School Journalists: Me and My Money Themed Week
This week at Scholes (Elmet) Primary school, we have been learning about money. We have read books about money, learnt about credit cards, debit cards and certain bank accounts. Here we will tell you all about what we have been reading, learning and doing this week.
Credit and Debit cards by Lewis
Me and my Money Week is an important week at Scholes. We’ve been learning about credit and debit cards. The difference between a credit and debit card is that when you use a credit card you are using the bank’s money and you have to pay them back. A debit card is using your own money. We’ve also been learning about finding the best deals in a shop. You do this by dividing the weight by the price and then do it with another size and see which is best value. We’ve also learnt about how we can exchange pounds into other currencies such as Euros or US dollars.
Bank Accounts by William
As well as cards, there are also different bank accounts: basic accounts (accounts that don’t include interest or an overdraft), current accounts that adults use for every day life (they include negative interest and an overdraft) and finally savings accounts (they have positive interest which means that if you put lots of money in you will normally get money back – normally 5% of the money you put in). These accounts are for saving money up then spending instead of saving money immediately. We learn this so we know what to use when we’re adults.
Reading about money by Ava
This week, we have been learning about how not everyone has a lot of money. We read ‘No Money Day’ by Katie Milner. This book tells the story of a little girl and her mother who are struggling for money. This resulted in her and her mother going to a food bank. Her mother is uncomfortable about needing help to get food and is struggling to keep up with bills. This made us think about how privileged we are and that some people do not have the same things we do. We used this to think about needs vs wants.
The Big Interviews
What does Mrs Wadsworth think? By Stanley and Bradley
We interviewed Mrs Wadsworth who organised Me and My Money Week. We asked her some questions about it like if she liked it and how she learned about it. Mrs Wadsworth said she likes Me and My Money Week because it can teach you lots of knowledge about money and how important it is not to overspend. She said that it was interesting that children were so shocked by how expensive energy is. Mrs Wadsworth explained that she organises themed weeks alongside a teacher from another school and we have a money themed week every two years.
A Child’s View by Faith
Today, I’m interviewing Clara (Y4) to get her perspective on Me and My Money Week.
What do you think about Me and My Money Week?
I like Me and My Money Week because it’s different to everyday learning.
What do you think about the book ‘It’s a No Money Day’?
I like it because its always nice to hear different stories.
Do you like Me and My Money Week?
Yes because it’s fun.
How does Me and My Money Week affect you?
I think it’s great and it overlaps with maths.
Our weekly message: Friday 24 October 2025
What a busy week…
Thank you to all the parents/carers who met with teachers this week for the first of two parent-teacher meetings in the year. We’re available for short updates and questions, comments and concerns at other times, but we hope you found the meeting this week helpful.
Today, we’ve had a training day. Teachers from across Sphere Federation have had four professional development sessions:
- Art
- Maths
- Special Educational Needs
- Assessments
Applying for a place in Reception or secondary school?
The deadline for applications for Year 7 places falls in half-term: 31 October 2025. If you need help with an application, please contact startingsecondary@leeds.gov.uk
If you’re applying for a Reception place, you might want to check out Leeds City Council’s You Tube video about applying for a school place.
Staying safe online
We’ve recently updated our Online Safety page on our website. If you’ve not spoken with your child about the importance of staying safe online for a while, it would be worth having a look at the clips and checking out the NSPCC link over the half-term break.
Watch us while we work
If you visited us for our recent Watch Us While We Work session, thank you. An even bigger thank you if you left us some feedback:
- ‘The activities were led fantastically by the teachers and very engaging.’
- ‘Always nice to see my son learning at school and learn some things to do at home.’
One comment was around varying the subjects we feature. We’ll act on this next time.
Coming up in the first week after half-term break…
Me and My Money themed week
Our next whole school themed week, Me and My Money, is based around money and financial education. A variety of events and lessons are planned to help us deliver this aspect of our Living and Learning curriculum. Learning throughout the week will include:
- What is money?
- Where does money come from?
- How do we spend money?
- How do we manage money?
If your job involves an aspect of finance and/or money and you can support our themed week by coming into school, please contact us.
On Friday, we’ll be having a penny trail where children are encouraged to bring in any 1ps and 2ps coins to their class during the week and a trail will be created using all the money brought in at the end of the week. The money raised will be our last donation to our current charity, Willow Foundation, before the new charity is chosen.
We’ll select the new school charity as part of the themed week. The shortlist is:
- Zarach, whose mission is to end child bed poverty, giving children the opportunity to engage at school and break the cycle of poverty.
- Martin House provides family-led hospice care free of charge for children and young people with life-shortening conditions.
- Emmaus (pronounced em-may-us) helps people move away from homelessness by providing a home, training and work opportunities as part of a package of long-term support.
- National Deaf Children’s Society, who support deaf children with any level of hearing loss.
- Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, whose vision is a world where woods and trees thrive for people and nature.
Have a happy and healthy half-term break.
School Journalists: Y5,6 Trip
Today, we have another article from our new school journalists. This time, Stanley, William and Lewis tell us all about the Y5,6 trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
On the 22nd of October 2025, the year 5,6s went on a school trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park . One pupil said, “It was amazing!”
The most famous sculptures in YSP are Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man, Damien Hirst’s Charity and Niki de Saint Phalle’s Buddha. People were flabbergasted at the size of the park .
We interviewed some people in our school .” I thought it was incredible because we learnt how things like race can affect the artwork,” exclaimed Toby Hunter-Steele (Year 5).
“I loved seeing the sculptures and the using the media (sketching and clay),” said Mrs Hogarth.
School Journalists: FoSP Disco!
We recently recruited our new team of school journalists. In the background, they’ve been busy planning some articles and they’ll aim to keep you updated on all aspects of school life from the most important perspective of all: the children’s.
Their first article is all about the school disco. We have three school discos each year – all organised by our amazing PTA, Friends of Scholes Primary (FOSP). Not only are these a highlight of the calendar for our children, they help to raise essential funds for FOSP, which in turn benefits our school community.
Our time at the school disco! Written by Bradley, Ava and Faith.
Last Friday night, we had our first school disco of the year. The theme was Halloween and lots of people dressed up in spooky costumes. We had lots of fun dancing, eating sweets and playing with our friends – and, we even had a DJ!
Georgie in Year 3 said, ‘ I really enjoyed the school disco!’ She also said that her favourite part was dancing with her friends and singing along to her favourite songs.
Thanks for reading – we’ll be back soon with more news!
JLT
Democracy is a key part of British Values and during this week, our classes have cast their votes for who they would like to represent their class on the JLT. We were absolutely overwhelmed by the number of children that wrote speeches. These were well written, full of ideas and showed off their best qualities such as leadership, good listening skills and initiative.
The votes were counted and the new members have been announced!
Here are our new members:
5,6A – Stanley
5,6B – Joseph
5,6C – Grayson
3,4A – Marshall
3,4B – Penny
3,4C – Jessica
2C – Oliver
1,2B – Oscar
1A – Harlow
Well done to each of you. I’m looking forward to working with you this year and can’t wait to get started.
Our weekly message: Friday 17 October 2025
Let’s start this week with a thank you…
A few weeks ago, we asked for donations to support our Cooking curriculum. To make sure that we can continue to offer this, asked for a voluntary donation of £3 to £6 to pay for the ingredients. So far, we’ve received £205 which will really help to pay for the ingredients we need. Thank you for your support.
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 A this year.)
Being geographers
Our topic this half-term is a Geography one: Where in the world. This week, you might have spotted our children exploring the local area being geographers. We’ve measured carbon stores in trees and explored our locality.
Arbor
We have recently moved our Management Information System (MIS) to Arbor. Arbor will allow us to communicate with you more efficiently and will eventually bring all core school data into one system.
Yesterday, you should have received an email letting you know how to login to the parent portal/app for your child. If you’ve not received this, please let the office know.
You can familiarise yourself with Arbor using this link: Getting started – Log into the Parent Portal and the Parent App
Arbor also offers access to other training resources, which can be found here.
Before the half term break, we hope to have finalised the payments area in Arbor, so you’ll be able to pay for school meals on the portal or app. We’ll let you know when this is live.
If you’ve any questions, please contact the school office.
Marvellous mapping!
Our Weekly Message on 12 September was all about the current school topic – a Geography one called Where in the World. In it, we suggested a challenge:
Children could draw a plan/map of their bedroom with a key. Older children could try to do this for each room of their house. Children could also create a map of a mythical location with an accompanying key.
Bradley in Year 5 has stepped up to the challenge wonderfully.. He’s created a map based on an area of one of our National Parks, used as a location for a new natural history attraction featuring dinosaurs – a sort of Jurassic Park, if you like!
How I made the map:1. I started by looking at different maps of our National Parks and trying to understand their geographical features. I picked an area with a variety of natural features that will help support the dinosaur exhibits.2. Then with help from my dad we traced the area of the map I wanted to use onto A3 paper. We only included natural features and didn’t trace man made structures.3. After tracing the map we added some basic contours and then I coloured in the map.4. Next we scanned the map onto the computer. Then I made a digital drawing. Then came the fun part where I was able to add icons to the map to show where various dinosaurs may live inside the safari park. We added some physical features to improve the park for visitors.5. Lastly, I made a key for all the symbols used on the map.
We all love it!
Have a happy and healthy weekend!
Our weekly message: Friday 10 October 2025
First of all this week, a big…
Thank you
Protected characteristics
This week’s Living and Learning theme has been about the nine protected characteristics – characteristics protected in law. Nine is a lot to learn about, and some are more suitable for older people to consider. More important than simply remembering all of them is to encourage your child to be aware of fairness and equality.
You said, we’ve done…
Just before the Summer holiday each year, we ask you to complete a short survey. We take your views really seriously. School leaders have met and reviewed thee suggestions you made. Some might be useful across all Sphere Federation schools and others relate more specifically to Scholes (Elmet) Primary. We’ll look to action quite a few points. For example, some parents suggested we include more assemblies about special educational needs and Black history.
Don’t wait until the annual survey! One parent recently raised some really useful suggestions about how the Junior Leadership Team is elected in order to make it fairer – they were great suggestions and we’ve planned a few small changes (such as no prepared PowerPoint presentations) that might just make a big difference.
Flu vaccinations
From September 2025, the School Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS) began delivering flu vaccinations to primary and secondary school-aged children across Leeds. The vaccine offers vital protection against flu, helping safeguard both individuals and those around them. Read more about these immunisations.
Community Cafe and Advice Hub
There’s a new supportive space for families to access services and additional advice and support: the Community Cafe and Advice Hub. It’s open between 10am and 12pm every Friday at the Church Room, St James’, Wetherby. There are free refreshments and young children are welcome. Check out this poster with the essential details and the newsletter.
The Spy books series
We want to make you aware of a recent issue affecting some popular children’s books by Andrew Cope, including the Spy Dogs, Spy Cats, and Spy Pups series.
Some editions of these books include a printed web address at the back. This link used to go to the author’s website, but the domain is no longer under his control. It has since been taken over by another party and now leads to inappropriate adult content.
The publisher, Puffin, has stressed that the website has no connection to the author or publisher.
What this means for you:
- If your child has any Spy Dog, Spy Cat or Spy Pups books at home, please check the back for website links and make sure they do not try to visit the site.
- It’s safe for children to continue reading the stories themselves — the concern is only with the outdated link.
- We recommend talking with your child about the importance of not following web addresses in books without checking with an adult first.
Reception Stay and Learn session
Thank you very much if you managed to attend our recent Stay and Learn in Reception. And thanks for the feedback we’ve received:
Having an introductory presentation before we went into the classroom was very useful.
If you’ve time, please let us know your feedback.
Finally this week, as the half-term holiday approaches, you might be looking for a holiday club. Check out PE Partner.
As always, have a happy and healthy weekend.
Our weekly message: Friday 03 October 2025
We’ll start this week’s message with a letter from the Safer Leeds Partnership. You should be aware, although it’s probably more relevant if you’ve older children.
This week’s message has four articles, including a couple of different ways to support your child…
Support with sleep
Does your child struggle with sleep sometimes? If so, you might like to attend a workshop coming up from MindMate Support Team. The workshop will cover:
- Why sleep matters for mental health
- Common sleep difficulties and their impact
- What healthy sleep looks like at different ages
- Tips for building a consistent and positive bedtime routine
- Evidence-based strategies to make bedtime calmer and more manageable
The hour-long session is on Wednesday 15 October 2025 at 5pm. It’s at Collingham Lady Elizabeth Hastings C of E School, LS22 5BS.
Top trips
Class trips are a wonderful enrichment to the learning going on at Scholes (Elmet) Primary, especially in Topic and Science. We’ve recently reviewed the trips, taking on board the views of pupils and teachers, and your comments from the annual survey in the Summer term.
The visits are mapped out across Reception, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to ensure progression and continuity (subject to change eg if a venue is temporarily closed). The 2025-26 school year is in Cycle A.
Read more about our curriculum, including the Topic and Science long term plans.
12 ways to help your child make friends
Some people might think of school as being all about learning. It’s not. Making relationships with other children is one of the prime purposes. The social aspect of schools is vital to the socialisation of children at important points of their lives. Properly socialised children make for properly socialised adults, who in turn make excellent citizens in later life.
For some children it may be easier said than done. Navigating the topsy-turvy of these nascent relationships is not for the faint hearted, yet it must be done. ACAMH Learn has produced a webinar (it’s short – only 15 minutes) to explore some of the ways this can be helped: watch the webinar here.
Year 5: Bikeability
Bikeability takes place in the Spring term for children in Year 5. This year, it will take place from Monday 16 to Monday 23 March 2026.
The training has two core elements: basic skills and road safety. If your child is unable to ride a bike, they may be unable to take part in the road safety aspect as they will not be able to cycle outside of school. We’re giving plenty of notice, in case your child would like to practise before March.
Have a happy and healthy weekend.
Our weekly message: Friday 26 September 2025
This week in school, children in Key Stage 1 and 2 have been considering rights and responsibilities, part of Living and Learning.
A key message is that alongside every right comes responsibility:
- At school for example, children have the right to play and relax, and alongside this comes the responsibility to play alongside others safely and respectfully.
- In lots of situations, we’ve the right to express our views, and alongside this we must do so in a respectful way.
Spend some time thinking of more examples in different situations: rights and responsibilities at home, in a shop, in a park…
BBC Bitesize ‘Rules, rights and responsibilities’ is worth checking out with children in Key Stage 2.
Assessments
Just so you’re aware, primary school pupils in England take part in six statutory assessments. Click on the links for more information from the Department for Education.
- Reception Baseline Assessment: It’s likely your child has already completed this assessment, which must be done within the first 6 weeks of entering Reception
- Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Assessment: Towards the end of the Reception year, teachers consider whether your child has reached what’s called a Good Level of Development
- Phonics Screening Check: In June of Year 1, (and for some pupils in Year 2, too), pupils are asked to read some words (real and made-up) to assess their phonics skills, crucial as a step in learning to read
- Key Stage 1 tests: Pupils do these near the end of year 2, which is the end of Key Stage 1
- Multiplication Tables Check: Pupils in Year 4 do this online check in June
- Key Stage 2 tests (often called ‘SATs’): These tests happen in May of Year 6
All of the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 tests feature in our school calendar. (The two assessments which happen in Reception are more gradual and ongoing, so they don’t feature – your child won’t even be aware of these.)
Attendance
Talking of assessments…
There’s lots of national evidence about the link between attendance at school and success at school and beyond. Here’s a simple conclusion from just the three schools in Sphere Federation. It’s based on the 87 pupils in Year 6 last year (2024-25).
33 pupils out of the 87 pupils across the Year 6 classes (38%) had excellent attendance (98% or higher)…
- Almost all of them (around 92%) reached Expected Standard in the Reading and Maths SATs tests (there’s no test for Writing).
- Almost half of these pupils reached Greater Depth Standard in Reading.
- Just under one third reached Greater Depth Standard in Maths.
15 pupils out of the 87 Year 6 pupils (17%) had low attendance (92% or lower)…
- A much lower proportion reached Expected Standard in Reading and Maths: 30%.
- Only about one in ten of them reached Greater Depth Standard
Check out the NHS website to decide if your child is well enough to attend school.
Finally this week, you might like to check out some more images of Wetherby High School’s new building. Quite a few children from Scholes (Elmet) Primary move on to this secondary, so the pics might be of interest.
Our weekly message: Friday 19 September 2025
This week’s Living and Learning theme has centred around manners. Good manners help people to get on well with others. Encourage your child to greet people politely (including the adults as they arrive at school), to say please and thank you, and to avoid interrupting. Like everything else, this sometimes needs practice!
Cooking
Over the course of the year, your child will enjoy three opportunities to prepare food:
- Year 1 and 2: banana sandwich, fruit salad, a wrap
- Year 3 and 4: leek and potato soup, pitta pizza, and salad and dressing
- Year 5 and 6: lentil and vegetable soup, omelette, and a tomato sauce base
We’ve a couple of requests, please:
Most importantly, please alert us to any allergies your child has. We’ll do our best to adapt recipes.
To make sure that we can continue to offer this, please make a voluntary donation of £3 to £6 to pay for the ingredients. We really appreciated your donations last year.
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 A this year.)
Relationships and Sex Education
At the start of each year, we like to encourage you to be aware of our Relationships and Sex Education Policy.
Later in the year, your child will have Relationships and Sex Education lessons. In those lessons, we’ll talk about anatomical terms and different relationships. However, we might need to use the terms at other times, such as when dealing with incidents of misuse or disrespectful language, and we’ll talk about lots of different relationships at any time of the year, too.
End of Key Stage 2 outcomes (SATs)
We’re proud of our 2025 Key Stage 2 outcomes. These are the SAT tests which our 2024-25 Year 5 pupils did in May.
74% of our pupils achieved the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths, combined – this is securely above the national figure of 62%. Greater proportions than national reached the expected standard in each subject, too:
- Reading: 79% meeting expected standards (national: 75%)
- Writing: 81% meeting expected standards (national: 72%)
- Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 76% meeting expected standards (national: 73%)
- Maths: 79% meeting expected standards (national: 74%)
Well done to all the pupils.
Staying safe
As you and your child settle back into school routines, keep online safety top of mind this school year.
Finally this week, a message from the Department for Education…
Best start in life
The Best Start in Life website replaces the Childcare Choices website as the main source of information for early education and childcare support – offering a broader range of resources for families, including eligibility for childcare offers, information about free breakfast clubs and Best Start Family Hubs in their area, and support on pregnancy through to starting school and beyond. Although the website has changed, the offers for parents – such as support for working parents and the 2-year-old childcare offer – are not affected.
The weather feels like summer is months ago. One of the joys of autumn is seeing the excitement on children’s faces when they collect conkers. Over the weekend, why not look out for other signs of autumn?