Due to the Class Bubbles being reintroduced and an issue with the freezer in the school kitchen, the meals served to the children may differ this week from the menu shown on Parent Pay.  Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we started to think about FEELINGS – and how many different feelings there are and why they are important.  We also started to think about how we can regulate or manage our feelings in an appropriate way – and today I want us to think about that some more.

Today we are going to learn a bit more about what goes on inside our brain when we have feelings so that we can understand how to manage our feelings and be in control of them – rather than feelings being in control of us.  Have a watch and listen to this video which talks about the ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’ parts of our brain – and have a think about which one you think is most important…

Did you decide which part of the brain you think is most important – the upstairs ‘thinking’ brain or the downstairs ‘feelings’ brain?  I think that most of the time the upstairs/thinking brain is most important – as without the ability to think and manage our feelings we could end up being overwhelmed by them.  Imagine if you felt sad because you’d lost your favourite toy and you didn’t have a ‘thinking’ brain – how would you ever stop being sad – would you just continue to cry and be miserable for ever?   What if someone accidentally hurt you in the playground and you felt angry – if you didn’t have a thinking brain, would that anger just build and build until you ‘flipped your lid’?

A big part of growing up involves learning how to understand and manage our feelings – and this happens as we develop and grow our upstairs/thinking brain – and we will learn more about this tomorrow.  Today I want us to try and be more self aware when we are experiencing a feeling – and try to learn to step back from our feelings so that we say in our minds, ‘I have angry feelings.’ rather than saying, ‘I’m angry’. This helps us to appreciate that we are more than our feelings, and that we can control them for example even though we might feel angry, being angry isn’t all of us; we don’t have to let our feelings take over.

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you that you know me very well and that you love me.
Please help me to be patient with other people, even when they make me cross!
Please help me to try to understand them and be kind and caring.

Help me to use my thinking brain so that I can manage my feelings,
Amen.

We are having a regular number of children without a packed lunch but who haven’t had a school meal ordered via Parent Pay.  Can we please remind parents that it is essential to pre-order a school meal, even if your child is Free School Meals.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

I hope you all had a good weekend – and here we are back to online assemblies again for our last week of this half term!  Hopefully we will be back together in the hall after the half-term break – but in the meantime, this week I would like us to start to think about feelings.  I know that I feel sad and somewhat disappointed that we are back to ‘bubbles’ and online assemblies, but I also feel hopeful that we will be back to normal after half-term.

We all have them – and there are so many different types of feelings!  Feelings are part of what makes us human – can you name some?

I know that I have felt all of these feelings at some point in my life – I am sure many of you have too!  If we were asked to split these feelings into groups I would group them like this:-

1: Happy, Optimistic, Hopeful, Friendly, Glad

2: Sad, Pessimistic, Depressed, Miserable, Afraid

Can you explain how I have grouped these feelings?

…….

The lists have been separated into feelings that we generally like and those that we try to avoid….some are feelings that we would prefer to experience – and others some that we don’t like.  However our feelings are not as simple as we might think. For example, isn’t it good to feel a bit nervous before being in a play, playing a sports match or taking a test? Don’t we like being a tiny bit frightened before a rollercoaster ride or during a scary film? Don’t we need to feel fired up and cross at times if we are facing a challenge and things are tough? If we always felt calm and chilled – would we have the passion and drive to work towards our aspirations and dreams?

So feelings are complicated and are part of our lives – and we need to learn to understand why we have them..

…and we need to learn how to manage them so that we don’t have to give in to our feelings and let them tell us what to do…(more on that tomorrow!)…

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you for all the feelings we have and that each one has its place.
It’s right to be scared if we’re in danger.
It’s great to be happy when we can.
Please help us to control our bad feelings and not be overwhelmed by them.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

We have been thinking about how important it is to treat others with respect and be kind.  Kindness is such an important quality, and sometimes, in the heat of the moment, we can say or do things that aren’t as kind as they should be.  It is so important that we try and think before we act or speak, so that we can regulate our actions and words.

In the Bible,  Jesus was asked which commandment was the first and most important of all. Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’”  (Mark 12:29-31).

Here is a parable that Jesus told his followers to help teach them to be kind – it is called “The Good Samaritan”…

What did you think when watching?  Can you think of a time when someone has been kind to you?  How did it make you feel?  How did you react?

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Please help us to look each day for opportunities to be kind to others.
Help us never to be so busy looking after ourselves that we forget about other people.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

We have been focusing on the importance of Kindness this week – and how sometimes a small thoughtful word or action can make a big difference to how someone might feel.  Sometimes we don’t know that our friends are feeling down or sad, but it is amazing how powerful a small act of kindness might be!

Here is a short story about Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed!  Enjoy listening and have a think about the difference Mary made to an ordinary world!

Have a think now – what could you do today, an ordinary day, to care for someone else?

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Please help us to be kind to those around us.
Please help us to think about the needs of other people.
Please help us to seek to live in peace.
Amen.

Ahead of a ‘warn and inform’ letter being distributed later today, as a result of having additional Covid19 cases in school we request that parents return to social distancing as much as possible at collection at the end of the day, as we have now reached the DfE threshold for step-up measures – all of which are intended to keep school operating as normally and safely as possible.

We have just been informed by Whittles that due to unforeseen circumstances the Whittles bus is late and it will be Boulton’s providing this service tonight.  We are sorry for any inconvenience.

Unfortunately we have heard from the school photographer that they have had to cancel their visit today.  Once we have a rearranged date for them to come into school we will let you know.