Our last weekly message of the year: Friday 17 July 2026

We’ve reached the end of another happy and healthy school year. This week’s message is a long one, but hopefully the headings will help you to read the parts that matter to you…

Have a happy and healthy summer holiday…

As we reach the end of another successful school year, we’d like to thank you for your continued support, encouragement, and partnership throughout the year. Your involvement has played an important role in helping our children be happy and healthy at Moortown Primary and beyond.

We’re very proud of all that our pupils have achieved and grateful to our dedicated staff for their commitment and care. Together, we have celebrated many successes.

I hope you and your family enjoy a well-deserved, restful and enjoyable summer holiday, creating some happy and healthy memories together. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for another exciting year on Wednesday 02 September.

Junior Leadership Team review of the year

As we approach the end of the school year, we asked our Junior Leaders for some of their highlights…

Year 1

• ‘Handwriting has been one of my favourites because I love learning about new letters.’
  ‘I’ve enjoyed leading my class and discussing the new lunch menus throughout the year.’

Year 2

• ‘I saw one of my club suggestions – Spanish club – get put into action.’
• ‘In Year 2, our skipping festival was so fun.’

Year 3

• ‘I’ve loved having an important role and responsibilities within my class.’
• ‘I enjoy the meetings and helping around school.’

Year 4

• ‘York Museum was a highlight when we were learning about the Romans.’
• ‘My favourite part of Year 4 was residential and I tried the leap of faith.’

Year 5

Our summer competition

Over the summer holidays, we invite your child to re-create our school logo in some creative way – maybe a painting, a collage, even a mobile.

It could be anything – the only rules are:

• it needs to be ‘display-able’, so we can put it on display along with the other entries
• it needs to show our Brill Buddies logo in some recognisable way (but the more original, the better

To enter, your child needs to bring along their pieces of art in the first week – no later than Friday 04 September. Entries will be displayed in a Moortown Primary Brill Buddies display in school, and there are prizes for our favourites.

Summer savings

This is a reminder of something from a previous message…

The Great British Summer Savings scheme starts next week. Running from 25 June to 01 September 2026, its aim is to help families feel a bit less squeezed this summer.

The scheme includes reduced VAT on days out, including tickets at attractions like soft play, adventure centres and theme parks, children’s tickets for theatres and cinemas, and children’s meals in restaurants. Children aged 5 to 15 in England will also be able to travel free on local bus services throughout August.

Sphere Summer of Smiles...

Our weekly message: Friday 10 July 2026

What a busy week! We’ve seen some great performances…

Year 5 and Year 6 worked really hard to perform two showings of ‘The Amazing Adventures of Superstan’. There was some brilliant acting talent and great singing plus a few superstar children who stepped in at the last minute because of illness. Great performances from all!

Yesterday, Year 2 children celebrated their reading progress with their parents and carers in their Ready to Read assembly. They proudly showed fluency, prosody and other reading skills. Well done – we’re really proud of you. Your journey with reading continues in Year 3.

The Nest

Some of you might be aware we recently sought planning permission for a small, new building towards the back of the school. We’ve recently had the permission to go ahead with this. We’re going to christen the building The Nest. It’ll be at the back of the Y5,6 building, taking the space where an old ‘garage’ is currently located. We plan to use the space so that we can look at expanding the capacity for our wraparound care and also as a learning space for small groups during the day.

Non-uniform day

Next Friday is the last day of the school year. We’ve recently updated our Uniform Policy, but the content about non-uniform days remains the same:

Pupils should dress appropriately and respectfully, even on non-uniform days. Clothes are inappropriate if they, for example, glorify violence, feature bad language, are very short (eg crop tops), or relate to age-inappropriate topics. When consulted, junior leaders described this as ‘setting-appropriate’ clothing and clothing that is ‘well-judged’. Make-up…is not allowed. Flipflops or high-heeled shoes are not allowed, even on non-uniform days, because they’re dangerous when running.

Our summer competition

For the past few years, our summer competitions involved taking a pic – this might be a pic of a letter spelling out ‘HAPPY’ or ‘HEALTHY’, a pic of ‘extreme reading’, or a pic of a ‘hidden’ smiley face.

This summer, it’s time to get even more creative. Over the summer holidays, we invite your child to re-create our school logo in some creative way – maybe a painting, a collage, even a mobile.

It could be anything – the only rules are:

• it needs to be ‘display-able’, so we can put it on display along with the other entries
• it needs to show our Brill Buddies logo in some recognisable way (but the more original, the better

To enter, your child needs to bring along their pieces of art in the first week – no later than Friday 04 September. Entries will be displayed in a Moortown Primary Brill Buddies display in school, and there are prizes for our favourites.

Ping Pong Pete

Ping Pong Pete, who runs our popular table tennis after-school club, is hosting a table tennis camp in Otley in the last week of the summer holidays.

Contact peter@pingpong4u.co.uk to book on or for more information.

Have a happy and healthy weekend – stay cool!

Our weekly message: Friday 03 July 2026

This week, your child received their end-of-year report. We hope you find it a helpful summary of your child’s learning journey, perhaps with one or two areas highlighted where you can support at home.

Sports day

We enjoyed another successful Sports Day on Tuesday – some amazing performances and great sportsmanship (excluding some of the mums and dads who became very competitive and cheated!). Thank you to everyone who came to support their mini-athletes, and a big thank you to Mrs Taylor for all of the hard work behind the scenes.

Summer Fair

Our Summer Fair is on Friday 10 July from 3.20pm. It starts with Reception children performing around the maypole.

One of the competitions that you can enter features some very cute pics of some of the staff in their younger years. For a small fee, you’ll get a list of staff and some photos of lovely wee cherubs. All you need to do is match the angelic faces with the correct staff member. Here’s a sneaky preview at some of the photos:

Key Stage 2 assessments (SATs) results

Yesterday, we received news from the Department for Education about the SATs results:

Schools were due to receive their results on 7 July 2026. However, results will now be available on 16 July 2026.

I appreciate that schools have been waiting for these results and that this delay will be frustrating… The delay relates to the readiness of the system used to make results available to schools. Importantly, this delay is not due to any concerns about the quality of the tests or the accuracy of results.

It certainly is frustrating. we’ll aim to get results to parents and carers as soon as we possibly can.

2026-27 classes

This section is a repeat of an earlier email, in case you missed it…

Your child met their new teacher on Wednesday. Here are the year groups and teachers from September:

• Reception – Mrs Wood (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) and Mr Wilks (Friday)
• Year 1 – Miss Birch
• Year 2 – Miss Newman
• Year 3 – Miss Wilson
• Year 4 – Mrs Wadsworth (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) and Mrs Taylor (Friday)
• Year 5 – Mr McGriffiths
• Year 6 – Miss Goswami

We welcome Mrs Wadsworth who is joining us from Scholes (Elmet) Primary School. Mrs Palmer is going to work at one of the other schools in Sphere Federation. Good luck to Mr Volpe who is moving on to a new job.

If you’ve any questions or concerns, please ask Mrs Weekes.

Junior Warrior

Year 6 children loved Junior Warrior last Friday. They got incredibly muddy! Despite this, we only had a few shoes come off too – what a win.

As always, we hope you have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 26 June 2026

What a week – it’s been incredibly hot. Rest assured, we’ve taken lots of precautions to make sure your child remains happy and healthy and as cool as possible.

This week, we were delighted to welcome a former pupil back to Moortown Primary. Along with his older brother, Kojiro started Moortown Primary in the same year that Mrs Weekes and I joined the school – 2007. He recently returned to Leeds from Japan to undertake a short medical elective at Leeds General Infirmary.

Enterprise event

Our Year 5 and 6 children have been exercising their entrepreneurial skills! Pick your child up from 2.30pm and have a go at the stalls they’ve created.

Sports day – reminders and requests

Moortown Primary’s annual Sports day is on Tuesday, weather-permitting. (Too hot? Too wet? At the time of writing, it looks about right!)

Gazebos: To help shelter children from the sun, if you have a gazebo that you can lend us (and help assemble), it would be greatly appreciated. Staff will be on sight at Roundegians from 7.45am. Use the entrance to the rugby club off Chelwood Drive.

Suncream: Please make sure that your child has suncream applied before school. They should also bring a hat and water bottle. They can also bring cream to reapply at lunchtime.

Start times: KS2 starts at 9.30am; Reception and KS1 starts at 1.30pm.

Walkers: If you’re able to help us to walk the children from school to Roundegians, it would be really helpful. Please be at school from 9.00am for KS2 and from 1pm for Reception and KS1.

Tremendous times tables

Every year across England, children in Year 4 do an online Multiplication Tables Check. Last year, the national average was 21 out of 25. Just over a third (37%) achieved top marks.

At Moortown Primary, our Year 4 pupils have achieved an average of 23.6 out of 25 – way higher than last year’s national average.

Just as impressive, 60% of pupils got top marks – 25 out of 25.

Amazing! Well done to all our Year 4 pupils and thank you for your support at home.

Leeds SEND WhatsApp channel

Leeds has launched a new WhatsApp channel for families to find out more about the Leeds local offer. There’s news about Local Offer developments, SEND service updates and information about events for families. Join the WhatsApp channel here.

Earrings

Last week, we let you know about our updated Uniform Policy, so you’ve plenty of time to start thinking about any changes ready for September. This week, we’d like to focus on just one part of the policy – earrings.

Discreet (small, not brightly coloured) stud earrings are allowed. However, earrings can cause serious injury: imagine a bang against the ear… serious accidents occur as a result of contact between pupils wearing earrings or studs and other pupils or equipment, thus damaging the ear, or where items of jewellery have caught in apparatus and torn the ear lobe.

We expect your child to remove earrings before PE lessons and put them back in after the lesson. This will be carried out by your child. If they’re unable to remove or put their earrings back in by themselves, they must not wear them on the day they have PE.

Please consider the risk of injury during other active times such as an after-school club or class trip.

If you do want to pierce your child’s ears, please do so at the start of the summer holidays so sleepers and studs can be removed in September.

Marvellous mathameticians

Yesterday, some of our Y5 children went to Allerton Grange to take part in their annual  ‘Primary Maths Challenge’.

Humayrah, Aaniyah, Oliver and Raphael represented the school brilliantly. Not only that, they performed so well that they scored higher than all the other primary schools who attended and won the challenge. Amazing job – well done!

Finally this week…

Three of our Y1 friends had a very active weekend last week. They took part in a 2.5K inflatable obstacle course and raised over £500 for St Gemma’s Hospice (one of our previous chosen charities) – well done for thinking of other people!

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 19 June 2026

Well done to all our Year 2 skippers who took part in recent the Year 2 Skipping Festival. Sadly, we weren’t the winning school but we were so pleased to have received so many awards. Read more in the Year 2 Class News.

Thanks to everyone who completed the annual survey. We’ll review the results and update you soon.

Dates for your diary

Here’s an example of how we’ve previously acted on your feedback… In previous annual surveys, you’ve said the earlier you know dates, the better. That’s why we’re busy adding dates for next year into our calendar.

Most of the 2026-27 dates are already there. On rare occasions, we sometimes have to change a date. For next year, we’ve had to move a training day due to a clash out of our control. The training days when school is closed are now:

• Tuesday 01 September 2026 – straight after the summer holiday
• Friday 02 October
• Friday 23 October – just before the October half-term break
• Monday 07 December
• Monday 07 June – just after the Summer half-term

There’s a lot going on as we approach the end of the school year. Please check our calendar for what’s going on.

Uniform update

Another thing we’ve done based on feedback in previous annual surveys… Around this time of year, we review and update our Uniform Policy. This is so you’ve plenty of time to start thinking about any changes ready for September. Please read our updated policy.

The main points haven’t changed:

• Pupils should dress appropriately and respectfully for school (including on non-uniform days)
• All clothing should be clearly labelled
• Avoid expensive items – we don’t accept responsibility for any loss or damage to an individual’s property

Sports Day

This year’s Sports Day takes place on Tuesday 30 June at Roundhegians Rugby Club, LS8 2AT. (If weather conditions mean we have to change the date, the reserve date is Thursday 02 July with the same timings.)

• Key Stage 2 events take place 9.30am-11.30am
• Reception and Key Stage 1 1.30pm-3pm.

Spectators are welcome. Access to Roundhegians Rugby Club is from Chelwood Drive. Please bring your own seating.

We’ll be walking the children to Roundhegians on the day. If you’re able to help accompany the children, please let the office know.

Our teams will be green, blue, white and red. Your child has been told their team. If possible, please could your child wear a t-shirt to wear to match their team colour.

On the day, your child will need their water bottle and a cap/hat at school. It would also be useful if you could apply sun cream before your child comes to school.

Normal lunch time and end of school collection arrangements still apply on this day.

SEND inspection

Yesterday, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission published their Area SEND Inspection report for Leeds. Its inspection outcome is:

There are widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), which the local area partnership must address urgently.

The local authority fully accept the findings and welcome the report as ‘an important and independent assessment of our services and a clear starting point for the next stage of improvement’.

The report identifies areas where the wider system must improve. It does also recognise that important steps are already being taken to strengthen leadership, governance and partnership working.

We know that some parents are unhappy with the support that we’ve provided for their child with SEND. We hope you recognise we’re working in a very challenging context. Locally and nationally, we’re told systems and support will improve.

Summer savings

The Great British Summer Savings scheme starts next week. Running from 25 June to 01 September 2026, its aim is to help families feel a bit less squeezed this summer.

The scheme includes reduced VAT on days out, including tickets at attractions like soft play, adventure centres and theme parks, children’s tickets for theatres and cinemas, and children’s meals in restaurants. Children aged 5 to 15 in England will also be able to travel free on local bus services throughout August.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Our weekly message: Friday 12 June 2026

You’ve still time to complete our parent/carer survey – it closes on Monday at noon. We really want to hear your views, especially about mobile phones in school.

Near the start of each half-term, we like to give you an overview of the topic in Key Stages 1 and 2…

What is this half-term’s topic?

Design and Technology is the driving subject for this half-term. It’s a great topic to finish the year! The focus for all classes this year is textiles (next year, it’s construction). Children will be busy designing and making products using fabric.

A key aspect of the Design and Technology curriculum is the understanding that products don’t just get made. Instead, they go through a design process that includes three key elements: evaluate, design and make. Think of this process as a cycle. For example, Sphere Motors want to create a new family car. Before the car is made, they need to evaluate existing products and talk to customers so that they’re clear about what the new car needs to have. They will then design the car and evaluate those designs. They may make a prototype of the car to help them evaluate the designs. Next, they’ll decide on a final design that will go into production and get made. This finished product will be evaluated and the whole process starts again.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. See page 14 and 15 of the Topic Curriculum Guide.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. See page 14 and 15 of the Topic Curriculum Guide.

Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary that they’ll learn, use and apply across the topic. See page 14 and 15 of the Topic Curriculum Guide.

Years 1 and 2

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a hand puppet. They’ll start by learning about the design process before looking at and evaluating existing hand puppet products. They’ll then learn to use an over stitch and practise threading needles and tying knots. Following this, they’ll be introduced to all the materials they can use to create their puppet. Once they’re familiar with the materials, they’ll design their puppet. Next, it’s on to the making stage. They’ve already honed their sewing skills so they should be confident making and then decorating their puppets according to their designs. Finally, it’s evaluation time: children will compare their designs to their finished products. They’ll reflect on successes and things they’d do differently next time.

Years 3 and 4

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a pouch. The function of this pouch is entirely up to them. It could be used to store some pens, trading cards, a shell collection. Children can be as creative as they like – as long as the pouch can be made using a 20cm² piece of felt!

Before they begin to design their pouch, they’ll learn about a famous designer and how they became a designer. They’ll also learn some important skills that a designer needs to have. Children will then evaluate existing pouches, with a focus on fastenings, and then design their pouch. They’ll practise their sewing skills, becoming proficient using a running stitch. They’ll then begin to make their pouches. First, they’ll create a template which they’ll use to cut out the pieces. Next, they’ll join the pieces using their running stitch and create a fastening for their pouch. Finally, they’ll evaluate their designs by comparing them to their designs, testing whether they’re fit for purpose and reflecting on their successes and areas to improve.

Years 5 and 6

The product the children will be designing, making and evaluating is a cushion. However, before they get stuck into their cushion, they’ll learn about some designers who changed the world. They’ll learn about their creations and their impact and look for things that link the designers. Following this, children will learn about the importance of design criteria when designing a product. After this, they’ll be practising their sewing skills and develop their skills in using a running stitch and possibly a backstitch. Next, they’ll evaluate existing cushions to get inspiration for their designs. They’ll then decide on the specific design criteria for their cushions and create their designs using an annotated sketch, detailing the dimensions of their product. They’ll learn about the importance of using sustainable materials when researching the filling used for their cushion (the plan is to use old, unwanted pieces of fabric to stuff the cushions rather than Polyfill so please have a look through your wardrobe and keep hold of any old t-shirts or other clothes as we’ll need them later in the half-term).

Children will use a template to cut out the shapes, use a running stitch or backstitch to applique decoration to their cushion before finally sewing the pieces together and stuffing them. The final stage is to evaluate the designs against the design criteria.

How can you help?

Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning in class. The Class News page of the school website is a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.

The school library and local libraries will have some books about Design and Technology which your child will be able to borrow and develop both their reading skills and design knowledge.

Finally, there’s a lot of programmes on CBBC and CBeebies with a Design and Technology focus:

• Bitz and Bob
• Grace’s Amazing Machines
• Junk Rescue
• Maddie’s Do You Know?
• The Dengineers

Finally this week…

Two of our Y5 friends visited the Civic Hall to take part in the Leeds Children’s Mayor Summit. As well as learning some sign language and visiting the council chambers, they also met the Lord Mayor and Sienna, the current Leeds Children’s Mayor.

A great day with some very different experiences!

Our weekly message: Friday 05 June 2026

We hope you enjoyed a happy and healthy half-term break, whatever you and your family got up to.

Just before the half-term break, we had our Staying safe themed week. During this, all classes learnt important knowledge around water safety. To emphasise this and in light of recent events in the warmer weather, here are some top tips for keeping children safe around water.

This week’s message continues with a couple of reminders…

Your views matter

There’s still time to complete our whole-school parent/carer survey. This year, as well as questions closely related to what Ofsted might ask, we’re asking a few extra questions about mobile phones – we really want to hear your views.

Complete the Moortown Primary survey here. The closing date is Monday 15 June at noon.

Relationships and Sex Education

In the first three weeks of this half-term, children in Years 1 to 6 are taking part in Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lessons. Please be assured that RSE is delivered at a level appropriate to both the age and development of pupils. Lessons are led by children’s class teacher and take place in a safe learning environment.

Please check out these sections of our RSE policy:

• Section 9 provides a list of the vocabulary that will be used (pages 7 and 8)
• Section 11 includes an overview of the topics that will be covered (page 11 includes a table to show the learning across each year group)

If you’d like to find out more, discuss any concerns, or speak to someone in more detail, please contact your child’s class teacher or Mrs Weekes.

Staying safe on our roads

Sadly, not everyone parks their car safely or respectfully. If you’re aware of an ongoing problem, make your views heard: please report it to Leeds City Council. There are various options, including:

• report a road safety issue
• report a speed concern

Attendance matters

The national attendance rate for primary schools is 94.9%. Moortown Primary’s attendance rate is 96.3%, well above the national figure. Thank you for helping to make sure your child is in school as much as possible.

Our weekly message: Thursday 21 May 2026

This week’s message is a day earlier because of the training day tomorrow.

Your views matter

Every year, we invite you to complete a short survey. Your views matter. They help to shape what we do in the forthcoming year(s).

This year’s survey features a series of questions closely related to what Ofsted might ask parents during an inspection. Towards the end, we’re asking just a few extra questions about mobile phones – we really want to hear your views.

Complete the Moortown Primary survey here. We’ll send a few reminders before the closing date, which is Monday 15 June at noon.

It’s worth bearing in mind that if you raise in the survey something very specific that needs to be addressed, we can’t easily act on this without your child’s name. In fact, the survey isn’t the best place to raise individual, specific concerns – hopefully, you’re comfortable to speak with your child’s class teacher or Mrs Weekes about these instead.

You said, we did

Last year, you told us you’d like food offered at breakfast club. We now offer breakfast (non-sugary cereals; toast or crumpets; yoghurts; fruit). Linked with this, we’ve extended times in breakfast club: we now start half an hour earlier in the morning. This change has been welcomed by parents and wraparound care is well attended.

Last year, some of you also expressed some concern around some of the food served at wraparound care. A school leader has now attended training about food standards and the offer of food is gradually changing over time, with more nutritional snacks offered.

Last year, you told us you’d like children to use The Green more often. We now have a Trim Trail (courtesy of PTA) to create different experiences in that area. The introduction of Forest School has also expanded ways that the children can explore the outdoors and has given more opportunities for play without structured equipment eg building dens; rope swing.

School meals prices

To enable Catering Leeds (our school meal service provider) to ensure the financial sustainability of the service, we’ve been informed that, unfortunately, school meal prices are going to increase from September. The increase in prices is to cover rising food costs and increased labour rates for all frontline catering staff.

From September, the price of a school meal for children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be £3.20 per day. (Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will continue to receive Universal Infant Free School Meals.)

As you’ll no doubt have heard in the news, school budgets are becoming increasingly tight. We have no choice but to pass on the cost increases to parents/carers, to ensure we have as much money as possible for teaching, learning and providing a varied curriculum for our children.

Relationships and Sex Education

Nationally, all primary schools are required by law to teach Relationships Education and Health Education. In Sphere Federation schools, we’ve provided RSE lessons successfully as part of Living and Learning for many years.

In the first three weeks of Summer 2, children from Year 1 to Year 6 will take part in Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lessons. Please be assured that RSE is delivered at a level appropriate to both the age and development of pupils. Lessons are led by children’s class teacher and take place in a safe learning environment.

In the latest update to the statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education, we welcome the inclusion of correct terminology for body parts, including genitalia. This reflects established best practice when it comes to giving children the knowledge they need to stay safe, including the ability to identify and report signs of abuse. We’ve been teaching the anatomical names for body parts for many years.

We refer you to these sections of our RSE policy:

• Section 9 provides alist of the vocabulary that will be used (pages 7 and 8)
• Section 11 includes anoverview of the topics that will be covered (page 11 includesa table to show the learning across each year group)

We know that you may have some issues / concerns. If you’d like to find out more, discuss any concerns, or speak to someone in more detail about the teaching and learning planned for this important aspect of your child’s education, please contact your child’s class teacher or Mrs Weekes.

Similarly, you have the right to request that your child be withdrawn from some or all of the lessons that can be regarded as ‘sex education’. For our school, this comprises lessons in Year 6 on what human reproduction is and how babies grow. Please see the government’s factual guide to RSE for parents: Understanding Relationships and Health Education in your child’s primary school: a guide for parents. If you wish to withdraw your Year 6 child from RSE, please contact Mrs Weekes to discuss the matter. (See page 6 of the RSE policy for more information about your right to withdraw your child.)

We’re committed to working in partnership with parents. Parental feedback indicates that the overwhelming majority of parents are highly supportive of our Relationships and Sex Education programme.

Staying safe

This week has been our Staying Safe themed week in school.

The Junior Leadership Team were busy on Monday making sure The Green is safe. They looked at all the different areas with Mrs Weekes and created a risk assessment so that The Green can be used safely by everyone. They then tested the trim trail to make sure it was safe!

One of the most important ways to help your child stay safe is when they’re online. Gov.uk has a site dedicated to online safety for children. Find practical information from trusted places to help you feel more confident on the steps you can take to protect your child online.

Have a happy and healthy half-term.

Our weekly message: Friday 15 May 2026

First this week, a big well done to our Year 6 pupils. This week has been SATs week. It can be a tough week, but the children have approached the week with a happy and healthy attitude. 

Next week…

It’s World Baking Day on Sunday. Celebrate by baking and bringing your treats into school for a PTA Bake Sale on Monday 18 May.

It’s our Staying Safe themed week. Due to the rising costs of visitors to school, we’re asking for a voluntary contribution of £2 per pupil to go towards paying for visitors. This can be made on Arbor. Thank you for your support with this.

Talking about staying safe…

Does your child have a squishy, squashy toy?

We’ve heard of reports that children and young people are microwaving squishy silicone toys after seeing online videos claiming this makes the toys softer and more pliable. When the toy is squeezed afterwards, it can burst and spray boiling material – this can lead to children’s hands and faces being seriously burned.

We’ve two pieces of advice…

• Obviously, don’t allow your child to use a microwave to heat up any toys like this.
• Make sure you supervise your child if they’re online so you can review messages such as this one.

Are you struggling to get your child to see a dentist?

The Leeds Dental Institute Student Clinic has introduced a scheme in which they’re accepting parental referrals for children to receive a course of treatment. This means they’re able to offer appointments to children on
a first-come first-served basis. (It’s not intended for emergency treatment.)

Find out more and access the referral form.

The Big Future

It is the Children’s Commissioner’s role to promote the views and interests of children in England. To build on two previous surveys (The Big Ask and The Big Ambition), she’s launched her final survey: The Big Future.

I am asking children about the changes they want to see in their communities, their biggest concerns, and their hopes for the future. More than anything, I want to know what they think a good childhood should look like today.

Your child can complete the survey here.

Family hub support

Family hubs are support families by bringing together a range of services into one easy-to-access space. Whether you need parenting advice, health support, education guidance, or help navigating local services, family hubs might be able to help.

You can drop in during opening hours or contact your nearest family hub to schedule an appointment. Some services may require booking in advance, so it’s best to call ahead if you need a specific service.

Call 0113 535 0185 or email family.hubs@leeds.gov.uk to find out more.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.