Thanks to everyone who came along to our Sports Roundabout on Monday and the Key Stage 2 Sports today – we hope you enjoyed it as much as the children and staff.

Survey

Thanks to the 90 parents and carers who have completed this year’s annual survey. If you haven’t, there’s still time! In fact, you’ve one more week left to complete – the survey closes at 2pm next Friday.

Uniform

Last week, we flagged up our updated Uniform Policy in time to help you to start preparing early for the new school year. Please read the latest version.

In particular, we drew your attention to expectations for PE – it basically only involves a change for the bottom half only.

This week, we’re looking at the uniform itself – please follow the points set out here:

A word from our Junior Leadership Team

Here’s a review of the year from our Junior Leadership Team…

We would like to introduce ourselves as the Junior Leadership Team and we are very excited to be able to share our experiences from this year. At the start of the year, our classes elected us to represent them at the JLT meetings and make positive changes for our school. We are great role models that show good manners, kindness, maturity and positivity. We make important decisions on behalf of the school and its pupils. All our decisions are voted for democratically and result in changes and actions. We want our school to be happy and healthy and enjoyable for all students.

At the start of the year, we took on the role of reviewing the Packed Lunch policy and the Food in School policy. We made sure that children come to school with healthy, balanced foods such as fruit and vegetables. We liked the fact that the policy gave examples of different and alternative healthy foods that could be brought to school.

One of our early year tasks was to select our school charity. Each JLT member led a vote in their classes for their favourite charity. These nominations were brought to a meeting and we took a democratic vote. As a result, Children’s Heart Surgery Fund became our charity this year.

One of our favourite activities this year has been generating donations for our school charity and other local and national charities. We are often seen at the school gate shaking our buckets, collecting donations. We successfully raised £436.98 for Children in Need and £364.33 for Red Nose Day – we couldn’t do this without your generosity or support so thank you.

Later in the year, we had the privilege of selecting a school reading champion. This was a competition run by Leeds Library Service in which you could win some books and an author visit to school. Each key stage two class nominated children who had a passion for reading and they had to write a supporting statement. JLT had to read all the statements and finally settle on one person – it was a tough challenge. In the end, we selected Olivia. Although she didn’t win this time, it was an honour to read her statement and we admired her love of reading.

As a JLT, we aim to promote a happy and healthy school. We have a real passion for being active and we decided to re-introduce skipping during our WUSU time – the children love it. We also asked for some new WUSU songs and Mrs Latham and her WUSU team got straight on with the task!

When we were asked about after-school clubs, we enthusiastically created a huge list of clubs that we would love to see in school. So far, we have achieved a girls football team, a tennis club and a tag rugby club. This all contributes to our happy and healthy ethos.

In the Autumn term, it will be time for the new JLT elections. It will be time to allow others to enjoy the experience of representing our school and making positive changes. We are very proud of our achievements this year.

Thank you to everyone who supported us on our journey to make our school an even better place to learn.

Finally, a few things to look out for next week…

Tomorrow, we’ve an Open Morning in Nursery. Are you looking for a Nursery for your child to join? Come and visit our happy and healthy Nursery – just call in (no need to make an appointment or reserve a place).

We send annual reports home next week, staggered across the week.

And in next week’s message, look out for details of the 2024 Summer Competition, too!

First off this week… Don’t forget out Sports Roundabout on Monday afternoon (this is a whole school event – come and watch your child work as part of a team) and Key Stage 2 Sports Afternoon on Friday afternoon (come and watch your child join in some competitive races).

Uniform

Every year, we review our Uniform Policy. We know some parents/carers like to start preparing early for the new school year, so please read the latest version.

Please note what we expect children to wear on PE days – it basically only involves a change for the bottom half:

Annual survey

Your views count. Every year, we ask for your views and we follow up on as many as we can. Thank you to the 63 parents/carers who have already completed it. If you’ve not yes, there’s still time: please complete this year’s survey before the 05 July deadline.

Are you looking for a Nursery place?

Might you be thinking about sending your child to Nursery in the future?

If so, why not come to our Open Morning on Saturday 29 June, 10am to 12pm. We’ll be opening our Nursery doors for you and your child to come and have a look around. Our Nursery staff will be available to answer any questions you may have.

It’s not been a great summer yet, has it? With the hope we might enjoy some sunnier days ahead, don’t forget to follow the NHS advice on sun protection for your child.

Don’t forget the school photographer’s in next Tuesday to take class pics – please make sure your child is in uniform, even if it’s a PE day.

This week’s message comes from out Science and Foundation Subjects Leader. It’s about the final topic of the year…

What is this half-term’s topic?

Design and Technology is the driving subject for this half-term and it’s a great topic to finish the year! The focus for all classes this year is textiles (next year, it’s construction) so children will be busy designing and making products using fabric.

A key aspect of the Design and Technology curriculum is the understanding that products don’t just get made. Instead, they go through a design process that includes three key elements: evaluate, design and make. Think of this process as a cycle. For example, Scholes Motors want to create a new family car. Before the car is made, they need to evaluate existing products and talk to customers so that they’re clear about what the new car needs to have. They will then design the car and evaluate those designs. They may make a prototype of the car to help them evaluate the designs. Next, they’ll decide on a final design that will go into production and get made. This finished product will be evaluated and the whole process starts again.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic – see pages 14 and 15 of our Topic Curriculum Guide.

Years 1 and 2

The product children will be designing, making and evaluating is a hand puppet. They’ll start by learning about the design process before looking at and evaluating existing hand puppet products. They’ll then learn to use an over stitch and practise threading needles and tying knots. Following this, they’ll be introduced to all the materials they can use to create their puppet. Once they’re familiar with the materials, they’ll design their puppet. Next, it’s on to the making stage. They’ve already honed their sewing skills so they should be confident making and then decorating their puppets according to their designs. Finally, it’s evaluation time: children will compare their designs to their finished products. They’ll reflect on successes and things they’d do differently next time.

Years 3 and 4

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a pouch. The function of this pouch is entirely up to them. It could be used to store some pens, trading cards, a shell collection. Children can be as creative as they like – as long as the pouch can be made using a 20cm² piece of felt!

Before they begin to design their pouch, they’ll learn about a famous designer and how they became a designer. They’ll also learn some important skills that a designer needs to have. Children will then evaluate existing pouches, with a focus on fastenings, and will then design their pouch. They’ll practise their sewing skills, becoming proficient using a running stitch. They’ll then begin to make their pouches. First, they’ll create a template which they’ll use to cut out the pieces. Next, they’ll join the pieces using their running stitch and create a fastening for their pouch. Finally, they’ll evaluate their designs by comparing them to their designs, testing whether they’re fit for purpose and reflecting on their successes and areas to improve.

Years 5 and 6

Children will be designing, making and evaluating a cushion. However, before they get stuck into their cushion, they’ll learn about some designers who changed the world: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, George Stephenson, Lewis Latimer and Jony Ive. They’ll learn about their creations and their impact and look for things that link the designers.

Following this, children will learn about the importance of design criteria when designing a product. After this, they’ll practise their sewing skills and learn how to sew using a backstitch. Next, they’ll evaluate existing cushions. They’ll then decide on the specific design criteria for their cushions and create their designs using an annotated sketch, detailing the dimensions of their product. They’ll learn about the importance of using sustainable materials when researching the filling used for their cushion (the plan is to use old, unwanted pieces of fabric to stuff the cushions rather than Polyfill so please have a look through your wardrobe and keep hold of any old t-shirts or other clothes as we’ll need them later in the half-term).

Children will use a template to cut out the shapes, use a backstitch to appliqué decoration to their cushion, before finally sewing the pieces together and stuffing them. The final stage is to evaluate the designs against the design criteria.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they have been learning in class. The class news page of the school website is a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.

The school library and local libraries will have some books about Design and Technology which your child will be able to borrow and develop both their reading skills and design knowledge.

Finally, there’s a lot of programmes on CBBC and CBeebies with a Design and Technology focus:

• Bitz and Bob
• Grace’s Amazing Machines
• Junk Rescue
• Maddie’s Do You Know?
• The Dengineers

Finally, don’t forget to complete our annual survey – it’ll only take a few minutes and we do take on board as many views as we can.

At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, we’re always keen to hear your views. We hope that you let us know any questions, comments and concerns (as well as causes for celebration!) whenever these crop up, but we like to gather the views more generally at the end of the year – we do this via the annual survey.

Please complete the survey – it’ll only take a few minutes or so. You’ve plenty of time to do this – the deadline is 2pm on Friday 05 July 2024.

We can’t guarantee to meet the needs and wants of every parent / carer, but we do assure you that we consider all the points raise and aim to act on specific points that are raised by many, or a useful idea raised by just a few.

We’re looking forward to reading your views.

We’re into the final half-term of the school year – it’s always a busy one, so please keep an eye on the school calendar. Coming up soon are a few things you might want to know about…

For children in Year 1 and some children in Year 2: Next week, children in Year 1 (and those who didn’t meet the standard who are in Year 2) will take part in an assessment around their phonics skills. Check out the government’s phonics screening check information for parents.

For children in Year 4: Also next week, Year 4 children will take an online assessment to check their quick recall of times tables and division facts. Check out the guide for parents. Keep practising on Times Tables Rock Stars!

For all children: On Tuesday 18 June, the school photographer is in to take class photos.

Next week, look out for the link to our annual survey of parents and carers. too.

Attendance matters

At the start of every half-term, we review our attendance. For the full school year so far, up to the end of the Summer 1 half-term (Thursday 23 May), the whole school attendance figure was 95.8%. That’s comfortably higher than the national figure up to Friday 17 May for primary schools: 94.7%. Thank you for your support.

How does each class compare?

• Sunshine (Miss Parling) 94.7%
• Rainbow (Mrs Allen-Kelly & Mrs Flynn) 95.9%
• 1A (Mrs Brown and Mrs Wilkins) 95.5%
• 1/2B (Mrs Latham) 96.2%
• 2C (Miss Young) 95.7%
• 3/4A (Mrs Paterson) 95.8%
• 3/4B (Miss Iveson) 96.5%
• 3/4C (Mrs Wadsworth) 96.3%
• 5/6A (Mr Wain) 96.2%
• 5/6B (Mrs Hogath) 95.4%
• 5/6C (Mr Lindsay) 95.7%

Let’s keep up this great achievement!

Send support

SENDIASS support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their parents and carers to help with their related concerns or questions. They provide a free, impartial and confidential service through their website and online resources. You can self-refer to this service by contacting them directly. Find out more about SENDIASS in this short clip.

Here are the dates of forthcoming support sessions.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Positive Home-School Relationships

Governors have asked us to remind you about a recent policy – our Positive Home-School Relationships Policy. Please check it out.

And two things worth knowing about: one for Year 1 and 2 children, and the other for children in Year 4.

Year 1 and 2: Phonics screening check

In the week beginning 10 June, children in Year 1 (and those who didn’t meet the standard who are in Year 2) will take part in an assessment around their phonics skills. Check out the government’s phonics screening check information for parents.

Year 4: Multiplication tables check

Have a happy and healthy – and hopefully drier – half-term week!

We’re all sad to say goodbye to Sue and we wish her all the best for a happy and healthy retirement. Here’s a lovely poem, written by Louise Carter, mum of Leneah and Luella, that really sums up the start of the school day not being quite the same without Sue to greet us…

Farewell to our lovely Sue
It won’t be the same without you
Come rain or come shine
You’ve a smile every time
And it won’t be the same without you.

Thanks for the laughter Sue
It won’t be the same without you
You’re jokey and funny
You make every day sunny
It won’t be the same without you.

Thanks for being there for us Sue
It won’t be the same without you
You’re there without fail
Be it snow, ice or hail
So it won’t be the same without you.

Thanks for remembering us Sue
It won’t be the same without you
You know all of our names
Your memory’s insane!
It just wont be the same without you.

We will always remember you Sue
It won’t be the same without you
You looked after us well
From our tears you can tell
That it won’t be the same without you.

This week has been SATs week – the end of Key Stage 2 assessments. Well done to all the Year 6 children for coping so well. Well done also to adults in school for supporting our children, making sure the week isn’t a horrible one. Thanks to one of our governors who visited school to ensure the assessments were being managed effectively, going through a checklist of points to ensure robust procedures are in place.

Healthy eating

Our recent Living and Learning healthy eating sessions have included reference to the 5 a day message and the Eatwell Guide. Linked to this, the Just One More campaign, currently running across Leeds, aims to encourage increased vegetable intake by ‘just one more’ portion per day.

The campaign is to help people eat more vegetables by:

• Consuming vegetables as snacks
• Adding more vegetables into meals
• Adding more vegetables when shopping
• Growing vegetables at home or in community spaces
• Sharing vegetables with friends and family
• Choosing more vegetables at school

Give it a go – try ‘just one more’!

Handwriting and spelling

This comes from Mr Catherall, our Writing Leader…

When it comes to writing, children have to think about a whole range of things in order to get their ideas down onto the paper. Some people liken writing to playing multiple games of chess at the same time – the demand on the brain is huge.

That’s why handwriting and spelling are so important. If children can write neatly and legibly without having to concentrate on this, it frees up lots of brain space for them to concentrate on other aspects of writing – like choosing the correct vocabulary.

It’s similar for spelling. If you can spell words automatically, your brain doesn’t need to waste power on thinking about this which significantly reduces the cognitive load on your brain.

In school, we place a huge emphasis on what we call the ‘Must Dos’
for writing – the basic skills needed to be an effective writer. A recent publication by Ofsted found that this isn’t always the case in primary schools.

With this in mind, we really appreciate the effort that goes into learning the weekly spellings at home – please encourage your child to learn these words. Also, if you’d like some help with how to support your child with their handwriting, check out our handwriting guide or speak with your child’s class teacher.

Finally this week, with just one more week of the Summer 1 half-term to go, you might like to check out the activities going on within Active Leeds this half term.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the great weather this week. Check out the NHS guidance around sun protection for your child.

In case you missed it, last week’s message had a link to a useful NHS website with advice to support your child if they’re feeling anxious about any assesssments.

The bulk of this week’s message is about Relationships and Sex Education, but check out the great feedback at the end, too.

Coming up in the weeks commencing 03 June, 10 June and 17 June, children from Year 1 to Year 6 will take part in Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lessons.

We want parents/carers and pupils to feel assured that RSE is delivered at a level appropriate to both the age and development of pupils, and to feel safe to voice opinions and concerns relating to the provision.

The lessons are led by children’s class teacher. They take place in a safe learning environment and are underpinned by our school ethos and values.

Nationally, all primary schools are required by law to teach Relationships Education and Health Education. In Sphere Federation schools, we’ve provided RSE lessons successfully as part of Living and Learning for many years.

Read our RSE Policy:

• Section 9 provides a list of the vocabulary that will be used (pages 7 and 8)
• Section 11 includes an overview of the topics that will be covered (page 11 includes a table to show the learning across each year group)

We know that you might have some concerns. If you’d like to find out more, discuss any concerns, or speak to someone in more detail about the teaching and learning planned for this important aspect of your child’s education, please contact Miss Hague.

Similarly, you have the right to request that your child be withdrawn from some or all of the lessons that can be regarded as ‘sex education’. For our school, this comprises lessons in Year 6 on what human reproduction is and how babies grow. Please see the government’s factual guide to RSE for parents: Understanding Relationships and Health Education in your child’s primary school: a guide for parents. If you wish to withdraw your Year 6 child from RSE, please contact the Head of School to discuss the matter. See page 6 of the RSE policy for more information about your right to withdraw your child.

We’re committed to working in partnership with parents/carers. Feedback has indicated that the overwhelming majority of parents/carers are highly supportive of our Relationships and Sex Education programme.

Finally, some great feedback… Most primary schools in Leeds have regular visits from a School Improvement Advisor. Here’s a few comments from a recent visit where the advisor visited a sample of Maths lessons:

• ‘Learning carefully matches the needs of pupils, building upon prior learning and enabling pupils to deepen and demonstrate their knowledge.’
• ‘The school have high aspirations for all pupils and closely monitor the progress of all pupils.’
• ‘Throughout the lesson, the adults…reinforced this language and enabled all pupils to confidently use this to explain their learning.’

May is the month of SATs for children in Year 6, and – like most schools – as we approach the end of the school year, there are various assessments for children in each year group. Ask your child’s teacher if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns. You might like to check out this NHS guide to help reassure your child, too.

We’re pleased that in Sphere Federation, we now have an officially trained senior mental health lead, as part of the government’s commitment to offer this training to all eligible schools and colleges by 2025. The extensive training supported the senior mental health leads to develop and implement a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing. It’s important that any mental health issues or wellbeing concerns can be addressed on a bespoke, individual or small group scale. Having a SMHL now gives us the ability to identify specific need and monitor the impact of any support or intervention.

The rest of this week’s message is about one particular assessment. It’s mainly for parents and carers of children in Year 1. It might also be useful for if you’ve a child in Year 2 or Reception.

Phonics Screening Check

The Year 1 phonics screening check is for children in Year 1, and children in Year 2 who didn’t meet the threshold in the previous year. It checks that children are on track to become fluent readers who can enjoy reading for pleasure and reading for learning.

The screening check is a way for teachers to ensure that children are making sufficient progress with their phonics skills to read words. It helps to identify whether your child needs additional support at this stage so that they don’t fall behind in this vital early reading skill.

The check assesses phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1.

We make sure it’s not a stressful process for each child. It’s carried out by a teacher – usually the Year 1 teacher – who will be well-equipped to listen and understand children’s level of skills.

It checks if your child can sound out and blend graphemes (letters) in order to read simple words. This includes phonically decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words, eg cat, sand, windmill. There is also a selection of nonsense words which are referred to as pseudo (or ‘alien’) words eg brip, snorb. Pseudo words are included in the check specifically to assess whether your child can decode a word using phonics skills and not their memory.

The check is not about passing or failing but checking appropriate progress is being made. If children do not reach the required standard, then the teacher will be in touch to discuss plans and offer additional, tailored support to ensure that your child can catch up. Children progress at different speeds, so not reaching the threshold score does not necessarily mean there’s a problem. Your child will re-sit the check the following summer term.

School will report your child’s results to you by the end of the summer term as well as to the local authority.

Help at home by supporting your child to say each sound in the word from left to right. Blend the sounds by pointing to each letter – /b/ in bat, or letter group /igh/ in sigh, as you say the sound. Then, run your finger under the whole word as you say it. Talk about the meaning if your child does not understand the word they have read. Work at your child’s pace. Always be positive and give lots of praise and encouragement.