We don't like cricket...we love it!
We have Yorkshire Cricket coach, Jamie Sykes, coming into school over the next half term. All classes from Year 1 to Year 6 will receive some cricket coaching over the next 6 weeks. He set some very important ‘homework’…to watch some cricket, if you can! #chancetoshine #yorkshirecricket
This week’s message (Friday 11 June 2021)
What a difference the sunshine makes! It was such a pleasure to enjoy a happy and healthy half-term break with the end to what started to seem like interminable rain.
Surveys
Every year, we invite you to let us know how we’re doing via the annual survey of parents /carers. This year’s survey is now open.
The first part of the survey is about some of the changes we’ve made due to Covid – we’re especially interested to hear your views about homework. The second part is more general and includes statements which you might be familiar with from previous surveys.
It should only take about 5-10 minutes to complete. Lots of the questions need only a tick answer. Most responses are optional so you can miss out a question if you’ve no particular opinions. There are only a few (marked with a red asterisk*) where a response is needed.
We’re always keen to hear your views. We do closely consider all the survey results, although we can’t guarantee that we can act on every point raised (this year, because of Covid, that’s been especially difficult).
The survey helps us to gain a broad overview of how we’re doing. For more specific questions, comments and concerns, it’s always best to speak with your child’s class teacher or Miss Hague. The survey isn’t the right forum to raise a very specific point.
The survey’s open until Wednesday 30 June, so you’ve plenty of time to leave your views.
Amazing attendance
For the first five half-terms, our overall attendance figure is 97.7% – that’s a fantastic figure. Thank you for helping your child to attend school as much as they can.
Well done especially to the following classes, all of which have attendance over 98%:
- Rainbow
- 1,2V
- 2C
- 3,4E
- 5,6M
Our new parent governor
In case you missed our earlier message, our new parent governor is Mr Andy Sammons (Candidate 2), whose child attends Scholes (Elmet) Primary.
The election closed on Friday just before the half-term holiday with 89 votes cast overall.
Thank you to both candidates for standing in the parent governor elections.
End of year events
There’s a lot of uncertainty about 21 June – the final date in the government’s roadmap out of lockdown. This makes it hard to plan for events and activities such as Sports Day, Y5,6 productions and Leavers’ Assembly. These are all still pencilled in, but we’ll have to wait and see whether they can go ahead as normal or whether they need to be adapted (like having a Sports Day but without spectators) or even cancelled.
Enjoy the weekend. Miss Hague and I might both indulge in an ice-cream… one of us rates caramel or raspberry ripple as a top choice; the other one always opts for the most unusual flavour on a menu (basil being a recent taste triumph). Can you work out who’s more traditional and who’s more adventurous (at least in terms of ice-cream)?!
Our new parent governor is...
…Mr Andy Sammons (Candidate 2), whose child attends Scholes (Elmet) Primary.
The election closed on Friday and 89 votes were cast overall.
Thank you to both candidates for standing in the parent governor elections.
Mr Sammons’ election note is below:
Fundamentally, the reason why I would dearly love to undertake this role is that I believe in the potential for education to change lives. For me, it is the thing that makes humans unique, and the thing that we must never lose sight of in terms of its ability to give everyone – especially young people – a chance to make the very best of their lives.
As a teacher myself (I am Director of English), I see this every day; as a result, I am ideally placed to understand key educational issues. I feel as though I would have a great deal to offer, as I have played a key role in building an engaging, enriching and ambitious curriculum for my own pupils.
I have one child at a federation primary school, and I hope that my younger child will be given a place too; as parents, we’ve been thrilled with the way that our little boy has settled in and has really started to thrive in terms of his academic progress, but also his social and emotional learning too. To be given the chance to shape and support the school in continuing to grow would mean a great deal to me.
This week’s message (Friday 28 May 2021)
And we’ve made it to the end of another week! Each Friday, Miss Hague and I sigh with relief because we’ve had no bubbles bursting…
…Thank you for helping us by respecting the national restrictions that have been in place, and the changes we’ve made in school. Since the start of the year, we’ve managed over 30 emails from Leeds Health and Safety team, each one typically involving about ten or so changes to our risk assessments. I’m grateful to Miss Hague for managing these updates each week.
Staying with the Covid theme for a moment…
Testing positive…?
We’ve been asked once again to support the government’s Test and Trace system.
If your child has been attending school this week, we need you to tell us if they get a positive Covid test result in the period Saturday 29 May to Thursday 03 June 2021. We need you to do this because your child may have been infectious whilst in school.
So you can give us all the information we need, please use this form or scan this QR code (hover over it with the camera on – a link should appear):
This means we’ll have the information to take the necessary actions, laid down by the Department for Education.
We’d prefer you to use the online form, but if the technology fails you, please contact school: scholesheadofschool@spherefederation.org
If your child receives a positive test result after Thursday 03 June, you can tell us on the first day of the new term (Monday 07 June).
CyberSprinters
CyberSprinters is a free interactive game developed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ – aimed at 7 to 11-year-olds. It’s designed to make learning about cyber security fun and interactive at a time when children might begin to seek more independence online.
The online game sees players become a ‘CyberSprinter’ who’s racing against its own depleting battery power. Users can win battery power by correctly answering questions about cyber security but face losing it if they bump into ‘cybervillains’.
Year 6 residential
We were so happy to be one of the first schools to have arranged one of the first residential trips for over a year! Last week, some of our Year 6 pupils enjoyed a week away, taking part in outdoor and adventurous activities and developing independence and team-work skills. Those who went, a mix of children from Scholes and Moortown, had a great time. Very many thanks to all the adults who went along to support, and to Mrs Weekes (Moortown Head of School) and Miss Hague (Scholes Head of School) for organising this valuable, worthwhile trip away.
Uniform
It’s been easy to let some routines and expectations become a bit slack in the last year. Now that lockdown’s easing, we want to tighten up on a few things related to uniform:
- long hair should be tied back – it really does affect learning (for example, when children have to keep moving hair away from their face as they lean forwards to write)
- earrings should be small, plain studs
- PE kit, worn on PE days, should be white t-shirt, black shorts / tracksuit bottoms and plain trainers
At Scholes (Elmet) Primary School, we’re proud to be members of our school community and we want all our children to feel part of our community and to represent our school. Wearing the school uniform helps us to do this. Read our full policy.
Happy birthday…
…to Miss Hague, who celebrates a big birthday next week!
Have a happy and healthy half-term holiday… Let’s hope the sun shines a bit more than in recent weeks.
This week’s message (Friday 21 May 2021)
We hope you and all around you have had a happy and healthy week.
Help your child at home
Before we talk about a few new items, we continue to make a plea for daily reading and regular number facts practice at home…
More and more research is coming through that tries to measure the amount of lockdown learning loss. One report on lost learning found that the average loss in Reading progress was about two months for Reading and three months for Maths (and that’s just for the first lockdown, from March to July last year). It’s thought that the loss is even greater in the north and for pupils from lower-income families.
On the whole, our children have come back as happy and healthy learners who might not all have experienced this loss in progress – thank you for your support during the lockdowns. Even so, we’ve slimmed back what we ask for homework to help make sure our children’s Reading and Maths skills are strong enough.
We’re providing a Talk Time homework because this is something that you should try to do as a family at home, perhaps when you’re having a meal together. We’re not issuing Creative or Practice Makes Perfect tasks. This is so that you child has more time to read each day and to practise their times tables and spellings.
Thanks to the parents and carers who have commented they like this new homework system.
Staying safe online
Our current Computing topic has been a hit with children. It’s also been a really good opportunity for us to reinforce appropriate behaviour when using electronic devices.
Across Sphere Federation, we’ve a monitoring system that sends alerts to a member of staff if inappropriate or concerning language is typed into a device. This can pick up bad language but it can also pick up situations when the language being used seems aggressive or threatening.
During this topic, there have been several alerts across Sphere. This might be bad language being used, or things that children say using a keyboard that they wouldn’t say in person. These alerts are always investigated.
The monitoring we do helps to keep your child safe at school. Help to keep your child safe at home, too.
If your child has access to an electronic device, make sure you check it regularly to make sure it’s being used safely and respectfully. For example, set a weekly alarm to prompt you to check your child’s phone, if they’ve got one. Read the messages they’ve sent and received, for example, and talk with your child about what apps they’ve got.
Read more about online safety.
Could your child be a game show winner?
We’ve been contacted by a television production company, CPL Productions, who are looking for children aged between 10-12 to take part in a children’s immersive game show.
Covid permitting, they hope to film the series in July/August. Read more about the show and how to apply. The closing date for applications is 25 June 2021.
National Smile Month
Monday 17 May saw the start of National Smile Month. One of our Living and Learning expectations is ‘I know about dental health and the benefits of good oral hygiene, including regular check-ups at the dentist’ so it’s a good idea to check out the following links:
Let’s hope the weekend is filled with happy and healthy smiles – have a good one.
Skipping into summer with Skipping School
We have launched a whole school skipping project with Skipping School. Each class has their own class set of ropes and we also have long ropes for every class too. The children are so enthusiastic about it already. There are some tutorial videos below so you can work on your skills at home too!
- Skipping Tips
- EYFS and KS1 ‘Click and Jump’ tutorial
- EYFS and KS1 ‘Big Rope Bouncing’ tutorial
- EYFS and KS1 ‘Double Bounce’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Double Bounce’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Speed Bounce’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Hop and Swap’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Side Straddle’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Forward and Backward Straddle’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Criss Cross’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Side swing’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Cross over’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Side swing cross’ tutorial
- KS2 ‘Pretzel’ tutorial
- ‘Run, jump, out’ tutorial
- ‘Keep the pot boiling’ tutorial
This week’s message (Thursday 13 May 2021)
Tomorrow is a training day so school will be closed. This week’s message comes to you today instead.
On a trial basis, we’ve tweaked what we’re doing for homework. Each week, we’re providing you with a Talk Time homework that centres around something your child will be learning in school. We’re not issuing Creative or Practice Makes Perfect homework tasks. This is so that you child has more time to read each day and to practise their times tables and spellings.
Reading matters
A couple of weeks ago in the weekly message (23 April), we stressed the importance of reading at home. All children will benefit from a daily reading routine. Even just 10-15 minutes every day would make a massive difference to some children who haven’t made as much progress over the lockdowns.
To promote reading at home, the National Book Token people are running a competition to design a book token. Your child can win a £10 National Book Token for themselves and each of their classmates – featuring their own amazing artwork. The challenge is to create a National Book Token design. They’ll choose a winning design every week for six weeks. Each winning designer will see their artwork brought to life as a gift card loaded with £10 – one for them, and one for each of the children in their class!
Maths matters
Across the country, lockdown appears to have had a negative impact on some pupils’ attainment in Maths. One simple way to support your child is to help them learn number facts:
- For younger children, the crucial numbers facts are simple addition and subtraction facts – knowing them without using their fingers to work it out. NumBots will helps with this.
- For older children, number facts also includes times tables. By the end of Year 4, children should know their times tables without having to count through to reach the answer. Times Tables Rock Stars will help with this.
Our data shows that the children who do well in our assessments are the children who are spending more time practising on NumBots and Rock Stars. Likewise, the children who need to learn these facts more aren’t using this resource at home. Ten minutes every day at home would really help.
Living and Learning
Living and Learning is our name for everything that falls within the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education curriculum, the PE curriculum and other things relating to being happy and healthy learners.
In Living and Learning, as shown in our long term plan, we’ll be focusing on drug education for the next two weeks.
Our first statement for this learning is I know what a drug is.
Our definition of a drug refers to a substance that changes the way the body or mind works. The word ‘drug’ includes:
- all legal drugs, including tobacco, alcohol, solvents and volatile substances, misused medicines and legal highs
- all illegal drugs
- prescribed and over-the-counter medicines
During the two week topic, we welcome d:side, a health education provider, to school to deliver drug education workshops to each class as part of this learning.
On a separate matter linked to Living and Learning, you might not know that this week is Mental Health Awareness Week (10-16 May 2021). Take a look at this list of children’s books that open conversations about mental health.
Have a happy and healthy weekend.
This week’s message (Friday 07 May 2021)
Like this week, next week is a four day week – Friday 14 May is a training day so school will be closed. Before then, of course, we’ve this Friday’s Weekly Message…
Charities
Last week, we decided our school charity for the year ahead. This began with some Talk Time homework where children discussed charities at home and then came to school with a particular charity to nominate. Then, in class, a second discussion was had to agree one charity to put forward to the newly-elected Junior Leadership Team. They then reviewed all the class suggestions and arrived at the final whole-school decision:
- St James’ CE Primary: RSPCA
- Moortown: Dogs Trust
- Scholes (Elmet) Primary: National Autistic Society
As part of the Captain Tom 100 initiative, we’ve already raised some money for the chosen charities – thanks for all your donations so far.
The importance of sleep
Our Living and Learning statement next week is I know the importance of sleep. You can help at home by making sure your child gets enough sleep, well away from tempting electronic devices. The NHS recommend that a primary school age child gets 9 – 12 hours.
Check out these sites for more information…
- The NHS Choices web-page offers a wealth of information on sleep-related problems and some ideas of where to obtain further support including healthy sleep tips for children.
- The Raising Children website is an Australian resource from The Royal children’s hospital, Melbourne, and has some really good sleep information that helps to support patients and families.
- The Sleep Council offers advice and support.
- Childline’s tips for better sleep are really good, and written in a child-friendly way.
Pupil premium
Pupil premium is additional funding for schools that depends on the number of children who are registered for free school meals.
300,000 more pupils became eligible in first seven months of Covid.
Even if your child is in Reception or Key Stage 1, where school meals are free, we need you to register for free school meals – this will lead to extra funding.
Even if your child has a packed lunch, we need you to register for free school meals – this will lead to extra funding.
Speak to our office staff about how to do this.
Sports day
Finally this week, a few of you have asked about Sports Day, which is scheduled for the week beginning 12 July.
The government’s roadmap out of lockdown sets out two dates for the further easing of restrictions if all goes well: 17 May and 21 June.
By 21 June, ‘the government hopes to be in a position to remove all legal limits on social contact’. A key word here is ‘hopes’.
We can’t guarantee that Sports Day will go ahead, but we hope that it will happen as scheduled. There may need to be restrictions in place, such as asking families to stay socially distanced or inviting just one parent/carer to attend. We’ll have to wait and see…
Have a good weekend, even if it’s a bit of a wet one.
New fitness equipment
We were excited to have some more fitness equipment installed on the Key Stage 1 playground before the Easter holidays. The children have been using it constantly since then. It is keeping our playtimes really active!
This week’s message (Friday 30 April 2021)
There’s a growing sense of optimism at the moment with numbers of positive cases of Covid-19 going down and the numbers of Leeds residents who have been vaccinated going up. On 19 April, the case rate was 48.4 per 100,000. This is the lowest rate seen in Leeds since September 2020. The highest case rate is amongst young people aged 11-18 (87.6 per 100,000), so we do all need to keep following Covid restrictions.
Homework
Our Homework Policy and the accompanying Homework Guide currently sets out daily expectations (read, practise spellings, and practise times tables) and weekly expectations (Creative, Talk Time or Practice Makes Perfect).
Our assessments show that lockdown may have had an impact on some children’s reading fluency, spellings and times tables. Nationally, there’s growing evidence that the lockdown has had an impact on young children’s language skills.
For these reasons, from next week, we’re tweaking our policy a little for the rest of the school year. We’re dropping the Creative and Practice Makes Perfect tasks.
We really want you to make sure your child is meeting the daily expectations set out the Homework Guide:
- Please do make sure your child spends some time each day learning spellings and practising their times tables – going on Times Tables Rock Stars would be great for this. (Numbots for younger children would be good, too.)
- Reading is so helpful in so many ways – from reading fluency to promoting positive mental health, a good book works wonders – so please make sure your child is reading (or you read aloud to them) each day.
Each week, we’ll set a Talk Time homework. Its purpose is to promote lots of conversation and debate at home, which in turn should promote oracy and vocabulary.
Check out these five tips to boost your child’s vocabulary.
This article might also interest you – it’s about the value of more play time for your child’s mental health and social skills.
As always, you’re welcome to let us know your views. Later this term, we’ll include a question about the tweaked homework in the annual survey, too.
Computing
Children in Years 1-6 have a Computing topic this half-term. Read more about the learning that’s going on in our Curriculum Statement. Our age-related expectations for Computing are on pages 13 and 14. These are followed by Staying Safe Online expectations on pages 15 and 16.
To help at home… have chats with your child about what they’re learning. Ask them what vocabulary they’re using in the topic – it could be words like ‘de-bug’, ‘algorithm’, ‘sequence’ and ‘decomposing’. (All these words feature in the age-related expectations.)
Talking of Computing and staying safe online, over the Easter holiday, we published five news articles about staying safe online. In case you missed them, the content from all five posts comes from a Thinkuknow newsletter.
Does your child play Roblox? It’s one of the most popular video games of recent times. Read this guide for tips on a number of potential risks such as in-app purchases, online dating and chat functionality.
This weekend is a longer one – enjoy the extra day, whatever the weather!