Junior Leadership Team Election
Congratulations to our new Junior Leadership Team representatives for Year One!
The election process was an exciting experience, as all candidates had the chance to speak to their classmates about why they would make a great addition to the team. In the end, two candidates were chosen to represent Year One for the coming year.
This realistic election process not only developed their communication skills but also introduced them to the democratic process, one of our core British Values.
We’re so proud of their hard work, enthusiasm, and dedication—congratulations to our new leaders!
Democracy – from Ancient Greece to St James’
Democracy is one of the British Values we learn about in school. We found it really interesting to learn how Democracy began in Athens in Ancient Greece as part of our Topic lessons and we were really excited to see it in action as part of our JLT elections.
Our British Values are:
- Democracy
- Rule of Law
- Individual Liberty
- Respect and Tolerance
It would be great to discuss these with your child. What does the value mean to them? What would Britain be like if we didn’t have this value?
History – Stone Age to Iron Age and Ancient Egypt
As our history topic comes to an end, the children have been demonstrating their knowledge and all that they have learnt by producing a two-page spread. They have ensured they record all they remember from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and compared this with what they have learnt about Ancient Egypt.
Help at home – Ask your child about what they remember. Is there any comparisons they can make between the Iron Age and Ancient Egypt? Who was Howard Carter and what do they think of him? Why was the River Nile so important to ancient Egyptians? Can they remember the dates of each key period? If time, can they find out any more interesting information to share after half term?
Some of our Year 5 and 6 children chose to stand for Junior Leadership Team this morning. We are extremely proud of all the children who spoke confidently and clearly and with expression.
As a democracy, children made their choice and took to the Polling Station to submit their vote.
Well done to all the courageous children who stood for election! We await the results…
Room on the Broom!
Over the last two weeks the children have enjoyed reading Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
In forest school, we made our own cauldron to help the Witch make a new broomstick. Here are a few things the children could recall from the story.
We made a pot for the Witch, from Room on the Broom -Oria
A cauldron, some sticks and some leaves- J
We put some feathers in, they make the broomstick- T
We need to make a potion and cast a spell- Blossom
Iggy, ziggity, zaggity, zoom- Elliott
Some big sticks to hold up the cauldron- Avery
Dragon, he flew after the Witch -Noyan
Help at Home: Let’s get crafty!
The children have enjoyed lots of creative activities this week.
Could you make something at home relating to our story? a few ideas could be, your own wand, creating a Witches face using different shapes, exploring pumpkins, making potions.
Don’t forget the outdoors is a wonderful place to get messy!
Notice:
We’ve had a wonderful first half term and the children have all made some fantastic progress, we’re extremely proud!
We would also like to thank Miss Harvey! Miss Harvey is sadly leaving St.James to pursue her career in teaching and we wish her all the best with her future endeavours.
You may have noticed that Miss Feldman has been in Nursery recently. Miss Feldman will now be in Nursery as our full time Teaching Assistant. The children have already welcomed her with open arms and we’re looking forward to our next half term.
Have a happy and healthy break and we will see you all on Monday 04 November.
The Nursery Team
JLT elections
We are extremely proud of all the children who are running for JLT this year. The candidates spoke to the rest of the class this morning to explain why they deserved their vote.
Voters are spoilt for choice with such strong candidates to choose from. Well done to all the children for being brave and for speaking clearly at an appropriate volume (two of our oracy targets this half-term.)
Reception places for September 2025
Applications for a Reception place for September 2025 can be made from 01 November 2024 until 15 January 2025. Guidance on applications can be found on Leeds City Councils You Tube video
A quick guide to school admissions
If you’d like to come and look around our school the next open sessions are on Thursday 14 November at 1.30pm and Friday 29 November at 9.30am.
Please remember that you still need to apply for a Reception place even if your child attends St.James Nursery.
Thanks
The Nursery Team
It’s nearly time to elect our new junior leaders
We have recently launched this year’s Junior Leadership Team election process. Our Junior Leadership Team is one of the ways that children are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.
The election process allows children to develop an understanding of one of the British Values, democracy, with two representatives from each class, chosen democratically by their peers.
Here are some of the qualities our junior leaders think are needed to be an effective JLT member.
- use the 8Rs for learning
- be respectful and polite
- help others
- be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)
- share and be confident with your ideas
- let others speak
- accept the views of others even if you don’t agree
- be friendly and approachable
- follow our school rules and make good choices in class and around school
Last weeks’ whole school homework is all about the election and democracy, ready for the elections on Thursday 24 October. For children who want to stand in the election, they will have the chance to share their speeches in class on Wednesday or Thursday this week.
Well done to all our current junior leaders who have represented their class so well this year. Remember, you can stand again in the election.
DT: Food Technology
Today, we made a fruit smoothie. First, we read the recipe together, looking at the ingredients and the instructions on what to do.
Before we began we made sure we had clean hands. We used a knife to carefully slice the banana. Next, we weighed the berries and added them to the jug. After, we measured out the milk and poured in the milk. Mrs Cairnes used the blender to blend the ingredients together. We all drank the smoothie and gave a thumbs up or thumbs down to show if we enjoyed it or not.
Help at home: Would you do anything differently if you were to make the smoothie again? e.g. change the fruits, add yoghurt (we didn’t use yoghurt at school), add some honey?
Can you make the smoothie at home?
As chemists we have been investigating solids, liquids and gases
In Science, we have started a new unit of learning all about states of matter. Our first lesson focused on identifying solids, liquids and gases. We started with some mystery bags that we had to observe closely.
We made observations about the properties of the samples with a particular focus on whether they had a fixed shape. We had great fun taking the samples out of the bags to see if they had a fixed volume.
Help at home: We like to use actions to help us to remember our learning and we have created gestures for our key words: solid, liquid and gas. Challenge us to teach you the gestures for the key words and play the game we played in class where one person says an object and the other person has to respond with the gesture for whether it is a solid, liquid or gas.
If your child likes an extra challenge, discuss objects which are harder to categorise such as toothpaste, shaving foam and slime. Are they a solid, liquid or a gas? Can they convince you?