Good Morning Brown Clee!

It is a funny old world at the moment – and I am sure that everyone is experiencing a whole range of emotions – from fear and anxiety to joy and excitement – all of which are perfectly human and normal.  I think the one emotion that I am experiencing at the moment is Hope – hope that the cases of coronavirus will continue to decrease, hope that all our families are safe and well, hope that one day we will be back in school together again in a ‘normal’ happy school. Hope is an important word that can mean many things – have a watch and listen to this short video about Hope.

The week is forecast to be quite a sunny one, so as the sun comes out, lets enjoy listening to this well known song about the Sun Coming Out Tomorrow!

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
When things go wrong, help us to keep hoping.
When we are sad, help us to remember that happiness will come.
When we are lonely, help us to remember that people care for us.
When we are worried, help us to trust that you will never leave us.
Please help us to live in hope.
Amen.

Good morning everyone (it is just about the morning!) – today is a special day for Hugo – it is his birthday – so let’s join in and sing together!

With the potential opening to Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 on the 1st June, we would like to reassure the critical keyworkers that we can still offer child care if absolutely needed.

This Care will take place in the hall, between the hours of 9am to 3.15pm and children will be kept separate from the other children in school in line with the protection measures that we have to follow. The child care would need to be booked in advance, by the Friday the preceding week, as we have been doing since March 23rd.

If we open on June 1st, we will not be able to offer wrap around care before the school day or after the school day, as we have to ensure we keep children in their groups to minimise any risk of spreading the virus. We appreciate that this may be tricky for working parents, but we have to prioritise the protection of children, families and staff.

You are probably aware that, dependent on how the government assess the progress in controlling the coronavirus, the school may open on 1st June for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 children.  We have been given lots of guidance on how this could happen, and are, and have previously been, putting plans and procedures together of how we could safeguard children and staff if there was a phased opening of schools.

The government have also provided guidance for parents which you can find here:-

Opening Schools and Educational Settings to more pupils from 1st June: guidance for parents and carers

The school has an action plan in place, and this will be a working plan as we move forwards.  We will be implementing hygiene procedures, cleaning procedures, social distancing procedures and drop off and pick-up procedures, amongst others.  I thought it would be helpful for parents to understand what school will be like for children if we do open on June 1st. So these are some bullet points:

• Children will be sitting at desks that are 2m apart. Year 6s will fit into class 4, Year 1s will be split between Class 3 and Class 2, and Reception Children will be in Class 1 and The Pod.
• Each group of children will have a teacher or a HLTA delivering the lesson, and this adult will stay with the children each day, to minimise contacts, as per the guidance.
• There is a one-way system through the practical area (middle of school open area) with 2m spacings marked on the floor.
• Children will socialise within their own group, and there will be staggered playtimes and lunchtimes, so that the groups don’t mix.  There will also be the expectation that children stay 2m apart at playtimes.
• Children will have their own stationery equipment and trays, as guidance is for children not to share resources. This will also impact on playtime equipment and classroom resources – so children can bring their own toys in to play with during breaktimes.
• Children and staff will be advised to wear different clothes each day, so we will be allowing children to wear their own clothes if they wish, to reduce washing demands at home.
• We will need to share drop off and pick-up procedures to ensure that parents and children are not clustering at the start and end of the school day, and this might involve a staggered start for different year groups. We do not yet know if the school buses will be running, and are waiting to be informed.
• We will still be providing critical keyworker care, and this would be in the hall, so lunch may well be in classrooms, with a packed lunch.
• The remote teaching activities may change for year 2 and 5.

There will be further detail, and there is still a lot to sort out, but I felt it important that we are open and transparent with parents, and that you are fully aware of what school will ‘look’ like if we go back on 1st June.  We are working very hard to ensure that we have clear and safe procedures in place to ensure we can do all we can to protect our school community, so please share with friends and keep an eye out on the website.

I would like to reassure you that we will be ensuring we provide children with the teaching and support that they need, and help them with understanding and coping with these different routines and procedures.  We will also be ensuring that we offer reassurance and comfort in this somewhat different environment.

We are aware that as parents you may have concerns and worries about your children being in school; worries about their or your families physical safety and protection from the virus, or their mental well-being when working in such a strange and distant environment.  We very much appreciate this, and also do not look forwards to working in this way, as it is totally against how we operate as teaching staff. However, we have to follow the guidance we have been given in order to protect the children, staff and families.

We would very much appreciate your feedback and so will be emailling out a survey to all parents (including Year 2,3 and 4) so please keep an eye out on your inboxes.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do email at head@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk

Good afternoon – we hope you are having a good day, despite the significant temperature drop!

Following on from yesterday’s broadcast, and in preparation for opening for children at some point in the future, it would be really helpful if parents could keep us informed if for whatever reason you are ‘Shielding’.  The guidance on shielding for vulnerable people can be found here:-

Guidance on Shielding and Protecting People who are Clinically Vulnerable

Shielding simply means putting extra protection in place for people who are most likely to get very poorly from coronavirus, and it involves a whole family being shielded or protected.

This would also be a good opportunity to remind you that if you have any worries or concerns about your child returning to school, please feel free  to contact me on: head@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk  – we may not have an instant answer, but it will mean that we are aware of what parents issues may have and we can either reassure you that we will have procedures and routines in place, or hopefully find an answer for you.

Dear Parents/Carers,

I am sure that after the Prime Ministers statement tonight, you may well have lots of questions.  We have lots of questions that need clarification too!

At the moment there is no change to the guidance. We will continue to provide care for those parents whose work is critical to the Covid-19 response. The message is still that it is safer to stay at home.

We have not received any information to support us with this new plan to start the phased reopening of some year groups, and we expect that we will receive further information from the Department of Education shortly, hopefully with some clarification of how these plans are expected to be implemented.

We will need clear guidance to plan how it is possible to social distance in schools and keep our children, staff and families safe; how we might start to phase groups of children returning and what this looks like.  Please be assured that there is no way we will reopen until we are 100% prepared.

As always, we will keep you informed, but for now, please try not to worry.  A lot hinges on what happens in the next few weeks.  Our plan for now is to continue to provide learning activities for you to access at home, to be here if you need to contact us, and help support you in these difficult and uncertain times.

The teachers have been working hard behind the scenes, and as well as planning the daily activities, sharing photos and responding to emails have been writing the annual school reports.  Rather than email them out, we felt it more appropriate to post them so that you can have a hard-copy in a binder – so please look out for them in the post.  They were posted yesterday (Monday).

Good Morning Brown Clee!

This morning I have been thinking about all the things that I am missing at the moment – meeting all the children of Brown Clee as they arrive with their smiles and tales at the start of a school day, sharing a coffee and a laugh with the staff at lunchtime, Friday team-chips, teaching Year 1 phonics and helping them with their handwriting, Fun-Day Fridays when I have the pleasure of being in Class 1 all day, assemblies when we are all together as a team, sharing our thoughts and prayers.

All of these things I am missing at the moment, and I know that everyone will have their own lists.  But these strange times, when we are stuck at home, is also helping me to really count my blessings and appreciate so many other things – spending lots of time with my daughter, seeing the garden change every day as new plants and flowers grow, enjoying a daily dog walk , watching the birds as they build nests, and enjoying the beautiful Shropshire scenery. I also count my blessings that we are fit and well, and that my friends and family are too, as so many people in the world right now are suffering from loss.

So yes we are missing lots of things – but I know that those things will be back at some point in time – and in the meantime, let’s count our blessings that we are with our families, that we are fit and healthy, and our thoughts be with those that are ill, or have lost loved ones.

Have a listen to this beautiful song – The UK Blessing – that has been created by 65 churches and movements, representing hundreds of others, have come together online to sing a blessing over our land. These are their words: “Standing together as one, our desire is that this song will fill you with hope and encourage you. But the church is not simply singing a blessing, each day we’re looking to practically be a blessing. Many of the churches included in this song have assisted with supplying over 400,000 meals to the most vulnerable and isolated in our nation since COVID-19 lockdown began. This alongside phone calls to the isolated, pharmacy delivery drops and hot meals to the NHS frontline hospital staff. Our buildings may be closed but the church is very much alive!”

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,

Thank you for everything you provide for us day by day.

Help us to appreciate what we have and to remember to say Thank you.

Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we learnt about VE day, when the world celebrated peace across Europe. I thought you might like to watch a video clip from 1945 showing you the celebrations so that you can see how important a day it was for everyone.

VE Day 1945

Unfortunately, we live in a world where conflict and war still exist. As we think about the seventy-fifth anniversary of VE Day, we should stop and think about how we can remember people who fought in the war to bring about peace.

Across Europe, many events have been planned to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day and many places had organised street parties, which sadly now cannot take place.  Or could they?  Maybe you could have your own VE Day garden party, with bunting and flags?  If you do, please send us your photos and then we can have a school VE day celebration!  Don’t forget also, to send in photos of you dressed in red, white and blue by midday so that we can put our school VE day montage together!

We have another celebration today, as Pippa is celebrating a very special birthday!  So if we could all join in and sing loud enough – you never know she might even hear!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIPPA

Prayer of the Day

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

We have now been closed for 6 weeks, and as a school we have been following the government guidelines since the beginning of this situation, and will continue to do so.

There is much speculation in the media about what will happen with schools in the future. We have no information regarding this whatsoever, and we will continue to follow the government’s guidance when it is updated.

We thought it might be useful to gauge what concerns or thoughts you have as parents, regarding schools re-opening (bearing in mind we do not know what format or timescale this may be).  If you wish to share these with us, as it may help us to reassure you when the guidance changes, then please email admin@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk.

Whatever happens in the future days and weeks, we can reassure you that we will always have pupil well-being and safety as a priority.

Good Morning Brown Clee!

Well here we are at the end of another week of remote learning.  It has been 6 weeks now since we have been together, including the Easter holidays, and we are really missing everyone.  The photos are wonderful and really help everyone to stay in touch and keep us together ‘virtually’, so again, thank you so much for sending them in!

When we return to school after the 6 week summer holiday, we always comment on how much everyone has changed; you are all taller (sometimes a lot taller!) and also more grown up and mature.  So we can’t help wonder how much we will have changed when we do finally get back together.  Being together is so important – and it is something that Captain (or rather Colonel!) Tom has sung about recently with Michael Ball.

We learnt about the amazing Captain Tom previously, and his amazing fundraising feat – he has now surpassed £30 MILLION!!  Well yesterday he celebrated his 100th birthday, and as well as that, his song has reached number one in the charts – it’s called “You’ll Never Walk Alone” – and that is true for everyone – as we are always together, as a team, even if we can’t see each other.  In fact Colonel Tom says himself “The sun will shine again, and we will never walk alone!” There are 2 videos to watch and listen to –

Captain Tom being given the news he is Number 1 in the Charts 

YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE by Captain Tom and Michael Ball

We have another birthday to celebrate today – as Benji is a fantastic 5 years old today!  Congratuations Benji – we hope you have a great day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJI

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
We thank you for our friends and for the happy times that we share with them.
Help us to be a good friend to them.
During this time when we can’t play with our friends,
Please help us to find creative ways to keep in touch.
Thank you that you are our friend and will be with us always.
Thank you that you are always with us and never leave us on our own.
Help us to keep our eyes wide open to notice when other people need a friend to care for them.
Amen.

Good Morning Brown Clee!  It looks like it was a busy day for many yesterday, with indoor picnics and giant towers, puppet making and lots of art work including a giant Titanic!  Well done and thank you – as it really brightens my day seeing everyone!

For assembly today I thought it might be nice for a change to listen to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who is leading the first virtual assembly ever this morning at 10am.  If you click this link it will take you to the assembly, that is due to be available at 10am.

Archbishop of Canterbury Virtual Assembly

Prayer of the Day

Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.
Amen.