Starting secondary school?
Today marks the launch of Starting Secondary School, a new BBC Bitesize campaign, offering practical advice and emotional support to help take the stress out of taking the next big step.
With SATs now complete and focus shifting towards Y6 children leaving our school, this campaign shines a light on the great potential of starting afresh in secondary school.
Using the highly successful format of peer to peer advice, Starting Secondary School partners with CBBC documentary series Our School to get first-hand experience from children who have made the move and, not only survived, but thrived.
On BBC Teach there are bespoke classroom clips and resources, in partnership with YoungMinds, that can be used as the start of discussions around transition as well as case studies of schools from across the UK that have particularly successful transition projects.
There are also tips for parents on how to best support their children emotionally and practically, as well as expert advice on topics such as bullying and online safety.
Annual survey of parents / carers
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 Monday 24 June 2019.
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.
Last year, based on your feedback, for example, we changed how we update you about your child’s progress so that you get five updates over the year: a parent-teacher consultation in Autumn 1 and Spring 1; a Learning Update ‘mini-report’ in Autumn 2 and Spring 2; and a final end-of-year report in Summer 2.
We’re looking forward to reading your views.
Small talk
We love the ideas on this website that promotes talk time for younger children. It’s produced by the National Literacy Trust.
Speaking and listening to your child shows you’re interested in them and care about them. The more they get the chance to speak, the more they’ll learn.
Speaking is the core stage in being able to communicate to others. Without effective speech, we can’t be effective writers.
Similarly, listening is fundamental to taking in information from others. With good listening skills, we have a secure basis to absorb information from reading and other means.
The website promotes chat, play and reading. Young children in an active environment where they talk, play and read will learn new things every day.
Attendance matters
Here’s an update on the attendance of each class in school so far this school year. The overall school attendance is 96.2% – highlighted in green are all the classes with attendance above this average.
- F2L (Mrs Flynn’s class): 95.6%
- F2M (Mrs Palmer’s class): 96.1%
- 1K (Miss Parling’s class): 96.7%
- 1,2V (Mrs Latham’s class): 96.8%
- 2KL (Miss Lowry and Mrs Wilkins’ class): 95.8%
- 3,4F (Miss Bainbridge’s class): 95.7%
- 3,4C (Mr Gathercole’s class): 97.3%
- 3,4EK (Mrs McCormick and Mrs Welsby’s class): 94.5%
- 5,6O (Mr Catherall’s class): 96.5%
- 5,6NK (Mrs Lake/Mrs Hogarth and Mrs Welsby’s class): 96.3%
- 5,6M (Mr Lindsay’s class): 96.7%
Well done to Mr Gathercole’s class – they have the highest attendance of all the classes! It’s also great to see all classes in our Y5,6 phase with above average attendance.
Ofsted inspection at school
Our Ofsted inspection ended yesterday. Thank you to all parents/carers who passed on their views through Ofsted’s Parent View and/or in the playground when inspectors went outside at the start and end of the school day.
The inspection report will be published in about three weeks. Until that time, we’re not allowed to talk about the inspection findings.
Thanks again to parents/carers for their support during the inspection, and in the two years since our last inspection.
Incredible invacuation
Different emergency situations require a different response. Today we practised an ‘invacuation’. An invacuation is where we move our children to the safest place in the building – in the case of today, from the outside (playground) in to the school hall. You will be very impressed to hear that over 300 children made their way in to our hall, lined up and were counted by their teachers in 2 minutes and 15 seconds! Even F2 joined in – they were amazing.
Well done to everyone.
Get active with orienteering - FREE EVENT
Your local orienteering club, AIRIENTEERS, are hosting a FREE orienteering event especially for juniors, families and anyone new to the sport.
PLACE : Millennium Field, off Barleyfields Ct, Wetherby, LS22 6FZ
DATE : Saturday 11th May 1:30-2:30
There will be courses with electronic timing for all ages.
See www.aire.org.uk for more information about the races.
Start any time from 1:30 to 2:30. Just turn up and run.
We close early this Friday
On Friday 03 May, we close at 2.00pm.
Once again, Scholes has been chosen as the location for part of the route of the Tour de Yorkshire. The men’s race will pass through Scholes at around 3.45pm. The roads will be closed around an hour before and after the race so we’re closing school at 2.00pm on Friday 03 May.
On this day, please allow yourself time to collect your child safely. If you drive, please be aware you can’t park on the main road – give yourself time to park further afield (eg the church car park) and walk the rest of the way.
We apologise for any inconvenience but once the roads are closed they may remain closed for around an hour, making movement in and out of the village impossible.
We want to show our support and show off our school and village (who have entered the ‘Best Dressed’ village competition) as best we can. We therefore invite children to come wearing yellow and blue for the day. We’re also planning a piece of ‘land art’ on the school field or playground. Hopefully, we might be featured on the TV coverage, local news or in the newspapers!
We’ll be keeping ourselves busy and active by working through our Wake Up Shake Up dances while we wait for the women’s race to pass through at around 10.30am. Year 5 and 6 children will be able to watch the race from the pavement outside school.
Summer term after-school clubs
We have an extensive program of after-school activities for the Summer term. Please contact the school office if you would like to sign your child up for any of the clubs below.
Monday : Five Star Sports multi-sports, coding club and netball.
Tuesday : Five Star Sports football and skipping.
Wednesday : Beyond Inspired athletics, Y5/6 football and pop choir. (Circus tricks coming soon).
Thursday : KS2 Flex Dance and Little Birds crafts.
Friday : KS1 Flex Dance.
Recycling collection point - dental products
We are pleased to announce that Scholes Elmet Primary School is now a Terracycle recycling collection point. Please bring us any brand toothpaste tubes and caps, toothbrushes (including electric toothbrush heads), toothbrush and toothpaste tube outer packaging and floss containers. Items can be deposited in the box in the school office during school opening hours. Let’s get recycling!