Headteacher Message
Dear Parents and Carers,
We’ve had another successful week! Our children had the amazing opportunity to perform with a 5000-strong choir in Birmingham, and they absolutely shone! The energy and enthusiasm they brought was great to see and they were brilliant ambassadors for our school community!
In other news, we were fortunate to host an inspiring author who visited our school. Jamie Russell shared his journey and passion for writing with our children, sparking creativity and a love for storytelling among them – who will be the next sci-fi bestseller?
We are also delighted to welcome a new member of staff to our team. Welcome to Miss Lucas who joins our team as a Cover Teacher. We are confident that she will be a valuable addition to our school team, and we look forward to the fresh perspectives she will bring.
Looking ahead, we have an exciting week planned next week. On Tuesday, we will celebrate International Day with our wonderful international food market. This event will showcase delicious dishes from around the world, giving our pupils and their families a chance to experience and appreciate diverse cultures through food. It’s a fantastic opportunity for everyone to come together and enjoy a variety of flavors and culinary traditions and explore the diversity we have in our school. Please support this by donating an item of food on Tuesday.
As we continue to embrace the new year, we are committed to providing our students with enriching experiences that foster growth, creativity, and a sense of community. We are grateful for your ongoing support and involvement in our school activities. Your participation and encouragement make a significant difference in the lives of our students.
Have a great weekend!
Best regards,
Tom Larkham
Headteacher
TUESDAY – NO UNIFORM DAY
Don’t forget that International Day is a No-Uniform Day
Your child is invited to come dressed in non uniform in the colours of any flag or cultural dress of their choice. We do not expect you to buy a costume, you could wear a flag as a cape, get creative using face paints, decorate a plain t-shirt with felt tips or wear an international sports kit. See below for ideas.
International Food Market
We hope you can support us with this brilliant event next Tuesday by donating food and coming along. Join us in the School hall after school via the outside BACK DOORS.
We invite children to bring food from another country into school to share at our after school event. (Children can bring this into class in the morning or parents can bring to the event)
We will set up tasting tables with each year group’s contributions and we invite you and your children to pop into the school hall after school once you have collected your children to sample some tasters.
Guidance for the food event
So we can easily display the food for the event we have allocated each Year Group the following countries:
EYFS-SPAIN
Yr 1-GREECE
Yr 2 -NORTH OR SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES
Yr 3 -INDIA
Yr 4-GERMANY
Yr 5-POLAND
Yr 6-ITALY
We have allocated countries to keep things simple for purchasing/displaying food, of course if there is a cultural dish closer to your heart then your child is very welcome to bring that in too and put on their year groups table or wherever appropriate.
-Homemade and shop bought foods are welcome. We would be grateful if you can cut up your offering into small pieces for tasters and wrap up on a paper plate. Please label any special containers with your child’s name and class that you would like returned.
-At the event, please remember food is kindly donated by families so we are not able to confirm ingredients or allergens. As it is an after school event, parents/carers are responsible for their children and what they are eating. (If Year 6 children usually walk home alone then they are able to go to the hall without parents)
We will arrange some tasting platters for After School Club to sample.
-Teachers will display the food, on year group tables and be on hand to help you with tasters.
Thank you
Community Quiz Night
Book your babysitter! and book in a team with the School Office.
It isn’t for brain boxes but those seeking a laugh
Open to all so bring your friends, neighbours and grandparents and your favourite tipple of choice.
Young Voices
Well done to all the children who took part in the Young Voices concert on Wednesday! Our wonderful choir joined over 5300 other children and spent a (very long!) day and evening rehearsing and performing their first arena gig.
The children did us all proud: it was an excellent concert enjoyed by all and they were great ambassadors to our school. Well done to them, and a huge thank you to Mrs Porrett for organising such a big event for us. Thanks also to Mrs Lennox, Miss Pillsbury and Miss Featherstone for accompanying the children on the trip!
Sci-Fi Author Adventure – Jamie Russell
We had a real adventure this morning, Shropshire Author Jamie Russell talked to us about his Sci-Fi trilogy of books and how his love of video games as a boy inspired his reading.
Year 5 were looking for an exciting reason to write suspense stories and George came up with the goods! Turning to Mrs Stennett he said I’m reading this great book and I know the author so lets send them to him to read! so they did! Today Jamie visited to deliver his personal feedback. Thank you Jamie for reading them over the weekend and giving up your time for us. #writingwithapurposeispowerful
We also had a fascinating morning at the author talk Jamie gave to Yr 5 & 6 looking at the connection between video games and reading! We had never thought of the similarities before of immersing yourself in an imaginary world and progressing through the levels/chapters.
“Just like navigating a complex video game, reading requires you to actively engage with the world on the page, decoding details, following storylines, and making mental leaps to fully understand the narrative.”
Jamie showed us the 1980’s Space Invader and The Hobbit computer games and how reading the book finally gave him the clue to defeat the trolls in the game with the power of the sun.
Fun Fact: The main character in Jamie’s novels Casey Henderson was inspired by his daughter who was tired of boy characters getting all all the limelight.
See SHROPSHIRE STAR NEWS ARTICLE
See SHROPSHIRE LIVE NEWS
Litter picking in the community
Inspired by Greta Thunberg and the class story Greta and the Giants, Badgers class went out to pick up litter in our local community.
A load of rubbish for Yr 2
Year 2 had a fantastic trip at Woodlane Recycling Centre. They had a woodland workshop exploring habitats as part of their science work and a tour of the Recycling Centre linked to their Geography topic of recycling. They especially loved it when Mrs Stewart had the plant worker drivers honking their horn as they drove past them in the trailer! Year 2 were fantastic, really engaged with the information and everybody enjoyed the day.
Junior Journalists!
Nel and Elliott in Year 6 have done an incredible job for the past few months writing, editing and comiling a weekly Coleham Chronicle newspaper! Since November, they have been issuing a brand new edition each Friday and are handing them out to classes. Features include fun news stories, interviews and the coveted “Teacher Of The Week”.
The newspaper is so good that it has been praised by professionals! Nel’s uncle, who is a professional journalist writing for Research Professional News, a news orginisation for university research publishing, showed it to his boss, Sarah Richardson. She was really impressed and couldn’t believe that two Year 6s were writing it in their spare time!
Well done Nel and Elliott! Amazing to see our children coming up with great ideas and running with them at home! We’ll be adding the Coleham Chronicle to the weekly newsletter from next week!
Girls’ Football kick off the Spring Term with Sporting Fixtures
The girls started the spring term sporting fixtures with a bang! It was a fantastic event, showcasing their teamwork, determination, and sportsmanship.
It was an absolute pleasure to take the team out of school to represent Coleham. With each game, the girls demonstrated remarkable progress, taking on every piece of feedback and applying it on the pitch.
The matches were filled with thrilling moments—numerous shots on goal, incredible saves, and some brilliant defending. A huge well done to the team for their effort and enthusiasm.
