Headteacher blog 22nd May 2026

Summer has finally arrived at the end of this week – just in time for a long weekend and half term. I hope that everyone has a great break. Anyone booking a festival, camping trip or wedding this weekend has hit the jackpot!

On Wednesday, I spent the morning with our school improvement advisor and senior leadership team looking at writing from Reception to Year 6. It was great to see the progress and the standards. Year 1 is a special year: flicking through books from September to the summer term shows ‘lift off’ in terms of writing skills and stamina.

Wednesday afternoon was more sobering as I was called as a headteacher rep to a meeting of very senior council officers looking at school finances and deficit budgets. Leeds as a whole faces challenges around the costs of surplus places and the expense of meeting special needs. It is very difficult to balance a school’s budget nowadays, even when a school is almost full as we currently are.

On Tuesday night well over 50 children from Y5 and Y6 attended Bradford Alhambra for the final performance in this year’s Show Time Club. The children really enjoyed ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ which also happens to be a Y4 set text. Show Time is an important part of our school’s enrichment programme and I hope we can put an exciting plan together for next year too. (Many thanks to the staff volunteers that give up their time to make Show Time happen.)