Headteacher Message
Dear Families, 
What a cracker of a week we’ve had at Coleham! Lunchtimes have become the hottest ticket in town thanks to Mr Williams, who is running a one‑man after‑school‑club festival during the actual school day. His chess crew are thinking three moves ahead; the Lego engineers are constructing masterpieces of brickwork and the ukulele club is strumming its way towards musical greatness. We love it!
Down in EYFS, our youngest pupils have started their Bike Ability training with Miss Melville and our brand new balance bikes: Future Tour de France riders? Watch this space!
Sports-wise, our Year 4 Dodgeball team did brilliantly at their first competition, narrowly missing out on the finals, but representing our school so very well!
Amongst all of that, Year 5 have been getting through the books, taking part in Shropshire Bookfest; and we have had the pleasure of some Coleham Alumni from Priory’s Year 9 students helping out with French.
Another brilliant week at Coleham!
And finally – next week sees the inimitable Mrs Caldwell leave us as she returns to her native Essex. Mrs Caldwell has been a key figure in EYFS and KS1 over the past 13 year. Her impact on hundreds of children (and staff!) is immeasurable, and she will be missed by all. Her last day will be next Wednesday, so please do say a ‘good bye’ if you get the chance.
Have a lovely weekend!
Tom Larkham
Headteacher
What’s on next week?
Tuesday-Yr 2 Owls Class Assembly @ 9.15am
Tuesday Evening – After School Animal Experience for Yr 2 & 3
Wednesday -Yr 2 Rabbits Class Assembly @ 9.15am
Friday–Chinese New Year Worksop for EYFS, Yr2 and Yr 4
Friday Night Dinner – selected Year 4 families
Theme Lunch
Animal Family Experience for Year 2 & 3
Coming Soon, a fun after school event!
Learn about snakes and exotic creatures at a live show.
Tickets can be purchased on Arbor School shop costing £5.
If your child is attending, teachers will take them to the hall after school and families should collect at 4.30pm from the front of school.
Reduced tickets of £1 are available for those families eligible for Free School Meal Children.
If your Year 2 or 3 child normally attends After School Club on a Tuesday they will also have access to attend. Parents will not need to purchase a ticket or do anything. Miss Nash will ask the children if they would like to attend and you can pick up either at 4.30pm or from After School at normal collection times.
Online Safety – Social Media, Screen time and AI advice
SOCIAL MEDIA & SMARTPHONES
We have held a couple of parent evenings to discuss smartphones and children this term for parents navigating the world of smartphones and social media use. We recommend delaying access to smartphones for primary-aged children for many reasons around access to damaging online material from explicit material to violence and psychologically damaging content. Below is a link from the Children’s Commissioner called “What I Wish My Parents or Carers Knew” which has been written with children who have grown up using smartphones:
What I Wish My Parents Knew – A Guide For Parents & Carers on Managing Children’s Online Lives
AI USE & DEEPFAKE IMAGES
A worrying trend developing nationally is the use of AI by young people to manipulate or create explicit images of staff, each other, or anyone else. It is important that all families are aware that not only do these images create significant emotional harm to others, but is a serious criminal offence and can result in serious criminal consequences according to The Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Online Safety Act 2023. Please speak to your children about the use of AI if they have access. Again, we recommend that primary-aged children do not have access to these tools without direct supervision.
SCREENTIME ADVICE
Something for us all to think about for ourselves and our children, concerns are growing about the amount of screen time young children are receiving.
Digital devices are part of everyday life for many young people 📱 but how do they really impact wellbeing? The guide below explores how screen use can affect sleep, emotional regulation, physical health, and online experiences, and why concerns about wellbeing are growing.
Please feel free to get in touch if you have any queries or concerns around your children’s use of digital technology, or are not sure what to do for the best.
Coleham Safeguarding Team
Community Quiz-Coming Soon
Book in your table with the School Office.
International Day Coming Soon
Get Ahead with
- Outfit ideas for the day (cultural dress, national sports kits or own clothes in a colour of a flag)
- Save the Date for our after school International Food Market!
- Could you cook a cultural dish for the food market?
WANTED Parent volunteers to talk to a class about a country or culture you know well.
Please speak with your child’s class teacher or email the school office to arrange.
Half Marathon Event Sign Up
The sign up is out for the Shropshire School’s Half Marathon event.
Read all about it HERE
Please pay the entrance fee via Arbor.
Love Spoon Bakery Competition
❤️ WRITE A LOVE LETTER ❤️
The Love Spoon Bakery is doing a community project at the bakery and we’ll be taking part as a House Competition.
The Bakery is collecting love letters – notes about who or what you love.
It can be anything: a person, a pet, a moment, a memory, or something tiny like the way the light hits the fields on a frosty morning.
It can be a single sentence, a full letter, or even a poem.
The letters will be turned into a growing installation in the bakery window for everyone walking past.
Winners will receive a box of cakes on Valentine’s Day and House points.
The deadline for entries is next Friday so we would like to encourage children to create their entry at home! Please submit these to Mr Hughes in Leopards who will choose a House winner before dropping them at the bakery.
School Production Announcement
Rehearsals for this year’s school production have started this week. Our enthusiastic cast are already working hard on their scripts, songs and dances. Mrs Stennett and her team are delighted to have auditioned EIGHTY-TWO children across years five and six and WOW what talent we have discovered.
This year’s production is an original play based on our favourite fairy tales, written by Mrs Stennett, in order to make sure all children have a chance to SHINE! 🌟
Tickets will be on sale later in the year. We can’t wait to share it with you.
Lunchtime LEGO legends 🌟
Mr William is running a fun and creative Lego Club at lunchtime for our Year 2 children. It’s wonderful to see young minds building, sharing ideas, and using their imagination together 🧱✨
Year 6 Dodgeball Competition
We took a group of Year 6 students to represent Coleham at the School Games Dodgeball Tournament. They did brilliantly and, although they very narrowly missed out on progressing from the group stage, their positivity never dropped. The laughs and smiles continued throughout the day, and they were able to play additional friendly matches against other schools.
The event finished with a children vs staff and leaders game — where the children absolutely demolished the staff team! It was amazing to see so many pupils showing honesty, sportsmanship, and genuine enjoyment throughout.
Well done to everyone involved!
Book Fest begins for Year 5!
Year 5 are lucky to be taking part in Shropshire Bookfest Book Award this year!
They have 6 shortlisted books to devour and vote for their favourite!
Look out for these amazing new books coming home – we’ll be sharing our thoughts and opinions in class as we submit our voting cards in the coming weeks.
Presfelde Touring Drama Group
Some Year 5 children involved with the Prestfelde Theatre Company enjoyed a brilliant week performing with pupils from other local schools at their exciting multi-school tour.
With thanks to Prestfelde’s Head of Drama, Mrs. Griffin! and our TA Mrs Lord for supporting the children on their many outings.
After lots of hard work, the multi-school cast of children proudly performed the pieces they had created and rehearsed around the theme of friendship.
What a great opportunity!
Priory pupils teach us French
A pleasure to have some Coleham Alumni return. Mrs Talbot and her Year 9 pupils from Priory School joined us today for some peer French learning with Year 6 and to teach some taster French to our Year 2 pupils. Thank you! Everyone had a great morning!
Year 4 Dodgeball Competition
A group of Year 4 children recently took part in a Dodgeball competition at Mary Webb Secondary School. Well done to all the children for their fantastic effort and determination, always trying their very best. It was lovely to see them working so well together as a team and demonstrating excellent sportsmanship throughout the event.
Although they didn’t make it through to the finals, they truly gave it their best shot and should be very proud of themselves.
Earth Gallery Exhibition
The Townsend Gallery has a new Earth Exhibition from year 5.
Lions and Leopards have been exploring Hans Zimmer’s ‘Earth’ as part of their topic about Space. Hans Zimmer is a film composer and has written numerous soundtracks including: Madagascar, The Lion King, The Pirates of the Caribbean. He also composed the soundtrack to the TV series Planet Earth and The Blue Planet.
‘Earth’ draws upon a similar soundworld to Planet Earth and The Blue Planet. We watched and listened to a performance by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Royal Scottish Junior Chorus. Our pictures show what we imagined was being described in the music: space, stars, day, night, cities, animals, oceans, deserts, and even volcanoes!
Bike Ability has begun!
🚲 Exciting News from EYFS! 🚲
We are excited to announce that the children have been taking part in Bike Ability sessions run by our very own Miss Melville!
Our EYFS Leader, Miss Melville, successfully completed specialist training to deliver Bike Ability sessions for our Reception children. This means our youngest learners are now benefiting from high-quality cycling provision right here at school!
This is the first time our children have had the opportunity to use our brand-new suite of balance bikes, which are available for them to access regularly as part of their learning and play. The children have shown huge enthusiasm, confidence and determination as they begin their cycling journey.
Our vision is to promote independence in our children and cycling play a vital role in early development, helping children to:
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🚴♂️ Develop balance, coordination and core strength
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🧠 Build confidence, resilience and independence
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🤝 Improve listening skills and teamwork
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👀 Enhance spatial awareness and risk assessmen
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❤️ Support physical health and wellbeing
The children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this session and it is something we are looking forward to continuing for the rest of the year.