Headteacher Message
Dear Parents & Carers,
Welcome back to Autumn 2! I feel so refreshed after 2 weeks off – it felt like a real break to me, and the whole school feels like it’s ready to properly tackle the run up to Christmas, and not just survive it. Autumn can be a really tough time for a lot of people, so to have such a break is lovely.
We’ve only been back at school 4 days, but we’ve already done lots! The whole staff were in Telford on Monday being inspired by inspirational speakers; networking with colleagues at other Trust schools and receiving invaluable training in a wide range of excellent workshops.
We’ve also had Careers Week: a huge thank you to all our wonderful parents who came in to talk to the children. It’s so heart-warming to see all the children inspired by your real-world stories and interesting jobs. The dress-up day on Thursday was great: I love seeing the children share their ambitions! I donned one of my old uniforms from my days long ago at Chester Zoo (I’m the one on the right in the picture below). A lot has changed in 23 years, but I still fit in it!
We’ve also had Pudsey Bear visit (at very short notice!), a music concert and some Careers trips out!. It never stops at Coleham School!
Don’t forget to book your Parents’ & Carers’ Meetings with your teachers for next week – you can book through Arbor. Please get in touch if you are having any trouble with it.
Have a lovely weekend!
Tom Larkham
Retired Zookeeper
What’s on next week
Anti-bullying week
EYFS Nursery Rhyme Week
Monday
Odd socks Day for Anti-bullying Week
EYFS Cake sale after school 50p each
Tuesday
Year 2 Trip to Enginuity (please pay £16.20 if you are able to and complete the packed lunch order form)
Badgers Parent Evening
Wednesday
Parents Evening 4:00 – 7:00pm
Thursday
Yr 2 Rabbit’s Career Trip to Pizza Express (£7.90 to be paid via Arbor)
Parents Evening 4:00 – 7:00pm
Next week – Anti- Bullying Week
We’re proud to be taking part in Anti-Bullying Week 2025 This year’s theme is “Power for Good”, encouraging children and young people to speak up safely and support one another to help stop bullying.
To kick off the week, we’ll be celebrating Odd Socks Day on Monday 10th November. Pupils and staff are invited to wear odd socks to school to celebrate what makes us all unique. It’s a fun and simple way to start conversations about individuality, kindness, and inclusion.
Next week-EYFS Nursery Rhyme Week
EYFS will be celebrating World Nursery Rhyme Week.
Experts in literacy and child development discovered that if a child knows eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they are four years old, they are usually among the best readers and spellers in their class by the time they are in Year 3. Learning rhymes and rhythm will really help children’s communication and language skills too! It is one of the best things you can do at home with your child.
Can you sing these rhymes at home together this week?
We’ll be singing a different rhyme each day linked to a fun activity!
We have cookery and a bake sale on Monday, a Ukulele singing session on Tuesday, an outing to feed the ducks on Wednesday (The Quarry), a yoga session on Thursday and Gardening on Friday. Phew! It’s going to be a great week!
Christmas 2025 Nativities Dates
Christmas Nativity performance dates for families * Please note there has been a date change for Yr 1 parents*
We have two completely separate shows: one with EYFS/KS1 children performing in 3 shows, and one with KS2 children performing in 4 shows. Dates and times are below:
EYFS/KS1 Show:
- Monday (08/12/25) 10:00 -11:00: EYFS/KS1 Nativity Performance for Year 1 parents (a change from the previous date given)
- Monday (08/12/25) 13:30-14:30: EYFS/KS1 Nativity Performance for EYFS parents
- Tuesday (09/12/25) 13:30-14:30: EYFS /KS1 Nativity Performance for Year 2 parents
KS2 Show:
- Thursday (11/12/25) 1000-1130: KS2 Show Performance for Year 3 parents
- Thursday (11/12/25) 1330-1500: KS2 Show Performance for Year 4 parents
- Friday (12/12/25) 1000-1130: KS2 Show Performance for Year 5 parents
- Friday (12/12/25) 1330-1500: KS2 Show Performance for Year 6 parents
You only need to attend one performance of each show if you have children in the same show. Please try to come to the performance for your child’s year group: this is so the church is not overcrowded. If you can’t make the performance for your year group, you can of course come to a different performance.
All the shows are held at the Holy Trinity Church, Belle Vue.
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.
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
Community Zumba Coming Soon!
🌟 Careers Week Highlights! 🌟
What an incredible week of inspiration, curiosity and big dreams at our school! From our youngest children in EYFS to our oldest learners in Year 6, everyone had the chance to explore the world of work in exciting and meaningful ways.
👶 EYFS loved stepping into real-life roles during our Little City workshop — doctors, shopkeepers, construction workers and more!
🍕 Year 2 and Year 5 got hands-on insight into the hospitality world with brilliant careers trips to Pizza Express and Hickory’s Smokehouse. The children loved seeing how teamwork brings a restaurant to life!
🎤 Throughout the week, every class was treated to inspiring careers talks from parents and members of our community. It was powerful for the children to see people they know in such a wide variety of jobs — opening their eyes to a world of possibilities!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who shared their time and passion with us. We met:
🍷 Wine Sourcer
🛒 Buying Director from Moonpig
🎥 Sports Filmmaker
🐕 Guide Dog Trainer
📺 BBC TV Production specialist (Strictly Come Dancing!)
🪑 Cabinet Maker
🌺 Hawaiian Travel Specialist
🎪 Festival Organiser
🎻 Violinist of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
🌱 Environmental Researcher
🏥 Nurse
👮 Policeman
⚽ Sports Marketing Specialist
🎨 Art Therapist
… and more!
✨ Little City Careers Week Magic in EYFS! ✨
Today our little learners stepped into Little City — a wonderful role play town designed for curious minds. They became brave firefighters, creative hairdressers, busy postal workers, careful builders, welcoming café servers and thoughtful shoppers in the supermarket. 🏙️
Through play, the children explored how different jobs help our community! 🌟
“Play is the highest form of research.” — Albert Einstein
And today, we truly saw it come alive. 💛
🍕✨ Year 2 Pizza Chefs in Action! ✨🍕
Year 2 stepped into the world of hospitality as part of Careers Week — and became real pizza chefs for the day! 👩🍳👨🍳
They started kneading the dough and hard work came together to make something delicious. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they explored what it’s like to work in a busy kitchen environment. ❤️
A huge thank you to Pizza Express for welcoming us 🌍
Year 5 visit Hickory’s Smokehouse
Year 5 were once again delighted to spend time at Hickory’s, Shrewsbury, as part of our Careers Week.
The staff treated us to a tour of the kitchen where they were busy preparing for opening time, with meat that had been cooking for 14 hours!
We spent time thinking about our own restaurants, designing logos and menus, before having a go at waiting drinks and decorating a delicious donut which we ate in the Quarry on the way back to school.
We would like to extend a huge “thank you” to Ellie, Taylor and the team and Hickoryʼs for welcoming us so generously.
School Council attend Remembrance Service
🌺 Remembrance Ceremony at Longden Cemetery War Graves
Today our KS2 School Councillors represented Coleham at the Remembrance Ceremony at Longden Cemetery War Graves. We were honoured to stand alongside the Mayor, members of the Royal British Legion, service veterans, Priory School and Shrewsbury Colleges Group in paying our respects. 🎖️
We had the privilege of speaking with Terry and Terry, two veterans who told us of their time serving in the Navy and values it instilled.⚓
We also took time to walk among the war graves, noticing the different armed services and the many nationalities laid to rest there — including German, Polish, Italian and Australian soldiers. Because when the war is over, there are no sides; all that remains is humility ❤️
This year, we are partnering with Friends of Longden Cemetery, so we can explore this wonderful area on our doorstep, full of history and nature. More news coming soon…
Lest we forget. 🌹
Cheering for Pudsey Bear 🐻
Today we gave BBC Shropshire’s Adam & Claire the biggest cheer as they passed through school on their 25-mile three-legged walk for the BBC’s 1000 Mile Challenge, raising money for Children in Need! 💛🐻
With just 11 minutes’ notice before going live on air, the whole school sprang into action — pens down, coats on, OUT WE WENT!
We certainly gave them a cheering squad! The pupils were very excited to receive a surprise visit from Pudsey Bear himself!
#ChildrenInNeed #BBCShropshire
Music Concert
We love exposing our children to live musical opportunities! Thank you to Shropshire Music Service for treating us to a whole school concert and a variety of songs from rock to pop for us to sing along too. The children’s favourite was definitely K-Pop🎸🎷🎹🥁
Inspiring our staff: Major Scotty Mills
Our staff were inspired by Major Scotty Mills — a highly decorated commander of The Royal Marines.
With 32 years of service, four war zones, and leadership that shaped 6,500 UK commandos, Major Mills told us how the Marines spirit of Courage, Determination, Unselfishness and Cheerfulness especially in the face of adversity shaped his life and how the Marine Corps create a culture of teamwork and belonging.
He’s even trained England’s rugby and football teams — and today, he inspired ours too. 💪
All schools need great teams so we really enjoyed his perspective.
#3-18Educationtrustconference
Listen to his motivational story below.
3-18 Education Trust Conference
Coleham Staff joined the 600 teachers, support staff, and governors from across our Trust for a day of inspiration, learning and connection. It is so important that we keep growing as professionals because if we invest in ourselves , we ultimately invest in a better education for our children.
From Major Scotty Mill’s powerful keynote on the Royal Marines Commando values to inspire a team, to Simon Johnson’s insights on Generative AI in education, and 20 CPD workshops.
Closing the conference was the Trust People Award ceremony, celebrating the remarkable contributions of staff. Congratulations to all our staff who were nominated: Miss Harris, Miss Othen, Miss Heap, Miss Lewis, Miss Armstrong, Mrs Caldwell, Mrs Cotton and Our Year 6 Teachers & TA team: Mrs Morgan, Miss Featherston, Mrs Lord and Miss Dovey!
Governor Visit
We welcomed Governor Jenny Noel-Storr for a school visit this week.
Jenny met with our Writing Lead, Mrs Stennett, and Reading Consultant, John Murray, to review the development of our writing curriculum which has been focused on ‘reading to write’ and writing with purpose to present, publish and perform to a real audience.
Jenny had lunch with the children and met with a school panel to chat about food choices. They came up with some good ideas and subtle changes as well as some additions they thought everyone would enjoy.