Mileage Update: Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni

We have had more miles come in from yesterday….

Jake C and family 30 miles

Rabbits 10 miles

Foxes 10 miles

Riley, Leia and Mum 6 miles

Keyworker Children 7 miles

Callum and Ben 14 miles

Isabelle, Jorge and Mum 35 miles

Miss McK 10 miles

Mrs Welch 9 miles

Year 6s 34 miles

The Ratcliffes 14 miles

Isabellle, Esmae  and Mum 9 miles

Oscar and Mum 11 miles
The Beeches 15 miles

The Robinson’s 15 miles

Gill S 9 miles

Emily and William (horse riding) 6 miles

Emily and William (walking) 6 miles
So our new total is now 1102 miles!!

We are over half way (map will follow shortly!), but we still have 1039 miles to go to get all the way around Kenya! We need some BIG walks, cycles and horse rides this weekend…so get your trainers on and don’t forget to email me the miles! I will be updating throughout the weekend!

 

Foxes adding some mileage to Archie’s challenge!

The Foxes have done 2 runs today to clock some more miles up for Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge! We even timed them as part of our maths learning about time and the different units we use to measure time. They were watched by Archie who as in keyworker care!

Congratulations Brown Clee!!

We are delighted to share the news that Brown Clee have awarded the School Games Award for 2019-20 for our support, commitment and engagement of virtual programmes during the Summer Term by the East Shropshire School Partnership for our family of schools – well done Brown Clee!  It has been fantastic to see everyone so fit and active at home and in school during the summer!

Mileage Update: Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni

We have had more miles in overnight –

Miss Lewis 9 miles

Miss Relph 4 miles

Miss Greenan 3 miles

Paul 50 miles (Thank you!)

Mrs Gennard 11 miles

Gill S 12 miles

The Robinsons 25 miles (a walk in the clouds!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pinches – 4 miles

The Metcalfes 13 miles

Rosie B and family 23 miles

So we are now up to 864 miles – still not half way though – so please, please send your miles in!

 

Reflection Time and Prayer of the Day

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Another busy week in school – with lots of travelling for Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge!  Hopefully you have been following as we have already covered many miles – but we still have many more to go – an update will follow shortly!  We need everyone to keep travelling across the weekend – and do lots of travelling as we have lots of miles to go to get back to Mombasa!  Also don’t forget to keep your sponsorship and donations coming in to  uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BrownCleeSchool  . If you would rather make a donation by cheque you can make it payable to Karibuni Children and either post it to school or drop it in to the Office – following the 2m social distancing guidance!

Today it is our ‘virtual’ Well Done Assembly to celebrate the achievements of our children. This week’s recipients are:-

Rabbits:  Isabel Salisbury

 

Foxes: Ella Howard

Mice: Ari Carson

Year 6:   Anna Bond

 

Well done everyone and have a lovely weekend – and enjoy the walking, running, cycling, swimming, rowing, horse riding and anything else!!  Please keep the emails coming in with mileage and photos – I will be updating throughout the weekend!

https://youtu.be/5idAk316hpY

 

Prayer of the Day – Our 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

Mileage Update: Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni

We have had more miles in….

Mrs Gennard 8 miles

The Metcalfes 15 miles

Mrs Godfrey 2 miles

The Beeches 15 miles

The Rabbits 5 miles

The Ratcliffes 7 miles

Isabelle and Esmae 7 miles

Harry and Ida 4 miles

So we are now at 710 miles!!

A third of the way there with 3 days to go – can we do it!?!?!

Remote Learning Questionnaire

We have emailled out to all parents a remote learning questionnaire that we kindly request all parents to complete and return to school by the end of next week. YOu will find them here too.

Questionnaire to Prepare for Remote Learning (Word)

Questionnaire to Prepare for Remote Learning (PDF)

The questionnaire involves a few easy questions about Remote Learning, as we have to put in place contingency plans in case we have to provide this in the future in the instance of either children self-isolating of local lockdowns – both of which we hope we do not have to experience.
The government’s expectation is that all children would be expected to receive the same curriculum learning as if they were in school, and that it is not optional.  Therefore we would like you to help us to help you by providing is with information about what devices, barriers there are to home learning.
We are aware that a lot of information is coming out to you at the moment – and apologise if you feel bombarded – but with one week to go before the summer holidays, we need to put as much in place as possible to allow for a smooth start in September.
We have attached the questionnaire in 2 formats – Word and PDF – and they can be returned by email either as a word document or photograph – whichever is easiest.
Many thanks

Where are we on the Kenyan border??

This is where we are so far….

We still have 1,471 miles to go and 3 1/2 days to get there – so we need everyone travelling, parents, staff and governors – and emailling me the mileage!  Come on Brown Clee we can do it!!

Mileage Update:Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni

We have had more miles in over the evening – keep them coming in please as we have lots more to do!  Also don’t forget to sponsor and support using Archie’s Giving page: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BrownCleeSchool  So far everyone has raised nearly £700 for the Karibuni Children – well done!

Here are the miles…we have now reached a total of 645 miles!!!

Callum, Ben and Family 32 miles

Harry and Mum 9 miles

Jake, Alfie, Connor , Nic, Scott 50 miles

James C 10 miles

The Robinson 4 miles (swimming and rowing!!)

Joshua, Jasmine and Mum 6 miles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emily and Mum 8 miles (horse riding!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isabel S 2 miles

Reflection Time and Prayer of the Day

Good Morning Brown Clee!

The days fly by and we are already at Thursday – Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge is up and running (or walking, cycling, horse riding!) and at the time of writing this the school community had reached 431 miles!  But we still have a long, long way to go to reach 2141 miles and get back to Mombasa by the end of Sunday!

So come on Brown Clee – get your trainers on and get walking, running cycling – every family member counts, staff as well!  I know we can do this!!

Today I thought it would be good to learn about life in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi.  We learnt about what life for 8 year old Naresiah was like, living in a village in Kenya.  Today we are looking at Nana’s life on the outskirts of Nairobi.

As you are watching, have a think what is the same, and what is different, between Naresiah and Nana’s day.

What did you notice?  Did you spot anything the same?  What were the differences?

Kenya is a diverse country, with coast and beaches, savannahs and plains, and bustling cities. We normally think of Kenya and think of villages and African animals, like we say yesterday – but there is much more to it!  There are wealthy areas in cities with businesses and shops, and also areas of poverty where families live in slums.  These are the families that we want to help with Archie’s challenge.

https://youtu.be/pDt_39G8214

 

Prayer of the Day

Dear God.

We thank you for all that we have.

Help us to give to others, at the touch of a button, every day.

Please be with those who have no food today.

Help us to do whatever we can to make the world a fairer place.

Amen.

 

 

Mileage Update: Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni

We have more miles in…

The Mice 5 miles

Year 6s 18 miles

The Foxes 5 miles

The Ratcliffes 8 miles

Lexi and family 5 miles

 

Gill S 12 miles

Oscar and Mum 5 miles

We are now up to 524 miles!!  Well done everyone – keep going!

 

More Miles!!

We have had lots more miles in this morning…

Miss Lewis 4 miles

Mrs Gennard 11 miles

The Y6s 22 miles

Miss Relph 4 miles

Mr Smith 13 miles

George Be and Miss Greenan 6 miles

Archie B and Family and Sister (in costume!) 22 miles

Mrs Godfrey 4 miles

George Ba 14 miles

Callum 1 mile

Chloe 1 mile

Isabelle and Jorge 4 miles

Isabel Y and Mum 4 miles

So our new total is now 457 miles!!  Nearly quarter of the way!

We have had another message from Kenya too as the communities are aware of what we are doing…

“We salute the primary school that has offered the raise the money through Karibuni. Surely this is amazing love. Am sure they have already covered some Miles. Let them now we appreciate there efforts at such a tender age. Surely our God in heaven will reward them. Let them press on.”  Mercy is the social worker at Meru Township programme in the middle of an appalling slum area. The project is situated in a Catholic Primary School where the headmistress is very proactive in improving the lives and opportunities of these very poor families.

 

With love

Mercy

Returning to School Helpline

Shropshire Council are offering a helpline to parents who may have concerns about returning children to school.  It is available from 17th August to 2nd September.

Reflection Time and Prayer of the Day

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Well done everyone who has sent some miles in to add up for Archie’s Kenyan Safari – we reached 175 miles by the end of yesterday so are well up the Kenyan coast…

Keep on sending the miles in, and photos too – I havent spotted many African animals yet, apart from the Foxes!

Yesterday we learnt some fascinating facts about Kenya – today I thought I’d take you on safari…

How many different animals did you see?  I wonder why they live in Kenya and not in the UK?  What a wonderfully diverse world we live in –

https://youtu.be/RiqOsZh4bpk

Prayer of the Day

We thank you, Lord, for flowers and trees and sunshine
and for all your living creatures.
We thank you for families and friendships,
for our homes and our school.
We thank you for giving us our daily bread
and for all the food we eat.
We thank you, Lord, for everything wonderful in the world.
Amen.

Miles Update: Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni!

We have had more miles in overnight – thank you to everyone who has contributed so far!  We still have a long way to go so keep them going!!  I will update later today with a map – but here are the miles that came in during yesterday evening:-

Lexi, Jayden and Mum – 3 miles

The Ratcliffes – 11 miles

Gill S – 11 miles

Mrs Rollings – 9 miles (horse and foot!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rabbits – 2 miles

The Robinson family – 23 miles (amazing spreadsheet record!)

So the total for the beginning of today is now 347 miles!!  Keep walking and running – especially those children and families at home – we need lots more miles if we are to make 2141 by the end of Sunday!!

Mileage Update: Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni! 288 Miles!!!

We have more miles in…

Isabelle and Jorge – 12 miles

Rosie and Hugo – 9 miles

Mrs G! – 9 miles

Thomas and family – 18 miles

Jeanette Coles – 21 miles

Miss Lewis – 10 miles

Mrs Fox and daughter (horse riding!) – 10 miles

Joy – 5 miles

The Sandersons – 18 miles

Our new total is 288 miles!!  Well done!

 

Reception Groupings – 1st Week back in September

With the lack of a normal transition for new reception children, and with the restrictions to ‘normal’ operations in place due to Covid19, we have split the new reception intake into smaller groups for the start of the new year. This will allow staff to support and help children get familiar with their new routines and classroom in a calm, nurtured manner.

Each child will get 2 half days in school – one in a small group of 5 or 6 children, and then in a bigger group of 10 or 11, to allow them to get familiar with the start and end of day routines, as well as having the chance to learn classroom procedures and layout.

We appreciate that this could be difficult for working parents, but we have to put safety and children well-being first – and with a large intake of 22 children, we felt this was the best way to ensure their start in school was positive.

Reception Groupings

Thank you for returning the New Parent Paperwork – Mrs Fox will be contacting each parent individually to talk through the start of term, and answer any questions.  Please do use the class email address to ask any questions ahead of Mrs Fox’s phone call!

Care Club – Autumn 2020

Please find attached a letter with details about how we can offer wrap around care in the Autumn Term.

We are limited to numbers (3 per class group) due to the need to keep class groups apart, and it will take place in the hall.

We kindly ask that parents book in advance, either termly or by Friday for the week ahead, and that booking times are adhered to.

Care Club is available for booking from 07.45 to start of class (which varies dependent on which class), and from 15:15 to 17:30 after school.

Care Club Autumn 2020

Reflection Time and Prayer of the Day

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we started Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge – and hopefully the school community have been clocking up the miles, by walking, running, cycling, swimming as many as miles as we can! Yesterday we also learnt about what life is like being an child living in rural Kenya.  Today we are continuing with the theme of learning about Kenya, and we are going to learn  10 fascinating facts about the country.  Enjoy watching the video and then have a think and chat about what you have learnt – what is similar to the UK and what is different?

What similarities did you spot between Kenya and the UK?  What differences did you notice?  Do you think you’d like to visit?

I will be updating you throughout the week with our progress to travelling around the Kenyan border – so keep watching the school news!

Here’s a song about the importance of exercise to warm you up for your travels!

https://youtu.be/IXGFtDftYRw

We also have a birthday to celebrate today, Happy Birthday Mia!!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Help us to understand that we are part of a bigger picture.
May we try to do our best in everything, regardless of whether it appears to be important or not.
We thank you for all those people who play a part in our lives and we ask that we may appreciate all that they do.
Amen.

 

Miles Update: Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni

We have had more miles in over night:-

The Ratcliffes – 6 miles

Ben and Callum – 18 miles

Archie/William/Mum – 6 miles

George Berry and Miss Greenan (first staff member!!) – 4 miles

The Robinson Team – 33 miles (awesome!!)

Oscar and Mum – 8 miles

Miss Relph – 4 miles

New total mileage is 179 miles in one day – thats a great start – lets see what we can do today!

 

Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni Children

Wow – we have had lots more miles since the end of the school day –

The Clarke cousins! – 25miles

Gill S – 13 miles

Lexi, Jayden and Mum – 6 miles

So we are now up to 99 miles!!  We have gone past Malindi and are almost half the way up the coast – amazing!!  I wonder where we will be by the morning!?!

Don’t forget to send some photos of your walks, runs, cycles too!!

Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni Children

We have had more miles in – the Year 6s have done 20 miles, Rueben and Mum have done 7 and the Mice have done 5 miles – so we are now up to 55 miles north of Mombasa!

I will give a full up-date tomorrow morning in Reflection Time – so keep emailling the miles in throughout the evening!

Letter about Opening School to All in September

We have emailled out a letter to all parents, providing lots of information and detail regarding September 2020 and opening to all pupils.
There is lots of content – so please read carefully.  The letter is also available on the school website – school news and also ‘About Us’ – ‘Safeguarding’.
Please take particular note of the Start and End of Day Procedures and diagrams.
I appreciate that there is a lot of information, but we believe in keeping our parents fully informed so that we can work together.  Please bear in mind that this is a ‘plan’ and that things may change between now and September, and also after opening in September.
If you have any questions, concerns or worries please do contact us – we are always open and transparent, and will do our very best to answer any questions or reassure any worries.

Mileage Update: Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni Children!

9 more miles from Rabbits and Foxes  now – so up to 23 miles north of Mombasa!!

Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge for Karibuni Children!

Today is the Start of Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge to raise money for the Karibuni Children- so get your training shoes on and start travelling!!  We are starting from Mombasa and heading up the coast!

These are some of the things that you might see if you were travelling the coast for real…

Please email me your miles as soon as you have done them to head@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk and I will keep a running total and let everyone know how far we get each day.  Let’s see how far up the coast we can get today!

Don’t forget to send your photos too – here is Archie and his brother William, dressed in African animal costume ready for their first leg of the journey!

Here is the link to the online Giving Page – https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BrownCleeSchool

And if you’d rather not use online giving to support the Karibuni Children, then you could send cheques to school payable to Karibuni Children.  All sponsorship and donations needs to be in by Friday 17th July (end of term).

Reflection Time and Prayer of the Day

Good Morning Brown Clee!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Today is the first day of Archie’s Kenyan Safari Challenge!  So we need you to get travelling, and get sponsoring at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BrownCleeSchool

We have 7 days to travel the distance of the Kenyan border – a total of 2141 miles!  We need EVERYONE to join in – children, parents, staff and governors!  Each time you go for a walk, run, cycle, horse ride or swim – clock up the miles and email me (head@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk)  the total distance.  So if a family of 4 went for a 10 mile cycle – that is 40 miles!!  Please also send photographs and we will map the journeys each day on the website!

Today we are starting from Mombasa and heading North up the coast – how far can we get in one day do you think?  It is just over 209 miles to the Somalian border – can we make it?

As we go through the week I thought it would be good to learn more about Kenya, Karibuni Children, and what it is like being a child in Kenya. Here is a video about an 8 year old girl called Naresiah, who lives in a village called Kimana near the Tanzanian border.

So far we have raised over £500 – we are 20% of the way to our target of £2,141 – a pound for every mile travelled!  So please, please share – as not only are we helping communities in Kenya that need our support, but we are also giving Archie and all the children at Brown Clee an important message – that we can all make a difference, no matter how small we are!

We have had another message from the communities that Karibuni help and support – this one if from Oliver who is the Programme Director for the Community Centre in Maua, Kenya…

It’s very inspiring what Archie is doing at just 7 years old.  I wish to encourage him with this Tanzania Proverb:

“Little by Little, A Little becomes A Lot!!”

All the best to the young one.

With love Oliver.

Let’s see how much happiness we can bring to the children in Kenya, with our kindness…

https://youtu.be/iGUABWgeA1Q

 

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
May we look for ways to help those in need.
May we be generous in all situations.
May we learn to consider the needs of all those we meet.
May we all realise the power of kindness.
Amen.

 

Safe Operating Procedures for opening in September

Good afternoon all,
We have been working really hard this week to plan and prepare for a safe opening of school for everyone in September.  As part of that process we have written a series of Safe Operating Procedures which will work alongside our action plan and risk assessment.  You can find them on the website at Key Info, Policies – as well as below.
These are our starting point for September – clearly things could change between now and then, and things could also evolve after we have opened, but I feel it is really important to continue to be open and transparent with all the procedures that we are putting into place, to ensure that Brown Clee School is as safe as it possibly can be for all pupils, families and staff.
I will be sending a letter out on Monday with further detailed information, but these Safe Operating Procedures will give you an oversight, and I don’t want to overload parents with sending everything out at once.
In September, the key control measure for reducing the risk of transmitting coronavirus, as well as ensuring good hygiene measures, is to keep the classes apart from each other in order to reduce mixing.  Therefore the Start and End of the Day are high risk times due to the numbers of children and adults arriving at and leaving school.  We have therefore had to stagger the start and end of day times.  Please read the attached Start and End of Day Procedures really carefully – as for these to work we really do need your support and co-operation.
Also, again we are encouraging as many people as possible to walk or drive – as the use of school transport increases the risk of mixing classes.  We also need to liaise with Shropshire Transport as to the numbers and timings, so we kindly ask that parents let us know about this as soon as possible.
We are still planning how we can safely operate Wrap Around Care before and after school, as again, we will need to keep classes apart, and therefore it will need to be in the hall and we will have to limit numbers.  We are asking that parents only book Care Club if they absolutely desperately need it as if we are over-subscribed we might have to prioritise.
We will be letting parents know how Care Club bookings and procedures will work as soon as they are finalised – and we are thinking it will have to be bookings, made a week in advance, as a minimum.
Please bear with us as we share the information, we feel it is important that families know that we are doing everything we can to ensure everyone’s safety, and our principles are ‘Protect, Care, Teach’.
If anyone has any questions, worries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me – I have been in school regularly since March, and daily since 1st June, and I feel safe, as do the staff and children currently in school. We all want to ensure that we do our very best for our school community and will work with you to ensure that our children can all start school happily and safely.

Planning for September – School Transport

We are in the process of planning for September, and it would be really helpful to know if any parents absolutely do need school transport.
Our main control measure is keeping children in their class groups, or ‘bubble’ as the government refers to it – and therefore the use of school transport could compromise these bubbles.
We would appreciate if where possibly, children are driven or walk to school, but also understand that for some parents, school transport might be an absolute necessity.
Once we have these numbers we can then inform Shropshire Transport, who we are hoping can do their best to maintain the security of class groups.
If you could let us know by next Friday (10th July) at the latest, that would be really helpful!

Full School Opening in September

Good afternoon,

We have had the official guidance today on the measures needed to open the school in September, and we will be publishing all our Safe Operating Procedures and Action Plan on Monday, so that parents can be fully aware of all the measures we will be taking to ensure the safety of all children, families and staff in the current situation.

Having received the guidance, we are pleased to say that we will be able to offer wrap around care to parents who absolutely need it.  We will be encouraging parents to try and make other arrangements wherever possible, as with all the children back in school, children will be unable to socially distance and the key control measure will be the non-mixing of the class groups (the ‘bubble’ concept).

The wrap around care will take place in the hall, and in-line with the guidance we will have to ‘segment’ the hall to keep children in different classes apart – the ‘bubble’ concept.  This will limit the number of children that we can cater for.

Therefore, in order to allow us to plan effectively, and to enable us to provide this service for the families that absolutely do need it, we kindly ask that if at all possible, those parents who will need child care on a regular basis, to let us know by the end of next week what your wrap around care needs in September are likely to be. We appreciate that things may change, but this will allow us to work out the class Child Care segment size, which in turn will allow us to help parents out as much as possible.

Once we have this information, we can then work out maximum numbers for each Child Care Class segment, and this should help parents to plan in September.

The booking system will also need to change, due to the limits of numbers, and we will let parents know what this is later.