News - Scholes (Elmet) Primary School, Leeds

Exciting library news!

Posted on 18 April 2018 by Miss Hague

Our library is up and running!

Yes we need lots more books, but after lots of hard work we are proud to say that our library is now being used by the children.

To give our library a grand opening we have invited a local author into school.

Conrad Burdekin is “A fun, unique, and enthusiastic writer, storyteller and poet who inspires children up and down the country to want to write. A lover of books, lego and cricket and a proud Yorkshireman”.

Our opening day will be Thursday 28 June 2018. Look out for further details about how you can visit our library and meet Conrad.

Support your child at home: testing times tables

Posted on 16 April 2018 by Mr Roundtree

The quick recall of multiplication and division facts (times tables) is really important for all children. The ability to recall these facts quickly (rather than taking too long working them out) helps children to answer questions in lots of areas of Maths much more easily.

Based on the National Curriculum, the expectation of times tables is:

Year 2: 2x, 5x, 10x
Year 3: 3x, 4x, 8x
Year 4: 6x, 7x, 9x, 11x, 12x
Year 5: all x and ÷ facts (12×12)
Year 6: all x and ÷ facts (12×12) and related language/symbols (eg % and square root)

Remember: the expectation is for children to recall the division facts, too.

You can help your child at home using the series of spreadsheets below. To practise these at home:

download and open the file
press F9 for a new test (you can generate an unlimited number of different tests – just keep pressing F9 to generate a new test!)
print

Don’t test too early! We’ve created these tests to help you at home to check your child’s times tables knowledge – they won’t be especially helpful in helping your child to learn them. There are many ways in which children can learn times tables – for example, playing games, quick-fire questions from an adult, chanting tables, writing the tables out and using songs, websites or apps. This learning needs to take place before the knowledge gained can be assessed in a test.

Images of children and young people

Posted on 13 April 2018 by Mr Roundtree

The message below comes from West Yorkshire Police. It relates to the removal of sexualised images of children and young people that have been publicly circulated.

ChildLine and the Internet Watch Foundation have come together to provide a service where children can request the removal of sexual images of themselves which have been shared online. As part of that process the child is asked to provide a link to where the image is stored online, rather than send the image itself. The child is also required to verify their identity and age and this is done through the YOTI app. YOTI will not store images of the child’s ID following the verification process.

Here are a couple of online resources which contain details regarding this service:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/sexting

This covers what you can do if you’ve lost control of a sexual image and refers to the YOTI app.

https://contentreporting.childline.org.uk

This is the portal where you can report images and videos for take down and again refers to using the app to verify age.

Dance for Daniel!

Posted on 31 March 2018 by Mrs Latham

We danced for a whole hour on Thursday in support of one of our pupils, Daniel, who has recently undergone an organ transplant. He will spend several months in hospital recovering and we thought it would be nice to show our support. The sun shone and it was a great way to end Spring term – with everyone smiling and feeling happy! If anyone has any sponsor money or donations, please send them into school after the Easter holidays.

Year 2 and Year 6 assessments

Posted on 29 March 2018 by Mr Roundtree

The STA has published an information leaflet and two videos for parents/carers of children in Year 2 and Year 6 about national curriculum assessments. The purpose of these materials is to help you understand more about the end of key stage assessments that will be administered in primary schools in May. (The end of Key Stage 1 is Year 2; the end of Key Stage 2 is Year 6.)

The materials provide basic information about the purpose and format of the tests, how parents can best support their children and how results will be reported.

Read the leaflet.

Watch the videos.

Fab feedback

Posted on 29 March 2018 by Mr Roundtree

At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, we like to keep inviting people into school to share their views on our strengths and areas to keep improving. It helps to get other people’s opinions.

This week, we welcomed a headteacher from another Leeds school, an outstanding school with a strong record of high attainment. She visited most classes in school, spending up to about 15 minutes observing the teaching and learning, talking with some children and checking out the learning environments.

Our visitor offered three key strengths of our school:

Very good learning behaviour: pupils are ‘calm, settled and engaged’
Teaching appeared to be all at least good with some outstanding practice
Learning environments are attractive and well organised

She also suggested an area for improvement: to explore a distinct editing process to allow to guide pupils when editing and improving their writing. This is a useful recommendation and one that we’ll work on in our final term.

Easter school holiday consultation

Posted on 28 March 2018 by Mr Roundtree

Leeds City Council is seeking views on the timing of the Easter school holidays for the next few years. This will be the third consultation on the fixed Easter school holiday arrangement – it originally consulted in 2009, and then again in 2013. On both occasions the public view was clearly in favour of having a fixed Easter break.

Since 2011, Leeds has fixed its school break to the first two weeks of April, regardless of when the Easter bank holiday weekend falls. Usually the bank holidays fall somewhere within this break, but once every few years they fall outside. Leeds City Council is now seeking public opinion in order to decide whether to continue with this arrangement or return to an Easter school holiday that moves according to the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Go to the online survey on the council website. The consultation will run until Friday 08 June 2018.

Do you always wear a seatbelt?

Posted on 27 March 2018 by Mr Roundtree

Toni Tankard from the Influencing Travel Behaviour team at Leeds City Council writes:

Here’s a bit of history

Can you remember when cars didn’t have seat belts?

The Department for Transport has been promoting the use of seat belts since 1973, long before it became compulsory by law to use one. Then in 1983, front seat belt wearing regulations for drivers and passengers (both adult and children) came into force. In 1989, wearing rear seat belts became compulsory for children under 14, and in 1991, it became compulsory for all adults to wear seat belts in the back of a car.

Any driver under the age of 30 will not even remember the change – they should have been wearing a seat belt from the moment they first sat in a car as a passenger.

The evidence

Seat belts can mean the difference between life and death in a car crash. Wearing a seat belt every time you enter a vehicle is not only the smart thing to do, but it is the right thing to do because it saves lives. Seat belts are designed to keep people in their seats, and so prevent or reduce injuries suffered in a crash. They ensure that as little contact as possible is made between the occupant and vehicle interior and significantly reduce the risk of being thrown from a vehicle.

The facts

In a crash you are twice as likely to die if you are not wearing a seatbelt.
Drivers and passengers aged 17-34 have the lowest seatbelt-wearing rates combined with the highest crash rates. There is evidence that people are less likely to use seatbelts on short or familiar journeys – this puts them at serious risk of injury in a crash. Seatbelts reduce the risk of death in the event of a collision by around 50%.

The law

The law is quite clear on this subject. You must wear a seat belt every time you travel by car no matter where you sit in the car or how far you travel. If not, both the driver and passengers who are caught with no seatbelts (in the front or the back) are breaking the law and face an on-the-spot fine and the risk of prosecution.

Just to make things even clearer, it is the responsibility of the adult passenger (not the driver) to make sure that they are using the seatbelt! For children under 14 years old, it is the responsibility of the driver to make sure that they are wearing their seatbelts… however, once the child is 14 years old, it is up to them as passengers to take responsibility for wearing a seatbelt (although I’m sure a gentle reminder from the driver wouldn’t go amiss!).

Of course, there are (as always) a few exceptions* to the law. You’ll have to scroll down for these.

The excuses

We have all heard the excuses before: “Seatbelts are uncomfortable”, “I’m only going around the corner”, “I’d rather be thrown out of a car than be stuck in a seatbelt”, “I know these roads like the back of my hands” and, “I’m a good driver. I don’t need to wear one”. NONE of these excuses are valid; the consequences are the same.

The majority of drivers would never dream of getting behind the wheel without a seatbelt on. You may be a good driver, but there are situations beyond your control that contribute towards a crash, such as bad weather, road conditions and the behaviour of other drivers or road users.

For those people who use the excuse that “I’m just going around the corner”, they need to know that 80% of traffic fatalities occur within a 25-mile radius of your home and at a speed of 40 miles an hour. Buckling up to drive around the block is probably one of the most important times to do so.

Is this happening in your neighbourhood?

A recent survey was undertaken in and around a busy school in Leeds. The purpose was to observe and record how many people were or were not wearing a seat belt in the vehicles. The survey included drivers and passengers.

The traffic that was coming in and out of the school vicinity was monitored at various times during the day. School started at 9.00 a.m., and the road outside the school was very busy with lots of late arrivals dropping off at the school gates. There was also a high volume of local traffic along the road on which the school is located. The table below shows the results:

8.20 am – 8.50 am
207 wearing; 31 not wearing

8.50 am – 9.05 am
140 wearing; 20 not wearing

2.55 pm – 3.30 pm
190 wearing; 51 not wearing

This highlights just how prevalent not wearing a seatbelt was. It’s quite shocking to see that during the morning school run and in a period of less than 60 minutes, almost 13% of car occupants were NOT wearing their seat belts. Then, during the afternoon school run (only 35 minutes) over one fifth of car occupants were seen NOT wearing their seatbelts.

Final thought

This location has not been identified in order to highlight how easy it is for people to be seen not wearing their seatbelt and to remind people that all it takes is for the police to be undertaking a similar observation. You could then face a fine and/or prosecution. Or an even worse scenario – you could be involved in a road traffic collision and as stated previously the outcome isn’t that great for you or your passengers.

Evidence clearly shows that seatbelts DO save your life in a crash and can reduce your risk of a serious injury. Seatbelts keep drivers and passengers from being ejected through windows or doors. This is important because your chances of being killed are five times greater if you are thrown from the vehicle.

People DO die unnecessarily in car crashes every year, but some might still be alive today if they had only been wearing their seat belts. Everyone knows that car crashes can cause death, yet because people DO NOT buckle up, they are still willing to take the chance with their lives and that of their passengers.

The key message we are trying to get across is that wearing a seatbelt really could mean the difference between life and death – and that applies just as much to passengers as it does to drivers. Putting a seatbelt on is a quick and simple task, and a very effective way of reducing the consequences of a collision. That’s why wearing a seatbelt is not a matter of personal choice, but is compulsory for drivers and passengers in every European country.

Links

* Exceptions to the law:

There are a few exceptions to the seatbelt law. You don’t need to wear a seatbelt if you are a:

A driver who is reversing, or supervising a learner driver who is reversing
In a vehicle being used for police, fire and rescue services
A passenger in a trade vehicle and you are investigating a fault
Driving a goods vehicle on deliveries that is travelling no more than 50 metres
A licensed taxi driver who is ‘plying for hire’ or carrying passengers.

There may also be certain medical conditions that stop you from wearing a seatbelt, but your doctor must provide you with a ‘Certificate of Exemption from Compulsory Seat Belt Wearing’. You must keep this in your vehicle at all times and show it if you are stopped. You will also need to inform your car insurance provider.

You must wear a seat belt if you’re pregnant, or disabled unless your doctor says you don’t have to for medical reasons. You may need to adapt your vehicle, in some cases.