Author: Mr Roundtree

It’s the first day of the summer holidays – we hope they’ve started well.

We’re not sending daily messages over summer, but do look out for the occasional one – they’ll usually be important updates about school in September.

Summer was for some pupils. Autumn is for all.

We’re really looking forward to welcoming back all the familiar faces on Monday 07 September (except for our Year 6 friends, of course, who move on to secondary school after the summer).

This message is a link to the latest Families magazine which is a summer holiday issue. It’s got lots of resources and ideas to help you keep your children entertained, busy and productive during the long break including fun learning ideas, sourcing books, learning to draw, safe socialising and screen free activities.

Read the magazine here.

 

It’s the last day of the school year and this is our last daily message. At least, we hope it’s our last as we look forward to the Autumn term, when hopefully much has settled down…

We started sending out messages just before schools closed, in the week beginning 16 March. Sometimes there were three or four in a day, and there was never really any time when it didn’t feel there was something useful to share. For all your appreciation about the daily messages, thank you.

Schools closed on Friday 20 March for all but a few children. Since then, we know you’ve worked incredibly hard with home learning and all the other stuff that takes up your days. It’s been a tough ride. For all your great efforts, thank you.

During the period when schools have been closed, it’s true that some of you made suggestions, raised concerns and sometimes voiced your frustrations. In normal times, we’re always keen to hear your questions, comments and concerns, and in these challenging times, we were grateful you raised things in a positive, friendly way. We acted on as many as we could – and we’ll continuing to act on these. For all your constructive feedback, thank you.

It’s also fair to say that for every one comment like that, we received a good deal more which praised what we’ve been doing. They’ve really boosted us as we went through our own lockdown lows. For all your support, thank you.

Summer

Over the last few days, we’ve provided you with a list of summer camps and other activities and some more more holiday challenges. Check out the the Breeze website for activity ideas, too.

The long summer break can be quite challenging. This Self care Summer Primary resource has fun activities designed to help children look after their mental health and wellbeing. It also signposts them (and you) to additional support if needed. There’s a version for young adults, too.

Over the summer, if you experience difficulties and need advice or support, information is available from Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership. Alternatively, you can contact your local Early Help Hub: [email protected]  or 0113 3785996.

September

Yesterday, we sent you our guide to school in September. We hope you find it useful. It might seem long, but there are only two pages we especially want you to know about before September – the key information on page 3 and 4.

Later on in the guide, we mention the whole-school picture book topic that children in Years 1 to 6 will do. We’ve chosen After the fall: how Humpty got back up again. Younger children will enjoy thinking about the Humpty Dumpty story and what happened next. Older children will see the analogy between Humpty’s fall and recovery and Covid-19 and how we can recover from this. If you anticipate your child feeling anxious about their return to school after such a long period, it might help if they’re familiar with the story they’re going to be thinking about in school, so they can feel confident and reassured as they settle back in to school life. You could buy the book or listen to it read online.

 

Ok, I’m off to sit in a darkened room for a while…

The teachers, support staff and school leaders all wish you a happy and healthy summer. Stay safe, stay sane and see you in September.

Today’s message is an important one about school in September…

Autumn’s for all pupils – read our guide to school in September.

We’re really happy to finally be able to welcome back all our pupils to school – and to welcome some new faces, too! We’ll have lots of things in place to keep making sure our school is a happy and healthy and safe place to learn. We’ve closely considered lots of different aspects to make sure the new school year goes smoothly.

There are four sections to the guide. The first section (on page 3 and 4) contains the key information that you need to know – things like school start and finish times, for example. Please make sure you read this so you’re up-to-date with the things we’re doing a bit differently.

If you’ve any questions, comments or concerns, then as always, do get in touch.

Our message last Wednesday (08 July) had a summer focus. One week on, and we re-visit this topic…

We’re reaching the end of the school year. For many, home learning has drifted off a bit. Don’t feel bad about this – the home learning situation has lasted far longer than we might have predicted way back in March. From our communications with you, we know you’ve done a good job.

Get out and about

During the summer break, if you’re looking for activities, then check out the range of useful information on the Breeze website.

Last week, we provided you with a list of summer camps and other activities. It might be an idea to sign up to something if you can afford it. Your child could benefit from the social aspects, and it’ll give you a much-needed break. (Like we said last week, though: seek assurance that the provider is following protective measures in line with the guidance which the government has produced.)

Set a summer challenge

Parents’ / carers’ feedback about our previous holiday activities was
really positive, so here are some more holiday challenges that you and your child might want to complete over the summer holidays. A few key points…

• The list is the same across year groups, meaning if you’ve more than one
  child, they might work on it together in some way.
• You can encourage your child to do some or all of the activities –
  they’re all optional.
• We’re sorry – unlike at Easter and the summer half-term, teachers won’t be around so please don’t email them. Teachers will not be giving feedback about these tasks.

Keep up with reading

If your child starts back at school in September being an enthusiastic and fluent reader, then they’ll be in a great starting position to kick off the school year.

Many of you have told us you’ve appreciated the online copies of First News that we’ve emailed out. Children really enjoy reading First News in school. You can subscribe at home. It’s a great way to keep your child reading – the articles are quite short and presented in an attractive format. Right now, there’s a ten week summer subscription for £19.99 (and it comes with a free puzzle book).

To make things even better, for every subscription parents take out and select our school from the drop down box at the checkout, we’ll get money back to put towards our school. This is a great opportunity to get your kids reading at home while helping the school raise money. Remember to select our school when ordering so we can fundraise: you’ll need our postcode, which is LS17 6DR.

Just in case…

Over the summer, if you experience difficulties and need advice or support, information is available from Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership. Alternatively, you can contact your local Early Help Hub: [email protected]  or 0113 3785996.

Today’s message has important updates for school in September. There’s also some great news about a former pupil!

Summer was for some pupils, Autumn is for all. We’re looking forward to welcoming back all pupils on Monday 07 September. Here are a few updates that we think you’ll want to know about.

Two things going ahead…

PE is going ahead. On the days your child has PE, they should come to school in their PE kit. (Track-suit bottoms instead of shorts would be good on colder days.) Children should wear their usual school uniform on other days. Read more about our uniform policy.

Homework is going ahead. We’ll set weekly homework as we normally do. The key difference is that Homework books should stay at home for the time being. Just as normal, the tasks will be posted on the website. Instead of the task pasted into books, children will take home a piece of paper with the task on, too. The tasks will be a variety of Talk Time, Practice Makes Perfect and Creative, but especially the first two.

Parents can email a picture or update about a completed task (just as many have been doing with the home learning tasks we set in Spring and Summer terms). The homework will be reviewed in school, so some pictures would be good!

And a few things put on hold for now…

For the first half-term, there are a few things not happening:

• swimming lessons for Year 3 children,
• after-school clubs for all children, and
• peripatetic instrument lessons.

We really want to get these up-and-running soon, but want to make sure that everything happens as smoothly as possible in other aspects of school life for all our children and staff.

Well done, Ava!

What a wonderful news story out today about a former pupil!

Read the full government press release.