Our weekly message: Friday 05 December 2025

At this time of year, there’s a recurring theme to school: the sound of younger children rehearsing for their Christmas production! The build up to Christmas is an exciting time, but it can mean children are tired – sticking to routines and getting plenty of sleep is needed to help everyone.

Rocksteady

On Wednesday, we welcomed parents in to watch our end of term Rocksteady concert. There were six bands on show with a range of children across both key stages showing off their talents. It was so lovely to see children achieving and believing in themselves – the courage shown by all to perform to a full crowd really shone through. All our band members have thoroughly enjoyed Rocksteady (and based on the huge applause, I think parents have, too!).

Here’s just one of the songs performed. (We can’t post the videos of all songs due to video sizes and photo permissions – sorry.)

Look out for more about Rocksteady at St James’ CE Primary before the end of term.

Topic review

Did you come to our Topic Review session last Friday? If so, thank you!

And did you manage to find a couple of minutes to leave us some feedback? Again, if so, thank you.

• ‘It was good to see how much fun my son and friends have whilst learning.’
• ‘Very informative and all children seemed interested in the topic.’
• ‘All the kids seemed really engaged and knowledgeable.’
• ‘It was good to see how engaging the teacher was with the class and what the children are learning for their topic.’
• ‘Great to see the teaching in the classroom. Great pupil engagement and interesting topic.’
• ‘Brilliant lesson. Super interesting and very engaging’
• ‘It was great to be able to see both of my children. I liked that the sessions were interactive and my children were able to talk to me about what they’ve been learning as well as showing me their work.’

Thanks to the parents who got stuck in, too – here are some pics from the Year 6 Topic Review session…

Our weekly message: Friday 28 November 2025

If you came along to our Topic Review session this afternoon, thank you. We hope you enjoyed the session. If you’d like to leave some feedback, we’d love to read it. We pass compliments on to teachers and take on board suggestions.

Today’s the last day of our 100% in November attendance competition…

In total, 91 had 100% attendance. In assembly this afternoon, winners from each phase were randomly selected:

• Early Years: Leo (Reception)
• Years 1 and 2: Evelyn (Year 1)
• Years 3 and 4: Alfie (Year 3)
• Years 5 and 6: Madeleine (Year 6)

Each of the four winners win a £25 Love2Shop vouchers. Well done to all the children with 100%.

The next part of this week’s message is from our PTA. Let’s start with festive news: PTA will be selling tickets to the Christmas Disco all next week.

Your School Lottery

Your School Lottery is great! A member and supporter of our community wins a cash prize every single week and each month there’s a fantastic prize on offer – from a £500 Lego voucher to a Nintendo Switch Bundle, the prizes are brilliant. There’s also a £25,000 jackpot up for grabs each week (one of us will win it one day, we feel sure of it!).

The more tickets we sell the more money goes to our school. Get your ticket!

Look out for monthly communications to tell you about the current monthly prize. Good luck!

Easyfundraising

Easyfundraising means your online shopping can help to raise free money for school. It’s completely free for parents. If enough people use it, we’ll make some completely free money for school.

Over 7,000 brands will donate to us when you use easyfundraising to shop with them – at no extra cost to yourself! All you need to do is sign up and remember to use easyfundraising whenever you shop online. Did we mention it’s easy and completely free?!

These donations really mount up, so please sign up to support us!

Pre-loved uniform

We all know how quickly kids grow out of their uniform, so our dedicated Uniform Fairies collect donations and then twirl their magic wands to make the items ready for their next owner. Ta dahh!

This is a service aimed at helping people, rather than making money, so items are not priced. Instead it’s a pay-as-you-feel system (minimum £1). If you need any items at any point in the year, please email us on the email address below or speak to one of us in the playground.

This information comes from our PTA page on the website.

Finally this week, a competition from Active Leeds…

We’re inviting children and young people across Leeds to get creative and celebrate their local leisure centres! 

At Active Leeds, we believe our leisure centres are more than just places to swim or work out… they’re spaces where memories are made, friendships grow, and confidence builds. From learning to swim to trying gymnastics for the first time, or simply spending time with friends, there are so many amazing experiences that happen every day in our centres.

We’re asking young people to share an experience they’ve had at their local leisure centre through art, writing, animation, or any creative way they like. It could be a drawing of their swimming lesson, a collage of their favourite activity, or even a short animation showing what makes their centre special.

The winning creation will receive a £50 Amazon gift voucher and be featured in our upcoming MADE IN LEEDS campaign, seen right across the city!

We want to highlight the joy, energy and sense of community that our centres bring to young people and their families. Who better to show that than the kids themselves?

Entries are open until 01 December 2025.

Simply send a photo or video of your entry to sport.webupdates@leeds.gov.uk.

Our weekly message: Friday 21 November 2025

Last week was Children in Need day. Our non-uniform day raised £62.80 (lower than normal perhaps because of the class trip happening on the same day) – thank you to all who contributed.

Attendance matters

• The national attendance rate for primary schools is 95.4% (that’s for Autumn 1 term).
• Our attendance rate is 94.5% (that’s up until 18 November).

Our attendance is lower than the national average. It’s also lower than it was at St James’ CE Primary last Autumn term.

Is my child too ill to attend school? It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school. Check the NHS website: Is my child too ill for school?

Thinking of a term-time holiday? 468 penalty notices for unauthorised absences have been issued in Leeds so far this year. Check out the legal consequences of term-time absences, from fines to court action.

Remember 100% in November!

We’ve one more week left of our attendance competition. Children with 100% attendance in November have the chance of winning one of four £25 Love2Shop vouchers – one for every phase in school. If your child attends every school day on time from 03 November to 28 November, their name will be added to the prize draw. We’ll select four lucky winners next Friday.

Applying for a Reception place?

The national closing date for Reception September 2026 applications is 15 January 2026.

Check out these frequently asked questions.

MindMate

On Wednesday, the MindMate Support Team held a workshop about supporting your child with anxiety.

There are three more support sessions coming up this year:

1. Support your child’s mental wellbeing – Wednesday 11 February, 5pm to 6pm at Deighton Gates Primary School, Deighton Rd, Wetherby, LS22 7XL

2. Support your child’s emotions – Wednesday 11 March, 5pm to 6pm at Bramham Primary School, Clifford Road, Bramham, LS23 6JQ

3. Support your child with transition – Wednesday 24 June, 5pm to 6pm at our Sphere Federation sister school, St James’ CE Primary School, Hallfield Lane, Wetherby, LS22 6JS

Read more about the workshops.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 14 November 2025

We’ll start this week with news about a workshop aimed at offering help to  parents to support their child with anxiety…

The workshop is from MindMate Support Team and will cover:

• what anxiety is and how it affects young people
• how anxiety can appear in everyday behaviour
• common triggers and their impact
• practical evidence-based strategies to manage anxiety
• building confidence in supporting your child

The workshop is on Wednesday 19 November 2025, 5:00pm – 6:00pm. It’s at St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Barleyfields Road, Wetherby, LS22 6PR.

The rest of this week’s message is about the Autumn 2 topic in Key Stages 1 and 2. Last half-term, it was a Geography topic; this half-term, it’s Art…

This half-term, we’re artists. We’ll be developing our art knowledge and skills. The learning has two aspects to it. In art history and appreciation lessons, children will be learning about some specific artists and their work. In art process lessons, children will practise and develop skills by creating art.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. Follow this link to the Curriculum Guide to find out more.

Years 1 and 2

Children have two featured artists who they’ll be studying across the half-term: Leonardo Da Vinci and Paul Klee. 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 be honing their artistic skills and knowledge by sketching objects using pencil, learning about and mixing colour and then they’ll be learning how to print by creating relief prints inspired by the artwork they’ve studied.

Part way through the half-term, they’ll visit the Hepworth Gallery for a printmaking workshop to complement the learning in school.

Years 3 and 4

Children will be learning about the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Martha McDonald Napaltjarri. They’ll compare and contrast the artworks by these artists and also learn about their lives and the places they lived. In particular, children will learn about abstract and figurative art (see the vocabulary for definitions of these words).

In practical art sessions, children will develop observational drawing skills and their understanding of colour by learning about warm, cold and complementary colours. They’ll then apply what they’ve learnt by creating sculptures inspired by the artists they’ve studied.

Years 5 and 6

Children are learning about sculpture in their art lessons and will be focussing on three artists: Thomas J Price, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. The children have already been on their school trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where they’ve seen and learned about sculptures by these artists. In Art history and appreciation lessons, they’ll learn about the lives of these artists and how their localities have influenced their art. They’ll learn about classical and modern art in relation to their featured artists and in art movements more generally. They’ll also learn when and why the modern art movement happened.

In practical Art lessons, children will develop their observational skills and will create ‘soap sculptures’ inspired by the work of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

How can you help?

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 find out more about what the children are 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 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?
• Is it life-like or not?
• What colours can you see?

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.

Finally, have you met our new Administrator, Claire Furlong, yet? Check out our Who’s Who page to find out a little more about Claire!

Chosen charity

Last week, the children voted for the charity we will be supporting as a school this year. The overall decision was made by the Junior Leadership Team. This year we will be supporting Martin House.

Our weekly message: Friday 07 November 2025

We hope you had a good half-term break. This week in school has been a themed week – Me and My Money. Talk to your child about something new they’ve learnt or considered about money!

Remember 100% in November

We’re at the end of Week One of our attendance competition…

Throughout November, children with 100% attendance have the chance of winning one of four £25 Love2Shop vouchers. There are four vouchers to be won – one for every phase in school:

• Early Years (Nursery and Reception)
• Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)
• lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4)
• upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6)

So… if your child attends every school day on time from 03 November to 28 November, their name will be added to the prize draw.

We’ll select four lucky winners on Friday 28 November.

Odd socks day

Monday is Odd Socks Day.

The day celebrates that we’re all unique. Children are invited to wear odd socks to school today, marking the fact we’re all different in some way. Part of Anti-Bullying Week, 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.

Help at home: Please make sure your child knows that bullying is wrong and damages children’s social and/or emotional health. Check they know our two STOP messages:

• Definition: What is bullying? Hurting someone Several Times On Purpose
• Solution: How can we stop bullying? Start Telling Other People

Bullying is often group behaviour. For older children, it would also be great if you could talk about the different roles people might play. Watch this short clip together, and link it back to Start Telling Other People.

Children in Need

Next Friday is the annual Children in Need fundraising day. Your child is invited to attend school in non-uniform with a donation to the charity. If you wish to donate at school, please donate in cash only.

Please remember that pupils should dress appropriately and respectfully, even on non-uniform days. More details can be found in our Uniform Policy.

Is my child too ill for school?

As winter approaches, schools face rising illness-related absences. We know some are unavoidable, but please refer to NHS guidance to know if your child is too ill for school.

The Department for Education has asked us to share some key messages:

1. Always ask: Is my child too ill for school? Use the NHS site for guidance – it’s easy to use.
2. Pupils shouldn’t miss school on a precautionary basis and can normally attend with a mild cough or cold, unless they have a fever or diarrhoea or vomiting.
3. Book medical appointments outside of school hours where possible. Where this isn’t possible, they should bring their child to school before, and return after, if they are well enough. Pupils can attend appointments in their school uniform.

Times tables

The government sets out the expectation that children should know their times tables by the end of Year 4. Knowing times tables off by heart makes a huge difference to children’s progress in​ Maths. It helps them:

• ​solve harder problems more easily
• work more confidently and quickly
• ​focus on new concepts without getting stuck on basic facts

Times tables underpin many other areas of ​Maths, such as division, fractions, long multiplication, algebra and ratio. The more fluent your child is, the better prepared they’ll be for future learning.

At St James’ CE Primary, children in Years 3 and 4 take part in daily Mastering Number lessons to learn their times tables. Older children continue to practise their times tables.

In school, we chant multiplication facts by saying the smallest number first and we don’t say ‘times’ or ‘equals’. For example, for 4×3=12, children would say ‘3, 4, 12’.

Towards the end of Year 4, children do an online Multiplication Tables Check – find out more about this.

We’re proud that almost half of Year 4 pupils in 2025 achieved 25 out of 25 in the check – much higher than national figures. Thank you for continuing to help your child practise their times tables at home.

Finally this week…

Admissions consultation

Leeds City Council is running a public consultation on the 2027/28 admission policy for Leeds community and voluntary controlled schools. You can share your views until 1 December. Find out more.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our Christian value focus this half-term 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.

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: Friday 24 October 2025

What a busy week…

Thank you to all the parents/carers who met with teachers this week for the first of two parent-teacher meetings in the year. We’re available for short updates and questions, comments and concerns at other times, but we hope you found the meeting this week helpful.

Yesterday, we visited St James’ Church for the Harvest Festival. It was lovely to see so many of you there.

Today, we’ve had a training day. Teachers from across Sphere Federation have had four professional development sessions:

• Art
• Maths
• Special Educational Needs
• Assessments

Coming up in the first week after half-term break…

Remember 100% in November

Don’t forget our attendance competition after the half-term break!

In the four weeks of November, children with 100% attendance will be entered into a prize draw to win one of four £25 Love2Shop vouchers. There are four vouchers to be won – one for every phase in school.

If your child attends every school day on time from 03 November to 28 November, their name will be added to the prize draw taking place on Friday 28 November.

Me and My Money themed week

Our next whole school themed week, Me and My Money, is based around money and financial education. A variety of events and lessons are planned to help us deliver this aspect of our Living and Learning curriculum. Learning throughout the week will include:

• What is money?
• Where does money come from?
• How do we spend money?
• How do we manage money?

If your job involves an aspect of finance and/or money and you can support our themed week by coming into school, please contact us.

We’ll select the new school charity as part of the themed week. The shortlist is:

• Zarach, whose mission is to end child bed poverty, giving children the opportunity to engage at school and break the cycle of poverty.
• Martin House provides family-led hospice care free of charge for children and young people with life-shortening conditions.
• Emmaus (pronounced em-may-us) helps people move away from homelessness by providing a home, training and work opportunities as part of a package of long-term support.
• National Deaf Children’s Society, who support deaf children with any level of hearing loss.
• Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, whose vision is a world where woods and trees thrive for people and nature.

Applying for a place in Reception or secondary school?

The deadline for applications for Year 7 places falls in half-term: 31 October 2025. If you need help with an application, please contact startingsecondary@leeds.gov.uk.

If you’re applying for a Reception place, you might want to check out Leeds City Council’s You Tube video about applying for a school place.

Staying safe online

We’ve recently updated our Online Safety page on our website. If you’ve not spoken with your child about the importance of staying safe online for a while, it would be worth having a look at the clips and checking out the NSPCC link over the half-term break.

Watch us while we work

If you visited us for our recent Watch Us While We Work session, thank you. An even bigger thank you if you left us some feedback:

• ‘It’s really lovely to see what and how the kids are taught and be able to relate that to learning we do at home.’
• ‘It’s always great to be invited into the classroom, it’s a valuable insight into teaching and how we can support this at home.’

One comment was around varying the subjects we feature. We’ll act on this next time.

Have a happy and healthy half-term break.

Our weekly message: Friday 17 October 2025

Let’s start this week with news about the return of our attendance competition…

Remember 100% in November

It’s the return of our attendance competition…

In the four weeks of November, children with 100% attendance will be entered into a prize draw to win one of four £25 Love2Shop vouchers. There are four vouchers to be won – one for every phase in school:

• Early Years (Nursery and Reception)
• Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)
• lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4)
• upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6)

So… if your child attends every school day on time from 03 November to 28 November, their name will be added to the prize draw.

We’ll select four lucky winners on Friday 28 November.

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

Thank you

A few weeks ago, we asked for donations to support our Cooking curriculum. To make sure that we can continue to offer this, asked for a voluntary donation of £3 to £6 to pay for the ingredients. So far, we’ve received £132 which will really help to pay for the ingredients we need. Thank you for your support.

For more about our Cooking curriculum, please check out our Cooking and Nutrition Curriculum Guide – they include the recipes and background information including the food preparation skills children will practise. (We’re in Year A this year.)

Arbor

We have recently moved our Management Information System (MIS) to Arbor. Arbor will allow us to communicate with you more efficiently and will eventually bring all core school data into one system.

Yesterday, you should have received an email letting you know how to login to the parent portal/app for your child. If you’ve not received this, please let the office know.

You can familiarise yourself with Arbor using this link: Getting started – Log into the Parent Portal and the Parent App

Arbor also offers access to other training resources, which can be found here.

Before the half term break, we hope to have finalised the payments area in Arbor, so you’ll be able to pay for school meals on the portal or app. We’ll let you know when this is live.

If you’ve any questions, please contact the school office.

Well done…

…to our newly elected Junior Leadership Team:

• Year 1: Eleanor and Joey
• Year 2: Cora and Alfie
• Year 3: Kupa and Harry
• Year 4: Isabella and Freddie
• Year 5: Ethan and Kiara
• Year 6: Tommy and Chloe

We’re looking forward to meeting with the new team very soon.

Happy and healthy

At St James’ CE Primary, we’re proud to have been awarded the Gold School Games Mark for 2024-25. The School Games Mark is a government-led award scheme. It celebrates schools’ commitment to developing competitive sport within their school and community. Here’s a few recent pics of our happy and healthy physical activity…

Have a happy and healthy weekend!

Our weekly message: Friday 10 October 2025

This week’s Living and Learning theme has been about the nine protected characteristics – characteristics protected in law. Nine is a lot to learn about, and some are more suitable for older people to consider. More important than simply remembering all of them is to encourage your child to be aware of fairness and equality.

Community Cafe and Advice Hub

Earlier in the week, we emailed to advise you of a new supportive space for families in our area to access services and additional advice and support: the Community Cafe and Advice Hub. It’s open between 10am and 12pm every Friday at the Church Room, St James’, Wetherby. There are free refreshments and young children are welcome.

Check out this poster with the essential details and the newsletter.

You said, we’ve done…

Just before the Summer holiday each year, we ask you to complete a short survey. We take your views really seriously. School leaders have met and reviewed thee suggestions you made. Some might be useful across all Sphere Federation schools and others relate more specifically St James’ CE Primary. We’ll look to action quite a few points.

Don’t wait until the annual survey! One parent recently raised some really useful suggestions about how the Junior Leadership Team is elected in order to make it fairer – they were great suggestions and we’ve planned a few small changes (such as no prepared PowerPoint presentations) that might just make a big difference.

Flu vaccinations

From September 2025, the School Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS) began delivering flu vaccinations to primary and secondary school-aged children across Leeds. The vaccine offers vital protection against flu, helping safeguard both individuals and those around them. Read more about these immunisations.

The Spy books series

We want to make you aware of a recent issue affecting some popular children’s books by Andrew Cope, including the Spy Dogs, Spy Cats, and Spy Pups series.

Some editions of these books include a printed web address at the back. This link used to go to the author’s website, but the domain is no longer under his control. It has since been taken over by another party and now leads to inappropriate adult content.

The publisher, Puffin, has stressed that the website has no connection to the author or publisher.

What this means for you:

• If your child has any Spy Dog, Spy Cat or Spy Pups books at home, please check the back for website links and make sure they do not try to visit the site.
• It’s safe for children to continue reading the stories themselves — the concern is only with the outdated link.
• We recommend talking with your child about the importance of not following web addresses in books without checking with an adult first.

Reception Stay and Learn session

Thank you very much if you managed to attend our recent Stay and Learn in Reception. And thanks for the feedback we’ve received:

Lovely to watch how they are taught things!

If you’ve time, please let us know your feedback.

Finally this week, as the half-term holiday approaches, you might be looking for a holiday club. Check out PE Partner.

As always, have a happy and healthy weekend.