Headteacher Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Here we are at the end of a very long but productive first half-term of the year.  I hope that everyone gets the well-earned rest they need and can come back fresh and ready for an exciting second half-term and the last one of 2023.  We have lots to look forward to: more trips, more visitors and of course – lots of Christmas events!

This week has seen Coleham crowned X-Country champions, a visit from the Fire Service, and a long-distance trip to Liverpool for our Year 6s, a Roman Day and Pumpkin Party for EYFS.

Please remember that the first week back sees out Parents’ Evenings (Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th) so please, please make sure you have booked your slots.

Well done, everyone, on a great start to the year, and have a lovely week!

 

Tom Larkham

Headteacher

Poppy Shop

The School Council will be selling Poppy Appeal merchandise for Remembrance Day in the first week back.

Thursday break time – School Hall

Friday break time -School Hall

Pupils are invited to bring £1 into school if they would like to purchase anything.

Christmas Dates Reminder

Our Christmas Performance Dates are on the website

Our EYFS/KS1 Nativity and KS2 Nativity concerts are always a very special occasion for us all.  The singing in school sounds incredible and you will be in for a real treat!   The performance times for parents are as follows:

Performances at Holy Trinity Church

  • Monday(04/12/23) 1330-1430: Performance for EYFS parents
  • Tuesday(05/12/23) 1000-1100: Performance for Year 1 parents
  • Tuesday(05/12/23) 1330-1430: Performance for Year 2 parents
  • Thursday(07/12/23) 1000-1130: Performance for Year 3 parents
  • Thursday(07/12/23) 1330-1500: Performance for Year 4 parents
  • Friday(08/12/23) 1000-1130: Performance for Year 5 parents
  • Friday(08/12/23) 1330-1500: Performance for Year 6 parents

Guidance

  • Please be kind and only attend your child’s nativity
  • Please aim to attend the performance set aside for your child’s year group.
  • For those wishing to see siblings, you may be able to see them all in one EYFS/KS1’s nativity (Monday and Tuesday) includes EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 in the same show.  KS2’s Nativity (Thursday and Friday) has Years 3, 4, 5 & 6 in the same show.
  • Those of you with a child in each Key Stage can, of course, see both shows
  • The KS2 children will be performing all around the church and in the aisles, so every seat in church will have a good view, including those at the very back of the church.

Headteacher Message

Dear Parents & Carers,

This week has been full of trips and visitors!  A huge thank you goes to all our brilliant careers visitors this week.  All the children have been involved in our careers week, learning about the varied and interesting work members of our community do (or used to do!).

The experience provided to our children is invaluable and will hopefully inspire everyone.  I very much enjoyed taking the time to speak to Year 2 about zookeeping and answered some very interesting questions about giraffes and various animals’ favourite foods.

EYFS have been busy this week with their Enterprise week.  They have been designing, creating, marketing and will be selling their very own chocolate apples!  The other children in the school have been to the hall this morning to buy their goods – a bargain at £1 per apple!  Well done EYFS – I will eat mine as an after-school treat.

Please remember to book your Parents’ Evening 10 min meetings which will be on Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th November (the first week back after half term).

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Lunchathon

This half term we have had a House Competition for the children to design main courses and deserts.  Well done to the children below whose recipes were chosen.

NEXT WEEK the children will be taking over the Menu and our Chef Manager will be cooking their recipes instead of the normal menu.

House points will be awarded 100pts, 75pts, 50pts and 25pts for the most popular day’s menu based on dinner numbers, waste and pupil opinion 🙂

The salad cart, vegetables, fruit and yoghurt will be available each day.

How we communicate with you

We understand how tricky it is to manage work, a household and all the school appointments/administration for your children!  So we aim, to streamline our communications as best we can with this weekly Newsletter.

Our website is always live and is the first place we post letters and events.  See the Parents Section for Newsletters, Letters Home and Calendar dates.

Going forwards we will also attempt to send all our school letters on FRIDAYS to avoid multiple emails across the week.  (sometimes we may need to send out urgent or last minute emails but we try to avoid this where we can)

Teachers use Dojo for sharing the children’s work with you as a ‘window into the classroom’ and can also use this for smaller class reminders.

Parents Evening Appointments

Parents Evenings will take place on the first week back after half term.

Don’t forget to book your slot online at the web page below

Headteacher Letter- Reminders

Dear Parents/Carers,

Re: REMINDERS

Parking

We have received a complaint from a resident about parking clogging up Salter’s Lane in the morning and afternoon.  This has always been a problem at Coleham owing to the lack of parking around the school.

Before the road closure began operating, the same issues were present and we often had similar complaints about cars using Salter’s Lane and coming into conflict with families as they turned in and out in both directions along Greyfriars Road.

I would recommend all families using their cars to follow a few simple guidelines to make sure we can operate things smoothly in a considerate manner for everyone’s benefit:

  • Please AVOID use Salter’s Lane as a quick drop off / pick up point.  Cars are parking illegally; causing blockages and preventing our neighbours from going about their business.
  • Please DO NOT drop off in the road outside the staff car park – this is a clear safety hazard and causes blockages.
  • Please DO NOT park on Greyfriars Rd before the road closes unless you are prepared to wait for it to reopen.

We must make sure that we are acting with consideration and courtesy for each other and our neighbours, and it goes without saying that any verbal abuse towards staff or traffic wardens / PCSOs, or anyone, is never acceptable, nor will it be tolerated.

Park & Stride

In order to help with the lack of parking, we have a park & stride scheme in place with the Council which operates as follows:

  • FREE parking at St Julian’s Friars Car Park (2 min walk over the Greyfriars Bridge).

These schemes require a FREE permit which can be collected from the School Office.

School Gates

From Monday, the field entrance gate will no longer be used over the winter period.  Please use any of the open gates further along Greyfriars Road.

Home time collection

Please make sure that the site is cleared as quickly as possible at the end of the day.  We ask that you make a swift exit once you have collected your children so that our after-school clubs are able to start their activities outside safely.  We need to fully secure the site at 3:30 pm.

Pupil Absences

Please remember to inform school of any absences via the absence email: absence@col.318education.co.uk and avoid leaving phone messages.  This ensures we have a secure record and messages are not lost.  You will need to inform us each day of your child’s absence as per our policy.

Yours sincerely,

Tom Larkham

Headteacher

Headteacher Message

Dear Parents & Carers,

This week seems to have flown by, which must be a good thing!  We’ve all kinds of weather and we seem to be firmly in October now with the darker evenings setting in.

This week, we have seen a lot of trips: Year 3 to the Shrewsbury Museum; Year 6 to Mrs Jones’ Gallery in Coleham; Year 1 exploring the local area; Reverend Fi visiting Year 1 and my particular favourite was the Years 1, 2 and 3 children who went to Hazeldine Court with Mrs Young to read to the residents.  It’s lovely to see the children sharing their time in the community with our elderly neighbours.  Both the children and the residents got a lot out of it and thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon.

Next week is our exciting Careers Week!  We are looking forward to welcoming many of you into school to talk to the children about your wide and varied careers – if there is anyone who would like to offer their services that haven’t already done so, please do contact Miss Othen!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Tom Larkham

Headteacher

EYFS Enterprise Event

The EYFS staff and children will be kicking off our first Enterprise Event in school.

With Autumn here, they have decided to make ‘chocolate apples’

Badgers and Foxes classes will be selling these to pupils in school time on Friday 20th October.

Children will be given the opportunity to purchase one, on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED basis. Chocolate Apples will cost £1 if children wish to bring in money next Friday.

Thank you Badgers and Foxes for being our first entrepreneurs.

Eco Council at work

The Eco Council are working with the Belle Vue Tree Planting Group to promote a ‘seed gathering’ project in the local area.

The Belle Vue Tree Planting Group would like lots of pupil helpers to gather ‘fresh seed’ from the local area so they can grow saplings.

The Eco Council will have a stall outside school at home time on Friday 20th October and Thursday 26th October.

They will be handing out paper bags and leaflets.  Please do go and chat with them.

Instructions 

Head outside with your family and gather seed from your local parks or back gardens.

  • Make sure you collect fresh seed, or possibly just fallen on the ground.
  • Avoid seed with grub holes.
  • Place into paper bags provided.
  • Label your seeds with their name, location of collection and a date.
  • The Tree Council provide great tips on tree identification to help with this.

https://treecouncil.org.uk/seasonal-campaigns/seed-gathering-season/

Once seed is collected and bagged/labelled, a few options:

  1. Drop them off at the Chemist Patch, in Belle Vue.

These can be left at the top of the driveway alongside Lunts Pharmacy –  38, Brook St, SY3 7QT

A container will be left out.

https://www.facebook.com/thechemistspatch/

2. Return bags with your Eco Councillor for the Belle Vue Tree Planting Group to collect

  1. Or have a go at planting a sapling yourself in a well drained container, with soil and compost.

Again lots of guidance provided by the Tree Council and we would love to hear your results!

The Belle Vue Tree Planting Group have a micro tree nursery at the Chemist Patch and compost/pots available should you need anything.

Drop Off / Collection Parking

We have received a complaint from a resident about parking clogging up Salter’s Lane in the morning and afternoon.  This has always been a problem at Coleham owing to the lack of parking around the school.  The School Street scheme (road closure) has not increased the parking issues around Salter’s Lane, but it has highlighted the problem more whilst improving safety outside the front of school.  Before the road closure began operating, the same issues were present and we had similar complaints.

  • Please DO NOT use Salter’s Lane as a quick drop off / pick up point.  Cars are parking illegally; causing blockages and preventing our neighbours from going about their business.
  • Please DO NOT drop off in the road outside the staff car park.
  • Please DO NOT park on Greyfriars Rd before the road closes unless you are prepared to wait for it to reopen.

If you must use your car to get to school, please use one of these 2 options:

  • FREE parking at ASDA (5 min walk)
  • FREE parking at St Julian’s Friar (2 min walk over Greyfriars Bridge)

Please see the office for a permit to use St Julian’s Friars Car Park.

 

We must make sure that we are acting with consideration and courtesy for each other and our neighbours, and it goes without saying that any verbal abuse towards staff or traffic wardens / PCSOs, or anyone, will never be tolerated.

We have lots of school shoes!

We have so many pairs of school shoes in the foyer, please come and grab a pair as they need new homes!  It’s always handy to have a spare pair of shoes at home.

Headteacher Message

Dear Parents & Carers,

Thank you to everyone who donated to our Harvest Festival donations for the Shrewsbury Foodbank – caring for our community is a really important part of our school, so it was lovely to see our School Councilors getting involved in delivering the food this week.  Thanks also to Rev Fi from Holy Trinity for speaking to us in assembly on Monday.

We have a lot of things happening this week: cricket sessions for some classes; jobs for some of the children in the library

and dining hall; a real-life poet visit and another football competition.  Well done to the boys representing our school so well and showing everyone what Coleham is all about!

This week, we are saying goodbye to Geoff Hulme, who has served as our Chair of Governors for the last few years.  He has done an amazing job holding the school to account and leading our active Local Governing Body.  I do hope you all share my gratitude for his hard work as he moves into a role with the wider Trust.  We also welcome Dave Jones as our new Chair, and I hope to work closely with him to help drive our wonderful school further forward.

Lots to take in from this week’s newsletter, so I’ll let you read the rest – have a lovely weekend!

Tom Larkham

Headteacher

 

Message from New Chair of Governors

As incoming chair I would like to acknowledge the work of my predecessor Geoff Hulme. Geoff has served as a governor for the past 4 years with 3 of those years as chair. Geoff has personified excellent leadership and always sought to engage students, parents and staff at Coleham and all this in addition to his more visible role as the face of the Pimms stand at the September Social. We wish you the best of luck with your new role on the 318 Education trust board.

I would also like to thank Ashley Cooper, Andy Howitt and Darren Payne who have reached the end of their terms and together with Geoff and the remaining board of governors have worked tirelessly with the school leadership: Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction, holding senior leaders to account for the performance of the school, staff and its pupils, and overseeing the financial performance of the school.

It is a pleasure and privilege to take on this role and the governing body and I, together with the new leadership team will do our part to ensure Coleham school continues to deliver its vision “For Every Child, An Excellent Education”.

There are some vacancies on the Local Governing Body and we are keen to recruit an inclusive and diverse board and we would also benefit from individuals with knowledge, experience and skills in finance.  Please contact myself dave.jones@318education.co.uk  if you would like further information or to express an interest in the parent governor election.

Giraffes Class Choral Day Trip to Shrewsbury High School

Dear Parent/Carer

GIRAFFES CLASS CHORAL DAY TRIP TO SHREWSBURY HIGH SCHOOL

Giraffes Class have been invited to attend a Choir Day at Shrewsbury High School on Thursday 19th October 2023.  Some other local schools will also be attending to make up a large choir of over 200 pupils.

We will be walking to Shrewsbury High School for 10:00am.

Your child will need to bring a coat and water bottle.  Shrewsbury High School will be providing lunch for every pupil and Mrs Morgan has collected sandwich choices from the children already.

This trip is free.

HOME TIME & COLLECTION ARRANGEMENTS

At the end of the day there will be a short Showcase Performance for parents (which will take place at 3:00pm)  If parents or relatives would like to attend this performance please book a free ticket using Eventbrite.  See link below.  YOU WILL BE ABLE TO COLLECT YOUR CHILD AFTERWARDS AND TAKE THEM HOME.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/year-6-choral-day-parents-performance-tickets-718394466187?aff=oddtdtcreator

Information for Parents/Relatives

If you are going to watch the concert please do not arrive before 3.00pm and to enter our school site through the car park gate off Crescent Lane, SY1 1TR. Please note we do not have parking on the school site for parents. We will be asking parents to sign in when they arrive at the gate using the list drawn from Eventbrite. There will be tea/coffee available for parents when they arrive and students / staff on hand to direct them to the correct location.

ALL OTHER CHILDREN WILL WALK BACK TO COLEHAM SCHOOL WITH MRS MORGAN FOR APPROXIMATELY 4:00pm.  Please collect your child from the front of school unless they are going to After School Club.

Please note that this visit is covered by the Annual Consent Form for Trips/visits & Medical Information. Please notify the school immediately if there are any changes to your contact/emergency contact details or medical information.

Yours sincerely,

Jane Hilbert

Administration Manager

Message from Chair of Governors

Dear parents/carers

I would like to update you with some changes to the Coleham Local Governing Board.  My role as Chair of Governors ended on 30th September as I take up a Trustee position with The 3-18 Education Trust.  I am pleased to inform you all that Dave Jones will be taking on the role of Chairman and Craig Kynaston will be the new Vice Chair.

I have enjoyed a fabulous time as Chairman of the Coleham LGB and I would like to acknowledge the incredible support I have received from all the people associated with Coleham from pupils and parents to governors and Trustees.  In particular working with two outstanding Headteachers in Claire and Tom have made my role as Chair an easy one.  I have every confidence that Coleham will continue to go from strength to strength.

Keep up the outstanding work.

Geoff Hulme

Former Chair of the Coleham LGB

Careers Week

Get involved in Careers Week

Our Careers week takes place week beginning 16th October 2023.

We love to open our doors and invite you to help us educate the children.

Can you come into school and talk to a class about your job, hobby or career? 

We are looking for a few more visitors to fill some gaps, especially for our Reception Classes Badgers & Foxes, can you help?

Please speak to Miss Harris or Miss Melville or the school office.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Special Menu Thursday

School Census takes place on THURSDAY and school funding is linked to the uptake of school meals.

It would be great to see as many children as possible eating a school lunch on Thursday please.

Menu

Chicken nuggets

Potato Wedges

Baked beans or sweetcorn

Salad Wheelbarrow

Ice cream, jelly, Yoghurt & Fruit

Headteacher Message

Dear Parents & Carers,

It’s been another busy week at school with lots going on!  It was lovely to see Ms Jones again as she spent yesterday at school with David O’Toole (the 3-18 Education Trust CEO).  They spent the day observing school operations; popping into lessons; speaking to staff, children and leaders to get a picture of life here at Coleham.  It was a very positive day and they were happy with what they saw – we are very lucky to receive such supportive feedback from the Trust in this way.

A special well done goes to a footballers this week: the girls in Year 5 and 6 played a number of matches against Prestfelde on Wednesday and scored some great goals.  It was wonderful to see such passion and determination from the girls, and to also see how they encouraged each other.  Great stuff!

We’ve also enjoyed a Greek workshop in Year 5 this week, and have spotted the posters around the local area reminding people to clean up after their dogs – well done Josie: the world needs people like you to care more about their environment!

On Monday, we have our Harvest Festival Assembly, with Rev. Fi from Holy Trinity coming in.  Please see the article below about bringing in tinned food etc. for the food bank.

Have a super weekend, everyone!

Tom Larkham

Headteacher

 

Arbor Reminder

Please remember that ALL payments are now live on Arbor.

We would really appreciate you checking your balance for school dinners and wraparound care and making any outstanding payments.

Unfortunately, the ‘shopping basket’ facility doesn’t yet work on the Arbor app so you can’t pay for multiple items in one transaction.  You can do this if you are using a desktop.

Parent Governor Election

Dear Parent/Carer,

We are writing to inform you of a vacancy for the role of parent local governor on our Local Governing Body (LGB).

The role of the LGB

The school’s LGB is responsible for providing confident and strategic leadership, and creating robust accountability, oversight and assurance for the school’s educational and financial performance. The LGB is passionate about education and committed to continuous school improvement to ensure the best possible outcomes for our pupils.

The role of a parent local governor

As a parent local governor, you’ll work with the LGB to ensure it effectively carries out the duties referred to above. You’ll also play a vital role in ensuring that the LGB is connected with, and is aware of the views of, parents and the local community.

To be a parent local governor you should have:

  • A strong commitment to the role and to improving outcomes for children.
  • Good inter-personal skills, curiosity, and a willingness to learn and develop new skills.
  • The specific skills required to ensure the governing board delivers effective governance.

Being a parent local governor can be demanding but very rewarding.  All local governors serve a three-year term of office and under usual circumstances, can expect to spend between 10 and 20 days a year on governance duties.  These include:

  • attending meetings of the LGB, usually outside of school hours and contributing to LGB business;
  • reading reports and papers and keeping up to date on the progress that the school is making; and
  • visiting the school from time to time during the school day.

You will have to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and sign the local governors’ Code of Conduct.  A copy of the Code of Conduct, Role Description and more information about the LGB can be found on LGB’s pages of the school’s website.

We have a supportive induction process which will enable a period of settling into the role.

How to apply

If you’re interested in applying for the role, please email the Governance Professional, Carole Warner by email by 10am Friday 6 October (carole.warner@318education.co.uk).

You should also include a personal statement (approximate 250 words) to support your application.  We encourage candidates to be succinct when setting out the skills, experience and attributes that they can bring to the LGB to support their application. Nominations of other parents will be accepted, but please seek their prior consent.

Applications/nominations can only be accepted from parents or carers who have children registered at the school on the day that nominations close. If we receive more applications/nominations than there are vacancies, an election will be carried out. We will inform you after the nomination deadline if we have to do this.

If you have any queries about this process or would like to find out more about the role, please contact the Chair of the LGB Mr Geoff Hulme or the Headteacher, Mr Tom Larkham

Yours sincerely,

Mr Geoff Hulme                                                         Mr Tom Larkham

Chair of LGB                                                               Headteacher

 

 

Skipathon

Thanks to all the children and adults for skipping their way through the September Social fair!  Challenge complete and Mr Halford announced the top 5 skippers in each age category to the children in assembly.