News

Does your child have a School Saving Club account?

If so, here are the paying in dates for this year (one each half term).

• Thursday 13 October 2016 3.15-3.45pm
• Thursday 08 December 2016 3.15-3.45pm
• Thursday 02 February 2017 3.15-3.45pm
• Thursday 23 March 2017 3.15-3.45pm
• Thursday 18 May 2017 3.15-3.45pm
• Thursday 13 July 2017 3.15-3.45pm

Children must be accompanied to the sessions.

If you can’t attend the dates, you can bring money to the office in a sealed envelope marked School Saving Club for the attention of Miss Hale.

Also, it’s not too late to open a School Saving Club account.  Please ask at the office for an application form.  

As an added incentive for children moving to Year 3, their account will be credited with £10 once opened.

To poll or not to poll

Typically, one of our training days in the school year has to be in May. This is so that it fits with polling day, which is nearly always the first Thursday in May. It’s not ideal for us because it follows the May Day bank holiday and is just before the Key Stage 2 SATs week.

The Leeds City Council Electoral Registration Office has provided this information to schools:

2017 is a fallow year,  therefore no local elections are due to take place. However, schools should be aware that the school may still be required for polling if any unexpected elections occur, such as a general election or a by election.

The local elections in 2018 are due to take place on Thursday 03 May.  Your school remains on the list to  be used as a polling station for the elections that will take place on Thursday 03 May 2018.

Because we’ve been told that there are currently no scheduled elections, we’ve decided not to have Thursday 04 May 2017 as a training day. Instead, we’ve moved the training day to Friday 12 May – this is the Friday of the SATs week – a welcome treat for our hard-working Year 6 pupils!

Does your child suffer from asthma?

Every year, there’s a peak in admissions for children having an asthma attack in September. The cause of this is not clear, but it’s believed that when children return to school they’re exposed to a number of new environmental factors that can trigger an asthma attack. Children are also exposed to new viruses which can be another trigger of an asthma attack.  If children with asthma return to school with their lungs in the best possible condition, then an asthma attack maybe prevented.

NHS staff encourage children with asthma to attend their GP practice for an asthma review during the school holidays. This gives the nurse or doctor the opportunity to review their medication, check their inhaler technique and give them a personal asthma action plan. Pupils will then be able to bring a copy of that updated asthma action plan into school in September; this will give us the information we need to support pupils with their asthma in school – this could prevent an asthma attack.

Heading to secondary school in 2017?

Pupils who have just finished Year 5 are due to go into Year 7, the start of secondary school, in September 2017. Parents will be able to apply for a place between 01 August 2016 and 31 October 2016.

All applications need to be made via the online application system. This site also contains a YouTube video giving parents a step by step guide to completing their online application. The online application form and the video will be available from 01 August 2016.

Parents will need a valid e-mail account in order to set up and create an account in the online system. Free computer access and help with setting up an e-mail account is available in Leeds City Council libraries and One Stop Shops. If parents need help applying online for a secondary school place they can come to one of the drop in sessions outlined below for support with their online application.

• Armley One Stop Centre – 13/10/2016, 10:00-12:00
• Beeston Library – 04/10/2016, 10:00-12:30
• Bramley Library – 11/10/2016, 12:00-14:00
• City Centre One Stop Centre – 10/10/2016, 11:00-13:00
• Headingley Library – 03/10/2016, 13:00-15:00
• Middleton Library – 06/10/2016, 9:30-11:30
• Seacroft Library – 12/10/2016, 10:00-12:00
• The Compton Centre – 07/10/2016, 11:00-13:00
• The Reginald Centre – 05/10/2016, 13:30-15:30

If you’re still having difficulty with completing an application online, you should contact the Admissions Team on 0113 222 4414 to access individual support including alternative methods of application if required.

Changes to training day dates 2016-17

We try hard to communicate well in advance training dates and other significant events. However, sometimes this backfires and dates need to be changed. Next year, we had told you the provisional dates for training dates. However, we now need to re-arrange three of the dates:

• 21 October
• 25 November
• 20 February

These three training days are now on the last three days of the school year: Monday 24, Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 July 2017.

We hope you can see some benefits in this, a main one being that children will break up a little earlier at the end of what could have been a very long term.

Whilst we know it is not helpful to change dates, we hope we have given you enough notice and apologise in advance for the inconvenience and confusion caused.

What healthy changes are you making?

Last week, our SEAL statement was I can make a healthy change.

It was great to hear all the changes that children were making and also encouraging their family to take part in.

Here are some examples from Year 3.

Children were also encouraged to travel to and from school on foot, by bike or scooter.  The class with the most healthy changes and sustainable journeys were Year 5 with over 200 counters!

Here are some suggested healthy changes for over the holidays.

• Try tennis for free – these sessions continue monthly during the summer and are held locally at Roundhay Park tennis courts.
• Local leisure centres offer a range of holiday activities.
• Maybe you took part in the recent Sky Ride event and want to know how to maintain your bike? Halfords are running free bike maintenance sessions.
• The Little Gym is now open locally at the Moor Allerton Centre offering classes and summer camps.
• The Change4Life Sugar Smart app allows you to check levels of sugar in foods. How much sugar is in your snack? Is it time for a change?
• Change4Life and Disney have teamed up again with a 10 Minute Shake Up summer adventure, inspired by Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory.

We hope you have a happy and healthy active break.

Sports day Tuesday 19 July

Preparations are under way for this year’s sports day to be held on Tuesday at Roundhegians Rugby Club. Access to Roundhegians will be the pedestrian entrance off High Moor Avenue.

Please note: this year, we’ve swapped the morning and afternoon so that KS2 children compete from 9.30am whilst YR and KS1 start at 1.15pm. The format will remain the same with various races and also field events for KS2. Medals will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd and all children will be rewarded for taking part.

Another change is that children should come to school in their PE kit and they will stay in their kit all day. This includes, if possible, their team t-shirt – blue, red, green or white. If your child doesn’t have a t-shirt in their team colour they should wear their normal PE kit and they will be given a bib matching their team.

They will also need their water bottle, a hat and sun cream applied before school.

We look forward to seeing you there to support.

Federation Consultation

As you know, Moortown Primary’s governors have proposed to join the federation of Scholes (Elmet) Primary School and St James’ Church of England Primary School.  Any responses regarding this need to be returned to school by Monday 18 July.  The details of the consultation and any contacts needed can be found in the consultation document.

Applying for a secondary school place for September 2017

Parents of pupils who are due to go into Year 7 in September 2017, will be able to apply for a place between 01 August 2016 and 31 October 2016.

All applications for Year 7 pupils starting secondary school in September 2017 need to be made via the online application system.

You can apply for a place by going to www.leeds.gov.uk/admissions.  This site will also give access to a video which will give you a step by step guide to completing your online application.  The online application form and the video will be available from 01 August 2016.

You will need a valid e-mail account in order to set up and create an account in the online system.  Free computer access and help with setting up an e-mail account is available in Leeds City Council libraries and One Stop Centres.  If you need help with applying for a place for your child, the following drop in sessions have been planned to help you:

If you feel that you are having difficulty with completing the application form, please contact school or the Admissions Team on 0113 2224414 to access individual support.

What healthy changes can you make?

As part of our SEAL theme of Changes, the SEAL statement next week is I can make a healthy change.

During the week, children will be encouraged to make a healthy change.  This could be physically or emotionally and may include:

• being active after school rather than being on a computer
• having water with a packed lunch rather than a sugary drink
• having a water bottle at school
• taking part in a Sports Leader session at lunchtime
• bringing a piece of fruit for KS2 playtime and Year 3 swimming
• dealing with a problem in a positive way
• going to bed earlier

Here are some suggestions that have been made this week.

Another healthy change may be travelling to school in a sustainable way – walking, scooting and biking.

Each class will be recording their healthy changes with a reward for the class with the most changes.  All journeys to and from school by foot, bike and scooter can also be counted.

At the end of the week, the whole school homework will be our annual pupil health questionnaire, this should be returned to your child’s class teacher by Wednesday 20 July.

Change4life, whose aim is ‘to motivate and support millions more people to make and sustain changes that will improve their health’, also provides lots of ideas.

We look forward to hearing all about your healthy changes.