Our weekly message (Friday 03 May 2024)

May is the month of SATs for children in Year 6, and – like most schools – as we approach the end of the school year, there are various assessments for children in each year group. Ask your child’s teacher if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns. You might like to check out this NHS guide to help reassure your child, too.

We’re pleased that in Sphere Federation, we now have an officially trained senior mental health lead, as part of the government’s commitment to offer this training to all eligible schools and colleges by 2025. The extensive training supported the senior mental health leads to develop and implement a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing. It’s important that any mental health issues or wellbeing concerns can be addressed on a bespoke, individual or small group scale. Having a SMHL now gives us the ability to identify specific need and monitor the impact of any support or intervention.

The rest of this week’s message is about one particular assessment. It’s mainly for parents and carers of children in Year 1. It might also be useful for if you’ve a child in Year 2 or Reception.

Phonics Screening Check

The Year 1 phonics screening check is for children in Year 1, and children in Year 2 who didn’t meet the threshold in the previous year. It checks that children are on track to become fluent readers who can enjoy reading for pleasure and reading for learning.

The screening check is a way for teachers to ensure that children are making sufficient progress with their phonics skills to read words. It helps to identify whether your child needs additional support at this stage so that they don’t fall behind in this vital early reading skill.

The check assesses phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1.

We make sure it’s not a stressful process for each child. It’s carried out by a teacher – usually the Year 1 teacher – who will be well-equipped to listen and understand children’s level of skills.

It checks if your child can sound out and blend graphemes (letters) in order to read simple words. This includes phonically decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words, eg cat, sand, windmill. There is also a selection of nonsense words which are referred to as pseudo (or ‘alien’) words eg brip, snorb. Pseudo words are included in the check specifically to assess whether your child can decode a word using phonics skills and not their memory.

The check is not about passing or failing but checking appropriate progress is being made. If children do not reach the required standard, then the teacher will be in touch to discuss plans and offer additional, tailored support to ensure that your child can catch up. Children progress at different speeds, so not reaching the threshold score does not necessarily mean there’s a problem. Your child will re-sit the check the following summer term.

School will report your child’s results to you by the end of the summer term as well as to the local authority.

Help at home by supporting your child to say each sound in the word from left to right. Blend the sounds by pointing to each letter – /b/ in bat, or letter group /igh/ in sigh, as you say the sound. Then, run your finger under the whole word as you say it. Talk about the meaning if your child does not understand the word they have read. Work at your child’s pace. Always be positive and give lots of praise and encouragement.

Gardening club

We’re finally having some signs that brighter, sunnier days are coming. It was lovely to see lots of children in our gardening club preparing some seeds and plants ready for Summer.

This week, they’ve planted potatoes, runner beans, broccoli and radishes. They were very excited to tell me that we have lots of tadpoles in our pond, too!

We have a variety of after school clubs happening this term and we still have some availability. If your child would like to join a club, please speak with the school office.

Our weekly message (Friday 26 April 2024)

This week’s message comes from Mr Wilks, who leads on Science and Topic…

What is this half-term’s topic?

This half-term we’re geographers. The topic is Explorers.

In this geography-driven topic, we’re comparing a place in the United Kingdom with a place in another country. Year 1,2 children are heading to Kenya in Africa, whilst Year 3,4 children are having a mini-break in Venice. Finally, Year 5,6 children are trekking through the Amazon Rainforest in South America.

Across the year groups, children will develop their understanding of some key geographical concepts:

• Location is a position (eg a country, a city), often described in a clear, precise way (ie using a latitude and longitude). It is separate from people’s perceptions and experiences.
• Place = location + meaning. This will include the physical and human geography that make a place unique. Importantly, place is not rigid. It is changing and can be perceived in different ways.
• Scale is defined by the relative sizes of places. This could be differences in area, population or distances. Scale can also be defined by our view of the world. For example, we may consider an aspect of geography on a local, national and international scale.
• Interdependence is the idea that the world is connected and that countries or individuals do not act in isolation. Our actions here affect people in different countries around the world, for example, food, energy, holidays, climate. 

Check out our Topic Curriculum Guide for more information about key concepts (page 15) and age-related expectations and vocabulary (page 18 and 19).

Year 1,2

Children have begun the topic by learning about the different continents and oceans in the world. They’ll learn about the equator and how it splits the Earth into two hemispheres. They’ll then focus on a specific continent, Africa, and a specific country within that continent, Kenya. They’ll then compare a city in Kenya, Nairobi, to Leeds with a focus on the physical and human geography of these two places. They’ll then take a visit into the countryside and compare features of the Yorkshire Dales with a National Park just outside Nairobi.

Year 3,4

Children will develop learning about the equator and hemispheres by learning about the tropics and climate zones. A focus on European and world cities and countries will follow and will link to climate zone learning. They’ll then focus in on Venice in Italy and its physical and human geography which they’ll compare with York. They’ll learn about the positives and negatives that tourism brings, putting themselves in the shoes of both tourists visiting the places and locals who live there. Finally, they’ll learn about the problems posed by flooding in both localities and the solutions introduced to limit the consequences of flooding.

Year 5,6

Children will learn about the different types of biomes found on Earth and how these are linked to climate. They’ll then focus on the biomes found in Brazil and the UK. They’ll then focus on Brazil more generally, building their understanding of it as a place. Next, they’ll focus on the Amazon Rainforest and its importance to Brazil in terms of the economy as well as its importance ecologically. They’ll learn about the threats to the rainforest and the impact that deforestation is having. Finally, children will learn about what Brazil needs to do to slow deforestation and what we can do to slow deforestation.

How can you help?

Regardless of the year group your child is in, Google Earth is a brilliant tool to help develop children’s understanding of space, place, scale and interdependence. Zoom right in on your home and then zoom out to reveal the area of Leeds that you live in. Zoom further out to see what city you live in. Zoom further for the county. A little further and you might start to spot some national parks. Further still and you can see the country that we live in. Keep zooming and you’ll see the continent we live in (though this isn’t labelled). Before you know it, you’re floating in space and circling the Earth!

Google Maps is another great tool for comparing places. Try the street view option and you can walk along a street in Nairobi and a street in London. Take a drive through the lush Yorkshire Dales and compare this to the Kenyan countryside. You could wander down the Shambles in York and compare this to the streets in Venice. You can also compare images of the same street from different points in time.

Quizzing your children about some locational knowledge will help them to remember important information. I’ve listed some examples below. Use the age-related expectations to find the right pitch for your child.

• Which continent do we live in?
• Which country do we live in?
• In which hemisphere is our country located?
• Which county do we live in?
• Which city do we live in?
• Which part of Leeds do we live in?
• Which four countries make up the United Kingdom?

If you can, go to the library and get some geography-related books, especially an atlas. You could compare maps of the same place to see what type of information they show. For example, you find lots of maps of the United Kingdom. One might show the countries and capital cities. Another might show the mountains, rivers and national parks. Another might give information about the climate.

For children in Key Stage 2, there are lots of different games and activities on Ordnance Survey Mapzone. I especially like the jigsaws in the Map Puzzles section of the Games.

Also for KS2 children, there’s a lot of information and some tasks and quizzes on BBC Bitesize.

Our weekly message (Friday 19 April 2024)

We hope your Easter break was a good one. As usual in our first message of the term, we kick off with an attendance update…

Attendance matters

For the full Autumn and Spring terms (04 September 2023 to 28 March 2024), our whole school attendance figure is 94.3%. This is above the national figure for all schools (93.0%), although it’s a little below the national figure for primary schools (94.6%).

Here’s how each year group is doing:

• Reception: 95.0%
• Year 1: 93.0%
• Year 2: 94.4%
• Year 3: 96.8%
• Year 4: 96.7%
• Year 5: 90.9%
• Year 6: 90.9%

Well done to Class 3,4 (Mr Kilner’s class) for their amazing attendance!

Don’t forget our second Attendance Prize Draw this half-term. All pupils with attendance of 96% or higher will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop vouchers! And remember, arriving late affects a child’s overall attendance figure, and that might mean they lose out on the prize draw – and misses valuable learning at the start of the day.

Special needs support

Leeds SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice Support Service) have some drop-in sessions coming up if you’d like to receive information and advice about SEND services in Leeds. They’re also running a series of specific events.

Contact details

Finally, a quick reminder: if there are any new contact details for you or other people on our records, please remember to let us know. We need up-to-date details for the people on our lists in case of emergencies. (The people on our lists are the ones you gave us when your child started school – in most cases, this will be three different people.)

Our Christian value this half-term is...

…peace.

‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.’ (John 14:27)

Each half-term, we focus on a different Christian value.

This value is about positive harmony and healthy relationships between people. It involves spiritual as well as material security. Peace is a state of true wholeness, a state of wellbeing. This value promotes harmony, stability and security within the school and local community.

Christians believe that a dove is a symbol of peace. After the flood in the story of Noah (Genesis 5:32-10:1), Noah sends out the dove to see if the flood has subsided and that peace has been restored to earth.

Help at home!

The dove carrying an olive branch is a symbol of peace in Christianity.

Is Christianity the only religion to have a symbol of peace? Encourage your child to carry out some research about peace symbols.

Your child might also design their own symbol of peace to reflect who you are.

Attendance prize draw starts today!

Today’s the first day of the Summer 1 half-term, and that means it’s the first day of our attendance competition for this half-term!

All pupils with attendance of 96% or higher will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop vouchers.

The competition runs for the full half-term: from today to Thursday 23 May.

If your child has attendance of 96% or more, their name will be entered into a prize draw. We’ll choose a lucky winner on the last day of the half-term (Thursday 23 May).

Don’t lose out! Arriving late for school can counts as an absence, too.

Don't forget our Attendance prize draw!

We’ve another attendance competition in Summer 1 half-term. Just like before, all pupils with attendance of 96% or higher will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop vouchers!

So… for the full Summer 1 half-term, Monday 15 April to Thursday 23 May, if your child has attendance of 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 (Thursday 23 May).

Arriving late for school counts as an unauthorised absence. This affects a child’s overall attendance figure, and that might mean they lose out.

So far this year, 16 pupils have 100% attendance and a further 67 pupils have over 96% attendance – well done to the children and their families!

St James’ CE Primary is a happy and healthy place to be – and maybe even a lucky one, too!

Easter eggs

Thank you to the PTA who’ve donated Easter eggs for all the pupils in school. We saw lots of happy faces as the eggs were handed out in class today.

Have a lovely Easter break.

Our weekly message (Thursday 28 March 2024)

This week’s message comes a day earlier than normal…

Policies and other points

We’ve a few policy updates that you might want to be aware of.

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. We’ve also updated our Packed Lunch Guidance. (Talking of food, you might want to check out the NHS Eatwell Guide for advice around eating healthily.)

Another update is our Smoking and Vaping policy. The message here remains the same: smoking and vaping are not permitted in any part of the school’s grounds.

Finally, please be aware of our Home-School Positive Relationships Policy, which supports the Governors’ Statement of Behavioural Principles.

School meal prices

Earlier this week, we received notification from Catering Leeds, the company who supplies our school lunches, that they have to significantly increase the prices for school meals from September.

Unfortunately, this means that we’re going to have to increase what we charge you:

• Nursery: the cost of a school lunch will increase to £2.60 per day
• Key Stage 2 children: the cost will be £2.75 per day
• Reception and Key Stage 1 children: Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) will continue, meaning that your child will still be able to get a school lunch provided free of charge.

We appreciate the price rises are a big increase. We’ve been assured that Leeds City Council school meal prices are still relatively low. In 2023/24, Gateshead Council schools charge £3.00 for their school meals, North Yorkshire County Council charges £3.24 and Derbyshire Council charges £3.25.

And finally…

Really enjoyable activity that parents could join in with their children. The children were all confident with the topic vocabulary and really engaged.

That’s one of many positive comments following our recent Topic Review session. A big thanks to all who came to the session, and an even bigger thanks to those of you who left some feedback. We’ll read and consider all the comments.

Have a great Easter holiday. See you again on Monday 15 April.

Our weekly message (Friday 22 March 2024)

This rest of this week’s message comes from Mr Catherall, the Writing Leader across Sphere Federation…

Words, words, words

We try to regularly give tips for you can help at home across various subjects. To help with reading, we encourage you to read with your child every day. To help with maths, we encourage the use of Numbots or Times Table Rockstars. To help with writing, we ask you to regularly practise the spellings that are sent home. But, there’s another way you can really help your child with their writing. Before the big reveal, a quick note on spelling…

Why spelling?

Spelling is a really important part of becoming a fluent writer. Our aim is for children to get to the point where spelling becomes automatic for them. When this happens, loads of ‘brain space’ is freed up to concentrate on the content of what you’re writing. If children are having to really focus on how to spell lots of words, they’re unable to write effectively because their brain is working in overdrive just to get the words down on the page (or device).

So, what’s the other way I can help?

Talk.

That’s it – talk to your child. All the time. About anything– it doesn’t really matter.

Being able to speak to others and communicate effectively is a crucial life skill. But, it’s one we need to practise. The more words you know, the better able you are to communicate with others. So, talk to your child as much as you possibly can. Don’t simplify your language, either. Children are sponges for learning new words so the more we can expose them to, the more they’ll have ‘in the bank’ to use.

If children can speak fluently, they can probably write fluently. The more words they know, the more varied and interesting their writing will be.

It’s not just us that think this. There’s a growing bank of research which proves how important vocabulary and language development is.

‘A child’s vocabulary is a big predictor of their future success,’ says Alice Penfold, Project Manager of the Words for Work programme at the National Literacy Trust. ‘It not only affects their chances of performing well in exams, but also their life chances.

‘For example, children who have a poor vocabulary at the age of five are four times more likely to struggle with reading as adults, and three times more prone to mental health issues.’

With this in mind, it’s well worth making an effort to build your child’s vocabulary.

One way we encourage you talk together at home is through our weekly Talk Time homework. This can be done over dinner, in the car, on the way to the park or swimming or football or gymnastics or wherever you need to be. It doesn’t need to be a serious chat but the prompt we give is one we think should stimulate some discussion.

If you need any help, or further ideas about how to support your child with their writing, please contact your child’s class teacher.

Finally, look out for your child’s latest Learning Update which will be sent home next week.