Healthy Schools revalidation
We are proud to continue to be a happy and healthy school.
‘Congratulations on re-validating your Healthy Schools Status using the School Health Check tool, indicating that your school has self-evaluated whole school health. This demonstrates that your school is continuing to embed and improve provision against the four core areas of Healthy Schools.’
Health and Wellbeing service, Leeds City Council
Our re-validation was based on the four core areas of Healthy Schools –
- Personal Social Health Education (PSHE)
- Healthy Eating
- Physical Activity
- Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health
A visit will be arranged later this year to externally reassess this self-validation.
This status is valid for three years before re-validation is necessary (August 2019 – August 2022). During this period, a visit will be arranged to externally reassess your self-validation. Once the school has had a successful reassessment, you will then receive a Healthy Schools plaque and feedback report. In the meantime, we do recommend that you update the School Health Check on an annual basis.
Aldi Kit for Schools
Aldi’s Kit for Schools promotion is giving twenty primary schools the chance to win £20,000 to kick-start a health legacy for their school.
What’s more, every school who enters by completing their Aldi’s Kit for Schools poster will also receive an exclusive school sports kit! Help us collect stickers with every £30 you spend in store and fill up our school’s poster to give us a chance to win. Please bring your stickers to the school office before the promotion ends on the 3rd November. Thank you for your support.
Themed menu
Catering Leeds, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Thursday 3rd October. Please contact the office, as soon as possible, if your child would like a school meal on this day (no action needed if your child normally has a school meal on this day).
Bike to School Week
This week, it is Bike to School Week. Bike to School Week is a week long event designed to showcase the benefits of cycling to school.
Have you been inspired by the current UCI Road World Championships to get on your bike? Could you make biking to school one of your active methods of travelling to school this week?
To link with Bike to School week, our Year 1 class will be completing their Balance, Pedal, Go bike training this week.
If you are wanting to explore the area further by bike, this West Yorkshire Cycle map can help to find recommended routes.
Finally, have you visited the local Brownlee Centre? Take a look at some of their Let’s Ride sessions.
Tennis for Kids
Chapel Allerton Tennis and Squash Club are launching their Tennis For Kids courses at the club from this week (Thursdays and Saturdays).
These sessions are aimed at children between 4 and 11 years old. and both members and non-members are welcome to attend.
Tennis For Kids is a great way for kids to learn the basics of the game whilst having fun and interacting with other children at an affordable price.
Homework policy update
Each year in the annual survey of parents and carers, we ask what you like most about our school and what you think we might be able to improve. We always get lots more people telling us things they like – thank you for this! We do also welcome your suggestions for improvements – whilst we can’t always act on all the suggestions, we do always read and consider them.
One area that comes up every year is homework. Some of you want more, some of you want less. Some of you like the Creative homework, some of you thinks it takes too much time.
This year, we’ve listened to what you tell us and thought about ways we think we can improve:
- We’ve reminded teachers to make sure homework is purposeful.
- We’ve reviewed the guidelines as to how long we recommend your child spends on their homework – the new guide is no more than 30-40 minutes, which includes for Creative homework.
- We’ve reflected on the amount of the three different types of homework (Talk Time, Creative and Practice makes Perfect) so there’s hopefully a better balance to suit more pupils (and parents).
We hope the new changes will mean continued happy and healthy learning at home as well as at school. Read the policy and download a Homework Guide.
Annual survey: you said, we'll do
Thank you to those parents who completed the annual parent/carer survey. Your comments give us the opportunity to not only celebrate those things you think are great about our school but also to consider ways to improve. Mr Roundtree has already presented an overview; I’ve identified three areas which we’ll work on in school. Whilst it is impossible to attempt to respond to all comments, we do read every one.
This year, a few people raised behaviour incidents that appeared to go unnoticed or children being told to ‘ignore’ incidents. Ignoring minor problems can be a way to ‘rise above’ something and help to build up resilience. However, we absolutely agree that this is often not the best way to respond. We’ll work with all adults in school to explore other ways to manage behaviour problems and to make sure we respond effectively to the child who’s upset. For example, we’ll aim to make sure that an upset child has ways to solve a minor problem independently – empowering the child in this way is likely to be more effective over time.
Linked to behaviour, a small number raised concerns about some individual children’s behaviour. Pupils’ behaviour at Moortown is really, really good: the vast majority of children follow our rules and behave appropriately in different situations. Sometimes, some individual children may need a different approach to help them support their behaviour choices. Their behaviour is not being ignored but is being addressed in a different way. Please be assured that behaviour is not ignored – it’s just that sometimes (quite rarely!) it needs addressing in different ways.
Homework was another thing raised in the survey. The right amount of homework is always difficult to achieve: some parents want school to provide more learning opportunities at home and others want none at all. We think reading and times table practice is essential. Some comments mentioned that the creative homework was difficult for children to achieve without parents supporting them to do research. As a result of this, we will add to our homework policy that creative homework should only come at the end of new learning – when the children have all the information they need. This means your child won’t need much help at all – they’re demonstrating what they’ve learnt in school.
There were several comments raised about the space at the back of school. We are as frustrated as you regarding the time it is taking to develop the area of land at the back of school. It may seem that we’re not doing anything but because of logistics (planning permission, tree felling, landscaping and cost), it’s taking a long time to show any changes. We know that you would like more outdoor space for your children to enhance their learning – we do too. The space will be developed into a useable area as soon and as safely as possible. We know you’re frustrated – we’ll update you with as much as we can each half term in our newsletters.
Platinum award
At the end of each year, schools are invited to apply for their School Games Mark. The School Games Mark rewards schools for their commitment to and development of competition, school sport and physical education.
We’re very proud to announce that our application has been verified and we have been awarded Platinum award.
Platinum award is open to schools who have achieved Gold award for the previous four years.
We have achieved this award due to encouraging a large number of children to participate in sporting activity; providing a variety of different sports; partaking in competitions; involving children in leadership activities and having many local links with external clubs and establishments.
Thank you to staff who have accompanied children to these events or run after-school clubs this year. Thank you also to Mrs Russell who provides excellent administration of our clubs and sporting events and competitions. Thank you as well to all parents/carers who have helped with transport and supported at our events this year.
Finally, well done to all pupils who have tried out a new physical activity either at an after-school club or as part of a competition or participation event and to those children who have represented our school so well this year.
KS2 fruit tuck shop
Our popular Key Stage 2 fruit tuck shop runs every Tuesday playtime and regularly sells over one hundred portions of fruit.
The dates for the tuck shop for this year are:
Autumn term Tuesday 24 September 2019 to Tuesday 17 December 2019 inclusive
Spring term Tuesday 14 January 2020 to Tuesday 31 March 2020 inclusive
Summer term Tuesday 28 April 2020 to Tuesday 14 July 2020 inclusive
This year we’ll continue with the pre-payment option so that you pay in advance for the whole year for your child to have fruit from the tuck shop. We know that some children like to buy more than one portion of fruit, either for variety or to top up their packed lunch and we can also offer the option of paying for two items.
As an incentive for selecting the pre-pay option, we’re able to offer you one week per term free. Therefore for this year, you’d pay for 31 weeks and receive fruit for 34 weeks. The cost for one portion of fruit for this year is £6.20 and the cost for two portions is £12.40.
Please note that payments are non-refundable and should be made via School Gateway. If you prefer your child to pay in cash on a weekly basis, that’s fine – we’ll continue to operate this system. Each portion of fruit costs 20p.
If you’d like to pay in advance for your child to visit the tuck shop, please do this via School Gateway, under the payment option, by Friday 20 September 2019.
Thank you for your support for the fruit tuck shop.
Living and Learning
As we return to school, we begin our Living and Learning theme with a focus on manners: I can greet someone politely.
We’ll then continue by thinking about the ‘8 Rs for learning’. This theme is about promoting good learning behaviour for your child.
Each week, we’ll focus on two different ‘Rs’. We use an animal to symbolise each ‘R’, which might help your child remember all eight – can your child remember which animal matches the correct ‘R’?
You can support your child at home – we’ve listed a few ideas to help you below. Ask us if you’ve any questions or comments.
Download top tips for promoting the 8Rs for good learning behaviour.
I can show I am ready to learn.
Make sure your child is at school for a prompt start of 08:50.
Make sure your child has had plenty of sleep so they are alert and ready to learn at all times.
Encourage your child to ask lots of questions – that shows they want to learn!
I respond to feedback.
Ask your child if they remember their ‘stars’ and ‘steps’ in English and Maths.
I take a safe risk.
Talk about the difference between a safe and unsafe risk. At school, we want your child to take a safe risk by having a go at answering, even if unsure; trying something new and attempting harder learning.
I take responsibility for my own learning.
Provide time and space at home so your child is able to organise themselves: their PE kit, reading book, homework, spellings and tables… Don’t organise everything for them!
Make a link between rights and responsibilities: your child has the right to a great education, but needs to be responsible for their own learning.
I am resourceful.
Encourage your child to be organised so they can play with a range of different toys.
Encourage your child to try new ways to solve a tricky problem.
I am resilient.
Encourage your child to keep going! Set a tricky challenge or puzzle for your child to do.
Encourage your child to think of different ways of doing things.
Don’t let your child win when they play a game – they need to experience losing, too!
Celebrate mistakes as opportunities to learn – be happy that your child found some learning hard and encourage them to ‘bounce back’ and learn from the experience.
I remember.
Make sure they have time to learn spellings, number bonds and times tables – a little practice daily is best.
Play memory games:
Kim’s game: show them objects for 30 seconds… can they remember all the objects?
Can they build up the sequence, ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple and a bike.’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple, a bike and a cucumber.’ etc … Take turns!
I reflect about my learning.
Talk with your child about what they’ve learnt, asking questions about:
how they learnt
why they learnt it
when they’ll use their learning
how they would teach this to someone else
what learning might link with what they’ve learnt today etc
As well as covering the 8Rs for learning, pupils will also learn about their rights and responsibilities.
Finally, we end the half term learning about democracy (one of the British Values). All children have the opportunity to experience democracy in our annual School Council elections. More details to follow.
Our full Living and Learning long term plan is available on the health pages and you can keep up to date with our weekly Living and Learning statements on the parent noticeboard in the playground and also on the school calendar.