Scholes swimming success
You might have spotted this headline recently: Action urged to teach children to swim. The story’s about a sizeable proportion of primary children leaving school not being able to swim 25m – the expected level:
Almost a third of 11-year-olds in England leave primary school unable to swim, a representative sample of 1,000 parents of Year 6 pupils suggests.
And two-thirds of the parents, surveyed for Swim England, feared their child could not save themselves in water.
Not so at Scholes! We have 98% of children in Year 4 achieving the National Curriculum standard of swimming 25 metres this year! Only one child did not meet the standard and we plan to arrange some 1:1 sessions with our swimming coach for this pupil.
How writing progresses across year groups
Now that we’ve finished the school year, we thought you might be interested to see the progress in writing from year to year. Below is an example of writing from each year group. We’ve chosen a good, typical example, not a flawless one. Also, it’s important to note that teachers don’t assess a pupil’s writing skills on just one piece – it’s writing a selection of different pieces over time that matters.
At the end of Reception, this child used his phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds – while some words may not be correct, they are spelled in a way which is phonetically plausible (such as Crismers for Christmas). He has also accurately written some irregular common words (was, like, love). He could read back to the teacher his sentences – although a little small, the gaps between the words (we call them ‘finger spaces’) help.
Hamilton’s Hats is a great story, and it’s a great idea to get your child at home to re-tell a familiar story, even if it’s just orally, rather than in written form as it is here. Straight away you can see what progress is made in Year 1! Sentences are effectively demarcated with capital letters and full stops; also and is used to join two clauses (clauses are ‘chunks’ of words that could be a sentence on their own). The sequence of sentences build up to form a narrative (a story) – it doesn’t matter that the story is not the child’s own because of all the great skills they’re practising, and because they’re writing quite a lengthy piece, too, but it manages to stay coherent.
It’s not an expectation for Year 2 children to write in paragraphs or sections, but we find most children are able to do this, especially for non-narrative (non-story) writing such as this report (a report presents the reader with information, even if the information is fictional, as is the case here). In this writing, we can see a big jump in progress from the Year 1 piece, perhaps in two main ways: the range of punctuation used (we start to see question marks, exclamation marks, commas and apostrophes for contraction) and the neat, cursive handwriting. Also, more conjunctions are used: not just and, but also if, because, or, but.
You can also see the beginning of the writer’s editing. Next steps here would be to focus on identifying some of the spellings that need to be corrected: although it’s good the writer has made phonetically plausible attempts, like rooins and tortois, he now needs to have opportunities to check the spellings of at least some of the words. This is something you can practise at home: you could write a sentence with a deliberate spelling error, and your child could identify which word, and perhaps then go on to correct the spelling using a dictionary, or even try an internet search: if you Google ‘spell tortois‘, the first result will even say the word out loud, (it can be reassuring to hear the word you’ve found is the right one!).
This Year 3 writing is the same task as the Year 2 one – writing a report, a factual piece (even though the actual content uses the writer’s imagination). There are encouraging signs of progression: hyphens (Opy-Tom, for example); rhetorical questions (although these need a question mark); and – perhaps easiest to miss – a wider variety of ways to start sentences (The Opy-Tom… , These animals… , Only the cleverest… ).
There’s one example of what we call ‘squashed sentences’ or, more accurately, run-on sentences. Can you find it? (Answers at the end of this article.) Even though the writer has used a comma, it’s still not ideal, as the comma is too weak to split the two clauses up. (It’s called a comma splice – a very common error, but one that can really undermine good writing later on.)
This Year 4 writing takes the same idea as in Year 2 and Year 3, but this time the content is about a real animal – that in itself shows progression. We can see the variety of ways to start sentences continues to widen, and the choice of vocabulary for description is good. What this writer needs to do more of is be alert to the need for capital letters, and teachers in school are building in more times for children to edit and improve their writing.
This Year 5 piece of writing is narrative – part of a story. There are a few errors dotted throughout – this is before any editing and improving took place. There is a good range of sentences, from short and simple (these help to develop emphasis and pace) to longer, more complex ones (these help to build up description). Punctuation is progressing – there is now ellipsis, for example. We can also see paragraphs being used effectively, and some good word choices (spiteful, plodded). A flashback scene (beginning Timmy’s eyes flash before him) is an ambitious attempt to organise writing in a more unusual way.
Here we arrive at some Year 6 writing. The task is to write about an imaginary creature (‘brogs’), as we’ve seen before, but this time to also build in a story and to produce some journalistic writing, for a newspaper perhaps. And your task? Think about how this piece shows progression across the years…
Finally, in the Year 3 writing, where was the ‘squashed sentence’ with only a comma splice? Only the cleverest and rarest animal can get this animal, this creature is the golden breast eagle. Rather than use a comma, the writer would be better to use a full-stop, or – more advanced – a semi-colon (Only the cleverest and rarest animal can get this animal; this creature is the golden breast eagle.) or a dash (Only the cleverest and rarest animal can get this animal – this creature is the golden breast eagle.).
We hope...
…you have a happy and healthy summer holiday.
There’s a lot to get up to in and around Leeds. Breeze is a good place to start looking, and also check out What’s On in Leeds and Leeds List.
The summer holiday is a long one, so keep up with reading. Encourage your child to continue to read often – quarter of an hour, most days will be a great way to keep their reading skills strong and their love of reading alight.
It’s not just about books – reading a comic or magazine, a website, a recipe, First News newspaper are all good ways to keep your child reading. Why not take a trip to one of Leeds’ libraries – a local one, or why not try the Central Library in town for an afternoon trip out?
You might also want to keep your child’s number skills fresh, too. For younger ones, knowing their number bonds is a good start. For older children, knowing their times tables and corresponding division facts is so important.
Taking up these top tips for learning will be a great way for your child to return to school in September hitting the ground running as a confident learner.
Don’t forget our summer competition, too. Whether you go away or not, we want to see some maths done in an unusual place or using unusual things, or a pic that shows somewhere/something ordinary but which shows lots of maths.
Take a photo and send it to scholesoffice@spherefederation.org or print it out and bring to school in the first week back in September – entries must be in by 08.09.17. There will be prizes for great examples of the Extreme Maths. We’re looking forward to seeing your entries!
Whatever you get up to, have a great holiday. See you on Tuesday 05 September.
Well done...
…to all these children, and one or two others, who have all got 100% attendance this year – that’s an amazing achievement!
Goodbye...
…to all our wonderful Year 6 friends. We wish you lots of success and happiness and high school.
We also want to say goodbye to the staff who are leaving us today: Mr Cope and Miss Plienar; Mrs Ramsden (good, again!); and goodbye to these two characters…
Ask your child why Miss Walker is dressed so bizaarely, and why Mr Mills is feeling somewhat boxed in!
Newsletter feedback
We recently sent you you a newsletter with your child’s class next year, plus various summaries of the changes to uniform, homework etc, plus lots of key dates for the year ahead.
We’ve had a number of people comment favourably on this end-of-year newsletter. Here’s one comment:
I’ve just read the newsletter ‘Next Year’s Class’. Just thought I’d say thank you as it’s a really well thought out, informative document. It’s so useful to have the information on homework and also those dates for the diary early on.
‘Talk Time’ discussions sound great.
[We] appreciate all the hard work that is happening in school. Hope you all have a great summer.
Fab feedback
A little while ago, we posted some comments, the views of ‘outsiders’ – educational advisors, consultants and other Leeds headteachers. Here’s an update… Someone has recently visited our school to conduct some pupil interviews, much like what an inspector would do. Here are just a few of extracts from the feedback:
- ‘Without exception, the children proved to be extremely open and articulate.’
- ‘…it was clear that children at Scholes do indeed feel safe within the school environment. The children are trusting of adults in school and know they can approach them with any worries regarding bullying, they are confident such issues, which are infrequent, will be dealt with appropriately.’
- ‘Without exception all the children interviewed enjoyed school.’
Super swimming
We’re looking forward to awarding some superstar swimmers their first swimming certificates next week!
Election of a parent governor - voting now open
We recently wrote to all parents and carers regarding the Parent Governor vacancy, and to seek nominations. As the number of nominations received exceeds the number of Parent Governor vacancies, it is now necessary to hold a ballot.
There are seven candidates and you may vote for one candidate only. The ballot can be accessed via https://goo.gl/LUCBGF
The ballot closes at 12 noon on Tuesday 18 July 2017.
The attached letter provides full details of the voting process and the candidates’ statements.
David Roundtree, Head of Federation
EPOSS Summer Programme
The EPOSS Extended Services summer holiday activity programme still has places available.
There’s something for everyone: cooking, multi-sports, snorkelling, lifesaving, water polo, synchronised swimming, athletics, racket sports, Gaelic football, squash, arts and crafts and even a ‘Little Mix’ party!
Take a look at the EPOSS Extended Services brochure and download a booking form to reserve a place for your child today!