As a teacher, the year is punctuated with school-related milestones, most obviously the different terms. After just one week away, it’s remarkable how different Spring 2 feels – we’re arriving and leaving work in the daylight, spotting signs of Spring on our way. As you travel to and from school with your child, talk about the changes in the seasons: daffodils, daylight, leaves on trees… Being mindful like this can have a really good impact on our emotions.

Industrial action

Earlier in the week, we emailed you about the forthcoming industrial strikes planned across a series of dates:

• Tuesday, 28 February
• Wednesday, 15 March
• Thursday, 16 March

As it stands right now, it looks that our school will be able to remain open.

However, please remember that all workers, including teachers, have the right to take industrial action without prior notice. This means we might have to close some classes at the last minute. As such, it would be advisable to prepare for some disruption on the days listed here just in case.

Attendance matters

For the school year up to Friday 10 February, our attendance figure was 93.1%. This is higher than when we last talked about it – great news!

• Reception: 93.3% – doing well
• Year 1: 94.8% – the highest in school!
• Year 2: 93.5% – doing well
• Year 3: 92.8%
• Year 4: 89.6% – let’s hope this rises over the rest of the year
• Year 5: 92.9%
• Year 6: 94.0% – well above average

Good attendance is important:

• regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically
• regular attenders cope better and benefit from school routines, school work and friendships
• regular attenders find learning more satisfying
• regular attenders are more successful in transferring between primary school, secondary school, and higher education, employment or training
• statistics show a direct link between under-achievement and absence below 95%

Thank you for helping us increase our attendance rate. Please continue to make sure your child is getting to school on time every day.

Have a good weekend, whatever you get up to.

We’ve reached the end of the Spring 1 half-term. Thank you to everyone for attending the parent-teacher meetings this week.

Staying healthy…

Next half term, our Living and Learning sessions return to the theme of mental wellbeing. MindMate supports mental health and wellbeing – check out the resources and support that’s available for parents and carers.
As always the associated weekly Living and Learning statement can be found on our school calendar.

Sticking to the theme of health, find out more about Play Streets, Junior Parkrun and Park Play in this short video.

Staying safe…

This week’s seen us mark Safer Internet Day – talk to your child about what they’ve learnt about in school. To help support staying safe online, have you got parental controls switched on? Check out this easy to follow guide. Read more information about parental controls.

Does your child have additional needs?

Over the next few weeks, Leeds SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice Support Service) is running some virtual information sessions aimed at providing parents/carers with information, advice and support on SEND topics. These will cover topics that they’re frequently asked about, and there’ll also be the opportunity to ask relevant questions at the end of each session. Dates/times for these are as follows:

SEND support in schools
Monday 06 March, 5.15pm
Wednesday 15 March, 1pm

EHC needs assessments
Thursday 02 March, 10am
Monday 20 March, 5.15pm

Section I appeals
Monday 27 February, 5.15pm
Wednesday 08 March, 1pm

Refusal to assess appeals
Monday 13 March, 5.15pm
Tuesday 21 March, 10am

To book a place or for more information, check out their website.

Over the holiday, please keep encouraging a love of reading: books, comics, websites, recipes… Have a happy and healthy half-term.

At a recent meeting of headteachers, we did a quick straw poll: which year group has been most impacted by Covid lockdowns? Well over half of the headteachers said Year 3, and to a large extent we’re finding that, too. No matter what year group, the best way to keep supporting your child is to make sure they’re reading every day and practising number facts. This week’s message comes from our Reading Leaders…

Early reading and phonics

We’ve already done nearly half a year’s worth of phonics in Reception and Year 1 – plus two assessments. We’re very pleased with progress and hope you can see how fluent children are when they’re reading to you at home. Year 2 children have been reviewing their phonic knowledge with an increasing focus on writing and spelling.

It’s all about repeated practice when learning how to read. If children are not reading words with fluency and automaticity (automatically), they probably just haven’t had enough practice. Re-reading to increase fluency, add prosody (rhythm, intonation, expression) and develop comprehension is why we read the same book or text in school all week. Extra reading of the same text at home is a brilliant way to celebrate children’s success and for them to continue to refine all these elements.

You really can help at home by ensuring you give your child the opportunity to read their school reading book or eBook. We’re the ‘expert readers’ so reading to them (at bedtime, for example) is just as important.

Reading in Key Stage 2

This half-term, your child is ‘solo reading’. They’ll be bringing home a book to read that they’ve chosen – usually from our school library. It’s really important that your child is reading this book regularly alongside an adult and that they bring their signed Reading Record into school every week.

Whilst regular reading is the most crucial aspect in a child’s development, there are other things you can do to help at home, too:

• talk about reading
• be a reading role model
• visit a local library / book shop
• ask your child what they’ve read at school
• regularly practise spellings (spelling and reading use the same skills – recognising patterns between letters and sounds)

Industrial action

This week saw the first of four days of industrial action by the National Education Union. Our school was unaffected. There are three more planned days coming up:

• Tuesday, 28 February (Northern, North West, Yorkshire and Humber regions)
• Wednesday, 15 March (England and Wales)
• Thursday, 16 March (England and Wales)

Workers don’t have to advise their employer if they plan to strike or not. Our advice remains the same: it might be wise to arrange childcare on these days in case your child’s class needs to close. We’ll keep you updated as much as we can.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in person for next week’s parent-teacher meetings. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend.