Good Morning Brown Clee! (It’s been a long time since I could say that!)

I hope you have all had a restful and enjoyable summer – and that you are as excited as I am to be back in school – I have been so looking forwards to meeting everyone arrive back this morning – I have missed your bright cheery smiles and greetings!

I’d like to wish everyone a massive welcome back – and a super big welcome to our new Reception children – all 21 of you – who have just joined the Fireflies. I would also like to offer a big welcome to 2 new members of staff – Miss Burton and Mrs Morris (a new Mrs Morris!) who will be working with the Fireflies and I would also like to welcome Mrs Heath back to school – we have all missed her and are delighted she is back teaching the Dragonflies!

Next week we will be holding our assemblies ‘live’ in the hall – where we will be all together – which will be the first time for over a year and a half – something which I am very much looking forwards to as assemblies are such special times and I have missed being able to be with everyone!

Today is the start of our new academic year – and the word NEW has particular relevance this September – as lots of things will seem very new to all of us due to the disruption we have had. I wonder if you can think of what these NEW things might be?….

Well I have already mentioned that we will be able to hold assemblies in the hall next week – and these are very special times – as these are the times that we ALL get together every day to share thoughts, reflections and praise to God – and being all together is so important to us – as we are the Brown Clee Team!

Another NEW thing is that we will be back to eating our lunch together in the school hall – and we will be able to have proper hot meals, with choices and eat at tables with our friends from other classes as well as our own. Another new aspect of school meals is that you now have the chance to pre-order your menu choice to ensure that you can get the meal that you want – so please make sure you remind your parents to make your bookings! We will also be holding lunch in 2 sittings – Infants and Juniors – to allow for a more calm, quiet and sociable lunch experience – plus we will be welcoming Pre-School back to join us for lunch!

The class ‘bubbles’ have now gone and you will be able to mingle and play together as well as eat together! And the 1-way systems have also gone!

There are still school rules – and I will be talking about the importance of those next week – and I am sure your class teachers will be sharing and reteaching the rules and expectations as you start today – as these rules are what help keep the school a happy, safe and harmonious place for everyone.

I am sure you, like me, are looking forwards to this new school year – being with your friends, learning lots of new skills and knowledge and having the chance to take part in lots of new experiences such as sports, drama, music and trips – YES! – trips will be back and we have a very exciting one for the Dragonflies later on this term – watch this space!!!

Which reminds me of something else that is new – the class names! Here they are:-

The Fireflies are taught by Mrs Fox and Mrs Morris.

The Grasshoppers are taught by Mrs Morris and Mrs Cains.

The Dragonflies are taught by Mrs Heath.

The Scorpions are taught by Mr Harley.

The names are going to take a bit of getting used to – and I will need your help to correct me if I revert back to calling them Class numbers!

I know there will be lots of other NEW things – like making new friends, new learning, new experiences – but for now I just want everyone to enjoy the newness of starting or being back in school – a more normal school. NEW can be exciting – but it can also sometimes make us feel worried or nervous – so it is so important that we look out for each other and help each other and work together to ensure that we really can provide a safe, happy place where we can all learn and grow together.

Let’s just take a moment to think and reflect on our feelings of being back together in school – have a think about what you are looking forwards to, and what you can do to help make sure we all can be the best that we can be. Let’s remind ourselves of the greatest rule of all according to God…