Our weekly message: Friday 10 January 2025
A belated happy new year to you all.
What a tricky start to the new term! Despite this, children came back to school on Tuesday cool, calm and collected, all ready for lots more learning! Thank you again for your understanding and support when we had to make the difficult decision to close on Monday.
New year, new contact details?
Let’s start with a short request: If you’ve got any new contact details for you or other contacts, please remember to let us know. We need up-to-date details for the people on our lists in case of emergencies. (The people on our lists are the ones you gave us when your child started school – in most cases, we should have details for three different people.)
Attendance matters
Our school attendance in the Autumn term was 95.9%. This is a really good figure:
- it’s higher than for the same term last year (95.3%)
- we rank 57 out of 223 Leeds schools
- we’re in second highest band of schools nationally (decile 2: the top 10-20% of schools)
Thank you for continuing to make sure your child gets to school as much as possible.
In particular, a big thank you and well done to Class 3,4C (Mrs Wadsworth’s class) – their attendance is an amazing 97.2%! Also well done to Class 3,4A (96.9%). Class 5,6A, Class 5,6B and Class 2C all come a close third.
As always, if you’re unsure, please check the NHS app: Is my child too ill for school?
Money matters
This time of year can be difficult for many families dealing with additional costs and pressure on their household budgets. The Money Information Centre offers access to free, confidential, and impartial help and advice on a range of money-related matters, with a range of useful information about employment support, energy, fuel and food support and the healthy holidays programme.
Watch Us While We Work: you said, we listened
Our Watch Us While We Work and Topic Review sessions are really popular – lots of you attend these. However, some parents have told us being able to visit just one class is frustrating. We’ve listened.
The next Watch Us While We Work session is coming up – it’s first thing on Thursday 23 January.
This time, we’ve asked teachers to plan for two parts within the half hour session. This means after the first 10-15 minutes or so, you’ll get a chance to switch classrooms without disrupting the learning going on.
We realise this doesn’t help if you’d prefer to visit three classes or more because you’ve more children, but we think these 10-15 minutes parts are as short as they can be while making sure you still get the most out of them.
Enjoy your weekend – stay warm!
Bad back anyone?
We did it!
Thanks to some very energetic, strong, hardworking and possibly slightly mad parents, Grandparents and carers, we managed to clear some paths in our playground.
Fluffy snow? No
Rock solid ice? Yes
It was backbreaking work but we managed it.
Thank you so much to those of you who came to help. It was so nice to see our school community come together to help out. You never let us down!
Weather update for Wednesday 08 January
Just like today, we aim to open as normal tomorrow.
Registers will be open for longer. Your child won’t be marked in as late if they arrive later than usual.
This is to make sure you can get to school safely despite the freezing weather.
Weather update (Tuesday 07 January)
We’re open today (Tuesday 07 January).
Registers are open for longer so your child won’t be marked in as late if they arrive later than usual.
Please travel safely.
Snowy weather: update for Tuesday
We’re happy to confirm school will be open tomorrow as normal (assuming there’s not a drastic change in the weather conditions!).
When we’re faced with the question of whether to open or close, we have to factor in travel conditions for families and for staff (some of whom live quite far away); the availability of site staff to clear paths and make them safe; the condition of the rooms (and whether there have been leaks caused by snow, as was the case today)…
Thank you for your understanding today.
Snowy weather: school is closed
School is closed today.
The weather situation hasn’t improved enough overnight so we’ve taken the decision to close school today.
This is due to current unsafe travel conditions and the safety of roads and paths.
We also need to assess the situation at school due to a number of leaks.
We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Snowy weather
The weather conditions at the moment mean that any sort of travel is tricky. However, the forecast is an improving one. As it stands right now, please expect that that school will be open tomorrow. We’ll keep the registers open for longer so you can travel safely.
We’ll keep you updated online if there’s any further updates.
Finally… Happy new year! We hope you enjoyed a lovely break.
Our last weekly message of 2024: Friday 20 December
If you came to one of our Christmas performances, we hope you enjoyed it and thank you for your donation. We raised £331 for our school charity: Willow Foundation.
Highlights
It’s our last message of 2024! We thought it would be nice to share some of our highlights…
- Mrs Latham: ‘Class 1,2B were captivated by our Great Fire of London topic this year. We learnt so many new facts about September 1666, Pudding Lane, the bakery and wooden houses! We loved singing this song!’
- Miss Hague: ‘A highlight from the last term has been taking some time to plan some future improvements to our school. FOSP have kindly given us some money to improve our KS1 wildlife area so look out for bug hotels, bird feeders and new signs during the spring. Our library is also getting a face-lift in the Spring term. We’re working with a design team to create a whole new look! Watch this space.
We’re also hoping to create a brand new space in school but it’s a bit too early to give you any details yet! It’s very exciting though.’
- Miss Gilliland: ‘My proudest moment to date has been watching my pupils’ confidence flourish and seeing them proudly showcase it during our class assembly.’
- Miss Young: ‘A highlight has to be Adjective Day. The children came to school in fantastic outfits. We had a great time learning new vocabulary and sharing our adjectives with one another.’
- Mr Catherall: ‘I’ve two highlights. The first relates to the many visitors we’ve welcomed into our school so far this year. Each time we do, I feel so proud to walk around school: our children are so positive, polite and respectful; and the teaching and learning happening in all classrooms is fantastic. The second highlight was when I was lucky enough to go to the Royal Armouries and Leeds Discovery Centre with Class 5,6B. The way the children conducted themselves on the day was really impressive: polite, positive, passionate and respectful to all.’
- The Reception teachers: ‘We’ve loved seeing the children make new friends and settle into Reception life. Our highlight has been seeing the children enjoy and progress in their phonics, to become early readers and writers. We’re looking forward to seeing more amazing achievements as we continue our learning journey.’
- Mrs Wadsworth: ‘3,4C have had a wonderful term of learning. A particular highlight was our phase trip to Lotherton Hall to enhance our Science learning within school. We also enjoyed sharing our learning in our class assembly.’
- Mrs Beesley and the Nursery team: ‘Our Nursery highlight this term is always most definitely watching the children sing for you all in the Christmas performances. How they’ve developed from the three year olds we all met at home visits in September! They showed us not only great singing, but self-confidence, happiness and pride in their achievements. What a wonderful start to their learning journeys.’
- Mrs Paterson: ‘A highlight for me has been hearing the children make such thoughtful contributions towards each other not just in circle time, but in the way they look after each other at all times. Whether giving advice about a particular worry, checking in on a classmate so they know they’re not alone or cheering on someone else’s achievements, it’s been amazing to see so many small acts of kindness.’
…and my highlight is simply standing at the school gate at the start of the school day and being greeted by happy and healthy children as they arrive at school – it’s such a positive way to start the day!
Leeds at Christmas
The ultimate guide to Christmas in Leeds includes a whole host of information about what’s happening over the Christmas and New Year period, such as visiting the Christmas markets across the city centre, family attractions including Northern lights at Temple Newsham and where to see Santa.
Finally, all that needs to be said is have a happy Christmas. We’ll see you all again on Monday 06 January.
Thank you for your donations
A huge thanks for your generosity at our Christmas shows.
Our Junior Leaders were stood with collection box in hand at each of the four ‘performances’ that our Nursery, Reception , Year 1 and Year 2 children put on.
We managed to raise £331 for Willow Foundation
This money will help families who are facing some difficult times to enjoy the opportunity to make some very special memories. We will continue to raise money for our school charity throughout the year. As always, a big thank you for your continued support.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas
Our weekly message: Friday 13 December
Next week’s the last week before we break up for Christmas. It’s a busy week, so please check our school calendar. We’ve noticed a few children appear more tired than usual so make sure your child gets plenty of sleep so they can enjoy the last week.
We’ve had lots of visitors in school during the half term: people looking for a Reception place for 2025, headteachers attending training sessions; other Sphere Federation staff visiting lessons… Without fail, they’ve all commented on how respectful, friendly and welcoming the children at Scholes (Elmet) Primary are. They’ve seen great learning behaviour and have described a positive energy in the school. We’re obviously really proud of this.
Has your child attended one of our after-school clubs this term? Here are some comments about a couple of the clubs we’ve run:
‘We made cartoons using Spanish words. I can remember a lot of Spanish words.’ (Bradley)
Keep reading!
Even during all the excitement in the run up to the Christmas holidays, we continue to teach Phonics lessons and maintain as many reading practice sessions as we can in Early Years and Key Stage 1. You can help at home by reading to or with your child during the Christmas holidays. It’s a wonderful way for children to relax, explore their imagination and continue learning. Stories about winter adventures, festive traditions, or magical journeys can spark creativity and deepen their love for books. Reading also strengthens vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking, keeping young minds active while school is out. It’s a great opportunity to bond over shared stories or bedtime tales. Encourage your child to pick a book they’ll love – whether it’s about reindeer, snowmen, or elves – and make reading a cosy, fun holiday tradition this Christmas!
Staying healthy in the winter months
The UK Health Security Agency has published advice on how to reduce the spread of winter illnesses.
Please remember to follow NHS guidance to know when a child is too ill for school. Pupils should not miss school ‘just in case’ – they can normally attend school with a cough or cold, but not with a fever or diarrhoea and vomiting.
Talk to your child about staying safe online
Most of us tend to think of our online and offline lives as separate, but children today are growing up with technology and the internet as a natural part of their lives. To them there isn’t a separation. It’s all just life. The internet is now part of the real world.
Talking to your child about what they do online is just as important as asking where they are going when they go out with their friends. It can be difficult starting the conversation with your child about their online activities. Technology keeps changing and you might find it overwhelming trying to keep up with it all, but you don’t need to. You just need to take an interest in what apps and games your child is using. That’s the best place to start. Your child might not want to share anything with you at first, but keep trying.
Having honest and open conversations with your child and speaking to them regularly about what they’re doing online could be crucial in giving your child the confidence to tell you if they’ve seen something that makes them feel uncomfortable or may highlight someone who is wanting to cause harm.
Further guidance is available on the LSCP website as well as information on how to set up parental control on all the devices that your child uses.