News

Our new school council

Congratulations to our new school councillors!

We had a record number of candidates this year and there were some very close votes but here are our winning candidates.

Their first meeting will be on Wednesday 08 November.

Well done to all children who prepared a speech.  We hope they don’t feel too despondent and are resilient to have another go next time.

Final school council project

Back in July, our Year 5 and 6 school councillors attended the Leeds Youth Voice event at Leeds Civic Hall.  They were very keen to share their experience back in school with the school council and also in a whole school assembly.  The one idea they wanted to implement back at school was to have a friendship stop.

With the support of the rest of the school council, this is now in place!

This was a great project for the school council to work on as they came to the end of their time as school councillors.  Representatives spoke to the whole school in assembly to explain how the friendship stop works.

Ask your child if they have seen the new sign and what they would do if they saw someone at the friendship stop.

Here is a note from Grace who was one of the school councillors that wanted to make this happen.

The friendship bus stop, which is new to our school, is a great chance to make new friends.  It encourages people of all age groups to make sure that everyone has someone to play with.  The bus stop is located above the bench closest to the entrance to the middle playground.  We hope that this idea goes well and that every child uses this correctly.  Your child should definitely know what the friendship stop is and how to use it in the right way because it has been discussed during our Friday assembly.

It's the half-term holidays...

…and so there’s no specific homework next week. This is in-line with our Homework Policy.

During the half-term, please encourage your child to read each day, even if just for 15 minutes. As well as their current book, reading comics, newspapers, websites are all good – and why not take a trip to the library!

It would also be really helpful to help your child brush up on their times tables. Children in Year 2 should know x2, x5 and x10 (and the related division facts) by the end of the year – so give them a head start now! By the end of Year 4, children should know all their tables up to 12 x 12 (and the related division facts).

And make sure they enjoy the break, too: perhaps an autumn walk, a day out, a trip to the cinema… There are lots of things going on in Leeds – check them out.

Whatever you get up to, we’re looking forward to seeing you again on Monday 30 October.

After-school clubs - it's not too late to sign up

Our Autumn term after-school clubs start next week for 8 weeks.

We do have some spaces available so please contact the office if you would like your child/children to take part.

Clubs on offer include hockey, multi-sports, multi-skills, dance, gymnastics, cookery, Lego Club and Code Club.

School Savings Club dates for paying in

The School Savings Club paying in sessions for this year are at 3.15-3.45pm on the following dates (the penultimate Thursday of each half term).

• 12 October
• 07 December
• 01 February
• 22 March
• 17 May
• 12 July

If you’re unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be deposited to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Mrs Tiffany.

Information will shortly be sent home about the accounts and if your child would like to open account, please enquire at the office.  There is an extra incentive for pupils in Year 3 as Leeds City Council will add £10 to your child’s account.

Nell Bank leaf trail - 07 and 08 October

Nell Bank would like to invite you to their Leaf Trail on Saturday 07 and Sunday 08 October.

They have teamed up with the Ilkley Arts Trail to create a unique and exciting event based in the grounds at Nell Bank.

Over 30 of the artists who are exhibiting through the week of the Art Trail have produced some wonderful pieces of leaf themed artwork especially for this event. The beautiful pieces of art will be positioned around the centre to create an exciting trail that the whole family will be able to enjoy.

As well as the trail, children will be able to take part in some of their favourite Nell Bank activities including the Adventure Playground and Water Play, as well as enjoying the opportunity to explore with their families.

Entry will be £2 per person, with under 5s going free!

There will also be a ‘pop up café’ to provide hot food and hot drinks.

Are you interested in a career in primary teaching?

Our teaching school partner, Pudsey Primrose Hill Primary, writes:

Pudsey Primrose Hill, a strategic partner of Noctua TSA, are the Lead School for School Direct (Salaried) and School Direct (Fee Paying) and work in collaboration with Educate Teacher Training.

We have a partnership of schools across Leeds and Bradford who work together to deliver the School Direct route into primary teaching.
We have created a ‘learning on the job’ style programme with trainees allocated to one of our partnership schools for the academic year.
Trainees carry out a six week second school placement, also in one of our partnership schools.
We offer both Salaried and Fee Paying programmes and have delivered Initial Teacher Education for over 8 years.

If you are interested in attending the Information Event on Wednesday 4th October , please book a place using the contact details below.

Our information event will begin with a short presentation at 6pm followed by the opportunity to ask questions and speak to school direct
trainees past and present.

We look forward to meeting you there!

Phone: 0113 2574129
Email: kathryn.dickson@pudseyprimrosehill.co.uk

Annual Survey Feedback

• making sure that all children are challenged appropriately, particularly those who are attaining higher in some subjects; our end of Key Stage 2 assessment data indicates that we are already doing this very effectively, but we’re always considering ways to improve so we meet the needs of all pupils
• making sure that less confident children are heard and not overwhelmed by louder more confident children; however, again, this is something we feel we do well as Moortown Primary is a small school where staff know every pupil
• ensuring that class news pages reflect regular learning for all classes and use this as a communication tool for parents; we’ll monitor more closely each page from each teacher.

Another issue that will be considered is to provide an electronic system to pay for school trips / clubs etc. In fact, Mrs O’Malley is exploring different options, but we don’t want to buy in to an expensive system – it needs to provide value for money.

Healthy feedback

Just before the holidays, the children were asked to complete a “pupil health survey” as part of their homework.  We’ve had some really positive feedback from the children and, as always, some ways in which we can improve. Here is some of the feedback:

• “The after school clubs are great because you can learn new things that aren’t in the curriculum.”
• “Fruit tuck shop means we get fruit at a low price and it helps you to have one of your 5 a day.”
• “I’m happy at school because I learn new things and there is always a teacher or TA to talk to if I’m worried or upset.”
• “Everyone looks after each other.”

Some overall feedback from one child said, “I think this school is a happy and healthy place to learn.”

Thank you to all the children, and their families, who completed this survey.

Living and Learning

Living and Learning is our new name for SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning).

Living and Learning will continue to cover SEAL learning but will also incorporate other aspects of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) such as keeping safe, identity, drug education, physical health, rights and responsibilities and healthy minds.

We begin our Living and Learning learning this week with a focus on manners: I can greet someone politely.

For the rest of this half-term, we’re 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