Staying Safe themed week 26 September
We are looking for parents / carers who have a job related to safety.
If you can spare some time, during our Staying Safe themed week (26 September), to come in to talk to the children about how safety affects your work please speak to your child’s class teacher or leave a message at the office.
Thank you.
Hello from Mrs Hazell
Hello there and welcome to Year Six’s Class News, 2011-12.
It’s been an excellent start to the year with everyone showing a positive attitude to their learning. The children are already focused and committed to being the best they possibly can.
Here’s just a few reminders and some information to start the year off:
Reading
I read with every child in a small group once a week. Other staff in the class may read with them too, but it’s really important that children read at home as well. It doesn’t have to be story books – factual books, newspapers (children’s ones are available if you look), comics, magazines or websites are all good, too. This year, we’re going to be concentrating on understanding the meaning behind the words authors use and why characters behave and react as they do. You can help your child by asking questions about characters’ plots and settings rather than simply hearing them read.
Homework
Homework is due nearly every week, just like the rest of the school. It’s given out on Fridays and is due on Wednesdays. This gives children three evenings and two whole weekend days to do the homework, which should be plenty of time. At Moortown, we expect each piece of homework to take around 30 mins – 1 hour. This could be done in three 15 minute sessions or one long fun session. One of the Year 6 team will mark the homework and feedback to the children their stars (things they have done well) and their steps (things that need a little more work). This will either be done verbally or in writing.
Spellings
Spellings are given out on Fridays and tested the following Friday. Children should practise them by whatever works for them, but I recommend the tried and tested method: READ IT> COVER IT > WRITE IT > CHECK IT.
Times Tables
Each week children are asked to practise their times tables. By Year 4, children should know their tables, so by Year 6, they should be really quick and accurate with all tables (and division facts) up to their 10s. If your child isn’t up to speed, I can’t stress enough how important it is for them to spend more time practising. Children’s ability with number affects loads of their maths and times tables is a vital part of that. 5 – 10 minutes every day is perfect. Don’t forget division facts too.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to pop in and see me.
General information
PE will be on Thursdays and Fridays. Please ensure PE kits with outdoor trainers and pumps are in school on these days (or have them in on Monday and take them home on Friday every week!).
Show and Tell will be on Thursdays. Four children will be chosen each week to bring in something such as a certificate, a medal or a souviner. The focus will be on children’s speaking and listening skills. Encourage your child to prepare at home first by thinking about who, what, why, where and when (our five Ws).
Write away!
Did you know we have two published authors in our school community?
Year 3 parent, Emma Barnes, has a new book out for children called How (Not) to Make Bad Children Good. Aimed at 7-10s, it’s the story of naughty child, Martha, who is so bad that an Interstellar Agent, Fred, is sent to Earth to try and sort her out. Emma will be appearing at Waterstones on Saturday 24 September.
We’re all very proud that Carolyn Hazell, our Year 6 teacher, is also a published author. Her book, Pav the Plumber Saves the Day, is popular amongst our children, and a great resource in school to promote reading and writing. Our current Year 6 pupils are being inspired to write great character descriptions, and a former pupil described Miss Hazell as ‘inspiring’ as a teacher and writer.
Find and compare schools’ performance
The following information is an extract from a recent email from the Department of Education to schools. Parents / carers who need to consider what school their child should move on to after Moortown Primary might find it helpful. Please note that the most up-to-date 2011 exam or test results may not yet be available.
The Department for Education has launched a new web tool helping parents / carers find and compare local schools’ performance. It significantly improves parents’ ability to choose the right school for their child.
The ‘compare schools’ tool brings together a wide range of performance data in a single place.
Parents can find schools by name, keyword or location or browse via an interactive map. Each school has its own mini-site with a range of useful information such as spend per pupil and test and exam results. Parents can also compare their school with others nearby – or with any other school in England.
For the first time on the Department’s website, parents can:
- select the schools that interest them and compare performance side by side
- view a full list of schools in England and filter to find schools with similar characteristics
- use an interactive map to view local, regional and national averages for school performance.
For more information, visit http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/search
Welcome back!
I hope you’ve all had an enjoyable summer!
I’m Miss Hewson and this will be my fourth year here at Moortown Primary School. I have taught Year Four for the past three years so I’m looking forward to the new challenge of teaching the Year Two class. I’m sure that we have an exciting year ahead!
Many of you I will have met from teaching siblings of this class and I look forward to seeing you all again. For those of you that I don’t already know, I look forward to meeting you . Parents’ evening will be in October. In the meantime, if you have any questions please feel free to come see me anytime. Mrs Stewart will be our teaching assistant this year and is often available to answer queries too.
New SEAL statement and theme
As we start the new school year, our SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme focuses on New Beginnings and ‘I can make someone feel welcome‘ is the statement for this week.
New Beginnings
New beginnings allows children the opportunity to discuss and reflect on how they or others may feel in a new situation or setting. This SEAL theme offers children the opportunity to see themselves as valued individuals within a community, and to contribute to shaping a welcoming, safe and fair learning community for all.
The key areas of learning throughout this theme are empathy, self-awareness, social skills and motivation.
Through discrete SEAL lessons, circle times and across the curriculum, children will explore feelings of happiness and excitement, sadness, anxiety and fearfulness, while learning (and putting into practice) shared models for calming down and problem-solving.
New beginnings supports the development of a learning community in each classroom where all members feel that they belong. Class contracts, produced at the start of the year, allow children to contribute to how they feel they can achieve a safe and fair learning community.
Goodbye, Year 1
What an absolute fantastic year we have had! We have seen some amazing progress and the children have matured in so many ways.
We would like to say well done to Henry Crozier, our learner of the year! He has made so much progress in every area and his confidence has increased so much.
Linda, Simran, Allura, Brandon and Shahban made excellent progress in their writing and Yahya, Rayhaan, Harshitha and Jaskirat made brilliant progress in their reading. Our star in Maths was definitely Henry; he was a bit of a dark horse with his maths ability! Ethan, Oliver and Linda also made a lot of progress in Maths.
In other areas we saw a a lot of changes throughout the year; Oliver showed excellent attitude in our SEAL learning and Roshan became much more confident in her speaking and listening.
Well done to all the children for adapting to having two teachers; it can be tricky at times to get used to different styles of teaching but they all took it in their stride and enjoyed all learning.
Good luck in Year 2 – we’ll be still keeping an eye on you next door! Miss Hewson will have an excellent year with you, we’re sure. Have a good summer!
Year 2, Class of 2011
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtLANSgG_1g
It was our intention to give every child a DVD containing all of the videos from this year but unfortunately the school is unable to distribute them because for legal reasons. Check back next week for a slideshow of this year’s memorable photographs.
Goodbye, Year 2
Year 2 as a class have achieved many successes this year (such as the great progress in learning, the best attendance record and the fewest warnings) but we thought it important to mention those who have done exceptionally well and pushed themselves all year round in a few key areas.
Reading
Madison is reading the same books as Year 4 so a big well done to her. Sarina has made over two years of progress in a single year with her reading which is incredible. Finally, Alex has had a brilliant attitude towards reading and, as a result, his reading has improved immensely.
Writing
Ruqayyah’s writing has been very creative and a delight to read. Mikaeel’s, Abdul-Ahad’s and Amie’s writing has seen a marked improvement with all of them striving to become the best writers they can be.
Maths
Tyler’s confidence and performance in maths has soared, leading to some brilliant test results to finish the year off. Well done to Lucas, Finn and Abigail this year for showing that they can perform at a Year 3 level already!
Every child this year has shown a faultless attitude to learning and I am sure this will carry on into next year with Mr Wilks.
