Census Day and Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) – Thursday 7th October 2021

Census Day is when Local Authorities collect information electronically from every school in their area, partly to guide them in planning and funding. They collect details such as pupil numbers on roll, numbers of pupils with Special Educational Needs, attendance information and so forth. On this day they will also be looking at the number of children taking the Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM), to provide schools with appropriate funding for this service for the whole of the coming academic year.

To maximise our potential funding, could I ask all families with children entitled to UIFSM (all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) to order their free meal on Thursday 7th October, and for children to choose some of the food which we will have on offer from our kitchen. School staff will be on hand to help children to choose food items on offer. Pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will be welcome to bring a packed lunch into school that day to eat as well as the food from our school kitchen if they wish.

I hope that this might be an opportunity for children who might not normally eat a free school meal to try some of the delicious food we have available for our school meals.

Thank you for your continued support.

It is the time of year when year 6 pupils are invited to open mornings or evenings to visit prospective secondary schools.  We have been informed that Ludlow Secondary School are now holding a virtual event, and that both Oldbury Wells and Lacon Childe are holding 1:1 appointments at the weekend or outside normal school hours to mitigate the risk of spreading coronavirus across their school network.

Please check with the secondary schools’ websites for further information if you want to find out more:

Oldbury Wells School

Ludlow School

Lacon Childe School

We fully support these decisions as it reduces the possibility of pupils bringing coronavirus into school and possibly impacting on teaching and learning at Brown Clee.

Tomorrow’s cross country event at Idsall has been postponed. It will hopeful be rearranged for a later date. We will keep you informed if/when we find out a new date.

We have sent  the annual forms out this week to all children who are known to have asthma or require the use of an inhaler in school.  Please could these be returned as soon as possible so that any changes can be noted.

If your child has asthma or uses an inhaler which they may need to use in school and you have not received a form for completion, please contact the school office.

Can we please ask parents not to access the infant playground at the end of the day until a member of staff has opened the gate or permitted access – this will be at approximately 3:10pm.  This is for safeguarding purposes.

Apologies but we have a delay with the Burwarton Bus – children are all ok and we are holding them at school until it turns up.  Please share.

We have experienced a few issues the last 2 days at the end of the day when parents are collecting their children.  So can we please ask parents to consider the following points:-

1. Please do not park in the layby where the school buses park as this causes delays and congestion.
2. Please maintain some social distancing to be considerate to everyone.
3. Please collect children and leave the playground promptly.
4. Please park off the school site and walk if at all possible.
5. We are going to implement a one-way system at the end of the day to reduce congestion and improve social distancing. All parents who are collecting children from school need to enter via the Infant Playground, where they meet and collect their children.  Parents then walk up the path to the Top Gate to leave school – this will allow for a one way-system which should help reduce congestion. We also ask that parents maintain sensible spacing on the playground and that parents leave promptly once they have collected their child/children.

We have a list of children who are confirmed booked onto school transport.  It is really important that parents let us know if their child is not going home on the bus – either as a one off or on regular days.  We need this information to ensure that the children get home safely – either by being collected or going home on school transport – we are unable to take your child’s voice – we need you to let us know.

Our new school meal system where you pre order meals is now up and running.  Can we please remind parents that you need to book in advance – so book your child’s meals by Thursday for the week ahead.  This includes Free School Meals as well – you just don’t make any payment but you still need to book your choice of meal. You can also book for a whole half term to make your life easier!  This system means that every child is guaranteed a meal of their choice.

If you need a reminder of your activation access details or any assistance with booking then please do contact us.

Good Morning Brown Clee! (It’s been a long time since I could say that!)

I hope you have all had a restful and enjoyable summer – and that you are as excited as I am to be back in school – I have been so looking forwards to meeting everyone arrive back this morning – I have missed your bright cheery smiles and greetings!

I’d like to wish everyone a massive welcome back – and a super big welcome to our new Reception children – all 21 of you – who have just joined the Fireflies.  I would also like to offer a big welcome to 2 new members of staff – Miss Burton and Mrs Morris (a new Mrs Morris!) who will be working with the Fireflies and I would also like to welcome Mrs Heath back to school – we have all missed her and are delighted she is back teaching the Dragonflies!

Next week we will be holding our assemblies ‘live’ in the hall – where we will be all together – which will be the first time for over a year and a half – something which I am very much looking forwards to as assemblies are such special times and I have missed being able to be with everyone!

Today is the start of our new academic year – and the word NEW has particular relevance this September – as lots of things will seem very new to all of us due to the disruption we have had.  I wonder if you can think of what these NEW things might be?….

Well I have already mentioned that we will be able to hold assemblies in the hall next week – and these are very special times – as these are the times that we ALL get together every day to share thoughts, reflections and praise to God – and being all together is so important to us – as we are the Brown Clee Team!

Another NEW thing is that we will be back to eating our lunch together in the school hall – and we will be able to have proper hot meals, with choices and eat at tables with our friends from other classes as well as our own.  Another new aspect of school meals is that you now have the chance to pre-order your menu choice to ensure that you can get the meal that you want – so please make sure you remind your parents to make your bookings!  We will also be holding lunch in 2 sittings – Infants and Juniors – to allow for a more calm, quiet and sociable lunch experience – plus we will be welcoming Pre-School back to join us for lunch!

The class ‘bubbles’ have now gone and you will be able to mingle and play together as well as eat together!  And the 1-way systems have also gone!

There are still school rules – and I will be talking about the importance of those next week – and I am sure your class teachers will be sharing and reteaching the rules and expectations as you start today – as these rules are what help keep the school a happy, safe and harmonious place for everyone.

I am sure you, like me, are looking forwards to this new school year – being with your friends, learning lots of new skills and knowledge and having the chance to take part in lots of new experiences such as sports, drama, music and trips – YES! – trips will be back and we have a very exciting one for the Dragonflies later on this term – watch this space!!!

Which reminds me of something else that is new – the class names!  Here they are:-

The Fireflies are taught by Mrs Fox and Mrs Morris.

The Grasshoppers are taught by Mrs Morris and Mrs Cains.

The Dragonflies are taught by Mrs Heath.

The Scorpions are taught by Mr Harley.

The names are going to take a bit of getting used to – and I will need your help to correct me if I revert back to calling them Class numbers!

I know there will be lots of other NEW things – like making new friends, new learning, new experiences – but for now I just want everyone to enjoy the newness of starting or being back in school – a more normal school. NEW can be exciting – but it can also sometimes make us feel worried or nervous – so it is so important that we look out for each other and help each other and work together to ensure that we really can provide a safe, happy place where we can all learn and grow together.

Let’s just take a moment to think and reflect on our feelings of being back together in school – have a think about what you are looking forwards to, and what you can do to help make sure we all can be the best that we can be.  Let’s remind ourselves of the greatest rule of all according to God…

Prayer of the Day

If we could now have a quiet moment of reflection and join in with the School prayer…

Dear God

Thank you for our wonderful school.

Help us to be good learners.

Help us to look after each other.

Help us be respectful and kind and to make everyone welcome.

May our school be a happy, safe place where learning is fun.

Where we all work together to be the best we can be.

Amen

One week to go before we all return to school and so far we have had 39% of parents activate their Parent Pay account.  If you are going to want your child to have a school meal you need to activate your Parent Pay account and place your orders online on the Parent Pay APP or website.  You should have received your activation letter by paper at the end of term, or via email during the summer holidays (new Reception parents). If you have any questions regarding activating your account please do contact us on admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk.

Can we please remind parents of the importance of activating their ParentPay account ahead of the Autumn Term.  Without this you will be unable to order a school meal as we need to have pre-orders in before the start of term.

The menus are all up and running now, so you can sign in and order your September meals at any point from now – why not get ahead of the game and book your meals so it is one less job to do before September?

We would like to say a massive thank you to all our families for their support throughout this strangest of years!  We really appreciate and value the partnership, working together to ensure we can do our very best for the children.

Wishing you a wonderful summer and we look forwards to welcoming everyone back to school on Thursday 2nd September.

Due to our power being off all morning, we are unable to provide a hot school meal today for the children – so instead they will be having a packed lunch, which we are all going to eat in a 4 bubble whole school picnic on the field.