Our weekly message (Friday 12 July 2024)

It’s our penultimate weekly message of the year. It’s a bit of a cliché, but has to be said – we can’t believe how fast the year has gone!

Themed week

This week has been our Staying Safe week.

Of course, staying safe isn’t just about one week of the year. Check out these Summer safety tips. and this clip about staying safe near water.

This week is also a good time to think back to previous Living and Learning statements. For example, does your child know the two STOP messages about bullying from Autumn 2 (Several Times On Purpose and Start Telling Other People)? Does your child understand the importance of permission / consent? What online safety tips can your child tell you about?

Every year, we have two themed weeks. Next year, it’s the turn of Me and My Communities and Being Healthy themed weeks.

Moving on…?

The close of the school year sees Year 6 friends getting ready to move on to secondary schools. There’ll also be children in other year groups moving on, too – perhaps you’re moving house and therefore your child is switching schools.

Whatever the cause, this change can be a source of anxiety. It’s a perfectly natural response to a new environment and a new society into which to fit. With this in mind, Childline has published advice to help children deal with their feelings as they move on.

Our Summer competition

Have you and your child started to think about our Summer competition?

Take a pic of one particular letter in SCHOLES – each letter is for a year group in school. This list refers to current years, with children in Nursery and Year 6 sharing the first S…

• S – Nursery and Year 6
• C – Reception
• H – Year 1
• O – Year 2
• L – Year 3
• E – Year 4
• S – Year 5

The winning entry will be a letter that’s been ‘found’ or created in an unusual way. There’s a £10 book token for one winner in each year group.

To enter, email your pics to scholesoffice@spherefederation.org by Friday 06 September. Enter ‘Summer competition’ as the subject.

Get caught in the Breeze

The Breeze people write:

Are you ready to have some fun this summer?! Breeze in the Park is back to bring family fun to a park near you this summer holidays.

We’ve 26 events plus 8 relaxed events, all jam-packed and ready to bring the sun, fun, chills and thrills to your holidays!

Expect sports, games, arts and crafts, interactive play, food, entertainment and, of course, their famous inflatables. Plus, much much more!

The events, which are aimed at 0 to 19-year-olds, will run as two separate sessions on the days. The first session takes place from 12pm to 2:30pm and the second session runs from 3pm to 5pm.

Along with the open sessions, eight of the events throughout the summer will also be hosting relaxed sessions for children and young people with additional needs. These sessions will run from 11am to 12pm and will have additional staff, minimal queuing and reduced crowds.

Tickets for Breeze in the Park are 50p per child and must be pre-booked in advance. Fast track five times on our most popular inflatables with a Breeze Pass…the best accessory for this summer giving you discounts, giveaways, offers and early access to many venues and events!

Book your tickets now and avoid disappointment.

Have a happy and healthy – and hopefully dry – weekend.

Scholes in Bloom

Some children went out to meet the Britain in Bloom judges this week. The winner of the ‘design a flowerbed’ competition came to talk about their design. We also told them about plants we have grown and our beautiful wildlife garden. We hope they were impressed!

Our weekly message (Friday 05 July 2024)

With just two more weeks left of the school year, it’s time to start thinking of our Summer Competition!

Summer competition

Each year, we invite you and your child to take part in our Summer Competition. We’ve asked for pics to show extreme reading, happy and healthy, smiley faces… This year, we’re inviting you to think about our name. More specifically, take a pic of one particular letter in SCHOLES, but one which is hidden away or created in some unsual way.

Each letter is for one year group in school. This list refers to current years, with children in Nursery and Year 6 sharing the first S…

• S – Nursery and Year 6
• C – Reception
• H – Year 1
• O – Year 2
• L – Year 3
• E – Year 4
• S – Year 5

The winning entry will be a letter that’s been ‘found’ or created in an unusual way. There’s a £10 book token for one winner in each year group.

To enter, email your pics to scholesoffice@spherefederation.org by Friday 06 September. Enter ‘Summer competition’ as the subject. All entries will be displayed in school, and there are prizes for our favourites.

Here’s an idea to get you thinking…

Uniform

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve featured our updated Uniform Policy to help you to start preparing early for the new school year. Please read the latest version.

This week, we’re looking at what our policy says about jewellery…

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. Such items should be left at home, but can be handed over at the start of the day. Refer to the Positive Relationships Policy for more details of items not allowed.

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

Staying safe

Next week is another Living and Learning themed week.

Water safety features early in the week. We’ve got a visitor from RNLI coming into school to talk to our Key Stage 2 children and a visitor
from Canal and River Trust talking to our younger children.

D:side in school across the week to deliver sessions on staying safe online. Staying safe online is a huge issue for our young people. There will be a drop-in session for parents on Thursday 11 July between 2 – 3 pm. If you’d like to know more, please come along to ask questions. In the meantime, check out these tips for helping children stay safe online.

Always a favourite, Dogs Trust are coming into school on Wednesday. Most children love dogs but making sure you know how to stay safe around dogs is really important.

Later in the week, we’ve got some first aid sessions.

• Our younger children will will learn about the emergency services and how they can help.
• Year 3, 4 children will be finding out about asthma, bites, stings and burns. They’ll also be finding out about calling for help and the all important recovery position.
• Our Year 5,6 children will learn about stopping bleeding,
  choking, head injuries as well as calling for help and the recovery position.

It’s going to be an exciting week – we know the children will learn lots of skills for life.

Next week is also the Year 5,6 production: There are three performances – Tuesday and Wednesday at 6pm and a Wednesday ‘matinee’ performance at 1.45. No doubt there’ll be great singing, fantastic acting and lots of bad jokes!

Summer Reading Challenge - Reading for fun!

Are you looking for something FREE to help with your child’s summer holiday boredom? The Library Service may have the answer for you.

The Library Service’s annual summer reading challenge is due to start this weekend on Saturday 6th July.  All children need to do to earn rewards, a certificate and a medal is to read at least 6 books during the summer holiday period.

The challenge runs from 6th July until the 14th September in all Leeds Libraries so there’s lots of time and opportunity to rise to the challenge. You do not have to join up this weekend though – You can join at any time and you can join online too.

The theme this year is Marvellous Makers and it’s all about being creative – music, junk modelling, art and crafts, photography, dancing. There’s something for everyone’s reading tastes – even audio books too.

For more information you can contact any Leeds Library but Madeleine at Scholes Library will be more than happy to welcome you there to answer any queries or questions.

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.