6 months ago
Posted on 05th May 2026 by Miss Othen

Online Safety Newsletter

This months newsletter includes information on age rating for games, BBC iPlayer child accounts, parent controls for Chat GPT and AI fake content.

Take a look below

Online Safety Newsletter Primary April 2026

6 months ago
Posted on 01st May 2026 by Miss Othen

Shropshire Schools Half Marathon

What an achievement for these young runners! Over 100 of our pupils signed up for the Shropshire Schools Half Marathon and had lots of fun completing this challenge!

6 months ago
Posted on 01st May 2026 by Miss Othen

Plant & Craft Fair Competitions

It’s our Plant & Craft Fair on Saturday 9th May 10:00 -12:00

Please encourage your children to sign up for the competitions.

We are always wowed by the entries on display at the fair and visitors love to browse the children’s creations. Entries can be brought along on the day for Judging at 11:00am.

This year’s theme is FANTASY. Think of Fantasy lands and creatures, dystopian worlds, magic and sorcery, kingdoms and quests, heroes and journeys, myths and legends, let your imagination go wild.

Potion & Spell– Enjoy potion making and add some writing for a label or spell.

Fantasy Bake-Off -Cakes big or small, as long as its edible!

Fantasy Garden-Enjoy scavenging natural items to make a mini garden and design it with a fantasy twist. Use any container big or small to display your garden.

Fantasy Land in a Box– Create a fantasy world in a box. Any box, any size, any material.

Fantasy Art Work– Use any art materials and media you like to depict a fantasy scene or image, sketching, painting, doodling, design a comic strip, blend with chalk or pastels, make a collage…

6 months ago
Posted on 01st May 2026 by Miss Othen

Plant & Craft Fair Donations

Can you help us get ready for the Plant & Craft Fair?

On Friday it is non-uniform day for David Attenborough’s Birthday, we would greatly appreciate donations for the fair including:

Cakes (home made or shop bought)
Plants
Books or children’s clothes.

Pease bring into school on Friday or any day next week.

Thank you! Your support is what makes our community events come to life.

6 months ago
Posted on 01st May 2026 by Miss Othen

What’s on next week?

MONDAY-BANK HOLIDAY

TUESDAY – Turtles Swimming (afternoon)

FRIDAY – Leopards Swimming (afternoon)

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION DAY

DONATIONS OF BOOKS, CLOTHES, CAKES, PLANTS for the Plant & Craft Fair

SATURDAY – Plant & Craft Fair 10:00 – 12:00

6 months ago
Posted on 01st May 2026 by Miss Othen

School Lunches Update

Dear Families,

You may have seen that the UK Government is proposing new school food standards to help improve children’s nutrition. These include reducing sugary desserts, removing deep‑fried foods, and increasing fruit, vegetables, and wholegrains. The full changes are expected to come into effect in 2027.

We are already working hard to make sure our school meals are healthy, balanced, and enjoyable. Each term we meet with our Catering Regional Director to review the service at Coleham. An independent Catering Consultant also attends and, as industry experts, they help us to review the catering service, provide contract scrutiny and work collaboratively to find ways to further improve.

Recently, we identified two areas we want to strengthen:

Helping everyone understand the nutrition behind our meals. Our menus are nutritious, but we know that staff, families, and pupils don’t necessarily have the information they need about what’s on offer. We want to communicate this so everyone is better informed. Information displaying the nutritional content of meals would be ideal to help families feel more informed about the healthy choices available.
Reducing sugar in desserts. Fresh fruit and yoghurt are available every day, but the main dessert option can still contain more sugar than we would like. We are increasing fruit‑based options and reducing sugar content.

What’s happened this week? Our Chef Manager, Miss Perry, met with company nutritionist, Amy Teichman, and together they have made improvements to the Summer Menu. Chocolate desserts have been removed and replaced with lower‑sugar healthier alternatives!

New menus: Please see the updated Summer Term menus HERE

Plant & Craft Fair-Chef Manager, Miss Perry will be on hand at the Plant & Craft Fair with new desert tasters and meal information. Please speak to her and find out more.

Looking ahead: We have ideas and plans for 2026–27 for engagement with families and pupils. These include a menu‑taster evening, further work on healthy lunchboxes and new opportunities for pupil voice to help shape our food offer.

The 3–18 Education Trust are also in the process of selecting one catering provider for all schools in our trust from September 2026. This will bring a dedicated Catering Manager to solely support our schools and work closely with Chef Managers, the company nutritionist, families, and pupils. We will continue to share updates around school catering with you.

Kind Regards,

Tracy Othen

School Business Manager

6 months ago
Posted on 01st May 2026 by Miss Othen

Happy Birthday Sir David

After School Club children have made the most incredible Birthday card to send to Sir David Attenborough! The animal illustrations are a joy! Thank you to Mrs Bodnarova for organising with the children. We have giant envelope ready to send it!

6 months ago
Posted on 30th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Chalk Window Competition

Design a Chalk window for The Allotment for the Belle Vue Arts Festival

FANTASY themed-keep it simple.

Entries to be handed to Miss Heap or Mrs Lennox by Friday 15th May

The Allotment owners will choose the winning design. The winner will draw their design on the inside of the shop window! Good Luck everyone!

6 months ago
Posted on 29th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Lunchtime Lego Fun Club

We have some fun clubs happening at lunch time including Lego, Ukulele and Chess with Mr Williams!

6 months ago
Posted on 28th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Stories from Beyond the Graves

🌿 Year 5 Step Back in Time at Longden Road Cemetery 🌿

Year 5 enjoyed a truly fascinating visit to Longden Road Cemetery, where history, nature and storytelling came together beautifully. 🕊️🌳 Working with the Friends of Shrewsbury Cemetery, the children took part in a special history workshop.

We began with a quiz about the cemetery, designed by local architect Samuel Pountney Smith, before pupils set off with a cemetery plot grid to explore and locate monuments linked to real people from the past.

📜 Along the way, we uncovered powerful stories—some sad, some uplifting—that brought history to life. From poet Mary Webb, to Julia Hornblower, one of the UK’s first female doctors; from George Williams, a young orphaned WWII pilot who flew Hurricane Bombers in Canada and tragically lost his life at just 18, to Annie Caddick, a famous music hall performer who toured across Europe. 🎭✈️

🎵 We were intrigued by the symbols carved into the gravestones, telling us about people’s lives. Annie Caddick’s grave, for example, features a harp, marking her life as a musician.

🌼 Longden Road Cemetery is a remarkable place—full of history, beautiful trees and wildlife. Designed with ornate paths and winding trails, it was created as a commemorative garden of remembrance. With around 6,000 monuments, it is the resting place of approximately 60,000 people, making it a place of reflection, learning and respect.

💚 A huge thank you to the Friends of Longden Road Cemetery for this wonderful partnership. We are learning so much and look forward to many more meaningful experiences together!

6 months ago
Posted on 27th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Year 4 Kick Off with Reading the Game! ⚽

Year 4 pupils have been thrilled to take part in Reading the Game with Shrewsbury Town in the Community 🙌

This programme combines a love of football with writing and literacy, showing children that reading and writing can be just as fun and energetic as sport! ✍️⚽

Pupils got active and practised football skills while linking them to creative writing tasks.

Thank you to Shrewsbury Town in the Community for inspiring our pupils and helping them grow both on and off the pitch 🏟️💙

6 months ago
Posted on 27th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Poetry Writing Competition

Belle Vue Arts Festival

Poetry Writing Competition

Get ready to let your imagination run free in our poetry writing competition, inspired by our theme this year of “Fantasy”.

We’d love to hear all about the magic and mystery hiding in your imagination, from enchanted forests to curious creatures, secret spells or worlds that only you can dream up. Write a short poem and share your most fantastical ideas with us.

Small prizes for the winning entries!

Deadline for Pupils: 31st May 26

Hand into the School Office

Category: All ages

The winner may have the opportunity to read their poem aloud to an audience at The Hive!

7 months ago
Posted on 24th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Cook Stars Club

Fantastic to have Cook Stars ✨️ with us for our brand new Cookery Club!

The children made the most delicious soda bread! Delicious, warm straight from the oven and with a recipe card so they can make it at home again for their family. Great effort everyone!

Nothing beats learning practical skills you can can use for the rest of your life!

7 months ago
Posted on 24th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Plant & Craft Fair Volunteers Wanted

Can you or a friend or family member help us to man a stall at our Plant & Craft Fair?

We would love some help on the Plant Stall and Refreshments or even to help us tidy away.

It always feels good to lend a hand and get involved.

Please sign up HERE

Thank you, your support means we can put on fabulous events for the children.

7 months ago
Posted on 24th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Next Friday Sir David Attenborough’s Birthday Celebration

We’ll be having a whole school Celebration Day to celebrate Sir David Attenborough’s 100th Birthday! Here’s a few snippets of the day

Shropshire Wildlife Trust Assembly
Non-Uniform
Outdoor Picnic Lunch
Green activities
3:00pm Whole School Song to families on the middle playground.
Birthday cake at 3:00pm. We’ll be selling slices after the song for donations to Shropshire Wildlife Trust (first come, first served)

7 months ago
Posted on 24th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Launching Plant & Craft Fair Competitions- 2 weeks to go!

On Monday, Mr Larkham will announce in assembly the competitions that the children can enter for the Plant & Craft Fair on Saturday 9th May

The competitions are a huge focal point of the fair with judging taking place by the Belle Vue Arts Festival. We all enjoy browsing the incredible entries in the School Hall.

Get ready at home with your ideas or crafting, your entries will need to be brought to the School Fair on Saturday 9th May by 11am.

Children can be as creative as they like, there are no limits put on our competitions and children can interpret the competitions in any way they choose!

Potion & Spell– Enjoy potion making and add some writing for a label or spell.

Fantasy Bake-Off -Cakes big or small, as long as its edible!

Fantasy Garden-Enjoy scavenging natural items to make a mini garden and design it with a fantasy twist. Use any container big or small to display your garden.

Fantasy Land in a Box– Create a fantasy world in a box. Any box, any size, any material.

Below are some Fantasy ideas to inspire you.

We can’t wait to see your ideas!

Every child is an Artist at Coleham School!

7 months ago
Posted on 24th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

What’s on next week?

Monday

Dolphins Class Swimming (afternoon)

Foxes class- Local outing St Mary’s Church (afternoon)

Tuesday

Year 5 Local Outing Longden Cemetery (morning)

Turtles Class Swimming (afternoon)

Wednesday

Badgers Class Local Outing St Mary’s Church (afternoon)

Friday

Leopards Class Swimming (afternoon)

Monday 4th May -BANK HOLIDAY

7 months ago
Posted on 21st Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Bookfest’s Grand Finale

Year 5 have been busy devouring six brilliant new novels for Shropshire Bookfest and voting for their favourite like true critics— today the adventure continued at Theatre Severn for the big winner reveal. Wildlands took the crown, with author Brogan Murphy there in person to celebrate. Extra applause for Juliet, who scooped a prize in the Bookfest competition.

7 months ago
Posted on 19th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Window Art for BVAF

Six of our Year 2 Owls spread their wings today and swooped down to Greyfriars Bridge to meet Artist Richard — then painted beautiful blooms onto a shop window. This artwork will showcase all the events for this year’s Belle Vue Arts Festival. The countdown is officially on!

7 months ago
Posted on 17th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

John the Sign Guy Community Clear Up

You may remember we met community hero John the Sign Guy back in September and donated £130 to his cleaning fund!

He has purchased 15 litres of masonry paint with our donation and plans to paint over all the graffiti on Sutton Lane & Betton Street Railway Bridge.

He would love some help!

Parents and accompanying children are most welcome to join the clean up/painting effort.

What: Railway Bridge Clean Up

When: Sunday 19th April

Time: 8.30am to lunch

Details: PPE protective glasses provided and Reabrook club toilets will be available too.

Join his mission! The more the merrier!

7 months ago
Posted on 17th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Shrewsbury in Bloom Competition

You may remember that last year Polly won Shrewsbury Town Council’s Planter in Bloom competition! Here she is with her actual design planted making Shrewsbury look beautiful.

The competition is open again this year and we encourage lots of children to enter!

Children can find copies on the display outside the office. We are able to email entries on the children’s behalf. Please hand in to the office.

7 months ago
Posted on 17th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Headteacher Message

Dear Families,

Welcome back! I hope you have all had a lovely Easter break and managed to relax and enjoy the weather when it was there.

The first week has gone by very quickly and there’s already been so much happening! Year 4 have been absent the last 2 days at PGL having a whale (and a dolphin…) of a time! It’s great for the children to push themselves and have new experiences – I’m looking forward to hearing all about it!

Year 1 had a great day yesterday with their Victorian day – I think they enjoyed standing up when an adult walked in, sitting in rows and avoiding the cane… I remember the cane at my primary school but was too well-behaved to experience it.

Thank you to all our families that completed the parent survey. We have had a brief opportunity this week to look through the data and all your comments, and will be able to respond fully next week. There were a lot of incredibly positive comments left on the survey – thank you for all your support. It means a lot.

Have a lovely weekend

Tom Larkham

Headteacher

7 months ago
Posted on 17th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

What’s on next week?

Monday

Eco Council presenting in assembly educating the children about World Earth Day

Swimming- Dolphins (afternoon)

Tuesday

Swimming – Turtles (afternoon)

Year 5 Theatre Trip for Book Fest

Wednesday

Year 5 Leopards Class Assembly @ 9.15am for families

Thursday

School Photographs for Classes: All children to wear uniform. (Bring trainers if its your normal PE day)

Swimming Gala (those classes affected will have their photo taken first)

Friday

Year 5 Lions Class Assembly @ 9.15am for families

Year 4 sport session with Embrace Coaching

Swimming – Leopards (afternoon)

Saturday

Shropshire Half Marathon Event

7 months ago
Posted on 14th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Parent Info for Children’s Makers Market

It’s 1 month until our Plant & Craft Fair on Saturday 9th May!

This week in assembly Mr Larkham announced to the children, that there will be a children’s Makers Market where they can run their own stall and help us fundraise for school.

Our signing up display has been very popular with the children.

This is open to all children. Age isn’t a factor! All we ask is that families can support their children and:

Supervise them on the day
Support them at home with their ideas/crafting
Provide a cash float on the day
Decide what contribution you would like to donate to school fundraising after the event.
No need to do anything else: we will make room for everyone on the day

We have a handy Enterprise Tips Sheet for the children to help guide them along the way

🔽

Tips for Children to Organise a Business Enterprise Stall

There will be other activities for children to participate in at the Plant & Craft Fair. In 2 weeks time, we will launch our Fantasy Competitions which children can enter and bring along for judging at the fair.

7 months ago
Posted on 12th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Our revamped Sensory Room

We’ve revamped our Sensory Room into a dark, cosy and calming space where children can feel safe, comfortable and fully supported. Although the room was recently fitted by Rhino Sensory, we reflected on how it was being used and realised it no longer met the needs of our children. The space had become a room of two halves — one dark and one light and it just wasn’t working.

So, we stripped it back and tied it all together. We’ve kept the stunning Matt Sewell bird mural from pre-sensory room days and wrapped the whole space floor to ceiling in a rich, sumptuous navy that ties in with the padded bubble‑tube area giving night sky vibes. Soft drapes create a gentle canopy overhead, with cosy reading baskets to encourage calm, quiet moments.

We’ve added a spinning sensory chair and balance board, a cocoon bean bag for deep‑pressure comfort and introduced new planet mats to bring movement, curiosity and a sense of wonder. We’ve embraced a “less is more” approach — the room now offers comfort without overwhelm.

Next steps: black out the window and install a ceiling projector with interactive, moving floor images.

We can’t wait to relaunch this space and make it accessible to even more children.

Before

After

7 months ago
Posted on 10th Apr 2026 by Miss Othen

Creating beautiful spaces

🌟 Holiday Refresh at Coleham School! 🌟

We’ve been busy transforming 4 spaces in school. Here’s one of them.

We LOVE refreshing and refurbishing our spaces — every corner of our school is carefully designed so children and staff feel inspired and our visitors feel welcomed. This Easter, we turned the Business Manager’s office into a brand‑new Family Room! ✨ Why? Because school belongs to everyone and every inch should be designed around the children. This flexible new space is for:

children to meet with the School Nurse or other professionals
family conversations and support
children’s quiet work and reflection
targeted work for individuals or small groups
a calm spot to regulate and reset
playing chess or building Lego masterpieces
discovering our secret bookcase of signed author books
practising phonics or diving into a good read

It’s a room to work, relax, connect, and feel at home.

Space is precious — and when used thoughtfully, it becomes powerful. 💛 One office lost… and a million new purposes gained for children and adults alike.

We are always reflecting, improving and making changes to meet the here and now.

Before ⬇️

After ⬇️

8 months ago
Posted on 27th Mar 2026 by Miss Othen

Eco Coding Workshop

Year 6 pupils visited Harper Adam’s campus today for an Eco Coding workshop! An intense brain stretching kind of day for this fab team of girls.

8 months ago
Posted on 27th Mar 2026 by Miss Othen

3-18 Education Art Competition

The deadline has been extended to Friday 1st May 2026!

8 months ago
Posted on 27th Mar 2026 by Miss Othen

🌼 Easter Competition with Co‑op Funeralcare 🌼

We were delighted to take part in an Easter colouring competition organised by Co‑op Funeralcare for our pupils.

Well Done to our winning children, who each received a delicious Easter egg as their prize. Thank you to Co‑op Funeralcare for their generosity and for helping make this Easter extra special for our school community.

8 months ago
Posted on 26th Mar 2026 by Miss Othen

Spring Term Cups

Today we presented the Spring Term Cups in assembly and celebrated the recipients but also celebrated all the children in school who have worked incredibly hard and had a brilliant Spring Term. You should all be very proud families as we break up for Easter.

From all the thousands of Dojo points amassed , the Spring Term Cup was awarded to QUARRY!

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Miss Othen

Online Safety Newsletter

Shropshire Schools Half Marathon

Plant & Craft Fair Competitions

Plant & Craft Fair Donations

What’s on next week?

School Lunches Update

Happy Birthday Sir David

Chalk Window Competition

Lunchtime Lego Fun Club

Stories from Beyond the Graves

Year 4 Kick Off with Reading the Game! ⚽

Poetry Writing Competition

Belle Vue Arts Festival

Poetry Writing Competition

Cook Stars Club

Plant & Craft Fair Volunteers Wanted

Next Friday Sir David Attenborough’s Birthday Celebration

Launching Plant & Craft Fair Competitions- 2 weeks to go!

What’s on next week?

Bookfest’s Grand Finale

Window Art for BVAF

John the Sign Guy Community Clear Up

Shrewsbury in Bloom Competition

Headteacher Message

What’s on next week?

Parent Info for Children’s Makers Market

Our revamped Sensory Room

Creating beautiful spaces

Eco Coding Workshop

3-18 Education Art Competition

🌼 Easter Competition with Co‑op Funeralcare 🌼

Spring Term Cups