Fantastic Foundation Stage!
We’re always wanting to get better and better. One of the ways we’ve secured great improvements in recent years is that we work closely with LA advisors so we benefit from ‘an extra pair of eyes’ and their specific skills and expertise.
Just before Christmas, an Early Years expert visited our Foundation Stage classes. Here’s an extract from her report:
It is clear that the team work closely together and know their children really well… provision is of a very high quality and provides a stimulating learning environment; children were seen engrossed in a range of activities this morning, effectively supported by adults both inside and out.
Keeping active – skipping
All classes from F2 to Y6 enjoyed a visit from Jodi from Skipping School. Skipping is a great fun sport for all, that can be done alone, with a partner or in larger groups. Each class learnt new techniques and built on the skills they had learnt last year. F2 learnt how to listen for the click so they know when to jump with the big rope. Miss Parling is starting a skipping after school club (contact the office for details). Year 2 and Year 4 children will be entering the Leeds skipping competition this year too. Children are encouraged to bring skipping ropes into school to use at playtime and lunchtime to help them hone their skipping technique and to work towards the new Bronze Marbled Wristbands as part of our 30:30 wristband challenge.
Keeping active with the 30:30 Wristband Challenge
This is an initiative that has been developed by the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University to increase the amount of physical activity (PA) that primary-age children currently do.
The challenge is to be physically active to earn marbled bronze, silver and then gold wristband.
Schools are expected to provide half of the Chief Medical Officer’s daily PA recommendation of 60 minutes. The other 30 minutes is expected to be completed at home with the support of a young person’s family/friends/carers. This is obviously to combat obesity issues in England and to align with the government’s current Obesity Strategy.
A simple recording sheet has been devised to encourage pupils to record, on any given day, if they have done two sets of 30 minutes of PA. If they are able to tick two circles in one day, the child can colour one box of the running track to show their progress towards an award.
We want children to do a level of physical activity that makes them feel warmer, slightly out-of-breath and have a quicker heart-rate, such as a brisk walk, dancing, cycling, swimming and other sports. It’s not just about ‘official sport’ – playing on a trampoline, running up and down the steps, dancing to a music video or walking the dog all count!
Pupils will need to be physically active for 30:30 minutes for 80% of the during January and February and then bring their form back to school by the end of February to claim their wristband.
Let’s all get active! A copy of the sheet can be found here Marbled Bronze collection sheet 2018
Do you park considerately?
We would ask everyone to park considerately near school. There have been reports this week of cars parked up on kerbs and pavements, blocking drives and double parking. The worst incident involved a wheelchair unable to access the path outside her house opposite school. West Yorkshire Police have recently issued warnings for parents and carers, stating they will issue tickets for parking offences around and near schools. Please ensure you are parking considerately.
Still keeping active – with a special visitor!
We are enjoying dancing to our Christmas songs during Wake Up Shake Up. We were even more excited to have a special visitor today – Santa! He visited the Foundation and Key Stage 1 classes and wanted to join in with our physical activity burst. He was pretty good – well done, Santa.
Learning updates
Going home with your child (Y1 to Y6 only) today are the end-of-term Learning Updates. These ‘mini-reports’ aren’t new – we’ve used these before during parent-teacher meetings.
This year, we’ve listened to what you said in the annual surveys: you asked for more frequent updates on your child’s learning. As a result, we’ve tweaked when we do things a little so you now get an update at the end of most half terms:
- Autumn 1 (the parent-teacher meeting)
- Autumn 2 (the Learning Update)
- Spring 1 (the parent-teacher meeting)
- Spring 2 (the Learning Update)
- Summer 2 (the end of year report)
If you’ve any questions, comments or concerns about the report, please contact your child’s class teacher.
After school clubs – School of Pop!
The ‘School of Pop’ have been learning new songs and rehearsing hard this term with Mrs Rennison and Miss Harker. They started their journey a few months ago and finished with a performance for parents and carers last week. Some children were apprehensive about singing publicly but they have overcome this, building confidence and self-esteem along the way! If your child would like to join in next term, please contact the school office.
Supporting parents with anxious children
EPOSS Cluster are running a group to support parents with anxious children. The group will give advice and strategies to support your child, provide psycho-education on anxiety and give the opportunity for you to meet parents with similar problems and share ideas.
The first session will be held MONDAY 21 JANUARY
Venue: The House
Wetherby High School
Hallfield Lane
Wetherby
LS22 6JS
Time: 8am-9am.
No need to book, just turn up on the day.
If there is sufficient uptake the group will then run every Monday until the February half-term holiday.
If you would like any further information please call:
Rachel Midgley, Cluster Therapist – 0752 617 2934
Liz Giles, Targeted Services Officer – 0791 278 4637
Book People Book Fair
This week, we’ve a Book People book fair at school. The Book People are an online book shop, selling books at up to 70% off RRP prices. We’ve a great selection of individual books starting from £4 and a wide range of boxed books, too. Tomorrow is the last day we will be selling the books in school. We will open the book fair at 3.15pm for parents to buy and browse before the end of school. The fair is located in the main reception area.
Thank you to everyone who has already paid us a visit and bought a book.
The school earns money for the sales we make, which helps us replenish the school library, guided reading books and books for the children to enjoy in their classrooms.
Terrific teaching
We’re an outward-looking school: we work closely with the local authority and with other schools, including as part of Noctua Teaching School.
As a school which has been previously judged to ‘require improvement‘, the local authority offered us a full teaching and learning review, carried out by two advisors, one of whom is a trained Ofsted inspector. We’re always keen to hear from others so we can keep improving, and were therefore happy to take up the offer.
Here are some extracts from the report:
- ‘Evidence from the review paints a positive picture of a much improved and still improving school. The Executive Headteacher has worked closely together with the Head of School to drive developments across the school. A recurring theme throughout the day was the commentary from staff, children and Chair of Governors alike: “This school is unrecognisable from what it was two years ago.”‘
- ‘…leaders at all levels are determined that the pupils of Scholes will all achieve well. Strong ambition and collegiality now permeates what is a collegiate, reflective and professional staff team who are ambitious for themselves and the school.’
- ‘Governance has been transformed from the time of the last inspection.’
- ‘Lesson observations supported by book-looks and data analysis evidence the impact of improved teaching over time.’
- ‘…pupils are clear about their learning’
- ‘The team were impressed by the consistent approaches to planning and pedagogy that ensures pupils receive an equitable diet in terms of challenge and learning.’ [This point was made in reference to teaching and learning across Y1,2 Y3,4 / Y5,6 mixed age classes.]
- ‘Neat presentation in books accompanied by high productivity supports the improvements in pupil achievement and progress over time.’
- ‘Teaching assistants play an effective role in supporting pupil learning in classrooms and are now a strength of the school.’
- ‘The Early Year Leader leads this area of the school with passion and skill. She has a deep understanding of children’s development and current research… In the view of the team, the provision in Nursery is outstanding. In Reception, the teaching of phonics was precise and accurate.’
A core area they suggest we explore over time is boys’ writing – it’s not low compared to how boys perform nationally (79% reached the expected level in 2018 at Scholes, higher than the national figure of 72%; at the higher level, 16% compared to 15% nationally), but there is a gap with the very high figures for girls (at Scholes in 2018, 95% reach the expected level and 45% reached the higher level).
Well done to all the staff and pupils; thank you to parents and carers for continued support.