Don’t forget it is ‘Wear One Thing Christmassy Day’ this Friday – it just needs a donation – of Pants or Pounds for Karibuni Children!

Donations can be pants or £!

Today we have been looking at why exercise is important and the different ways that we can exercise.  We talked about how exercise is important to help look after our bones, our muscles, our longs and our heart – and also our brain!

We also had a think about the question of “How long should we exercise each day?”

Then we discussed the different ways that we can exercise – and how being active is actually good fun!

This week we are looking at why we need to look after ourselves to ensure that we can live a healthy life in our Healthy Living Week.

Today we have been thinking about why we need food …

We have also been learning about how important it is to eat a balanced diet and used the Eatwell Plate Guide to help us understand the different food types.

We also looked at the difference between unprocessed, processed and super-processed foods…

We then looked at the energy content of different foods…

We had some interesting answers to the question about how much energy an 8 year old child would need from 20,000kj to 100kj!  It is actually 7000kj.

We finished by reminding ourselves of how important it is that we look after our bodies, and that one way we can do this is by eating a balanced and healthy diet.

Did you know that every child in the Infant phase of school is entitled to a free school meal under the Government’s Universal Infant Free School Meal Scheme?  Now that the weather is getting colder it may be that your child would like a warm meal at lunchtime.  To pre-book a meal for your child log onto www.parentpay.com and make your choices.  The latest you can book is 2 days in advance but if you forget we can book a meal for your child if you contact the school office.  You can currently book until the end of term

If you would like another copy of the user name and activation code for your child please contact the school office and we will e-mail this to you.

You can find out more information on the FSM Qualifying Criteria letter below (final paragraph).  However, if you feel that your child may be eligible for Government Free School Meals which will ensure that they can continue to receive free meals once they go into Year 3 there is a copy of the form which you can complete (or click on the link in the letter to complete online).  We encourage you to apply for Free School Meals as soon as possible as the school receive an additional payment for FSM children and this can be used to assist with other school activities.

FSM Qualifying criteria

free-school-meals-application-parent-carer

 HEALTHY LIVING WEEK

Next week we are planning to focus on the importance of living a healthy life and taking care of ourselves.  This will involve looking at healthy diets, the importance of sleep and exercise, and how we can keep ourselves healthy by looking after our teeth, hair and hygiene.

Following our recent success in winning 1st place in England’s Math Week TTRS competition – they contacted us to find out how we do it – to be in the top 3 for the last 3 years!  They have used Brown Clee School as a showcase of how to embed TTRS within a school’s learning culture – click the link to find out more!

Showcase of Brown Clee C.E. Primary School on TTRS

Please find below a letter providing exciting information about a building project which will expand our class sizes and allow for small class sizes in terms of pupil numbers, as well as ensure that we can continue to provide sustainable high quality learning across all year groups in a consistent class structure.

Class Expansion

Please find here a letter from Tanya Miles, Shropshire Council’s Executive Director of People.

TM letter to parents

It is that time of year when we are all starting to think about the festive seasons and to help you in your search for Christmas Cards we thought you might be interested in the Christmas cards that are sold by our school’s charity – Karibuni Children.

They are hand-made batik Christmas cares in packs of 6 with a mix of 3 Designs for £4.00.  If you click on the picture it will take you to the Karibuni Children website.

The greeting on an insert inside each card is: Wishing you a Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. Each card is hand-made by refugees from other African countries living in Kenya and based at the Jesuit Refugee Service in Nairobi. Using these cards Karibuni Children is working in partnership with JRS toward the self reliance of the refugees and continuing to help the children in the projects. (As each card is individually made, designs and colours will vary.)

Karibuni Christmas Cards

Did you know that as a resident of Shropshire you can access free courses to help with some of the challenges of being a parent and understand more about how your child may be feeling.  There is help for expectant parents as well as parents of babies up to teenagers and as some courses are offered face to face it is a chance to meet with other parents who may be experiencing the same challenges.  There is also a course designed specifically for teenagers to help them understand how their brain is changing.  Please see the attached posters for more information on how to book onto these courses.

UYC Groups Universal

UYC Groups SEND

online courses – all

The Christmas Lights are being switched on at 5pm this Sunday 28th November at St John the Baptist Church.  Everyone is welcome and there will be carol singing, mince pies and mulled wine.

Christmas Lights switch on

Little Explorer’s have asked us to share the poster for their Christmas Fair and Market which is being held on 27th November.  Please see the poster below and if you have any questions or might be interested in a stall give them a call on 712506.

Christmas fair poster 2021

We are very keen to try and encourage more children to have a go at learning a musical instrument. Learning a musical instrument not only sustains and feeds the brain, but it also improves so many other cognitive and physical aspects of the human body. It’s been widely studied and proven that learning a musical instrument improves memory; it not only improves your cognitive memory but also muscle memory as well.  And of course it can broadens childrens’ education and enrichens their life’s experience as well as providing pleasure and relaxation!

Last week Mrs Karen Kirkland, our music teacher from Shropshire Music Service led an assembly to try and show children the broad range of instruments that they could learn – anything from a recorder to the drums, violin to trumpet! If you are interested to find out more click on this link below:-

Musical Instrument Lessons

You will be aware that Brown Clee was the top school nationally in last week’s Times Table Rock Star’s, but it reminded us that we have done well over the last 3 years – we came second last year, and won it 3 years ago!  Not bad for a small village school in rural Shropshire!  This has been picked up by TTRS who are going to showcase Brown Clee on their website…well done Brown Clee!

Good Morning Brown Clee!

I hope that everyone has had an enjoyable and restful weekend – unfortunately we are temporarily back in bubbles again for a short time – but school life goes on as normal (or as normal as possible!) and even though we aren’t together in the hall we are still very much together in spirit – something to be thankful for!

Our Christian value this half term is Thankfulness…a word which can mean different things. As we go through the term we will reflect and think on the different aspects of Thankfulness.  There are other words that can mean the same as Thankfulness – Gratitude, Appreciation, Gratefulness, Thanks…..and we regularly say the words “Thank You” throughout the day to show our Thankfulness.

Let’s see what the Bible tells us about Thankfulness and have a think about what we can learn from this very special book…

What did you learn about Thankfulness from watching this video?  What was Jesus thankful for?  What did it make you think about?  The last line comes from the Book of Thessalonians and says ““In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – which is an important message for us all – that we should be thankful for everything (even when things are tough!) as that is God’s will.

So as we go through the next 7 weeks, have a think about what you are thankful for….at home and at school.  The past 2 years have been particularly challenging – but there are always so many things that we should appreciate and be thankful for…..

We also have something else to be very thankful for – our Dragonfly and Scorpion timestable knowledge – as for the 3rd year in a row they have won an award!  They came first in the national timestable competition again this year – so well done and thank you for your hard work, determination and team-spirit!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
We thank you for all that’s good in our lives.
We thank you especially for what we remember quietly in our hearts now . . . (silence)
Help us always to be thankful, whether we are happy or sad.
Help us to know that you are with us during ordinary days, good days and bad days.
Amen.