Return of Leeds Sky Ride
Join the cycling revolution in Leeds as Sky Ride returns for its third year bringing thousands of cyclists and spectators to a traffic free city centre.
The free family friendly mass-participation bike ride takes place on Sunday 14 June 10am – 3pm. Registration is now open at and people are being encouraged to sign up fast as places are filling up.
Previous years have proved to be very successful attracting more than 8,500 people of all ages and abilities, with many more lining the streets to cheer along friends, relatives and loved ones.
For those not jumping on a bike there is plenty to get involved with thanks to the return of the “Tricks and Tunes” area featuring top DJs as well as pro BMX and mountain bikers performing jaw-dropping stunts not for the faint-hearted.
Riders can look forward to starting from the same point, on The Headrow, as cycling legends during last summer’s “Grandest of Grand Départs”. They will also pass iconic city landmarks from Leeds University to the town hall and First Direct Arena.
Riders can challenge family and friends in the Sprint Zone, experience the sensory tunnel and find out more about cycling opportunities in Leeds. Bike experts at Halfords are offering a free bike safety check to everyone who registers and will be on hand to help out with any last minute problems. Join the cycling revolution in Leeds as Sky Ride returns for its third year bringing thousands of cyclists and spectators to a traffic free city centre.
The event is one of 15 to be held nationally and is part of a continuing partnership between Leeds City Council, British Cycling, Sky and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority which aims to encourage more people to get cycling.
Getting more skillful
Today we began our six weekly coaching sessions with Leeds United. Developing skills that can be applied to any game, we started by throwing towards a target.
Some tips were to put your opposite leg in front aiming towards the target and swinging your arm all the way through and also pointing towards the target – this helped a lot. There were lots of accurate aiming.
SEAL Changes and manners
As we enter our final half term, the next SEAL theme looks at Changes, starting from next week.
This week, we begin with a focus on manners and I cover my mouth (when I cough, sneeze or yawn) is our weekly statement.
The ‘Vampire method’ can help to prevent germs spreading. By coughing or sneezing into our elbow, germs are not spread into the air or on our hands which may contaminate other things.
Here is how it’s done.
Don’t forget to ‘use your sleeve to cough and sneeze’.
Walk Leeds walking festival
Following our Walk to School week, Walk Leeds is a week-long walking festival from the 31 May to 07 June.
The Walks Diary lists all the walks taking place.
696 journeys on foot
As we come to the end of Walk to School Week, there have been 696 journeys to school on foot and the class competition was very close.
- Reception 118
- Year 1 107
- Year 2 80
- Year 3 111
- Year 4 107
- Year 5 100
- Year 6 73
So, winning by just seven journeys, Reception will receive the martial arts session with John from White Rose Martial Arts, who runs one of our after-school clubs, after the half term break.
Here are some comments made by children about their journeys to school on foot:
- ‘The walk made me feel happy and energetic.’
- ‘We enjoyed meeting friends on the way and looking at different types of houses.’
- ‘We felt safe because there were safe places to cross and a lolly pop lady too.’
- ‘I felt fresh, awake and ready to learn.’
- ‘We enjoyed talking about the day ahead.’
- ‘There was no cost involved and we picked up litter on the way.’
- ‘We made a difference by leaving the car at home.’
- ‘We had fun by learning spellings and times tables.’
- ‘It was quicker and we didn’t get stuck in any traffic.’
- ‘We had great talking time, time to plan the day and after-school activities.’
We’re sure you’ll agree these are all great benefits of walking to school. Have a look at our walk to school video for some more facts to persuade you to use a sustainable method of travelling to school, in turn reducing congestion at the school gates.
Well done to our Where’s Wally? competition winners, too.
Let’s hope these numbers increase over the summer months along with journeys by bike and scooter.
Too much noise in Year 1
Insight into the future
Out in the community
Donisthorpe Hall is a local care home and as part of our learning about who makes up our community Year 1 visited the residents and took part in their weekly concert and dance. Looks like everyone was having a great time and the positive response from the residents has meant we’ve been invited back!
Who do you think you are?
Some impressive homework this week – here are a couple of examples which both happen to be trees. One tree is a family tree and the other tree has a characteristic on each leaf.
Which way?
Programming starts early in the new computing curriculum. Year 1 had a go at writing algorithms today. Ask your child what an algorithm is. They should be able to tell you that it is like a set of instructions. There was a bit of a challenge today – we had to work out a route, on a grid, which took us from school to home but we had to visit all of the local shops on the grid on the way. You could only go forward, right or left. Once the children came up with their algorithm, they then had to test it out to see if it worked. There’s a lot to learn about programming without even logging onto a computer.
Here are some photos – ask your child to explain what we were doing.
