Summer Competition Winners

 

Our weekly message: Friday 13 September

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!

Welcome back … a few reminders

Welcome back to school.  It was so nice to see everyone last week looking super smart, ready for a great year.  I hope your child was able to talk about some of the learning they’ve started in class.  Walking around school certainly gave me the sense that everybody is ready for a new challenge.

Just a few reminders of some of the things that help make school run more smoothly.

School attendance is important but from time to time children become unwell.  If your child has vomited or had diarrhoea, please keep them at home until 48 hours have passed from their last episode of being unwell. Stomach bugs travel quickly around school, as you’d expect – this helps to break the cycle.

We don’t authorise term time absences unless in exceptional circumstances.  If you are requesting a term time absence, a form should be collected from the school office and completed prior to the absence.

Please ring school to let us know if your child is not going to be in school for whatever reason.  It’s important we know where all children are and a call from you saves us chasing up the absence.

Please name as much uniform as you can.  Wherever possible we’ll return misplaced items but as you can imagine, items with no names  are almost impossible to return.  There were bags full of lost property at the end of last year.

Communication between home and school is really important.  You might not have had chance to meet your child’s new class teacher yet but please be assured  we’re available, usually at the end of the day, if you want to say hello or have a quick ‘check-in’. We may call home from time to time to check in, too.

And finally, parking around school continues to be an issue.  If you are unable to walk to school, please park legally and with consideration for our neighbours.

Our weekly message: Friday 06 September

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!

Our last weekly message of the year (Friday 19 July 2024)

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!

Our weekly message (Friday 12 July 2024)

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.

Scholes in Bloom

Some children went out to meet the Britain in Bloom judges this week. The winner of the ‘design a flowerbed’ competition came to talk about their design. We also told them about plants we have grown and our beautiful wildlife garden. We hope they were impressed!

Our weekly message (Friday 05 July 2024)

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!

Summer Reading Challenge – Reading for fun!

Are you looking for something FREE to help with your child’s summer holiday boredom? The Library Service may have the answer for you.

The Library Service’s annual summer reading challenge is due to start this weekend on Saturday 6th July.  All children need to do to earn rewards, a certificate and a medal is to read at least 6 books during the summer holiday period.

The challenge runs from 6th July until the 14th September in all Leeds Libraries so there’s lots of time and opportunity to rise to the challenge. You do not have to join up this weekend though – You can join at any time and you can join online too.

The theme this year is Marvellous Makers and it’s all about being creative – music, junk modelling, art and crafts, photography, dancing. There’s something for everyone’s reading tastes – even audio books too.

For more information you can contact any Leeds Library but Madeleine at Scholes Library will be more than happy to welcome you there to answer any queries or questions.

Our weekly message (Friday 28 June 2024)

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!