Our weekly message (Friday 28 June 2024)

Thanks to everyone who came along to our Sports Roundabout on Monday and the Key Stage 2 Sports today – we hope you enjoyed it as much as the children and staff.

Survey

Thanks to the 90 parents and carers who have completed this year’s annual survey. If you haven’t, there’s still time! In fact, you’ve one more week left to complete – the survey closes at 2pm next Friday.

Uniform

Last week, we flagged up our updated Uniform Policy in time to help you to start preparing early for the new school year. Please read the latest version.

In particular, we drew your attention to expectations for PE – it basically only involves a change for the bottom half only.

This week, we’re looking at the uniform itself – please follow the points set out here:

A word from our Junior Leadership Team

Here’s a review of the year from our Junior Leadership Team…

We would like to introduce ourselves as the Junior Leadership Team and we are very excited to be able to share our experiences from this year. At the start of the year, our classes elected us to represent them at the JLT meetings and make positive changes for our school. We are great role models that show good manners, kindness, maturity and positivity. We make important decisions on behalf of the school and its pupils. All our decisions are voted for democratically and result in changes and actions. We want our school to be happy and healthy and enjoyable for all students.

At the start of the year, we took on the role of reviewing the Packed Lunch policy and the Food in School policy. We made sure that children come to school with healthy, balanced foods such as fruit and vegetables. We liked the fact that the policy gave examples of different and alternative healthy foods that could be brought to school.

One of our early year tasks was to select our school charity. Each JLT member led a vote in their classes for their favourite charity. These nominations were brought to a meeting and we took a democratic vote. As a result, Children’s Heart Surgery Fund became our charity this year.

One of our favourite activities this year has been generating donations for our school charity and other local and national charities. We are often seen at the school gate shaking our buckets, collecting donations. We successfully raised £436.98 for Children in Need and £364.33 for Red Nose Day – we couldn’t do this without your generosity or support so thank you.

Later in the year, we had the privilege of selecting a school reading champion. This was a competition run by Leeds Library Service in which you could win some books and an author visit to school. Each key stage two class nominated children who had a passion for reading and they had to write a supporting statement. JLT had to read all the statements and finally settle on one person – it was a tough challenge. In the end, we selected Olivia. Although she didn’t win this time, it was an honour to read her statement and we admired her love of reading.

As a JLT, we aim to promote a happy and healthy school. We have a real passion for being active and we decided to re-introduce skipping during our WUSU time – the children love it. We also asked for some new WUSU songs and Mrs Latham and her WUSU team got straight on with the task!

When we were asked about after-school clubs, we enthusiastically created a huge list of clubs that we would love to see in school. So far, we have achieved a girls football team, a tennis club and a tag rugby club. This all contributes to our happy and healthy ethos.

In the Autumn term, it will be time for the new JLT elections. It will be time to allow others to enjoy the experience of representing our school and making positive changes. We are very proud of our achievements this year.

Thank you to everyone who supported us on our journey to make our school an even better place to learn.

Finally, a few things to look out for next week…

Tomorrow, we’ve an Open Morning in Nursery. Are you looking for a Nursery for your child to join? Come and visit our happy and healthy Nursery – just call in (no need to make an appointment or reserve a place).

We send annual reports home next week, staggered across the week.

And in next week’s message, look out for details of the 2024 Summer Competition, too!

Spectacular sport roundabout

The sun shone this year and we enjoyed a rather warm sport roundabout yesterday.

Spain were the winners with Ukraine in second place and England third.

We hope you all enjoyed it and thank you to all the families and friends who came to support us.

Our weekly message (Friday 21 June 2024)

First off this week… Don’t forget out Sports Roundabout on Monday afternoon (this is a whole school event – come and watch your child work as part of a team) and Key Stage 2 Sports Afternoon on Friday afternoon (come and watch your child join in some competitive races).

Uniform

Every year, we review our Uniform Policy. We know some parents/carers like to start preparing early for the new school year, so please read the latest version.

Please note what we expect children to wear on PE days – it basically only involves a change for the bottom half:

Annual survey

Your views count. Every year, we ask for your views and we follow up on as many as we can. Thank you to the 63 parents/carers who have already completed it. If you’ve not yes, there’s still time: please complete this year’s survey before the 05 July deadline.

Are you looking for a Nursery place?

Might you be thinking about sending your child to Nursery in the future?

If so, why not come to our Open Morning on Saturday 29 June, 10am to 12pm. We’ll be opening our Nursery doors for you and your child to come and have a look around. Our Nursery staff will be available to answer any questions you may have.

It’s not been a great summer yet, has it? With the hope we might enjoy some sunnier days ahead, don’t forget to follow the NHS advice on sun protection for your child.

Our weekly message (Friday 14 June 2024)

Don’t forget the school photographer’s in next Tuesday to take class pics – please make sure your child is in uniform, even if it’s a PE day.

This week’s message comes from out Science and Foundation Subjects Leader. It’s about the final topic of the year…

What is this half-term’s topic?

Design and Technology is the driving subject for this half-term and it’s a great topic to finish the year! The focus for all classes this year is textiles (next year, it’s construction) so children will be busy designing and making products using fabric.

A key aspect of the Design and Technology curriculum is the understanding that products don’t just get made. Instead, they go through a design process that includes three key elements: evaluate, design and make. Think of this process as a cycle. For example, Scholes Motors want to create a new family car. Before the car is made, they need to evaluate existing products and talk to customers so that they’re clear about what the new car needs to have. They will then design the car and evaluate those designs. They may make a prototype of the car to help them evaluate the designs. Next, they’ll decide on a final design that will go into production and get made. This finished product will be evaluated and the whole process starts again.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic – see pages 14 and 15 of our Topic Curriculum Guide.

Years 1 and 2

The product children will be designing, making and evaluating is a hand puppet. They’ll start by learning about the design process before looking at and evaluating existing hand puppet products. They’ll then learn to use an over stitch and practise threading needles and tying knots. Following this, they’ll be introduced to all the materials they can use to create their puppet. Once they’re familiar with the materials, they’ll design their puppet. Next, it’s on to the making stage. They’ve already honed their sewing skills so they should be confident making and then decorating their puppets according to their designs. Finally, it’s evaluation time: children will compare their designs to their finished products. They’ll reflect on successes and things they’d do differently next time.

Years 3 and 4

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a pouch. The function of this pouch is entirely up to them. It could be used to store some pens, trading cards, a shell collection. Children can be as creative as they like – as long as the pouch can be made using a 20cm² piece of felt!

Before they begin to design their pouch, they’ll learn about a famous designer and how they became a designer. They’ll also learn some important skills that a designer needs to have. Children will then evaluate existing pouches, with a focus on fastenings, and will then design their pouch. They’ll practise their sewing skills, becoming proficient using a running stitch. They’ll then begin to make their pouches. First, they’ll create a template which they’ll use to cut out the pieces. Next, they’ll join the pieces using their running stitch and create a fastening for their pouch. Finally, they’ll evaluate their designs by comparing them to their designs, testing whether they’re fit for purpose and reflecting on their successes and areas to improve.

Years 5 and 6

Children will be designing, making and evaluating a cushion. However, before they get stuck into their cushion, they’ll learn about some designers who changed the world: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, George Stephenson, Lewis Latimer and Jony Ive. They’ll learn about their creations and their impact and look for things that link the designers.

Following this, children will learn about the importance of design criteria when designing a product. After this, they’ll practise their sewing skills and learn how to sew using a backstitch. Next, they’ll evaluate existing cushions. They’ll then decide on the specific design criteria for their cushions and create their designs using an annotated sketch, detailing the dimensions of their product. They’ll learn about the importance of using sustainable materials when researching the filling used for their cushion (the plan is to use old, unwanted pieces of fabric to stuff the cushions rather than Polyfill so please have a look through your wardrobe and keep hold of any old t-shirts or other clothes as we’ll need them later in the half-term).

Children will use a template to cut out the shapes, use a backstitch to appliqué decoration to their cushion, before finally sewing the pieces together and stuffing them. The final stage is to evaluate the designs against the design criteria.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they have been learning in class. The class news page of the school website is a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.

The school library and local libraries will have some books about Design and Technology which your child will be able to borrow and develop both their reading skills and design knowledge.

Finally, there’s a lot of programmes on CBBC and CBeebies with a Design and Technology focus:

• Bitz and Bob
• Grace’s Amazing Machines
• Junk Rescue
• Maddie’s Do You Know?
• The Dengineers

Finally, don’t forget to complete our annual survey – it’ll only take a few minutes and we do take on board as many views as we can.

Football Champions!!

This weekend, two groups of Y5s and Y6s represented Scholes (Elmet) Primary School in the Boston Spa Gala.

Despite some of the players only returning from the Y6 residential a day earlier, they had an entire day of competitive footballing action to get stuck into. All of the children represented school perfectly: they were polite, tried hard and had fun.

In the cup competition, Team Scholes fought bravely but, despite several strong performances and several close score lines, were unable to progress through to the final.

In the mixed plate competition, Team Scholes were unbeaten in the group stage and so, after a long, tense wait to find out (Mrs Hogarth still hasn’t recovered), made it through to the final and the opportunity to win the competition.

With a large crowd watching (including many Scholes parents and the other Scholes team who had stayed to watch the final), Team Scholes dominated the game and ran out 4-0 winners. There were many excellent individual performances but the real strength was the strength of the team!

And so, with great delight, we can officially say: Scholes (Elmet) Primary School are the Boston Spa Mixed Gala 2024 champions! 

Well done to all the players involved on the day (in both teams). We’re really, really proud of you all.

Also, thank you to the parents who attended and supported the teams so brilliantly (and provided what seemed an endless stream of snacks!).

Finally, a huge thank you to Mrs Hogarth who, despite only just returning from 3 days on residential, gave up her time to organise the event and manage both teams on the day!

“Championes, championes, ole ole ole!”

Please complete our annual survey

At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, we’re always keen to hear your views. We hope that you let us know any questions, comments and concerns (as well as causes for celebration!) whenever these crop up, but we like to gather the views more generally at the end of the year – we do this via the annual survey.

Please complete the survey – it’ll only take a few minutes or so. You’ve plenty of time to do this – the deadline is 2pm on Friday 05 July 2024.

We can’t guarantee to meet the needs and wants of every parent / carer, but we do assure you that we consider all the points raise and aim to act on specific points that are raised by many, or a useful idea raised by just a few.

We’re looking forward to reading your views.

Our weekly message (Friday 07 June 2024)

We’re into the final half-term of the school year – it’s always a busy one, so please keep an eye on the school calendar. Coming up soon are a few things you might want to know about…

For children in Year 1 and some children in Year 2: Next week, children in Year 1 (and those who didn’t meet the standard who are in Year 2) will take part in an assessment around their phonics skills. Check out the government’s phonics screening check information for parents.

For children in Year 4: Also next week, Year 4 children will take an online assessment to check their quick recall of times tables and division facts. Check out the guide for parents. Keep practising on Times Tables Rock Stars!

For all children: On Tuesday 18 June, the school photographer is in to take class photos.

Next week, look out for the link to our annual survey of parents and carers. too.

Attendance matters

At the start of every half-term, we review our attendance. For the full school year so far, up to the end of the Summer 1 half-term (Thursday 23 May), the whole school attendance figure was 95.8%. That’s comfortably higher than the national figure up to Friday 17 May for primary schools: 94.7%. Thank you for your support.

How does each class compare?

• Sunshine (Miss Parling) 94.7%
• Rainbow (Mrs Allen-Kelly & Mrs Flynn) 95.9%
• 1A (Mrs Brown and Mrs Wilkins) 95.5%
• 1/2B (Mrs Latham) 96.2%
• 2C (Miss Young) 95.7%
• 3/4A (Mrs Paterson) 95.8%
• 3/4B (Miss Iveson) 96.5%
• 3/4C (Mrs Wadsworth) 96.3%
• 5/6A (Mr Wain) 96.2%
• 5/6B (Mrs Hogath) 95.4%
• 5/6C (Mr Lindsay) 95.7%

Let’s keep up this great achievement!

Send support

SENDIASS support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their parents and carers to help with their related concerns or questions. They provide a free, impartial and confidential service through their website and online resources. You can self-refer to this service by contacting them directly. Find out more about SENDIASS in this short clip.

Here are the dates of forthcoming support sessions.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message (Friday 24 May 2024)

Positive Home-School Relationships

Governors have asked us to remind you about a recent policy – our Positive Home-School Relationships Policy. Please check it out.

And two things worth knowing about: one for Year 1 and 2 children, and the other for children in Year 4.

Year 1 and 2: Phonics screening check

In the week beginning 10 June, children in Year 1 (and those who didn’t meet the standard who are in Year 2) will take part in an assessment around their phonics skills. Check out the government’s phonics screening check information for parents.

Year 4: Multiplication tables check

Have a happy and healthy – and hopefully drier – half-term week!

Goodbye Lollipop Sue

As you will know, today we said happy retirement to our lovely Lollipop Sue.

The celebrations began with afternoon tea in the staff room.

After a very emotional assembly, we presented Sue with the gifts that we bought with staff and your donations.  Thank you for your generosity – we collected £500!!

Sue thought the celebrations were over but we had other plans!

We wish Sue all the very best in her well-deserved retirement.

We love you Lollipop Sue!

All the best to Lollipop Sue

We’re all sad to say goodbye to Sue and we wish her all the best for a happy and healthy retirement. Here’s a lovely poem, written by Louise Carter, mum of Leneah and Luella, that really sums up the start of the school day not being quite the same without Sue to greet us…

Farewell to our lovely Sue
It won’t be the same without you
Come rain or come shine
You’ve a smile every time
And it won’t be the same without you.

Thanks for the laughter Sue
It won’t be the same without you
You’re jokey and funny
You make every day sunny
It won’t be the same without you.

Thanks for being there for us Sue
It won’t be the same without you
You’re there without fail
Be it snow, ice or hail
So it won’t be the same without you.

Thanks for remembering us Sue
It won’t be the same without you
You know all of our names
Your memory’s insane!
It just wont be the same without you.

We will always remember you Sue
It won’t be the same without you
You looked after us well
From our tears you can tell
That it won’t be the same without you.