Triathlon
KS2 have had a fantastic afternoon at John Smeaton Leisure Centre, taking part in the triathlon event. The children swam, cycled and ran the course, showing determination and resilience.
At St James’ CE Primary, we’re always keen to hear your views.
Please complete the survey – it’ll only take a few minutes or so.
We hope that you let us know any questions, comments and concerns (as well as causes for celebration!) whenever these crop up, but we like to gather the views more generally at the end of the year. We’re looking forward to reading your views.
Annual survey of parents / carers
At St James’ CE Primary, we’re always keen to hear your views. We hope that you let us know any questions, comments and concerns (as well as causes for celebration!) whenever these crop up, but we like to gather the views more generally at the end of the year – we do this via the annual survey.
Please complete the survey – it’ll only take a few minutes or so. You’ve plenty of time to do this – the deadline is Monday 24 June 2019.
We can’t guarantee to meet the needs and wants of every parent / carer, but we do assure you that we consider all the points raise and aim to act on specific points that are raised by many, or a useful idea raised by just a few.
Last year, based on your feedback, for example, we changed how we update you about your child’s progress so that you get five updates over the year: a parent-teacher consultation in Autumn 1 and Spring 1; a Learning Update ‘mini-report’ in Autumn 2 and Spring 2; and a final end-of-year report in Summer 2.
We’re looking forward to reading your views.
Attendance matters
Here’s an update on the attendance of each class in school so far this school year. The overall school attendance is 95.5%.
- Foundation 2 – 93.9%
- Year 1,2 – 95.2%
- Year 3,4 – 96.0%
- Year 5,6 – 96.0%
Well done to both classes in Key Stage 2, who have the highest attendance in school!
Happy Easter!
Yesterday, we had a wonderful Easter service at St James’ church. The children spoke confidently and clearly, when telling us all about the Easter journey.
After school, we had lots of fun hunting for coloured eggs all around our school grounds and we had lots of winners on our Easter egg raffle. Thank you to the PTA and everybody who came to support the school.
Have a wonderful Easter weekend!
This half-term's Christian value is...
…peace.
Peace is about positive harmony and healthy relationships between people. It involves spiritual as well as material security. Peace is a state of true wholeness, a state of well-being. This value promotes harmony, stability and security within the school and local community.
‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.’ (John 14:27)
Why did the Church Council choose this Christian value? ‘Because when Jesus was sent down there was peace.’ (Y2 Church Council member)
Home challenge:
The dove carrying an olive branch is a symbol of peace in Christianity.
- Research why this is a symbol of peace.
- Is Christianity the only religion to have a symbol of peace?
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.