Our weekly message: Friday 15 November
Thanks for your Children in Need donations this morning – we raised £129.93. The collection bucket will be out again this afternoon.
As we always do, the message this week – second week of the half-term – is all about our new topic in Key Stage 1 and 2. The message comes from Mr Wilks, who leads Science and foundation subjects across Sphere Federation.
What is this half-term’s topic?
Topics are the vehicle for delivering much of the learning in the foundation subjects (eg History, Art, Geography, Design Technology). This half-term, we’re artists. We’ll develop our art knowledge and skills.
The learning this half-term has two aspects to it:
- art appreciation and history: your child will learn about some specific artists and their work
- art process: your child will practise and develop skills by creating art
Each phase has age-related knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. Please see pages 10 and 11 of the Topic Curriculum Guide.
We’ve also produced an Art Curriculum Guide which gives you more information about how art is taught in school and the different ‘visual and tactile elements’ that pupils will be learning about and using in their lessons.
What’s happening in each phase of school?
Years 1 and 2
Children will learn about two featured artists across the half-term: Georges Seurat and Bridget Riley. They’ll compare their art, talking about similarities and differences. They’ll discuss what they like and dislike about the art and how it makes them feel. They’ll also learn about the artists’ lives and where in the world they lived.
In practical art lessons, children will hone their artistic skills and knowledge by sketching objects using pencil and developing painting skills inspired by Bridget Riley and Georges Seurat.
Years 3 and 4
Children will learn about the work of two architects: Christopher Wren and Zaha Hadid.
They’ll compare and contrast the buildings that these architects designed. They’ll look at the influence of classical Greek architecture on the two architects and look for examples of this in buildings locally and nationally. In practical art sessions, children will develop observational drawing skills, before focussing on creating sketches and drawings of buildings on different media.
Years 5 and 6
Children will learn about and study the work of two designers: William Morris and Orla Kiely.
They’ll look at examples of products that use their designs and then focus on the designs, analysing them using technical vocabulary. They’ll also compare the designs, spotting similarities and differences.
In practical art lessons, children will sketch their own designs inspired by Kiely or Morris. They’ll then create relief prints of their own designs which they’ll turn into a wallpaper design using a design website.
How can you help?
Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning. The Class News page of our website is a good place to go to find out more about what your child is doing.
Familiarise yourself with the artists and the artwork that your child will be learning about in class. Look in books or on the internet for pieces by the artists and talk about them. Find art by other artists that you like and compare it to the featured artists. If you feel confident, you can go into more depth using the topic-specific vocabulary. However, if not, leave that to the teachers and just enjoy looking at the pieces and asking general questions:
- What do you like or dislike about the art?
- How does the art make you feel?
- What colours can you see?
- Can you spot influence of Greek architecture in buildings (eg columns or pediments)?
The Tate Gallery has a good children’s website with games and activities which children can explore.
If you’re in Leeds, the Leeds Art Gallery and Henry Moore Institute are both free to enter and if your child has already visited during a trip, they can be the tour guide and show you around!
Finally this week…
Next week is Road Safety Week. As the clocks have changed and the nights are darker, the week highlights the importance of road safety. Check out these road safety tips and just look at how important bright clothing is at this time of year…
Remembrance Parade
Thank you to the children who took part in the remembrance parade in Wetherby this weekend. It was lovely to see so many St James’ faces in the crowds too. Today, we’ll be having a one minute silence to remember those who have fought in conflict both past and present.
Our weekly message: Friday 08 November
What a busy week!
Me and My Community week
This week, children have been enthusiastically learning about all things community-related as part of our Me and My Community themed week.
Highlights included some junior leaders visiting Warm Spaces (a volunteer service providing lunch for people in our community), sessions considering stereotypes and diversity, Year 5 children visiting Wetherby’s community radio station Tempo FM to talk about the themed week, and of course a visit from Wetherby’s mayor this morning!
Speak with your child about some of the learning they’ve done this week linked to communities.
There’s another themed week later in the year – Being Healthy.
Our new school charity
Part of our Me and My Community themed week involved the selection of our school charity. Last year, our charity was Leeds Hospitals Charity. This year, the shortlist was selected by the Admin people across Sphere Federation. The six charities were then discussed in class before our new Junior Leadership Team met to agree the final charity.
They’ve selected Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
We’ll raise some money across the year for the charity – the main way will be collections at Christmas and end-of-year performances.
STOP!
Next Tuesday (12 November) is Anti-Bullying Day. This year’s theme is Choose Respect and we’ll be taking part in Odd Socks Day on this day.
Odd Socks Day celebrates that we’re all unique. Children are invited to wear odd socks (with their uniform), marking the fact we’re all different in some way. Part of Anti-Bullying Day, the day sends an important message to pupils that they should be allowed to be themselves, free from bullying. It helps us celebrate Anti-Bullying Day in a fun and positive way.
Our weekly Living and Learning statement next week is I know how to STOP bullying. This is one of the most important Living and Learning statements. Make sure you and your child talk about our two STOP acronyms:
- Several Times On Purpose
- Start Telling Other People
Beyond next week, please keep talking about these – one’s a definition of bullying and the other’s a solution. Talk about the differences between falling out and bullying, and between a one-off situation and something that’s happened more than once.
Check out this anti-bullying advice for parents and carers.
Every day matters
We’re delighted that our whole school attendance figure for Autumn 1 is 96.2%:
- higher than our 2023-24 figure
- higher than the 2024-25 national figure so far (in fact, we’re in the top third of primary schools nationally for attendance)
Let’s keep this up! Thank you for helping to make sure your child attends school as much as possible.
Linked to this is the second of a series of messages about what a child misses if they’re absent for a prolonged time. We know children are ill sometimes – that’s inevitable – but regular holidays or unnecessary absences mean children really struggle. This time, we focus on Reading.
If your child was absent for five days in a row…
If your child misses five consecutive days, it’s likely there would be gaps in their knowledge, confidence or skills.
- In Reading lessons, we practise a wide range of reading skills like prediction, performing poetry and inference.
- Your child would also miss reading texts which would support their writing skills; we analyse model texts before we write them.
- They’d miss our fluency text for the week, too, meaning they’d miss out on the opportunity to develop their confidence when reading aloud, and to discover a range of new words or facts about our current topic.
- If your child’s in Key Stage 1, they’d miss out on five daily poem sessions and five class story times – really popular times for children.
- If your child’s in Key Stage 2, they’d miss their new target page agreed with the rest of their group in Book Club and miss out on the discussion about the story so far.
- They’d miss out on a few chapters of the class novel and could be confused for the rest of the book.
- Missing five days means a child would miss out on their weekly library visit – they’d not be able to choose a new library book.
This half-term's Christian value is...
…compassion.
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.
This half-term, we focus on compassion.
‘Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’ Ephesians 4:32
The definition of compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is hurting, in pain, or has misfortune and is accompanied by a strong desire to help the suffering. Christians believe that Jesus is the greatest example of someone with true compassion. Not only did Jesus have compassion and heal people from physical suffering, he also showed the greatest compassion when he died on the cross for our sins.
A Junior Leadership Team member thinks this value is important because, ‘It helps you understand what they’re feeling and how to help them and then makes the school a happier place’.
It’s not always easy to show compassion, especially when we feel like the person deserves their misfortune, but we try to show compassion to all who need it whether they are the same as us or different.
Help at home!
Talk to your child about compassion.
- How can they show sympathy for a friend?
- Is there anyone in school who is very compassionate?
- Talk about a time when you were compassionate or someone was compassionate towards you.
Our weekly message: Thursday 24 October
This week’s message is one day early because tomorrow is a training day.
What happens on a training day?
Training days are exactly what they say on the tin – a day jam-packed with training for teachers to make sure they’re all fully skilled and prepared. In recent Ofsted inspection reports, the impact of the training we provide for teachers across Sphere Federation is rated highly:
Teachers have secure subject knowledge… The professional development available for all staff is of high quality, and they appreciate the collaborative support shared among the schools in the federation.
Scholes (Elmet) Primary Ofsted inspection report, 21-22 May
Professional development for all staff is exemplary. Leaders have planned high-quality training.
Moortown Primary Ofsted inspection report, 19-20 March
At the training day tomorrow, teachers from across Sphere Federation will gather for five different learning sessions: phonics teaching; using technology as a teaching aid; gymnastics; Art skills; and Living and Learning.
Talking of Living and Learning…
Living and Learning
‘I use what I’ve learnt in Living and Learning’ was this week’s Living and Learning statement. It’s an opportunity for teachers to return to some of the learning this half-term, including rights and responsibilities, protected characteristics, and democracy. Help at home…
- talk to your child about what they’ve learnt
- check out our Living and Learning Curriculum Guide – page 6 gives you an overview of next half-term’s mental wellbeing theme
Cooking
Across the year, we hope that every child in Key Stages 1 and 2 will learn food preparation skills. We need voluntary donations for ingredients so that we can offer this. Thank you for the donations so far – they total £100.50. If you’ve not yet donated, please consider it. A donation of £3 to £6 will ensure we can offer all three food preparation sessions:
- Year 1 and 2: fruit smoothies, overnight oats, and fruit bars
- Year 3 and 4: egg pots, chopped tomatoes and garlic, and savoury scones
- Year 5 and 6: vegetable and chickpea curry, pasta bake, and bread
You can make your donation using the School Gateway app.
For more about our Cooking curriculum, please check out our Cooking and Nutrition Curriculum Guide (we’re in Year B this year).
Our school charity for 2024-25
Each year, our Junior Leadership Team select a charity to support – we ask for donations after Christmas and Summer productions for example. Last year, our charity was Leeds Hospitals Charity. This year, the shortlist was selected by our Admin staff across Sphere Federation. Start thinking about each of these below, so your child’s ready to pass on their views to their Junior Leader representative in Me and My Community week.
- Yorkshire Air Ambulance is an independent charity providing a lifesaving rapid response emergency service to 5 million people across the whole of Yorkshire. Money raised keeps both of their air ambulance helicopters maintained and in the air.
- Leeds Mind provides help and support for people who may be experiencing issues impacting on their mental health and wellbeing.
- Willow Foundation supports young adults, aged 16 to 40, who are living with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition.
- Action Against Hunger aim to save the lives of vulnerable people affected by hunger. Action Against Hunger fights hunger and malnutrition around the world, because no child should ever suffer or die from it. Stop hunger today.
- Zarach‘s mission is to end bed poverty in England. It believes no child should live in poverty. All children should have their basic needs met so that they can achieve their full potential in life. Give every head a bed.
- Leeds Hospitals Charity has been nominated again. The charity aims to support patients, families and staff. They fund for lifesaving equipment, treatments, research into rare diseases and home comforts.
Finally… Over half-term, why not get involved in Leeds Festival of Play. Check out the list of organised events.
Harvest Festival at St James' Church
Thank you to all the families who joined us for our Harvest Festival at St James’ Church. We are really proud of the way the children read the prayers, performed the poems and sang our songs of celebration.
Thank you too for the food donations, it is wonderful to be able to support the local community in this way.
Applications for Reception 2025
Applications for a Reception place for September 2025 can be made from 01 November 2024 to 15 January 2025.
Guidance on applications can be found on Leeds City Council’s You Tube video about applying for a school place.
If you’d like to come and have a look around our school, our next open sessions are on Thursday 14 November at 1.30pm and Friday 29 November at 9.30am. No need to book – just turn up!
Our weekly message: Friday 18 October
As a teacher, one sign of getting old arises when a parent tells you they were in your class as a child. This happened to me the other day. Crazily, I think I’ve still got the tea-towel (now more of a rag, I admit!) with all the pupils’ self-portraits on that the PTA sold back in 2000 or thereabouts. Perhaps I should hunt it down to show his children their dad’s artwork of the time!
This week’s message has four articles: an overview of how we teach Reading in our school, news about the Junior Leadership Team, news about a Leeds competition, and an article linking attendance with social and emotional development.
Reading in our school
At St James’ CE Primary, we teach reading in a variety of ways in order to promote a love of reading, to develop decoding skills and fluency, or to develop specific reading skills. Each element forms our Reading Diet – all the different learning, activities and skills that we do over the week that involve reading.
For children in Reception and Key Stage 1…
Story time is a hugely important part of our Reading Diet. Enjoying books together and listening to an adult read out loud enables children to access texts that they can’t necessarily read themselves. We often ‘narrate’ what we are thinking as we are reading; wondering out loud what a character might be feeling, describing what a word means or what we think might happen next. We also enjoy reading non-fiction (fact) books in this time, too. They’re often linked to our Topic or Science learning and children can listen to and learn new facts that they can share and discuss.
Our daily Phonics lesson is crucial to children’s reading journey. Words are split into phonemes (sounds) that are matched to graphemes (written letters). This helps children break down words (decode) and begin to read. We follow a systematic phonics programme that has a huge amount of built-in practice. Repeating and revisiting sounds and words helps children learn to read quickly and effectively.
Our Reading Practice sessions happen four times per week. They give the children repeated opportunities to read the same book at least four times, developing their phonics skills. They’re also used to develop decoding skills, fluency, prosody (expression) and comprehension throughout the week. The books are matched to the child’s secure phonic knowledge so they should be reading fluently and with increasing pace as they progress through the books. The fifth session of the week involves a visit to the school library where children can choose a book to share at home and to promote their love of reading.
Our Daily Poem gives us an opportunity to really celebrate our love of reading. We choose all different sorts of poems. Children really enjoy trying to memorise it over the course of the week or read it with the teacher by the end of the week – especially if it’s a funny or silly one!s
For children in Key Stage 2…
Reading is still a big feature right across Key Stage 2. Each class has dedicated Class Novel time where children enjoy simply being read to and discussing language. We develop fluency by reading the same short text again and again over the course of the week. To develop specific skills, Reading Skills lessons happen four times a week and often include learning in other subjects, too. Every class visits the library once a week so make sure you check in with their child about their current choice. Children enjoy a weekly Book Club where they enjoy some relaxed independent reading and complete a directed activity.
Help at home by reading every day with your child for around ten minutes and discuss the words and phrases the writer has used and what they mean. If a child is read a story or book daily, by the time they are 5, they’ll have heard approximately 296,660 words – imagine how many more words a child will have heard by the time they’re 7, 11…!
Junior Leadership Team
‘I take part in democratic decisions’ has been our Living and Learning statement this week. This is in readiness for next week, when we have our annual Junior Leadership Team elections.
Our Junior Leadership Team is one of the ways that children are encouraged to take an active part in school life. The election process allows children to develop an understanding of one of the British Values, democracy.
This week’s whole school homework is all about the election and democracy, ready for the elections next Thursday (24 October).
We’ve been asked by a parent to publicise Recycle Week…
Rescue Me – Recycle!
Did you know it’s Recycle Week?
It’s not too late for your child to get involved by designing a Leeds Recycling Superhero! They can create their very own recycling hero and show everyone how to see recyclable items as treasures, not trash.
And for the rest of us, it might be worth reminding ourselves of what we can recycle here in Leeds. The latest Recycle Now research shows that about nine out of ten people regularly recycle, but nearly eight out of ten of us put one or more items into the rubbish bin that could have been recycled. (Did you know we can now recycle glass in our green bins?)
Finally this week, the first of a series of messages about what a child misses if they’re absent for a prolonged time. We know children are sometimes ill and have to spend time out of school – that’s inevitable – but if we factor in regular holidays, children really struggle…
If your child was absent for five days in a row…
…they’d miss out on loads of opportunities to develop their social and emotional skills. They’d miss out on at least 5-6 hours of pure social time at playtimes and lunchtimes – time to play and chat with their friends. This is time when children can stay physically active, and also time when they learn to interact – making friends, choosing games to play, agreeing and learning to disagree. This is all valuable time to develop confidence, resilience and simply to have fun!
The impact of low attendance…
- Children who miss school miss out on not only learning and education, but also spending time with other children and friends, which helps with developing social and emotional skills.
- Children who miss school more than others can find it difficult to keep friendships.
- Children who stay away from school tend to struggle more with their mental health later on.
By going to school, children can meet with their friends for social and emotional development and not become isolated at home.
Being in school is important to your child’s academic achievement, wellbeing, and wider development. There is evidence to suggest that regular school attendance is a key mechanism to support children and young people’s educational, economic and social outcomes. Schools can facilitate positive peer relationships, which is a contributes to better mental health and wellbeing.
A Service of Thanksgiving
Today, some of our Year 5 and 6 pupils took part in a Service of Thanksgiving marking 200 years since The Great Sale of Wetherby. It was a very proud moment listening to the children confidently read a poem about what Wetherby means to them. A big thank you to the children and their families taking time on their Sunday to be part of this commemorative service at St James’ Church.
Self-esteem workshops
Thursday was World Mental Health Day. We invited MindMate Support Team into school to deliver workshops to the children about self-esteem and how to get help if they’re feeling sad or have low mood. On Friday, the same team delivered a workshop to parents about supporting children with self-esteem and the feedback was positive.
If you would like more information about this topic then please speak with Miss Beatson.
