Three or free?
Increasingly, we’re noticing children who are not speaking clearly enough – and this is having a negative effect on their spelling.
Listen to your child as the say words like ‘three’ and ‘the’. More and more children are saying these words in a way which sounds like ‘free’ and ‘vuh’ or ‘fuh’ – all words that use ‘th’, in fact.
We know this is simply because children are not learning to stick their tongue out to make the ‘th’ sound – maybe it’s a bit lazy, maybe it’s because they never learnt, maybe it’s because the London accent (where this is more historic) is heard so much these days. When we prompt children, the vast majority can do say ‘th’ perfectly.
Does this matter?
Well, yes. This week, a child told me in a Maths lesson that the cost of something was ‘free’ – he meant £3. In the same week, a good writer demonstrating his ability to use a wider bank of words begun a sentence with ‘Furfermore, …’
If the way children pronounce words means that someone can confuse what they say, or that they end up making mistakes in spelling a simple word like ‘further’, then yes, this does matter.
As Mrs Burke tells her class in phonics lessons, saying ‘th’ is the only time your child is allowed to stick their tongue out at someone – please help your child get out of this habit, whatever their age!
How are you feeling?
Across school, we’ve been trialling the use of colours to represent children’s emotions. Children are then encouraged to think whether this is a blocker or driver for their learning.
- ‘I feel blue because I am calm.’
- ‘I feel red because I had a fall out at lunchtime.’
- ‘I feel orange because I am excited to celebrate my brother’s birthday.’
Here is a new website to support young people’s emotional wellbeing in Leeds.
‘If you’re a young person, MindMate can help you understand the way you’re feeling and find the right advice and support. If you’re a parent, carer or professional, MindMate can help you support a young person you know.’
Children are also encouraged to speak with an adult, friend or use our class SEAL boxes to share any worries.
Fab feedback!
Moortown Primary has a long history of supporting teachers, headteachers and schools across Leeds. This morning, five new headteachers visited us to learn more about self-evaluating (where a school evaluates its own provision and works out how it can improve – look at our self-evaluation summary) and improvement planning. They also took the opportunity of looking around school. Here’s some feedback following their visit:
What a wonderful experience and privilege to be invited to look behind the doors of your fabulous school; engaged learners; friendly, happy, smiley children; clearly dedicated staff and an enticing learning environment for everyone to grow and learn.
It was also lovely to have a look around your school which must be the living embodiment of ‘great things in small packages’. The school feels like a well run ship with everyone buying into the principles and practices you want. The pupils were also a credit in that they didn’t even look up from their learning when we all walked in.
A wonderful school you have there – I will work extremely hard to have somewhere that shines as a beacon for its community like your school does for Moortown.
PTA News
Our PTA plan lots of exciting events in the next few months, some for children, some for adults, some for both!
Cupcake Competition! Thursday 24 March
Children are invited to decorate a cupcake for this competition. Entries to the office by 9.00am on the day.
Bun Sale Thursday 24 March, 3.15pm
Please leave bun donations at the office on the day.
Parents & Community Cheese and Wine Tasting Friday 22 April, 7.30pm – 11.00pm
Can you tell your Camembert from your Cabernet, and does ricotta go nicely with Rioja? Join us for an adults only evening of cheese, wine, disco and much more!
Family BBQ and Disco Evening Friday 17 June, 6.30pm – 9.00pm
Celebrate summer with a barbecue and disco for all the family. Further details next term.
Roundhay Schools Fun Run 2016 Saturday 25 June (provisional date)
An annual community event involving many local schools. Further details next term.
School Summer Fair Saturday 09 July
We hope to welcome all your friends and family! Further details next term.
Let's get moving!
Supporting Sport Relief…
On Friday 18 March, children are invited to come into school in sports-related clothing and during the day they will be walking a mile around the school grounds. Children are asked to bring a donation of at least £1 to raise money for Sport Relief.
On-line safety
Thanks to the parents / carers who attended one of the two on-line safety workshops this week, led by experts from the NSPCC and O2. Parents were very positive about the sessions:
- “Very useful, especially the resources that I found out are available and the leaflets for further reference.”
- “Very informative and educational. Gave real-life examples. Definitely inspired to go on NSPCC website to educate myself more.”
- “Opened my eyes to lots of apps I had never heard of.”
- “I got some very useful tips on online safety. Has made me reconsider the lack of restrictions we have at home.”
- “Really eye-opening. Great to know where I can go to check apps out.”
Leeds Let’s Get Sugar Swapping!
Following the introduction of the Change4life Sugar Smart App, the Leeds Sugar Smart Challenge has been launched to ask families, schools and other organisations to share the amount of sugar they have saved by making sugar smart swaps. The Change4Life website has lots of information to help you to look for sugar on food labels if you are unable to access the app.
Leeds Sugar Smart Challenge features a city totalizer to record the number of sugar cubes saved, with prizes available at random to top swappers.
Children and Young People’s Plan
The ambition of Leeds City Council is for Leeds to be a child-friendly city. A child-friendly version of the city’s Children and Young People’s Plan has recently been launched; it was designed in consultation with pupils from primary and secondary schools across Leeds. As well as being a fun activity sheet, it is also a good way to share the city-wide vision directly with children and to raise their awareness of what Leeds City Council are doing to make Leeds the best city for children to live and grow up in.
The plan was recently reviewed by our School Council.
If you would like a printed copy of the plan, please ask at the office.
Children and young people are the future of our city, which is why we put them at the very heart of the growth strategy. We want Leeds to be a compassionate city with a strong economy, and it is really important that all our children and young people are supported to achieve their full potentials. The city-wide partnership approach in promoting and achieving the aims of the Leeds Children and Young People’s Plan is key to this.
Today's menu
Have you seen our new menu board on display in the dining room? This is updated daily to show the school dinner menu including the main course, vegetarian main and jacket potato option. If your child has their school dinner in the main hall they are encouraged to have a look at the board at the start of the day, playtime or at lunchtime.
You’re also welcome to have a look with your child/children.
The full weekly menu is still available, displayed on the dining room window and in our school meals section.
The Summer term menu has also been published with details of any new dishes. How to encourage others to try new dishes was recently discussed by our School Council. Suggestions included:
- Tell your friends if you have tried one of the new meals.
- Have a taster of a new meal.
In response to this, children can request a small taster of a new meal alongside their lunch. New dishes will be highlighted on the menu board.
Quick Sticks
Fifteen children (and several adults) set off from Moortown Primary early on the morning of Friday 26 February as part of forty teams competing in the Quick Sticks hockey competition at the Sportspark Weetwood. Fifteen hockey players (and several other adults…) returned. A fast-paced day of teamwork and good sportsmanship, with plenty of goals scored, leads us to look forward to the next Quick Sticks event!
We also look forward to working with Leeds Hockey Club back at school.
Thank you to all parents who helped with transport for this event.
