Thank you for your kind words on hearing the news that I’ll be leaving Scholes (Elmet) Primary and Sphere Federation at the end of the Autumn term. After working in schools for 30 years (10 years as a teacher and 20 years as a headteacher), it feels like it’s time for a change and new challenge, although I’ll be very sad to leave my Sphere Federation family.

Earlier this week, our Chair of Governors sent a letter to you explaining the interim arrangements for the Spring and Summer terms. I’m confident that Miss Hague, Mr Catherall and all the great teachers and support staff here at Scholes (Elmet) Primary will continue to help your child to flourish in this happy and healthy place to learn.

Amazing attendance

So far this school year, 210 pupils at Scholes (Elmet) Primary School have achieved 100% attendance. That’s about 2 in 3 of all pupils. That’s great news!

Junior leaders

Our new Junior Leadership Team (JLT) were voted for this week. Well done to everyone who made a speech – we were impressed by all of you.

After a democratic decision, our new junior leaders are:

• Class 1A: Liliana
• Class 1,2B: Harry
• Class 2C: Orla
• Class 3,4A: Keira
• Class 3,4B: Thomas
• Class 3,4C: Henry
• Class 5,6A: Millie
• Class 5,6B: Ruby
• Class 5,6C: Heidi

Congratulations to you all – we’re sure you’ll do a grand job.

AI and safeguarding

As we all know Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making the news for all sorts of reasons. Whilst there’s some amazing things happening, there has to be a constant awareness of safeguarding. We need to make sure that we’re not exposing personal details to the wider world.

At the moment, there’s a lot of posts on social media about AI and school photos pics – perhaps you’ve seen them. Some people are recommending that parents ask AI to remove the watermark from a sample school photo so that they don’t need to pay the price. If you do this, your child’s photo’s ‘out there’ for AI to use in the future, responding in whatever way people ask.

Your child’s digital footprint (including photos) are your responsibility until they’re old enough to give consent; in legal terms that would be 18 years old. Please be aware of this when using social media and AI.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.