher know how they’re doing – it’ll help them to stay engaged if they get some feedback (and our teachers are loving seeing all the great learning that’s coming in – check out their Class News pages!)
• equally, feel free to ask your child’s teacher any questions about the learning
• importantly – be kind to yourself and your child: this is a difficult time for us all, so if they’ve done just two of the tasks, plus some reading (20 minutes would be great), some exercise and some other learning from our menu, then that’s a really productive day!

Finally, today, this quote from a parent in a recent magazine article is quite a powerful one, especially the text I’ve put in bold. The article (Guardian magazine, 07.03.20) was about child geniuses, but I think it’s an important message for us all!

My main thing is that she feels happy and fulfilled, because that isn’t always the case when chasing perfection. We model failure for her, making mistakes in front of her. We ask each day what her successes were, and what she failed at, and celebrate both.

Home learning and other support (17 April 2020)

We hope you’re doing ok.

The last couple of weeks should’ve been the school Easter holidays – they still were technically, but we know they didn’t quite feel the same. We hope you managed to find some ways to relax a bit. That might have included the Easter activities we presented:

• Did your child create some nature-inspired art, in the style of Andy Goldsworthy?
• If you did it, how did the treasure hunt go?
• Were you ‘board’ silly with the new board game your child created?
• Perhaps you even combined two activities: how was the Come Dine With Me experience in the den your child built?

On Monday, the daily home learning tasks get going again. It’ll be tough for everyone getting back into that routine, but do try – it might help to agree again the expectations around a daily timetable, and we’d suggest you even agree how your child approaches the learning (this could include an agreed amount of time to talk, and an agreed amount of time to work in silence – this might help you get on with other things).

This article sets out five top tips:

Routines and boundaries are really important.

‘Children will need them as the structure of their lives has suddenly been altered. This holds for everyone in the household. Far easier said than done, but critical over the long haul. Establishing start times, breaks and end times will help everyone, and many families will need support to plan for that.’

It’s OK not to be OK.

‘It’s crucial that there are rules and boundaries in place, but parents must know that it’s better to bend them than allow them to break. They are in charge, and it’s [difficult]… Some days will be great – others a complete flop. Fine.’

Parents need to know why and how work has been set. 

If you’re wondering about a home learning task that’s been set, please make sure you get in touch with your child’s class teacher – they’ll remind you of their email addresses in their website homework pages.

Technology can help and hinder both students and parents.

‘For young people, screen time is social gold dust… gentle monitoring… is likely to work better than an outright ban.’

Teaching is stressful.

‘The importance of self-care and wellbeing for parent-teachers can’t be overstated, especially with no colleagues to sound off to after a bad day. Having a point of contact with the school or a peer network can make all the difference between surviving and thriving.’ …so again, if you need to email your child’s teacher, please do.

And on a separate subject…

Free school meals – are you eligible?

In these challenging times, more of you might now be eligible so that your child can get free school meals (FSM). This could well be the case if your circumstances have changed as a result of work or income being affected.

If you’re waiting for a decision of Universal Credit (UC), you can still submit an application (even though the decision won’t be reached until your Universal Credit is confirmed). If you’re successful with your FSM application, then your child will keep their entitlement until the end of the Universal Credit roll out (which is currently set for 2023) and then until the end of their primary phase. Therefore, it’s worth submitting an application now, even if you’re likely to return to work in the near future!

Read more about the FSM eligibility criteria and how to claim.

Are you eligible to claim for free school meals?

In these challenging times, more of you might now be eligible to claim for free school meals (FSM). This could well be the case if your circumstances have changed as a result of work or income being affected.

If you’re waiting for a decision of Universal Credit (UC), you can still submit an application (even though the decision won’t be reached until your Universal Credit is confirmed). If you’re successful with your FSM application, then your child will keep their entitlement until the end of the Universal Credit roll out (which is currently set for 2023) and then until the end of their primary phase. Therefore, it’s worth submitting an application now, even if you’re likely to return to work in the near future!

Read more about the FSM eligibility criteria and how to claim.

Has your child been offered a place at our school?

Today is the day when families across England are offered a school place.

If your child has a place at Moortown Primary, we’re delighted to welcome you! Moortown Primary is a happy and healthy place to learn. We’re excited to continue that journey with you and your child.

It would really help us if you can contact school by email to confirm whether or not you want to take up the offer. Our email is: moortownoffice@spherefederation.org

In your email, if you’re accepting a place, it will help us to prepare the transition process if you tell us the following, if applicable:

1. The name and contact details of your child’s current Early Years provider
2. The name of your child’s key worker
3. The hours that your child attends their current provider eg 30 hours
4. The days of the week that your child attends their current provider

Because of the current school closures due to coronavirus, things are a bit different this year. We’ll be in touch with you in a few weeks to let you know more about how we’ll support you and your child in making the transition to our school.

The following text is taken directly from an email to schools from Leeds City Council’s Admissions Team:

Families do not need to take any action on offer day, as they have until 30 April to submit waiting list requests and 15 May to submit appeal requests. Due to coronavirus (COVID-19), appeal hearings are on hold until we receive further guidance from the Department for Education.

If families are not happy with the school they have been offered they can ask to be added to the waiting list for any Leeds school (including schools they haven’t previously asked for) and can appeal against the refusal of a place at a preferenced school. Waiting list forms and appeal forms are available at www.leeds.gov.uk/offerdayprimary

The email goes on to make three points to any family considering refusing their offer:

• If you turn down a place, it will be allocated to another child and there is no guarantee a place will become available at a closer school to home – you could be left without a Reception place in September.
• Accepting an offer doesn’t impact on the chances of being offered a place from the waiting list or increase the chances of success at an appeal hearing.
• Any family who refuses an offer must confirm this in writing to startingprimary@leeds.gov.uk – you’ll be asked to confirm where you’ll be educating your child in September.

And relax...

If feels very strange to think that the Easter holidays started today!  My days are certainly merging into one but it’s official, the children are now on holiday.

Well done for getting through the past couple of weeks; I can imagine it has been really tricky for some of you to juggle ‘teaching’ and working from home.  I’m really grateful that my offspring is of an age where she is quite self sufficient (supposedly) and sleeping most of the time!  Phew!  No teaching needed.

It’s been great to see photos of home learning on the class news – there’s been some brilliant creative learning going on with smiling faces and even a baby being the teacher!  Mrs Freeman had some unusual help with her report writing – scroll through Year 2 class news to find out who helped her; I think their reports might be slightly different this year!

I hope that all of you are well and coping in these strange circumstances; take some down time if you can and make the most of spending time with your family.

Take care and stay happy and healthy.

Yaaaaaay! Well done!

A big well done to the mums, dads, carers of Moortown children – you’ve done two weeks of home learning now!

Has it been easier this week? Or harder in some way? Maybe a bit of both?

Just like around this time last week, our message to you is the same: you should feel pleased with yourselves. We know this whole situation is tough, and unsettling, and frustrating, and monotonous, and… but you and your family have got through it.

It’s time for a break. It’s the Easter ‘holidays’. Nobody’s going anywhere or doing anything exciting, but we wish you all the very best all the same.

A little piece of good news...

We all need a good news story in these unsettling times, and here’s one…

Baby Rushbrooke has arrived! Congratulations to Miss Rushbrooke and her partner on the birth of their baby boy on 01 April 2020. He weighed in at a whopping 9lb 5oz!

We send them all our love.

Home learning (02 April 2020)

Today’s post centres around staying safe online, and – back by popular demand(!) – the return of Red Herring.

Making sure your child is safe online should be a top priority.

During these times, your child may well be online more often than they normally would. We’ve suggested you might decide that your child shouldn’t be on social networking sites during the school hours, but the Easter holidays are coming up so you may choose to relax any rules you’ve set. But how much screen time should children have? These activities designed for use with 7-11 year olds (but easily adapted to other ages) will help your child recognise the signs they may experience when they’ve been online too long and the importance of balancing online and offline activities.

Thinkuknow can help you make sure your child stays safe online. They’ve produced a short guide for parents of primary and secondary children.

How much do you know about Houseparty?

An app growing in popularity is Houseparty – downloads have increased by 122% in the last month during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a group video messaging app that allows users to live-chat with up to eight people where they can play games and chat with friends and family in a ‘room’.

Different organisations set an age limit for Houseparty, all higher than primary school age. (Apple rate Houseparty as 12+ and Google Play urge ‘parental guidance’, but Common Sense Media and others recommend users be at least 15 to use the platform. Houseparty’s privacy policy requires users to be at least 13 years old.)

Read more about Houseparty so you can support your child to stay safe online.

What’s the government advice about staying safe online?

Government guidance now includes reference to keeping your child safe online:

There is a lot of support available to keep your child safe online. Below are some useful links to help parents and carers:

Thinkyouknow (advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online)
Internet matters (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
Parent info (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
LGfL (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
Net-aware (support for parents and carers from the NSPCC)

The guidance also talks about concerns about too much pressure on broadband connections:

The government is having regular calls with the major fixed and mobile operators, and with Ofcom, to monitor the situation and ensure that any problems on the networks are rapidly addressed and rectified.

Now, the return of Red Herring…

On Monday, we set you a challenge of working out which fact is the red herring amongst each of the Heads of School (and me). Today, we present five more people – our office-based staff – and with a bit of an equestrian theme. Just work out which statement for each person is a fib, a big fat lie. (Yes, we know it’s hard because you don’t know the people working in the other schools!)

Mrs O’Malley, Sphere Resources Manager based at Moortown:

• I met my husband whilst learning to drive a tank.
• I have three British military qualifications: artillery survey,  combat appreciation, and radio communications.
• As well as a yellow belt in kickboxing I also have a red belt in Ju Jitsu.

Miss Pallister, Admin Assistant at Scholes (Elmet):

• My first ever full-time job after leaving school was working for Education Leeds, in the finance department at Merrion House.
• Before moving to Scholes, I lived in Spain for five years.
• When I was younger I won various horse riding competitions.

Mrs Quirk, Sphere Resources Manager based at Scholes (Elmet):

• Knitting is one of my hobbies – I love to make presents for friends and family.
• In my teens, I was part of a group of people who raised money to buy medical supplies for a hospital in Malawi; I spent a summer over there when we took over all the supplies.
• One of my favourite jobs was as a Wedding Co-ordinator at a country house hotel – I loved planning and organising people’s special days!

Mrs Russell, Admin Assistant at Moortown:

• When I was younger, I fell off a horse and it trod on my leg – it didn’t put me off horse riding though!
• I used to help mend shopping trollies.
• My favourite type of food is fish – anything apart from squid.

Mrs Walshaw, Admin Assistant at St James’:

• I can count to 10 in Japanese.
• When I was younger, my family owned two Shetland ponies but I never rode them.
• In my previous job as an air stewardess, I was part of a crew who took Manchester United football team to one of their European Cup games (now known as the UEFA Champions League).