This week’s message (Friday 19 January 2024)
Early in each half-term, our weekly message centres around the current KS1 and KS2 topic. The message comes from Mr Wilks, who leads on foundation subjects (see page 7 for what foundation subjects are).
What is this half-term’s topic?
This half-term, we’re historians and will be developing our understanding of Britain’s past and the wider world.
I love history. It’s one of my favourite subjects to teach. There are so many amazing stories and characters from the past and although the people and events we study can be separated from our own lives by thousands of years, there are lots of relevant connections we can make with the world today. Children will use enquiry skills to answer questions about the past that require opinions. They’ll be ‘time detectives’, using sources of evidence to help them answer these questions.
Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. See pages 22, 23 and 24.
Years 1 and 2
In this topic, children will learn about how shopping has changed over time. They’ll develop chronological understanding by sequencing events in their own lives before learning about how shopping was different during their parents’ and grandparents’ and great grandparents’ childhoods. They’ll look at similar products from different times and try to sequence them chronologically using logical reasoning. They’ll use photographs and other sources of evidence to identify changes and similarities on the high street over time. They’ll learn about the history of a local shop, Marks and Spencer, and how it has changed over time.
The key historical concept which we’ll explore in this topic is trade. Trade is the exchange of goods and services, initially for other goods and services, and then for money.
Years 3 and 4
Children will learn about the Roman Empire and its invasion of Britain. They will examine how life changed for the people living in Britain at the time of the invasion. They will learn about the Celtic warrior, Boudicca, and how she resisted the Romans. Children will also consider what we know about Boudicca, how we know it, and whether we can trust it.
They’ll learn about the amazing inventions and advances that the Romans brought to Britain. Finally, they’ll find out why the Romans left Britain and who the Anglo-Saxons were.
There are two key historical concepts which we’ll explore in this topic: empire and invasion. An empire is a large group of countries or states ruled by an emperor or empress. An invasion is when a country or region is invaded by an armed force.
Years 5 and 6
In this topic, children will learn about Viking Britain and an Early Islamic Civilisation centred around the city of Baghdad around 800AD.
During this period of time, Baghdad was the largest city in the world and was the centre of the world’s trade routes. Trade between Vikings and Baghdad happened and provides a real link between these two societies.
Through studying the Vikings, children will again learn about how people invaded and settled in Britain. Invasion is also relevant as it brought an end to the Islamic Golden Age.
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of great innovation. Learning and knowledge was key to their success. They built the world’s first hospitals, universities and observatories, as well as studied writing from scholars around the world. The contrast with Viking Britain during the Dark Ages is stark!
There are three key historical concepts which we’ll explore in this topic: trade, invasion and innovation. Trade is the exchange of goods and services, initially for other goods and services, and then for money. An innovation is an improvement or replacement for something. An invasion is when a country or region is invaded by an armed force.
Help at home
Talk to your child about what they’ve 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.
Find some books from the library which match what the children are learning. This will be quite easy for children in Key Stage 2 as there will be plenty of books about Roman Britain and Viking Britain. You should also be able to find some about the Islamic Golden Age. For children in KS1, you may find it more difficult to find books about shopping over time. However, any book that looks at how an aspect of life has changed over time will be good. For example, you may find KS1 history books about toys and games, houses, transport, holidays. These will all help your child to sequence chronologically and explore similarities and differences.
Watch television shows about history. Horrible Histories is great – regardless of your age!
d:side visit
This week, our Living and Learning statement is ‘I know that some drugs can be harmful’.
Dave from d:side came into school to speak to individual classes about drug and medicine awareness. In Reception and Year 1, he spoke to the children about taking care of our bodies and all about medicines; in Year 2, they talked about how our bodies work; in Year 3/4, they discussed smoking and vaping; and finally in Year 5/6 they talked about different types of drugs and if they are medical or not medical.
“I enjoyed the session with Dave and found out things I didn’t know such as solvents and how they are harmful.” Y5
“Dave explained all about drugs in a really clear way. He told us the drugs that are legal and illegal.” Y5
“He showed us what people look like when they take drugs and they didn’t look well. We then saw a picture of someone 10 months after not taking drugs and they looked a lot better.” Y6
Don't forget...
…our attendance competition.
All pupils with attendance of 96% or higher next half-term will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop voucher!
So… for the full Spring 1 half-term, Monday 08 January to Friday 09 February (five weeks), if your child reaches a good level of attendance – that’s 96% – their name will be entered into a prize draw. We’ll select one lucky winner on the last day of the half-term (Friday 09 February).
St James’ CE Primary is a happy and healthy place to be – and maybe even a lucky one, too!
This week’s message (Friday 12 January 2024)
Welcome to our first message of 2024! It seems a little late to wish you a happy new year, but we’ll do it all the same: best wishes for a happy and healthy 2024. This week’s message has quite a few things, but we’ve tried to keep them fairly short…
Dates for your diary
This Spring term is a short one – just five weeks in Spring 1 and just a day short of six weeks in Spring 2. As always, please check our school calendar to know what’s coming up (amongst other things, a Watch Us While We Work session in Years 1-6 and Stay and Learn sessions in Reception, plus parent-teacher meetings).
Did your child get an electronic device for Christmas?
…If so, then do make sure parental controls are all in place. Here’s a handy guide from the NSPCC.
Attendance matters
Our whole-school attendance for the Autumn term was 94.2%. How does your child’s class compare?
- Reception – 94.8%
- Year 1 – 93.0%
- Year 2 – 96.1% – well done!
- Year 3 – 96.3% – brilliant!
- Year 4 – 96.8% – amazing attendance!
- Year 5 – 87.8%
- Year 6 – 90.7%
The low attendance in Year 5 and 6 is clearly a concern for us. We know some people in the class have high attendance, but the absence rate means about a week and half of lost learning as an average.
We know that winter is one of the peak times for adults and children to come down with mild illnesses such as colds, coughs and sore throats.
Your child should stay at home from school if they’ve a high temperature (fever) and are unwell, and wait until it has passed before going back.
If they’ve just got a runny nose, sore throat or slight cough – without a high temperature – your child should still attend school. Children should stay at home if they’ve a high temperature (fever) or if they have diarrhoea and/or vomiting – this helps stop the spread of stomach bugs.
If in doubt, check the NHS site: Is my child too ill for school?
Read this BBC article for five top tips to help.
The national attendance rate for primary schools in Autumn was 94.7%. Our figure is just a bit lower here at St James’ CE Primary. Let’s see if we can beat the national figure at the next review.
Talking of attendance…
Don’t forget…
All pupils with attendance of 96% or higher this half-term are entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop voucher!
So, for the full Spring 1 half-term, Monday 08 January to Friday 09 February (five weeks), if your child reaches a good level of attendance – that’s 96% or more – their name will be entered into a prize draw. We’ll select one lucky winner on the last day of the half-term (Friday 09 February).
DT: Cooking and nutrition
We sent this message earlier in the week, but in case you missed it…
Our updated long-term plans for Cooking and Nutrition were introduced at the beginning of this school year. Last term, your child took part in a practical lesson where they did some cooking in school and were able to eat what they had made. Hopefully, they’ll have come home and told you all about it!
So we can continue to offer this to all children in Years 1 to 6, we’re asking you for a small voluntary contribution towards the cost of ingredients. This will help to cover the costs for the full year – that’s three recipes. We suggest a contribution between £3 to £6, although we really appreciate anything you can offer. Payment for this can be made online on the School Gateway app.
By the way, please remember to tell us if your child has an allergy so that we can adapt the recipes we’ve planned.
The Big Ambition survey
We’ve mentioned this before, too, but we’ve been asked to communicate a final reminder which comes from Dame Rachel De Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England…
I have been overwhelmed by the response the survey has received so far. More than 300,000 children, young people, parents and carers have participated, making it one of the largest surveys of its kind, but I want to give even more people the chance to have their say.
Complete The Big Ambition survey. It closes on Friday 19 January.
Finally, I don’t often offer a personal recommendation, but a highlight of the holidays for me was a trip to the cinema to see Wonka – I loved it! Have a good weekend, whether that involves a cinema trip or whatever you and your family get up to.
Our Christian value this half-term is...
…honesty.
At St James’ CE Primary School, we learn about Christian values that help us to become well-rounded citizens in society. Each half-term, we have a new Christian value that will be embedded into our collective worship and our reflection areas.
What is honesty? Honesty is being trustworthy and truthful in our friendships, our relationships, our school and our community. We understand that we need to be honest and truthful with others when working together as a team. There are challenges for us:
- How can we be honest in our daily lives?
- How can we encourage people to be honest?
- What can we do to fix it if we forget to be honest?
‘Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.’ (1 John 13:18)
In the Bible, we hear about Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), the tax collector, who was dishonest and stole money from others. Jesus went to visit him and he realised he had made a mistake. He saw the error of his ways. He had a total change of heart and got rid of his dishonest ways to follow Jesus.
Help at home!
Talk with your family about the consequences of not being honest or write a story or draw a picture to show what happens when people are dishonest. Bring it in to add to your class reflection areas.
Don't forget...
…our attendance competition.
All pupils with attendance of 96% or higher next half-term will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop voucher!
So… for the full Spring 1 half-term, Monday 08 January to Friday 09 February (five weeks), if your child reaches a good level of attendance – that’s 96% – their name will be entered into a prize draw. We’ll select one lucky winner on the last day of the half-term (Friday 09 February).
St James’ CE Primary is a happy and healthy place to be – and maybe even a lucky one, too!
This week’s message (Friday 22 December 2023)
Following an earlier message this week, this one is just to say all of us here at St James’ CE Primary wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
We look forward to seeing you all again on Monday 08 January. And don’t forget our Attendance Competition… All pupils with attendance of 96% or higher in the Spring 1 half-term will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop vouchers!
An early weekly message (Wednesday 20 December)
This week’s message comes early, and it’s an unusual one because the majority of it is written by Mrs Weekes, the Head of School at Moortown Primary, one of our sister schools in Sphere Federation:
It was great to spend some time chatting to some of the children at St James’ last week – they were all confident and shared lots of positive things that happen in school. I am the Safeguarding Lead across Sphere Federation so the focus of my visit was to find out what the children felt about staying safe.
There are lots of things to talk about when it comes to staying safe. We talked about behaviour; where they felt safe; being online, at school and at home; and how they can keep themselves safe.
They had a really good understanding of what being safe means and knew that they were safe in school. The school rules were discussed and how they help to keep school a safe place. Children also told me what could be done if they, or someone else, was being bullied.
The online chat was interesting. The children shared a lot of great things that they can do online and how it’s great to be able to talk to family and friends using Facetime. However, it was clear that some of them spend a long time online with very little restrictions. It’s important to make sure that your child has time away from screens and that you make these expectations and boundaries really clear.
There’s a lot of things we can do around healthy and safe use of online devices to keep your child safe. One website with useful information is Internet Matters – please have a look and see what else you can do to keep your child safe.
Thank you for your support.
And some words from Miss Beatson:
As we come to the end of term, we’d like to say a ‘goodbye for now’ to Mrs Palmer who is going on maternity leave. Taking over the class is Mr Nash. He has worked as a music teacher in Halifax and more recently has been a member of staff at Scholes (Elmet) Primary, one of our sister schools in Sphere Federation. Mr Nash started at St James’ in September and he has been a great addition to the team here. The Spring term will be his final term of initial teacher training for Mr Nash. To ensure a successful transition, Mr Nash has been working in Year 2 for the last few weeks. We look forward to hearing the wonderful news of a new arrival in the Palmer household sometime in January.
We say a more permanent farewell to Miss Rigley this week. She has been a teaching assistant at St James’ for the last couple of years and is now moving on to pursue a career in dance. We wish her all the very best.
This week’s message (Friday 15 December 2023)
This week’s message has three healthy-themed messages…
Living and Learning
In Living and Learning sessions, your child has been considering mental health. As we come to the end of this unit of learning, it would be a great time to reflect on this more at home.
Self-care is all about what you can do to help yourself feel better or to keep yourself feeling good. It’s a way that we can look after our own mental health and wellbeing. It can help your body and mind to relax, drift away, or be more energised.
This self-care plan from Anna Freud walks children through a series of steps, helping them to create a simple self-care plan that works for them.
There are lots of different ways you can try self-care: dancing, spending time with friends, playing sports, laughing, drawing, spending time with pets – anything that makes you feel good! We have listed some activity suggestions in this booklet – give them a try and see what works for you.
Let us know what you think…
We’ve recently updated our policy around food in school. Our Food in School policy sets out key points for parents/carers and staff. For parents/carers, this includes guidance around special occasions, birthdays, rewards and the importance of alerting us if your child has a food allergy.
Please let us know your thoughts.
Don’t skip breakfasts
Research suggests that having breakfast every day has a positive impact on diet quality, weight status and even learning. You might like to read this recent article about the importance of breakfast for school children.
And one final message, this time from Wetherby and District Foodbank…
Wetherby and District Foodbank is here for anyone who is in need or hardship. All information shared is private and strictly confidential. The foodbank not only provides food and a listening ear but can also arrange free face to face local appointments with Moneybuddies who can help with debt advice and budgeting support. Get in touch with the foodbank: 07840 455725.
Have a good weekend.
This week’s message (Friday 08 December 2023)
We’ve two full weeks of term left. As we said last week, please do check out our calendar so you know what’s going on in the last week of the year – it’s a busy one!
Non-uniform day
One of the things coming up is a non-uniform day on the last day of term – Friday 22 December. Just like a place of work would have standards for a dress-down day, so do we – our Uniform Policy sets out expectations:
Pupils should dress appropriately and respectfully for school, even on non-uniform days. Clothes are inappropriate if they, for example, glorify violence, feature bad language, are very short (eg crop tops), or relate to age-inappropriate topics (eg computer games). When consulted (18.03.21), junior leaders described this as ‘setting appropriate’ clothing and clothing that is ‘well-judged’. Make-up (other than face paints as part of a specific costume) is not allowed. Flip-flops or high-heeled shoes are not allowed, even on non-uniform days, because they’re dangerous when running.
Thank you for following our policy.
Get reading
For those who celebrate Christmas, a book or two makes an ideal stocking filler or present. (And for those who don’t celebrate, reading over the forthcoming holiday is an ideal way to spend some time on cold, dark days!) Our Reading Curriculum Guide has a list of what we read in school:
- page 7 (Year 1 and 2)
- page 8 (Year 3 and 4)
- page 9 (Year 5 and 6)
The guide has a list of books we read as class novels and extracts from other books, plus poems and picture books. It doesn’t matter what you choose. You might want to get something by the same author, for example.
And finally, one more suggestion…
Last year, we recommended a play at Leeds Central Library. The recommendation went down well – we had a few families thank us for the suggestion and commented that it was really good value. Here’s the tip again. Check out Cinderella at Leeds Central Library. It’s a pay-what-you-decide family-friendly event suitable for children aged 5+. Hurry though – there are only a few seats left.
Have a good weekend!