News

Our new SEAL theme for this half term is...

…relationships.

This theme explores feelings within the context of our important relationships including family and friends.

It aims to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in three key social and emotional aspects of learning: self-awareness, managing feelings and empathy.

There is a focus throughout the theme on helping children understand the feelings associated with an experience that we all need to cope with at some time: that of loss – whether of a favourite possession, a friend, a family home, or a loved one. Although relatively few children are bereaved, most will experience losses of other kinds during their childhood; losing a home, losing friends because of moving house or changing schools, or losing a pet are examples.

We would therefore ask for parents / carers to alert us to any experiences your child has had that might make this area particularly difficult for them – for example, a bereavement.

Attendance matters

With just four days left of this half-term, we still have 146 pupils who have 100% since 23 February – and that’s despite a bad case of chicken pox spreading like wildfire amongst our younger children!

For the whole year so far, there are 48 pupils with 100% – almost a quarter. In alphabetical order of surnames, well done Farhaan, Owen, Isaac, Ben, Ethan, Henry, Bella, Jack, Will, Vijay, Sam, William, Faye, Alexandra, Mia, Hibba, Byron, Lewis, Albie, Edward, Grace, Sachpreet, Isabelle, Natasha, Phoebe, Musa, Umaimah, Manya, Nico, Oliver, Aisha, Ethan, Lucas, Isabelle, Finn, Zeewa, Georgie, Alexander, Neive, Alex, Grace, Megan, Ebonnie, Albert, Archie, Jorja, Noah and Ethan!

As for each class, here are the attendance rates (with last year’s figure for the same period in brackets):

• Reception: 96.7% (96.1%) …that’s a great increase, so well done!
• Year 1: 97.3% (97.1%) …well done!
• Year 2: 96.4% (98.0%) …please help us increase this year’s figure.
• Year 3: 98.3% (97.6%) …this year’s figure is amazing – just like the class last year as Year 2.
• Year 4: 97.3% (96.7%) …another increase – great! 
• Year 5: 96.1% (97.9%) …please help us increase this year’s figure.
• Year 6: 97.3% (97.0%) …well done – the fifth class to have a higher attendance rate than last year!

We’re really happy with the fact there are five classes with higher attendance rates than last year. For the whole school, our attendance rate is 97.1%. This is good, although last year was just a little better: 97.2%%.

Thank you to all parents who have tried so hard to ensure your child is happy and healthy and at school as much as they can be.

Some important news: from September 2015, attendance lower than 90% will be regarded as persistent absence. This means we would contact the local authority’s Attendance Team with regard to visiting to support and advise families where attendance is too low. This would include three children in Reception, one in Year 1, three in Year 2, three in Year 4 and one in Year 5 – eleven children in total. (Year 3 and Year 6 have no pupils where attendance is lower than 90%.)

Fantastic feedback

Yesterday, we were visited by a headteacher and senior school leader from a school in Stoke. They came to find out more about our creative curriculum – how we plan our topics to ensure we have exciting topics that cover the National Curriculum. Here’s some lovely feedback…

I just wanted to thank you for the time you spent with us yesterday. The curriculum was everything we hoped it would be and is exactly what we need to help us move our provision to the next level. I appreciate the hard work you have obviously spent on this area and it is good to meet another team who are committed to ensuring learning is truly personalised to the pupils’ needs and are dedicated to working to achieve it.

As I said yesterday it was great to meet another head who has the same vision, enthusiasm and excitement for education that I feel I have… not to mention the same attention to detail!

Your school is an absolute credit to you and I hope that we will have opportunities to work together in the future.

Curriculum enrichment themed week

Themed weeks are always popular. Next week, we try something new – five consecutive themed days, each centred around a particular subject of the curriculum. A variety of events and visitors are planned.

On Monday, we’ll focus on Maths. We welcome the Happy Puzzle Company to school for a Puzzle Challenge Day. Using large 3D puzzles and challenges, pupils will improve their personal learning skills, thinking skills and team-working skills, whilst boosting their confidence in the processes used.

After school on Monday, there will be an opportunity for you to come and buy a puzzle or two. Happy Puzzle Company will be in The Space and will have a large range of puzzles available for you to buy. You should have received details and a voucher about this – ask at the office if you haven’t.

All lessons on Tuesday will have a Science theme. Children from Year 1 to Year 6 will be joined by Hands on Science, and will take part in their CSI Fingerprints workshop. Children will take their own fingerprints and be shown how to identify and find the characteristics that make them unique.

We’ll be enjoying a play by the Quantum Theatre on Wednesday: ‘The Writing on the Wall’. This will help us focus on composition, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation in our English.

Thursday and Friday mornings will see the return of the ever-popular learning carousel! Groups containing children from each class, Reception to Year 6, will focus on different areas of the curriculum: Art, Music, Computing, Geography, PE and DT. There will also be taster sessions in Urdu (led by our own Mrs Maqbool) and Mandarin (led by Master Mandarin). Children will rotate through the groups and will take part in all of these activities.

In addition, we’re hoping to welcome a local newsreader to an assembly – Harry Gration. He will speak to the children about the importance of Maths and English in his job at Look North.

Attendance matters

So far this year, our attendance rate is about the same as last year, which is impressive considering the amount of bugs going around just before Christmas. Here are the attendance figures for the first three half-terms (with last year’s data in brackets):

• Reception: 96.4%  (95.7%)
• Year 1: 97.7%  (97.1%)
• Year 2: 97.3%  (97.9%)
• Year 3: 98.2%  (97.5%) …This is great: the highest attendance in school!
• Year 4: 97.0%  (96.9%)
• Year 5: 95.7%  (98.3%) …Please do make sure your child is at school unless it is absolutely necessary.
• Year 6: 97.2%  (96.9%)
• Total for the whole school: 97.1% (97.2%)

Don’t forget we have another 100% attendance competition this half-term! Currently, 175 children have 100% this half-term so far!

BBC Radio Leeds Thank You Teacher Awards 2015

BBC Radio Leeds is launching its Thank You Teacher Awards inviting people from across West Yorkshire to nominate their most inspirational teacher. From pre-school to primary, secondary, FE and extra-curricular, this is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the work of teachers across the region.

They’re asking for a 250-word submission and for those aged 16 and under there’s a special category which means they can submit a short film about the teacher who most inspires them.

Closing date is Tuesday 31 March 2015.

The winners, runners up and nominators will be invited to a special Awards Ceremony at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on the evening of Monday 15 June 2015.

Visit the BBC Leeds website for the application form and terms and conditions.

Attendance matters!

Put simply: taking a term-time absence will affect your child’s attainment – this conclusion is based on data over the past five school years. Research shows:

• the higher the percentage of sessions missed across Key Stage 2, the lower the likely level of attainment at the end of Year 6
• there is a gradual decrease in achievement as overall absence rates increase
• pupils with no absence are 1.6 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above, and 4.7 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above, than pupils that missed 15-20 per cent of all sessions
• pupils with the lowest five per cent of overall absence rates are 1.4 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above in reading and maths tests and 3.3 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above in reading and maths tests than pupils with the highest five per cent of overall absence rates

This research is based on national data. At Moortown, the picture is similar:

Read the full story from the Department for Education here.

Read the research here.

Supporting your child's maths at home

This article is a thought-provoking read, and might inspire you to support your child in different ways; in it, Professor Jo Boaler sets out this list of top tips for parents who want to support their child in Maths:

1. Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games at home. Anything with a dice will help them enjoy maths and develop numeracy and logic skills.
2. Never tell children they are wrong when they are working on maths problems. There is always some logic to what they are doing. So if your child multiplies three by four and gets seven, try: “Oh I see what you are thinking, you are using what you know about addition to add three and four. When we multiply we have four groups of three…”
3. Maths is not about speed. In younger years, forcing kids to work fast on maths is the best way to start maths anxiety, especially among girls.
4. Don’t tell your children you were bad at maths at school. Or that you disliked it. This is especially important if you are a mother.
5. Encourage number sense*. What separates high and low achievers in primary school is number sense.
6. Encourage a “growth mindset” – the idea that ability changes as you work more and learn more.

More homework? No - more encouragement

We had a record number of parents / carers who attended parents’ evenings this week – thank you to all who showed up.

A small number of parents asked for more homework. Please bear in mind we asked your views about homework in the Annual Survey last year, and the findings were quite mixed: some thought there was too much whilst about the same proportion thought there was not enough. The majority agreed with us: the amount of homework we set is about right.

Taken from our Homework Policy, this is our rationale for giving homework:

Educational experience that a school by itself provides is limited; children benefit from wider, complementary experiences out of school. However, some prompts and guidance from school can direct these experiences and develop greater learning. We see homework as an important example of cooperation between teachers and parents / carers. An aim of our teaching is to promote independent learners; homework is one of the ways in which children can acquire the skill of independent learning.

We recognise the importance of quality family time; this policy should help to promote opportunities to be creative rather than labour over frequent worksheets or carry out activities that pupils and / or parents / carers may not understand.

Whilst homework develops children’s learning and independence, quality family time, play and free time are also important. Homework should not prevent children from taking part in wider activities such as those offered by out-of-school clubs and other organisations. Children develop their interests and skills to the full only when parents/carers encourage them to make maximum use of the opportunities available outside school.

Also in our Homework Policy is this statement:

We believe the frequency of homework set out here provides the right balance for pupils and meets the expectations of most parents (whose opinions we sought in the Annual Survey, 2014). Staff may occasionally provide additional homework; this will amount to two or three extra pieces across the year. As an alternative, staff will be happy to suggest to parents other ways they can support their child’s learning at home.

Please do not expect extra homework for you child to be set as a matter of routine. Governors want to protect teachers work / life balance, but – importantly – we believe extra homework would not be helpful for most pupils.

Parents' evening

In the Autumn term, at Parents’ Evening, we sent the first Learning Update to you – a document showing where your child’s attainment is. We did this because, in the Annual Surveys, lots of you told us you want more frequent updates about how your child is doing. The second Learning Update will be given to you at Parents’ Evening next week.

You will notice this version looks a bit different. This is because we’re trialling a new assessment system to track pupils’ attainment.

This change is a result of the current government’s decision to withdraw the system of ‘levels’ used to report children’s attainment and progress. Instead, schools are being encouraged to monitor and report whether children are on track to meet end-of-year age-related expectations.

Terms such as ‘Level 4’ or ‘Level 5’ are being phased out. The current Year 2 and Year 6 classes are the last who will be given levels at the end of the year. (A Year 2 child is expected to reach Level 2B or 2A; a child in Year 6 is expected to reach Level 4 and ideally at least a Level 4B.)

There are three important things to note:

1. The new National Curriculum has much higher expectations. Last term’s Learning Ladder was based on the old National Curriculum whereas this one is on the new, more demanding curriculum. As a result, you may find your child does not appear to have made progress – this is due to the higher expectations.
2. Schools are being encouraged not to push children too quickly towards learning in older year groups. Instead, children should develop “mastery” and “deep understanding” – this means ensuring children can use and apply their skills and knowledge more independently and in more circumstances. This point is most relevant in Maths.
3. Your child’s attainment  in spelling, punctuation and grammar (‘SPAG’) will be included in our amended Learning Updates, reflecting increased importance placed by the current government on this aspect of your child’s education.

At the moment, like all schools, we’re in a period of change. If you have any questions or concerns, please do speak with me or Mrs Weekes.