Sports Day is postponed

We’ve made the decision to postpone Sports Day today because of the weather. There was quite a lot of rain last night meaning the grass is slippier than we’d like it to be.

The reserve Sports Day date is 16 July.

(The long-term forecast indicates the weather will be much more favourable.)

It’s always a difficult decision to postpone or cancel these events – we’re sorry if this has caused you inconvenience.

Our weekly message (Friday 28 June 2024)

What a hot one! Hopefully, next week will stay bright and sunny – though maybe not so hot – when we have our Sports Day on Tuesday. More about that later…

Survey

Thanks to the 51 parents and carers who have completed this year’s annual survey. If you haven’t, there’s still time! In fact, you’ve one more week left to complete – the survey closes at 2pm next Friday.

Uniform

Last week, we flagged up our updated Uniform Policy in time to help you to start preparing for the new school year. Please read the latest version.

In particular, we drew your attention to expectations for PE – it basically only involves a change of clothes for the bottom half only.

This week, we’re looking at the uniform itself – please follow the points set out here:

A word from our Junior Leadership Team

Here’s a review of the year from our Junior Leadership Team…

During this year as JLT, we have done many things and made some of our own decisions. We feel that we have achieved a lot and supported our friends and their wishes.

We have collected everyone’s ideas and taken them to JLT meetings to talk to Miss Birch or Mrs Weekes. Some of the things that we have done this year include choosing the new school charity; going to St Gemma’s to buy the Christmas tree; and helping to decide the equipment we would like on ‘The Green’. We were really pleased that the new charity choice will help children in Leeds who need heart surgery.

We also enjoyed talking to Mr Roundtree about what our school logo means to us and we told the inspectors all about Moortown.

Here is what some of the JLT think about the past year at Moortown:

• ‘Maths is fun but also challenging at the same time.’
• ‘I enjoy the active trips that we go on e.g. Ninja Warrior Junior and  orienteering.’
• ‘There’s a wide variety of clubs that we can choose from!’
• ‘PE is great as it’s a chance to get active and I’m really enjoy tennis at the moment.”
• ‘The clubs like hamma beads and fun and games are amazing.’
• ‘My favourite subject to learn about is maths but I like lots of others too.’

We’re looking forward to the summer holidays now but we don’t want to say goodbye to Year 6.

Sports day – an important update

For our sports day at Roundhegians rugby club next Tuesday, we’ve been advised that the normal vehicle access and car park for Roundhegians is currently out of use due to building work taking place at the clubhouse.

Instead, access will be through the gate on High Moor Avenue. This will mean there will be limited on street parking so please walk to the venue if you can.

You’re welcome to bring chairs/rugs to enjoy the morning/afternoon’s events.

Here’s a reminder of the timings:

• Key Stage 2 – 9:30am
• Key Stage 1 and Reception – 1:30pm

Hopefully, we’ll see you there!

Finally, a few things to look out for next week… As well as the Sports Day, we’ve the PTA Summer Fair on Friday. We also send annual reports home next week, staggered across the week. In next week’s message, look out for details of the 2024 Summer Competition, too!

Marvellous manners

Many of our Year 6 children have been visiting their new high schools in preparation for their move to Year 7.

Sienna was one of our Year 6 friends who visited Allerton Grange  and she was picked out from 300 pupils as the most polite student. What an achievement, Sienna. Well done – we’re very proud of you!

Thinking of others

One of our Y3 friends showed that she really thinks of others by spending some of her spare time raising money for our chosen charity, the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

She decided to make bracelets with loom bands and while her mum was working at a local fair, she sat alongside her and sold her bracelets (and made more) to raise money. She made signs explaining about the charity and about school choosing a different one each year.

She raised £18.40 which she’s brought in and we will pass it on to the charity for her.

Well done – an amazing gesture!

Our weekly message (Friday 21 June 2024)

It’s not been a great summer yet, has it? With the hope we might enjoy some sunnier days ahead, don’t forget to follow the NHS advice on sun protection for your child.

Sports Day

This year’s sports day takes place on Tuesday 02 July 2024 at Roundhegians Rugby Club LS8 2AT.

• Key Stage 2 events take place 9.30am-11.30am
• Reception and Key Stage events take place 1.30pm-3pm

(If weather conditions mean we have to change the date, the reserve date is Tuesday 16 July with the same timings.)

Spectators are welcome. Access to Roundhegians Rugby Club is from Chelwood Drive. Please bring your own seating. We’ll be walking the children to Roundhegians on the day so if you’re able to help accompany the children, please let the office know.

For Sports Day, our teams will be: White, Red, Blue, and Green (no political allegiances intended!). Your child will be told what colour team they’re in. If possible, please could your child wear a t-shirt matching their team colour.

Please ensure your child has their water bottle and a cap/hat at school. It would also be useful if you could apply sun cream before your child comes to school.

Normal lunch time and end of school collection arrangements still apply on this day.

Uniform

Every year, we review our Uniform Policy. We know some parents/carers like to start preparing early for the new school year, so please read the latest version.

Please note what we expect children to wear on PE days – it basically only involves a change for the bottom half:

Annual survey

Your views count. Every year, we ask for your views and we follow up on as many as we can. Thank you to the 35 parents/carers who have already completed it. If you’ve not yes, there’s still time: please complete this year’s survey before the 05 July deadline.

Our weekly message (Friday 14 June 2024)

Don’t forget the school photographer’s in next Thursday to take class pics – please make sure your child is in uniform, even if it’s a PE day.

This week’s message comes from our Science and Foundation Subjects Leader. It’s about the final topic of the year.

Just before that: good luck to our Year 5/6 swimmers who are competing in the English Schools Swimming Association Primary National finals on Saturday at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.

What is this half-term’s topic?

Design and Technology is the driving subject for this half-term and it’s a great topic to finish the year! The focus for all classes this year is textiles (next year, it’s construction) so children will be busy designing and making products using fabric.

A key aspect of the Design and Technology curriculum is the understanding that products don’t just get made. Instead, they go through a design process that includes three key elements: evaluate, design and make. Think of this process as a cycle. For example, Moortown Motors want to create a new family car. Before the car is made, they need to evaluate existing products and talk to customers so that they’re clear about what the new car needs to have. They will then design the car and evaluate those designs. They may make a prototype of the car to help them evaluate the designs. Next, they’ll decide on a final design that will go into production and get made. This finished product will be evaluated and the whole process starts again.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic – see pages 14 and 15 of our Topic Curriculum Guide.

Years 1 and 2

The product children will be designing, making and evaluating is a hand puppet. They’ll start by learning about the design process before looking at and evaluating existing hand puppet products. They’ll then learn to use an over stitch and practise threading needles and tying knots. Following this, they’ll be introduced to all the materials they can use to create their puppet. Once they’re familiar with the materials, they’ll design their puppet. Next, it’s on to the making stage. They’ve already honed their sewing skills so they should be confident making and then decorating their puppets according to their designs. Finally, it’s evaluation time: children will compare their designs to their finished products. They’ll reflect on successes and things they’d do differently next time.

Years 3 and 4

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a pouch. The function of this pouch is entirely up to them. It could be used to store some pens, trading cards, a shell collection. Children can be as creative as they like – as long as the pouch can be made using a 20cm² piece of felt!

Before they begin to design their pouch, they’ll learn about a famous designer and how they became a designer. They’ll also learn some important skills that a designer needs to have. Children will then evaluate existing pouches, with a focus on fastenings, and will then design their pouch. They’ll practise their sewing skills, becoming proficient using a running stitch. They’ll then begin to make their pouches. First, they’ll create a template which they’ll use to cut out the pieces. Next, they’ll join the pieces using their running stitch and create a fastening for their pouch. Finally, they’ll evaluate their designs by comparing them to their designs, testing whether they’re fit for purpose and reflecting on their successes and areas to improve.

Years 5 and 6

Children will be designing, making and evaluating a cushion. However, before they get stuck into their cushion, they’ll learn about some designers who changed the world: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, George Stephenson, Lewis Latimer and Jony Ive. They’ll learn about their creations and their impact and look for things that link the designers.

Following this, children will learn about the importance of design criteria when designing a product. After this, they’ll practise their sewing skills and learn how to sew using a backstitch. Next, they’ll evaluate existing cushions. They’ll then decide on the specific design criteria for their cushions and create their designs using an annotated sketch, detailing the dimensions of their product. They’ll learn about the importance of using sustainable materials when researching the filling used for their cushion (the plan is to use old, unwanted pieces of fabric to stuff the cushions rather than Polyfill so please have a look through your wardrobe and keep hold of any old t-shirts or other clothes as we’ll need them later in the half-term).

Children will use a template to cut out the shapes, use a backstitch to appliqué decoration to their cushion, before finally sewing the pieces together and stuffing them. The final stage is to evaluate the designs against the design criteria.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they have been learning in class. The class news page of the school website is a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.

The school library and local libraries will have some books about Design and Technology which your child will be able to borrow and develop both their reading skills and design knowledge.

Finally, there’s a lot of programmes on CBBC and CBeebies with a Design and Technology focus:

• Bitz and Bob
• Grace’s Amazing Machines
• Junk Rescue
• Maddie’s Do You Know?
• The Dengineers

Please complete our annual survey

At Moortown Primary, we’re always keen to hear your views. We hope that you let us know any questions, comments and concerns (as well as causes for celebration!) whenever these crop up, but we like to gather the views more generally at the end of the year – we do this via the annual survey.

Please complete the survey – it’ll only take a few minutes or so. You’ve plenty of time to do this – the deadline is 2pm on Friday 05 July 2024.

We can’t guarantee to meet the needs and wants of every parent / carer, but we do assure you that we consider all the points raise and aim to act on specific points that are raised by many, or a useful idea raised by just a few.

We’re looking forward to reading your views.

Our weekly message (Friday 07 June 2024)

We’re into the final half-term of the school year – it’s always a busy one, so please keep an eye on the school calendar. Coming up soon are a few things you might want to know about…

For children in Year 1 and some children in Year 2: Next week, children in Year 1 (and those who didn’t meet the standard who are in Year 2) will take part in an assessment around their phonics skills. Check out the government’s phonics screening check information for parents.

For children in Year 4: Also next week, Year 4 children will take an online assessment to check their quick recall of times tables and division facts. Check out the guide for parents. Keep practising on Times Tables Rock Stars!

For all children: On Thursday 20 June, the school photographer is in to take class photos.

Next week, look out for the link to our annual survey of parents and carers. too.

Attendance matters

At the start of every half-term, we review our attendance. For the full school year so far, up to the end of the Summer 1 half-term (Thursday 23 May), the whole school attendance figure was 96.8%. That’s comfortably higher than the national figure up to Friday 17 May for primary schools: 94.7%. Thank you for your support.

How does each class compare?

• Reception: 94.0%
• Year 1: 96.6%
• Year 2: 97.7%
• Year 3: 97.5%
• Year 4: 97.7%
• Year 5: 97.4%
• Year 6: 96.2%

Let’s keep up this great achievement!

SEND support

SENDIASS support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their parents and carers to help with their related concerns or questions. They provide a free, impartial and confidential service through their website and online resources. You can self-refer to this service by contacting them directly. Find out more about SENDIASS in this short clip.

Here are the dates of forthcoming support sessions.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Did it float?

This was the big question for some of our Y6 friends on the first day of their residential.

After arriving safely, they started activities more or less straight away. Some great teamwork in building a raft and then seeing if it actually did the job – an exciting task! Even one of the group with an injury (not injured today but before they went) was able to be involved in building the raft and maybe they were glad when they couldn’t be part of the floating test!

Another busy day tomorrow with loads of activities planned. Thanks to Miss Wilson and Mrs Russell for giving up their time over the next couple of days – their weekend will be well deserved.

Our weekly message (Friday 24 May 2024)

Our message this week is a short one…

Positive Home-School Relationships

Governors have asked us to remind you about a recent policy – our Positive Home-School Relationships Policy. Please check it out.

And two things worth knowing about: one for Year 1 and 2 children, and the other for children in Year 4.

Year 1 and 2: Phonics screening check

In the week beginning 10 June, children in Year 1 (and those who didn’t meet the standard who are in Year 2) will take part in an assessment around their phonics skills. Check out the government’s phonics screening check information for parents.

Year 4: Multiplication tables check

Have a happy and healthy – and hopefully drier – half-term week!