This week’s message part 2 (Friday 22 July 2022)

The bulk of our last message of the school year comes from Miss Beatson. Before that, we’ve an updated uniform policy. Also, we’ve been asked by Leeds City Council to provide you with some important information…

Uniform

Most parents and carers stock up on fresh uniform over the summer holiday, so we want to let you know about our updated policy now.

This year, we’ve been trialling something we introduced in Covid times: wearing PE kit on PE days. Overall, we like this: it increases time for PE (no changing into kit) and there’s less lost property. However, we’ve seen some deviation from our uniform policy on PE days with some branded tops and shorts sneaking in. Check out our updated policy, especially the part about PE kit. We hope you’ll agree that the changes should actually save you money and be much more convenient for you.

Prevent

This letter is to help raise your awareness of the dangers of radicalisation and to let you know where to get more information, advice and support if you do have any concerns. This leaflet provides a summary about the Prevent programme and how, through the ACT Early website and Support Line, those who are vulnerable to radicalisation can get the help they may need.

And now over to Miss Beatson…

Another year is almost done and what a wonderful year we have had! It’s been so lovely to be able to go back to normal school life. We’ve been able to have parent visits to classrooms, coffee mornings, church services, KS2 productions, school trips and a Year 6 residential – all so important for our children.

The last week of the year is always busy but it’s especially busy for our Year 6 children. With productions, leavers’ service, leavers’ assembly and high school transition meetings, it’s certainly been an intense week. However, the children have embraced every moment, showing resilience and maturity, which makes me confident they’re ready to move on to secondary school. We wish them all the best for the future.

We’re saying a few goodbyes to staff, too: Mrs Flynn, Mrs Boulton and Mrs Wood, but we’ll continue to work with them as they’re still teaching in Sphere Federation. Mr Mills is also leaving to concentrate on his successful coaching company.

We’re going to miss them all so much and I’d like to thank them for all their hard work and commitment.

With departures come arrivals. In September, Mr Freeman will join the Year 5/6 class, Miss Kay will be in Year 2, and Miss Ward in Nursery. Mrs Payne will be the teacher in Reception, although she has been with us at St James’ for the last few months. We’re looking forward to welcoming them all to our school family.

I hope you all manage to relax, have fun and spend some quality time with your children this Summer. I look forward to seeing lots of happy and healthy faces on Tuesday 06 September. 

End of Year 3

We’ve come to the end of Year 3 and it’s been a very busy one! The children have matured and it is great to see them working as a team. They are energetic and have an eagerness for learning – which is brilliant!

I think the most noticeable change is the care and empathy the children show to one another. Through great resilience and hard work,  there has been some remarkable achievements. I am really looking forward to teaching the class again in Year 4.

Below there are some photos from our year.

Have a great summer!

Goodbye Reception

Well it’s here! The last day of term for 2021-22.

You’ve all had an amazing year!
I thought it would be nice to share some wonderful highlights.
Click here to reflect back on your Reception year.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy summer break.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

Tonight, Key Stage 2 performed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat- it really was amazing! The children sang their hearts out and made everybody really proud. Thank you to all the staff who put together a fantastic show and a special shout out to Mrs Valentine’s Mum who spent many hours creating the iconic dreamcoat.

Well done to all the children- it was a huge success!

It’s been fantastic!

As many of you know, I’m leaving St James’ on Friday to begin working at Moortown Primary School (another school in the Sphere Federation) in September. As this is my final post before the end of term, I just wanted to let you all know what a pleasure and privilege it has been to work with all of your children this year. They have been a wonderful class and I feel very sad to say goodbye to them.

We have all learned a lot this year (and that’s including me). The nursery class of 2021-2022 is full of budding scientists, artists, mathematicians, authors, engineers and performers. They are all stars and I have no doubt that they will continue to shine brightly throughout their life at school and beyond. Your children have brought tears of joy to my eyes, have made me look at the world afresh and, most of all, they have made me proud to be their teacher. I will miss each and every one of them.

As I say goodbye, I would like to thank you all for being so supportive over the past year. I hope you all have a very happy, healthy and safe summer holiday ahead.

With all my best wishes,

Mrs Boulton

This week’s message part 1 (Tuesday 19 July 2022)

It’s the last week of term. This week, we’ve two messages.

This first one kicks off with a thank you to all of you who worked with us, sending your child into school despite the extreme temperatures. We worked hard to ensure the children remained as comfortable as possible – on the whole, I think we succeeded!

The rest of this message has contents that come from other organisation, but which you may find helpful, especially the first item…

Using A&E?

Leeds Teaching Hospitals are experiencing extreme demand for services. They’re seeing increasing visits to paediatric emergency department with needs that may be better met in other ways.

With consistent, accurate and trustworthy healthcare advice, the West Yorkshire Healthier Together website is available to support families to decide if a visit to A&E is appropriate.

The information on the site has been reviewed  by local paediatricians, GPs and clinicians across the region to ensure it aligns with current practices and procedures.

You can use the quick links, search bar, or menus to find clear advice with easy to use traffic light guide, red, amber, green found in the parents/carers section. This will help to identify when, where, and how you should seek help for your poorly baby or child.

Parent and carers can also look through the site for practical guidance such as ‘should my child go to school’.

Music summer club

Leeds City Council and ArtForms are hosting free music summer clubs this August, with a range of music activities for children in Leeds aged 8 and above.

The sessions will take place between 08 and 10 August at Horsforth School. Read more.

Child friendly Leeds

This July marks the tenth year since the launch of Child Friendly Leeds. To mark the event, you and your child might want to attend the Our Leeds Wishes Display | Leeds Inspired this weekend.

Look out for our final message of the school on Friday.

It’s been hot!

Wow! it’s been a hot one! We’re just sharing a few pictures of what we’ve been up to inside the classroom today: making treasure maps, finishing off our telescopes and fishing for gold coins.

Extreme temperatures – an update

We’ve coped well today in the heat, helped by moving classrooms, cool clothing and staying in at break times.

However, by mid-afternoon, it was uncomfortable around school.

The peak temperature of 38 degrees is predicted between 2.00pm and 4.00pm. Based on this, we’re suggesting a pick-up time of 1.30pm tomorrow, Tuesday 19 July, if you can.

This week’s bible story

Jesus is friends with Zacchaeus: Luke 19: 1-10

Have you ever heard the story of Burglar Bill – Bill goes out every night. Getting into houses through open windows and taking things. Until one night, Bill found a baby, and that changed his whole life …

There is a Bible story about a man who stole from other people. He took extra money when he gave them their tax bills and became very rich on all the money that he stole. Zacchaeus was a little man and that small people can’t see in crowds. Read the story of Zacchaeus to find out what happened to him.

Reflection:

Jesus loved everyone when he lived on the earth. It didn’t matter how bad people were, Jesus was always there for those who needed him. This is true for us too – no one is so bad that God doesn’t love them. And the more time we spend with God – praying, thinking about him, finding out about him, the more we want to be like Jesus; kind, helpful and good. Just like Zacchaeus, Burglar Bill changed his ways and tried to be more like Jesus by loving those around him. Even though Burglar Bill and Zacchaeus made the wrong choice, God forgave them and continued loving them.

Prayer:

Dear God,

Thank you that Jesus loved Zacchaeus even when he wasn’t making the right choices. Help us to love all of those around us and be honest about our actions.

Amen

D-side workshop

We really enjoyed being visited by Dave from D-side this week.

He taught us all about the harmful effects smoking and alcohol can have on our bodies.

We learnt about how attitudes have changed towards smoking over the years. The media has moved away from trying to persuade people to buy cigarettes, to now warning them about the dangers of this choice. We found out that smoking damages the lungs and  breathing, making it difficult for people to play their favourite sports. We were amazed to find out that 4000 chemicals go into one small cigarette!

We then thought about how alcohol can affect the brain,  causing parts of our body to lose their regular function. As messages to the brain become slower, this makes people much more at risk.

The children then  thought about what we can do and say in situations where our peers put pressure on us to try substances we know are bad for our bodies. They came up with some fantastic and very sensible suggestions, well done Years 3 and 4!