Bikeability:       5LM have been enjoying their Bikeability training this half term (Summer 2024). The children have gained confidence using two wheels, boosted their cycling skills and, for our more confident riders, have been learning how to cycle safely on the roads. The cycling team have praised the class for their excellent listening skills and fantastic attitude to improving their cycling.

 

Visit to China:            In the week commencing 15^th April, I was part of a delegation from England to visit Wuhan in China to set up exchange visits between our schools. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and kindness that I was shown while I was there. It was fascinating to see how Chinese primary schools are run and interesting to see the scale of them; the ones I visited had between 3000-5000 pupils and they are all desperate for us to send some pupils to visit them. They also want to send some children to see how we teach at Moat House. I have applied for a grant to enable us to take some children to visit our sister schools in Wuhan and if we are awarded the funding I'll be talking with children and parents to arrange the trip. It will be the trip of a lifetime!

 

Attendance Rewards:     We are excited to share with you our two amazing attendance and punctuality competitions that we are currently running in school. Firstly we have our brand new Punctuality Challenge, where children can earn a trip to something really exciting like bowling, the cinema, McDonald’s or soft play. The actual prize will be decided after feedback from classes to the School Council. To be entered into the draw to win this prize, children need to arrive at school before 8:50 am to earn a ticket that will go into the draw. Children will therefore be able to earn five tickets every week. If your name is drawn out of the hat, YOU WIN! This will be running until Friday 17^th May with the draw being held in the last week of term. Secondly we have our Attendance Challenge which runs until July. The prize for this will be a trip to Smyths to spend £100 on whatever the child picks. This could be video games, soft toys, bikes or Lego; literally anything the children would like. There will be three separate winners for this! To be in with a chance, children’s attendance will have to be over 96% between now and the end of the school year; this means that children can miss no more than two days . More details will be coming out in the forthcoming weeks - keep your eye on the school newsletter and website. Good Luck!

 

1RW’s Class Assembly:       On Friday 19^th April, we enjoyed a wonderful assembly courtesy of 1RW – they shared that they had recently been on a trip to Bell Green Library, where they learnt about different types of books, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. They have also been reading story books in class and they told us about some of the authors that they have been introduced to, including Alex Scheffler and Julia Donaldson. They also sang a song about their love of reading and did a fantastic job of remembering the words. Thank you 1RW!

 

Year 5 Visit to Black Country Museum:      On Wednesday 17^th April, Year 5 visited the Black Country Living Museum as part of their upcoming topic on the Industrial Revolution. During the visit, the children had the chance to visit various shops and buildings from the Victorian era, such as a chemist, homes belonging to rich and poor families and a Victorian school. They also had the opportunity to speak to Victorian characters, who explained what life was like back then. For the final part of the trip, the children went down a coal mine and experienced for themselves what it would have been like to have been a coal mine worker during the time. Altogether, the children had a fantastic time and learned a lot about the era. 

 

Bikeability in Year 5: Over the last couple of weeks, 5LM have been enjoying their first sessions of Bikeability. The sessions have involved the children learning how to safely get on and off a bike, how to push themselves off to start riding and how to ride a bike correctly. For the more confident bike riders, an explanation of how to signal before turning was given and the children then had the chance to try out the skill. All of the children have been really well behaved and cannot wait for their next sessions.

Governors’ Awards:      On Thursday 11^th April, a special ceremony was held to recognise children at Moat House, who have worked hard or shown good behaviour or attitude during the Spring term. The following children were awarded with a certificate and a voucher, in front of a very proud audience of parents, governors and staff, for their hard work and achievements.

 

Year 6 Warwick University Visit:           On Thursday 11^th April, thirty Year 6 pupils visited Warwick University to take part in a Lego robotics workshop. This involved writing codes to make a robot perform certain actions (such as speeding up, slowing down, turning or making sounds) when their sensors spotted different things. To do this, the children had to create some tricky algorithms and repair them when they didn't work correctly. After this, the children were taught all about university life and took part in a question and answer session with some student ambassadors. To finish the day, the children were taken on a tour of the university. Everyone had a great day and all of the children are now very excited to go to university when they grow up! Well done Year 6.

Year 1 Library Visit:      In the week commencing 8^th April, Year 1 visited Bell Green Library. They were very excited and many children pointed out parts of the local area that they were familiar with. Once there, we met the librarian and learnt about the different books that they had, which included fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We had time to browse the books and read some of them and the librarian read some of her favourites to us too. We had such a great visit and we hope to return again next half term!

 

 

Word of the Day:         One of our key areas as a school this term is to develop our children’s vocabulary. Every day, your children will be introduced to a new word and as well as discussing the definition, we will also help children use the word in sentences that they say and write. Every week in the newsletter we will share the latest words of the week. Please help us to develop your children’s use of language by encouraging them to use the words at home.

5JK’s Assembly:      Thank you to 5JK who shared a wonderful assembly on Friday 22^nd March all about Australia. They shared some fascinating information, including that 10% of all the world’s fish live in the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the fact that there is so much desert in Australia that it appears red from space! We all enjoyed listening to an extract of an aboriginal playing a didgeridoo and the children did a super job of singing the national anthem, Advance Australia Fair.

 

Book Fair:      Our Book Fair was collected on Wednesday 20^th March and we would like to thank you all for visiting and purchasing books for your children to enjoy. As an additional bonus, the school will receive a percentage of the total number of books purchased, to buy more books for our school library. Happy reading everyone!

 

Key Stage 2 Engineering:     Our Year 4, 5 and 6 children enjoyed a visit from Warwick University’s Engineering Team on Wednesday 20^th March and explored lots of different aspects of engineering and how it influences everyday life. Years 4 and 5 got involved in a range of experiments, including generating electricity with their bare hands and making submarines sink and float. Year 6 enjoyed coding to create their own unique pieces of machine embroidery. All of the children had a fantastic time, and many would now like to become engineers themselves!

 

Rocksteady:   We were privileged to watch the first live performances from our five rock bands on Tuesday 19^th March. Children from Reception through to Year 6 played or sang to us and they were all brilliant! Each group had drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals and the children showed how much they have learned since starting in January. I’m already looking forward to the Summer concert!

 

Parents’ Evening: Thank you to those people who were able to attend parents’ evening in the week commencing 18^th March. If you were unable to see your child’s teacher, please don’t hesitate to request a separate appointment, either via the school office or by speaking to your child’s class teacher.

Red Nose Day:  Thank you for your support by enabling your children to dress in red on Friday 15^th March for Red Nose Day. Your children took part in activities in class, which included decorating a biscuit. We managed to raise £227.17 in total. Thank you.

 

Year 4 Camping:         On Thursday 14^th March, there were lots of excited Year 4 children because they had the opportunity to stay overnight at school in tents. Despite the rain, the children all had a wonderful time playing torch tig, hide and seek with the highlight of the evening being a camp fire where they enjoyed s’mores.

 

Year 3 Music Workshop:         On Wednesday 13^th March, Year 3 took part in Coventry Music's Creature Cantata II - a singing festival for local Schools - at Coventry Central Hall. They have been working hard this term to learn ten songs which celebrate nature and the animal kingdom. In the afternoon, the children participated in a workshop, alongside children from other schools. In the evening, the children then sang to an audience, accompanied by a live band! The children had a fantastic day and sang beautifully. Thank you very much to the parents who were able to come and watch the performance. Mark Steele, who organised the event, complimented our children’s singing and behaviour.

 

Severn Trent Assembly: On Wednesday 13^th March, the children learnt a lot from a Super Sewers assembly, led by Beth from Severn Trent Water. Beth talked to the children in an interactive way about what should and shouldn’t be put down the toilet or down the sink. They introduced a memorable phrase to the children: “don’t be a blocker, be a binner,” which will hopefully keep all of our toilets and drains, at home and school, clear from problems.  

 

Year 5 Visit to Grace Academy: On Tuesday 12^th March, Year 5 were fortunate enough to visit Grace Academy to watch their students in a performance of Matilda. It was lovely to see some of our previous students on stage performing in such a confident manner. The Year 5 children thoroughly enjoyed the show and are looking forward to the next one.

 

School Council: On Monday 11^th March, our Key Stage 1 School Council members visited Castle Wood, where they shared the work they have been doing on improving waste collection on the shared school site. They all represented Moat House brilliantly and were treated to an Easter egg hunt, as a reward for their excellent work!