Monday 5th September 2022

Friday 18th November 2022

Tuesday 3rd January 2023

Monday 24th July 2023

Tuesday 25th July 2023

We are currently looking to recruit some members of staff to join our lunchtime supervisor team. The hours are 11.45am - 1.15pm, Monday-Friday and will commence from September. If you are interested in applying for this role, please email megan.copsey@stoswaldsleeds.org for more information and an application form. 

Over the past year, we have been very pleased with how our new Celebration Assembly has worked. It is a really lovely part of the week where we come together as a school to recognise each other’s achievements.

We made the decision as a staff team at the beginning of the year to not individually invite parents to Celebration Assembly. We have discussed and debated this many times as a team. It is something that we have had a lot of feedback from parents and carers about.

Many of you, over the past year, have voiced your disappointment that you no longer receive a personal invitation to the Friday morning assembly if your child is due to be awarded ‘Star of the Week’.

After continued consideration, we have decided that from next week we will begin notifying you when your child is due to receive the award. We will notify you on a Thursday afternoon via text message.

We still extend our invitation to all families each Friday morning to attend Celebration Assembly, and it is certainly more special to all of us when we have many families there.

We still believe in the reasons why we chose to do things differently with the assembly this year. However, we also want to listen to the voice of our parents and over the course of the year so many of you have come to speak with us about how you preferred the previous system of school letting you know in advance.

We ask that when we do inform you about the award on a Thursday afternoon that you keep the news from your child. We think the way we announce it for the children is one of the reasons it is a special moment of the week and would like to keep the element of surprise; thank you for your support with this.

Obviously, there will still be many of you who can never attend the assembly due to work commitments, but it is our hope and understanding that more of you would be able to make Celebration Assembly when you know in advance that your child is the recipient of an award.

Thrive 

As we begin our Thrive journey at St. Oswald's, an important part of embedding Thrive is having a space where every child can go to focus on their wellbeing if they need it.

Upon our return to school after half term, each class will be going into our fantastic Thrive Room. The Thrive Room is used regularly by many children across school, either on a 1-1 basis or in small groups, however Thrive is for everyone and these class visits to Thrive will further advertise its purpose to all children.

The Thrive Room includes a music area, soft sofa area, sensory zone, creative space and is a place where many children love to be. Miss Longworth and Mrs Batty have both completed their Thrive Practitioner training and are already making fantastic use of the room. The rest of the staff in school have also completed Thrive training and we feel that it is important for all classes along with their teacher to use the space, and for all children to know that they can use if they need it. 

Whilst in the Thrive Room children will complete an activity that focuses on wellbeing. This may be an art project, creative writing, yoga, storytelling, guided meditation or suchlike. We are excited for the children to enjoy this time with their teachers and peers in this fantastic space. 

If you would like to find out more about Thrive, visit the website https://www.thriveapproach.com/

St. Oswald’s C of E Primary School’s Governing Body is proposing a change the age range of our school from 4-11 years to 2-11 years, to enable our school’s Out of School Care Provision to care for pre-school children who attend Kangaroo Kids Pre-school at St. Oswald’s school site during the day.

This change in age range requires a non-statutory process as set out in the Department for Education’s statutory guidance.  In line with this guidance, we are consulting with parents /carers and other interested parties, including local schools and nurseries over a 4 week formal consultation period.

Details of this proposal have been published our website - St. Oswald's - Consultation on age range change

The formal consultation period starts on Monday 28 February 2022 and will run until 4pm on Monday 28 March 2022. During this period anyone can comment on or object to the proposal to lower the school’s age range from 18 April 2022.

If anyone wishes to comment on or object to the proposal they can do this by emailing consultation@stoswaldsleeds.org or by writing to the Governing Body c/o of Natasha Conway, School Business Manager, St. Oswald’s C of E Primary School, The Green, Leeds, LS2- 9BT.  Responses should reach us by 4pm on Monday 28 March 2022 in order to be counted.

Please can we remind you that we can only administer medication to children in school when it is prescribed by the GP.  You must complete a ‘Parent Agreement to Administer Medicine’ form and the medication must be handed to the staff in the office – in a secure and labelled container as originally dispensed. Each item of medication must be clearly labelled with the following information: Pupil’s name, name of medication, dosage, frequency of administration, date of dispensing, storage requirements (if important) and expiry date.  Please see our medical policy on our school website for more information.

We are looking forward to using Seesaw in a slightly different way this term. The Seesaw Parent App allows you to receive regular updates from school about your child’s learning. It acts as a secure online journal where children and staff can document and share learning moments and also, as part of our new approach to teaching children metacognition in school, children can reflect on what they are learning in class and record this on the App. Your child is able to add the things we work on (including photos, videos, worksheets, drawings and voice recordings) to their Seesaw journal and we can share them privately with you and other family members to view and comment on throughout the school year. We hope that you enjoy using the App. Please speak to your child's class teacher if you require any support with it.

It is my highest priority to ensure the safety of all the children and staff involved at St Oswald’s School. Our policy with regards to children and mobile phones seeks to minimise the number of such devices in the school. There are various reasons for this, including distraction from learning, but the key reason is a safeguarding one. Most mobiles available now have cameras and internet connectivity. This leaves open the possibility that images could be taken without a child’s consent and then uploaded to the internet. For this reason it is essential that the following policy is adhered to:

• No child is allowed to have a mobile phone in their possession during the school day.

• A child must only bring a mobile into school if they have written permission to walk home from school and might so need it to ensure their safety

• In this instance the child must hand the phone in to the class teacher at the start of the day and collect it at the end of the day.

• No child is allowed to take any image or video with a mobile phone at any time whilst on school property.

• Any photo or video of a St Oswald’s pupil or staff member, wherever it was taken, uploaded onto any internet site without their permission will be dealt with as a very serious disciplinary matter.

I would emphasise that I am not mentioning this now because it is perceived to be a significant problem at school. I feel this proactive clarification of our position will help us prevent the issues that do occur in other educational establishments.  

On a broader note, though we do regularly cover the area of internet safety and sensible behaviour online, it is always useful when parents also promote these ideas with their children. It is very advisable for parents to be aware of and to monitor the online activity of their children to ensure that they are as safe as possible in their engagement with the virtual world.

Due to some of our children in school having nut allergies, school are going to promote a nut free environment.  We would be extremely grateful if you could ensure that all children do not bring food items containing nut into school.  We thank you for your support with this!

If you are unable to pick your child up at the end of the day and need to ask a friend or member of your family to collect them, please can you ensure that you advise the class teacher or school office and give them clear instructions to enable us to identify this person accurately.