Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Reading Books:

  Fri 04 Sep 2020
  Reading books will be sent home with children regularly and when these are returned to school, they will be placed in a “Quarantine Box” for 48 hours before they are returned to the communal storage area in school. Please be assured that teachers and teaching assistants will be fully aware of each child’s reading stage and ability and new reading books will be sent home when it is appropriate.

• Holidays in Term Time:

  Thu 03 Sep 2020
  Can I remind you that I am not legally allowed to give children time off during term time to go on holiday.  This was a decision made by the Government a few years ago. At this time of the year many families are planning their holidays for Easter or the Summer. Can you please check our holiday dates when booking them. Thank you.

• Golden Mile:

  Wed 02 Sep 2020
  Children in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 are taking part in the Golden Mile to improve their fitness levels. Every Tuesday and Friday the children run/jog/walk around the school field for 10 minutes. Children’s laps around the school field are then collected so that we can track how children’s fitness and stamina improves over the year. It would be very helpful if children can ensure that they have trainers or pumps in school on these days.

• Bees:

  Wed 02 Sep 2020
  After working closely with Cardinal Wiseman last summer term I have obtained a small colony of bees who are living in a hive in the wildlife area (which has an 18 foot fence around it). I am hopeful that we will get some Moat House honey from them later in the term which the children will all get a taste of. We have purchased some extra sets of protective clothing and may let some of the older children watch a hive inspection later in the term. We will ask for parental consent before anyone does this.

• School Bank:

  Wed 24 Jun 2020
  On Tuesday 21^st June, the Moat House School Bank opened its doors and took its first deposits. A number of children have now opened accounts and are saving hard for things like spending money for their holidays. If you would like to begin saving using the School Bank, please complete an application form and bring your first deposit along to the bank, which is open every Tuesday morning at 8:40 am. Forms are available from the school office.

• Sun Safe Schools:

  Thu 18 Jun 2020

  You should have received a booklet and a letter in the week beginning 13th June explaining about us becoming a Sun Safe school and helping to protect our children from the risk of skin cancer. I have been able to negotiate a discount with a sun hat provider which will enable us to subsidise the costs so we can sell them on for just £2 each. These hats will protect the children's ears and necks as well as their heads. There will be more information about this in the week beginning 20th June.

• School 'Hand Values'

  Wed 13 May 2020
  We have reviewed our Mission Statement and combined it with our 'Hand Values'. These state simply and clearly what we aim to achieve and what we expect from our pupils. Each child has been given a copy to share with you. We will be referring to it a lot over the coming weeks and months at school.

• Active Kids Vouchers:

  Wed 06 May 2020
  We are now collecting Active Kids vouchers which are given to customers who shop at Sainsburys. The vouchers collected will enable us to gain sports and cooking equipment to benefit all of our children. The collection box is located in the corridor just outside the Year 5 classrooms. We will be very grateful for all vouchers collected.

• Forest Schools:

  Fri 03 Apr 2020
  We have successfully started our very own Forest School, here on site. Since last October, two members of staff have obtained the training and have been working with a group of children on a six week programme, to help build on their outdoor skills, confidence and self-esteem. Each week the children go out to the Forest School site, where they complete a set task and are let loose to explore the outdoors! The types of awesome activities the children have been involved in are: scavenger hunts, making dream catchers, creating tree guardians, safely building a camp fire, identifying the flora and fauna and much more. The ethos of Forest Schools Education is for all children to be able to learn new skills in a fun and exciting way but still linking it to the curriculum. All of the children, who have been involved have thoroughly enjoyed themselves and can’t wait for the next thrilling session!

• Building Learning Power (BLP):

  Wed 12 Feb 2020
  Staff received further BLP training on the teacher day at the start of the Spring term. The idea behind BLP is that if children learn how to become better at learning they will make better progress and will develop strategies which they can use for the rest of their lives when they come across a problem that needs to be solved. This term we will be continuing to work with children on the subject of Perseverance. They will be covering five areas: what to do when they get stuck; emotional toughness - expecting learning to be 'hard work' and not giving up if things aren't 'easy'; managing distractions - knowing what or who to avoid so they can get on with their learning; dealing with challenge - resisting the temptation to stick with 'easy', can-do activities; and goal orientation - being able to set and work towards achievable goals. Can you please help us by encouraging your children to have a 'can do' attitude. If they tell you that they can't do something, can you please say to them the same thing that we'll be saying at school - "You can, but just not yet!"