Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income.

We love books and we massively value the importance of teaching children to read, which we do through the daily teaching of phonics, daily whole class reading sessions, story-telling sessions, buddy-reading and generally immersing children in books to hopefully embed a love of reading.

But we NEED your help!  Nationally, not enough children are reading at home (with or without a parent) and without this extra reading practice we are unintentionally limiting their long-term opportunities.  We fully appreciate how busy parents and families are, which is why the only homework we ask of children is daily reading, along with some practice of their spellings and number facts.

World Book Day is on the 2nd March this year, and we will be celebrating it with the focus being very much on books, stories and the love (and importance) of reading – watch this space for further information, especially as we will also be inviting you to join us in the afternoon!

Both videos are slightly dated – but the message isn’t: Reading is a vital skill that is needed throughout life and opens up doors and opportunities.

We have been given 4 Guest Passes for a free trial lesson with Shushokan Karate at Teme Leisure, Ludlow on a Monday evening from 6.15pm to 7.00pm. If you would like one of these, please call by the school office where they are being kept. Pre-booking is essential. The poster below gives more information including contact details.

Ludlow Karate Lessons

We were delighted with a surprise visit from our Firefly Jake today! He wanted to pop in and see his classmates before heading back to Birmingham Children’s Hospital for more treatment, and we were all thrilled to see him!

It was lovely to share our news with Jake and see him smile, and tell him how much we are missing him! We told him what a hero he is!

All our best wishes for the next round of treatment!

We are delighted to welcome everyone back at the start of the new term, and a particularly special welcome to our new pupil, Beatrice, who has joined the Fireflies.

We are also delighted to announce that the new classroom is now in use, and the Grasshoppers are enjoying being in a much better sized room for their learning!

This has also meant that the Bees are in their new permanent classroom and the Fireflies have use of both their main classroom and The Pod – so all is back to normal!

We have some sad news, that Mrs Michelle Morris, our Friday Firefly Teacher will be leaving us at the end of this half term – but we will be recruiting and will keep you informed throughout the process.

We are missing one of our team, Jake from Fireflies, as he is currently receiving treatment for lymphoma at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. We are all wishing him well and sending our wishes and prayers for a strong recovery along with our warmest thoughts to his family.

We wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone for supporting our Nativities, ‘Wear Something Christmassy Day’ and ‘Wear Something Blue Day (Jake’s favourite colour is blue!) – because all donations and ticket sales have raised the fantastic sum of £649 which is going to Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

Thank you!

Please see the following letter regarding homework, along with the Homework Policy.

Homework

Homework Policy

Shropshire Council have asked us to share the attached Consultation on Admissions Arrangements with our parents. The consultation period will last for 6 weeks ending on 20th January 2023.

Consult Parent notice 2023a

School Christmas Dinner will be served on Wednesday 14th December, please see the attached poster for the menu. As we cannot amend the menu in ParentPay for one day, if your child would like the festive vegetable bake please click on the vegan sausage casserole as the lunch option. If you have not yet activated your child’s ParentPay account and would like an activation letter please contact the school office. Please remember that meals need to be booked 48 hours in advance.

We held our Safer Schools Meeting last week with staff, governors, children and Ian Bartlett, Shropshire Council’s Safer Schools Officer.  We are delighted to have been awarded Safer School’s Accreditation again:

The following is the report that Ian made following the meeting:

I’d like to congratulate Brown Clee CE Primary School on maintaining their ‘Safer School’ accreditation.  The Safer School initiative is a risk management approach to school security, created by West Mercia Police and supported by Shropshire Council.  The school was accredited in 2012 and has continued annual meetings as a review. Miss Relph recently held a Safer School review meeting. A thorough, positive and productive meeting involving  governors, staff and pupils. The pupils contributed well to the meeting, providing good ideas. An important aspect of the initiative includes involving pupils and parents/carers and the school had carried out surveys for the meeting. Excellent feedback and some good constructive observations. The meeting concluded with the school receiving a new Safer School certificate. Excellent work!

Ian Bartlett

Safer Schools

Shropshire Council

We would also like to thank parents for their support in returning the Safer Schools Survey, and you can find a summary of the responses in the following letter:

Parent Survey Summary