Wonderful writing
We love this piece of writing by Emily in Year 5. (It’s typed up exactly as it was written; punctuation, spellings etc are all as they were written by Emily.)
I wandered the northern borders of my wonderful kingdom for weeks on end. I wanted to leave my dull village (and family) for an intriguing adventure.
I left the village to start an adventure. I slept and hunted for my own food to eat for days with my sword. It didn’t bother me though, I enjoyed the company of myself.
In the damp evening, I feasted on my latest prey cooked on a roaring fire. I fell asleep in my sheepskin blanket, staring at the dark, gloomy night sky. Next to me, I had my sharp pointy sword shimmering in the moon; I was thinking of when I would have to wipe the blood of some vile creature from the sharp edge.
As my campfire died, I carelessly fell asleep. Images of blood-thirsty trolls flickered through my mind. Suddenly, I heard a loud crack of a twig. I leaped up off the ground and grabbed by sword. Ready to pounce, I heard a groan followed by a thud of a mysterious body falling to the ground. Slowly, I walked over to the bush where the noises came from.
Carefully, I pulled back the branches. I looked down to find an old man with a bushy beard, his face contorted with pain. I nervously took off his iron helmet which covered his bald head.
Bacon Butty Morning
Thank you to everybody who came to our bacon butty morning. Thank you to the PTA, who organised and cooked the sandwiches.
This event was sponsored by ‘Batman and Hoggin’ who provided all the sausages and bacon. Thank you for your support.
St James's Got Talent!
Wow! We have seen some amazing talent at St James’ this afternoon: singing, dancing, gymnastics, comedians, skipping and much more. It was a fantastic way to end a week, where we have been recognising our talents for our Living and Learning theme. Well done to all the children who took part- you were marvellous!
Thinking of a holiday in term time?
If so, please: think again.
Amongst the continued talk about Brexit (or not to Brexit!), you might have missed this news story from yesterday: The number of fines issued to parents in England for taking children on term time holidays has almost doubled in a year, statistics show.
Penalty notices rose by 93% to almost 223,000 in 2017-18. In Leeds, there were 2620 fines for term-time absence caused by holidays – that’s 25 pupils in every 1,000, which averages out to about two or three pupils at St James’ CE Primary.
“Unauthorised family holiday absence” was the most common reason for attendance fines, the Department for Education (DfE) said.
In our school, governors have agreed an attendance policy that’s clear: we can’t authorise a holiday in term time – we value learning too much to authorise a disruption in children’s education. If you do anticipate your child may have to have a day or more off school (to attend a funeral or a parent’s graduation, for example), please do speak with the Head of School and also ask at the office for a form to complete.
Positive pupils
Our governors play an active role in our school – find out more about the governing body and what they do. One of our governors is responsible for collecting the views of pupils – an important role because we value the views of pupils so much. As well as staff in school, it’s useful for a governor to do this because children sometimes prefer to talk to an ‘outsider’.
Here’s what our governor found following a recent visit where she spoke with a group of pupils:
All of the children said they enjoyed school.
- Y1: ‘I like school because it is fun.’
- Y3: ‘I enjoy school because we get to do fun learning.’
- Y6: ‘I enjoy school because we get to spend time with our friends and do loads of different things.’
All children were sure that their teachers helps them.
- Y5: ‘My teacher sits next to me and explains it a little more so that I feel more confident.’
- Y4: ‘My teacher sometimes gives me a step in my book and that helps me understand things a bit better.’
All children said that their learning is challenging.
- Y6: ‘Sometimes, my teacher gives me learning that means I have to think about lots of things at once. Like in maths. I have to think about division, money and times tables. It’s hard!’
All children enjoy learning.
- Y2: ‘School is lots of fun.’
- Y4: ‘I enjoy doing RIC in reading sessions.’
- Y5: ‘I enjoy doing art learning with Mrs Bald.’
All children thought that their teacher listened to what they have to say.
- Y6: ‘My teacher listens to what I have to say in all lessons. When we read our class novel and she asks our opinion, she listens to what I have to say.’
- Y4: ‘My teacher listens to me in all the lessons. She always makes sure everyone else listens too so that we follow the school rules.’
All children knew to speak to an adult if something was worrying them.
- Y5: ‘We can find an adult even at lunchtime if we have a worry.’
Linked to this, all the children could tell the governor that they could write a worry down and the teacher ‘would know it was in there’. One comment relating to bullying was interesting: ‘Sometimes people fall out but I don’t think it is bullying.’
Powerful poetry
Look at this lovely poem written by Olivia in Year 6. Olivia wrote this at home (it wasn’t a homework task). Well done, Olivia!
Nature’s Call
I sit there looking ashore With the cute little waves I adore The sails on the boats blow Thinking nobody ever comes or goes The howling wind's in my ear So lonely no one is here The rain is pouring, wetting me so The gulls waiting row on row The sea almost calling for me As I see a seashell, I cry out with glee The beach is my home and that's where I'll be.
World Book Day
We had a fantastic World Book Day. Well done to all the children who dressed up as a book character. Thank you to Miss Wood from Wetherby Library who came to judge our classroom doors. Each class transformed their door into a book cover.
First Steps: The Gruffalo’s Child
Y3/4 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Y1/2 Man on the Moon
Y5/6 Alex Rider: Crocodile Tears
The winners were foundation with the book Whatever Next?
Our older children spent some of the afternoon reading to our foundation children and sharing some of their favourite stories.
Attendance Matters
Well done to Y3,4 class who have the highest attendance in school so far this year! Up to the beginning of March, the average attendance for each class is:
- Foundation 2: 95.1%
- Y1,2: 94.8%
- Y3,4: 96.4%
- Y5,6: 96.0%
The whole school attendance figure is 95.7%, so both Y3,4 and Y5,6 classes are above the school average – great stuff!
Don’t forget that for this half-term and up to the Easter weekend (25 February – 18 April), we’re running our Amazing Attendance competition. All the pupils with attendance during this period that’s 98% or more will be entered into a prize draw. There’ll be a lucky winner from the younger classes (Foundation and Y1,2) and another winner from the older classes (Y3,4 and Y5,6), winning a £20 voucher for Ask restaurant.
Our Christian value this half-term is...
…forgiveness.
Why did the Church Council choose this Christian value? ‘Because Jesus forgives his disciples. Jesus died on the cross.’ (Year 4 Church Council member)
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 can’t be mended, but it’s often possible to mend things that we’ve broken. When you fall out with one of your friends, you can’t mend that friendship with a needle and thread, or some Sellotape, or Superglue, or a puncture kit, or a sticking plaster.
This half term, we’ll learn all about forgiveness and hear stories from the Bible to help us.
Home challenge:
Discuss as a family: Why is it important to forgive? The quotes here may be a good starting point for your discussion; do you agree?
- ‘The first to apologise is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.’
- ‘Forgiveness is an act of inner kindness and expression of love.’
‘Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you.’ (Ephesians 4:32)
Parent-teacher meetings
Thanks to all of you who attended the parent-teacher meetings last week – it’s always good to see so many supporting their child’s learning.
In the last year or so, one or two governors attend the evenings in order to gather the views of parents and carers. This can provide some useful, independent feedback on how well we’re doing and how we can keep getting better and better. Governors write up a report; here are some of the comments from the report from the evening of Thursday 14 February:
- All the parents felt that their children were very safe at school.
- Most parents were unable to tell me anything that they thought the school could improve upon.
- It seems as if the school is slowly becoming the school of choice in the area… A number of parents told me that they were recommending St James to other parents.
- Most parents liked the atmosphere in the small school and felt it was good that everybody knew everybody else.
- Parents continue to mention how much things had improved under the new leadership.
- Communications are good. Parents like getting the newsletters in both electronic and hard form.
- Parents of EYFS children felt especially ‘in the know’ about exactly what was being taught.