Rocket seeds
Our rocket seed experiment came to an end on the last Friday before half-term when we completed our final measurement. We’ve now submitted the results to the Principia mission and they’ll add what we found to the results of all the other schools taking place.
Having looked at the information we’ve gathered, which do you think are the seeds from space?
When all of the data has been collated, the agency will be in touch with us to let us know what they found out and finally tell us which seeds are which!
Great start!
Year 5 have had a fantastic start to their final term before moving into Year 6. They’ve been focused, followed instructions straight away and have shown a wonderful level of maturity.
Our RSE (relationships and sex education) has been met with a sensible attitude and a curious nature making the lessons informative, comfortable and a safe place to ask questions. Keep this up, not only through RSE, but for the rest of the year.
Flash back to money week…
We all really enjoyed money week and got up to all sorts throughout the week which Mrs Taylor has already updated you on. Here are some pictures for you to see us in action…
We played games which required our money skills and then designed our own money games.
We smashed records with HOTSHOTS, raising lots of money along with having great fun.
We put our creative heads together to use recycling and modroc to make our own money boxes and start saving.
We had a second go at making animations, but this time we had a budget to spend and we took up some bartering to get our costs down.
What a great week!
Rights and responsibilities
I’d like to flash back to before half term to show you some of our fantastic homework completed to demonstrate what the children learnt through our rights and responsibilities SEAL theme.
As always, there were some brilliantly creative examples of work and we thoroughly enjoyed looking at, reading, playing and admiring each others’ efforts.
Euro 2016 themed menu
To celebrate UEFA’s European Football Championship 2016, Catering Agency will be running a special themed menu on Tuesday 21 June. Please contact the office if your child would like a school dinner on this day.
Meanwood Park Orienteering
Remember these?
They are now part of a fun orienteering course in Meanwood Park. There are ten owls to find and each has a letter to create a two word anagram.
Class Novel
Today, we have started reading out new class novel. It will come in really handy when we start writing our spooky stories in English next week!
Ffangs the Vampire Bat and the Kiss of Truth
Ffangs lives with the other vampires on Vampire Island, but he is different from the rest – he can’t stand the sight of blood!
When he arrives in London, everyone is too frightened to listen when he explains that he only wants to be human. And soon he finds himself alone in Buckingham Palace to face Thomas the Vampire Hunter . . .
Inference skills
Today, in our guided reading session, we practised our inference skills. However, we didn’t read a book, or a even a piece of writing. Instead, we watched a music video.
We answered a variety of questions that forced us to think about the character in the video, made predictions and used evidence from the video to justify our answers. (We’ll be doing a lot of justifying our answers this half-term, in all subjects.) The children really enjoyed practising their reading skills in this way, and recognised that they were learning a lot, too!
We discussed how this could easily be done at home, when watching TV or videos on the internet. We identified that we could create our own questions or ask an adult to help us. It would be great if you could help at home by encouraging your child to question the things they are watching, or ask them questions about it to check their understanding.
It’s a fun activity and really will help with reading!
School leadership – a consultation
Consultation on proposal for Moortown Primary School to join the Federation of Scholes (Elmet) Primary School and Wetherby St James’ Church of England Primary School
The Governing Bodies of the Federation of Scholes (Elmet) and Wetherby St James’ Church of England Primary Schools, and Moortown Primary School, present this document for consultation.
We invite responses by Monday 18 July 2016 to the contact details at the end of the document in Section 6.
Introduction
At the existing Federation Governing Body meeting on 3rd May 2016, the meeting of Moortown Primary Governing Body on 10th February and 17th March 2016, and the joint Federation and Moortown Primary meeting of 23rd May 2016, the Governing Bodies of both the Federation of Scholes (Elmet) and Wetherby St James’ Church of England Primary Schools, and Moortown Primary School, decided to launch a consultation with parents/carers, staff and other stakeholders to consider the recommendation that Moortown Primary School join the existing Federation for their mutual support and advantage.
This document sets out the reasons why we are recommending this course of action and seeks your views. It also sets out the proposed timetable for implementation.
There will be discussion meetings for parents/carers and stakeholders of all schools. These will be held at:
- 7pm on Tuesday 5th July at Moortown Primary School
- 4pm on Thursday 7th July at Scholes (Elmet) Primary School
- 9am on Friday 8th July at St James’ CE Primary School
You are free to attend any meeting regardless of which school you are connected with. We welcome your views on this proposal and therefore we urge you to attend.
What is a federation?
A federation is formed when two or more schools agree to work together on a formal basis through a single Governing Body.
Federated schools remain separate schools with separate budgets and separate Ofsted inspections. They also continue to report their results separately.
The federation we are recommending would have an Executive Head Teacher who is responsible for the performance of all schools in the Federation. The Executive Head Teacher would be supported by a Senior Leadership Team in all schools.
The decision to federate or not is determined by the individual Governing Bodies under a process set out in the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012 as amended by the School Governance (Constitution and Federations) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014.
A federation is not the same as collaboration, and it is not the same as academies or multi-academy trusts that you may have heard discussed recently in the media.
Why are we recommending this?
There is reasonable evidence to show that working in a federation has advantages for all parties, and most importantly, for the pupils. For governors, the key wish is to implement something that will enhance the learning experience for our pupils, and the following benefits have been identified for all three schools:
- Access to wider learning experiences for children
- Greater capacity to meet pupils’ needs
- Continued school improvement through learning from others
- Career development and progression opportunities for staff
- Economies of scale, in both financial and time terms
- Local authority support
- Working in partnership with other schools brings about proven benefit for children’s learning
- Future scope for leadership retention and recruitment
- Growing partnership between schools is in line with national and local government policy
- It will create consistency of policies and expectations and give consistency in children’s skills progression
The Governing Bodies of the existing federation and Moortown Primary have concluded, after very careful consideration, that the current and future interests of the three schools would be served best by Moortown Primary joining the Federation. This is not an amalgamation of the schools, and all three schools retain their own unique identities.
What would change and when?
Governors
The new federation would have one Governing Body to oversee the three schools, and this Governing Body would act in the best interest of the federation as a whole. The Governing Body, as now, would consist of elected parents and staff, representatives of the Local Authority, the Diocese, and across the community. The composition of the proposed Governing Body is shown in Section 4.
The new Federation Governing Body would commence on Thursday 1st September 2016, at which point the existing Governing Bodies of the Federation of Scholes (Elmet) and Wetherby St James’ Church of England Primary Schools, and Moortown Primary School, would be dissolved.
The new Federation Governing Body would have exactly the same duties and responsibilities as any other school as laid down by the Department for Education. Its role would be to make sure that the best possible standards of education and attainment are being provided for its current and future pupils. It would encourage, support and challenge the leadership team to achieve this. Proper regard would be given to curriculum co-ordination where appropriate and beneficial staff development and deployment, cost effectiveness and economies of scale and to meeting all statutory obligations.
Leadership
The Federation would have a single Executive Head Teacher (Head of Federation) leading all three schools. The Executive Head Teacher would take the lead in the strategic direction in all schools, supported in the day to day management of all schools by the Senior Leadership Team in each school.
Other staff will continue to be employed as per their existing contracts.
Curriculum
Joint planning and co-ordination across the three schools would offer a continuous learning journey for pupils while offering opportunities to staff for developing specialised areas as well as encouraging and utilising specialised skills.
Admissions
The Admissions Authority for all schools will continue to be dealt with by Leeds City Council.
Budgets
The budget of each school would remain separate but would be managed by the Executive Head Teacher. The Executive Head Teacher would report the budget status through the Finance Committee to the Governing Body. This process is the same as the one currently employed by the existing Federation and Moortown Primary School.
Federated schools are able to spend some money jointly across the schools in the Federation for the mutual benefit of pupils.
Proposed composition of Federation Governing Body
The composition of the Federation Governing Body is determined by Part 3 of the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012 as amended by the School Governance (Constitution and Federations) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 and School Governance (Constitution and Federations) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016. This stipulates that the governing body must not be smaller than seven members, and must include:
- two parent governors
- the headteacher, unless the headteacher resigns as a governor
- one, and only one, staff governor
- one, and only one, local authority governor
The governing body may appoint as many additional co-opted governors as they consider necessary. However, the number of co-opted governors who are eligible to be elected or appointed as staff governors under Schedule 2 must not, when counted with the one staff governor and the headteacher, exceed one-third of the total membership of the governing body.
In addition, there would be two Foundation Governors appointed by the Diocese.
Proposed timetable for implementation
Step 1 – Information gathering
February 2016 – May 2016
Step 2 – The separate Governing Bodies resolve to pursue the process towards creating a Federation Governing Body, and to consult on Federation
16 March 2016 and 21 March 2016
Step 3 – Consultation period (minimum 6 weeks required)
Monday 06 June 2016 to Monday 18 July 2016
Step 4 – Existing Federation Governing Body meets to consider responses to the proposals, and votes on whether to proceed with the proposals, with or without modifications.
Wednesday 20 July 2016
Step 5 – If agreed, then both the existing Governing Bodies would be dissolved and the new Federation Governing Body would be constituted.
Thursday 1st September 2016
How do I respond?
The Governing Bodies of the Federation of Scholes (Elmet) and Wetherby St James’ Church of England Primary Schools, and Moortown Primary School, would really like to hear your views. It would be most helpful to have these in writing, so that we can review all of the responses together. You can voice your opinion by:
1. Completing the attached questionnaire or writing a letter, sending it to:
- Nigel Gray, Chair of Governors, Federation of Scholes (Elmet) and Wetherby St James’ Church of England Primary Schools c/o Scholes (Elmet) Primary
Station Road, Scholes, LS15 4BJ - Becky Lawrence, Chair of Governors, Moortown Primary School, Shadwell Lane, Leeds LS17 6DR
2. Emailing your views to:
- Nigel Gray: nigel.gray@nhs.net
- Becky Lawrence: becklylawrence@moortown.leeds.sch.uk
There will be discussion meetings for parents/carers and stakeholders of all schools. These will be held at:
- 7pm on Tuesday 5th July at Moortown Primary School
- 4pm on Thursday 7th July at Scholes (Elmet) Primary School
- 9am on Friday 8th July at St James’ CE Primary School
You are free to attend any meeting regardless of which school you are connected with.
- Moortown Primary School, Shadwell Lane, Moortown, Leeds LS17 6DR
- Scholes (Elmet) Primary School, Station Road, Scholes, Leeds LS15 4BJ
- St James’ CE Primary School, Hallfield Lane, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS22 6JS
SEAL theme ‘Changes’
As we enter our final half term, the next SEAL theme looks at Changes.
We begin with a focus on manners and I cover my mouth (when I cough, sneeze or yawn) is our weekly statement.
The ‘Vampire method’ can help to prevent germs spreading. By coughing or sneezing into our elbow, germs are not spread into the air or on our hands which may contaminate other things. Don’t forget to ‘use your sleeve to cough and sneeze’.
Following this, we will begin the SEAL theme of Changes. This theme aims to equip children with an understanding of different types of change, positive and negative, and common responses to change. It aims to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in three key social and emotional aspects of living and learning: motivation, managing feelings and social skills.
The key ideas and concepts behind this theme are:
- Change can be uncomfortable, because it can threaten our basic needs to feel safe and to belong
- Change can also be stimulating and welcome
- Both adults and children can experience a range of powerful and conflicting emotions as a result of change – for example, excitement, anxiety, uncertainty, loss, anger, resentment
- Worries about change can be made worse by uncertainty, lack of information, or misinformation and lack of support from others
- People’s responses to and ability to cope with change are very variable, and might be influenced by individual temperament, previous experience of change, and the nature of the change – chosen or imposed, expected or unexpected, within our control or out of our control
- Some children may welcome most forms of change and dislike routine and predictability. Other children may find even small changes very difficult.
Within school, children, who are coping with or have undergone significant change, are supported in a variety of ways:
- Our positive ethos within school
- Support systems, from staff and peers, for children who have undergone change or who maybe new to the school
- SEAL and circle time sessions where children feel safe to talk about their feelings
- Class SEAL boxes for children to record any concerns
- Preparing children wherever possible for planned changes for example, a change of class teacher, Key Stage or even school
