Our weekly message: Friday 13 June 2025

Every half-term, we have a new topic in Key Stage 1 and 2. (Check out the Class News pages for what’s happening in our Nursery and Reception classes.)

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 construction (next year, it’s textiles). Children will be busy designing and making products using different materials.

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
• make

Think of this process as a cycle. For example, Sphere 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 page 14 and 15 of the Topic Curriculum Guide.

Years 1 and 2

Children will be introduced to the design process (design, make, evaluate). They’ll then look at some badly designed products and identify why they are badly designed. Following this, they will set up and perform tests to see what types of shape make strong and stable structures. They’ll then work as groups to create structures out of paper which may be strong enough for a child to stand on. After this, they’ll use the knowledge and skills gained to design and make a chair for Baby Bear from Goldilocks. They’ll design, make, test and evaluate the chair.

Years 3 and 4

Children will be reminded of the design process before learning about design criteria. They’ll look at different products and identify what the design criteria were for each product. They’ll also learn about a pioneering British female designer called Caroline Haslett. Following this, they’ll be given their design brief and design criteria for their project: create a prototype go-kart using TechCard. They’ll investigate existing products before designing, making and evaluating their go-karts. An extra challenge will be to integrate an electric circuit to make their go-kart move.

Years 5 and 6

Children will begin the topic by learning about some different pioneering female engineers. They’ll then look at different bridges and list the design criteria for these bridges. After that, they’ll be introduced to their project for the half-term: create a vehicle for Eggy (the egg). The vehicle will need to meet specific design criteria agreed by the children. One of these design criteria will be about safety. Pupils will investigate different safety features in cars and this will lead to them creating designs for their own cars which have some safety features to protect Eggy. They’ll then make them using different tools. Finally, they’ll put the vehicles through some rigorous tests to evaluate them.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they’re 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, check out BBC Bitesize KS1 and BBC Bitesize KS2 plus all 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

Our weekly message: Friday 06 June 2025

We hope you had a happy and healthy half-term break.

Do you have a friend or family member looking for a Nursery? Along with Reception, our Nursery was judged by Ofsted (May, 2024) to be outstanding. If you know of someone looking for a place, let them know about us. We have places in Nursery available.

Thank you!

Did you visit our recent Book Fair?

We sold loads of books – a grand total of £1348.78. This means that we now have £737.43 to spend on Scholastic books for school – a win-win for all!

Themed week: Being healthy

Our next themed week is the week beginning Monday 07 July. This is the second of two themed weeks each year.

Learning will be based around how to be healthy physically and emotionally.  A variety of events and visitors are planned to help us deliver this key aspect of Living and Learning. Visitors include LS-TEN skateboarding (KS2), Flex Dance (KS1 and Reception) and d:side (Reception – Year 6). Due to the nature of the activities planned, children are allowed to wear PE kit all week. Please respect our Uniform Policy for what to wear on PE days.

Drug education

D:side will deliver drug education sessions to all classes on Thursday 10 July and Friday 11 July. Information for parents and carers about these sessions will be available from d:side on Thursday 10 July from 3.00pm-3:30pm. Weather permitting, you’ll find Dave in the KS2 playground or gazebo.

Sports Day

As part of the week, you’re invited to watch your child take part in our annual Sports Day on Friday 11 July:

• Reception and Key Stage 1: 9.15am – 10.30am – Sports Roundabout
• Key Stage 2:  1.15pm – 3.15pm – Sports Day

(You’ll notice this is different to our usual sports day organisation as our non-competitive sports roundabout is now only for Reception and Key Stage 1. This is based on your feedback about the day.)

Healthy way to travel to school

This themed week is a good opportunity to think about a healthy way to travel to school. We encourage children to use an active and sustainable method of transport, maybe parking further away from school, scooting, biking or walking to school. We’d love to see some active travel photos. Please send photos to scholesoffice@spherefederation.org by Thursday 10 July. There will be a prize draw at the end of the week for children to win a book voucher.

Voluntary contribution

Due to the rising costs of visitors to school, we’re inviting you to make a small contribution: £2 per pupil will help us to pay for visitors and ensure themed weeks like this one can continue in the future. If you choose to contribute, you can do this on School Gateway. Thank you for your support with this.

Can you help?

If your job involves an aspect of health and you can support our Being Healthy themed week by coming into school, please contact the office to pass on your details.

Keep up to date

We’ll keep you up to date about events during the week on the Class News pages on our website.

Thank you for your support to keep Scholes (Elmet) Primary a happy and healthy school.

Staying safe in the sun

Now that summer’s here, it’s important to remember to stay safe in the sun. Please remember to apply sunscreen to keep your child safe.

Every day matters

Our whole-school attendance figure is 95.9%. This means we’re securely above national figures: 93.3% for all schools and 94.9% for primary schools.

All the classes in Key Stage 1 and 2 remain above the national figures. Particular well done to Class 3/4A (Mr Wain’s class)…

• Sunshine Class (Miss Parling): 93.2%
• Rainbow Class (Mrs Allen-Kelly & Mrs Long): 94.2%
• Class 1A (Mrs Brown and Mrs Wilkins): 95.7%
• Class 1/2B (Mrs Latham): 96.7%
• Class 2C (Miss Young): 96.4%
• Class 3/4A (Mr Wain): 97.2%
• Class 3/4B (Miss Gilliland): 96.1%
• Class 3/4C (Mrs Wadsworth): 96.8%
• Class 5/6A (Mr Goodwin): 96.6%
• Class 5/6B (Mrs Hogarth): 95.2%
• Class 5/6C (Mr Lindsay): 95.7%

Thank you for making sure your child attends school as much as possible.

Finally…

Have you had a chance to complete our short annual survey? It’ll take just five minutes or so. You’ve still plenty of time – the closing date is Friday 20 June.

Our weekly message: Friday 23 May 2025

Happy half-term! We can’t believe we’ve reached the end of Summer 1 term so quickly.

Targeted training

We’ve the third of five training days in school today. On training days like this, the teachers across Sphere Federation gather together and benefit from training that’s age-specific. This means that teachers in each phase (Early Years, Years 1/2, Years 3/4 and Years 5/6) receive training that helps to support their teaching in specific age groups. Today, teachers have been planning, practising and preparing for three different subjects: PE, DT (Design and Technology) and Maths.

The training our teachers receive was recognised by Ofsted in all three of the school’s inspections:

• ‘Professional development for all staff is exemplary. Leaders have planned high-quality training.’ (Moortown Primary, March 2024)
• ‘The professional development available for all staff is of high quality, and they appreciate the collaborative support shared among the schools in the federation.’ (Scholes (Elmet) Primary, May 2024)
• ‘The school ensures that staff receive regular, high-quality training and development. This contributes to staff having excellent subject knowledge across a range of subjects.’ (St James’ CE Primary, January 2025)

The last two training days are on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 July, meaning the Summer 2 term ends on Friday 18 July.

Uniform update

Every year around this time, we review our Uniform Policy. You’ve told us in previous annual surveys you like to have the policy well in advance so you can start to prepare for the new school year. Read the 2025-26 Uniform Policy. There are a couple of minor changes:

• additional guidance around footwear – choose shoes that are safe to run around for healthy, active playtimes (eg avoid Crocs)
• additional guidance around hair accessories – hair bands, bows and other accessories should be minimal: as small as possible and not too bright

Talking of uniform…

Top tip

Are you thinking of having your child’s ears pierced? Please do this at the start of the summer holidays to allow for healing time. Advisors recommend no earrings are worn for PE. We expect children to remove earrings before the lesson and put them back in after the lesson. This will be carried out by the child. If they’re unable to remove or put their earrings back in by themselves, they must not wear them on the day they have PE.

Finally this week…

Have you completed our annual survey yet? It’ll only take a few minutes.

Have a happy and healthy half-term holiday.

Our weekly message: Friday 16 May 2025

Well done to all our Year 6 pupils for completing the end of Key Stage 2 assessments this week.

This week’s message kicks off with with another well done…

Football heroes

Yesterday, some of our Year 5 footballers travelled to Leeds United’s training ground to play in the final of the Moran Cup (a tournament open to every school in Leeds). Despite a narrow 6-5 defeat, the children represented school brilliantly – we were proud of their effort, their passion and the way they conducted themselves from start to finish. What an amazing achievement to get to the last two in the whole city!

Annual survey

Our weekly message: Friday 09 May 2025

In the next few weeks, different statutory assessments take place. They kick off next week with the end of Key Stage 2 assessments (the SATs) which Year 6 children will sit. Early next half-term, Year 4 pupils do the Multiplication Tables Check and Year 1 pupils (and some Year 2 pupils) do the Phonics Screening Check. We wish all the best to all our pupils.

Cooking lessons

This term, your child will enjoy preparing a snack or meal – it’s the third opportunity in the year to develop food preparation skills.

• Years 1 and 2: Children will prepare fruit bars, practising skills such as weighing, mashing and mixing
• Years 3 and 4: Children will sieve, knead and glaze (amongst other skills) to make savoury scones
• Years 5 and 6: Children will use similar skills to make bread

Please alert us to any allergies your child has. We’ll do our best to adapt recipes.

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.)

School meals

We’ve been informed by Catering Leeds, our school meals provider, that school meal prices are going to significantly increase from September. We’re told the increase in prices is to cover rising food costs and increased labour rates for all frontline catering staff. Catering Leeds has also taken the decision to charge a management fee on top of their school meal costs. This also has a knock-on effect to the prices that we need to charge parents/carers for meals.

As a result of this, we’ve had to make difficult decisions. From September, the price of a school meal for children in Nursery and Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be £3.10 per day.

Children in Reception and Years 1 and 2 will continue to receive Universal Infant Free School Meals (unless there’s any new legislation on this).

As you will no doubt have heard in the news, school budgets are becoming increasingly tight. We have no choice but to pass on the cost increases to parents/carers to ensure we have as much money as possible for teaching, learning and providing a varied curriculum for our children.

Here are some actions we’ve taken to try to limit the burden for you:

• Last year, we explored school meal costs, comparing with average costs across the country. The conclusion was that prices charged by Catering Leeds were reasonable.
• On hearing the news about the increase, we’ve checked prices with local schools but in a different local authority – the prices they charge are in line with the £3.10 per day costs we’re having to introduce.
• Next year, we’ll explore whether an alternative catering provider would provide better value for money.

Travelling to school consultation

This comes from Tim Taylor, Director of Transport Services for West Yorkshire Combined Authority and is mainly for parents of children in Years 5 and 6..

We are writing to make you aware and encourage your input into a public consultation.

As a parent or carer, you will know the importance of good transport options including public transport, walking, wheeling and cycling, to connect children and young people to education and opportunity. This should be convenient, safe and affordable, no matter where you are in West Yorkshire.

Here at the Combined Authority, we are working hard to deliver an integrated, sustainable and reliable transport system that connects all parts of our region so everyone can access the places they need to live fulfilled lives, including access to education.

We are therefore undertaking a consultation to get your views on how we can best support travel to school. This includes our policy regarding dedicated bus services to secondary schools, and how children and young people travel to their place of education in the future.

As a parent or carer of a child currently in primary school and likely to be considering options for secondary school, we want to understand you and your child’s needs, to help shape our future plans.

Your views will help us create a new, sustainable travel to school strategy, with any resulting changes to secondary school services not expected to be introduced until September 2026 at the earliest.

Transport for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and school bus services to primary schools are not part of this consultation and will remain unaffected.

We want to understand what’s most important to you when choosing a secondary school and learn more about your future travel arrangements. It’s important to share your views whether your child walks, wheels, cycles, travels by bus, car, train or uses a dedicated school bus.

The consultation opens on 23 April and you’ll have until 11 June 2025 to participate.

Find out more and complete the survey.

Monsters at Scholes?

Don’t worry – these monsters are of the friendly variety.

A huge thanks to the ladies from Scholes Women’s Institute who have knitted these adorable Worry Monsters.

These monsters have been adopted, named and are now sat in pride of place in our classrooms.  Worrries can be written and fed to the monster or can be shared with one of our trusted adults whilst giving the monster a hug. What’s not to love!

Our weekly message: Friday 02 May 2025

This week’s message introduces our new topics in Key Stage 1 and 2 – History topics.

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

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary. See pages 28 and 29 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 same document.

Years 1 and 2

In this topic, children learn about two significant individuals who stood up for something they believed in. Nelson Mandela is famous across the world for his devotion to equal rights for black people in South Africa. Leonora Cohen was a suffragette from Leeds who fought passionately for the right to vote for women. Children will learn about what they believed in, what they did and the impact that they had. They’ll also consider what they believe strongly about and how they can make a change.

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

Years 3 and 4

In this topic, children learn about the Leeds West Indian Carnival. They’ll learn about the carnival’s founder, Arthur France, and how he came to Leeds from the West Indies. They’ll learn about how Arthur and friends started the carnival. They’ll then use a range of historical sources to study how the carnival has changed and how it has stayed the same. Children will finally learn about the origins of West Indian carnivals by learning about slavery and the slave trade.

The key concepts for this topic are trade, inequality and power.

Years 5 and 6

In this topic, children learn about what life was like in Britain during World War II. Children begin by learning about how the war began. They’ll then learn about the mass evacuation of Jewish children from Germany to Britain. Next, they’ll learn about the Blitz and the evacuation of British children from towns and cities to the countryside. They’ll then learn about the role of women. Finally, they’ll investigate life after the war. They’ll learn about how the opportunities for women narrowed again and also the important role that immigration from Commonwealth countries played in helping Britain to rebuild after the war.

The key concepts for this topic are invasion, inequality and power.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they have been learning in class. Our Class News page is 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.

Visit Abbey House Museum as they have some artefacts relating to suffragettes and Leonora Cohen – it’s also a great visit, regardless of which period children are learning about. Leeds residents also get free access to nearby Kirkstall Abbey which is great to explore on a sunny day.

Leonora Cohen also has a blue plaque on a house she lived in on Clarendon Road in Woodhouse. Your teacher would love to see a selfie of you with her plaque!

Nelson Mandela Gardens in Millennium Square commemorates Mandela’s visit to Leeds when he has presented with the Freedom of the City. It’s a small, calm space well worth visiting if you’re in the city centre.

For World War II, Eden Camp is a great visit. Also in North Yorkshire is the  Yorkshire Air Museum which will be of particular interest to anyone wanting to learn more about the planes used during the war. A bit closer is the Royal Armouries which has weapons and armour from a wide variety of time periods and places around the world.

Finally, it’s a little while away but a visit to the Leeds West Indian Carnival in August will give children the opportunity to experience the event in real life!

Our weekly message: Friday 25 April 2025

We hope you enjoyed the Easter break.

Relationships and Sex Education

Coming up in the weeks commencing 02 June, 09 June and 16 June, children from Year 1 to Year 6 will take part in Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lessons. These are part of our Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum (PSHE, or ‘Living and Learning’, as we call it).

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. At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, we’ve provided RSE lessons successfully as part of Living and Learning for many years.

We refer you to these sections of our RSE policy:

1. Section 9 provides a list of the vocabulary that will be used (pages 7 and 8)
2. 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 may have some issues / 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 Miss Hague 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. Feedback indicates that the overwhelming majority of parents are highly supportive of our Relationships and Sex Education programme.

Attendance matters

Our whole school attendance figure up to the Easter holidays is 96.1%. The national figure for primary schools is 94.8% and it’s 93.3% for all schools. It’s great that we’re above the national averages.

• Sunshine (Miss Parling): 94.8%
• Rainbow (Mrs Allen-Kelly & Mrs Long): 94.6%
• 1A (Mrs Brown and Mrs Wilkins): 95.4%
• 1/2B (Mrs Latham): 96.9% – amazing attendance!
• 2C (Miss Young): 96.6%
• 3/4A (Mr Wain): 97.2% – awesome attendance!
• 3/4B (Miss Gilliland): 96.0%
• 3/4C (Mrs Wadsworth): 96.7%
• 5/6A (Mr Goodwin): 96.5%
• 5/6B (Mrs Hogarth): 95.5%
• 5/6C (Mr Lindsay): 95.7%

Well done and thank you to all of you who make sure their child attends school as much as they can.

Dermot O’Leary

Most of you will know Dermot O’Leary as a TV and radio presenter. Did you also know he’s a children’s author, too? On Tuesday, some of our older Junior Leaders visited another Leeds school where he was promoting his new book, Spy Fox and Agent Feathers.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Well done Year 3,4

A huge well done to our Year 3,4 children who put on an amazing performance of ‘Go for Gold’.

We know that the children were really proud of themselves and we know those of you who came to see it really enjoyed it.

At all of our performances we make a collection for our chosen charity.  This year our charity is Willow Foundation.

The grand total across both of our performances was £78.90.

Many thanks for your generosity.

Our weekly message: Friday 04 April 2025

Easter events

Last week, we mentioned this guide from Child Friendly Leeds to help children and families in Leeds navigate their way through the Easter holidays. You might also want to check out another guide from Active Leeds – anyone up for some paddlesports?!

National Youth Strategy

The government is creating a new ten-year National Youth Strategy to tackle the challenges for this generation of young people and to ensure every young person can thrive. The strategy aims to bring power back to young people and their communities to improve youth focused services.

The government wants to hear the views of children and young people aged 10 to 21 (and up to age 25 with special educational needs or disabilities).

Encourage your child to complete the survey to share with the government what they think on a range of themes.

If they don’t have time to complete the survey, then encourage them to share their quick thoughts with the government on what could be improved.

Need some help?

Sometimes people need a bit of help from time to time. Wetherby and District Foodbank might be able to help you.

Check out the information below to find out more about when they’re open, how to use them, and the areas they cover. There’s also information about MoneyBuddies, the biggest independent money advice service in West Yorkshire.

• Community Cafe
• Money Buddies

Over Easter, there are activities for children whilst parents and carers can share concerns and get confidential advice. There’ll be Easter Eggs, too!

Have a happy and healthy holiday. We’ll see you again on Tuesday 22 April.