Mr Roundtree, Author at Scholes (Elmet) Primary School, Leeds

A summer message (03 September 2020)

Today, our teachers are all back, busy preparing classrooms and lessons. We’re all looking forward to welcoming your child back on Monday 07 September.

This morning, we’ve virtually met with colleagues across our federation to consider the key elements in Maths that we need to teach lots of so that children can successfully catch up and consolidate their learning. Later on today, we’ll do the same for Reading.

From next Monday, there are staggered starts and ends to the school day to help social distancing. Read more about this in our Autumn for All guide.

Unlike June and July, we won’t be asking every parent if they’ve been social distancing, but we do need you to be careful to respect the current government guidance. We therefore encourage you to do what you can to reduce the number of contacts your child has, follow the guidance, and socially distance where possible.

In terms of dropping off and collecting your child, for example, you might want to restrict this to someone in your household or someone who regularly visits. Walking to school rather than using a car would be better as the virus is harder to catch in the open air.

Please aim to stick to your allocated drop off / collection time, too, so the numbers of people around school are as low as possible.

One new point in the Autumn for All guide is to make sure that someone from your own household is available to collect your child quickly if they’re at school but displaying symptoms of Covid-19 (or have any other, more ‘normal’ illness, like a cold, too). You might want to discuss this with your employer.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all again.

A summer message (01 September 2020)

It seems strange to still be on holiday when most schools across the country have re-opened already. (And I always think the Scottish summer holidays, which are all of July and the first half of August, work better with the UK’s weather, too!) In any case, we all hope you’ve had a good holiday – no doubt it was affected in some way by Covid-19, but hopefully you still made the most of things.

Teachers have two training days this week – Thursday and Friday. This means we can all be fully prepared and confident for the Autumn term, and it means that when the Leeds Autumn term officially starts on Monday 07 September, your child can start straight away, with no delays for a training day. We know you’re keen to have your child back at school.

We’ve made a few small changes to our Autumn for all guide for school in September – nothing major, just updates to some website links and an update on the period of self-isolation from seven to ten days if you think you may have the virus.

Have you checked out the whole-school picture book we’ll all be reading in the first couple of week? After the fall: how Humpty Dumpty got back up again is a great read, and one that has a message for us all in recovering after a calamity. Reading this with your child might really help your child to start school with confidence and some familiarity about what’s happening. (There are a few different YouTube sites where the book is read, too.)

Enjoy the last few days.

A summer message (21 August 2020)

We hope you’re all having a good summer.

By now, you’re probably starting to think a little about your child returning to school in September – we’re open for all children from Monday 07 September.

This advice might help – seven tips to support your child. (There’s advice for secondary-age students, too.)

One of the pieces of advice is ‘pack right, pack light’: ‘Your school will have been in touch to let you know what your child should and (more likely) shouldn’t bring in – such as stationary, bags, PE kits, bottles and lunch. Make sure you have checked what they need, in order to make your child’s day easier.’

Our Autumn for All guide for school in September should help you with that – check out the key facts section.

Enjoy the rest of the summer break as much as you can.

Annual surveys – what you told us

Thank you to all of you who responded to this year’s annual survey. It came at a difficult time for many of us (the height of lockdown), so we’re really grateful to all of the 112 parents / carers who took the time to tell us their thoughts.

We made the survey a little shorter this year, and some of the statements we used are a bit different – this was to match new statements that Ofsted use.

We’re proud to say that the feedback continues to be overwhelmingly positive.

100% of parents/carers who expressed an opinion agreed with the following statements:

The school makes sure its pupils are well behaved.
My child does well at this school.
There is a good range of subjects available to my child at this school.
My child can take part in clubs and activities at this school.
My child has been bullied and the school dealt with the bullying quickly and effectively.
My child has SEND, and the school gives them the support they need to succeed.

(The last two statements only applied to a small number, and of that number, 100% agreed.)

All the other statements gained a very positive response, too -97% or more agreed with them:

My child is happy at Scholes (Elmet) Primary School. (99%)
My child feels safe at this school.(99%)
The school supports my child’s wider personal development. (99%)
The school has high expectations for my child. (98%)
The school lets me know how my child is doing. (98%)
The school makes me aware of what my child will learn during the year. (97%)
When I have raised concerns with the school they have been dealt with properly. (97% of those who had raised concerns, and many said they hadn’t any concerns)

In fact, it’s a bit disappointing that the only statement that was agreed with by less than 97% was ‘I would recommend this school to another parent.’ 95% agreed and that’s really high, too, but we aim high – we want everyone to feel happy about our school. We encourage the six people who said they wouldn’t recommend Scholes (Elmet) Primary to contact us to discuss their feelings a little more.

At the end of the survey, we invited comments. We received 30, almost all of which were entirely positive – thank you. Here’s a few representative comments:

‘The teachers are lovely and easy to talk to about any queries we may have. I have recommended the school to a couple of friends.’
‘All teachers we have met are brilliant at their jobs and very positive. So lovely to see a presence of the leadership on the school gate each day rather than them hiding away.’
‘Brilliant school where my son loves going to learn every day. Very supportive staff and teachers.’
‘The support we have received from school has been outstanding. There is always opportunity to talk to staff if needed. It’s a great environment and we are extremely pleased that our children attend this school.’

A few people also singled out our efforts during the school closure:

‘Scholes is a brilliant school, continuing to make great efforts to provide amazing learning for its pupils even in these troubling and unprecedented times.’
‘I think that the school have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic in the best way possible. They couldn’t have been more helpful, and have supported the children and families so well, and we are very grateful. Thank you!’

We’re very grateful for the suggestions for areas to work on, too. Here are a few of the comments:

Communicating home: ‘The website, online information and communication is excellent. It would be really good if other systems such as parents evening could be digitised also as we usually struggle to get into school to sign up for these.’ – Thanks for this. It’s actually something we’d planned to look into setting up. We’ll aim to trial something later in the 2010-21 school year, but perhaps not the October parent-teacher meetings as these will have to be organised in a different way because of the need to avoid unnecessary gatherings.
Early Years: ‘The Tapestry app would make communicating home learning much more straightforward and being able to view your child’s profile any time is a massive advantage for parents.’ – This suggestion was made by three parents. We’ve considered Tapestry (and similar products) previously. We know that an online communication tool offers lots of advantages, although there are some cost implications. We’ll definitely keep evaluating this as a possibility.
Learning: ‘My child is a high achiever and often mentions that he finds the work very easy or that he is not challenged enough. More differentiation and encouragement within school for him to challenge himself would help him get the most out of school.’ – 98% of respondents agreed that we have high expectations and the end of Key Stage 2 assessments back this up; for example, a greater proportion of Scholes pupils reach ‘greater depth’ level in Reading, Writing and Maths than nationally. Nevertheless, we’ll keep working on how to best provide opportunities for challenge.
School dinners: ‘Canteen menus have worsened over time, becoming less varied week on week and offering a narrower range of food.’ – There’s a very difficult balance between providing meals that children eat and providing a varied menu, which might include new dishes and flavours. We’ll definitely pass on your comments and we’ll get the School Council to consider this, too.
Clubs: ‘We would like even more clubs e.g. cooking, gymnastics and cricket (after Covid-19 crisis is over).’ – Whilst 100% of respondents were positive about the clubs we offer, more clubs would be great. There are two issues for us to consider here: more clubs can mean one club competes against another meaning fewer children attend each one, and we rely on the skills and interest of staff for some of the clubs. We’ll keep reviewing the variety of clubs we offer because we agree that this is an important part of our school.

Scholes (Elmet) Primary continues to be a happy and healthy place to learn. Parents and carers are an important part of our close and supportive community. Thank you, again, if you responded to the survey.

A summer message (20 July 2020)

It’s the first day of the summer holidays – we hope they’ve started well.

We’re not sending daily messages over summer, but do look out for the occasional one – they’ll usually be important updates about school in September.

Summer was for some pupils. Autumn is for all.

We’re really looking forward to welcoming back all the familiar faces on Monday 07 September (except for our Year 6 friends, of course, who move on to secondary school after the summer).

This message is a link to the latest Families magazine which is a summer holiday issue. It’s got lots of resources and ideas to help you keep your children entertained, busy and productive during the long break including fun learning ideas, sourcing books, learning to draw, safe socialising and screen free activities.

Read the magazine here.

Our daily message (17 July 2020)

It’s the last day of the school year and this is our last daily message. At least, we hope it’s our last as we look forward to the Autumn term, when hopefully much has settled down…

We started sending out messages just before schools closed, in the week beginning 16 March. Sometimes there were three or four in a day, and there was never really any time when it didn’t feel there was something useful to share. For all your appreciation about the daily messages, thank you.

Schools closed on Friday 20 March for all but a few children. Since then, we know you’ve worked incredibly hard with home learning and all the other stuff that takes up your days. It’s been a tough ride. For all your great efforts, thank you.

During the period when schools have been closed, it’s true that some of you made suggestions, raised concerns and sometimes voiced your frustrations. In normal times, we’re always keen to hear your questions, comments and concerns, and in these challenging times, we were grateful you raised things in a positive, friendly way. We acted on as many as we could – and we’ll continuing to act on these. For all your constructive feedback, thank you.

It’s also fair to say that for every one comment like that, we received a good deal more which praised what we’ve been doing. They’ve really boosted us as we went through our own lockdown lows. For all your support, thank you.

Summer

Over the last few days, we’ve provided you with a list of summer camps and other activities and some more more holiday challenges. Check out the the Breeze website for activity ideas, too.

The long summer break can be quite challenging. This Self care Summer Primary resource has fun activities designed to help children look after their mental health and wellbeing. It also signposts them (and you) to additional support if needed. There’s a version for young adults, too.

Over the summer, if you experience difficulties and need advice or support, information is available from Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership. Alternatively, you can contact your local Early Help Hub: lauren.dunstan@leeds.gov.uk or 0113 3785996.

September

Yesterday, we sent you our guide to school in September. We hope you find it useful. It might seem long, but there are only two pages we especially want you to know about before September – the key information on page 3 and 4.

Later on in the guide, we mention the whole-school picture book topic that children in Years 1 to 6 will do. We’ve chosen After the fall: how Humpty got back up again. Younger children will enjoy thinking about the Humpty Dumpty story and what happened next. Older children will see the analogy between Humpty’s fall and recovery and Covid-19 and how we can recover from this. If you anticipate your child feeling anxious about their return to school after such a long period, it might help if they’re familiar with the story they’re going to be thinking about in school, so they can feel confident and reassured as they settle back in to school life. You could buy the book or listen to it read online.

Ok, I’m off to sit in a darkened room for a while…

The teachers, support staff and school leaders all wish you a happy and healthy summer. Stay safe, stay sane and see you in September.

Our daily message: School in September (update 3, 16 July 2020)

Today’s message is an important one about school in September…

Autumn’s for all pupils – read our guide to school in September.

We’re really happy to finally be able to welcome back all our pupils to school – and to welcome some new faces, too! We’ll have lots of things in place to keep making sure our school is a happy and healthy and safe place to learn. We’ve closely considered lots of different aspects to make sure the new school year goes smoothly.

There are four sections to the guide. The first section (on page 3 and 4) contains the key information that you need to know – things like school start and finish times, for example. Please make sure you read this so you’re up-to-date with the things we’re doing a bit differently.

If you’ve any questions, comments or concerns, then as always, do get in touch.

Super Art

I just wanted to share some fantastic art work that Dasha from Y3/4EV has produced during her home learning time. These are some beautiful pieces of watercolour artwork. We knew she had a talent but these are just stunning – well done, Dasha.

Here are some colourful patterns of leaves also done by Dasha.

Our daily message (15 July 2020)

Our message last Wednesday (08 July) had a summer focus. One week on, and we re-visit this topic…

We’re reaching the end of the school year. For many, home learning has drifted off a bit. Don’t feel bad about this – the home learning situation has lasted far longer than we might have predicted way back in March. From our communications with you, we know you’ve done a good job.

Get out and about

During the summer break, if you’re looking for activities, then check out the range of useful information on the Breeze website.

Last week, we provided you with a list of summer camps and other activities. It might be an idea to sign up to something if you can afford it. Your child could benefit from the social aspects, and it’ll give you a much-needed break. (Like we said last week, though: seek assurance that the provider is following protective measures in line with the guidance which the government has produced.)

Set a summer challenge

Parents’ / carers’ feedback about our previous holiday activities was
really positive, so here are some more holiday challenges that you and your child might want to complete over the summer holidays. A few key points…

The list is the same across year groups, meaning if you’ve more than one
child, they might work on it together in some way.
You can encourage your child to do some or all of the activities –
they’re all optional.
We’re sorry – unlike at Easter and the summer half-term, teachers won’t be around so please don’t email them. Teachers will not be giving feedback about these tasks.

Keep up with reading

If your child starts back at school in September being an enthusiastic and fluent reader, then they’ll be in a great starting position to kick off the school year.

Many of you have told us you’ve appreciated the online copies of First News that we’ve emailed out. Children really enjoy reading First News in school. You can subscribe at home. It’s a great way to keep your child reading – the articles are quite short and presented in an attractive format. Right now, there’s a ten week summer subscription for £19.99 (and it comes with a free puzzle book).

To make things even better, for every subscription parents take out and select our school from the drop down box at the checkout, we’ll get money back to put towards our school. This is a great opportunity to get your kids reading at home while helping the school raise money. Remember to select our school when ordering so we can fundraise: you’ll need our postcode, which is LS15 4BJ.

Just in case…

15 July 2020: Home Learning

Hello boys and girls and welcome to Wednesday!

Only 3 more days to go until the end of term.

Here is your learning for today:

Maths

Year 3 and 4: puzzles and challenges and answers attached.

Topic Quiz time again. Here is another quiz to get you thinking:

Quiz time

Living and Learning

Can you think of anyone who has been a superhero during lockdown?

parents, supermarket workers, Nurses, doctors, teachers.

You are going to develop a character profile of your superhero self, listing five superhero qualities and writing a unique fact about yourselves. As a challenge, you can create a basic comic strip of your superhero self, describing your superhero qualities in a story. You can use the template below or create your own – you decide.

Superhero Me template

Story – read by Mr Gathercole

Little Red Riding Wolf part 2