Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we were thinking about the importance of having a positive attitude and having a go, even when we are facing a challenge or finding something tricky.

Today I am going to share a true story about someone who is truly inspirational in how his positive attitude and ‘can-do’ attitude in dealing with massive disappointment and frustration helped him to overcome a terrible injury and succeed.

Richard Parks is a former professional rugby union player who spent 13 years playing for clubs in Wales and France. He also achieved the highest accolade for any sporting person by being selected to play for his home nation, Wales.

Richard was passionate about his sport and pushed himself hard, both in training and on the pitch during every game. However, whilst playing for his club, he sustained an injury. Those of us who play and enjoy sport know how wonderful it is to be able to compete, and the inability to play sport due to injury can be hard to bear. Richard took a short time out of the game whilst he underwent treatment, but by continuing to play he caused irreversible damage.

After undergoing a number of operations he was forced to retire from rugby. You can imagine how hard that was for Richard. He was a man with energy and strength, but suddenly his rugby career was at an end.

However, Richard Parks didn’t give up. In fact, he overcame the dreadful disappointment of coming to the end of his rugby career much too early and went on to do some highly significant things!  Have a listen to him, and see if you can pick out some inspirational comments…..

What an amazing achievement – to make history twice. Firstly, he undertook an expedition called the 737 Challenge..

Richard became the first person ever to achieve this feat. More recently, he became the fastest-ever British person to ski unsupported and unassisted to the South Pole.  These achievements are wonderful in themselves, but what makes them even better is that Richard has been able to raise thousands of pounds for charity through his actions. His 737 Challenge raised over £326,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. He also raised awareness of the charity to the value of £3 million worth of advertising. Richard certainly turned the disappointment he felt at the end of his rugby career into an opportunity to help others.

In the video clip I couldn’t help but pick out the following phrases:-

“Horizon is only limited by sight” – Richard’s horizons were certainly not limited after his accident – he achieved so much because of his positive attitude; despite his anger, frustration and disappointment in not being able to play competitive rugby any more, he persevered and overcame these negative emotions, and found a new challenge – a new goal!

“We all have challenges – all challenges are different – we all have our mountains to climb” – we do!  Many of us might be finding the current lockdown particularly challenging, we might be missing school, our friends, we might find it hard to concentrate at home and are missing ‘normal’ life.  I think Richard teaches us that the only way to succeed is by thinking positively, and finding our own way forward.

“The concept of not giving up – concept of perseverance” – yesterday we enjoyed a song with the words “I have a go!” in them – which means not giving up, but persevering – I wonder what would have happened if Richard Parks had given up and not had a go?!

At some time in our lives, each of us will experience disappointment. How we deal with disappointment is an individual thing, but being able to turn a negative feeling into a positive action is a wonderful way to respond.

Enjoy the “Growth Mindset Song” again – and make sure you listen to the words – they are really important!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Help us to support each other within our community, to use our skills and talents in a positive way to help others, whether it be through charitable deeds or kind words of encouragement.
Help us to find our own personal ways of turning negative experiences into positive outcomes.
Amen.

We have some exciting news that we have been keeping up our sleeves, but we now need YOUR help!

We are wanting to add some colour and brighten up the exterior of the school, and have arranged for a local artist to create a stunning external mural on the external wall on the school hall wall – so everyone who arrives at the school can see it!  At the moment the area is a bit flat!

The artist is Rory McCann – you can see his work on his website here.

We would like the mural to pictorially represent our School Vision:

We very much want the children to have an input into the art work, and as we are operating remotely at the moment we need EVERYONE’s help!  Rory has asked if children could do the following:

• Class 1 and 2 children: To write a sentence describing what they love about their local area. (If they prefer to draw their idea they can!)
• Class 3 and 4 children: To write a sentence describing something that excites them about the wider world and wider universe. 
• Year 6 children: Come up with an ambition: ideally this could be described with a single word (e.g ‘artist’ if they wanted to be an artist), but if it needs to be a few words, that’s fine.

Remember that our school vision incorporates our Christian Values, along with our motto: ASPIRE BELIEVE PERSEVERE SUCCEED and our Mission Statement is “We are a Learning Community that nurtures and empowers everyone to be the best that they can be”.

So get your thinking hats on, be creative and thoughtful and get involved – we want this fantastic project to involve all the children in the school!

We need these ideas in by Friday 12th February as Rory will be starting his artwork on 15th March – so we will all be able to see the mural developing as we hopefully return to school. Please email the sentences to admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk

This is YOUR opportunity to be involved in making the school look truly amazing as you approach it, with a stunning piece of artwork that represents our Vision  – please, please get involved!

Following the success of last week’s Pet Show & Tell, and appreciating how important it is for children to be able to have some form of social contact, we are holding a Whole School Show & Tell session on Monday 1st February at 1pm.

The theme will be “My Favourite Toy” and children are welcome to show and talk about the toy they like the most – the toy can be anything from a teddy bear to a train set, or an X-Box to a dolls house – whatever they like!  They could share why they like it, how often they play with it, where they got it – absolutely anything at all – or children can just join to listen and watch!  The purpose is to provide all children with the opportunity to see their classmates and friends and interact – virtually!

The link will be emailled out on Monday morning to parents’ email addresses, and we have certain guidelines that we ask you to follow to help make the session work smoothly –

• You ‘join’ the meeting in plenty of time, as with the numbers potentially being large it may not be possible to admit latecomers.
• Please ensure children are dressed and not in pyjamas.
• You select mute on joining the meeting.
• Miss Relph will be hosting the session and will manage the ‘show and telling’.
• Children will be invited to ‘show’ their toy and tell us some information about it. If there are a large number of participants we will have to limit the amount of information shared.
• To volunteer to speak we ask that parents select the ‘raise hand’ symbol on the icon bar, and then to de-select once your child has spoken.

It worked really well with the Pet Show & Tell – as long as everyone was on mute until invited to unmute!

If you haven’t used Microsoft Teams before – it is really easy to use and I have attached some simple instructions here.

Guidance on Microsoft Teams

Protocol and Communicating on Microsoft Teams

Good Morning Brown Clee!

I’ve got a question for you this morning – Do you know what a logo is?  Can you think of one and describe it?

Here are some pictures of logos – see if you can work out what each image represents?

…..England Football Club

….McDonalds

The Union Jack – Great Britain

…Christianity

…..Brown Clee School!!!!

When people wear branded clothing or school uniform, they are automatically showing their support for that brand or school. Some football fans are so loyal to their team that they would never wear the colours of a rival team. Some people are so against certain products that they would boycott going to a shop that sold that product. The term ‘loyalty’ is defined as ‘a strong feeling of support or allegiance’.

Have a think about those qualities that you are looking for in a good friend….

….Have any of you included the quality of loyalty.  Loyalty means having a strong sense of support, allegiance or faith in someone.

In the Bible, we read the story of Daniel. Daniel is a man who remained loyal to God even when he got in trouble for it. He thought that it was more important to follow his belief in God than to bow down to what other people said, even the king.

Loyalty is a good characteristic to have. If we have loyal friends, we are very fortunate.

Let’s pause to think about how we can show loyalty to people today.

Our father lyrics

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you for the example of loyalty that we see in Daniel.
Please help us to be willing to stand up for what is right.
Help us to think about the needs of others.
Please help us to be people full of love for others.
Help us to be loyal friends.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

This week we have been thinking about the importance of positive thinking, and trying to ensure that even when things go wrong or seem tough, being patient and persevering with optimism.

Having a positive mindset can mean that we have faith that things will work out ok; that we believe that despite problems or challenges, we can overcome them and succeed.

Faith is a word we hear a lot about in the Bible, and it is a word that can be quite tricky to explain.  Have a watch and listen to this video and see what it makes you think about…

So having faith means that you can put your trust into someone or something. Have a think about who you trust and why do you trust them? What qualities do they have? What is it about them that makes you have faith in them?  Have a moment and think how they make you feel….do they make you feel positive about yourself and give you hope?

You are wonderful lyrics

Prayer of the Day

Dear Lord,
We know that life can have its ups and downs.
Thank you for the many good things in our lives.
Please remind us to seek help in the hard times.
Please help us to also share our happiness with other people.
Thank you that you are with us in both the good and bad times.
Amen.

Following the success of yesterday’s Pet Show & Tell session, and seeing how much everyone enjoyed spending some time together and seeing each other, we have decided to hold a Show & Tell session weekly as we think it is so important to try and give children some ‘social’ contact.

Therefore next Monday, 1st February, at 1pm we will hold another Microsoft Teams Show and Tell Session, where children can share their favourite toy.  They can describe it, talk about why they like it, how long they’ve had it, anything at all!  Or children can just join to watch and listen – there is no compulsion to speak!

The link will go out next Monday morning via email.

Protocol and Communicating on Microsoft Teams

Lola has sent through some photos and information of her pets as she was unable to attend the Show and Tell session yesterday – here they are…

Her pets are…Ember her Doberman

Ziva her cat

and Gizmo our leopard gecko who is shedding her skin in the photo. She does this regularly when she’s growing, she eats locusts and she has to stay very warm…

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for our first ever whole school Pet Show and Tell this afternoon!  It was so lovely seeing everyone and listening to you talk about your lovely pets – we had lots of dogs and cats, a mouse and rabbit, and even some tortoises and pigs!

There were some children who couldn’t make it this afternoon but who sent some photos in to share instead – here they are….

I will have a think what we can do next week, as it was so nice for the children to see and hear each other – so watch this space!

We are holding a ‘live’ Pet Show and Tell session on Microsoft Teams on Monday 25th January at 1pm.  All children are welcome to join (with or without a pet), and all children do need a parent to attend with them.

In order for the session to work as smoothly as possible we kindly ask that:-

• You ‘join’ the meeting in plenty of time, as with the numbers potentially being large it may not be possible to admit latecomers.
• Please ensure children are dressed and not in pyjamas.
• You select mute on joining the meeting.
• Miss Relph will be hosting the session and will manage the ‘show and telling’.
• Children will be invited to ‘show’ their pet (either in the flesh or in a picture) and tell us some information about it. If there are a large number of participants we will have to limit the amount of information shared.
• To volunteer to speak we ask that parents select the ‘raise hand’ symbol on the icon bar, and then to de-select once your child has spoken.

Please be patient with us – we have never done this before and have no idea how it will work – but we know how important it is for the children to see each other in a social context.

Please read the following Protocol and Communicating on Microsoft Teams document prior to the session.

Protocol and Communicating on Microsoft Teams

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Did you spot all the different fruits on the trees yesterday?  Some were quite tricky!  Can you remember the words that we shared about the qualities that would make someone a good friend?  There were 9! …………..

Here they are! 

Today I would like to think about one of these words – Patience – and what it means and why it is so important to be patient, especially if you want to be a good friend.

The Oxford Learners’ Dictionary defines patience as “the ability to stay calm and accept a delay or something annoying without complaining”.  Hmmmmm…..I wonder how many of us could put their hands up and say that they have never got annoyed when something was delayed, or we have had to wait for something that we were looking forwards to?  I don’t think I can if I am honest!  Have a think about a time when maybe you got niggled or annoyed because something wasn’t happening as quickly as you would like it.  Maybe you were hungry and you were having to wait for your tea?  Or you have asked a friend to do something and they took a long time? Have you ever asked someone to hurry up!?  This is called impatience – the opposite of patience.

Today I’d like you to think about the feelings that impatience can cause you to feel – irritated, angry, cross, upset, frustrated, niggled – I wonder which Zone of Regulation they would be in?  Can you think? 

I think if I was feeling impatient I would definitely be in the Yellow Zone. From our work in school we know that the yellow zone is not a good zone for us to be in when we are trying to learn.  Do you think it is a good zone to be in if you want to be a good friend?

Patience is a difficult skill to learn – and it does have to be learnt as it doesn’t happen automatically!  As we go through this week we will think more about the impact of impatience on our friends and ourselves, and also how we can learn to be more patient, and the benefits that patience can bring.

Enjoy this short video (younger children will need a reader!) and then discuss…

I wonder what you would do if given 3 kernels of corn……..

Have a moment to reflect…think about how important it is to be patient, to take your time and not rush, and more importantly to be patient with our friends and family….to appreciate that we all do things differently and need time…..

Have you ever wondered

Prayer of the Day

Dear Lord,
Thank you for my friends.
Thank you for their kindness, support, patience and company.
Help me to be a good friend to other people.
Help me to be kind and friendly to those who struggle to make friends.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

We have been thinking about the Christian Value of FRIENDSHIP this half term and how wonderful it is to both have, and be friends.  We haven’t yet unpicked what qualities a good friend needs.  To help us with this I want to show you some pictures of different trees….see if you can spot which fruit these trees bear…

…..apples

…cherries

…pears

….apricots

….pineapples!

All of these fruits grown on trees….although pineapples are slightly shorter trees than we are used to seeing! Can you think what conditions that these trees might need to grow and produce fruit?

The four main requirements are enough light, enough water, nutritious soil and favourable temperatures. If these conditions are present, a tree should grow through the seasons and produce fruit in the summer or autumn.

The Bible talks about a different type of fruit. A man called Paul was one of the early leaders in the Christian Church and he wrote letters to several of the early churches to encourage them and to teach them more about Jesus. One of these letters was to a church in a place called Galatia, which would be in modern-day Turkey. In this letter, Paul wrote…

Do you think Paul is actually referring to fruit when he talks about the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’?  Have a think about what you think he is talking about….

….Yes, you are right, he is referring to the good qualities or characteristics that we can see in people’s lives, the sort of qualities that would make someone a good friend.  These qualities are…

Read each quality and see if you can think of an example…we will think about these different qualities as we move throughout the term.  Do you know friends that display these qualities?  Do you think you display these qualities?  Why do they make someone a good friend?

Most people would agree that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are all good qualities to have in our lives. However, they are not always easy qualities to develop.

Paul describes all these qualities as ‘the fruit of the Spirit’. Christians believe that these qualities, or ‘fruit’, will develop in people’s lives as they get to know God better. They believe that this happens by spending time learning about the Bible, praying and asking God to help them to live in this way. Christians believe that God sends his Holy Spirit to live in people’s lives. This changes them on the inside and helps these qualities to develop within their lives.

It’s My Life lyrics

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you for the beauty of the world around us and for the lessons that we can learn from nature.
Please help us to develop good qualities in our lives.
Help us to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Help us to treat others with respect so that we can be a good friend to others.
Amen.