This week’s message (Friday 01 March 2024)
It’s the first day of March and starting to feel like Spring. It’s also St David’s Day, so if you’ve any Welsh connections (or happen to be called David!) then perhaps enjoy some sort of celebration!
World Book Day is right around the corner but we celebrate reading all year round. We want children to leave school and have a life-long love of reading because the benefits of those who read for pleasure are far-ranging; there’s a strong positive link with empathy, well-being and attainment, just to name a few. Next week (and beyond), try reading something you and your child wouldn’t normally choose. You could create a quiz about the book or pretend to be the main character, acting or talking like them. You might just curl up together on the sofa and take turns reading aloud. The most important thing for children is that they have dedicated time put towards reading and that they have the power of choice over what they read… like a match day programme, song lyrics or graphic novels – anything counts!
The rest of this week’s message comes from Mr Wilks, who’s our Curriculum Leader in Sphere Federation…
What is this half-term’s topic?
This half-term, it’s Computing. We’re developing our knowledge of computers and computer programming.
Computer programming is super. Creating games, animations and solving real world problems is fun, encourages creativity and is challenging! Importantly, the skills the children develop and use are transferable to other subjects and areas of life. For example, the concept of decomposition in programming is concerned with breaking down a large task into smaller chunks. This concept could be used when writing a story, solving a maths problem or tidying a particularly messy bedroom! Debugging is the skill of identifying and fixing an error in a program. It requires systematic, objective thinking and plenty of resilience.
Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. See pages 11 and 12 of our Topic Curriculum Guide.
Years 1 and 2
Children will learn about how technology is used beyond school in our homes and all around us. They’ll begin to consider what a computer is and isn’t.
In programming lessons, they’ll be introduced to algorithms and will learn about how they need to be written in the correct sequence.
They’ll create their own algorithms in ‘unplugged computing’ lessons and will debug errors in their own and others’ algorithms. Next, they’ll plan and create their own unplugged game where they have to create an algorithm to move a character from one place to another using positional language.
They’ll then use the same concepts using Beebots – simple robots which can be programmed to move and turn. Finally, it’ll be time to create their own game using Beebots.
Years 3 and 4
Pupils will begin with some ‘unplugged computing’. They’ll create, and debug unplugged programs which use sequence and repetition before they then create their own unplugged game which will require some decomposition. Next, it’s time to program on a platform called Scratch Jr. It’s a free app available on most devices and will allow children to develop and refine their understanding and use of concepts like repetition and sequence. Finally, they’ll create their own game on Scratch Jr using all of the skills they’ve learned over the topic. They will have some creativity to plan and design their own game. They may choose to create a maze game or a simple platform game.
Years 5 and 6
Children will begin the topic by reasoning about what makes a computer a computer. They’ll then learn about how search engines work and how to best use them. In programming lessons, they’ll use Scratch to gain a deeper understanding of concepts like sequence and repetition before learning about selection and variables. Some of this vocabulary may sound alien to you. However, before the end of the topic your child will be able to tell you what they mean and give examples of how they’ve used them in their projects. Some of the projects your children will create are:
- A Spirograph style drawing animation with some potentially psychedelic visual effects!
- A chatbot program which will ask you questions and decide if your responses are correct or not.
- A times table quiz program that will test you on randomly selected times table questions within a set time limit.
How can you help?
Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning in class. Our Class News is a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.
The school library and local libraries have lots of books about coding and computer games which your child will be able to borrow and develop both their reading skills and computing knowledge.
Finally, try programming with your child. There are loads of programming apps and software available to download, often for free. Here’s a list:
Key Stage 1:
- Daisy the Dinosaur (Apple only)
- Beebot
- Tynker Junior
Key Stage 2:
- Lightbot
- Tynker
- Scratch Jr
- Scratch
This week’s message (Friday 23 February 2024)
We hope you all managed some sort of break last week, the half-term break. This half-term has quite a few events coming up…
Number facts challenge
It’s time for another Number Facts Challenge, our annual sponsored maths challenge. The challenge is in two parts:
Today, children in Years 1-6 did a Maths challenge in class. On Wednesday 28 February, they’ll do the same challenge again to see if they can beat their score. (Reception children join in the challenge on Wednesday.)
Polish those number skills and get practising over the next couple of weeks and see how much money we can raise. Any money raised will be split between our school charity, the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF), and PTA.
Happy sponsoring and thank you for your support.
World Book Day
World Book Day is on Thursday 07 March. At St James’ CE Primary, we love to celebrate reading. This includes celebrating World Book Day each year, although we don’t always dress up (we do this every other year).
It’s that time again! We invite children to dress up as a book character. Whether it’s someone from a fairy tale or fantasy, a character from a comic or Harry in Hogwarts, your child is invited to celebrate their love of reading.
As always on days like this, this is a choice. If you or your child would prefer not to dress up, that’s absolutely fine.
Supermarkets are stocked up with World Book Day outfits but often you can dress up using clothes you already have or can borrow for free.
Also, and especially with younger children, please make sure costumes are practical. For example, all-in-one outfits are really tricky when a Reception child needs the toilet, and princess shoes aren’t ideal for running around at playtimes!
Comic Relief – Red Nose Day
Also coming up is Red Nose Day, which is on Friday 15 March. Each year at St James’ CE Primary, pupils select a new school charity. As you know, this year, it’s the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF).
Alongside some fund-raising for the CHSF, we mark a small number of other events, including Red Nose Day. This will be a non-uniform day. There’s no expectation to donate, but if you’d like to, your donation would be appreciated.
We realise that’s a lot going on. Please remember, participation and donations are voluntary for these events.
Attendance matters
At the start of each half-term, we like to give you an update on attendance at St James’ CE Primary.
This time, we’re celebrating! Our current attendance figure (right up until the end of Spring 1) is 93.8%. That’s just over the national figure for primary schools: 93.7%.
Well done especially to Year 3 with a figure of 96.8%. Other classes are not far off, too.
We’re really proud of our attendance figure. Thank you for making sure your child gets to school as much as they can.
Our Christian value this half-term is...
…forgiveness.
In our 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.
‘Do not be angry with each other, but forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, then forgive him. Forgive each other because the Lord forgave you.’ (Colossians 3:13)
Throughout the Bible, God is described as slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin (Numbers 14:18) and Jesus is shown to be uncompromising in his command to forgive. ‘Forgive’, he said, ‘seventy times seven’ (Matthew 18:21), meaning forgive and keep on forgiving without limit.
At St James’ CE Primary, our children are encouraged to forgive each other. Forgiveness is associated with our Positive Relationships Policy. Children have many chances to reflect on their behaviour and make the right choices. Poor behaviour choices are always forgiven without a grudge and we enjoy a ‘new beginning’.
Sometimes, we accidentally break things that belong to ourselves or others. Sometimes, we use something so much it wears out. Some things that are broken cannot be mended, but it’s often possible to mend things that we’ve broken.
Help at home!
When you fall out with one of your friends, you can’t mend that friendship with a needle and thread, or some Sellotape, or glue or a puncture kit or a sticking plaster. Talk together about you can help show forgiveness towards those around you and how you can help mend any broken friendships.
This week’s message (Friday 09 February 2024)
The Spring 1 half-term has been a short one, and a busy one as ever. Wrapping up the half-term were parent-teacher meetings – thanks for attending the meeting to find out more about your child’s learning.
Attendance prize draw – we’ve a winner!
St James’ CE Primary is a happy and healthy place to be – and even a lucky one for Isabella in Year 2 – well done for having amazing attendance this half-term.
All pupils with attendance of 96% or higher were entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop voucher! Isabella was the lucky winner, announced this afternoon.
Well done to all the pupils (and their families) who had great attendance in Spring 1:
- 65 pupils had 100% attendance
- 89 pupils have over 96% attendance
We’re really pleased to see the whole school attendance figure rise in Spring 1, too.
Look out for another Attendance Prize Draw in the summer.
Holidays and training days 2024-25
While it seems we’re stuck in winter – certainly so with the snow yesterday – it’s worth looking ahead to brighter days! All the holidays and training dates for 2024-25 are confirmed – check out our school calendar if you want to start planning ahead.
Leeds Parent Carer Forum
The Leeds Parent Carer Forum is the way that the local authority and health partners engage and co-produce directly with parents and carers of children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). In Leeds, this is a very new organisation. We’ve been asked to share their promotional flyer with you.
School policies
Finally for this week, Sphere Federation governors have asked us to remind you that most policies are available on our website – the Policies and Other Points page. If you can’t find what you might be looking for, please do ask. Your views on any of the policies are always welcome, too.
On a similar subject, please ask if you’d prefer paper copies of anything on the website.
Thank you for your continued support, as ever. Have a happy and healthy half-term holiday.
Litter Picking Crew
Thank you to some of our pupils who have been making a difference in our local community by picking up litter on Hallfield Lane. Some of the Year 4 children have noticed litter on the paths as they walk to swimming each week and they feel really strongly that they want to do something about it. Well done for suggesting a great way to keep our streets tidy!
Wear Red Day - an update
Friday was Wear Red Day. At the time of writing the weekly message on Friday, we’d raised £63.50. Including donations made later, we raised £95.45.
The money raised goes to our current school charity: the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund in Leeds.
If you and your child donated, thank you.
This week’s message (Friday 02 February 2024)
If you and your child made a donation for our Wear Red Day. At the time of writing this message, we raised £63.50 – thank you. It was great seeing the different creative styles pupils added to their uniform today!
Living and learning
Living and Learning is our name for Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and other provision which helps to support the personal development of children at St James’ CE Primary.
Each week, we have a different Living and Learning theme – check out our Calendar to read about each week’s theme (it’s usually showing on each Monday). This week’s theme has been I know how to seek help.
We all need to seek help from time to time. Make sure your child knows it’s ok to ask for help. Explore different situations when you and your child might both need to seek help. What could the situation be (friendships, online problems, tricky situations when out and about…)? Who could they seek help from? How would they do it?
Linked to this week’s theme is STOP. Here at St James’ CE Primary, STOP stands for two things to do bullying:
- the definition: hurting someone physically or emotionally Several Times On Purpose
- the solution: Start Telling Other People
Remind your child of the STOP acronyms.
Watch us while we work
Thanks to all who came along last Friday for the second of our Watch Us While We Work sessions. Thanks also to the parents who completed our new online form for their feedback.
Children very well behaved and good to see what happens in class.
The session was well planned and Mr Nash explained what he was doing and why. Gave some good suggestions on how we, as parents can add to what is done in school. Also, loved seeing [my child] in class and how engaged he was.
We really appreciate your suggestions for improvement, too. We can’t always act on these – some suggested longer sessions while other people comment the sessions were the right length – but we’ll try.
Coffee mornings
Thanks to parents and carers of children of children in Reception, Year 1 and Year2 who dropped in this morning – it was good to see you. You’re welcome to let us know any comments – please use our online form. Coming up is another coffee morning – this one for parents and carers of children in Years 3-6 – it’s on Friday 01 March.
Contact details
A quick reminder…
If you’ve got any new contact details for you or other contacts, please remember to let us know. We need up-to-date details for the people on our lists in case of emergencies. (The people on our lists are the ones you gave us when your child school – in most cases, this will be three different people.)
Reception survey
Another reminder…
If you’re a parent in Reception, please do complete our short survey. Your feedback is really important to us. the survey’s open for another week.
We hope you have a happy and healthy weekend, whatever you get up to.
Not long to go
Our prize draw for good attendance is taking place on Friday 09 February.
All pupils with attendance of 96% or higher next half-term will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love to Shop voucher!
If your child reaches a good level of attendance – that’s 96% – by the end of this half term, their name will be entered into a prize draw. We’ll select one lucky winner on the last day of the half-term (Friday 09 February).
St James’ CE Primary is a happy and healthy place to be – and maybe even a lucky one, too!
This week’s message (Friday 26 January 2024)
This week, we’ve messages about measles, free school meals and a couple of forthcoming events in school. Before that, a thank you…
Watch us while we work
For parents and carers of children in Years 1 -6, this afternoon we’ve had another Watch Us While We Work session – the second of the year. Thank you if you were able to come to school to find out ways to support your child at home.
Based on parent feedback, we’ve a new feedback form for planned-in visits like this – things like Watch Us While We Work, Topic review sessions and Reception Stay and Learns.
Measles
This comes from the Department for Education (DfE):
There have been recent localised outbreaks of measles centred around the West Midlands. There is a risk of further outbreaks in other areas unless urgent action is taken to increase Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination take up in areas with low MMR vaccine rates.
Measles spreads very easily among those who are unvaccinated, especially in nurseries and schools. The best protection against measles for children and adults is to get both doses of the MMR vaccine. It is never too late to have these vaccinations.
Read the NHS advice for parents and carers.
Read the DfE has published an Education Hub blog with guidance on measles and the MMR vaccine for parents.
Free School Meals
Circumstances can change for anyone, as the enormous impact from the pandemic continues to prove. Some families can suddenly find themselves trying to cope with a new financial strain and pressure, perhaps as a result of a stressful new situation: separation, loss of a job, decreased working
hours, illness etc. If your household income is low or has recently decreased, your child may well qualify for Free School Meals.
Find out whether you’re eligible.
In addition to securing free school meals, your child would also become eligible for pupil premium funding. This provides us with extra money that we use to support children.
Finally this week, a couple of events coming up…
Wear Red Day
Our school charity this year is Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
Wear Red Day is an annual fund-raising event to support the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit, its patients and their families.
The day is still a uniform day, but we invite children to come to school wearing some red, too – how might they adapt their uniform? Red socks, red polo short, red shorts…
This is an optional event. We welcome any donations, all of which will go towards our charity.
Safer Internet Day
This is on Tuesday 06 February. We’ll be making the day in school, but you might want to check out some resources to use at home.
Have a great weekend!
A visit from Children's Heart Surgery Fund
Yesterday, Lauren from Children’s Heart Surgery Fund came to talk to us about the charity and all the great things they do for children. Lauren gave us some good fundraising ideas including ‘Wear Red Day’ which we will be taking part in on Friday 02 February. The children had opportunity to ask questions about the charity and about Lauren’s important role as a charity fundraiser. The Junior Leadership Team are meeting today to discuss more fundraising ideas so we can raise as much money as possible for this worthy cause.