Wonderful writing
Look at the complex sentences Y2 children have been writing! A complex sentence has a main ‘part’ (the main clause) and an extra ‘add-in’ part which doesn’t make sense on its own (we call these opener add-ins, but the grammatical term is a subordinate clause).
03 February 2012
This week’s spellings have the ‘ur’ spelling pattern. Your child will be tested on Friday 10 January 2012.
- church
- burn
- return
- nurse
- purse
- burst
- Thursday
- hurt
- further
- turn
The eggs have hatched!
As we’re sure most of you are aware, Year 3 and 4 and have inherited some eggs this week. We have twelve eggs and so far five have hatched. They are being kept in a same place.
…before a new School Council is elected!
Next week, on Thursday 09 February 2012, we’ll be holding elections in school for new School Councillors.
This follows a recent assembly led by local MP Fabian Hamilton, in which he talked about similarities between the School Council and Government, and today’s assembly about democracy and what characteristics are need to be an effective School Councillor.
Two children are elected from each class, including Reception. In the past, the school councillors have played an important role in major decision-making such as choosing our school charities, selecting playground equipment and even choosing our logo and the colour of our uniform (we changed from dark green to our current red in 2008).
Please talk to your child about the elections and encourage them to stand. They will need to be confident in speaking with older children and adults. If your child would like to stand, they need to tell the class teacher by Friday. Then, next week, they should be ready with a presentation – they could talk about what they would like to do for the school and its pupils if they were elected. They will deliver this speech early next week and the elections will be held on Thursday.
The final School Council meeting…
Our current School Council met for the last time on Tuesday.
The group has been excellent, from Yutaro and Rosie (both of whom have now moved on to new schools) to Dominic and Grace (who became Councillors in Reception and are now in Year 1). A special well done and thank you to Vikram and Lauren who have minuted every meeting most efficiently.
The last decision of this School Council was to amend the school rules. They have chosen to replace We use positive language with We respect everyone and everything. The main reason to do this is that the new rule includes the previous one, but covers more – respecting property, equipment and and animals, for example. Another key decision taken by the group was to select our two new charities, Water Aid and Dogs’ Trust.
Chickwatch 2012
We now have five chicks that have hatched!
Two of the older chicks have now moved to the brooder box where they have a bit more space to move around. Fingers crossed, we will have a few more by tomorrow morning!
Eggciting times!
We have chicks!
Year 3 and 4 are having an eggcellent time this week!
This morning, we arrived in school to find two of our chicks have hatched!
Photos to follow soon…
School Council Elections
Next week, we’ll be holding elections in school for new school councillors. Two children are elected from each class, including Reception. In the past, the school councillors have played an important role in major decision-making such as choosing our school charities, selecting playground equipment and choosing the colour of our uniform. Please talk to your child about the elections and encourage them to stand. They will need to be confident in speaking with older children and adults. If your child would like to stand, they need to tell us by Friday and be able to talk about what they would like to do for the school and its pupils if they were elected. They will deliver this speech early next week and the elections will be held on Thursday.
A class poem
Year Six had a very successful afternoon on Tuesday when they wrote a class poem based on a randomly chosen theme: the family.
The input from the children was excellent and we worked very hard to keep the rhyming and pace of the poem consistent, as well as the humour and fun.
We hope you like it!
The Family
Brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts,
Grandpa Joe in his baggy pants,
Cousin Jim and Grandma Ann,
Mum and Dad and baby Dan.
Live together in a great big house,
Nephew Max and his small pet mouse,
Rabbits, fish, cats galore,
Sleeping curled up on the floor.
Children’s toys lay here and there,
People tripping everywhere,
Bang! Crash! There they go,
Grandpa yells, “That hurt my toe!”
Baby Dan in his high chair,
Smearing food in his own hair,
“Oh no!” cried Mum, “Not again!
Get back into your play pen.”
It’s bath time now in our family home,
Bubbles, soap and lots of foam,
Dry yourself and off to bed,
“Peace and quiet!” the parents said.
Children gone to the land of dreams,
Adults have tea and a custard cream,
The day is over, the day is done,
A family day jam-packed with fun.
Achieving Level 3 of the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard…
Most of you will know by now that we have achieved Level 3 (the highest level) of the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard. The assessment visit took place earlier on this term, led by members of Leeds City Council’s Equalities and Entitlement Team. Here are some extracts from the final report:
- The inclusive curriculum is a major strength of the portfolio and shows that the school is working hard to provide a curriculum which positively reflects the religious, linguistic and cultural diversity of society, promotes race equality, prepares pupils to become responsible citizens and increases empathy for global equality and fair trade. Teachers identify opportunities for developing multiculturalism in medium and short term plans and these are monitored and evaluated for overall coverage.
- The school makes very good efforts to engage all parents in the life of the school e.g. newsletters, Relax and Read in Reception, PTA, School Council, parents’ evenings, curriculum workshops etc. It also makes good efforts to engage the wider community and to develop the pupils’ sense of community through, for example, “Who do we think we are?” Themed Week, disaster appeals and links with other schools.
- Since achieving Level 2 of the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard in 2006, the school has been very active in promoting diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism and has received various chartermarks including: Inclusion, International Schools Award, Basic Skills and Healthy Schools.
- The school’s self-evaluation, development plans and action plans actively promote the process of embedding race equality throughout the school.
- The school ethos and learning environment makes a good contribution to harmonious learning communities.
- It has an excellent policy to promote positive behaviour with roles and responsibilities clearly outlined as well as positive and negative consequences.
Of course, we always want to keep getting better and better. We welcome the action points which are noted in the report. These were:
- to incorporate some role-play scenarios for older pupils around racism, so they are prepared for the possibility of such incidents after Moortown Primary where they may encounter no real incidents at all
- to continue efforts to recruit staff and governors who fully represent the school community, although there was an understanding that we must always recruit the best people for our children
- to prepare to publish equality objectives which will become statutory for all public bodies later this year
- to support other schools in achieving the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard
