Headteacher Message
Dear Parents and Carers, 
The weather has turned a little miserable this week, but that hasn’t crept into our school! We’ve had a couple of late nights with our parent/carer evenings which are always a highlight. As a parent, it’s great to hear about how our children are getting on, and as a Headteacher, it’s great to chat to many of you over the past two nights. I really miss the days of being a class teacher talking to parents and carers of the children in my class – it was always a joy to talk about their achievements and share how brilliant they are.
I enjoyed taking a little time to watch our Year 1 and Year 2 children playing football on the (very soggy) field against our friends at Bowbrook earlier in the week – they did a great job and had lots of fun. There also needs to be a huge congratulations to the boys representing Coleham at the U11 EFL Cup, reaching the semi-finals! I’m so pleased that we have had so many sporting fixtures already, with so many children being able to represent our school this early in the school year. There will be many more to come!
We are looking for a new Parent Governor to join our Governing body. It is a wonderful opportunity for any parent who is keen to gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings and strategic leadership of your child’s school, and help to hold us to account through robust and supportive challenge of the Leadership Team. Anyone who is interested can find the info here: We are looking for a Parent Governor – Coleham Primary School
Keep an eye out for lots items coming up next week, including individual children’s photos on Wednesday.
Have a super weekend, everyone.
Tom Larkham
Headteacher
What’s on next week
MATHS WEEK FUN
Monday
Book Fair experience for all classes
After School Club Closed for whole school staff training
Tuesday
Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 Diwali Dance Workshop
Year 6 historical tour @ Longden Road Cemetery
Wednesday
Individual School Photographs – Unfortunately, sibling group photos will not be available.
Friday
Height & Weight measurement with Year 6 – Coleham Primary School
Book Fair After School– Coleham Primary School
We are still looking for a Parent Governor
Maths Week
🎉 Battle of the Band – Times Tables Competition! 🎉
📅 Running: Monday to Friday next week
🏫 In celebration of Maths Week!
Get ready to rock your times tables in our exciting Battle of the Band competition!
This is a school house challenge where students will compete to earn points for their house teams by answering as many times tables questions correctly as they can.
🎸 How it works:
Each correct answer earns points for your house.
The house with the most correct answers by Friday will be crowned the Battle of the Band Champions!
🏅 Individual prizes will also be awarded for outstanding effort, so every student has a chance to shine!
This is a fun and engaging way to boost maths skills and celebrate Maths Week together. So warm up those multiplication muscles over the weekend and get ready to battle!
Let’s make some noise for maths! 🔢🎶
Good luck to all our rockstar mathematicians!
All pupils have access to the Times Tables Rockstars app and Numbots app to use in school and at home and their username/password is usually pasted inside their Reading Diary covers.
Booka Bookshop Book Fair Information
Next week we will be participating in a Book Fair!
Classes will have a slot on Monday with Sian (pictured right) from Booka Bookshop to explore a range of exciting books to inspire reading for pleasure.
Booka have carefully curated a selection of the best books on the market with new and recommended titles!
Browsing the books
Your child will come home with a leaflet to browse (we are not doing paper orders) or you can explore the selection together online (see below links).
On Friday families can pop in to the School Hall after school to view the book selections and then order any favourites at home.
Purchasing books
If your child is excited by a particular book you may like to purchase one from the Booka Bookshop website. This could be great for Christmas gifts and will help purchase books for Coleham too.
Orders should be placed over the next two weeks by Friday 28th November. If you select ‘collect in store’ then books will be delivered to school to avoid paying postage and given out to pupils. You may decide to have books ordered to your home address instead for a small charge.
There is no pressure to purchase anything, the day is about promoting reading and showcasing new books, stories and characters to staff and pupils.
To browse or purchase, see the links below:
EYFS
Year 1 and 2
Year 3 and 4
Year 5 and 6
So many great titles here, that we’ve not seen before. #booklove
Pupil Opportunity: Christmas Makers’ Market
Parent Niki Edwards (Josie’s mum in Year 5) is organising a Christmas Makers’ Market for children to take part in and sell their home made products to the community.
If you and your child would like to participate you will need to:
- arrange for your child to make some products at home to sell (Gifts or sweet treats)
- contact Niki to sign up who is co-ordinating the event.
Niki’s email: nicolarobynne@gmail.com
Christmas Movie nights coming soon
Tickets cost £5 from Arbor School Shop (Reduced charge of £1 for pupils eligible for Free School Meals)
Children who attend After School club with Miss Nash on Tuesdays can also attend (no charge). Staff will arrange this with the children on the night so parents do not need to do anything.
The EYFS/Yr 1 Movie Night is now available to purchase on Arbor in School Shop.
Christmas Events Coming Soon
We will vote on the choice of movie with the children on the night.
Coming soon-Smartphone Free Movement Parents Information Evening
Our Smartphone Free Information Evening takes place on Wednesday 26th November at 5.15pm in our School Hall.
We will be continuing the conversation for alternatives to Smart Phones for children and thinking about what parents can do to set boundaries at home and check their child is safely using devices.
We have guest speakers Assistant Headteacher Mr Tudor from The Priory School explaining the common e-safety issues Secondary School Teachers deal with and Parent Rep Mrs Renshaw.
It should be an interesting session and will give you a chance to share your thoughts with other parents about decisions they are making, the challenges, worries or success stories relating to smartphones.
We’ll be thinking about What age is the right age for my child to have a smartphone?
We hope to keep talking about this topic and supporting the choices that parents make for their family.
#informedchoicesforfamilies
E-Safety Update
Please read this month’s Online Safety Newsletter with info about Whatsapp and age ratings for social media and apps.
Online Safety Newsletter Primary Nov 2025
Careers Week Video
A few highlights from Careers Week!
Cross country success
24 pupils from Year 3 to Year 6 proudly represented Coleham Primary School at a cross country event hosted by Embrace. The event was scored by converting each runner’s finishing position into points; the lower the total score, the better the team result.
Our pupils gave absolutely outstanding performances. Thanks to their determination, teamwork and incredible effort, the team brought home the overall winners’ trophy!
Not only did our runners showcase fantastic athletic ability, they also demonstrated kindness and sportsmanship throughout the event, cheering on competitors from every school.
A special mention goes to our Year 5/6 girls’ team, who achieved an incredible result securing places from 1st to 6th!
We are so proud of every single pupil who took part. Well done, Team Coleham! 
U11 EFL Football Cup
This group of boys headed to Shrewsbury Town Football Club to participate in the U11 EFL Football Cup tournament. They played some fantastic football, demonstrating excellent skill and working brilliantly together as a team.
The team finished 2nd in their group, earning a place in the semi-final, where they narrowly missed out on a win.
Well done to all the players for a superb afternoon of football; some real footballers in the making!
⚽ Coleham Football Friendly vs Bowbrook Primary School ⚽
A year 1 and 2 football team proudly represented Coleham in a friendly football match against Bowbrook Primary School. The fixture provided a fantastic opportunity for some children who have shown an interest in football to take part in a competitive game, while others enjoyed the chance to showcase their developing skills.
The Year 1 team played brilliantly, showing determination and putting Bowbrook under pressure throughout the match. Although they didn’t win this time, they should be incredibly proud of their teamwork and effort.
The Year 2 team had an exciting match and did fantastically well, securing a 5 – 4 win with some excellent goals and great teamwork.
A massive well done to all the children who took part, you represented Coleham brilliantly! A big thank you to Bowbrook Primary School for joining us for this friendly match.
Yr 2 visit Enginuity
Our Year 2 children had an amazing day exploring Enginuity, a museum packed with interactive science and technology exhibits that encouraged curiosity and hands-on learning.
The children loved taking part in a buggy-building workshop, where they designed, built, and tested their own creations — a brilliant opportunity to put engineering concepts into action! 🛠️✨
A fantastic day that truly fired their imagination and helped to inspire the engineers of tomorrow. 🌟
