Y-Factor - Behind the Scenes Footage!

If you've been following the school blog, you'll know that Year 5 recently took part in the "Y-Factor", a competition in which Birmingham schools were tasked with writing and performing their own song all about road safety.

Out of the 40-odd schools that entered the competition, Moor Hall Primary did fantastically well in coming out in the top three and finishing the competition with the runner-up title. Huge congratulations go to Year 5 for their efforts, and many thanks to everyone who voted for Moor Hall Primary!

Loads of fun was had over the course of the Y-Factor, and to witness some of this watch the video below, which takes us behind the scenes on the day when Ed & Rachel from Heart FM came to visit!



Enjoy the video, leave a comment below, and have a very Merry Christmas!

Extended School Clubs for the Spring Term

The Extended School Clubs page on the website has now been updated with the latest club information for next term. The new advance booking form is also available online, so book your places now to avoid disappointment!


The complete list of clubs on offer next half-term are:

• Orienteering
• Netball
• ICT Club
• Volleyball
• Indoor Tennis
• Football

New choir songs on the website

All of this years Christmas songs have now been added to the choir page of the website so that you can learn them!

No fewer than 25 songs have been added - why not click here to take a look!

Mrs Gore's Adventure - the Video!

As we all know, Mrs Gore recently visited India along with some teachers from other schools in the Four Oaks Cluster.

She experienced some of the culture of India, saw the Golden Temple and watched the ceremony of the opening of the gates in Wagah - the border between India and Pakistan.

She also visited some of Moor Hall Primary's link schools - Saupin's School and Milennium School, where she watched performances by teachers on National Children's Day, and some superb presentations by children in lessons.

Watch the video below to see the highlights of Mrs Gore's adventure!

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!