Our weekly message: Friday 06 November 2026

Posted on 06 November 2026 by Mr Roundtree

This week has been the first of two themed weeks at St James’ CE Primary – this one was our Me and My Community week.

What a great week! We’ve had lots of visitors, visits and important lessons about community and identity. Some highlights this week have been a visit from the Mayor of Wetherby who led an assembly to the whole school talking about his role. The Mayor’s favourite part of the job is meeting lots of different people. Community, to him, means helping other people. Some other highlights involved a visit from the Royal National Institution of Blind (RNIB) and a visit to the local radio station, Tempo FM.

Talk with your child about some of their highlights of the week.

Choosing our new school charity

During our Me and My Community themed week, our newly elected Junior Leaders listened to the views of their class and then met together to decide on our school charity for 2026-27. Charities in the shortlist were:

The charity chosen by our Junior Leadership Team is Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

Wee’ll raise money for the charity at occasional events through the year, especially inviting donations during our school productions.

Attendance matters: aim for 100% every week in November

Every week in November, there’s a chance for your child to win a £10 voucher if they’ve attended school every day in the week. So, that’s four weeks of prizes:

Week 1: week beginning Monday 02 November
Week 2: week beginning Monday 09 November
Week 3: week beginning Monday 16 November
Week 4: week beginning Monday 24 November

There’ll be two lucky draws: one for children in Reception and Key Stage 1, and another for children in Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6).

Our school attendance is currently 94.1%. We’re sad this remains stubbornly below the national average of 95.9% for primary schools. The more your child is in school, the more they can feel belonging to our happy and healthy community.

Check out this information about school attendance and absence from the Department for Education.

And as always, check the NHS site to help decide if your child is too ill for school.

Children in Need

Next Friday is Children in Need day. To mark the occasion, we have a non-uniform day. We invite your child to make a donation to the charity. Donations can be made on the school fund (charity donations) section on Arbor or by cash on the day.

As with all non-uniform days, we do still expect pupils to dress appropriately and respectfully. Here’s an extract from our Uniform Policy:

Clothes are inappropriate if they, for example, glorify violence, feature bad language, are very short (eg crop tops), or relate to age-inappropriate topics. When consulted (18.03.21), junior leaders described this as ‘setting-appropriate’ clothing and clothing that is ‘well-judged’. Make-up (other than face paints as part of a specific costume) is not allowed. Flipflops or high-heeled shoes are not allowed, even on non-uniform days, because they’re dangerous when running.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our Christian value focus this half-term is...

Posted on 03 November 2026 by Mr Roundtree

…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.

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

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’.

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 22 October 2026

Posted on 22 October 2026 by Mr Roundtree

Our weekly message comes one day early this week. That’s because tomorrow is a training day so school will be closed.

On Monday, we welcomed a special visitor. Mrs Abi Clay visited to inspect St James’ CE Primary under the SIAMS Framework. We’ll let you know the outcomes of the inspection as soon as we can. Thanks to everyone for their messages of support.

Choosing our new school charity

The first week back after the half-term holiday is the first of two themed weeks here at St James’ CE Primary. This time, the theme is Me and My Community – look back to our Weekly Message from Friday 09 October for more about that.

One of the themed week events is to choose a new school charity.

For this week’s Talk Time homework, we’re asking children to consider a shortlist of five charities. These were nominated by Reception teachers across Sphere Federation. Following a discussion in class, our new Junior Leaders will meet meet to debate and decide the new school charity. Here’s the shortlist:

Alzheimer’s Research
This charity’s mission is support that will help us find a cure for dementia through investing in the best research and powering the most forward-thinking scientists.

Leeds Hospitals Charity
This is to make a donation specifically to the ‘Play Team’ which funds play specialists in Leeds hospitals and provides toys and games in children’s wards

Zarach
Our mission is to end child bed poverty and therefore help children get a good night’s sleep and the chance to thrive at school. Children in Sphere Federation schools have benefitted from Zarach’s work.

Book Trust
Book Trust aims to change lives by getting children and families reading. It recognises that a love of books changes lives: children are likely to do better at school, as well as be more socially, culturally and emotionally prepared for life.

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
From helping children build confidence and independence to empowering adults with practical and emotional support, Guide Dogs aims to help people with sight loss live the life they choose.

Talk with your child about the merits of each charity.

Free school meals

Did you know that eligibility for Free School Meals has been expanded?

All households receiving Universal Credit now qualify for Free School Meals. You could save up to £592 per year.

Apply using this link or calling in to any Council One Stop Centre or local Housing Office, or phone 0113 222 4404.

For more information, read our guide.

Thank you…

Over the course of the year, your child enjoys three opportunities to prepare food.

Thank you to those of you who have contributed towards the cost of ingredients this year. We’ve received donations totalling £234. This will help to ensure we can continue to offer this opportunity to learn important kitchen skills. It also makes life easier for you by buying the food in bulk rather than asking for children to bring in their own ingredients.

It’s not too late make a voluntary donation. We’ve set up Arbor for quick payments of £6, but you can also call into the office with any donation amount – we’d be grateful for any amount to contribute to costs.

For more about our Cooking curriculum, please check out our Cooking and Nutrition Guide – this includes the food preparation skills children will practise (this is Year B).

We’ve reached the end of the first half-term of the school year at St James’ CE Primary. As always, have a happy and healthy weekend and enjoy the October half-term holiday. Check out Visit Leeds and We Are Child Friendly Leeds for some half-term activities.

Our weekly message: Friday 16 October 2026

Posted on 16 October 2026 by Mr Roundtree

On Monday, we’re looking forward to welcoming a special visitor. Mrs Abi Clay will visit to inspect St James’ CE Primary under the SIAMS Framework. A SIAMS inspection is an opportunity to highlight the impact that the school’s Christian vision has on the flourishing of the whole school community. We’re looking forward to celebrating all the great things that happen in our happy and healthy place to achieve and believe.

Thank you…

…for your kind words on hearing the news that I’ll be leaving St James’ CE Primary and Sphere Federation at the end of the Autumn term. After working in schools for 30 years (10 years as a teacher and 20 years as a headteacher), it feels like it’s time for a change and new challenge, although I’ll be very sad to leave my Sphere Federation family.

Earlier this week, our Chair of Governors sent a letter to you explaining the interim arrangements for the Spring and Summer terms. I’m confident that Miss Beatson and all the great teachers and support staff here at St James’ CE Primary will continue to help your child to flourish in this happy and healthy place to learn.

Junior leaders

Our new Junior Leadership Team (JLT) were voted for this week. Well done to everyone who made a speech – we were impressed by all of you.

After a democratic decision, our new junior leaders are:

Year 1: Elodie, Ezra
Year 2: George H, Darcey
Year 3: Ava, Ada
Year 4: Winnie, Rex
Year 5: Sophie, Hattie
Year 6: Alba, Jacob

Congratulations to you all – we’re sure you’ll do a grand job.

100% in November competition

Every week in November, there’s a chance for your child to win a £10 voucher if they’ve attended school every day in the week. So, that’s four weeks of prizes:

Week 1: week beginning Monday 02 November
Week 2: week beginning Monday 09 November
Week 3: week beginning Monday 16 November
Week 4: week beginning Monday 24 November

There’ll be two lucky draws: one for children in Reception and Key Stage 1, and another for children in Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6).

AI and safeguarding

As we all know Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making the news for all sorts of reasons. Whilst there’s some amazing things happening, there has to be a constant awareness of safeguarding. We need to make sure that we’re not exposing personal details to the wider world.

At the moment, there’s a lot of posts on social media about AI and school photos pics – perhaps you’ve seen them. Some people are recommending that parents ask AI to remove the watermark from a sample school photo so that they don’t need to pay the price. If you do this, your child’s photo’s ‘out there’ for AI to use in the future, responding in whatever way people ask.

Your child’s digital footprint (including photos) are your responsibility until they’re old enough to give consent; in legal terms that would be 18 years old. Please be aware of this when using social media and AI.

We’ll end this week with a message from our PTA…

Support Our School for Free While You Shop Online

If you’ve not already registered, we’d like to encourage families and friends to sign up to Easyfundraising, a free way to raise money for our school every time you shop online.

How it works

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 retailers, including popular brands such as Tesco, Argos, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Currys and Booking.com.
When you shop through the Easyfundraising website, app or browser extension, the retailer makes a donation to your chosen cause.
There’s no extra cost to you. The donation comes from the retailer’s commission, not from your purchase.

Getting started

Visit https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ and sign up for a free Easyfundraising account.
Select our School as the cause you wish to support.
Download the app or browser reminder to ensure you never miss a donation.
Shop online as normal and track the donations raised.
We do not receive any information on what you have purchased or from where you have been shopping, we only see your donation.

Thank you so much for your support!

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 09 October 2026

Posted on 09 October 2026 by Mr Roundtree

Look out for our 100% in November competition coming up – more details next week on that.

With over five weeks in school, we’re now well and truly settled into the school year. School leaders have been busy doing observations of teaching and learning around school – there’s lots of great teaching and even greater learning going on! You can get a chance to see some of this next week…

Watch us while we work

We’re looking forward to seeing lots of you on Tuesday next week for another of our popular Watch Us While We Work sessions. These are a chance for you to visit your child’s class and see some teaching and learning.

Start time: 9am (please arrive promptly)
Focus: Reading and Maths (later in the year, the focus will be Phonics or Spelling and one of our Feelings First sessions)

Teachers will try to make the activities home-friendly so you can continue to support your child at home if you’d like.

There will be two short sessions, each about 15 minutes, and you can attend two classes, swapping half-way, so you can see two of your children if you need to.

The vast majority of children enjoy sharing their learning – it’s a cause for celebration and feeling proud. We recognise there might be one or two who struggle with the change or the extra people – please consult your child’s class teacher if you’ve any concerns.

Parents and carers of children in Reception should look out for Stay and Learn sessions across the year.

Is your child in Year 6?

The deadline to apply for a place in secondary school is approaching: 31 October 2026. Find more information on the Leeds City Council website.

Me and my community

Our next themed week, based around identity, diversity and community, will be take place from Monday 02 November. This is the first of two themed weeks in the year. The rest of this week’s message is a preview of the themed week…

In Me and My Community week, children will learn about what it means to belong to a community, from family to national or even international communities. Importantly, our children will also learn to respect and celebrate different communities. A variety of events and visitors are planned to help us deliver this aspect of our Living and Learning education.

Events and learning during the week will include looking at our own identity including belonging and self-esteem, and diversity of people around us including race, age, religion and disability. Children will also be getting out into the community working with local organisations and taking pride in the local area, for example by litter picking.

Active travel in the community

We encourage children to get out in the community in an active way on their way to and from school, with prizes available as part of the themed week. By walking/scooting/biking to school, families will be keeping our community safer and healthier by reducing congestion at the school gate. Maybe even pick up a piece of litter on the way! Even by parking further away from school, your child could then travel the final part of their journey by foot, bike or scooter. Bike and scooter storage facilities are available by the school gate.

Email us using [email protected] with a picture of your active travel, maybe by a landmark in our community on your route to school, for the chance to win one of three vouchers. Entries to be submitted by 4pm on Thursday 05 November.

New school charity

At the end of the themed week, classes will have the chance to discuss our charity shortlist and the Junior Leadership Team will have the final vote for which charity they would like our school to support, replacing our current charity, Martin House Hospice.

Can you help?

Maybe you speak another language and you’d be happy to speak to children about this or you’d like to share about your own family culture and heritage. If so, please contact the office to pass on your details. Also, do you have any local community links that may support our week?

Lots to look forward to. In the meantime, have a happy and healthy weekend!

Our weekly message: Thursday 01 October 2026

Posted on 01 October 2026 by Mr Roundtree

Tomorrow is one of five training days for teachers – this means school is closed tomorrow. The dates for the training days are:

Tuesday 01 September 2026
Friday 02 October 2026
Friday 23 October 2026
Monday 07 December 2026
Monday 07 June 2027

Please remember to keep checking our website calendar for forthcoming events.

Another date…

A reminder that the PTA are hosting a school disco on Friday 16 October, 5.30pm – 7.30pm, at St James’ Church rooms. To book your child’s place, please top up the Friends of St James account on Arbor, or pay cash at the school office. The cost is £3.50 per child.

Rights and Responsibilities

Last week in Living and Learning, your child considered rights and responsibilities. Here’s a pic from Year 3…

Alongside every right comes responsibility. At school for example, children have the right to play and relax, and the responsibility to play alongside others safely and respectfully. In lots of situations, we’ve the right to express our views, but we have the responsibility to do so in a respectful way.

Spend some time thinking of more examples in different situations: rights and responsibilities at home, in a shop, in a park…

BBC Bitesize ‘Rules, rights andresponsibilities’ is worth checking out with children in Key Stage 2.

Cooking

A couple of weeks ago, we asked if you’d be kind enough to make a voluntary donation to cover the cost of ingredients for our DT: Food and Nutrition sessions each term. This is so we make life easier for you by buying the food in bulk rather than asking for children to bring in their own ingredients. It also means that we can continue to offer this opportunity to learn important kitchen skills.

Thank you to those of you who have made a contribution.

If you’ve not already, please consider making a donation. We’ve set up Arbor for quick payments of £6, but you can also call into the office with any donation amount – we’d be grateful for any amount to contribute to costs.

Year 5: Bikeability

Bikeability takes place in the Spring term for children in Year 5. This year, it will take place from Monday 08 March to Friday 12 March 2026.

The training has two core elements: basic skills and road safety. If your child is unable to ride a bike, they may be unable to take part in the road safety aspect as they will not be able to cycle outside of school. We’re giving plenty of notice in case your child would like to practise before March.

Dropping off and collecting your child

Do you have to use a car to drop off and collect your child from school? The best way to travel to and from school is to walk, scoot or cycle. If you do drive, please remember to drive and park with respect and care.

Hallfield Lane is being used so much for parking:

sometimes residents can’t get in or out of their own driveways
emergency vehicles aren’t able to access
manoeuvring, overtaking and turning in the road all increase the likelihood of accidents
it becomes dangerous for families who are walking to and from school

If you park on the double yellow lines or zigzags anywhere round school, this causes danger to our children, pedestrians, and other drivers. Please don’t park on them or across the road from them. Read more about these road markings and the law.

Freemans Way and Ceres Road are both alternative roads to park on, as long as you park legally and considerately. This will help congestion on Hallfield Lane (and walking at least park of the way is healthier, too!). Please note that Hallfield Grange is private property and the parking there is for residents and their visitors only.

We know that the lack of parking is frustrating, but please help us to stay happy and healthy and safe for our children, our neighbours and for the environment. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

You might want to report a problem to Leeds City Council – the more who do so, the more likely something will be done. We suggest using the link to Report a Traffic Management Issue – it only takes a minute.

Finally this week, another reminder – please make sure you’ve let us know of any allergies your child has, or any other medical condition we should know about. And if you’ve got any updates about emergency contacts, please let us know those, too.

Our weekly message: Friday 25 September 2026

Posted on 25 September 2026 by Mr Roundtree

It’s been a wonderful start to the new school year with lots of happy and healthy learning activity from Reception to Year 6…

Check out our Class News pages to find out more about what your child’s been up to.

Gold!

We’re proud to be awarded the School Games Mark recognising our commitment, engagement and delivery of competitive school sport. Just before the summer holidays, we were delighted to be awarded Gold again!

National assessments

There are various national assessments that children in England do – it can be confusing keeping up with them all…

Reception Baseline Assessment: within the first 6 weeks of entering Reception
Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment: between April and June of the academic year in which they turn 5 (usually the Reception year)
Phonics Screening Check: in June of Year 1
Key Stage 1 tests: at the end of Year 2
Multiplication Tables Check: in June of Year 4
Key Stage 2 tests (sometimes referred to as SATs): in May of Year 6

Read more about the assessments. You can always ask your child’s teacher about these, too, of course.

Staying safe: Does your child have a mobile phone with one of these apps?

The NSPCC has published figures (April 2025 to March 2026) showing which platforms children name when they talk to Childline about online sexual abuse:

Snapchat: 324 mentions in one year (that’s 19% more that the year before)
TikTok: 234 mentions
Instagram: 197 mentions
Discord: 92 mentions
WhatsApp: 39 mentions

Between them, these five platforms came up in nearly 900 counselling sessions.

Attendance matters

At the start of the year, it’s quite possible your child might pick up a bug or feel a bit more tired than usual. This is perfectly normal and helps to build up some resilience. Check out this short YouTube clip from the Department for Education about illness and attending school. There’s also advice on our new Attending School website page.

If your child really does need to miss a day at school, please tell us as soon as you can.

Did you know that schools have the right to decide if they will authorise the absence or not. In most circumstances, we authorise the absence, but sometimes, we don’t – we make the decision based on one or more of the following factors:

doubt: if there is a specific reason to doubt the illness
frequency: if a child misses school very often
no communication: if a parent/carer fails to give a reason or fails to contact the school, the absence automatically goes down as unauthorised
no requested proof: if we ask for reasonable medical proof for frequent absences and the parent fails to provide it

Finally, do you know anyone with a child starting school in September 2027? It seems a long way off, but we’ve already had enquiries about starting school then. We’ve three dates planned in for open sessions to visit our school –

Wednesday 14 October – 6.00pm
Tuesday 10 November – 9.30am
Friday 20 November – 9.30am

There’s no need to book a place.

Our weekly message: Friday 18 September 2026

Posted on 18 September 2026 by Mr Roundtree

Thanks again to all those who entered our Summer Competition. Summer might seem a distant memory, but these creations bring a sunny smile to our faces…

Make sure you check the Class News each week. Since the start of the year, there have been over 28 Class News stories to read across school, from Reception to Year 6!

This week’s message focuses on some specific teaching and learning guides that you might like to check out so that you can support your child at home…

Handwriting

This year, we’ve refreshed the way we teach handwriting. Children have told us that with better handwriting, they feel more confident and proud of their learning! Our Handwriting Guide is easy to follow and a great way to support your child. Check out the guide to letter formation and our three top tips on page 3.

Spelling

We’ve also updated the way we teach spellings in Years 2 to 6. Our Spelling Guide describes how we teach spellings in Key Stage 2, including sequences for teaching different spelling rules and patterns and related lists of spellings to learn.

Feelings First

Last year, some of you attended a Watch Us While We Work session where we showed you a Feelings First session. The feedback from the session was really positive. We’ve prepared this Feelings First Guide to give you an idea of the feelings we cover each half term (page 6) and our simple definitions of each feeling (page 7).

Homework

We’ve made a small tweak to our Homework Guide which reflects a change of routine for children in Key Stage 2: their spellings to learn is now around a two week cycle, with a small test each fortnight.

Relationships and Sex Education

At the start of each year, we like to encourage you to be aware of our Relationships and Sex Education Policy. Later in the year, your child will have Relationships and Sex Education lessons. In those lessons, we’ll talk about anatomical terms and different relationships. However, we might need to use the terms at other times, such as when dealing with incidents of misuse or disrespectful language, and we’ll talk about lots of different relationships at any time of the year, too.

Cooking

Over the course of the year, your child will enjoy three opportunities to prepare food:

Year 1 and 2: a fruit smoothie, overnight oats, and fruit bars
Year 3 and 4: egg pot, chopped tomatoes and garlic, and savoury scones
Year 5 and 6: vegetable and chickpea curry, pasta bake, and bread

We’ve a couple of requests, please:

Most importantly, please alert us to any allergies your child has. We’ll do our best to adapt recipes.

For parents of children in Years 1 to 6, thank you to those of you who contributed towards the cost of ingredients last year. Doing this means:

we make life easier for you by buying the food in bulk rather than asking for children to bring in their own ingredients
we can continue to offer this opportunity to learn important kitchen skills

To make sure that we can continue to offer this across the year, please make a voluntary donation. We’ve set up Arbor for quick payments of £6, but you can also call into the office with any donation amount – we’d be grateful for any amount to contribute to costs.

For more about our Cooking curriculum, please check out our Cooking and Nutrition Guide – this includes the food preparation skills children will practise (this is Year B).

All the guides mentioned here (and more) can be found on the purple Learn More pages of our website.

Finally this week… Please remember to update us with any changes to the information we have about you or your child. This includes any changes in health details and contact details.

Compost donations needed!

Posted on 16 September 2026 by Mrs Quirk

Our Reception children love playing in the outdoor mud kitchen but we’re running a little low on compost!

If you have any spare bags of compost at home that you would be happy to donate, we would be very grateful!

Thank you for your continued support.

Summer competition

Posted on 07 September 2026 by Miss Beatson

Thank you to everyone who entered our Summer competition – there were some fantastic re-creations of our school logo. It was very difficult for the school staff to decide on the overall finalists. After much discussion, I’m pleased to announce the following winners:

Third place: Samuel

Second place: Cian

First place: Woody and Liyla