News

Latest news from around the school

Living and Learning : 'out and about in the community' competition winners

Posted on 01 December 2019 by Mrs Latham

Well done to the winners of the ‘out and about in the community’ competition!

Our new school charity is...

Posted on 01 December 2019 by Mr Roundtree

Dogs Trust.

The charity was chosen with a double dose of democracy! Following Talk Time homework where your child will have discussed charities at home, a discussion in class took place, and then a class vote to decide which charity the class nominated.

Then, the school council discussed the short-list and then voted again on behalf of the school.

Scholes CE Primary will support Dogs Trust for the next 12 months. One way it will raise money will be to ask for voluntary donations for the performances we hold through the year.

Consent

Posted on 29 November 2019 by Mr Roundtree

We recommend two videos which talk about the issue of consent.

We do suggest you watch them first. You might not feel they’re appropriate to show your child, but they should help you to feel better prepared to talk to your child about the notion of consent, and they might also be useful for an older child.

Tea and consent comes from Thames Valley Police – it likens sexual consent to agreeing to a cup of tea, or not agreeing, or changing your mind.

Consent for kids is an American clip – it gets across the message in a very matter-of-fact way (as long as you can cope with the very American accent of the narrator!).

A new edition of #Ditto

Posted on 25 November 2019 by Mr Roundtree

#Ditto is a downloadable e-safety magazine for schools, organisations and parents to keep you up to date with risks, issues, advice and guidance related to keeping children safe online, with a view to enjoying and learning about technology.

There’s a lot of interesting information in the November edition. We especially liked the articles on Deepfakes, Influencers and Notifications and Immediacy.

Read your way to a happy and healthy life

Posted on 24 November 2019 by Mr Roundtree

We can all agree that reading is important, but do you realise just how important reading actually is?

The Reading Agency outlines the powerful impact reading can have for your child, for you and for society.

The benefits of reading for pleasure for your child (and you!):

  • Reading for pleasure is more important for children’s cognitive development – their brain power – than their parents’ level of education.
  • Reading for pleasure is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socio-economic background.
  • 16-year-olds who choose to read books for pleasure outside of school are more likely to secure managerial or professional jobs in later life.
  • Having books in the home is associated with both reading enjoyment and confidence. Of children who report having fewer than 10 books in their homes, 42% say they do not like reading and only 32% say they are ‘very confident’ readers. For children who report having over 200 books at home, only 12% say they do not like reading and 73% consider themselves ‘very confident’ readers.
  • Children who read books often at age 10, and more than once a week at age 16, gain higher results in maths, vocabulary and spelling tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly.
  • Reading extensively and for pleasure at home can increase literacy skills at a greater rate than through formal lessons at school.
  • Incomes are higher in countries where more adults reach the highest levels of literacy proficiency and fewer adults are at the lowest levels of literacy.
  • An online poll reveals that regular readers for pleasure report fewer feelings of stress and depression than non-readers, and stronger feelings of relaxation from reading than from watching television or engaging with technology intensive activities.
  • Studies have shown that those who read for pleasure have higher levels of self-esteem and a greater ability to cope with difficult situations.
  • Reading for pleasure is associated with better sleeping patterns.
  • Adults who read for just 30 minutes a week are 20% more likely to report greater life satisfaction.

We’re often asked how you can support your child more at home. We think one of the best ways to help is to make sure you build into the daily routine some time for reading. For many families, this is a bedtime story every night just before lights out.

Happy reading!

Fabulous Flex dancers

Posted on 22 November 2019 by Mrs Latham

We had a treat in assembly yesterday. The KS2 dance group, which is run by Flex dance on Thursdays after school, performed a dance compilation. They used many of their 8Rs for learning: remembering, risk-taking, resilience and resourcefulness. Well done!

Please contact the office if you would like to join – KS2 girls and boys all welcome! (KS1 dance club is on Fridays after school.)

Fortnite - staying safe

Posted on 21 November 2019 by Mr Roundtree

As you know, we like to keep you updated as much as possible with how you can keep your child safe when they’re online. This is an ever-changing world and, unfortunately, it’s impossible to keep up with all current issues but there are some ways we can help. Over this year, we’ll communicate to you some factsheets about popular games and apps with some hints and tips about how you can support your child in staying safe.

The first one is some guidance around the game, Fortnite.

As always, if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns, please chat to someone in school.

Living and learning in our happy and healthy school

Posted on 19 November 2019 by Mr Roundtree

Although it’s not yet in primary schools’ National Curriculum, most primaries provide pupils with learning around aspects of Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE), and also citizenship (in fact, sometimes, you might see or hear the abbreviation PSHCE) and financial education (I’ve even spotted the abbreviation PSHEE – Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education). Sex and relationships education (SRE, although sometimes the terms are swapped around: Relationships and Sex Education – RSE) also falls under this PSHE umbrella term. As you can see, all these abbreviations can get really confusing!

At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, we cover all this in a weekly subject which is popular with both pupils and their teachers: Living and Learning.

Read more about Living and Learning on our Health page and in our age-related expectations. You can also check out the weekly Living and Learning theme in our calendar – they show for each Monday during term-time.

Children in Need

Posted on 15 November 2019 by Miss Hague

Well done everyone.

By coming in over-sized clothes, we managed to raise an impressive  £318.11 for Children in Need.

Thanks for your generosity.

Let's keep children safe and talk about PANTS!

Posted on 07 November 2019 by Mrs Latham

We have been talking about pants again! Children love talking about pants and find them funny but we use it in school to deliver a serious safeguarding message. The NSPCC have created some fab resources for us, and you, to use when teaching our children how to keep themselves safe. Ask your child about the PANTS rule and sing along to the catchy song!