The 1988 Education Reform Act requires that ‘all pupils in attendance at a maintained school shall on each day take part in an act of collective worship’ and that this should be ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’.

Read our Attendance Policy.

The link between attendance and attainment is clear: just 40% of persistently absent children achieve expected standards in Key Stage 2, compared with 84% of pupils who were regular attenders. But attendance is important for more than just attainment: regular school attendance can help positive peer relationships and this in turn helps mental health and wellbeing.

It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they’re unwell. Check out:

• NHS guidance: Is my child too ill for school?
• Healthier Together guidance: Should my child go to school/nursery today?

Healthier Together have also put together this handy poster with links about different common illnesses.

If your child has to miss school, please tell us as soon as possible on the first day of absence. This is so we know your child is safe. Leave of absence will be given for attendance at medical or dental appointments or for examinations in music, dance etc. However, where possible such appointments should be made outside of school hours.

Read the Charging and Remissions Policy.

The aim of this policy is to set out what charges will be levied for activities, what remissions will be implemented and the circumstances under which voluntary contributions will be requested from parents. The Governing Body of the federation are responsible for determining the content of this policy and the Head of Federation for implementation. Any determination with respect to individual parents will be considered jointly by the Head of Federation and Governing Body.

Read more about school dinners and charges for these.

For all our children, we want Scholes (Elmet) Primary to be a happy and healthy place to learn. This includes children who are looked after by the local authority and those who have previously been looked after.

These children receive additional funding – this is called pupil premium. It’s important that the specific needs of children who are looked after and children who have previously been looked after are understood by staff and reflected in how we use the pupil premium funding.

Each school has a member of staff who is the designated teacher for these children – at Scholes (Elmet) Primary, this is Miss Hague, the Head of School. Her role is to promote educational achievement for these children and support other staff members to do this, too.

The provision for children who are looked after is overseen by a ‘virtual school head’. This person is a local authority officer responsible for promoting the educational achievement of the children who are looked after in the authority. They work across schools to monitor and support these pupils as if they were in a single school. They provide support for staff and parents or carers, too.

Each school has a significant role in working with other agencies to make sure the children and their families experience the stability that they need and deserve. We closely work with the virtual school head to agree how pupil premium funding for children who are looked after can most effectively be used to improve and sustain their attainment.

Call us on 0113 264 9149 or send an email to Miss Hague, the designated teacher for children who are looked after: scholesheadofschool@spherefederation.org

Read our Policy for Comments, Concerns and Complaints. This includes a form which you may find helpful to use to submit any comment, concern or complaint you may have.

School leaders and other staff at Scholes (Elmet) Primary School are always happy to hear your views, comments, questions and concerns. This way, we can avoid any problem escalating into something more serious. Read more about opportunities to raise questions, comments and concerns.

Read the Department for Education’s guidance for schools on best practice.

Sphere Federation aims to ensure that all personal data is collected, stored and processed in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

Our policies apply to all personal data, regardless of whether in paper or electronic format. They meet the requirements of the UK GDPR and the provisions of the DPA 2018. In addition, the policies comply with regulation 5 of the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005, which gives parents the right of access to their child’s educational record.

• Date Protection Policy
• Privacy note: children and families
• Privacy note: governors
• Privacy note: job applicants
• Privacy note: visitors
• Privacy note: staff
• Freedom of Information Policy

We want Scholes (Elmet) Primary to be a happy and healthy place to learn for everyone. We are committed to advancing equality and promoting respect for difference and diversity in everything that we do. We are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers. We aim to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity and able to participate fully in school life. Doing so will help to ensure the vision for our schools to be happy and healthy places.

Read our combined Equality Policy, Equality Objectives and Accessibility Plan.

You might also like to read more information about Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Anybody can compare a school or trust’s income and expenditure with similar establishments in England. You can view our financial data and see how it compares with others.

Schools and academies are also required to publish how many school employees (if any) have a gross annual salary of £100,000 or more. We have no employees who fall into this category.

It is the responsibility of parents to collect their child(ren) on time at the end of each school day. Alternatively, they might make arrangements for their child to be collected by someone else, or for their child to make their own way home or to a friend’s.

We have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils. This duty extends to having arrangements in place for dealing with children who are not collected at the end of a school day or at the end of an authorised activity.

This policy applies when a child is not collected at the end of the school day, after attending after school clubs, or after attending wraparound care; and when there is no prior parental consent for the pupil to walk home alone.

Scholes (Elmet) Primary School is committed to reducing the barriers to sharing in school life and learning for all its pupils. Our ‘Managing Medicines’ policy sets out the steps which we take to ensure full access to learning for all our children who have medical needs and are able to attend school.

So that children who require medicines receive the support they need, and that we work within approved guidelines, we follow local and national guidance.

If medicine must be administered during the school day, parents / carers must provide full written information about their child’s medical needs – a form is available to complete.

If a child is responsible enough to carry a particular medicine eg an inhaler, permission from a parent / carer is needed.

Regarding prescription medicines, please note:

• Parents / carers should if possible administer dosages outside of the school day eg if there are three dosages per day, one first thing, one on return home and one at bedtime.
• We will only accept medicines which are essential; that is, where it would be detrimental to the child’s health not to have the medicine during the school day.
• We will not administer medicines that have not been prescribed by a doctor, dentist, nurse prescriber or pharmacist prescriber, unless it is done as part of an individual Health Care Plan. We can inform parents of this policy.
• Medicines should always be provided in the original container.
• Staff never give a non-prescribed medicine to a child unless there is specific prior written permission from the parents / carers; no medicines should be kept in children’s bags.

We want our school to be a happy and healthy place to learn.

Read the Governors’ Statement of Behavioural Principles. This relates to all: pupils, staff and parents/carers and other visitors.

Specifically for staff, we have additional policies in place, including a Code of Conduct.

Parents/carers and other visitors should check out our Questions, Comments and Concerns page, including our Home-School Positive Relationships Policy.

And for children, we have our Positive Relationships Policy includes our Anti-Bullying Policy. Central within this is choice: good choices lead to good consequences. Each teacher and their class develop their own systems of reward and praise for their class. There are whole-school positive consequences, too.

We have just three school rules for our pupils:

• We’re respectful.
• We’re ready.
• We’re safe.

Our pupils make good choices by following our school rules. Occasionally, a school rule might be broken – a bad choice. If a pupil makes a bad choice, they are given a warning – the first warning is simply a reminder of the school rules. There is time built into the series of warnings and consequences to allow a child to reflect on their choice and to explore ways to make better choices and a fresh start.

Smoking and vaping are not permitted in any part of the school’s premises and grounds.

Read the our uniform policy.

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.

Other items are useful, too. You can buy book bags, PE bags and hats from our uniform suppliers. Also useful are a separate bag for packed lunch (if your child does not have a school dinner) and a water bottle – any clear plastic water bottle, labelled.

Please avoid expensive items.

Only discreet (ie small, not brightly coloured) stud earrings and items that are absolutely required by a religion are allowed. Advisors recommend no earrings are worn for PE; therefore, we will ask your child to remove earrings before the lesson and put them back in after the lesson. This will be carried out by the child. If they are unable to remove or put their earrings back in by themselves, they must not wear them on the day they have PE.

A watch or step counter is allowed. Any device that connects to the internet (eg a smart watch) or that can record (including taking photos) is not allowed for safeguarding reasons.

We don’t accept responsibility for any loss or damage to an individual’s property.

To reduce lost property, clearly mark all clothing, bags, bottles etc with your child’s name. Found lost property is stored in the school office.

Our uniform suppliers include:

• Rawcliffes, 617 Roundhay Road, Leeds, LS8 4AR, 0113 249 4025, https://www.rawcliffesleeds.co.uk/
• SPT Uniforms, 115 Main Street, Garforth, Leeds, LS25 1AA, 0113 232 0111.
• Myclothing.com, uniform embroidery service

Check out Leeds School Uniform Exchange – there’s lots of great quality second hand school uniform in Leeds – and much of it’s going to waste. (We can reduce our environmental footprint by sharing uniform, too.)