Community links - Elmete Elderberries
We visited the community group for older people, the Elmete Elderberries, at St Phillip’s Church for the second time today. The sit-down aerobics was a great work out, followed by some refreshments of course! We also enjoyed doing wordsearches, colouring and a live performance by the brass band. Our children behaved impeccably and were a credit to our community and the school. Thank you for having us, Elmete Elderberries.
NSPCC Online Safety
Thanks to those parents who attended our online safety evening run by the NSPCC.
Some feedback from parents included:
- “Really informative – will have an impact on our household.”
- “Gave structure to tackling online issues at home.”
- “Really enjoyed hearing about the resources that are there to help and advise.”
- “Great overview of risks and resources which are available to help.”
- “It felt good to hear that it was ok for my child to use technology but that open conversations and some basic rules were crucial steps towards keeping my child safe.”
You might find Net Aware a useful website if you want more information about some of the apps your child could be using.
Term-time absences
In the summer term, the number of parents / carers requesting term-time absence increases a little. We do not authorise term-time absence for holidays or other reasons that are avoidable. This follows our Attendance Policy which the Governing Body agree, and follows the recommendations from the Department for Education.
If a child has unauthorised absences, there is the likelihood that parents will be issued with a penalty notice from Leeds City Council.
The National Association of Headteachers has produced some guidance recently, extracts of which are shown here:
The Education (pupil registration) (England) (amendment) Regulations 2013, which came into force on 1 September 2013, made it clear that head teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless ‘exceptional circumstances’ prevail.
The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional circumstances’ are that they are ‘rare, significant, unavoidable and short’.
Term times are for education. This is the priority. Children and families have 175 days off school to spend time together, including weekends and school holidays. Head teachers will rightly prioritise attendance. The default school policy should be that absences will not be granted during term time and will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.
If an event can be reasonably scheduled outside of term time then it would not be normal to authorise absence for such an event – holidays are therefore not considered ‘exceptional circumstances’.
Basketball
The recent basketball coach and club was a success. Why not give a half term club a try?
Elmete Elderberries
Some Year 2 children visited the Elmete Elderberries at St Phillip’s Church today. It was lovely to see the older and younger generations of our village making connections and enjoying each other’s company. The highlight for the children was being serenaded out by the brass band. Thank you for having us, Elmete Elderberries!
Tour de Yorkshire
You can’t fail to spot the yellow signs that have gone up through the village warning about road closures on Friday 04 May. The signs indicate that the road through Scholes will be closed between 10:15 – 13:00 and 16:00 – 18:30. We’re given to understand that these are rolling closures and that the race will pass through at some point between these times.
Of immediate concern is the afternoon closure as this gives very little time for all children to be collected and for staff to leave school premises before 16:00. As a result, you can pick your child up from 14:30 onwards, allowing for a safer, less rushed exit from school.
Football match
Our Year 4 and 5 players put in a gutsy performance on Friday, playing their first match against Woodlesford. Although we didn’t win, every player showed determination and resilience against a formidable Woodlesford side. Thank you to everyone who came to show their support in the sunshine. Well done, Scholes!
Dance for Daniel
A huge thank you to all involved with our Dance for Daniel. We have managed to raise, so far, £2, 500!
This is an amazing sum of money – thank you. I will be talking to the family, during this next week , about what we can now do to help.
News about Daniel is that he is doing well. After a few complications following the transplant he is making steady progress. The next big step is to have Daniel well enough so that he can be transferred to a Leeds hospital as the family are still travelling to Birmingham.
We continue to wish Daniel well.
Exciting library news!
Our library is up and running!
Yes, we need lots more books, but after lots of hard work we’re proud to say that our library is now being used regularly by the children.
To give our library a grand opening, we’ve 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.
Dance for Daniel!
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.
