News

Identity

Our Living and Learning theme this half-term is Identity.  Pupils will learn about their rights and responsibilities, what makes themselves and others special, valuing the similarities and differences between themselves and others and what is meant by community.  This will be taught through our Living and Learning sessions and also two focused weeks – Anti-bullying week (13 November) and Who do you think you are? (20 November).

Our full Living and Learning long term plan is now 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.

Attendance matters

The first half-term of this school year has seen a slight drop in attendance compared to the same period last year. Nevertheless, attendance at Moortown Primary continues to be high – many thanks for your support.

• Autumn 1 last year 97.3%
• Autumn 1 this year 97.1%

What about each class? Well, a big well done to pupils (and parents/carers!) in Year 4 and Year 5 – attendance for these two classes is all above the school average.

Also impressive is the attendance for our reception children. It can be quite common that children in Reception have more missed school days as they build up immunity to common bugs; however, our current Reception cohort has an attendance figure just short of the school average – well done!

• Rec – 96.9%
• Y1 – 96.4%
• Y2 – 96.8%
• Y3 – 96.5%
• Y4 – 98.9%
• Y5 – 97.4%
• Y6 – 97.0%

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.