Themed menu
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Tuesday 15 May.
Please contact the office, by Friday 04 May, if your child would like a school dinner on this day.
Big Pedal day 2
We’ve had a great increase in the number of journeys to school by bike and scooter with 24% of pupils travelling in this way today. Thank you for your support to promote this sustainable travel.
Reception continue to be the class with the highest number of pupils biking or scooting with Year 2 in second place today.
Remember, if you have to come by car to school, park further away so your child can scoot or bike the rest of the way.
The Big Pedal
Today was the first day of the Big Pedal, a Sustrans initiative to encourage sustainable travel to school by bike or scooter, running from 23 April to 04 May.
Well done to Reception who were our winning class today with a third of the children travelling to school by scooter. Year 3 were second and Year 4 were third.
Schools will be entered into daily prize draws if we have over 15% cycle or scoot on each day of the challenge. Let’s try to increase numbers of children who bike or scoot to school tomorrow as we compete with schools locally and across the country.
The Big Pedal is back!
Get set… we’re taking part in Sustrans Big Pedal 2018, the UK’s largest inter-school cycling and scooting challenge, that inspires pupils, staff and parents to choose two (or three) wheels for their journey to school.
The Big Pedal will run alongside our year round Living Streets WOW sustainable travel initiative where the children record how they travel to school on our daily travel tracker.
The Big Pedal challenge focuses on journeys made by bike and scooter and runs from 23 April to 04 May. We would love everyone to be involved.
The details
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. Our best five days will determine our final position in the challenge. We’ll be competing against other schools right across the UK, and if we clock up the most bike and scooter journeys, we’ll win!
Why we’re taking part
It’s a great way to get more of our pupils travelling to school on their bikes and scooters. We will be competing to become one of the UK’s top schools for two-wheeled journeys and will be in with a chance to win prizes including bike and scooter stunt shows and fantastic cycle and scooter storage.
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.
If you do need the car to bring your child(ren) to school, you could park further away from school and bike or scoot the last part.
Living and learning – Healthy minds
- 16 April I can name emotions.
- 23 April I recognise emotions in myself and others. Being aware of different emotions – both positive and negative – is an important basis for good mental health.
- 30 April I show empathy. Talk to your child about empathy, both in real-life situations and also when discussing characters in a book, film or TV programme.
- 08 May I can describe ways to calm down. We all get worked up from time to time – how do different people calm down?
- 14 May I use calming down strategies. Calming down strategies might include any of the mindfulness techniques children have been taught or counting to ten, going for a walk, getting a glass of water – discuss what works for you and your child?
- 21 May I recognise mental health is important. We want our children to be happy and healthy!
This text is a great introduction to the topic of mental health for children.
Our best sporting achievement to date
Today, at the West Yorkshire School Games, our Year 6 orienteering team have successfully won bronze medals competing against over 20 of the best teams from across West Yorkshire. A fantastic achievement! Well done to the whole team.
Moortown Park consultation
Thank you to those parents and carers who came to view the proposed plans for Moortown Park.
As part of the pupil consultation, Helen Forman, Senior Design Officer at Leeds City Council, met with our School Council and spoke to all children in a whole school assembly. She commented the children had lots of intelligent questions and comments.
The feedback will be considered and they feel hopeful to incorporate the changes that were suggested including the monkey bars that quite a few children asked for.
The equipment will be ordered soon, ready for installation at the play park so thank you for your input.
Social Media and Us!
Today, as part of our reading session, we read the FirstNews papers. We came across this article on the front page and the children decided it was an important issue to discuss.
We immediately put a stop to our reading session and discussed our use of social media as a class. We discussed a lot about being online: the benefits, the negatives, how much we time we spend online, how adults use social media and much more!
Much of what we discussed was positive. Children were able to see the huge benefits that being online and social media can have. They were able to say what they should do if they come across something they’re not happy with and most children said they have spoken to their parents about how to stay safe online and when using social media. We also learnt that some parents keep the password for devices from their children so that they know exactly what their children are doing online.
However, there were also some less positive things that we learnt through our discussion:
- Despite the recommended age for using social media sites being 13+, 17 children said they use at least one site regularly (Facebook, SnapChat, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Musically etc)
- 14 children claimed they are online for more than 2 hours every school day
- 13 children claimed they are online for more than 3 hours every school day
- 8 children claimed they are online for more than 5 hours every school day
- 10 children said they think they spend too much time online
- 3 children admitted they think they spend too much time online but don’t know how to stop
- 21 children said they have constant access to a device that lets them get online (phone, tablet, laptop, Xbox, PlayStation)
- When playing games online, some children have played as part of a group with someone they don’t know
- 13 children admitted that they have talked to someone online that they didn’t know (we discussed how we all make mistakes but the best thing to do in this circumstance would be to block the person and tell our parents about the incident)
We also discussed how it’s not just children that are affected by the things we discuss. Adults are just as vulnerable online! And, 25 children in Year 5 said they think their parents spend too much time on their phones, tablets and laptops.
Obviously these facts are not 100% reliable but it was interesting to hear the children discuss this with complete honesty and great maturity. Please discuss this with your child – it’s super important for this generation!
PE – yoga
Today, we practised our yoga skills during our PE lesson. We’ve been learning all about yoga this half-term and we’re now getting pretty good! We know that yoga can improve our flexibility and balance but we’re most impressed by how relaxing it can be. Today, we used some poses we’re familiar with to create our own sequences. Then, we performed our routines for another pair who gave us feedback using an observation sheet. Here are some action shots…
School Savings Club
The next School Saving Club paying in date is Thursday 22 March 2018 at 3.15-3.45pm.
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.
The paying in dates are the penultimate Thursday of each half term and for the summer term, these dates are Thursday 17 May and Thursday 12 July at 3.15-3.45pm.
Finally, if your child would like to open account, please ask at the office.
