We’ve loved playtimes this week. It’s been great to see our children on The Green enjoying happy and healthy playtimes. (Sorry if clothes have been a bit mucky –  it does indicate your child’s had a good time, though!)

Look our for our Learning Updates next week. These ‘mini-reports’ are sent home at the end of the Autumn and Spring terms.

Easter events

It’s time to get creative! Get started with your ideas and plan how you’re going to decorate your egg for the Easter competition. If you’re using a real egg, please make sure it’s hard boiled or blown so we don’t have a messy entry!
Please bring your entries in on Thursday 03 April so they can be judged on Friday.

Also next week, if your child’s in Y3 or Y4, we’re looking forward to seeing you at one of the Spring productions – Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday evening.

Talking of Easter…

Check out this guide to help children and families in Leeds navigate their way through the Easter holidays. The guide’s has lots of free or low-cost activities for a range of ages, in the city centre and in your community.

Compliments

I can give and receive compliments has been our Living and Learning statement this week. It’s all about being polite and making each other feel good about ourselves.

Help at home… Spend next week giving compliments to each other at home. Try to make sure the compliments are about what we’ve done and not just how we look – we’ve got more power to change what we do than how we look so these compliments can be much more effective. Some children find it hard to receive compliments, so this week of giving compliments might help, too.

Thinking of going on holiday in term-time?

From time to time across the year, we’ve let you know the impact of missing five days of school. We’ve thought about it in terms of Reading, Writing, Maths, Science, and the social and emotional aspects of school. Taking a week’s holiday during term-time means your child misses…

• over 4 hours of learning in Reading
• over 4 hours of learning in Writing
• over 5 hours of learning in Maths
• over 10 hours of learning in other subjects
• over 6 hours of opportunities for social time and play

Missing all this in one week means your child will miss significant chunks of teaching and will have gaps in their learning.

Schools are expected to issue penalty notices for unauthorised term-time absences.

The fine for school absences across the country is £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days.

If a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this is charged at the higher rate of £160. 

Fines per parent are capped to two fines within any three-year period. After this, legal action like a parenting order or prosecution is considered. 

So far this school year in Leeds, there have been 4,350 penalty notices issued.

 

See you next week for the last week of the Spring term.

Thank you if you managed to visit us this week for our second Topic Review session of the year. Please let us know your thoughts.

Thank you also if you made a contribution to today’s Comic Relief fundraising. We’ve raised a fantastic amount of £217.16 – well done!

There are four articles in this week’s message, one of which is a question for you: Do you know someone who might be interested in becoming a governor?

I can find solutions to different problems.

Our Living and Learning statement this week has been I can find solutions to different problems. This is a really useful one to practise at home, too. We all encounter problems – disagreements with family or friends, for example. In the long run, supporting your child to find their own solutions to problems is better than getting involved yourself.

Help at home. Spend time thinking about the solution more than the problem itself – this will help to move on. Look out for problems in a film or a story you’re enjoying together. Pause and discuss different solutions. If your child comes to you with a real problem, responses such as ‘How do you think you can solve this?’ can be really powerful. (Of course, remain sympathetic and reassure them you’re around if they need more help.)

Find each week’s Living and Learning statement in our calendar – look for the entry at the start of each school week.

Ofsted

You might not be aware that all three Sphere Federation schools have been inspected in the last year:

• Moortown Primary almost exactly one year ago, on 19-20 March 2024
• Scholes (Elmet) Primary two months later, on 21-22 May 2024
• St James’ CE Primary most recently on 21-22 January 2025

The inspections judge schools in five separate areas:

• the quality of education
• behaviour and attitudes
• personal development
• leadership and management
• early years provision

We’re delighted to say that all three schools have been judged to be good or outstanding in all the areas. (In fact, Early Years is judged to be outstanding in all three schools!)

The power of schools working closely together in Sphere Federation is a key part of this. The successful federation has many benefits, including:

• better, broader offer for pupils – both curricular & extra-curricular
• really effective professional development for staff
• better recruitment, succession planning and retention of staff
• close cooperation so teachers and support staff learn from each other
• greater capacity for innovation
• strong governance

Talking of governance…

Do you know someone who might be interested in becoming a governor?

Here are two extracts from the inspection reports about the Sphere Federation Governing Board:

Governors support and challenge leaders in equal measure. They ensure funding is available to support vulnerable pupils. They fulfil their statutory duties effectively.

(Moortown Primary, March 2024)

Governors are skilled and knowledgeable and fulfil their responsibilities well. They make regular visits to school. They use these visits to evaluate the impact of leaders’ decisions.

(St James’ CE Primary, January 2025)

Our Governing Board has vacancies – do you know anyone who might be interested in becoming a governor?

There are already quite a few governors who are parents, but if you feel you can add to our Governing Board, please let us know. If you’ve a relative or friend (not a parent of a child attending a Sphere Federation school) who might have the time and skills, please encourage them to consider taking on the role. It would be great to develop the diversity of the Governing Board, too.

Interested individuals should contact our Chair of Governors, Rachel Cooper: rachelcooper@spherefederation.org

 

Finally this week, West Yorkshire Police have asked us to share the following…

Vaping

Whilst more of a problem amongst older children, some children of primary age are regularly using vapes.

From time to time. we like to remind you of information and guidance on a particular subject. This week, check out our packed lunch guidance, part of our Food in School website page. Why not try one of the packed lunch top tips!

Watching and browsing online

According to Ofcom, 90% of children are watching online videos and browsing the internet regularly. Many children like to stream videos and look up information. It can be a fun way to learn and relax. However, they must be guided. The online world is filled with inappropriate content and dangerous material. It’s important that you’re able to steer your child towards the right places when online. Internet Matters has published a guide dedicated to supporting adults in setting digital boundaries for children so that they can make smart choices and build healthy online habits. You’ll find practical tips on managing content access, the use of safety controls, advice on setting boundaries and ways to educate children on how to stay secure online.

EYFS survey

Thank you to the Reception parents and carers who completed our recent survey. All those who responded agree that…

• their child is happy at school
• we place a high priority on reading
• they’re happy with their child’s progress
• they find our Reception staff approachable
• the Class News page helps them to support their child

We received some great feedback…

• Moortown Primary feels more like a community than a school. The children and team are welcoming, positive and proactive.
• We’re very pleased that [our daughter] got a place at Moortown Primary…it’s an incredibly supportive and friendly environment
• Moortown is lovely and supportive. We always feel listened to and any concerns dealt with quickly and efficiently

We’re exploring some the the comments to see if we can improve what we do, and we’ve passed on individual comments to the individual staff concerned.

Washing pods and capsules

Where do you keep your laundry and dishwasher washing pods? It’s quite common to store these in a cupboard low down. The Child Accident Prevention Trust has recently published guidance.

Finally, here’s another in our series of pieces about missing a series of days at school. This one relates to writing skills.

If your child was absent for five days in a row…

We typically teach writing in 2- or 3- week blocks. Children who miss five days struggle to access the learning in that whole block because they miss a large part of the sequence of learning. They might miss the initial lessons so they have no idea what they’re writing about or why; they might miss the teaching of key skills and the opportunity to practise these; or they might miss the opportunity to plan and write their own piece. They also miss the regular practice, and teaching, of handwriting, grammar, spelling and vocabulary.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.