Following on from this morning’s assembly, I am setting up a virtual Pet Show and Tell session for all children next Monday, 25th January at 1pm.  The session will be on Microsoft Teams and I have attached below guidance on how to access and how to use.

We are super impressed with all the fantastic remote learning taking place, but are also very aware of the importance of children being kept in touch with each other and having social contact.  For this session to work, parents will need to be present with their child and the link to the session will be emailled out next Monday morning (25th January) to parents email addresses.

If children do not wish to join remotely, they can also email photos, pictures or information about their dogs that I can share with the virtual Show and Tell session.  These photos and pictures will need to be sent to me – head@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk – by first thing this Friday (22nd January)at the latest.

I will host the session and each child will get the chance to ‘show’ their pet – either in the flesh (and if the pet allows!) or on a photograph, as well as tell us a little bit about their pet friend.  The duration of the session will depend on how many children take part.

Please can all participants join the session on mute.

Guidance on Microsoft Teams and Protocol – Children

Good Morning Brown Clee!

This half term we have been thinking about friendship, and today I would like us to think about the friendship we get – and give – from having pets.  I am just back from walking one of my pets, Rosie, and have been brave and recorded my thoughts – as I have had an idea!

I am very aware that during lockdowns, we can keep learning going with the remote learning activities we post, and with the support of your parents, but it is much harder to keep the connections and contact going – the chats and the interactions. This interaction is so important and I have had an idea…..

So I would like to set up a remote session for Brown Clee children to participate in a ‘Pet Assembly’!  This is something we definitely cannot do in school – can you imagine the chaos of having dogs, cats, horses, snails, fish, mice and goodness knows what else in the school hall all at the same time!  However, it is something that we can do remotely!

Last week I mentioned that pets are as much our friends as our classmates – and they are – as they bring us so much joy and love.  They make us smile, they are excited to see us, they teach us to be compassionate, kind and caring.  Pets are an important part of our lives and they make our lives so much richer and better for being part of it.

Some of you may not have pets (they are fun but they are also a lot of work and a huge commitment), but by sharing them in an assembly, I thought it would provide an opportunity for all of us to get together – even at a distance.  So later this week I will post instructions and guidance on the website about  how we can do this – you can either email in a photo, a picture, a description, or join us ‘live’ on Microsoft Teams (you will need your parents to help) to share your pets, and remind us all of the benefits and importance of sharing our lives with animals who are our friends.

He’s a Mutt Lyrics

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you for all the wonderful animals in the world.
We thank you especially for our pets.
They make us so happy.
They teach us so much.
Help us to look after our pets.
Help us to be kind and loving to all of your creatures.
We thank you for the RSPCA who rescue many animals from danger.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

This morning I would like you to look at the following pictures.  See if you can describe what you see and find something in common – something that is the same about them all….

…..a choir of children singing…

….children in a football team having a group hug…

…a group of children in a tennis club…

..a group of rainbow guides..

Have you worked out what they all have in common??  They are all pictures of people in groups…can you think of a word that we might call these groups?  ….yes, a TEAM!

Sing together lyrics

Sing Together MP3s

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
We all belong to various communities, clubs and groups.
We pray for all of the people we know in these groups: the leaders and the members as well as ourselves.
We thank you for all those who care for us, our families and our friends, and for our school.
Please help us to look after the people in our school.
Please help us to play our part in making this a happy and special community.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we continued thinking about our Christian Value of this half term, which is Friendship, and about how important it is to be a good friend and have good friends.  We learnt that good friends are faithful, reliable, interested, enjoyable, neighbourly, dependable and special!.

Can you think of any other words that you would use to describe what makes a good friend?……

…..I can think of some: a good friend is kind, a good friend is thoughtful, a good friend puts other people ahead of themselves, a good friend care for others.

Today I would like you to watch this video from the Pace Trust, and have a think more about how important friendship is.

Having friends means that we are never alone – that there is always someone who cares about you.  It means that you are part of a team, and that applies even now, when we are apart.

Prayer of the Day

Thank you God, for the care of friends.
Help us to be good friends to others, even when we are apart.

Help us to think of our friends at this difficult time,
And may we always look for opportunities to help other people.
Amen.

Due to the short term weather forecast being snow for all day tomorrow, starting overnight, and with the current situation, we are closing the school building tomorrow for Keyworker Care. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Remote Learning will continue for all children at home.

Callum has been working very hard today and all with a big smile!

We are keeping a close eye on the weather forecast as there is snow forecast tomorrow starting tonight and going through the day.  For those children booked into Keyworker Child Care tomorrow (and staff!) please listen out on Radio Shropshire in the morning and check the school website/facebook/twitter pages as this is where we can let you know if we have to close the school.

If the school building is closed the remote learning will still take place – but I am sure there will still be plenty time to go sledging or build a snowman!

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Well we are up and running with remote learning and keyworker care, and a big thank you to all of you for engaging with us, sharing pictures, asking questions and generally just getting on with it – thank you!

The value this half term is Friendship and today I would like us to think about how important our friends are – particularly at the moment when we can’t see them.

I wonder what it would be like if we had no friends?  How would you feel?

Have a watch of the short video called “Lighthouse” and have a think about the characters in the animation….

What was the lighthouse keeper like at the beginning of the video – .what words could you use to describe him?? …….

…..I thought he was hard-working, organised, critical, grumpy, alone.

What were the villagers like at the beginning?…..do you think they were happy, jovial, sociable?  What were they doing?

Now here comes the big question – do you think the Lighthouse Keeper and villagers were friends at the beginning?

Here are some other questions to help you think about the film….

• What problem did the lighthouse keeper face?
• Do you think it would be difficult for the lighthouse keeper to ask for help? Why do you think that?
• Do you think that the lighthouse keeper was surprised when he realised that the villagers were already on their way to help?
• Do you think that this situation would make a difference to how the lighthouse keeper and the villagers got along in the future?

Sometimes we can struggle to ask for help as we think we can it all by ourselves – but sometimes we need to be able to reach out to seek help – and in order to receive help, we often need to ask for it. This means admitting that we can’t do something by ourselves. The lighthouse keeper was surprised that the people he had looked down on and criticized were the ones who were ready and eager to help him.

In Matthew 7.12, we see Jesus sitting on a hillside, teaching his new disciples the basics of living God’s way. He says to them, ‘Do to others what you would have others do to you.’

Let’s have a quiet moment of reflection and think about the importance of friendship…

• • If you want help, learn to help others.
  • If you want to be shown kindness, learn to be kind.
  • If you want to be accepted, accept other people.
  • If you want to be encouraged, encourage those around you.

Prayer of the day

Dear God,
Thank you for people who are there to help us.
Please help us never to feel like we have to manage all alone.
Please help us always to ask for help when we need it.
Please help us to be aware of the needs of others
And to offer help in whatever form that may take.
Amen.

I apologise for sending this so late. But we just want to re-emphasise to parents that we fully understand the pressures and barriers that some families have with remote learning, and that we are also trying our very best to help support our families and community with the Critical Keyworker Care that we provide.

It is so important that we work together to help get through this unprecedented situation. No one wants to be in this mess. So from the bottom of my heart, if you have frustrations, difficulties, concerns or questions, please, please contact us! Sharing your frustrations on social media does not help fix the situation….and sadly, negativity can breed more negativity.

The current situation is beyond anyone’s expectations….so can we please work together to ensure we can do everything we possibly can to care for and teach our children (to the best of our reasonable expectations within our own individual and family constraints), to help protect our families and community as well as the NHS and wider world.

These are tough times for everyone, but we need to work together to help each other.

Quick message…can children attending keyworker care please wear uniform. Thank you.

What an unexpected start to the new year!  Thank you for your patience, understanding and support as we closed the school today to give us time to organise the remote learning for each class as well as Keyworker Child Care.  It has been a rather busy 24 hours but we are ready and raring to start the term.

Remote Learning

There is a big difference between this lockdown and the previous lockdown in that there is now a statutory expectation (by the government) that all children engage in the work set. We, as a school, have tried to make this as easy as possible for families and completely appreciate that at certain circumstances, and at particular times, this may not always be fully possible.  We really ask parents to communicate with us if there are any barriers or issues to engaging with the daily work – we want to help you as best we can, whether that involves delivering paper packs or loaning equipment. Please, just talk with us – we are very approachable and friendly and just want to ensure that we are providing the best learning opportunities that we can.

As in the first lockdown, each class teacher will be posting daily work on the relevant class pages on the school website. This will be posted by 9am each day, and teachers will also be emailing a link to this work (or sending a message on Tapestry in Class 1) and we are asking you to reply to these messages to confirm that you have seen the set work by 9.30am; this effectively acts as a school register.  We are hoping to further improve the remote learning by ensuring that we provide feedback regularly to allow children to improve their work, as they would do in school.

We have a remote learning policy which we recently reviewed, and I will be sharing that tomorrow via the school website – if you have any questions about remote learning please do not hesitate to contact us, as we really need parents and children to engage with it if we are going to help prepare the children for their future education.

Keyworker Child Care

We are offering Keyworker Child Care in the school hall to help allow critical workers to function.  We do stress that wherever possible children need to be at home, as the priority is to minimise mixing and contacts to reduce transmission.  This care is taking place in the school hall and a thank you to the parents who have booked their places up to half term, as we have limited places and this has really helped us to plan.

Communication

We will continue to use the school news and class news pages on the website as our main means of communication, so please, please subscribe or follow closely.  We will also be using emails and where appropriate we will post on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

We are also hoping to use more recorded or live means of communication as we feel it is important that children can ‘see and hear’ their teachers so that they can feel in touch.  To do this we will use a programme called Microsoft Teams which is free and secure – so watch this space for future developments.  We are considering possibly providing live small group teaching such as phonics, as well as holding some sessions to help parents support the remote learning.  We just ask that you give us some time to get the new system of operating to settle in!

Also, in terms of communication, we really do want parents, and children to keep in touch – from returning school work to class teachers, or sharing photos/videos via admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk so that children can ‘see’ each other and keep in touch socially.  We also are very open to parents asking questions and asking for help if they come up with any barriers to the remote learning – the last thing we want is children, parents and families having issues or problems with school based concerns.

These are difficult times, and it has been a long journey, but we do see a light at the end of the tunnel – even if it is a long tunnel!  We just need to work together so that we can do all we can to help our children, families and community to be happy and safe, and to allow education to continue.  We know that the strong team ethic across the Brown Clee Community can do this, and that we will come out stronger.

Please stay safe and take care and keep in touch!

Good Morning Brown Clee – although I will be honest I have struggled with the ‘good’ in that phrase, as following last night’s announcement I’m sure plenty of us don’t feel too good about the news of another lockdown.

I had scheduled a typed assembly for this morning, but I didn’t feel it appropriate today, so I have been ambitious and resilient and recorded an assembly message instead.  It is unscripted and free-wheeled – so apologies for the amateurishness of it – but the message is from the heart. (and sorry for having the ipad the wrong way around – I will learn from my mistakes and get it right next time!)

I forgot to mention one other emotion that I feel – as well as shock, frustration, disappointment and sadness, I also feel determined and optimistic, that the Brown Clee Team can do this – we can get through the next 6 weeks and keep our enthusiasm for learning, our ‘can-do’ attitude and our team-spirit going strong.  The school is the people in it, not the building, and for the next 6 weeks the school will be apart, but the more we can communicate, keep in touch and share the more we keep ourselves together in spirit, even if we can’t be together in person.

Teachers will be posting work daily and will be asking for work to be returned, but if you would like to share photos or videos of yourselves, either working or playing, or wanting to share messages to the rest of the school, then please email to admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk and we will share on the website.

Let’s take a quiet moment to reflect on why we are apart for the next 6 weeks and let’s think about the hospital staff working hard to care for those sick and in need, let’s think about the families who are missing loved ones or having difficult times, and help us to reflect on how fortunate we are, and that 6 weeks is a short time in a year – we will be back together before you know it!

Prayer of the Day

Let’s join in with the school prayer to remind ourselves of the importance of the Brown Clee Team Spirit and ethos…

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