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:

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.

Our weekly message: Friday 06 December

Stuck for a gift idea? Check out the National Book Tokens website: book recommendations (for adults and children), activities, and a chance to win a £100 book token!

It’s a busy time of the year but have a look at this Leeds guide for free and low-cost things to do this winter – from opportunities to meet Santa to a chance to enjoy a festive mystery matinee.

It’s the countdown to Christmas, but there’s still lots of learning to prioritise, too. Keeping daily routines helps your child to manage such an exciting time. Please remember to stick with our Uniform Policy.

Measles

Did you know measles is on the rise in this area? Measles is highly infectious. It can lead to serious complications including fits, damage to the brain, or even worse. Unvaccinated children are most at risk of severe complications from measles. Check out this information from Leeds LA, covering symptoms and how best to protect you and your family.

Science

This rest of this week’s message comes from Mr Wilks, our Science and Foundation subjects leader. The message is about what your child’s currently learning in their Science lessons…

Year 1,2

Pupils are learning about materials. They’re exploring a range of different materials and their uses and explaining why a certain material is or isn’t appropriate for a particular use. They’re working scientifically by, for example, investigating whether different materials are waterproof or not.

Next half-term, they’ll be biologists because they’re learning about plants. They’ll explore the types of plants that grow in the school grounds. They’ll also learn about the different parts of plants. They’ll work scientifically by conducting an enquiry into whether plants grow healthier in the light or in the dark.

Year 3,4

Pupils are currently learning about the different states of matter (solids, liquids and gases). They’re classifying things as solids, liquids or gases. Some of these are tricky; for example, sand behaves like a liquid (you can pour it and it takes the shape of the container it’s in) but it’s a solid. Pupils are working scientifically by carrying out an enquiry about how the temperature of water affects the time it takes for ice to melt. As part of this unit, they’re also learning about the water cycle.

Next half-term, pupils are physicists. They’ll learn about sound and how sound travels. They’ll work scientifically by conducting an enquiry into how the distance from a sound source affects the volume of a sound.

Year 5,6

Pupils are learning about electricity this half-term. They’re drawing circuit diagrams using symbols to represent the different components. They’re working scientifically by investigating the effect on different components when the current in a circuit is changed.

After half-term, they’ll move on to learn about light. In this unit, they’ll learn about how light travels in straight lines, how shadows are formed, and they’ll work scientifically by investigating how the size of a shadow changes when the distance from a light source changes.

Help at home

Talk to your child about their learning in class. Check out the Class News pages as they may have some posts about Science learning. Your child may want to recreate an experiment they’ve done at school or have a different question they’d like to investigate. Or, you can look up fun, practical science experiments you can do at home with everyday objects.

Get outside and take notice of the natural world. A large proportion of the primary science curriculum is devoted to biology so here are a few ideas which will support this:

• Talk about plants and animals that you see at different times of the year. Now is a great time to spot deciduous and evergreen trees.
• In December/January look out for winter flowering plants like snowdrops, pansies or camellias.
• Try taking a photo every week from of a green space in your locality. Take it from the same position so that over the weeks and months you can see how the landscape changes.
• Go on a nature walk. Make a list of ten things to try to find on your walk and see how many you can tick off. It’s been three years and I still haven’t been able to tick woodpecker on my list!

Wellbeing Advent

It’s one day late, but you might like to try this out with your child…

The lead up to the winter break can be a fun and exciting time. For some though, it can be anxiety inducing and stressful. Young Minds has created a series of wellbeing advent calendars, customised for primary and secondary children.

Our weekly message: Friday 29 November

This week, our Living and Learning statement has been ‘I can talk about my feelings’…

When you’re reading aloud with your child, or talking about what they’ve been reading independently, or even chatting about something you’ve both watched together, invest some time talking about the feelings of the characters. The more comfortable your child is at this, the more able they’ll be at managing their feelings. (And a good message is that all feelings are okay, but the behaviours they lead to may not be okay – it’s okay to feel angry, for example, but not okay to act in ways that hurt others.)

Fab feedback

Yesterday, we welcomed a group of headteachers from other Leeds primaries to our school. They visited two classes to watch our Maths teaching. Here’s what one headteacher had to say following the visit:

I couldn’t help but send an email of thanks and praise following my visit to school this morning. The school itself felt warm and welcoming, pupils were clearly happy in their learning around the school… both lessons were expertly delivered.

Terrific times tables

Every year, children in Year 4 take part in the national Multiplication Tables Check. The national data was released this week. The average score across the country was 20.6 out of 25.

At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, our average score was 22.6 – much higher than national. Not only that, a greater proportion of our children achieved full marks (25/25) than nationally.

Well done to the children (our current Year 5 children). Thank you for making sure your child learns their times tables. Check out our information and advice about supporting your child with this.

Learning to read, reading to learn

The shift from learning to read to reading to learn is a crucial milestone in a child’s educational journey.

In the Early Years and Key Stage 1, children focus on learning how phonics works and decoding words (that’s ‘sounding out’ the letters into sounds – phonemes).

As they move towards the end of Year 2, children use reading as a tool to explore and acquire knowledge across subjects like science, history, and geography. This can help develop thinking, comprehension, and the ability to use information they have read.

Mastering this skill empowers learners to independently research, solve problems, and engage in lifelong learning. Encouraging reading a wide range of texts and promoting curiosity ensures children are prepared to thrive in an information-rich world.

Help at home: make sure your child reads at home every day, and encourage them to be enthusiastic readers by talking about what their reading, whatever that is – comics, stories, factual books…

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 22 November

This week’s message is a short one. It starts with a particularly important point…

Staying safe

Did you read this news story this week? We were so sad when we read it.

We’ve a long list of online safety tips but three simple ones to follow are:

• make sure your child is only online in a shared room like the living room or kitchen where there are others around – and that also means have no mobile devices in the bedroom
• talk to your child often about what they’re getting up to online
• check your child’s mobile device regularly, just like you might check on who they’re playing with at the park – why not set an alarm on your phone a couple of times each week to remind you

Online safety has been our Living and Learning theme this week: I know how important it is to make careful choices when online. Each week, check our school calendar for the Living and Learning theme.

Oracy

This half-term, your child will be continuing to practise their oracy skills throughout all of their learning.

Oracy is your ability to communicate and express yourself effectively. It’s about having the vocabulary to be able to say what you want to say and the grammatical awareness to structure your thoughts in a logical way.

Good oracy skills have loads of benefits…

• it increases engagement in learning
• it improves academic outcomes
• it develops wellbeing and confidence
• it equips students to thrive in later life

Help at home…

1. Be an oracy role model: model good speaking and listening skills to your child, and when they’re in ear-shot.
2. Don’t ‘dumb down’ your language: try not to avoid using more complex vocabulary. Instead, use complicated language but then succinctly explain what it means eg succinct means short and quick
3. Complete the talk time homework: these are a great opportunity to have a conversation and model good oracy skills.

Have a happy and healthy weekend – and stay warm!

Is Scholes (Elmet) Primary School a happy and healthy place to learn?

This week, I have been talking to some of the classes wondering what they have been doing with the R.E Drop Down Morning and if they enjoy our school. This article has some information that I have been told in some classes.

In 1,2B, I asked Mrs Latham if our school is a happy and healthy place to learn and I was told it was definitely a great place to learn. Mrs Latham says that there is great teamwork and it is a happy and fun place to be. Her favourite lesson is phonics because someone might come into school and not know how to read but then when they leave they know how to read perfectly. The lessons are always practical and  all the teachers try to make them fun.

In 3,4C, I asked the children and Miss Wadsworth if they thought Scholes (Elmet) is amazing and I was told that it is great because people are included and cared for. I asked a few pupils what their favourite subjects were and they were art, writing and maths.

In 5,6A, I asked Mr Goodwin if the school is safe and respectful and he said yes. Lessons are great and they are really fun to teach to the children. The school is amazing and is happy and healthy. Scholes (Elmet) is safe because there are trained first aiders and there is always someone on the lookout.

In the whole school R.E Drop Down Morning we have been looking at Hinduism – it is the oldest of the religions we study. In our school, we focus on 6 religions which are Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Christianity.

My opinion is that Scholes (Elmet) is amazing and the teachers are always kind and smile at you in the corridors. I think it is safe, respectful, happy and healthy. We all care for each other and make the right decisions.

By Thea (Y5)

School Journalist: A look back to 'Me and My Community Week'

from the 4th to the 8th November, we had our ‘Me and My Community Week’. Here’s a look back at what each phase of school got up to…

In Y1,2 they had a community themed talk and had a Wake Up Shake Up session where the children’s parents could have a look at them dancing and having lots of fun. The children went to the library and also saw Brian Abram, who is an author, who came to school to talk about his books and a bit about his life.

In Y3,4, they learnt about local areas, mountains and rivers. Lots of living and learning lessons took place, too. The 3,4 classes have also looked at the British Values, which are:

• democracy
• individual liberty
• rule of law
• respect and tolerance

In Y5,6, they were doing zoom calls with different schools in our federation to see what things are different and if anything was the same in Moortown and St James schools. The had more living and learning lessons about friendships and family. They also saw Brian Abram, who is an author.  Brian talked about his personal journey and the children’s books he writes. The classes also visited the library and parents were invited to school watch their children do WUSU.

Everybody in the school saw Brian Abram, did living and learning and did the ever-important WUSU.

Our weekly message: Friday 15 November

Thank you for the donations to Children in Need this morning. We raised £416.89 – a truly impressive amount!

As we always do, the message this week – second week of the half-term – is all about our new topic in Key Stage 1 and 2. The message comes from Mr Wilks, who leads Science and foundation subjects across Sphere Federation.

What is this half-term’s topic?

Topics are the vehicle for delivering much of the learning in the foundation subjects (eg History, Art, Geography, Design Technology). This half-term, we’re artists. We’ll develop our art knowledge and skills.

The learning this half-term has two aspects to it:

• art appreciation and history: your child will learn about some specific artists and their work
• art process: your child will practise and develop skills by creating art

Each phase has age-related knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. Please see pages 10 and 11 of the Topic Curriculum Guide.

We’ve also produced an Art Curriculum Guide which gives you more information about how art is taught in school and the different ‘visual and tactile elements’ that pupils will be learning about and using in their lessons.

What’s happening in each phase of school?

Years 1 and 2

Children will learn about two featured artists across the half-term: Georges Seurat and Bridget Riley. They’ll compare their art, talking about similarities and differences. They’ll discuss what they like and dislike about the art and how it makes them feel. They’ll also learn about the artists’ lives and where in the world they lived.

In practical art lessons, children will hone their artistic skills and knowledge by sketching objects using pencil and developing painting skills inspired by Bridget Riley and Georges Seurat.

Years 3 and 4

Children will learn about the work of two architects: Christopher Wren and Zaha Hadid.

They’ll compare and contrast the buildings that these architects designed. They’ll look at the influence of classical Greek architecture on the two architects and look for examples of this in buildings locally and nationally. In practical art sessions, children will develop observational drawing skills, before focussing on creating sketches and drawings of buildings on different media.

Years 5 and 6

Children will learn about and study the work of two designers: William Morris and Orla Kiely.

They’ll look at examples of products that use their designs and then focus on the designs, analysing them using technical vocabulary. They’ll also compare the designs, spotting similarities and differences.

In practical art lessons, children will sketch their own designs inspired by Kiely or Morris. They’ll then create relief prints of their own designs which they’ll turn into a wallpaper design using a design website.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning. The Class News page of our website is a good place to go to find out more about what your child is doing.

Familiarise yourself with the artists and the artwork that your child will be learning about in class. Look in books or on the internet for pieces by the artists and talk about them. Find art by other artists that you like and compare it to the featured artists. If you feel confident, you can go into more depth using the topic-specific vocabulary. However, if not, leave that to the teachers and just enjoy looking at the pieces and asking general questions:

• What do you like or dislike about the art?
• How does the art make you feel?
• What colours can you see?
• Can you spot influence of Greek architecture in buildings (eg columns or pediments)?

The Tate Gallery has a good children’s website with games and activities which children can explore.

If you’re in Leeds, the Leeds Art Gallery and Henry Moore Institute are both free to enter and if your child has already visited during a trip, they can be the tour guide and show you around!

Finally this week…

Next week is Road Safety Week. As the clocks have changed and the nights are darker, the week highlights the importance of road safety. Check out these road safety tips and just look at how important bright clothing is at this time of year…