As a teacher, one sign of getting old arises when a parent tells you they were in your class as a child. This happened to me the other day. Crazily, I think I’ve still got the tea-towel (now more of a rag, I admit!) with all the pupils’ self-portraits on that the PTA sold back in 2000 or thereabouts. Perhaps I should hunt it down to show his children their dad’s artwork of the time!

This week’s message has four articles: an overview of how we teach Reading in our school, news about the Junior Leadership Team, news about a Leeds competition, and an article linking attendance with social and emotional development.

Reading in our school

At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, we teach reading in a variety of ways in order to promote a love of reading, to develop decoding skills and fluency, or to develop specific reading skills. Each element forms our Reading Diet – all the different learning, activities and skills that we do over the week that involve reading.

For children in Reception and Key Stage 1…

Story time is a hugely important part of our Reading Diet. Enjoying books together and listening to an adult read out loud enables children to access texts that they can’t necessarily read themselves. We often ‘narrate’ what we are thinking as we are reading; wondering out loud what a character might be feeling, describing what a word means or what we think might happen next. We also enjoy reading non-fiction (fact) books in this time, too. They’re often linked to our Topic or Science learning and children can listen to and learn new facts that they can share and discuss.

Our daily Phonics lesson is crucial to children’s reading journey. Words are split into phonemes (sounds) that are matched to graphemes (written letters). This helps children break down words (decode) and begin to read. We follow a systematic phonics programme that has a huge amount of built-in practice. Repeating and revisiting sounds and words helps children learn to read quickly and effectively.

Our Reading Practice sessions happen four times per week. They give the children repeated opportunities to read the same book at least four times, developing their phonics skills. They’re also used to develop decoding skills, fluency, prosody (expression) and comprehension throughout the week. The books are matched to the child’s secure phonic knowledge so they should be reading fluently and with increasing pace as they progress through the books. The fifth session of the week involves a visit to the school library where children can choose a book to share at home and to promote their love of reading.

Our Daily Poem gives us an opportunity to really celebrate our love of reading. We choose all different sorts of poems. Children really enjoy trying to memorise it over the course of the week or read it with the teacher by the end of the week – especially if it’s a funny or silly one!s

For children in Key Stage 2…

Reading is still a big feature right across Key Stage 2. Each class has dedicated Class Novel time where children enjoy simply being read to and discussing language. We develop fluency by reading the same short text again and again over the course of the week. To develop specific skills, Reading Skills lessons happen four times a week and often include learning in other subjects, too. Every class visits the library once a week so make sure you check in with their child about their current choice. Children enjoy a weekly Book Club where they enjoy some relaxed independent reading and complete a directed activity.

Help at home by reading every day with your child for around ten minutes and discuss the words and phrases the writer has used and what they mean. If a child is read a story or book daily, by the time they are 5, they’ll have heard approximately 296,660 words – imagine how many more words a child will have heard by the time they’re 7, 11…!

Junior Leadership Team

‘I take part in democratic decisions’ has been our Living and Learning statement this week. This is in readiness for next week, when we have our annual Junior Leadership Team elections.

Our Junior Leadership Team is one of the ways that children are encouraged to take an active part in school life. The election process allows children to develop an understanding of one of the British Values, democracy.

This week’s whole school homework is all about the election and democracy, ready for the elections next Thursday (24 October).

We’ve been asked by a parent to publicise Recycle Week…

Rescue Me – Recycle!

Did you know it’s Recycle Week?

It’s not too late for your child to get involved by designing a Leeds Recycling Superhero! They can create their very own recycling hero and show everyone how to see recyclable items as treasures, not trash.

And for the rest of us, it might be worth reminding ourselves of what we can recycle here in Leeds. The latest Recycle Now research shows that about nine out of ten people regularly recycle, but nearly eight out of ten of us put one or more items into the rubbish bin that could have been recycled. (Did you know we can now recycle glass in our green bins?)

Finally this week, the first of a series of messages about what a child misses if they’re absent for a prolonged time. We know children are sometimes ill and have to spend time out of school – that’s inevitable – but if we factor in regular holidays, children really struggle…

If your child was absent for five days in a row…

…they’d miss out on loads of opportunities to develop their social and emotional skills. They’d miss out on at least 5-6 hours of pure social time at playtimes and lunchtimes – time to play and chat with their friends. This is time when children can stay physically active, and also time when they learn to interact – making friends, choosing games to play, agreeing and learning to disagree. This is all valuable time to develop confidence, resilience and simply to have fun!

The impact of low attendance…

• Children who miss school miss out on not only learning and education, but also spending time with other children and friends, which helps with developing social and emotional skills.
• Children who miss school more than others can find it difficult to keep friendships.
• Children who stay away from school tend to struggle more with their mental health later on.

By going to school, children can meet with their friends for social and emotional development and not become isolated at home.

Being in school is important to your child’s academic achievement, wellbeing, and wider development.  There is evidence to suggest that regular school attendance is a key mechanism to support children and young people’s educational, economic and social outcomes. Schools can facilitate positive peer relationships, which is a contributes to better mental health and wellbeing.

(DfE Education Hub, September 2023)

Most of this week’s message is about our first themed week of the year…

Me and my community themed week 

Our next whole school themed week is all about identity, diversity and community. It takes place in the week beginning Monday 04 November. This is the first of two themed weeks in the year.

Children will learn about what it means to belong to a community, from family to national or even international communities. Importantly, our children will also learn to respect and celebrate different communities. A variety of events and visitors are planned to help us deliver this key aspect of our Living and Learning education.

Events and learning during the week will include looking at our own identity including belonging and self-esteem, diversity of people around us including race, age, religion and disability, and children will also be getting out into the community, working with our local Scholes Library and taking pride in the local area for example by litter picking.

New school charity

During the themed week, classes will have the chance to discuss our charity shortlist*. After class discussions, the Junior Leadership Team will have the final vote for which charity they’d like our school to support, replacing our current charity, The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

*This year, we’ve invited all the Sphere Federation admin staff to suggest a charity each.

Can you help?

Maybe you speak another language and you’d be happy to speak to children about this or you’d like to share about your own family culture and heritage. If so, please contact the office to pass on your details. Also, do you have any local community links that may support our week?

Governor election outcome

Thank you if you voted in the recent parent governor elections.

Mr Craig Barker will become the new Parent Governor when Mr Matt Hick’s term of office ends on 19 November 2024. Mr Barker’s period as governor is 4 years from 20 November 2024. His appointment is subject to satisfactory DBS checks.

Please remember…

We’ve two policies that are especially important for you to remember. The first is our Uniform Policy – please make sure you check it out, especially details about what to wear on PE days, what jewellery is allowed, and typing back long hair, too. The other is our Attendance Policy – this is important because it reflects recent national changes around penalty fines for unauthorised absence.

Finally this week, a reminder well in advance… Our parent-teacher meetings will be on Tuesday and Thursday in the last week of the term. Please save the date!

This week’s Living and Learning message is a great one to think about at home: I know that rights come with responsibilities…

• At school for example, children have the right to play, and that comes with the responsibility to play alongside others safely and respectfully.
• Think about this at home. For example, in your house, it might be that your child has the right to be online, but the responsibility to be online for a limited amount of time each day.

Food in school

This week, we want to flag up a page on our website you perhaps don’t visit much – Food in school. This page has lots of information about school dinners (including the current menu), free school meals and packed lunches.

• We’ve a general policy on food in school, setting out some key points, including the importance of water and we don’t allow birthday foods.
• If your child has school dinners, please check out whether they may be entitled to free school meals.
• If your child has a packed lunch, have a look at our packed lunch guidance.

On the subject of food in school, don’t forget to alert us to any allergies that your child may have.

Staying healthy…

Last week, we mentioned the West Yorkshire NHS website Healthier Together, launched to provide consistent advice from local health and care professionals.

Linked to this, check out this guide to keeping your child healthy from the UK Health Security Agency.

…for good attendance

It’s worth thinking about what your child might miss if they were absent for five days in a row…

For younger children learning to read, they’d miss five, half an hour phonics lessons – that’s a full two and half hours of phonics teaching. In this time, they’d miss out on learning four new graphemes (eg ay, ou, oi, ea) and practising reading and writing these in words and in sentences. They’d miss learning up to four new tricky words, too. Your child would also miss valuable time to practise the previous week’s graphemes and developing fluency in reading words containing those sounds. As well as the phonics lessons, your child would miss four reading practice group sessions and would not have the time to read and re-read the physical book in school. In these sessions, we develop fluency, prosody and comprehension. They’d also miss the library session and not be able to choose a new book to take home.

Before deciding to keep your child at home, remember to check this NHS site: Is my child too ill for school?

Governor recruitment

We’ve had two expressions of interest from parents who are interested in joining our Governing Board. This means we now have an election. Please take a couple of minutes to read each of the two candidates’ written statement and make your vote. Thank you.

 

Finally, a quick reminder…

We’ve another Watch Us While We Work session next week – Tuesday morning. This is the first of two opportunities in the year to see some Maths and Reading being taught in school so that you can support your child at home.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this sunny week – this Indian summer.

Our Living and Learning theme has been a simple one this week: ‘I use good manners’. At school, this can mean greeting people politely (including adults as they arrive at school), saying please and thank you, and avoiding interrupting. Have a chat with your child about what it means at home, too.

Cooking

Over the course of the year, your child will enjoy three opportunities to prepare food…

• Year 1 and 2: fruit smoothies, overnight oats, and fruit bars
• Year 3 and 4: egg pots, chopped tomatoes and garlic, and savoury scones
• Year 5 and 6: vegetable and chickpea curry, pasta bake, and bread

We’ve a couple of requests, please:

Most importantly, please alert us to any allergies your child has. We’ll do our best to adapt recipes.

To make sure that we can continue to offer this, please make a voluntary donation of £3 to £6 to pay for the ingredients. We really appreciated your donations last year.

For more about our Cooking curriculum, please check out our Cooking and Nutrition Curriculum Guide – they include the recipes and background information including the food preparation skills children will practise. (We’re in Year B this year.)

Relationships and Sex Education

At the start of each year, we like to encourage you to be aware of our Relationships and Sex Education Policy. Later in the year, your child will have Relationships and Sex Education lessons. In those lessons, we’ll talk about anatomical terms and different relationships. However, we might need to use the terms at other times, such as when dealing with incidents of misuse or disrespectful language, and we’ll talk about lots of different relationships at any time of the year, too.

How we communicate home

Another thing we like to do at the start of the year is help you be aware of how we communicate home. Findings from our annual survey of parents and carers indicate the vast majority of you are happy with how we communicate, but we’re also aware of a small number of you who are less content. We do our best to stick to the following…

Texts

Anything urgent (such as the cancellation of an after-school club) or a quick reminder about something (like the photographer being in school) will be sent by text. If you have the School Gateway app, it might be useful to set it so you receive notifications of messages. Texts will automatically be sent to your app.

Emails

Our emails will usually be a longer message about one specific thing. We’re moving away from sending out hard copies of most letters (it’s better for the environment to send things electronically and things don’t always get to you if they’re sent home in book bags). Please try to check your emails daily, so you don’t miss anything important.

Weekly messages

Just like this one, our Weekly Messages usually contain more general information. They might include reminders, such as forthcoming events or policy details, but will mainly consist of other information that you might find useful. Usually, they’re published on the school website on Friday afternoons and emailed out a little later the same day.

Class news

For anything relevant to your child’s class, please check the Class News pages of the website (we recommend doing this at least once a week). Nursery and Reception classes use these pages a lot because there are often forthcoming events specific to the Early Years.

Homework

For children in Key Stage 1 and 2, your child should bring home a hard copy of their weekly homework, but you’ll also be able to find it on the Homework section of the website. (There’s no specific homework set for children in Nursery and Reception, but read the Class News articles for lots of ideas to help you support your child at home.)

Social media

Finally, we have Facebook. Messages on here are usually repeats of other communications, such as our Weekly Messages. Nothing urgent or particularly important will be posted only on social media because we know that not everyone accesses these things.

Healthier together

We’ve been asked to let you know about West Yorkshire NHS website Healthier Together.

The initiative was launched to provide families, children and young people with consistent, quality advice from local health and care professionals.

September can be a time when there are more common infections and illnesses amongst children. It’s important that families become familiar with different illnesses (fever, coughs, asthma, bronchiolitis, gastroenteritis…) and how to manage them ahead of the new school year.

And on that note, have a happy and healthy weekend, hopefully enjoying the last of the Indian summer!

Two good news stories this week…

We’ve finally had our Ofsted inspection report, judging us ‘good’ in all areas and ‘outstanding’ in Early Years. We’re very proud of the report which is really positive. Thanks to all those who have passed on congratulations. Another good news story is that we’ve had our School Games Mark revalidated and we continue to have Gold status.

Our Living and Learning theme this week…

…has been around our 8Rs for learning – all ways to promote good learning behaviour. Help at home: check out our short guide and then talk with your child at home about times when each of the Rs can be especially important.

Governor recruitment

We’ve a vacancy for a new parent governor…

The position will start properly on 20 November 2024. However, the new governor will be invited to attend our Governing Board meeting on 13 November as an observer. Any parent or carer is encouraged to express an interest; governors are especially interested in hearing from people with a financial background.

Look out for a separate email with more information later on today. The first stage is to complete an online expression of interest. If there’s more than one expression of interest, we’d open the recruitment to a vote and part of your expression of interest would be made available to all parents across Sphere Federation to help them decide who to vote for.

 

The rest of this week’s message comes from Mr Wilks, our Sphere Federation Topics Leader. The message is all about our new KS1 and KS2 topic…

We’re historians

What do we mean by topics?

Topics are the vehicle for delivering much of the learning in foundation subjects (eg Art, History, Geography). Each half-termly topic has a driving subject – the main focus for teaching pupils knowledge and skills.

What is this half-term’s topic?

This half-term, we’re historians. We’ll develop our understanding of the past, both in Britain and the wider world.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary. See pages 26 and 27 of our Topic Curriculum Guide.

Each phase also has key historical concepts which will feature within most lessons. These historical concepts are themes that are revisited, strengthened and deepened during your child’s journey through the history curriculum. See page 23 of the Curriculum Statement.

Years 1 and 2 

In this topic, children learn about a significant British historical event: the Great Fire of London. Children will learn about life at the time of the Great Fire of London. They’ll learn where the fire started and how it spread so quickly and the innovative ways that it was extinguished. Importantly, they’ll learn about the different sources of evidence that have helped us answer these questions, including Samuel Pepys’ diary. Finally, they’ll learn about the significant changes that occurred as a result of the fire, such as legal changes about the way houses were built and the beginning of a fire service in London.

The key concept that children will learn about in this history topic is innovation.

(Help at home… As well as thinking about History, talk with your child about ways to stay safe around fire.)

Years 3 and 4 

In this topic, children learn about Ancient Greece. Children begin by sequencing periods of British history and seeing where the ‘golden age’ of the Ancient Greek civilisation sits alongside. They’ll then learn about two contrasting city states: Athens and Sparta. Children will learn about the type of government these states had and what the lives of the people living there were like. They’ll then debate which city state was the best.

Importantly, they’ll focus in on the influence that Athens has had on the world: democracy, mathematics, philosophy, literature, culture… Finally, they’ll learn about how the civilisation ended.

The key concepts for this topic are power and innovation.

Years 5 and 6 

In this topic, children learn about Stone Age to Iron Age Britain and contrast it with Ancient Egypt. They begin by looking at and creating timelines which sequence the periods of British history and also placing Ancient Egypt on this timeline. They’ll learn about the advances and innovations that occurred during the New Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. They’ll learn about and understand that the sources of evidence we have are limited to archaeological evidence. They’ll then learn about the Ancient Egyptian civilisation and contrast this with what was happening in Britain at the same time – it’s a stark contrast!

The key concepts for this topic are innovation and power.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning in class. The Class News pages of the school website are a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.

Find some books from the library which match what your child is learning. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of books about the history your child will be learning about.

Watch television shows about history. Horrible Histories is great (regardless of your age!).

The BBC Bitesize history webpage have some really good pages about the different KS2 units being studied this half-term.

For KS1, there’s an excellent website about the Great Fire of London. As well as a game for children to play, there’s information for adults as well.

If it’s a rainy weekend and you’re looking for something to do, why not spend a morning or afternoon in a museum? A visit to Leeds City Museum (next to Millennium Square) would be great for all children but especially for Y3,4 and Y5,6 children as it has some Ancient Greek and Ancient Egyptian exhibits, including Nesyamum, the 3,000 year old Leeds mummy!

It’s been great to see you at the school gates and to welcome the children back to school – and to welcome new children joining us, too. We’ve loved hearing children greet us happily each morning!

Our Ofsted inspection was back in May – it seems so long ago! It’s finally come through and we’ll be able to send this out to you early next week.

Summer competition

Did you enter our Summer competition this year?

Thank you to those of you who did. We invited you to send in a pic of each letter that makes up SCHOLES – each year group had a different letter to work on. We’ve loved checking out all the wonderfully creative ways to make an S, a C, an H etc! Today was the deadline to send in a pic – we’ll be deciding the winner next week.

Attendance update

Here’s an important update from Leeds City Council about absences from school…

One of the things to be aware of is that if a parent takes their child on holiday during term-time every year, then the penalty notice is higher the second time and by the third year, they’ll face legal action.

The impact of five days off school is significant. In our Weekly Messages over the year, we’ll feature examples of lost learning in different subjects.

Our website

As it’s the start of a new school year, we thought it might be a good time for a quick ‘tour’ of some of the key pages of our website.

The Find Out section is there mainly for the key information you need to know about. Particularly useful pages are:

• the Calendar: at the start of the year, we send home a list of key events across the year but for a fuller and up-to-date picture of what’s going on, check out the calendar (have a look at our weekly Living and Learning theme at the start of each week in the calendar, too – this week, our theme’s been ‘I follow the school rules’ so please talk about these at home)
• Policies and Other Points: this page contains lots of information, including our Positive Relationships policies and our Uniform policy – important ones for you to know about
• Meals: check out the current school dinners menu here!

The Join In section describes lots of different ways that you and your child can get involved, from wraparound care and clubs to any job vacancies we may have. There’s information about our Governing Body in this section, too. (Look out because we’ll have a vacancy for a new parent governor soon!)

The Learn More page is where to go for ways to support your child’s learning. The Class News pages are always the some of the most visited pages – they help to keep you up to date with what your child’s learning. Other pages give you information about different subjects – Reading, Writing, Maths and other curriculum subjects. If you’re a parent of a child in Nursery or Reception, check out the Early Years page, too.

Talking of supporting your child at home, next week we’ll talk about our new topic for children in Years 1-6. It’s a History topic – start asking your child now what they’ve been learning in History!

We’ve reached the end of the school year…

Thank you…

…for attending all the events we’ve held across the year, whether that’s events to help support your child’s learning like our Watch us While We Work sessions or productions and PTA events. All the key events for 2024-25 are already in the calendar (including training days).

Thank you…

…to all those who completed the 2024 survey of parents and carers. We’re delighted with the results, including 98% of those who expressed an opinion saying they’d recommend Scholes (Elmet) Primary to others – fantastic. We’ve spent some time reviewing the suggestions, too – we can’t act on all, but we’ll certainly look at some of them more closely.

Thank you…

…to Mr Wain, for his wonderful year at Scholes (Elmet) Primary (and previous years at Moortown Primary, too). He’s been a fantastic member of our team and we’ll miss him lots.

Thank you…

…for all your support throughout the year. Whether this is a simple smile and greeting at the school gate or something more, we’ve really appreciated it.

Have a lovely Summer break. Don’t forget our Summer Competition (in case you missed details, check back to last week’s message). See you all on Tuesday 03 September!

It’s our penultimate weekly message of the year. It’s a bit of a cliché, but has to be said – we can’t believe how fast the year has gone!

Themed week

This week has been our Staying Safe week.

Of course, staying safe isn’t just about one week of the year. Check out these Summer safety tips. and this clip about staying safe near water.

This week is also a good time to think back to previous Living and Learning statements. For example, does your child know the two STOP messages about bullying from Autumn 2 (Several Times On Purpose and Start Telling Other People)? Does your child understand the importance of permission / consent? What online safety tips can your child tell you about?

Every year, we have two themed weeks. Next year, it’s the turn of Me and My Communities and Being Healthy themed weeks.

Moving on…?

The close of the school year sees Year 6 friends getting ready to move on to secondary schools. There’ll also be children in other year groups moving on, too – perhaps you’re moving house and therefore your child is switching schools.

Whatever the cause, this change can be a source of anxiety. It’s a perfectly natural response to a new environment and a new society into which to fit. With this in mind, Childline has published advice to help children deal with their feelings as they move on.

Our Summer competition

Have you and your child started to think about our Summer competition?

Take a pic of one particular letter in SCHOLES – each letter is for a year group in school. This list refers to current years, with children in Nursery and Year 6 sharing the first S…

• S – Nursery and Year 6
• C – Reception
• H – Year 1
• O – Year 2
• L – Year 3
• E – Year 4
• S – Year 5

The winning entry will be a letter that’s been ‘found’ or created in an unusual way. There’s a £10 book token for one winner in each year group.

To enter, email your pics to scholesoffice@spherefederation.org by Friday 06 September. Enter ‘Summer competition’ as the subject.

Get caught in the Breeze

The Breeze people write:

Are you ready to have some fun this summer?! Breeze in the Park is back to bring family fun to a park near you this summer holidays.

We’ve 26 events plus 8 relaxed events, all jam-packed and ready to bring the sun, fun, chills and thrills to your holidays!

Expect sports, games, arts and crafts, interactive play, food, entertainment and, of course, their famous inflatables. Plus, much much more!

The events, which are aimed at 0 to 19-year-olds, will run as two separate sessions on the days. The first session takes place from 12pm to 2:30pm and the second session runs from 3pm to 5pm.

Along with the open sessions, eight of the events throughout the summer will also be hosting relaxed sessions for children and young people with additional needs. These sessions will run from 11am to 12pm and will have additional staff, minimal queuing and reduced crowds.

Tickets for Breeze in the Park are 50p per child and must be pre-booked in advance. Fast track five times on our most popular inflatables with a Breeze Pass…the best accessory for this summer giving you discounts, giveaways, offers and early access to many venues and events!

Book your tickets now and avoid disappointment.

 

Have a happy and healthy – and hopefully dry – weekend.

With just two more weeks left of the school year, it’s time to start thinking of our Summer Competition!

Summer competition

Each year, we invite you and your child to take part in our Summer Competition. We’ve asked for pics to show extreme reading, happy and healthy, smiley faces… This year, we’re inviting you to think about our name. More specifically, take a pic of one particular letter in SCHOLES, but one which is hidden away or created in some unsual way.

Each letter is for one year group in school. This list refers to current years, with children in Nursery and Year 6 sharing the first S…

• S – Nursery and Year 6
• C – Reception
• H – Year 1
• O – Year 2
• L – Year 3
• E – Year 4
• S – Year 5

The winning entry will be a letter that’s been ‘found’ or created in an unusual way. There’s a £10 book token for one winner in each year group.

To enter, email your pics to scholesoffice@spherefederation.org by Friday 06 September. Enter ‘Summer competition’ as the subject. All entries will be displayed in school, and there are prizes for our favourites.

Here’s an idea to get you thinking…

Uniform

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve featured our updated Uniform Policy to help you to start preparing early for the new school year. Please read the latest version.

This week, we’re looking at what our policy says about jewellery…

Only discreet (ie small, not brightly coloured) stud earrings and items that are absolutely required by a religion are allowed. Advisors recommend no earrings are worn for PE; therefore, we will ask your child to remove earrings before the lesson and put them back in after the lesson. This will be carried out by the child. If they are unable to remove or put their earrings back in by themselves, they must not wear them on the day they have PE.

A watch or step counter is allowed. Any device that connects to the internet (eg a smart watch) or that can record (including taking photos) is not allowed for safeguarding reasons. Such items should be left at home, but can be handed over at the start of the day. Refer to the Positive Relationships Policy for more details of items not allowed.

We don’t accept responsibility for any loss or damage to an individual’s property.

Staying safe

Next week is another Living and Learning themed week.

Water safety features early in the week. We’ve got a visitor from RNLI coming into school to talk to our Key Stage 2 children and a visitor
from Canal and River Trust talking to our younger children.

D:side in school across the week to deliver sessions on staying safe online. Staying safe online is a huge issue for our young people. There will be a drop-in session for parents on Thursday 11 July between 2 – 3 pm. If you’d like to know more, please come along to ask questions. In the meantime, check out these tips for helping children stay safe online.

Always a favourite, Dogs Trust are coming into school on Wednesday. Most children love dogs but making sure you know how to stay safe around dogs is really important.

Later in the week, we’ve got some first aid sessions.

• Our younger children will will learn about the emergency services and how they can help.
• Year 3, 4 children will be finding out about asthma, bites, stings and burns. They’ll also be finding out about calling for help and the all important recovery position.
• Our Year 5,6 children will learn about stopping bleeding,
  choking, head injuries as well as calling for help and the recovery position.

It’s going to be an exciting week – we know the children will learn lots of skills for life.

 

Next week is also the Year 5,6 production: There are three performances – Tuesday and Wednesday at 6pm and a Wednesday ‘matinee’ performance at 1.45. No doubt there’ll be great singing, fantastic acting and lots of bad jokes!