Updates

Friday 7th February, 2025

A busy week in Dragonflies!

This week we have started to explore the characteristics of play scripts and have had fun working in groups to present a short play to the rest of the class. We have also carried on with our learning about the geographical features of India and have been putting the final touches to our Indian dance in PE.

Friday 7th February, 2025

After-school Clubs – Potential Price Reduction

Given the successful uptake with an increased provision with before-and-after-school care club and after-school clubs, we are looking into whether we can reduce the price of our before and after school clubs. Some clubs (such as cookery and creative arts – due to their cost to run) will have to remain the same.

 

We are looking at reducing care club to £1.25 per 15mins and most after-school clubs to £4.50. This will be provisional for next half-term. At the end of which, we will review whether it will be viable longer term.

Friday 7th February, 2025

Equal Access Trophy – Girls’ Football

As part of the school’s involvement with England Football’s girls’ football partnership, we have recently been awarded a trophy for our efforts for equal access to football for girls and boys.

Thursday 6th February, 2025

Latest FOBCS News

FOBCS have asked us to share all their latest news with you –

Facebook
Please like our Facebook page “Friends of Brown Clee School” to be kept up to date on what we’re doing to raise money for school, and how you can help.
Whatsapp Group
If you would like to join our FOBCS Whatsapp group to be kept up to date on what we’re doing and how you can help at events, if you are unable to come to our meetings, please complete this form-  https://forms.office.com/e/XbhwV9bi51
Asda Cashpot for Schools
Cashpot for schools closed at the end of November and with your help, we easily raised approximately £74 for FOBCS. Thank you!
School Recipe Books
Having initially sold out, we now have more recipe books. Please let us know if you would like to place an order. They’re £6 each and the money can be left at school reception.
Easyfundraising
We have joined Easyfundraising and hope you can support our cause by shopping through them. Click on the QR code below to get started.
How it works

We turn your daily shopping into every day magic!

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. It won’t cost you any extra. The cost is covered by the brand.

Brands pay us a commission because when you start your shop from the Easyfundraising website or app, they can see we sent you to them. If you make a purchase, a commission is generated, and we turn that into a donation – magic!

Inline image

 
Gift Amnesty
If you have any unwanted gifts or vouchers, that would suit a tombola, and you would be happy to gift them to school, please bring them in. We would be grateful for anything you can donate (un-opened/unused) including non-perishable food and drink. Thank you!
Coming this term…..
-School movie nights
-Working day – a school grounds spring clean!
-Easter egg hunt
-Tech amnesty
-Friday tuck shop
-Year 6 leavers hoodies
Thank your for supporting FOBCS to support the school and children.
Monday 3rd February, 2025

Important dates for after half term

Known Dates

Thursday 6th March
– World Book Day
(we will be doing a similar thing to last year but details will be shared closer to the time)

Friday 21st March
– Comic Relief
(we will be doing a similar thing to last year but details will be shared closer to the time)

Tuesday 1st April
– First day catering will officially be manage by ourselves

Friday 11th April
– Last day of term & mid-year reports out (excluding Reception)

 

Unknown Dates (but will be during next half term – dates shared soon)

  • Parent/carer feedback sessions for parents/carers of Reception pupils

 

 

Sunday 2nd February, 2025

Gymnastics Mats – Available

We have a small number of gymnastics mats that have recently failed our annual sports equipment inspection.

Whilst not practical for use in school, these mats are still in reasonably okay condition – some minor tears to the surfaces, edges or corners – and, rather than these be disposed of, they could potentially be useable at home.

 

If anyone would like a (6ft x 4ft) gymnastic mat, please get in touch (admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk) to arrange collection. All we would ask for would be a small donation to FOBCS.

Friday 31st January, 2025

This week’s Maths and Computing

This week we have worked hard in Maths developing our understanding of metres, centimetres and millimetres. We have also started to explore the iMotion app in Computing and over the next week will go on to develop our own stop-frame animations.

Thursday 30th January, 2025

I.T. Recycling Project

We have created a partnership with Shropshire IT Recycling (a recycling project service) that collect and recycle a wide range of IT-related hardware – including…

 

This service will not only ensure data is securely removed from devices and provide an eco-friendly way to dispose of electronics; depending on the usability of the hardware sent in, school/FOBCS will receive a payment from Shropshire IT Recycling for each item sent in.

 

If you would like to send in any electronic devices to be recycled, please email admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk, and we can send a bag home with your child. You can then place electronic devices within this and return back to school.

 

If you have items larger than will fit in the bag, please let us know, and we can see whether it is something we can work with.

 

For information on how to prepare your device for recycling, please see below: How Do I Prepare My Mobile Phone or Tablet device for Recycling v 3

Wednesday 29th January, 2025

Staying Safe Online – Weekly Post – 29.01.25

In the growing digital age, it is important that we all stay safe.

 

To help share thoughts, ideas and information, we will be doing a weekly post on staying safe when working online, mental health and wellbeing. These will be short posts with a snapshot of information about staying safe online. For those wanting more information, we do have a vast range of information within the e-safety section on our website (https://browncleeschool.org.uk/home/about/safeguarding/e-safety/).

 

Here is this week’s post: Tiktok

 

 

 

Saturday 25th January, 2025

Helping-your-child-read Workshop

Thank you for filling in the form sent out regarding the helping-your-child-read workshop.

Based on the response, we will be holding a session at 14:00 on Monday 10th February.

 

During the session, Mrs. Morris and Mrs. Fox will be covering how phonics/reading is taught in school – as well as ways to effectively help your child when reading at home. After the presentations (inc. any questions) has finished, the children from Fireflies and Grasshoppers will join the session for you to listen to them read.

 

Please indicate on the following form (if you intend on attending or would with a different time): https://forms.office.com/e/fQrxLm6g6d

Friday 24th January, 2025

Catering Update

Just an update on the situation regarding catering (following on from the information shared at the beginning of term).

 

We have taken the decision to take the existing catering team in-house – and, therefore, Laura and Carla will employed directly by school. This has been a long and thought-out decision; however, we ultimately feel the decision is one which comes with huge benefits and very few disadvantages.

 

This move will hopefully enable us…

  • …to keep school meals at £2.83 despite the rise in food and staff costs (remaining with our externally managed company would have resulted in meal prices of £3.20);
  • …more flexibility and control of menus – including pupil involvement with this;
  • …more opportunities for unique meal days/events;
  • …to increase the quality of meals;
  • …to increase the range of choices each day;
  • …to potentially introduce free taster/sample days;
  • all alongside a whole host of other benefits.

The official date for the changeover is 1st April; however, the potential positive changes won’t necessarily be introduced all immediately.

 

In the build-up to this, we would like to involved pupils and parents/carers as much as possible to gain ideas of what sorts of things will be most appreciated (if possible!). Children (via the school council) have already been involved in this – and will continued to be so. We will sent out some surveys for parents/carers between now and then to gauge some feedback from yourselves.

 

We will also keep you updated between now and then.

Friday 24th January, 2025

Safer Internet Day – Free Training for Parents

West Mercia Police are hosting a free 1-hour online safety session via Microsoft Teams for all parents and carers across Shropshire on 11th February which is Safer Internet Day.  This will cover topics such as dangerous apps, the rise off AI, sextortion and more.  Further information and details of how to book can be found on the attached poster.

Safer Internet Day Flyer with eventbrite link

Monday 20th January, 2025

Spaces still left on after school clubs

Spaces are still available on the following clubs

As at 20/01/25

Monday Board Games All classes
Tuesday Textiles Bees & Scorpions
Tuesday Athletics D/F, Bees & Scorpions
Wednesday Yoga for relaxation All classes
Wednesday Tennis / Badminton D/F, Bees & Scorpions
Thursday Lego All classes
Friday Multi sports / Invasion games All classes

 

 

Please contact Mrs Godfrey

Friday 17th January, 2025

Sewing in Bees!

Today we have continued to learn how to sew. Last week we looked at how to thread a needle and how to sew a basic running stitch and today we have learned how to sew an enhanced running stitch and how to complete a cross stitch. We are having to concentrate really hard as some of us have never sewed before and are learning a new skill. We are enjoying our Friday afternoon sewing activity. We are working towards creating an embroidered story panel based on our class novel The Iliad and the Odyssey. However, we have a long way to go and lots more stitches to learn!

Friday 17th January, 2025

Bronze Ambassadors – KS1 Breaktime Club

Our Bronze Ambassadors (Y6 sports leaders) run a daily breaktime club for any Fireflies or Grasshoppers that wish to join.

Thursday 16th January, 2025

Safer Schools Survey

Brown Clee has been part of the Safer Schools initiative for a number of years. This is unfortunately ending this year, but we will be looking at continuing it in our own capacity.

 

Ahead of the final meeting, the safer schools team have asked if we can share the following form: https://forms.office.com/e/Tp3x5jDmRL for parents/carers to fill in.

Wednesday 15th January, 2025

Brown Clee Benefice Weekly Pew Sheet

Please see below the Brown Clee Benefice Weekly Pew Sheet detailing the Church services and other events which are taking place across the Benefice over the next few weeks.

19.1.25 Pewsheet

Tuesday 14th January, 2025

School of Rock Tribute Band at Ditton Priors Village Hall – 8th February 2025

Garry Aulton (Chairman of the Village Hall) has asked us to share the following message and poster –
“Very excited to announce that this is happening! Only £6 per ticket and we want to fill it full of families! Come and watch these amazing young musicians! Tickets are available on line at the link on the poster, or just scan the QR code and also available at Ditton Priors Post office and Parkers Garage!  We are trying something different so please get behind this and support it, the band are amazing! There will be a licenced bar and snacks!
I have attached the poster, it would be great if the village could support this as the band are absolutely amazing and all the children are aged 11-16 and grade 7 musicians.
We have only got 80 tickets available and want to fill it full of families, it would be great for the kids to see what can be done with hard work and dedication when learning to play a musical instrument
Let me know your thoughts.
Garry”
Thursday 9th January, 2025

Brown Clee Benefice Weekly Pew Sheet

Please see below the Weekly Pew Sheet for the Brown Clee Benefice.  This details the Church Services and other events taking place across the Benefice.

12.1.25 Pewsheet

Thursday 9th January, 2025

Special Menu – Thursday 16th January

As it is School Spring Census next Thursday, Edwards & Ward are providing a special menu of Chicken or Quorn Dippers with a choice of dip with chips and veg of the day.  As we are unable to amend the menu in ParentPay, if your child would like the Chicken Dippers please select Chicken Korma and if they would like the Quorn Dippers please select Quorn Dippers.  Laura and Carla will still be providing Jacket Potatoes and a choice of ham or cheese sandwiches.

Kids Choice Menu 160125

Thursday 9th January, 2025

Email – Road Conditions

Understandably, certain circumstances may mean it is difficult to get to school for the usual 08:45 start time this morning due to road conditions in some places.

If this going to affect you, please email (admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk) to let us know.

Sunday 5th January, 2025

Welcome Back – Tuesday 7th January 2025

Welcome Back Letter (Jan) – PDF Version

 

We hope everyone has had a great Christmas and New Year – and everyone is looking forward to another great term. Here is some information that we thought would be useful ahead of the new term.

Wraparound Care: After-school Clubs and Careclub

Last term, we made a number of changes to extend our wraparound care provision (care for children before or after school).

Careclub can be accessed earlier before school (7:30am-08:45am) and later after school (3:15pm-6:00pm). If you wish to book your child into Care Club, please email Mrs. Godfrey (careclub@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk). You will then be asked to pay for this via Parent Pay – unless paying via the tax-free childcare payment system. The current cost is £1.50 for every 15 minutes. Please note you can book your child into Care Club up to a term in advance.

Last term, we did have a number of cancellation and/or children arriving later than their booked time. In these cases, we would really appreciate an email/phone call to let us know this will be the case – as, at times, we have had staff in school with no-one present. Unfortunately, we may have to look at charging based on booked times in the future – as this kind of thing does have a wider impact on the school budget.

We now have a wider range of after-school clubs available – with two clubs running every day after school. Further information on next term’s clubs can be found on the school website (https://browncleeschool.org.uk/after-school-clubs-for-spring-half-term/). Please note that booking for after-school clubs now takes place via Parent Pay. Information on how to do this can be found using the link above.

Start of the day and buses

Our start-the-day routine will be remaining the same. However, last term, there was an increase in late arrivals. Whilst these are usually only by a few minutes, it does have a noticeable impact on those children regularly affected. Lessons do start at 08:45 and any arrival later than that mean children will miss out. In Fireflies and Grasshoppers, this is Phonics, and in Dragonflies, Bees and Scorpions, this is the beginning of their maths lessons – so missing the beginning of these sessions does have a significant impact.

On a similar theme, a number of parents have raised concerns about the timing of the buses being affected by drivers having to regularly wait for children to be at their designated pick-up location/time in the morning and parents being there to pick their child up in the afternoon. Whilst understandably, this very occasionally may be unavoidable, it naturally does have a knock-on effect to all the other families on pick-up and drop-off.

Celebration Assembly

Just a reminder that all parents, carers, grandparents etc. are invited to attend our weekly celebration assembly (Friday mornings at 08:55-09:30). Here we give out any certificates for children for activities on TTRS, Numbots and Spelling Shed – as well as present our weekly trophy to the highest class on TTRS. We also share some of our favourite things from the week, celebrate any pupils that have received recognition awards, share any other significant events (e.g. sports competitions) and draw our winning reading raffle tickets.

School Meals – Update

I would like to update you on some ongoing concerns we have had with our external catering company. As you may be aware, the school’s catering has been externally managed for a number of years.

We are lucky to have two excellent cooks in Laura and Carla – without whom, the quality of school dinners would much poorer than they are due to the limitations on menus and orders placed on them. The school are now having significant additional charges placed on us to continue this service (which takes funds from the budget that could be spent directly on the children).

As a background, our current service was outsourced to Entrust – who initially subcontracted this out Chartwells and then to Edwards and Ward. Over this time, we have had significant increases in school meal costs. The latest of which (last April) was not actually shared with school, so has meant that school has had to cover the difference in cost since then. School dinners should currently be costing parents £2.95 (currently, we are charging yourselves £2.83). Entrust are planning on raising this again in April to £3.20. This, along with the additionally incurred costs to school and ongoing restrictions with menus, means that we are having to consider ending this agreement – as I cannot, in good conscience, be asking yourselves for that much of an increase on school meals.

The current proposed plan of action is for school to take the catering in-house and managing the service ourselves from April this year. This is something that a number of Shropshire schools do (and we have discussed, visited and assessed with them). For us, the catering team (of Laura and Carla) would remain the same. We will hopefully be able to keep our meal prices at the same £2.83 cost. It will also give us more flexibility and control over the quality and selection of menus – which will hopefully enable an increased uptake. All regulations on nutrition, training and health and safety will be maintained.

In the period between now and then (i.e. this term), school meals will continue to free for all of infants (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) as shared earlier this year (https://browncleeschool.org.uk/universal-infant-free-school-meals/) and meals will remain at £2.83 (with school continuing to cover the difference) for children in KS2 (Year 3-6). We will endeavour to keep you updated on how things progress.

On the topic of school meals, can we please ensure that meals are booked and paid for via ParentPay in advance (where possible). Late-booked or un-booked meals (whilst sometimes unavoidable) do cause a lot of additional admin work in school and the kitchen.

School Website updates

As always, key information and dates are regularly updated on the school website. To receive automated email updates from the school website, you can sign up here (https://browncleeschool.org.uk/home/parents-area/updates/news-subscription/).

Currently, there are no proposed events (other than sports competitions) in this first-half term; however, any changes in this will be shared on the website – as well as an update on events due after half term.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact your class teacher on their class email or the school office (admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk).

Friday 20th December, 2024

Christmas Tree – Winning Bid

Congratulations to Carol Banks – whose bid of £50 was the highest for our Christmas tree!

 

Thank you for all of those that did place bids – and another big thank you to Hugh at Burwarton Estate for their kind generosity in donating the tree to school in the first place.

 

Friday 20th December, 2024

School Council and Year 6 Responsibilities

Pupil voice and a sense of responsibility is something that is very important to us at Brown Clee.

 

Our Year 6s have various different responsibilities:

Bronze Ambassadors (Sports Leaders):
Run a daily break time club for KS1. Lead sports events in school. Keep P.E. cupboard tidy. Make suggestions to the School Council around P.E. and Sports.

  • Ari C
  • Archie
  • Izzy T
  • Penny
  • Emily
  • Jake

 

Eco-Ambassadors (Sports Leaders):
Regular litter picking around school site. Make suggestions to the School Council regarding environment and being eco-conscious.

  • Ari
  • Josh
  • Flynn
  • Issy P

 

Library Monitors:
Keep library area organised and tidy. Make suggestions to the School Council regarding books and reading.

  • Penny
  • Emily
  • Issy P

 

Lunch Monitors:
Support pupils at lunch time and help tidy afterwards. Make suggestions to the School Council regarding school meals and the lunch hall.

  • Issy P
  • Ari
  • Josh

 

Chicken Monitors:
Ensures chickens have food, water and their coop is cleaned out.

  • Alfie
  • Lexi
  • Issy P
  • Josh

 

All of the above feed into our School Council – who has three “Heads of School Council”:

Head of School Council:
Leads school council meetings and communicates ideas to/from other ambassadors/monitors.

  • Izzy T
  • Lexi
  • Archie

 

The head of school council created their own democratic system for the whole school to vote in representatives from all year groups. These were recently announced in assembly:

  • Reception: Wynter & Merry
  • Year 1: Henry Ho & Grace
  • Year 2: Isabelle & Stan
  • Year 3: Hugo & Connor
  • Year 4: Ruby & Aubrey
  • Year 5: Benji & Ted

School Council will meet regularly (led by the three Heads of School Council) to discuss any ideas or suggestions they have about things in school.

Thursday 19th December, 2024

Email Bulletin Subscription

If you would like to receive an email when posts are added to the school website (or specifically relevant to your child’s class), then follow the following link Subscribe to our email newsletter and fill in the relevant information.

 

Once you have subscribed, you can update your information or unsubscribe using the links found at the bottom of any email received using this service. Image below as example.