Author: Mr Roundtree

It’s been great to welcome you all back after the Autumn half-term.

Have you noticed the new video on our website homepage? If not, do check it out – you might even spot your own child somewhere! We’ve lots of new pics coming soon, too – keep a look out.

The more your child attends school…

…the more they’ll learn! Our attendance for the first half-term of the year was 96.2%. That’s a good figure, but let’s try to make it to 97% by Christmas!

A few classes are already beating that target. Well done to…

• Class 1,2B (Mrs Latham’s class) – 97.3%
• Class 3,4A (Miss Harker’s class) – 97.7%
• Class 5,6B (Mrs Hogarth’s class) – 97.1%

Also important is getting to school on time. The moment your child gets into class, there’s learning going on. Getting into class on time helps your child to settle quickly, too. Please make sure your child arrives by 8.50am.

Non-uniform day coming up

We’ve a non-uniform day coming up in two weeks for Children in Need – Friday 19 November. We’re keeping it simple this year – there’s no particular theme for dressing up. If your child wants to join in, a £1 donation would be welcome.

Here’s an extract from out Uniform Policy about non-uniform days:

Pupils should dress appropriately and respectfully for school, even on non-uniform days. Clothes are inappropriate if they, for example, glorify violence, feature bad language, are very short (eg crop tops), or relate to age-inappropriate topics (eg computer games). When consulted (18.03.21), some junior leaders described this as ‘setting appropriate’ clothing and clothing that is ‘well-judged’. Make-up (other than face paints as part of a specific costume) is not allowed. Flip-flops or high-heeled shoes are not allowed, even on non-uniform days, because they’re dangerous when running.

(By the way, it’s absolutely fine for your child to come in school uniform – some children prefer the routine, and we respect that.)

This might feel like we’re nagging, but…

…how safe is your child online? We know we talk about staying safe online a lot, but since the start of the pandemic, the amount of self-generated child abuse imagery has increased massively.

In 2020, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found there had been a rise of 77% of cases of images created by the victims themselves following some sort of online pressure.

In 80% of these cases, the victims were 11- to 13-year-old girls – that’s not much older than children in our school.

Check out the TALK advice.

Comics giveaway!

Thought Bubble is teaming up with Diamond Comics and Travelling Man to give away free graphic novels and comics to everyone! Libraries all over Yorkshire are participating – just pop in on Friday 12 November and pick up some great comics for free! Libraries taking part include the Central Library, Crossgates, Garforth and Seacroft. Your child can pop in after school as long as there are any left – it might be better to call in earlier! (The comics include teen and all-age titles. All teen titles are identified on the covers.)

Next week, we have a curriculum update about the new topic in Years 1-6. Until then – remember, remember, the fifth of November. However you spend it, enjoy Bonfire Night.

This week, our teachers have enjoyed meeting you in the parent-teacher meetings – we hope you found them helpful. If you need a longer meeting, or if you missed the appointment, do contact us.

This week’s message comes a day early. Tomorrow is a training day – teachers will be having training on the art curriculum and an update on safeguarding. talking of safeguarding, our message this week has a safeguarding theme…

Be wise

The children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, has launched a new website aimed at helping parents with typical situations they can find themselves in with their children. Advice can be found on over forty topics including:

• Understanding sibling rivalry
• My child is lying: What does it mean? What should I do?
• My child has trouble going to sleep
• My child says ‘I hate you!’
• Cultural identity: ‘Who am I?’

Be careful

Have you heard about Squid Game? Over the past week or so, there’s been  loads of news stories about it – a recent news article reported that one council has even written to parents and guardians of school children warning of the dangers of ‘replicating games from the Squid Game programme’.

The programme has a PEGI rating of 15 and over – that means across Europe, the recommendation is that it’s only suitable for people aged 15+ years. Check out this advice for parents and carers.

Be seen

On Saturday 30 / Sunday 31 October (the last week of the half-term holiday), we’ll all be setting the clocks back an hour. Read this guide for keeping children safe in the dark. You can read another one here, too.

This road safety guide for parents is worth a look, too, as is this one for children and families. If you or your child’s a cyclist, check this out.

So, with clocks going back an hour just before we return to school, we’ll see you all refreshed after an extra hour’s rest on Monday 01 November. Have a happy and healthy half-term holiday!

 

Our message this week comes from Mr Catherall, who used to teach at Moortown Primary and now at Scholes (Elmet) Primary. Mr Catherall is our Sphere Federation Writing Leader, and he’s chosen to write about spelling…

Is spelling important?

By now, you’ll be familiar with the new homework arrangements. Every week, as part of their homework, your child is given a set of spellings to learn. But why? They’ll probably just use auto-correct on their computer or tablet when they’re older, won’t they? You, like some others, might have found yourself asking these same questions. However…

Children who can spell more accurately feel more confident about their writing – we want all our children to feel proud and confident of their learning.

Also, research shows us that thinking about spellings takes up a large part of your working memory when writing (or typing). This means, if you’re able to have to think less about spelling, you’ve more brain power to think about other things: word choice, thinking creatively or pitching your written communication at the right level for your reader.

Help at home by helping your child learn their spellings. This doesn’t need to be for long and it doesn’t need to be boring. Here are some practical tips for effectively learning spellings at home:

• ask your child to spell their words on the way to school, driving to the shops or walking the dog
• use some ideas from our Super Spelling Strategies to make learning spellings more creative
• place the words on Post-it notes around the house so your child is reading them regularly
• practise them whilst doing something active (throwing a ball, kicking a football, playing tennis etc)

Most importantly of all, remember that little and often is much more effective than one big session. Practising for five minutes every day will lead to much better outcomes than one 30 minute session a week.

If you’d like any help or advice about how to support your child with their writing, please speak to their class teacher.

Nut allergies

If your child has a nut allergy (or any other significant allergy), do please let us know. We don’t have a simple policy about this, other than we will work with parents and carers to best accommodate the needs of children with medical conditions like this, so it’s important you let us know.

Have you been attending our Zoom sessions to support your child?

So far, we’ve had three short Zoom sessions – one on phonics (mainly for parents/carers of younger children), one on Reading (for parents/carers of older children), and a Maths one this week (for parents/carers of younger children). Watch the Maths one here:

 

Each session lasts for just 30 minutes and will provide a few top tips and guidance as to how to support your child at home. The invitation is open to all parents and carers across Sphere Federation, although we’ve indicated if the session might be more appropriate for particular age ranges.

The remaining sessions are as follows:

1. Monday 11 October: Number fact fluency (inc times tables) (mainly for Key Stage 2)
2. Monday 08 November: Our curriculum topics (for Key Stage 1 and 2)
3. Monday 15 November: Writing (for Key Stage 1 and 2)
4. Monday 22 November: Staying safe online (mainly Key Stage 2)

All six sessions start at 6pm. They last around 30 minutes.

If you’re interested in attending, please either send us a message on the School Gateway app or email the school office. We’ll then email the Zoom joining details out to all those who have expressed an interest.

If your child’s in Early Years, look out for a range of sessions specifically for you.

Finally, don’t forget to sign up for a parent-teacher Zoom slot – the meetings are in the week just before half-term.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

A couple of weeks ago, the weekly message came from our Science and Foundation Subjects Leader. This week, the message comes from our Reading Leaders. Mrs Latham, a teacher here at Scholes (Elmet) Primary, leads on Phonics and Early Reading across Sphere Federation. Miss Wilson, based at Moortown Primary, leads on other aspects.

Phonics and early reading

Becoming a reader is an essential life skill that shouldn’t be undervalued. Every child should be reading on a daily basis at home, even for just a few minutes. Reading aloud to your child is also crucial – it helps develop the emotional connection to reading, advances listening skills, and helps foster a love of reading.

In Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2), we read every day in our fluency sessions. It does what is says on the tin – develops fluency. We read the same text every day for a week. To become a fluent reader, you need to read regularly and read the same text/books more than once. This feels strange for adults sometimes but young children increase in confidence and feel satisfied when they can fluently read something after a few attempts.

Phonics underpins all our reading teaching in the Early Years and Key Stage 1. Phonics teaches children to read by matching sounds with letters or groups of letters. We teach a daily phonics lesson using a systematic approach.

Find out more about phonics.

Read more about how to help your child.

Reading at Key Stage 2

By now, your child will have received their brand new Reading Record. Each week, they’ll need to complete the activity as directed by their teacher. We’d like you to comment at least once every week, too – useful comments might be what they did well (such as their expression or how clear they were), how many pages they read or maybe what they need help with. Remember that your child should be reading every day for at least ten minutes and don’t forget the power of reading to your child as well!

Have a chat at home about the texts they’ve been reading in school. What’s their class novel? Do they like or dislike it? What’s just happened? What might happen next? Does it remind them of anything? Discussions like these really help children to understand and remember what they’ve been reading. (Share with your child what you’re reading, too!)

How often do you have your subtitles on when watching TV? It’s been proven to really help with learning to read so give it a go next time you’re watching The Chase! You might want to suggest they switch subtitles on when using video apps, too!

Check out Book Trust’s Book Finder service – a great way to introduce your child to new books.

There’s another message from a curriculum leader in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, let’s hope the weekend is drier than the week we’ve had. Whatever the weather, enjoy!

We’re three weeks into the new school year and our children have settled well into school routines – this includes our new Nursery and Reception children who have all settled really well. Parent-teacher meetings aren’t too far away, but remember you can contact your child’s class teacher with any questions, comments and concerns you might have.

Is your child getting to school on time?

Settling back into routines is hard, and even more so after Covid situations. Without the staggered starts, children are expected at 8.50am. It’s more important than ever for us all to be punctual. Arriving a few minutes late each day means a child misses out on almost half an hour of learning across a week. Just as important is that it can be unsettling for them to arrive in class on their own, with lots of their friends noticing they’re late. Set your alarm five minutes earlier to make sure you arrive at school on time.

Is your child in Year 1 or 2?

The phonics screening check determines how well a child uses the phonics skills they’ve learned, ensuring that they’re on track to become fluent readers.

The check was cancelled by the government for Year 1 children last year. Instead, in December, the phonics screening check will be taken by all children in Year 2 (and pupils who don’t meet the expected standard then will take the statutory check again in June 2022, alongside Year 1 pupils.)

The check contains 40 words divided into two sections. Both sections contain a mixture of real words and alien words.

Children are encouraged to add sound buttons or use phoneme fingers to read a word. Here’s a video showing how we do this.

Help your child at home by reading anything and everything!

Did you attend this week’s Zoom session to support your child?

The session this week was about reading at home and was specifically for parents / carers of older children. If you missed it, watch the recorded session.

There are still a few Zoom sessions coming up:

1. Monday 04 October: Number fact fluency (mainly for Key Stage 1)
2. Monday 11 October: Number fact fluency (inc times tables) (mainly for Key Stage 2)
3. Monday 08 November: Our curriculum topics (for Key Stage 1 and 2)
4. Monday 15 November: Writing (for Key Stage 1 and 2)
5. Monday 22 November: Staying safe online (mainly Key Stage 2)

All the sessions start at 6pm and last around 30 minutes. If you’re interested in attending, either send us a message on the School Gateway app or email the school office. We’ll then email the Zoom joining details out to all those who have expressed an interest. (If your child’s in Early Years, look out for a range of sessions specifically for you.)

How do you travel to school?

Biking and scooting are one of the ways we encourage children to actively travel to and from school. Next week, we’re taking part in Bike to School Week (with Sustrans and the Bikeability Trust). We’re pleased to be part of this UK-wide event, encouraging families to cycle, or scoot, to school. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate active school journeys and the positive impact it has on children’s health and wellbeing – as well as the environment.

According to government guidelines, children and young people aged 5 to 18 need at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day.. At 1.6 miles, the average primary school journey is a distance that can be cycled, scooted or walked.

You can pledge to cycle or scoot to school during Bike To School Week. Every family pledging their journeys will be entered into a competition to win a Frog Bike worth up to £400. Plus you’ll be joining families all around the UK highlighting the benefits of an active school run.

Is your child eating healthily?

If you’re worried about your child’s relationship with food or their body, it might be worth looking for some support. If your child’s eating habits negatively affect their everyday life, they may have an eating disorder. This is when someone uses food to cope with certain situations or feelings. Teenagers between 13 and 17 are most at risk, but anyone can have an eating disorder. It can be helpful to know the signs and what to do if you’re worried about your child.

Finally, in case you missed it, we sent a list of key dates for the school year home this week. Have a happy and healthy weekend!