Look our for our Learning Updates next week. These ‘mini-reports’ are sent home at the end of the Autumn and Spring terms.

Compliments

I can give and receive compliments has been our Living and Learning statement this week. It’s all about being polite and making each other feel good about ourselves.

Help at home… Spend next week giving compliments to each other at home. Try to make sure the compliments are about what we’ve done and not just how we look – we’ve got more power to change what we do than how we look so these compliments can be much more effective. Some children find it hard to receive compliments, so this week of giving compliments might help, too.

Change makers

At St James’ CE Primary, we encourage and empower our children to take responsibility for issues in our locality.

During our recent Geography topic, Y2 children explored and reflected on issues around our school and suggested some improvements. Children expressed concerns over the traffic and road safety issues on Hallfield Lane. They investigated further, conducted fieldwork and presented their findings. Alongside the learning in Geography, the children focused their Reading and Writing learning on the importance of speeches. They had a go at writing their own speeches – the results were astounding!

This week, we welcomed Councillor Alan Lamb and traffic engineer Chris Proctor into our classroom, providing a platform for the children to voice their concerns. Our Year 2 children delivered their speeches skilfully and passionately, rousing our visitors to explore further action on the issues raised.

We look forward to welcoming Councillor Lamb and Mr Proctor back to our classroom to conduct further fieldwork and work together in making our locality safer.

Thinking of going on holiday in term-time?

From time to time across the year, we’ve let you know the impact of missing five days of school. We’ve thought about it in terms of Reading, Writing, Maths, Science, and the social and emotional aspects of school. Taking a week’s holiday during term-time means your child misses…

• over 4 hours of learning in Reading
• over 4 hours of learning in Writing
• over 5 hours of learning in Maths
• over 10 hours of learning in other subjects
• over 6 hours of opportunities for social time and play

Missing all this in one week means your child will miss significant chunks of teaching and will have gaps in their learning.

Schools are expected to issue penalty notices for unauthorised term-time absences.

The fine for school absences across the country is £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days.

If a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this is charged at the higher rate of £160. 

Fines per parent are capped to two fines within any three-year period. After this, legal action like a parenting order or prosecution is considered. 

So far this school year in Leeds, there have been 4,350 penalty notices issued.

Easter events

Check out this guide to help children and families in Leeds navigate their way through the Easter holidays. The guide’s has lots of free or low-cost activities for a range of ages, in the city centre and in your community.

Don’t forget our Easter service at St James Church on Wednesday at 2pm – we hope to see you there.