SCHOOL LIFE

Low Road opens EYFS playground extension

by Stewart Walton

Ihad the pleasure of attending Low Road Primary School to mark the new EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) Extension to the playground area on 27 May.

As a very proud community representative I have passed the school gates thousands of times but had never been beyond the school gates and the big green fence surrounding the school. So when I received an invite to witness a school assembly and then attend the grand opening of the new amendments I was overjoyed and impressed by what I found. I never cease to be amazed at the community spirit within my area but to find it goes beyond the gates of Low Road Primary School impresses me a great deal.

The assembly was themed around the Queen‘s Platinum Jubilee and as you would expect from a music Federation School such as Low Road there was plenty of music. The school anthem was impressive to say the least and the enthusiasm by the teachers and the pupils was wonderful to see. I was joined by Cllr Paul Wray and we were both nearly in tears.

Later we were invited to view the new EYFS improvements; mostly done by the caretaking team, Executive Headteacher Andy Gamble and Federation Headteacher Rachael Troughton who were both very keen to praise the caretakers hard work. There were new plants, flower filled borders, extensions to the children’s play areas, mud kitchens, a reading area, even a throne fit for a Queen was in place. All these made possible by a number of community contributions - it was clear to see that the children had full priority. It was amazing to spend even an hour with these inspirational people.

Inside the school there are many areas for soft play, every corner is utilised, covered in soft lights. We even passed a teacher using Google to find calm music. Beanbags a-plenty and corners used, plenty of activities for the children to use their imagination.

As Hunslet TARA Chair I felt so proud to feel that this school represents so many of our children.

Cllr Wray commented:

“It was wonderful to visit to Low Road Primary School in Hunslet. The new play area the school has built for its pupils is amazing. The fact it was also the staff who built it equally so. I also had the pleasure of watching a school assembly and I have to say that the positive energy emanating from both staff and the children was contagious.”

Staff and guests admire the new play facilities at Low Road Primary School School gets builder’s cash for wildlife garden expansion

Awildlife garden at a South Leeds school is set to flourish following a £1,000 donation from a housebuilder.

The Stephen Longfellow Academy has created a biodiversity garden complete with a bee colony and vegetable patch and plans to expand its green space with the funds received from the Persimmon Homes Community Champions scheme.

The Stephen Longfellow Academy provides primary and secondary education in Beeston to students who are not functioning effectively in mainstream education.

Ayrton Sharp, Key Stage 3 Teacher from the Academy said:

“Persimmon Homes’ generous donation will enable us to expand our biodiversity garden.

“We plan to encourage more wildlife to the area, creating greater opportunities to educate our students on their natural surroundings.

“Our main project will be to restore our current pond. We also want to encourage more wildlife to the garden and plan to install bird boxes, bug hotels and animal dens.

“Our next goal is to coordinate trips to other nature reserves to help expand our students’ knowledge and to understand the positive impact they can make to their natural environment.”

Under The Persimmon Homes Community Champions scheme, the West Yorkshire regional business provides financial support of up to £1,000 to two local charities or good causes, every month.

For more information or to apply for Community Champions funding, visit www. persimmonhomes.com/charity

To follow the developments of the biodiversity garden, visit stephenlongfellow.leeds.sch.uk or @TSLA_Leeds on Twitter. Dragos Abalasi, a Year 11 student at Cockburn John Charles Academy has had is photographic artwork accepted to be shown at The Royal Academy in London this summer.

His art teacher Jessica Crawford has been entering pieces for the Royal Academy’s Young Artists’ Summer Show for several years. But with over 21,000 submissions, it seemed unlikely that anyone from Belle Isle would be chosen.

Dragos’s artwork will not only be shown in the larger online exhibition, but will be physically exhibited at the gallery in Piccadilly. He and his family have also been invited to a special private showing, ahead of the exhibition opening to the public.

Dragos seemed genuinely shocked when his achievement was announced in school assembly. Afterwards I asked him about his piece ‘Surface’.

“It’s a photographic collage” he explained. “I spent three hours walking around the White Rose Shopping Centre looking for surfaces that were decaying, breaking down and took photos of them. Then I played around with them in Photoshop. It wasn’t really working with straight lines, so I made them wavy and it came together.”

‘Surface’ is one of his GCSE exam pieces and Dragos is hoping for a high mark. He’s also hoping to take some of the skills he’s developed into A Level studies with either Design Technology or Graphic Communication.

Jessica Crawford, Subject Lead of Art, Craft and Design, commented: "We are extremely proud of Dragos and his winning submission to the Young Artist Summer Show 2022.

“To be in the top 1.5% of submissions in the country is a huge achievement and a great reward for Dragos after 3 years of hard work in his GCSE Photography.

“The project title was ‘texture’, and you can see in the final piece that Dragos truly encapsulated the brief, you can really feel the textures in this image.

“We are looking forward to hearing all about his trip to see the exhibition in London in the summer."

If you can’t get to London to see the physical exhibition, you see the online exhibition at: youngartists.royalacademy.org .uk from 19 July.

From Cockburn John Cha Academy to The Royal Ac

by Jeremy Morton

Jessica Crawford and Dragos Abalasi with his submission ‘Surface’

arles cademy Inspirational Educator Award for Belle Isle Headteacher

by Jeremy Morton

Andy Gamble, the Executive Headteacher of the Low Road and Windmill Music Federation has been recognised as an ‘Inspirational Educator for Music Education’ by the Worshipful Company of Educators.

Andy received the prestigious national award at a black-tie ceremony at the Plaisterers Hall in the City of London at the end of April. Part of the citation reads:

“Andrew has a passionate belief in the power of music making to enhance the whole curriculum. He believes that, at its best, learning to perform a musical instrument proficiently not only develops skills of dexterity and the ability to read and understand an abstract language, but enhances concentration, develops patience and resilience, raises self-esteem and how to cope with setbacks. It is learnt in a social and co-operative environment that requires respect of and dependence on others. These attributes are valuable to all subjects in the curriculum.”

Ten years ago the schools became the first in the country to partner with Opera North for their In Harmony programme. This involves the whole school, pupils and staff, learning an instrument and singing. And readers may remember that pupils from the schools reached the semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent in 2020, working with contemporary company Class Dynamix. Music is truly embedded into school life.

I caught up with Andy at Windmill Primary School in Belle Isle to ask him about the award. He greeted me in jeans and polo shirts rather than his usual suit, as he had come straight from working on the new garden at Low Road. Andy is nothing if not hands on.

He tells me how important music is to the two schools, down to the rebranding he oversaw when he took over as Headteacher, having been on the staff at Windmill for over twenty years. He describes it as a “Unifying thread through our curriculum.” But he explained:

“It’s not because we want the kids to be amazing musicians at the end of the day, that’s a biproduct, but the skills that they’re learning through learning an instrument, learning to sing and having the exposure, for us it’s about self-confidence, it’s about camaraderie, teamwork, social etiquette, learning to take turns, and learning the formalities of growing into a rounded citizen of the future. Hopefully a citizen that will remain in Leeds, in Belle Isle and Hunslet and go onto greater things.”

Results, measured via SATs tests, have risen over recent years. Children at both schools have a low starting point compared with children nationally, but the schools had some of the highest progress scores in Yorkshire in the last publish results in 2019. But Andy is cautious about putting that down to the music.

“I don’t think you can attribute this success to the music directly” he said. “I think it’s the culture of the schools. As educators we have to get the results, but we have to have a balanced curriculum. We’ve put most of our eggs in the music basket, but not at the expense of science or geography or history.”

I asked Andy if he thought music had helped the children cope with the pandemic and the mental health issues many have faced. He said thought it probably had, but had no direct evidence.

Then he told me of an experience a few years ago. A child who was in a very difficult situation at home and struggled with his behaviour in school and would occasionally ‘kick off’. On one occasion Andy was called to help after he had stormed out of his classroom. Andy eventually found him in the toilets, he had collected his violin and was playing it, quite angrily. He was lashing out on the instrument rather than knocking books off shelves or kicking chairs over. He had chosen that as an avenue to get rid of his fury.

“That opened my eyes to the fact that you can reach people with music in a different way. So many children coming into school from different countries and music is an international language, so on day one even if they don’t have a word of English they can join in with the music and we can bond.”

The award was made to Andy personally, but he is clear that it reflects on the whole community and he’s very proud of that.

“For Belle Isle and Hunslet to have a flagship, recognised, curriculum speaks volumes about the dedication of the community, the staff and the children who live and work in this community and their alliance to the vision of what we’re trying to achieve.” The Eco Committee at Clapgate Primary School have been working hard to make their school environment a greener space.

We visited the school to have a chat with the children who are from year groups five and six. The children were eager to share with us what they had been doing. The children were overtly proud of their achievements and excited by the changes they were impementing across their school.

It was refreshing to see young children taking accountability for the environment and also for the younger pupils in the school, acting as role models and correcting actions when needed.

The children had some very interesting facts to share after a trip to Yorkshire Water, including that there are twelve different

types of bacteria in our water before it is cleaned. To follow up from this the children are holding an assembly to share tips with the other pupils on how they can all save on water usage. The Eco Committee have made several changes to their daily school routines and their focus on saving energy, water and food waste is already having a big impact. The committee are ensuring that all lights and white boards are switched off regularly and not left on after leaving a classroom.

The school also composts its food waste and this is used on their allotment. This massively reduces the amount of waste the school ships to landfil each week.

When we asked the pupils questions about why making the school greener was important to them they were all clearly passionate about making their school as environmentally friendly as possible. The children mentioned the chickens the school has, the impact of reducing waste and the financial benefits of being more aware of energy expenditure.

Thanks to the hard work of these pupils and their teacher Miss O'Connell the school is now in the process of applying for the Green Flag Award, and I don't think that we can argue that their efforts here are more than admirable.

The Eco Committee are even going as far as to look at how the school communicates and conveys information to parents. We spoke to Mia one of the pupils on the Eco Committee, she talked about the eco newsletter they are launching. This will include tips on how to reduce energy, water and food waste. It will then be emailed to parents to save on paper waste and printing costs.

Andy Gamble, Executive Headteacher of the Low Road and Windmill Music Federation

Meet Clapgate’s Eco Committee

by Jade Belton & James Inge

Pupils from Clapgate visited Yorkshire Water