During the lockdown and summer term, we occasionally used Facebook and Facebook Messenger to communicate with parents, as it proved to be an easily accessible form of communication. However this was a response to exceptional circumstances. Now that schools have reopened, we are returning to the normal formal means of home/school communication.

Our main source of information from school to home, is via the School Website on the School News and Class News pages and it is really helpful for parents to subscribe to these pages as that way you will receive an email and/or notification each time a news item is posted.  This saves you having to log onto the website and search for information.  The website will also push some news to the school’s Twitter and Facebook pages for information only.

This is also timely to remind parents that school staff are unable to connect and communicate with parents or children via their personal Facebook pages or other social media. Staff are unable to accept ‘friend’ requests from parents and children,  in line with E-safety guidance. All home to school communication should be via official school channels such as telephone, email (admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk or class email addresses) or letter. You can find further information about this in the safeguarding and e-safety policies in the policies section on our website.

I am sure you understand the reasons for this, but if you have any questions please let me know.

Can we please remind parents of the importance of each child bringing a named drinking bottle full of water (no juice or squash!) each day.  The children are not allowed to access the water fountain and so this is their only source of drinking water, and it is so important that children stay hydrated.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

I hope you all had a good weekend – despite the rather soggy, damp, windy weather!

We have been thinking about the word perseverance, and what it means – and how being able to persevere is such an important skill – whether it is with learning a new skill, over-coming a challenge or remembering to do the little things, like listen, follow instructions (the first time!) and be polite!

Our lives are so busy – in and out of school – we can often forget to take care of our interactions with other people.  I can see and hear it in school at times – a forgotten please or thank-you, or a careless word that causes unintentional hurt.

So today I want to focus on how important it is to remember to be kind to other people. By being kind, and saying nice things to each other, doing kind deeds for each other, we are showing respect – and we already know how important RESPECT is! I am a strong believer that kindness is contagious!  The more you show people kindness, they more they show it back!  Here is a short video which shows how acts of kindness can really make a huge difference to the world you live in!

“When we share acts of kindness, we colour our world!” – what do you think this might mean??   For me, it means that we can make our world a nicer place to live by being kind – that by being kind to people it makes people feel happier and it encourages more people to be kind.  Imagine if we could colour the whole world kind?

Today I am giving you a challenge!  See if you can add some colour as you go around school – give someone a smile, say something nice, hold a door open, say thank you – offer someone help!  See what happens afterwards!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you that we can be kind to one another.
Thank you for the teachers and families who teach us why we need to be kind.
Thank you, God, for the kindness and love that you show us.
Please help us to forgive our friends for any fallings-out.
Please help us always to give people a second chance.
Please help us to say sorry and start again.
Amen.

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.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

We normally have a ‘live’ virtual assembly on Wednesday and apologise that I am unable to be there on your screens today – but I am in the office carrying out virtual interviews for the position of our new Administrator!  We are all sad that Mrs Harman is leaving us at the end of this half term – and she will be missed loads – especially by me!  But we are fortunate to have had a strong selection of candidates and I will let you know who our new Administrator is once we have appointed them!

I would like to share a lovely moment that I had yesterday, when I was having a chat with Emily and Layla about Class 4 and whether they enjoyed taking part in Just Dance in the classroom.  Layla told me with a grin, that it was really tricky – and I agreed and said that I wasn’t very good at it yet – but I will keep practising!  How lovely it was to hear Layla’s response – which was “You are persevering Miss Relph!”  – she was absolutely right – I was!  The question is…..why do I persevere?  Why do I keep joining in if I see Just Dance  happening?  It isn’t just for fun – it is because I want to get better at it!

There are lots of things we either want, or need, to get better at – can you think of something that you need to get better at?   Maybe it is listening?  Or concentrating?  It might be not calling out in class?  Sometimes we need to persevere with little things as well as the big things! Maybe you could pick something, a little thing, and persevere to get better at it today?  Have a chat with your teacher and discuss what little things you could work at to improve?

Now enjoy these clips from Finding Nemo – and see if you can spot how they demonstrate perseverance?

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Please be with us in times of weakness.
Give us the strength to overcome our difficulties.
Teach us to keep going when things are hard for us.
Help us not to take our gifts and talents for granted.
Amen.

Good morning Brown Clee!

We are continuing with the theme of perseverance this week – and in today’s assembly I’d like you to watch and listen to a short video from the Pace Trust, all about Perseverance.  Enjoy watching and listening and then have a discussion about what it makes you think about?  Can you think of examples of when you have demonstrated perseverance?

What do you think?  Why is perseverance such an important skill?  Can you share a time when you persevered, even if something was really difficult?

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you that you always listen when we pray to you.
Thank you that you are always there.
Please help us to keep going when we find things hard.
Please help us to encourage others.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

What a beautiful weekend it has been – I hope you have been able to enjoy the good weather!

This week we are going to be continuing to think about the skill of perseverance – as the ability to keep on going, even when things are difficult or tough, is such an important life skill!  We have already learnt about how J K Rowling had her first Harry Potter novel turned down by publishers 12 times, and that she wasn’t good enough. But she didn’t give up – nor stopped believing in herself, and she persevered – and thank goodness they did, or the Harry Potter series would not exist!

We all find things difficult at times – lots of things!  But the only way to ever get better at anything is to persevere and keep going – keep trying!  Here is a short video of someone who never gave up – he knew he wasn’t going to win the race – but that wasn’t important – the important things was finishing!  Have a watch and think about why do you think he didn’t give up?

The video is of the athlete Derek Redmond in the semi-final of the men’s 400m race at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.  Derek was a favourite to win the race but after 150m his ham string muscle tore.  He was in agony and had to stop and the medics tried to help him off the track – but he refused to stop – even when his own Dad ran out to say that he didn’t need to carry on, Derek’s response was “Yes I do!”.  Why do you think he was so determined to finish?

We have all had difficult times when we have wanted to give up – but how does it make you feel? Have you ever wondered how you would feel, or what would have happened if you hadn’t given up and instead, had persevered?

As you go through this week, if you find a maths problem tricky, or a PE lesson challenging – have a think about Derek Redmond – what would he have done?

At school, all we ask is that you try your best, and work hard to be the best person that you can be – so have a quiet moment and reflect on what you can do to achieve this.

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Thank you for Derek Redmond and his example of perseverance.
Please help us to try hard to achieve our goals and dreams.
May we find something worth striving for and not give up easily.
Help us to see obstacles as opportunities.
Help us never to give up trying to do our best.
Amen.

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

Good morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we thought about how important it is to have strong foundations  – and that how it is our values and goals that can really make a difference to how we live our lives, and to how well we succeed in life.   We talked about how primary school is where we learn the skills and knowledge that we need to help us achieve and succeed as we get older..it is where we learn to read, to understand, to use and apply mathematical skills, to find out about the world around us, as well as learning how to interact respectfully and work together successfully.  Without securing these skills at primary school – we will find things much more challenging as we get older.

And life is challenging!  I am still practising my computing and virtual assembly skills so that I can hopefully overcome the challenges of holding whole school assemblies using the laptops and big screens!  We all experience challenges….can you think of any challenges that you have had to deal with recently?  How did they make you feel?  How did you react to them?  Did you overcome your challenge?

Here is a video clip of a young girl with a challenge – see if you can spot what it is, and then come up with a word that describes how she overcame the challenge and succeeded…

Did you think of a word?  You might have thought of a word from our motto…..PERSEVERANCE….which means hat even when things get really hard for us, we don’t give up. A well-known saying is: When the going gets tough, the tough get going!

So as we go through this week, we will think more about the skill of perseverance, as even though it can be hard to do sometimes, it is an important skill that will help you to succeed and soar!

Prayer of the Day

Dear Lord,
sometimes it’s hard to keep trying.
It’s hard when things are tough
or when everything seems to be going wrong.
Please help us never to give up
but always to persevere.
Please help us to be people who encourage others to keep trying
as we all aim for different goals in life.
Thank you that you never give up on us.
Amen.

Please ensure that you include timings when you make Care Club bookings – it is really important.

We are in need of some more Care Club Supervisers, as at the moment we only have Mrs Moreton, who is kindly covering all mornings and afternoon sessions at the moment – but this isn’t sustainable.

If you are interested in covering some mornings (7:45-8:45am) or afternoons (3:15-5:30pm) on a casual basis (£9.37 per hour), then please contact the School Office.  If we don’t get any interest, we might have to limit sessions after half term.

All school jobs are subject to an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and
Barring Service (DBS)

Can we kindly remind parents that they are not to drive up or park on the cul-de-sac behind the Station Rd houses that runs along the school grounds – as we need to keep this clear for residents and children accessing the top-gate from Class 3 and 4. Thank you!

We are planning ahead for our Autumn Term Parents Meetings where parents have the opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher to discuss how their child is progressing and settling back into school.  Due to the current pandemic, we will be unable to hold face-to-face sessions…however we feel that these meetings are really important, especially since a lot of children haven’t been in school since March!

Therefore we are planning on using Microsoft Teams, an application that allows virtual face-to-face meetings and can be used on desk tops or mobile devices.  We are planning on holding our Parent/Pupil Feedback sessions in the week beginning 16th November – and unlike our normal parent meetings, the 10 minute appointments will be spread out throughout the week.  Your child’s teacher will contact you nearer the time to book an appointment.

This message is to give you plenty of notice to download the Microsoft Teams application, which you can find at this link…

Microsoft Teams Download

We use Teams in school for ‘Live’ whole school assemblies, Governors meetings, and meetings with other organisations, and it is easy to use.  Once an appointment has been made, you will receive an email with a link – and all you have to do is click the link at the time of the appointment – you just need a web-cam or camera on your device.

More information will be shared nearer the time – this is just a heads up to download Microsoft Teams (which is also a useful application if we ever have to isolate a class!)

Good Morning Brown Clee!

This week we are continuing to think about Respect, and the different types of Respect…

• Respect for others
• Respect for yourself
• Respect for property and belongings

Yesterday we talked about Self Respect – and how it is important to be proud of who you are and be true to yourself – and I’d like to develop that further today.

Sometimes it can be difficult to be proud and happy with who you are – as other people might make fun of you, laugh at you for something you did, or they might say negative things that make you feel sad and down about yourself.  All of these behaviours are unkind and unthoughtful.

Sometimes we can all say or do things that might hurt other people’s feelings – often without any intention, but from lack of thought.  I wonder if you have ever stopped to think about the impact of your words or actions  on your friends feelings and on their confidence?  Have you ever laughed at a friend and made fun of them because they fell over?  Or they made a mistake?  How would you feel if someone laughed at you?

We are all human – and we all make mistakes – and we also all like to be liked and respected as this means that we have friends. The best way to make and keep friends is to say and do kind things to your friends – to treat them as you would wish to be treated.  Have a watch of this video and discuss it afterwards – what important lesson did the boy learn?

The boy didn’t seem to be particularly happy playing his computer game – there was lots of frowning and scowling.  He didn’t behave kindly and respectfully to the puppy and yet the puppy kept coming back to want to play.  I think dogs are much more forgiving than humans – as would you want to play with someone who was mean and disrespectful to you?

So as you go through the day, and the weeks ahead, think about your actions and words – try making sure that they are kind and respectful and see what the result is with your friends.

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Please help me to be kind towards others.
Please help me to be helpful, considerate and sympathetic.
Even at difficult times, when I’m busy or tired, help me to respond to others in the way that I would like to be treated.
Help me to brighten up my friends’ day with a kind word or deed.
Amen.