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.

Please take note of the following information regarding booking places at Care Club (before and after school wrap-around care).  Due to increasing demand and limits on numbers we are having to prioritise keyworker parents and can only take bookings for a week ahead.

Care Club Oct 2020

Please note that the school PD Days for this academic year are:-

Monday 4th January

Monday 19th July

Tuesday 20th July

Wednesday 21st July

There is NO PD day at the end of this half term.

There will be a special menu on Thursday 1st October as follows:-

Beef Burgers and chips
Vegetable sticks
Fruit
Jelly or Yo-Yo bear
Chocolate Brownie

Free for KS1 children and FSM children / £2.30 for KS2 children

If you would like to book this for your child please email Pippa directly on:-

u98180@compass-group.co.uk

We are starting to get more children isolating as they have, or a family member has  a new, continuous cough or temperature – which we would expect at this time of year. The procedure is to book a coronavirus test as soon as possible and inform the school, and then the family isolates until the results come back – which are usually within 24 hours. We are expecting to see more and more of this as we head into the Winter months.

The expectation from the government is now that any child who is isolating and is fit and well has to continue with their learning.  Therefore, on being notified that a child is isolating, a member of the class teaching staff will ring home and inform you of what work needs to be done as well as ensure that we have an accurate email address for you.  The class teacher, when possible, will then email any work requirements and resources for your child to do at home.

Work can then be emailled in to the Class email addresses that we had set up in the ‘lockdown’:-

class1@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk

class 2@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk

class3@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk

class4@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk

Please bear with us – as this is all very new to us too – and often we are only informed of an absence first thing in the morning and the teacher is in Class teaching the children.  However, it is important to be aware that remote teaching and learning is not optional – and is very important, especially as most children have been at home since March.

Parent Letter re Sept School Transport 140820

We are nearly at the start of a new academic year, where we will be welcoming new pupils into Reception. However this year, it will be the strangest start to a new academic year ever – as we are also welcoming children back, many who haven’t been into school since March – and it is sadly, a very different looking and feeling school due to the current circumstances.

There are lots of changes in place, to the physical environment, as well as routines and procedures.  These have all been made to try and minimise the risk of spreading coronavirus, which could then spread out into the community and put ‘vulnerable’ family members at risk, and could also impact on future class or school closures. The key measures for reducing risk of infection are staying away from school if anyone displays symptoms, thorough hygiene and cleaning measures and keeping class groups apart and socially distancing – so please help us by ensuring that you have read through all procedures which can be found on this website here:

Key Information about School Procedures and Measures (Coronavirus)

I am attaching here a copy of the email that was sent out last week as a reminder, as well as the letter emailled out in September, which detail many of these changes. There is also a letter from Shropshire Council about School Transport, and I have attached here the ‘Start of School Day’ and ‘End of School Day’ procedures.

Welcome back letter

Letter to parents regarding opening Sep 2020

Start of Day Procedures

End of the Day Procedures

Parent Letter re Sept School Transport 140820

I know that there is a lot of information, but it is vital that everyone is aware of all the changes and guidance – so please do share with other parents, so that we can all work together to ensure that the new school year is a smooth, calm, happy and safe one for all children.

Please do bear with us, as it is all new for school staff too!  I am sure that there may be many questions, and we will be here to answer them.  Sadly, this will have to be by email of phone mostly, as with the increase in numbers at the start and end of the day, there won’t be opportunity to have the normal face-to-face communication.

To help children ‘see’ some of the changes, I am hoping to post photos/video of the routes into school, and of the layout of the new one way systems on Tuesday – so please keep an eye on the website!  The school news section of the website is the main source of information and route for us to communicate – so please do keep an eye or even better subscribe here for notifications…

Subscribe to School and Class News and Posts

By subscribing, you will be notified of any daily class or news posts, as well as receive a weekly newsletter on Friday afternoon.

Again, apologies for information overload – but it is important!  Enjoy the next few days and we are very much looking forwards to seeing all the children next Wednesday – we have missed them!