…The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

A recent homework was to discuss with your child about charities and how charity is the act of giving help to those who need it. There was a list of charities for you to consider. Children came to school last week ready to discuss these with their peers. A democratic vote was made in each class and the result was brought to the Junior Leadership Team. They discussed the votes and settled on The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

The main objective of the charity is to enhance the quality of care and support available to babies, young children and adult congenital cardiac patients who are treated at Leeds Congenital Heart Unit, based at Leeds General Infirmary.

Fundraising that takes place this year will be donated to this charity.

Thank you for discussing this at home.

On these darker, colder mornings, it’s still a highlight of our day to stand at the school gate and be greeted by happy and healthy children ready for a day of learning in class and socialising in school.

This week’s message has various things to check out…

Check out these seven top tips

The week’s Living and Learning statement has been I know how important it is to make careful choices when online. Use this page from Childline to support your discussions at home – just reading the website alongside your child will help. Check out Childline’s seven top tips.

Check out the checks

Children in Year 1 and in Year 4 take part in national assessments – the Government calls these ‘checks’. They take place towards the end of the school year.

If  your child is in Year 1, they’ll do a phonics screening check. Someone in school will carry out this with each child on a one-to-one basis in the week beginning Monday 10 June 2024. The phonics screening check is an assessment of your child’s phonics knowledge – a fundamental key to learning to read.

If they’re in Year 4, they’ll do a multiplication tables check. This is carried out online. It’ll take place in the first half of June 2024. The purpose of the check is to determine whether your child can fluently recall their times tables up to 12 (including the division facts), which is essential for future success in Maths.

Read more about these assessments by clicking on the links.

Check out the dates for all national assessments.

Check out these ways to support good mental health

Young Minds is a mental health charity for children, young people and their parents. They’ve produced this advent calendar full of top tips for wellbeing. It’s worth a look, whether you use it as a calendar or just decide to give one or two of the tips a try. We like the tip on Monday 4th – easy, but so effective!

Check out The Big Ambition

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has launched The Big Ambition, a national survey of children and young people across England. Has your child taken part yet?

I want to ensure that the voices of all children in the Yorkshire and the Humber area are fairly represented in the findings so that I can share their views with the most senior members of the country.

I must reiterate that it is vital that all children have their voice heard through this survey because, as Children’s Commissioner for England, I have a statutory duty to protect and promote the views and interests of children. The Big Ambition provides a much-needed opportunity for the children of England to tell political decision makers what is important to them ahead of the General Election. I will be sharing their responses with Government to ensure that children’s voices are heard.

Click straight to the survey.

‘Behaviour throughout the lessons was exemplary. Pupils were on-task, focussed and being supported well by adults within classrooms. Pupils were keen to learn.’

That’s just one of many very positive comments from our School Improvement Advisor

Leeds maintained primary schools benefit from around three visits from a School Improvement Advisor. On Friday 17 November, we welcomed our advisor into school for the first of these visits – the focus was Phonics and our current topic, Art. Here’s a few more extracts from her report…

This week, we marked Anti-Bullying Week. Make sure your child knows our definition of bullying (Several Times On Purpose) and the solution (Start Telling Other People).

Near the start of each half-term, Mr Wilks writes the weekly message to tell you more about the current topic in school…

What do we mean by topics?

Topics are the way we deliver much of the learning in the foundation subjects (eg history, art, geography, DT). Each half-termly topic has a driving subject – the main focus for teaching pupils the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. The driver changes with each topic to ensure a broad and balanced curriculum.

Although the learning in each topic is provided by the driving subject, there are opportunities for enrichment through other subjects. For example, learning in an art topic may be enriched by geography learning about where an artist was born and lived.

What is this half-term’s topic?

This half-term, we’re artists: we’re developing our art knowledge and skills. The learning this half-term has two aspects to it. In art history and appreciation lessons, children learn about some specific artists and their work. In art process lessons, children practise and develop skills by creating art.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. Follow this link to the Curriculum Guide to find out more.

Years 1 and 2

Children have two featured artists: Leonardo Da Vinci and Paul Klee. They’ll compare their art, talking about similarities and differences. They’ll discuss what they like and dislike about the art and how it makes them feel. They’ll also learn about the artists’ lives and where in the world they lived.

In practical art lessons, children will hone their artistic skills and knowledge by sketching objects using pencil, learning about and mixing colour and then they’ll be learning how to print by creating relief prints inspired by the artwork they’ve studied.

Part way through the half-term, they’ll visit the Hepworth Gallery for a printmaking workshop to complement the learning in school.

Years 3 and 4

Children will learn about the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Martha McDonald Napaltjarri. They’ll compare and contrast the artworks by these artists and also learn about their lives and the places they lived. In particular, children will learn about abstract and figurative art (see the vocabulary for definitions of these words).

In practical art sessions, children will develop observational drawing skills and their understanding of colour by learning about warm, cold and complementary colours. They’ll then apply what they’ve learnt by creating sculptures inspired by the artists they’ve studied.

Years 5 and 6

Children in Years 5 and 6 are learning about sculpture in their art lessons and will focus on three artists: Thomas J Price, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

The children have already been on their school trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park this week. They’ve seen and learned about sculptures by these artists. In art history and appreciation lessons, they’ll learn about the lives of these artists and how their localities have influenced their art. They’ll learn about classical and modern art in relation to their featured artists and in art movements more generally. They’ll also learn when and why the modern art movement happened.

In practical art lessons, children will continue to develop their observational skills and will create maquettes (see the vocabulary list) inspired by the work of Barbara Hepworth.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they’ve 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.

Familiarise yourself with the artists and the artwork that your child is learning about. Look in books or on the internet for pieces by the artists and talk about them. Find art by other artists that you like and compare it to the featured artists. If you feel confident, you can go into more depth using the vocabulary. However, if not, leave that to the teachers and just enjoy looking at the pieces and asking general questions:

• What do you like or dislike about the art?
• How does the art make you feel?
• Is it life-like or not?
• What colours can you see?

The Tate Gallery has a good children’s website with games and activities which children can explore.

If you’re in Leeds, the Leeds Art Gallery and Henry Moore Institute are both free to enter.

This week’s been a busy one – the first of our two themed weeks in the year. This one’s been Me and My Money. Ask your child what they’ve been learning about. Our Living and Learning Curriculum Guide lists the learning that we’ve been focusing on in school – see page 17.

Sticking to Living and Learning…

Bullying, Odd Socks and STOP

Next Monday, 13 November, is Anti-Bullying Day. This year’s theme is ‘Make noise about bullying’ and we will be taking part in Odd Socks Day on this day.

Odd Socks Day raises awareness of our differences, individuality and personal choice. Your child can come to school wearing odd socks (with their uniform) to celebrate what makes them unique.

Check out this parent and carer pack about bullying.

Remember our two STOP acronyms about bullying:

• the definition: Several Times On Purpose
• the solution: Start Telling Other People

Attendance matters

The whole-school attendance figure for Autumn 1 half-term was 95.7%. The national figure from 11 September to 13 October 2023 was 93.7% – we’re two percentage points higher than national! Thank you for making sure your child attends school as much as possible.

Here’s a breakdown for each class – the Year 3,4 phase are smashing it!

• Sunshine (Miss Parling) – 95.6%
• Rainbow (Mrs Allen-Kelly) – 96.0%
• Class 1A (Mrs Brown and Mrs Wilkins) – 95.1%
• Class 1/2B (Mrs Latham) – 96.0%
• Class 2C (Miss Young) – 96.1%
• Class 3/4A (Mrs Paterson) – 96.4% – excellent!
• Class 3/4B (Miss Iveson) – 96.3% – brilliant!
• Class 3/4C (Mrs Wadsworth) – 97.1% – amazing attendance!
• Class 5/6A (Mr Wain) – 94.9%
• Class 5/6B (Mrs Hogarth) – 94.5%
• Class 5/6C (Mr Lindsay) – 94.5%

Remember to check this new NHS website if you’re not sure whether your child is ill enough to miss out on school.

Rocking Rockstars

If your child’s in Year 3, 4, 5 or 6, they should be practising their times tables regularly at home – a little every day is best for most children. Children in Year 4 are expected to know their times tables with quick recall, and the matching division facts – check out this guide.

A good way to practise is to use Times Tables Rock Stars. The Times Tables Rock Stars website has just been updated, including:

• intro video
• parent guide
• the importance of times tables
• FAQs
• free downloadables

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Phonics is the foundation stone for reading and for lifelong learning. It’s all about matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters. For example, the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck or ch.

We’re proud of our excellent teaching and the excellent results. In 2023, almost all of our Year 1 children reached the expected level in the national Phonics Screening Check. The outcomes are significantly above the national data – in fact, we’re in the 97th percentile.

(Percentiles are a way of ranking. Basically, imagine all the schools in England in order from lowest to highest outcomes, and then divide the group into 100 smaller, similar performing groups. The first percentile is the lowest performing groups and the 100th percentile is the top-performing group.)

Well done to all the children in the cohort (our current Year 2 pupils), and thank you to parents and carers for making sure their child is reading regularly at home.

Read more about our Phonics provision.

It’s our last Friday’s message of Autumn 1 half-term.

Today’s a training day in school. All the teachers across Sphere Federation have gathered together to learn more about Maths, PE and Art. They’re learning about it in a carousel of phases – Early Years and Y1,2 in one, Y3,4 in another, and Y5,6 in the third.

In last week’s message, we announced our new Junior Leadership Team. This week, we thought you might like to hear from some them, talking about their favourite aspects of Scholes (Elmet) Primary…

• Jenson, Y2: “Our school library is full of fun, exciting books that we get to take home.”
• Eric, Y6: “I find maths puzzling and fun at the same time because it makes me feel challenged.”
• Noah, Y6: “We do a variety of different topics ranging from Geography to Computing. This helps us learn about the world.”
• Eric, Y6: “I find it fun testing different things like running around with bin bags.”
• Emilia, Y6: “Living and Learning allows us to share our thoughts and feelings.”
• Lani, Y4: “I enjoy playtime as everyone gets to play with each other.”
• Caleb, Y4: “Our teachers make lessons interesting and fun – we get to enjoy our learning.”
• Lani, Y4: “I enjoy assemblies because I get to think and learn about different things from around the world.”
• Thea, Y4: “Mrs Hague always helps us and she is a very kind person.”
• Noah, Y6: “Mr Roundtree is polite and never forgets to greet people when he’s at the gate.”
• Olivia, Y2: “Our school has lots of things to do after school like dancing and football.”

These comments now feature at the foot of the homepage of our website, too.

Leeds City Council Admissions Policy – consultation

Leeds City Council is running a public consultation on the 2025/2026 admission policy for Leeds community and voluntary controlled schools. You can share your views until 4 December. Share your views.

It’s been an extra long Autumn 1 half-term – eight weeks. Lots of children are tired – a break will be welcome to relax and recuperate. We hope you’re able to enjoy a longer weekend and a great half-term break.

Our Living and Learning message this week has been about respecting yourself. Have a conversation at home about this. What can your child feel especially proud of at home? And at school? Share examples of you feeling proud, too. How can feeling proud and believing in ourselves help us?

Junior Leadership Team

We’ve recently launched this year’s Junior Leadership Team election process. Our Junior Leadership Team (JLT) is one of the ways that children are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.

The election process allows children to develop an understanding of one of the British Values, democracy, with a representative from each class chosen democratically by their peers.

Here are some of the qualities our current Junior Leaders think are needed to be an effective JLT member:

• use the 8Rs for learning
• be respectful and polite
• help others
• be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)
• share and be confident with your ideas
• let others speak
• accept the views of others even if you don’t agree
• be friendly and approachable
• follow our school rules and make good choices in class and around school

This week’s whole school homework is all about the election and democracy, ready for the elections next Thursday 19 October.

Talking of pupil voice…

The Big Ambition

The Children’s Commissioner for England has recently launched ‘The Big Ambition’ to hear directly from children, young people, and parents across the country.

This is an opportunity to hear from all children, in every part of the country and in every setting. The survey will be used to encourage policymakers to think about children and young people’s needs, to ensure children’s voices are reflected in the decisions that will affect them in years to come.

Encourage your child to take part in The Big Ambition survey. 

Measles

Measles cases are rising across the country.

• 9 out of 10 unvaccinated children can catch measles if someone in their class has it.
• 102,000 children starting school in England are at risk of catching measles.

Check your child is up to date with their MMR vaccinations.

Measles is highly infectious and if left unvaccinated nine out of ten children in a classroom can catch the disease if just one child is infectious.

 

I hope Friday 13th hasn’t been bad luck for you! Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Thank you if you voted in the recent governor elections to find a new parent governors, and a particular thank you to the five parents who put themselves forward. In total, there were 139 votes – a good spread across the three Sphere Federation schools. The candidate with the most votes was Candidate B on the voting form: Steven Trangmar, who’s a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University.

The main parts of this week’s message come from two of the Sphere Federation leaders. Mrs Latham, the Early Reading and Phonics Leaders, has written the first section. Miss Wilson, the Reading Leader. has written the second.

For children at the early stages of reading…

We’re off to a flying start with our reading! Our Reception children started phonics lessons in Week 2 and are rapidly acquiring the skills to become readers. We use the government validated systematic synthetic phonics scheme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.

Children in Year 1 and Year 2 have also got back into phonics lessons quickly. The lessons happen every day and last half an hour (Reception build up to this over time). In these lessons, children are taught how a letter or letters (‘graphemes’) match to sounds (‘phonemes’).

We also have reading practice groups for children to use and apply their phonics skills four times a week. These are small group sessions, led by an adult, where children read a book that is matched to the phonics they know. The focus is very much on practising reading.

Your child can then share their phonics reading success at home by accessing the same text as an e-book. Please make sure you do this every week. We monitor if and when children are accessing the e-books.

Year 1 or 2 children who have secure phonic knowledge will begin to access a wider variety of books in school and to take home.

Children also take a sharing book home. These books are to enjoy together and read for pleasure. The focus is very much on enjoyment – developing a love of reading. Enjoy stories, predict what might happen and use different voices for the characters. Information books (non-fiction) can also be so much fun to share – finding out facts and discussing new information. Above all: make it enjoyable!

For more experienced readers…

We’ve made a fantastic start to reading this year and have already read a variety of texts – we’ve learned about scientists, read poetry and really got stuck into our class novels.

• Ask your child what they’re reading this week.
• What do they like or dislike about it?
• Who’s the author?
• Can they give you a ten second summary? What about a ten word summary?Children in Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6) are engaging well with their weekly Reading Record activities (as directed on their homework sheet). Make sure your child reads at home every day for at least 10-15 minutes and, depending on their age and confidence, read and discuss the book together wherever possible.When you’re reading at home and discussing the book, try the following:
• Give your child plenty of time to find the answer to your question.
• Decide on the best places to pause to convey shock, concern or, sometimes, just to tease. Pausing builds anticipation.
• Tell your child the definitions of words if they don’t know. There’s no point in guessing.
• Use asides to show your reactions to particular events. For example, ‘Oh, no! This isn’t looking like things will turn out well for him!’
• Colour your voice to give words meaning: whooped, wondered, wailed. Or perform an action as you read: sprouted, quivered, squirmed.

Enjoy a weekend of reading!