A visit from the chicks
We thoroughly enjoyed meeting the chicks on Friday as they ventured into Y5 for a visit. We discussed what sort of animal they were and therefore what we knew about them but mostly we just enjoyed holding them and listening to their cheeping.
Learn more about the new tests for your child
You’ll be aware that there have been lots of changes in education in the last few years, including a new curriculum with greater expectations and assessment without levels.
There are also new end of key stage tests (commonly called the SATs) coming up in May. Children in Year 2 (end of KS1) and Year 6 (end of KS2) will be the first to sit these new tests.
Find out more about the Key Stage 1 tests: watch this short video and/or read this booklet.
Find out more about the Key Stage 2 test: watch this short video and/or read this booklet.
05 February 2016
This week’s homework is creative and is due Wednesday 10 February:
I can show what I know about fractions.
Who says that maths can’t be creative? This homework gives your child the opportunity to showcase their learning of fractions creatively. There are loads of ways of showing off a knowledge of fractions, such as:
- a Little Miss or Mr Man fraction story in the style of Roger Hargreaves
- a picture where all the elements are a fraction
- a poem about fractions
- designing a classroom with all the parts indicated by a fraction
Enjoy getting creative with maths!
05 February 2016
The week’s spellings are all singular and plural possessives. We’ve been looking at the role of apostrophes in the contracted form (can’t…don’t…won’t) and are now focussing on how they are used to mark possession (the cat’s pyjamas are the pyjamas that belong to the cat).
For this spelling task we’re focussing on using ‘s for singular nouns (one cat’s pyjamas) and s’ for plural nouns (two cats’ pyjamas).
Your child needs to find five interesting nouns that link to our Life topic. A noun’s job is to name things, people or places. Once they have chosen five spellings, they must work out the singular and plural possessives for their nouns. Usually, adding an -s to the end of a noun will make it plural and all that is required is an apostrophe after that s to mark possession. However, some nouns have irregular plurals which must be learnt. For example, if a noun ends in a y you have to drop the y for an i and add es (like ‘ladies’ from last week’s list). Additionally, some nouns have even more unusual spelling rules for the plural (one sheep, two sheep; one cactus, two cacti). The best way to check this is to go onto the internet and search for your nouns plural e.g. cactus plural, sheep plural.
Attendance matters…
Our attendance figures are looking good – thanks for your support in ensuring your child is at school.
- Reception: 96.0%
- Year 1: 98.1% – brilliant!
- Year 2: 97.6%
- Year 3: 97.8% – good stuff
- Year 4: 98.2% – fantastic!
- Year 5: 97.4%
- Year 6: 97.7%
The whole school figure is 97.6%. You will find out your own child’s attendance figure at the parent-teacher appointments next week.
Please remember that attendance below 90% is regarded by the Department for Education as persistent absenteeism.
Another congratulations from the DfE
We’ve had a third letter congratulating us!
On 26 January 2015, David Laws MP (Minister of State for Schools) wrote a letter congratulating us on the results for disadvantaged pupils.
On 27 October 2015, Nick Gibb MP (Minister of State for School Reform) congratulated us on very high achievement for pupils in the 2015 Year 1 phonics screening check.
Now, just over twelve months on, we receive a third letter. This time, Sam Gyimah MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Childcare and Education) sends us congratulations, again for the results of pupils who are entitled to pupil premium – often referred to as disadvantaged pupils. He writes:
It gives me great pleasure to write to you and congratulate your school on winning a local award in the key stage 2 category of the Pupil Premium Awards 2016…
The reason you have been selected is that you are one of the high achieving schools in the country in terms of the attainment and progress of your disadvantaged pupils since 2011. It is clear that you and your staff have provided pupils with a good start in life and prepared them well for secondary school. I would like to congratulate your governors, parents and pupils for their hard work and success, and thank you for your leadership in making such a difference to the future success of your pupils.
We’re very proud of the successes of all our pupils, whether it be those in receipt of pupil premium funding or not. We are always 100% committed to supporting and challenging all pupils in their learning (and in their social and emotional skills, too!). Moortown Primary is a happy and healthy and highly successful place to learn!
05 February 2016
Here are the spellings for this week:
05 February 2016
For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is talk time and is due in on Wednesday 10 February.
I can prepare a speech (School Council elections).
or
I know the importance of voting.
It’s time for children to consider if they would like to stand for election for our new School Council. With two representatives from each class, chosen democratically by their peers, all children at Moortown Primary are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.
Elections for our new school council will take place next Thursday 11 February with our polling station and ballot boxes at the ready. Candidates will have the opportunity to give their election speech to their class on Wednesday 10 February.
What makes a good school councillor has been considered by our current school council.
- ‘Communicating with others – pupils and adults.’
- ‘Having good listening skills to know what to contribute in meetings.’
- ‘Thinking of realistic ideas to suggest in meetings.’
- ‘Considering other people’s views even if you don’t agree with them.’
Hints for your speech include:
- What skills and abilities would a good school councillor have?
- What are you particularly good at that would help you to be a great school councillor?
- What do you think would make the school better? What could you do that people would really like?
- Think of things that are realistic, maybe that you could do yourself, rather than having to ask other people to do?
Thank you to our current school councillors for all their ideas and contributions over the last year. We hope you have enjoyed this role and responsibility and you are welcome to stand again for election.
Good luck to all children who decide to stand in the elections.
If you choose not to stand in the election then you should consider the importance of voting.
How’s our Life topic going?
We’re all enjoying learning about ‘Life’. There’s been oceans of learning this week. We began by sorting animals according to criteria we chose ourselves:
- water, land and air
- colour
- deadly, not deadly
- vertebrate, invertebrate
We then had to try to sort them into which class they belonged to: mammal, reptile, amphibian, bird, fish, insect and plant. There were some animals we disagreed with and we had to learn more about these classes to be able to sort them correctly.
We’ve then focused on life in the ocean, looking at what different types of animals live there and finding out the similarities and differences in their life cycles.
05 February 2016
This week’s Practice Makes Perfect homework focusses on common spelling and punctuation errors.
To write spellings into a sentence.
Common mistakes from our English books are:
- incorrect use of their, there and they’re
- mixing where and wear
- incorrect use of the apostrophe for were and we’re
Along with this, we’d benefit from learning more about how to use its and it’s correctly and generally become more confident using apostrophes correctly.
The homework highlights these errors and provides a way of practising them.
This homework is due on Wednesday 10 February.
