A great start
We’ve started the Big Pedal today with an impressive 40% participation rate on Day 1. Did you cucle or scoot to school? If not, there are another nine days to go.
Here are today’s totals.
A big thank you to Dom Jacques for supporting the event and organising the bike and scooter donations. These donations have meant that even more children can take part in the event.
Also, thank you to the Year 6 helpers who are coordinating the data gathering on a daily basis.
Residential information evening
A quick reminder that on Thursday 23 March at 6pm there will be an information evening for the families of those children attending the residential in April. This is a good opportunity to find out more about the venue, the activities, the necessary items to bring and of course to ask any questions you may have.
Look forward to seeing you at 6pm on Thursday.
The meeting will be held in the Year 4 classroom.
Topic celebration
To celebrate our topic learning, Time Travel: Transport Through The Ages, we invited parents, carers and families into our classrooms. The children showcased their learning well and were willing, and able, to answer questions about it in great detail.
Adults and children were free to wander into both classrooms to view all the learning. A few of the examples on display were; chariots, hot air balloons, Viking ships, Titanic information, cave paintings, futuristic transport sorting activities, big topic book and much more.
Well done to all the children and thank you to all those who came in to share this with us.
Help others take part in the Big Pedal
Do you have any bikes or scooters that you no longer use?
If you’d like to donate them, please bring them to school any morning this week and provided they are in a working condition, we’ll offer them to people who don’t have one to use in the upcoming Big Pedal event. Please hand them to Dom Jacques who will be in the playground to take receipt.
Any that aren’t roadworthy or are unwanted will be donated to local recycling charities such as the Yorkshire Bank Bike Library. The nearest Bike Library is at Moor Allerton Library (near Sainsburys) and they offer loan bikes to families for up to 14 days for free.
Three days to go
The Big Pedal starts on Monday 20th March for two weeks and we’re looking forward to seeing as many people as possible take to two wheels for their journey (or final part of their journey) to school. There are two lots of prizes up for grabs:
Big Pedal national prizes for all participating schools
Drawn daily for schools who achieve a minimum 15% participation (roughly 31 children for Moortown Primary) each day.
Details of the national prizes on offer are shown below.
- DAY 1 – BMX World Champ Visit & Show
- DAY 2 – Bespoke Travel Map For School
- DAY 3 – Three Brand New Islabikes
- DAY 4 – Superheroes/Moves Sample Pack
- DAY 5 – Alastair Humphreys Visit + Books
- DAY 6 – Three Brand New Islabikes
- DAY 7 – £100 Sustrans Voucher
- DAY 8 – Cyclepods Cycle Storage
- DAY 9 – Three Brand New Islabikes
- DAY 10 – Extreme Mountain Bike Show Visit
Individual prizes for pupils and supporters (parents/carers) at Moortown Primary
The more days you take part, the more entry tickets you’ll have in the prize draw.
Pupil prizes include two stunt scooters, an action camera, a bike pump, a copy of ‘The Boy who Biked the World’ by Alastair Humphreys and a Gruffalo Easter egg. Supporter prizes include two £5 M&S vouchers, a ‘hot drink and cake for two’ at Filmore & Union and a Lindt chocolate bunny.
Winners will be drawn during assembly on 31 March, the final Big Pedal day and last day of term.
How to win – pupils
Please fill in the tickets on the letter sent home, cut them out and put them in your school bag. Each morning you scoot or cycle, put your ticket in THE BIG PEDAL CONTAINER in your classroom.
How to win – parents/carers/supporters
Wherever possible, please take part and join your children on their rides to school. It’s a bit of fun, helps to reduce congestion and you could even win a prize. Each day you scoot or cycle, simply pick up a ticket from the school playground, write your name on it and pop it into the Big Pedal container. The more days you join in, the more chances you have of winning a prize.
Thank you in advance for your support. Please get in touch if you have any questions. Enjoy the ride!
Share your photos or stories: moortownoffice@spherefederation.org
Big Pedal
Get set… we’re taking part in The Big Pedal 2017, the UK’s largest inter-school cycling and scooting challenge that inspires pupils, staff and parents to choose two wheels for their journey to school. The challenge runs from 20th to 31st March. It’s free to enter and we would love everyone to be involved.
Why we’re taking part and prizes available
Active travel to school is proven to improve the health of children by preventing obesity, reducing congestion and carbon emissions around schools and increasing concentration in the classroom.
By taking part, the school will compete for a national Big Pedal 2017 Trophy and will be in with a chance to win some fantastic national prizes including world champion BMX and mountain bike stunt shows, a visit from world famous explorer Alastair Humphreys, 9 brand new Islabikes and much more!
We also have prizes just for pupils (and parents and carers) at Moortown Primary School including two new stunt scooters, a scooter action camera, a track pump (donated by Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative), M&S and Filmore & Union vouchers (both donated).
How you can help to increase our chances of winning?
On each day of the challenge schools compete to see who can record the greatest number of pupils, staff and parents cycling or scooting to school. Each day that at least 15% of pupils at Moortown Primary register a bike or scooter journey, the school will go into a daily draw for fantastic national prizes. Our best 5 days (based on % participation) will determine our final position in the challenge and if we clock up the most bike and scooter journeys nationally we’ll win a Big Pedal 2017 Trophy! Moortown Primary School prizes will be drawn separately by the school.
What’s next?
All you need to do is encourage your child(ren) to cycle or scoot to school every day during the event, and join them on their way – parent/carer and sibling journeys are counted too and you might even win a prize!
Some children tell us they can’t take part in these events because they live too far away from school and have to come by car. We encourage these families to park further away and complete the final part of the journey by scooter or bike. These journeys can be included in our school total.
Bikes and scooters should be stored as safely as possible in our storage area beside the Year 3 and 4 classrooms.
Finally, if you have any Big Pedal success stories or photos to share, please send them to moortownoffice@spherefederation.org so we can use them to encourage others.
Our week
This week, as ever, has been a very busy one.
We have started rehearsals for our production in a few weeks. The children are learning their parts well and the songs are coming along nicely, too.
A tennis coach came to deliver a lesson on Thursday and he was very impressed with how the children listened and followed instructions well. An extra well done goes to Isaac and Kai for their tennis skills, great partner work and the support they gave to one another.
World Book Day went well. We had a classroom full of book characters dressed in fantastic costumes. It was great to see how much thought and effort the children had put into their outfits.
Talking of books, our Friday session of reading for pleasure continues to be a big success. Please remember that children are invited to bring a book from home to add to our library if they wish.
During our SEAL lesson and homework review, Year 4 were able to suggest some very good ways in which to help a group to work co-operatively. As well as suggesting these ideas, I have seen lots of children demonstrating these within a lesson. An extra special well done to Thomas, Martha, Lewis and Isaiah for doing just that.
As always, please feel free to pop in and see us if you have any concerns or general enquiries regarding your child.
World Book Day
As part of our World Book Day celebrations tomorrow, we’ll be holding a table sale of books written by a family member of two pupils in school.
Finlay and Evie’s auntie, Clare Luther, is the author of a great series of a SEAL related books and they will be available to buy after school tomorrow in the playground (weather permitting).
Have you tried the Be Food Smart quiz?
As part of the Be Food Smart Change4life campaign, have you tried the quiz to find out how much you know about what’s really inside your food and drink!
Transport Museum
Today, we enjoyed a trip to The Streetlife Museum of Transport in Hull. Such a variety of old-fashioned transport was on display. We enjoyed looking at Victorian carriages, trams, railways, cars, horses, bicycles, boats and much more. Year 4 also had a science workshop linked to friction and forces. After putting on our white lab coats and a pair of goggles, we were ready for action. The children took part in quite a few experiments, all of which demonstrated forces and friction in action.
Across from the transport museum, there is another place of interest: The East Riding Museum.
This took us on a journey through time, beginning with a life-size mammoth and then continuing on through various time periods.
We learnt some fantastic facts, had great fun and thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Take a look at some highlights of the trip.
