Latest Poll Results: Favourite Seasons

The latest poll results are in! (click the image for the larger version!)

We asked you what your favourite time of the year was. Unsurprisingly a whopping 45% of you preferred the hot weather of Summer.

Spring was also very popular with 30% of the votes, while autumn remains rather unpopular with a measley 10%.

Our new poll is now live - why not take a moment to tell us what your ideal Christmas present would be!

School Closure - November 30th

Dear Parents,

As you will be aware the combined teacher and school leadership trade unions will be taking industrial action on the Wednesday 30^th November.

The action (a one day strike) will result in class or whole school closures across the country.

Moor Hall School will be closed for all pupils on this day.

Please click here to download a copy of the letter that has been sent home with children.

Pudsey says "thank you" for all your donations!

A huge thankyou to all who took part and brought in their spare change for "Pennies For Pudsey" day last Friday.

With your help, we were able to raise £202.76 for Children in Need!

Thursday in India

I had a lovely day in school today. I saw art, science maths and EVS which is Environmental Studies. I also went to Baking Club and saw them make chocolate cake. The Internet is having problems tonight so this is short and sweet with no photos. This time tomorrow I'll be waiting for my flight to Dubai and then onto to final flight to Birmingham. I'm not sure how I'll cope with the cold and damp!

Wednesday in India

Another busy day in India, but at least the sun has been shining. I'm going to miss this lovely weather! The day was spent in school. I spent the morning with senior managers talking about our timetable at Moor Hall, and how we deliver lessons. The Head Teacher is AB Situ or AB Sir. He is quite a character and amongst other things owns a farm and wants to breed Bantom hens. The morning was very intense but really interesting. There is a huge contrast between the way we teach and the way the schools in Chandigarh teach. Sir was particularly interested in our differentiation and the way we taught subjects. In India the children have literacy, maths, Hindi, Science and P.E. every day. They have art twice per week along with ICT. The children go to school every other Saturday for half a day. School starts at 8.00 and they go home at 2.00. buses take the children home - almost to their door. If their parents work there is usually an adult - grand mother - at home when they get there. The children often have after school activities like sports or music lessons. They must pay extra for this. There is maths homeowork for them every day and other subjects take it in turns so there isn't an overload. All the classes have more than 30 chldren in them. the Y1 class had 43 and the Y2 class had 37. There is no classroom assistant. I saw some lovely lessons and the Y2 children acted out a play about Mahatma Gandhi. I have added a photograph of the young man who played that part. Mrs. Collins and Y5 so lovely to get your comments. Here are the answers to the questions you asked... 1. No I haven't been in a tuk tuk yet, ... not sure I will ... if you joined the traffic here you'd understand! 2. We are staying in a hotel quite close to all our schools. The beds are very comfortable. 3. I'm not sure how many children are in class 5 but will have a better idea tomorrow when I go and see them, and I promise to take a photograph of them for you all. The children are taught in English, and this can be aproblem for some children whose parents don't speak English at home. 4. Mr. Nek Chand did live amongst his recycled garden. the ceiling of his home is made from a pattern of stones. You can see this in the photograph I posted yesterday.

5. They have a teacher of Hindi who comes into school every day. I watched a Y1 class playing a game to support their phonics activities. 6. I am very sorry to say that I haven't met a Bollywood star. However one of the schools has had Kangana Ranaut as a student along with Kapil Dev who used to play cricket. For those who are interested, I think we may visit the Chandigarh cricket ground on Friday before we go to the airport. 6. The Golden Temple was fantastic. We did go inside, thakfully it was arranged for us to go straight in and not queue up . We were taken inside and up the stairs to where the oldest book the Guru Granth Sahib is kept. This is a very spiritual book and we were able to see it. 7. Would I go back to India? Without a doubt! Mrs. Collins you would love it, I'm not sure I'm up to taking 30 children however, it took a great deal of time and effort sorting myself, Miss Kaur and Miss Wood out this time!! It's our last full day tomorrow. I'll add my final blog tomorrow before I arrive home safely on Saturday. Finally Y5 you will be pleased to hear that I have told everyone I meet to vote for your song. When is the closing date?

Tuesday in India

Another busy day. Miss Wood, Miss Kaur and I went to the DAV School today. We were welcomed by a group of army cadets. We went into the school and one of the students presented us with a garland of fresh flowers and we had a Puja ( a red spot on our foreheads as an expression of honour). We spent the day looking around the school and talking with students. We observed a maths lesson - very different to the ones at Moor Hall. We had our photographs taken and it seems we may appear in a newspaper tomorrow. Miss Wood is already famous and has had her photograph published! We saw some of the younger children who were also involved with a maths lesson - counting chicks, and very small children who were tired after lunch and having a rest. This afternoon we went to Rock Garden. It really didn't sound very exciting. However, I couldn't have been more wrong! The whole area has been created from recycled products like broken crockery, sacks of cement, old cooking pots. There were birds made from broken bangles and walls made from old plastic sockets embedded in concrete. It really is a fascinating way to use broken things. The gentleman who created it is called Nek Chand. He began building it as a result of the partition between India and Pakistan and the fact that he was left with nothing. We were invited to meet him. He kindly invited us into his home - which is in the Rock Garden. He has won a prestigious award and travelled all over the work to talk about his design. Finally today we were invited into the home of Nina Mimani who I have been emailing. Her mother-in-law had made samosas for us and then showed us how to make them. We then made our own and ate them. Yum!

Latest News and Children's Work!

We have several updates on the website this week.

First up we have a new newsletter - dated 14th November. This newsletter covers our recent goings on in school, including our entry into the Y-Factor competition and Pennies for Pudsey day on Friday. It also covers Mrs Gore's adventure to India with other staff from around the Four Oaks Cluster. You can read our latest newsletter on the news page of the school website, or by clicking here.

The second addition to the website today is some great artwork from Years 3 and 4. Both classes have been exploring the use of primary colours; Year 3 with art inspired by Sean Scully and Year 4 with repeat patterns. Year 3 have also been experimenting with blending using oil pastels!

Take a look at their yeargroup work pages to see their latest art:

• Year 3 Work
• Year 4 Work

Pennies for Pudsey Day

Friday 18th November is Children in Need Day, and we will be holding our annual

Pennies for Pudsey Day

We would like children to bring in as much loose change as possible.

All the money will be collected on Children in Need Day and banked, a certificate of thanks will be presented to the school later.

Thanks, Steve Gosling ( Dad of Emily, Y6)

Monday in India

Do you have an analogue watch? If you turn it upside down you will see the time in India. So it is currently 12.20 a.m. here and 18.50 pm with you! Today was a busy school day. The whole school celebrated Children's Day. This is a day given to children by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru because he loved children. He is known as the Architect of Modern India and was the first Prime Minister following Independence. It is held on his birthday. He was educated at Oxford and is Mrs. Indira Gandi's father. On this day the teachers entertain the children in all kinds of ways. Some schools close for half a day (in the afternoon). There are races and competitions. In Saupin's School the children held races against the teachers and also a three legged race. Mrs. Glare would have loved the part where the Aero-modelling Club launched their model plane round and round the recreation ground. First one hawk (sorry but not sure which sort) then another hovered above watching the plane. I was glad they didn't swoop! I met the Founder of Saupin's School today. Mrs. Saupin Ma'am. The children call the teachers by their first name and to show respect add ma'am at the end (or sir if it's a man), so the teachers are Nina Ma'am or Jasmin Ma'am. I wonder how our teachers would feel about it? The children make party hats and can win prizes. We also went to the Millennium School where the teachers - ladies and gentlemen danced a traditional Punjabi folk dance. The children were very excited and tried to guess who their teacher was because they were dressed in traditional dress. We went shopping this evening too in the local area Sector 17 and Sector 22. Mr. Winter, we are about 5 minutes from the cricket ground where the semi final of world cup was held. I will ask the children the questions as soon as I get the opportunity. Tomorrow is another early start - up at 6.00 am - hmmm not sure 5 hours sleep is enough!

We have the Y-Factor - Please Support Us!

The Y-Factor is about everyone understanding WHY we need to cross our roads safely and HOW to do that.

Moor Hall Primary are extremely proud to be one of the three Y-Factor finalists! Ed and Rachel from Heart FM came into school early in November to talk to the children of Year 5 about their entry. They also brought a professional film crew with them, who shot the children performing their song. The video is now up on the Y-Factor website - why not take a look!

Please show your support by visiting the Y-Factor website and casting a vote for Moor Hall Primary School!

http://www.yfactor.org.uk/

You can visit this link as many times as you want to keep voting - Ed and Rachel even encourage you to do this! Remember to tell all of your family and friends so they can vote too! 

Voting will close on Friday 9 December 2011 and the winners will be announced on the Y-Factor web-site on Monday 12 December 2011.

Sunday in Amritsar

We finally arrived in Chandigarh on 12th November at 17.30. We were greeted by representatives from our schools with lovely flowers. We spent the evening with the Principle of Saupin's School and his colleague who I have been in touch with. Her name is Nina Mimani. By the time we went to bed we had been awake for about 33 hours!
It was a very early start today at 4.45 a.m. in order to visit first Jallianwala Bagh (which means Fire Place). It is the place a massacre took place in 1919. Then on to The Golden Temple in Amritsar. It was quite an experience. The number of people who visit on a Sunday is unbelievable. They queue for hours to get inside. What was more unbelievable was that we were taken through without queuing. It was fabulous.

We were then taken to the Pakistan border at Wagah which is named after a village near-by. A ceremony takes place here each day, where the border is opened for 30 minutes. People are able to watch. We were given seats right at the front. We were also able to meet up with our other two colleagues who are staying outside Chandigarh.

We arrived back very late and it is now 12.40 a.m. and I need some sleep.

School tomorrow.

I'll add more tomorrow to let you know how I got on.

Class 4 & 5 is there anything you would like to me to ask the children you've written to when I meet them? Add it as a comment at the bottom of this page.

In the photos you can see us leaving at Birningham Airport in Friday, The crowds at the golden ?Temple - taken from the top of the tower, myself and Miss Wood at the Golden Temple and me touching a part of Pakistan with my finger!

Mrs. Gore in India

Global School Partnerships

Tomorrow I am going to India as a representative of Moor Hall School. The funding is through the British Council and the objective is to develop further the partnership we have with Saupin's School in Chandigarh which is the Punjab - North India.

I am going with 4 other teachers all from local Four Oaks schools and we return next Saturday 19th November. I arrive on Saturday 12th November at 16.30 (it will be about 11.00 a.m. in Birmingham).Follow my Blogging and look at the photographs. I hope to be able add some posts from about Monday onwards - when I'll be working in the school itself.

Mrs. Gore

Easyfundraising for Christmas?

As Christmas approaches it is a great time of year to start using http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/.

Easyfundraising is a directory of over 2000 of the UK’s best known retailers including Argos, Amazon, NEXT, Debenhams, John Lewis, Boots, The Entertainer, Toys R Us, HMV, Comet, Virgin Holidays and even Ebay! Just use the links on the easyfundraising site whenever you shop online and, at no extra cost to you, the PA will receive a free donation of up to 15% from every purchase you make. You still shop directly with each retailer as you would normally, but simply by using the links from the easyfundraising website first, each purchase will generate a cashback donation for the school. It really is that simple! It’s completely FREE to register and you won’t pay a penny more for your shopping - in fact you can even SAVE MONEY as many retailers offer discounts, special offers and even 'e-vouchers' exclusive to easyfundraising.By shopping through this directory, you won't spend any more than you usually would, but at the same time you will be earning money for Moor Hall Primary School.

For more information on Easyfundraising and a step-by-step guide to using it, see the PA's newsletter here.

Four Oaks Cluster Schools in the News

Moor Hall pupils (and others from the Four Oaks Cluster) attended an event held at the Arthur Terry School just before the half-term holidays. During the event, MP Andrew Mitchell was questioned by the children, with issues ranging from what his job was like to environmental issues and student fees!

Click on the image above to see the full size scan of the article that appeared in last weeks Sutton Observer (dated November 4th 2011).

Holiday Poll Results

Why not have a look at the results of our most recent poll on what you did over the holidays?

Shopping, watching TV and using the computer seem to be popular activities. Quite a few of you were also doing chores - what a shame!

Click on the pie chart to see a larger version of the results, and feel free to have a go at our new poll!

Latest Newsletter added to the website

A newsletter, dated October 21st has just gone live on the website.

This newsletter went out to parents just before the holidays, and covers Miss Guest's new baby boy, parent governor appointments, clubs, job vacancy information among other things.

You can read this newsletter by clicking here.