Good Morning Brown Clee!

How did you get on with developing your ‘Attitude for Gratitude’ yesterday?  Did you do or say anything to demonstrate your appreciation – and if so how did it make you feel?

This is the time of year when we show gratitude for the sacrifice that so many people made during World War 1 and 2, as well as appreciating the service of the men and women in the armed forces today, who strive to keep the world a safe place for all.

Tomorrow is Armistice Day – the 11th day of the 11th month, and at the 11th hour we will hold a 2 minute silence to remember and pay tribute to the men and women who sacrificed their lives during the 1st and 2nd World War, and also to appreciate the members of the armed forces  of today, who serve to defend our nation. It is so important that we never forget, and that we are thankful for the sacrifice that so many people made.

It is at this time of year that you will see many people wearing a poppy – because the poppy has come to symbolise Armistice Day, and the gratitude and appreciation we have for those that fought so that we could live in a free world.  But why a poppy?

Watch this video and see if you can work out why?

During WW1, much of the fighting took place in Western Europe. The countryside was blasted, bombed and fought over repeatedly. Previously beautiful landscapes turned to mud; bleak and barren scenes where little or nothing could grow. But there was a notable and striking exception to the bleakness – the bright red Flanders poppies. These resilient flowers flourished in the middle of so much chaos and destruction, growing in the thousands upon thousands.  So much so that they were noticed by one particular soldier, a Canadian doctor called Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, who wrote this now very famous poem, called ‘In Flanders Fields’.

So now people choose to wear a poppy around 11th November as a sign of remembrance and gratitude.  Take a quiet moment now, and close your eyes – what must it have been like to have been a soldier fighting in the fields in France and Belgium – what would the world be like now if those brave men and women hadn’t fought for our freedom – and tomorrow, at 11am, when we hold our 2 minutes of silence, think about how thankful we are.

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you for the many happy memories that we have.
We are sorry that some people have sad memories at this time of year
As they remember those who have died for our country.
May we wear our red poppies with love and compassion,
And may we remember and be thankful.
Amen.

Don’t forget it’s the last chance to book an appointment to talk with your child’s teacher about their work and progress!

Don’t forget to book your Parent Feedback session (this year’s replacement for Parents Evening) by tomorrow!  Teachers will then be coordinating their timetable and booking reply slips will be sent out by the end of the week, ready for next week’s appointments.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Last week we started to think about our Christian value of the half term – THANKFULNESS.  Another word for Thankfulness is Gratitude, and this morning I want you to think about whether you have an “Attitude for Gratitude”.  There are 2 videos to watch – the first is rather American but explains what an attitude is and why it is so important to demonstrate gratitude – or thankfulness!  The second provides a bit of the science behind the theory.

As you watch and listen, think about the key messages in both – that by having an “Attitude for Gratitude” will have a positive impact on your life today but also in the future…

A key message for me in this video is that we are in charge of our attitude – it doesn’t happen to us – it is up to use to decide the approach we take to life.  We can’t always choose what happens to use, but we can always choose how we respond – and we can choose to respond in a positive way.  It is your own choice – it is up to you!

This video mentions one of our SMART learning behaviours – did you spot it?  It was resiliency – “gratitude can strengthen resiliency”.

Maybe we could try our own Gratitude Experiment?  As we go through the week ahead – see how we can express gratitude and appreciation every day – to ourselves and to others.  I wonder if it will make a difference to how we experience our lives?

As we come to Worship Time, let’s have a quiet moment to reflect and think about all the wonderful things that we are grateful for – our families and friends, our school, the wonderful natural world that we live in – there are so many things to be thankful for!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Help us to have good attitudes.
Help us to encourage others.
Help us to look for the good in every situation.
Help us to bring hope, joy and peace to other people.
Help us to be grateful for all we have.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we reminded ourselves about the Zones of Regulation, and learnt about how there is no such thing as a ‘bad’ zone and that we all experience different emotions, such as frustration, sadness or anger, at times.  The important thing is learning to recognise these feelings, and then, more importantly how to manage them effectively so that we can behave appropriately – which in school means, being in a calm, positive state to learn in.

We also need to learn to identify which zone our friends are in and how to adapt our words and actions so that we can communicate and interact respectfully.

I thought it might be interesting to learn a bit about the science behind the importance of self-regulation – have a watch and think – there are lots of big words – but see what you learn from the video…

What did you think?   Does it help you now understand and appreciate why your teachers are using the “It’s Good to be Green” cards to help you learn from your mistakes?  Can you think of a time when you weren’t able to regulate your feelings, and if so, did anything negative happen as a result?  I wonder what would have happened if you could have regulated the ‘BIG’ feelings and managed to return to the Green Zone?

The important thing to remember – is that self-regulation is something that we can all learn to do – it is not something that we are born with.  We need to learn this skill just as much as we need to learn to read and write.

Have a quiet moment to reflect – think about what strategies or tools you could use to regulate your BIG feelings…..

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
You are all-seeing and all-knowing.
You see our actions and you know the attitude of our hearts.
Respect is a word that we often hear, but do not always fully understand.
Teach us how to earn the respect of those around us by doing what is good and right.
Help us to exercise the responsibility that comes with this respect,
And to treat people with kindness, fairness and honesty.
Amen.

Don’t forget to book your school meals for next week by noon tomorrow!  Here is the menu choices for next week….

Occasionally we have to ‘swap’ a daily choice due to stock issues – which we are having to do tomorrow and Friday: tomorrow is now Fish Fingers and Chips and Friday is chicken goujons and potato wedges.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we started to think about our value of the half term – Thankfulness.  We learnt that there are other words (synonyms!) that also mean the same – can you remember any of them?

One was Gratitude – which the dictionary defines as “the feeling or quality of being grateful”. There are many things that we can be grateful for – I am very grateful that the school is staying open on Thursday when the country goes into ‘Lockdown’ again – as school is a safe place for all children to learn, as well as being a happy place where children can socialise and play with their friends.  School has a hollow, empty sound about it when children aren’t in it – it is children that bring schools to life, and it is children that are at the heart of a school.

Here is a short film to watch and think about why Gratitude (Thankfulness) is so important – and how feeling grateful can impact on so many different areas of your life – as well as your outlook on life!  Enjoy it and then have a chat about what it made you think about…

Here are some questions for you to ponder…

How would you describe the man at the beginning, before he met the elderly lady?

Why was he shocked when the lady grabbed hold of his arm?

Did the man change after his experience – and why?

What do you think the man was grateful for?

……as we come to our time of worship, have a quiet moment to reflect on the many things that you are grateful for, and how you can show your appreciation, or pass on the thankfulness.

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
For families and friends . . .
We are thankful.
For the beauty of nature and the world around us . . .
We are thankful.
For all the things in life that we too often take for granted . . .
We are thankful.
Please help us to be willing to show our thanks – not only in what we say, but also in what we do – every single day . . .
We are thankful.
Amen.

Can we please ask parents of children in Class 3 and 4, who collect children at the end of the day from the cul-de-sac behind the row of houses on Station Rd, to please be considerate to residents, respect the 2m social distancing and stay clear of driveways and vehicles that may be parked in the road.

Good Morning, we are looking forwards to being back in school with all the children tomorrow morning.  We are really pleased that we are being allowed to stay open even though the country is approaching a second lockdown. It is important to remind everyone of some of the key procedures that we have in place to protect families within our community and also to keep the school open and functioning safely.

• Please ensure you maintain 2m distancing at the start and end of the day – this is so important to keep the class ‘bubbles’ apart.  If there happened to be a positive case of Covid19 within school, and the class ‘bubbles’ were not kept apart, then this could lead to school closure – which we do not want to happen.
• Please keep children at home if they are ill.
• If your child or a household member has a Covid19 test, please keep the school fully informed.
• We kindly re-emphasise that parents should only book Care Clube if absolutely essential – particularly now that we are entering a lockdown.
• During the upcoming lockdown, we feel it only right that children should only be collected by members of their own family/household.

Thank you so much for all your positive support with the procedures last half term – we felt that the school was operating in as safe a means as possible.  The children were absolutely amazing at learning the new routines, including a one-way system, 2m distancing and entering/exiting toilet routines. We are looking forward to another happy but busy, hard-working and productive half term.

We are getting frequent dog fouling on the school field, which is both unpleasant and potentially dangerous, as it can cause a range of diseases that make children very ill. Please can we remind residents that the school grounds are not to be used, and at no times are dogs to be allowed on them. Thank you for your support and co-operation.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Unfortunately we are unable to hold our ‘live’ virtual assembly this morning as Mrs Fox and myself are interviewing to find our new Class 1 Teacher on a Friday.  But we will be live tomorrow – when we need to be thinking of saying farewell to a very special member of staff – but shhhhhhhh – we won’t mention that today!

Today, I would like us to continue to think about the importance of learning from our mistakes!  Can you remember the word that describes this skill?  ……..it was RESILIENCE!  And it is such an important life skill that will help us all to succeed!  If we weren’t resilient we may never have learnt to walk……watch this clip of a toddler learning to walk…I wonder how many mistakes she made along the way?

How many times did this little girl fall down? How long do you think it took her to learn to walk?  Imagine if she had given up and not tried again!?

In our lives, we all face challenges. We all ‘stumble’ at some points; we all fall down and have to get up and keep on trying. There are times when we stumble in our school studies, when learning a new sport, when we need to give a presentation to a group of people, when we apply for a job, and when we interact and build friendships and relationships with others. When this happens, we have a choice to make – do we give up or do we get up and try again?

Do you remember me sharing how J K Rowling had her first Harry Potter book turned down by publishers 12 times?  She had many other challenges too – listen to her talk in this clip about how stumbling and failure were actually positives for her….listen and think about how she had to rebuild her life up from ‘rock bottom’….how she had to start again. Then think about how you might apply resilience in your life – at school or home, to help you succeed when things get tough.

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you that we can learn from every difficult situation.
Please help us to be people of resilience.
Help us to get back up again when things go wrong.
Help us never to give up.
Help us to persevere.
Thank you for the courage and resilience of people who have shown us that stumbling need not mean failure,
For people we know and for inspirational figures who are role models to us.
We are thankful for their example.
Give us the courage and determination to use the power of ‘yet’.
Amen.

Well we are coming to the end of an era with Mrs Harman leaving us this Thursday for pastures new (Cornwall!) – she is going to be missed loads – particularly by me!  But we all would like to wish her well in with the future!

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Today I would like us to think about the Harvest and why it is so special.  Normally, at this time of year we would walk up to church and hold our Harvest Festival in our beautiful village church, led by Reverend Terry, but sadly we are not able to do that this year.

So instead we will celebrate together here instead – and I thought a Harvest Quiz would be a good idea!  The quiz will teach you about the history and importance of celebrating the Harvest Festival, and hopefully at the end everyone will have learnt something new!  It is relatively simple – you only need answer yes – or no!  So you could put your thumbs up for Yes – and thumbs down for No!

Q1. Is harvest festival named after the time when the crops have been harvested?

Q2. Is harvest festival a celebration of the food grown on the land?

Q3. In the UK, are harvest festivals in churches traditionally timed to coincide with a new moon appearing at the end of September or the start of October?

Q4. Do harvest festivals in churches give Christians a chance to thank God for the food we eat?

Q5. A long time ago, in the UK, was harvest festival celebrated in August?

Q6. During the 1800s, did farmers celebrate the end of the harvest by eating a harvest supper of roast chicken?

Q7. Did the first harvest festival in a church happen in the year 1743?

Q8. Did the first harvest festival in a church happen in Cornwall?

Q9. Hundreds of years ago, when the last farm worker brought in the last sheaf of corn, was that worker called the king of the harvest?

Q10. Are corn dollies traditionally made out of wheat?

Q11. To celebrate the harvest in Mexico, are the trees next to the church decorated?

Q12. In France, do harvest festivals celebrate the vegetable harvest?

Q13. Is the harvest festival celebrated in the Jewish festival of Sukkot?

Q14. In Alaska, is the harvest celebrated at the end of the cod-fishing season?

Q15. Do people in Barbados celebrate the sugar cane harvest?

How did you do?

Harvest Festival is an important celebration in the Christian calendar, and it helps us to be thankful for all the farmers and agricultural workers around the world that work so hard to ensure that we all have food on our plates.  It also helps us to appreciate how fortunate we are to have plentiful food, and helps remind us that there are many people who are not that fortunate.

If you would like to make any dry food donations to Bridgnorth Food Bank then please donate the Ditton Priors Post Office – particularly in the current situation, every donation really helps!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you for the sunshine and the rain, which help crops to grow in the fields.
Thank you for all the farmers who grow, look after and harvest the food that we eat.
Thank you for all the adults who cook and provide us with food when we are hungry.
We pray for children in the world today who are hungry. Please help us to play our part in making the world a fairer place for all.
Amen.

We are delighted to inform you that we have appointed a new School Administrator to start  after half term.  Mrs Mandy Lloyd will be in the office to assist with all parental queries and School Administration – she is very experienced and we are looking forwards to welcoming her aboard the Brown Clee team!

We also have appointed Mrs Steph Boxall as our co-Care Club Superviser, working alongside Mrs Moreton in providing the before school and after school wrap-around care.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we thought about how important it is to develop the skill of listening – not just hearing, but actually actively listening and taking on board what you are listening to!  This is a skill that is particularly important in school – as without actively listening and THINKING about what we hear, we are unable to learn.

Today I want us to think about our own responsibility for learning and how we must learn to help ourselves with the learning process – as teachers will do the teaching, but the learning itself comes down to you, the Learner.  Your teacher will now read out a story about a Builder – use your active listening skills and have a think about what message you can pick from the story.

Bill had been in the carpentry trade for 50 years, ever since he left school as a young lad of 15. He had always been good with his hands and, from as far back as he could remember, he had always wanted to be a carpenter. He had learned his trade in a small joiner’s shop, and had spent his working life in the house-building business. He was now 65 years old and ready to retire. Bill planned to finish his work this month.
‘It’s time to hang up my tools and spend more time in the garden and with my grandchildren,’ he told Mr Towers, his employer for the last 40 years and his very good friend. Bill knew that he would miss his pay cheques, but he and his wife would get by. It was time to call it a day.
Mr Towers was very sorry to see Bill go. He had been a great worker. ‘Please, Bill, will you work on just one more house, as a personal favour?’ he asked.
‘All right,’ Bill said, and began this last job. Mr Towers didn’t tell him who owned the house that he was working on.

As time went by, it was clear that his heart was not in his work. He cut corners, and resorted to shoddy workmanship and inferior materials. He didn’t take the same time or care that he usually took. It was a sad way for such a skilful man to end his career.
When Bill had finished his work, Mr Towers came to inspect the house. Then, to Bill’s surprise, he handed Bill the key to the front door. ‘This house is for you, Bill,’ he said. ‘It’s my gift to you for all your years of service.’

Imagine Bill’s surprise, and shock! What a shame! If only Bill had known that he was working on his own house, he might have done it all so differently! Now he had to live in a home with all the little mistakes, poor materials and short cuts that only he knew about.

What did you think about whilst listening to the story? …..

The story is a bit like our lives. Every day, we are building something very important: our life. Sometimes, we put our very best efforts into what we do….sometimes we don’t and get distracted, lose motivation or concentration….sometimes we don’t always give our work our best effort. We become a bit slack and we make do with less than the best, just like Bill.
It is so important to build our lives wisely, remembering that it is the only life we will ever build, and your time in primary school are where you are building your foundations for your futures – so as you go through the day and the weeks ahead, focus on what you can do to ensure that you are trying your best at all times!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
I would like my life to be built on good, strong foundations.
I would like to have a life that I can be proud of.
Help me today to make wise choices, to have the right attitude and to do my best.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

This week I would like us to think about how important listening is!  We have 2 ears and only 1 mouth – so surely that must mean that listening is twice as important as talking!?

Imagine what the world would be like if we couldn’t hear anything?  If there were no sounds?  Maybe have a go now, and close your eyes – what can you hear in school?

The ability to hear is so special and we learn so much from our ability to listen – particularly in school!  School is a place full of sounds – talking, singing, music, clapping, cheering and sometimes shouting (outside only please!)  But if we couldn’t hear imagine how much more difficult it would be to learn?

Watch this video about the different ways that we can listen – and think about how important it is that we listen in school….

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Help us to be good listeners.
Help us to listen to our friends.
Help us to listen to our teachers.
Hep us to listen at home and at school.
Help us to listen to you.
Help us to learn the importance of sometimes being quiet and still.
Amen.

During the lockdown and summer term, we occasionally used Facebook and Facebook Messenger to communicate with parents, as it proved to be an easily accessible form of communication. However this was a response to exceptional circumstances. Now that schools have reopened, we are returning to the normal formal means of home/school communication.

Our main source of information from school to home, is via the School Website on the School News and Class News pages and it is really helpful for parents to subscribe to these pages as that way you will receive an email and/or notification each time a news item is posted.  This saves you having to log onto the website and search for information.  The website will also push some news to the school’s Twitter and Facebook pages for information only.

This is also timely to remind parents that school staff are unable to connect and communicate with parents or children via their personal Facebook pages or other social media. Staff are unable to accept ‘friend’ requests from parents and children,  in line with E-safety guidance. All home to school communication should be via official school channels such as telephone, email (admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk or class email addresses) or letter. You can find further information about this in the safeguarding and e-safety policies in the policies section on our website.

I am sure you understand the reasons for this, but if you have any questions please let me know.

Can we please remind parents of the importance of each child bringing a named drinking bottle full of water (no juice or squash!) each day.  The children are not allowed to access the water fountain and so this is their only source of drinking water, and it is so important that children stay hydrated.