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25 September 2015

Our homework this week is a practice makes perfect. Pupils must fill in the missing gaps on a hundred square and use this to help them solve addition questions. We’ve been learning to use partitioning to help us solve addition questions in class. Asking your child to partition the smaller number will give them a starting point to solving the calculation. “How many steps of ten do you need to make?” and “How many steps of one do you need to make?” will match the language we have used in class when helping your child.

Look at the Addition video (especially Addition 6) for help with partitioning.

This homework is due on Wednesday 30 September.

West Yorkshire Playhouse workshop

We had a great time yesterday in our drama workshop. Two thespians from the West Yorkshire Playhouse led us through a series of drama games which focused on our class novel, ‘Fortunately, the Milk.’

In English we’ve been looking at conjunctions and prepositions (follow the links for more practice at home). We’ve used our Big Topic on holidays to inspire sentence writing.

25 September 2015

This week’s spellings focus on the ‘double up for a short vowel‘ rule and will be tested on Friday 02 October.

• aggression
• accommodate
• accompany
• according
• lugging
• possibility
• approached
• clattering
• pummelled
• toppled

Your child will be tested on six of these spellings. In addition, they’ll be tested on two spellings they’ve learnt in previous weeks and two spellings that follow the double up rule but aren’t on the spelling list.

At the beach….

The seaside has come to Year 2. Well, kind of. This is our holiday themed reading area. A great place to relax with a book. Just watch out for those pesky seagulls! 

Annual survey results 2

The previous news article described your responses to each of the fourteen statements at the start of the Annual Survey. Of the 39 responses, the vast majority of you indicated that you agreed with the statements; only two people disagreed with just four statements. Here, we describe the general comments you made.

Excellent school at all levels: high academic achievement, superb community spirit and good fun. I feel my child is stimulated, pushed to learn more but enjoys every minute of the day. I think the success of the school is that everyone is enthusiastic and follows a consistent policy / approach. (Year 4 parent)

We’re really pleased with this comment and think you’re right that the enthusiasm and consistency are key factors in our success.

Of the 39 responses, just under half made no comment at all. Of those who did make a comment, very many were entirely positive. Most of the other surveys contained a simple suggestion only; for example, “My son would like an after-school cooking club” or “… a science club”.

At Moortown, we like to be as open and honest as possible. We’re not perfect, and not complacent either. Here’s a list of things which some of you identified as could be improved.

Clubs and extra-curricular activities

Three people suggested a cookery club. We have had one in the past, and would love to run one again. Clubs such as this rely on a member of staff volunteering to run it, or we buy in the services of an after-school provider. We’ll continue to encourage staff to consider offering their culinary skills, and we’ll investigate (again) costs of external companies (in the past, we’ve found these to be expensive). Another solution – would one or two parents like to volunteer? We’d be delighted if they did!

One person said their child would like a science club. Unlike cookery, we’ve not had one of these. Sadly, like cookery, these can be expensive to recruit an outside agency. We think this could be popular amongst children so we’ll certainly continue to suggest this to staff to lead, and we’ll continue to monitor the potential cost.

One parent expressed concern that due to Mr Catherall’s new role and following the departure of Mr Baynes, there might be fewer competitive sporting activities. We know this is important to many parents and in recent years we’ve made a concerted effort to increase the number of sports events. To replace Mr Baynes, we have recruited Mr Lawton who has a lot of experience in sport; he’s running a lot of after-school clubs this term. Mrs Taylor, our Health Leader, has also bought into the services of the local authority’s Active Schools programme – we hope this will provide at least as many competitive sporting activities and other opportunities for physical activity.

Other clubs suggested were choir, gymnastics and sewing, and a coding club for younger children. Do bear in mind our reliance on adults to lead the club and enough children to sign up – without either, we can’t run a club. However, like the other suggestions, these will be passed to Paula and Nicky who help to organise the clubs.

School dinners

Three parents said they were unhappy with aspects of school dinners. This is a tough aspect of school life to sort out. Here are some of the challenges we face:

• the introduction of universal free school meals for all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 meant a significant rise in demand for a school dinner and therefore a lot of re-thinking of routines
• (the imminent U-turn on this policy?)
• the kitchens at Moortown Primary are very small
• trying to manage expectations around portion sizes and how much / what we should insist a child should eat

One parent was unhappy that some foods run out, especially because their child is in Key Stage 2 and therefore they pay for them. They encourage us to adopt a new system and look to what happens in other schools. Please be assured that there is always a main course with vegetables, and a dessert, available. Nevertheless, we’re concerned and unhappy about this, too, and have looked at electronic ordering: as each child comes into the class, they choose their lunch. Some staff have visited another school to observe, but were concerned that this took up valuable learning time. For now, we’re monitoring food availability closely. We’ve also established that the classes who are last to have their lunch vary each week, so in the rare event that a certain food runs out, across the year it’s not the same class who have a more limited choice.

Another said that the standard of the meals has fallen. This also concerns me and we really encourage any parent to speak with Mr Roundtree and Mrs Weekes if this concern remains. The parent makes a link with the problem and the introduction of free school meals for younger children. There might be some truth in this as the catering agency we (and most schools) use, Catering Leeds, did struggle to recruit enough staff to cope with demand. Another factor later in the year is that our regular cook, Mrs Appleby, was absent due to illness for a lengthy period. This year, more staff are having a school meal on a regular basis and they’ve so far reported that the food is good. We’ve noticed some children don’t seem to choose their food wisely and end up with meals they don’t like – it might help if you talk through the menus at home.

The third parent expressed concern about portion sizes – and had already spoken with Mr Roundtree meaning that this issue was solved quickly. This year, we’ve made clearer than ever before to catering staff that we expect each child to have two portions of vegetables / salad, and made clearer to our own lunchtime assistants who clear up that we expect children to eat this.

Communications

A few parents this year, and in previous years, have asked for more information around expectations. We knew a new National Curriculum was coming, so didn’t respond sooner, but we’ve added a new page in the Learn More section dedicated to describing the expectations set out nationally for children from Year 1 to Year 6. (Also published are expectations for a typical child in Reception, along with lots of other information, perhaps most importantly about characteristics of effective learning, a key aspect of Early Years.)

“I’d like more updates on the website…” was one comment made, alongside another praising the support on the website: “Clear guidelines and support for homework on the website. Great communications…” We are aiming to gradually increase the frequency of class news posts, but you’ll understand teachers must ensure they have a healthy work-life balance, too. I know that overall you appreciate the news posts – and the website is often cited as best practice to other schools. Ultimately, we’d like to aim for lots more on-line and fewer (or no) newsletters. You’ll agree that balance is needed to suit varying preferences and lifestyles.

One parent asked for more parents’ evenings at the end of the year. Traditionally, we offer parents’ evenings in October (to review the previous year and offer initial comments about settling in and progress), and then another in February (when we discuss progress in the year so far) – at both, teachers should always talk through ways to support your child at home. These are followed by the end of year reports. A third parents’ evening is offered to all, and more and more parents decide they’d like to take this opportunity to review the year – we’ve encouraged this parent to do so.

Finally, one simple and important suggestion has already been solved – we hope! “Would like better communication of multiplication tables to be learnt and tested on…”. As well as this information being available on-line, there’s a space in our new Learning Lists books for this to be noted (please note, tables are learnt and tested from around mid-Y2 only). You can also find out what tables are expected in the age-related expectations tables – a new page on the website.

Other comments

Of the other comments, only one parent raised each point and they varied so much. As a result, we’ve not listed them all, typically because the comment was contradicted by a greater number of other parents.

One parent expressed concern that homework is not always marked by an adult. Look out for the open afternoon on Wednesday 02 December at 2.40pm. This is an opportunity for you to get to know more about how we review homework. In the past, some parents / carers have also expressed concern that the homework in books did not appear to be marked – at the workshop, we want to show you that marking is not the only way to provide feedback (and in fact may not be the best way – more and more research suggests the instant, direct feedback we provide, and assessment from peers with the class, can as effective or even more so). In this session, you’ll see teachers and pupils review and celebrate the creative homework of the class.

Finally, a parent was disappointed with the school trips that had taken place in the year. We don’t know what year group their child was in so can’t easily respond to this. In Year 6, we don’t have expensive trips as we are aware that the Summer residential approaches. In Year 4, we’ve just introduced an additional residential. When we do organise trips, we rely on your voluntary donations so that they go ahead, and need to be sensitive to this pressure on family finances. Coach travel is increasingly expensive, too, so we do have a lot of visitors come to school 0- already this year, we’ve welcomed West Yorkshire Playhouse actors. We’re sorry the parent felt disappointed and will keep an eye on the range and quality.

Moortown Primary continues to provide a warm community feel. My son is very settled and his confidence has grown year on year due to the support and nurturing environment that the teachers and support staff have provided. Many thanks! (Year 5 parent)

The community atmosphere of the school is long-standing – people often describe the school as like a village school in both looks and feeling.

The third and final feedback about the surveys will review your comments about English, Maths, topics and other learning – coming soon.

Holidays

We’ve kicked off with our new Big Topic, ‘Holidays’ by delving into suitcases and guessing where we’ll be going.

Mr Owen and I each brought our suitcases packed for a particular holiday and, from the evidence we gathered, we guessed where each person was heading and thought about who we’d most like to go with and why.

Mr Owen’s suitcase

As Mr Owen had scarf, hat, gloves and four pairs of socks, we decided he was heading somewhere cold. He’d packed his walking boots, a waterproof coat and he didn’t pack his passport.

Not many people wanted to join him on his holiday!

Miss Rushbrooke’s suitcase

Miss Rushrooke’s also contained walking boots but these were accompanied by insect repellent and an insect hat. We thought she might be going walking in the jungle. She had sun cream and beach-wear, too, and had packed a snorkel, camera and… her passport.

Lots of Y5 wanted to join Miss Rushbrooke on her holiday. I wonder why?

We’ll be exploring a UK break and a holiday abroad through this topic and these cases give us clues as to where we’ll be going.

To help at home, discuss what they children know (and don’t know) about different countries. Can they find them on a map or tell you what continent they’re in. Do they know whether it’s hot or cold and why this is given their location (poles and equator). We’ll also be discussing currencies in maths and the different time zones across the world.

Annual survey results 1

Thanks to those of you who completed the Annual Survey in the summer term. The number of completed surveys fell to just 39 this year – we hope those of you who chose not to return the survey remain perfectly contented! Remember, if you ever have any questions, comments or concerns, please do speak with an adult in school.

Here, we present a summary of the main part of the summary: the 14 statements on page one:

My child is happy to come to school. 95% agreed and two respondents weren’t sure. We’re delighted that we continue to be a happy and healthy place to learn. Visitors almost always remark on what a happy school we are. Thank you to all staff for this – they are always positive and pleasant, and this helps to ensure our children are, too.

My child learns a lot in lessons. As above, 95% agreed and two weren’t sure. Another high result, which is great. Of course, we’d like this to be 100%. In this particular survey, one respondent was anonymous so we can’t respond directly to address this uncertainty, whilst the other has a child who we know was being challenged a lot – perhaps the child had recently said one particular lesson was easy and the parent / carer had been influenced by the remark. We encourage anyone who is unsure to make sure they speak to their child’s teacher if they have a concern – don’t leave it until the end of the school year when it might be too late! You should also try to attend the open sessions in school where you can watch the teaching and learning process. 

The school helps my child to do as well as (s)he can. 82% agreed; 15% were unsure; one person disagreed. We have two open mornings when parents / carers are invited into school to watch teaching and learning: 30 minutes in one class, 30 in another followed by 30 minutes to review what was seen and ask questions with Mr Roundtree and Mrs Weekes. Please, if you’re unsure, try to attend these – they’re on Tuesday 08 December and Wednesday 27 January, both from 9.00am to 10.30am. Parents who attended last year were impressed with the teaching and the behaviour management systems we have in place.

I know how well my child is doing at school. 82% agreed whilst 18% were unsure. Last year, we moved away from assessing with levels and this might be the main reason why there is a higher than usual number of you who are unsure. We hope the way we’ve decided to communicate your child’s attainment will be clearer this year. You’ll be told at parents’ evening (Monday 19 or Tuesday 20 October, and Monday 08 or Tuesday 09 February) and in the end of year reports, and can get updates whenever you want to by speaking with your child’s teacher. We encourage as many of you as possible to attend the ‘What is Mastery?’ workshop (Monday 16 November, 2.30pm), which will help to explain the government’s shift in emphasis away from rapid progress to more secure learning with greater depth.

Adults in school explain to me how to support my child at school. As above, 82% agreed; 15% were unsure; one person disagreed. This year, we’ve got more workshops and open sessions than ever before – if you’re unsure about how to support your child, do try to come to as many of these as possible. And if you can’t, then there’s more support and guidance on our website this year, too – check out the Calculations and Expectations pages to start off with. Of course, we can’t explain how to support your child if you don’t speak with us or check the website, so please tell us if there are other ways you’d like to support your child.

Teaching at this school is good. 92% agreed and three respondents weren’t sure. We’re pleased with this result. Like before (we can’t stress this enough!), if you’re unsure or have a concern, then try to attend the open mornings, or speak with Mr Roundtree or Mrs Weekes.

Teaching at this school helps my child to develop skills in communication, reading, writing and mathematics. 100% agreed. We’re delighted that you all agreed with this, arguably one of the most important statements.

I am happy with my child’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. 90% agreed; three of you weren’t sure and one person disagreed. We support spiritual, moral, social and cultural development to an extent that other schools have been inspired to use some of the same planning processes and ideas we use at Moortown Primary. Our last Ofsted inspection was a while ago, but spiritual, moral, social and cultural development was judged to be outstanding then – we’ve not neglected it since. Check out the SMSC page in the Learn More section to find out more about what we do. We do want to assure everyone we take this aspect of school life very seriously. Please speak with Mr Roundtree or Mrs Taylor, who oversees SMSC, with questions and comments.

Behaviour is good at Moortown Primary. 92% agreed and three weren’t sure. We’re proud of our Relationships and Behaviour Management Policy – it focuses on pupils’ choices (we label choices as good or bad; we never label pupils in the same way) and rewards positively and frequently; perhaps most of all, it’s consistent right across school. Visitors praise behaviour of our pupils all the time and our policy and processes, such as the warnings system, are often copied by other schools. In the past, as with this year, those who say they are uncertain often say this because they’re not around during the school day to observe the behaviour. (It’s also worth remembering that children quite often have a tendency to mention to their parents when someone has been given a warning – it’s more ‘news-worthy’ – rather than what is far more common: good choices!)

Behaviour is good in lessons. 82% agreed and the rest were unsure. Parents and carers often tell us they choose ‘unsure’ as they don’t get to see what it’s like in class, which is understandable. Do try to attend the open mornings (Tuesday 08 December and Wednesday 27 January, both from 9.00am to 10.30am). Last year, those attended commented on the excellent behaviour from all pupils.

The school deals with all types of bullying well. 85% agreed and the rest were unsure. Like the comments about behaviour, parents and carers often tell us they choose ‘unsure’ as they haven’t encountered a problem with bullying: ‘Unsure about bullying as it’s never been an issue with my child’ was one comment this year. We’re not complacent, however, and are conscious that bullying might arise amongst any group of children in any school, including ours. We use two useful phrases here: Bullying is when someone is hurt physically or emotionally ‘several times on purpose’ and pupils should ‘start telling other people’ if they fall victim to bullying, or witness it. Please help to support this – and remember to be vigilant at home to on-line bullying, too.

My child feels safe at school. 100% agreed. That’s a great result, and one that is consistently 100% over the years.

I am happy that my views will be listened to. 82% agreed and the rest weren’t sure. We do listen to your views, and will always try to act on them if they are reasonable and useful. We can’t act on requests for extra homework for specific children, or authorise term-time absences for specific families, or allow siblings to leave early because another child has an appointment – these are possibly the three most common areas for views to be expressed. We follow policies strictly and consistently and want the best for all our children and staff – this is the fairest way. If there’s a situation where you don’t feel your views have been listened to, speak to your child’s teacher in the first instance; failing that, speak with Mrs Weekes or Mr Roundtree; failing that, you might decide to submit to governors a formal complaint – you should follow this path, though. Thankfully for all concerned, most concerns can be sorted out easily and happily for all.

I am happy with the after-school clubs on offer. 82% agreed whilst 15% weren’t sure and one respondent disagreed (but didn’t offer reasons or suggestions). We’ve asked you for specific comments about after-school clubs in previous Annual Surveys. The conclusion then – as it is now – is that we can’t please all of the people all of the time – however much we’d like to! We’re pleased to have only one parent / carer indicate they were unhappy with the clubs. This parent, whilst anonymous, did indicate that their child was in Year 1. The range of clubs does vary each term and they does rely on a good level of uptake if they are to run. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for a club – or might even want to volunteer to lead one – contact Paula or Nicky in the office.

Of the 39 completed forms, only two parents / carers indicated that they disagreed, and they did so for a total of four statements:

• The school helps my child to do as well as (s)he can.
• Adults in school explain to me how to support my child at home.
• I am happy with my child’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• I am happy with the after-school clubs on offer.

We’d love to find out more about the reasons why these parents disagreed but there were no additional comments that expanded on the points. Regarding the first two points, I do encourage them – and as many of you as possible – to come along to the workshops (where teachers talk through ideas to support your child and ideas to do at home) and open sessions (where you can spend time watching English, Maths, topic reviews and homework reviews) – feedback from parents last year concluded these are great in supporting learning, and that adults in school were doing a great job in teaching the classes. Dates are in the diary (and were on the newsletter) so you can plan ahead, and we’ll send reminders out, too.

A note on the spellings from last week

The spellings were given before phonics groups had been set. Both year 1 and 2 were set the same spellings for this week so do not worry if your child found these spellings challenging. As phonics groups have now been set up, spellings will be based on sounds from the phonics group which your child is in.

Welcome!

Welcome to Reception Class!

Following our series of home-visits, we’d like to say thank you all for welcoming us into your homes. It was lovely to meet you all and get to know your child a little bit more.

We hope you’re as excited as we are about this new chapter in your child’s life and hope you’ve been provided with all the information you need. As always, please ask if you are not sure about anything.

The children will all begin this week, with the last children arriving on Thursday.

After your first day, school will begin at 8.50am and finish at 3.15pm. Please bring your child into the classroom and help them in the different learning areas to have a go at a learning challenge. Take this time to look at your child’s learning journey.

We try to get the children to be as independent as possible early on, so please let them hang their coat up and sort themselves out while you wait in the classroom.

At 3.15pm, please wait at the gate to the Reception outdoor area to collect your child.

See you soon!

18 September 2015

The homework this week is creative and is due in on Wednesday 23 September.

I can show what I know about holidays.

This is a chance to show what your child already knows about holidays before we begin our new topic.
Where do people go on holiday? Why do they go? What do they do there? Is a holiday always a good thing?

Encourage your child to be as creative as they can be!

For more information about homework and the types of homework, please read the first page of your child’s homework book. If you have any questions, please ask.

Enjoy your weekend!