Headteacher’s blog 4th October 2024

We had our first governors’ sub-committee of the new academic year this week looking at Teaching and Learning in school. Standards were strong in statutory assessments across the school in the summer, especially in Y6 at the ‘Greater Depth’ levels. Subject leader reports were also considered: showcasing a rich curriculum across the school.

The rich curriculum was evident in Y5 this week as they marked their ancient Greece day in wonderful costumes. Thank you to families for their support with this – the highlight was perhaps a wheelchair turned into a chariot! Not many schools can match the home-grown grape pressing that was one small part of the day.

This week we had our first competitive league football match of the season, with our Y5s getting a big win away at Beecroft. Our team looked smart in a new yellow kit. We remain the only primary school in the Pudsey/Farsley/Calverley area that has competitive football teams which is a real shame.

On Thursday evening I chaired the Leeds School Forum. The meeting was dominated by huge overspends projected on what is called the High Needs Block (SEND). Demand is rocketing and Leeds doesn’t have enough specialist places. This, in turn, means more and more children are remaining in mainstream when specialist provision is more appropriate, and many more children and young people are being placed in eye-wateringly expensive out of area independent settings. The current situation is simply not sustainable. It does also raise the very difficult issue of why there are so many more children nowadays with very significant SEND including neurodiversity and social and emotional mental health concerns.