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.

We are delighted to inform you that we have appointed a new School Administrator to start  after half term.  Mrs Mandy Lloyd will be in the office to assist with all parental queries and School Administration – she is very experienced and we are looking forwards to welcoming her aboard the Brown Clee team!

We also have appointed Mrs Steph Boxall as our co-Care Club Superviser, working alongside Mrs Moreton in providing the before school and after school wrap-around care.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we thought about how important it is to develop the skill of listening – not just hearing, but actually actively listening and taking on board what you are listening to!  This is a skill that is particularly important in school – as without actively listening and THINKING about what we hear, we are unable to learn.

Today I want us to think about our own responsibility for learning and how we must learn to help ourselves with the learning process – as teachers will do the teaching, but the learning itself comes down to you, the Learner.  Your teacher will now read out a story about a Builder – use your active listening skills and have a think about what message you can pick from the story.

Bill had been in the carpentry trade for 50 years, ever since he left school as a young lad of 15. He had always been good with his hands and, from as far back as he could remember, he had always wanted to be a carpenter. He had learned his trade in a small joiner’s shop, and had spent his working life in the house-building business. He was now 65 years old and ready to retire. Bill planned to finish his work this month.
‘It’s time to hang up my tools and spend more time in the garden and with my grandchildren,’ he told Mr Towers, his employer for the last 40 years and his very good friend. Bill knew that he would miss his pay cheques, but he and his wife would get by. It was time to call it a day.
Mr Towers was very sorry to see Bill go. He had been a great worker. ‘Please, Bill, will you work on just one more house, as a personal favour?’ he asked.
‘All right,’ Bill said, and began this last job. Mr Towers didn’t tell him who owned the house that he was working on.

As time went by, it was clear that his heart was not in his work. He cut corners, and resorted to shoddy workmanship and inferior materials. He didn’t take the same time or care that he usually took. It was a sad way for such a skilful man to end his career.
When Bill had finished his work, Mr Towers came to inspect the house. Then, to Bill’s surprise, he handed Bill the key to the front door. ‘This house is for you, Bill,’ he said. ‘It’s my gift to you for all your years of service.’

Imagine Bill’s surprise, and shock! What a shame! If only Bill had known that he was working on his own house, he might have done it all so differently! Now he had to live in a home with all the little mistakes, poor materials and short cuts that only he knew about.

What did you think about whilst listening to the story? …..

The story is a bit like our lives. Every day, we are building something very important: our life. Sometimes, we put our very best efforts into what we do….sometimes we don’t and get distracted, lose motivation or concentration….sometimes we don’t always give our work our best effort. We become a bit slack and we make do with less than the best, just like Bill.
It is so important to build our lives wisely, remembering that it is the only life we will ever build, and your time in primary school are where you are building your foundations for your futures – so as you go through the day and the weeks ahead, focus on what you can do to ensure that you are trying your best at all times!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
I would like my life to be built on good, strong foundations.
I would like to have a life that I can be proud of.
Help me today to make wise choices, to have the right attitude and to do my best.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

This week I would like us to think about how important listening is!  We have 2 ears and only 1 mouth – so surely that must mean that listening is twice as important as talking!?

Imagine what the world would be like if we couldn’t hear anything?  If there were no sounds?  Maybe have a go now, and close your eyes – what can you hear in school?

The ability to hear is so special and we learn so much from our ability to listen – particularly in school!  School is a place full of sounds – talking, singing, music, clapping, cheering and sometimes shouting (outside only please!)  But if we couldn’t hear imagine how much more difficult it would be to learn?

Watch this video about the different ways that we can listen – and think about how important it is that we listen in school….

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
Help us to be good listeners.
Help us to listen to our friends.
Help us to listen to our teachers.
Hep us to listen at home and at school.
Help us to listen to you.
Help us to learn the importance of sometimes being quiet and still.
Amen.

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