2025 Spring #8

A Huge Thank You for a Fantastic World Book Day!

A huge thank you and well done to all the children for making such a fantastic effort for World Book Day on Thursday! It was wonderful to celebrate together and see so many different characters from much-loved stories come to life.

A special thank you to all of you for your support in creating such amazing and creative costumes—the effort and imagination that went into them truly made the day extra special.

Our staff also did an amazing job getting creative and fully embracing the spirit of the day. They had great fun sharing their favourite stories and characters with the children, making it a truly memorable experience for everyone.

Thank you again for your support in making World Book Day such a joyful and exciting occasion!

Exciting Playground Activities & Donations Reminder

The children have had a fantastic time enjoying the activities on the playground this week! It has been wonderful to see them engaged, active, and having fun during their break times.

Next week, our theme is Castle Adventures, and we will be incorporating activities linked to this topic to continue making playtime enjoyable and enriching for all.

We would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that we are always grateful for any donations of toys or creative ‘real-world’ items that you may no longer need. Items such as small role-play toys, construction sets, or everyday household objects that can be used for imaginative play are always appreciated and help us provide a variety of experiences for the children.

Thank you for your ongoing support—it truly makes a difference!

Donation – Thank you

We would like to extend a big thank you to a Rory & Ruby-Mae’s mum, Miss Sands, who has kindly donated PE and sports equipment to the school.  It is most appreciated.

Cake Sale

Thank you for the donations for our cake sale this week.

With your support we raised £170.00 which will be used to enhance our outdoor learning area.

Thank You to Friends of Coalbrookdale & Future Volunteering Opportunities

Firstly, we would like to extend a huge thank you to the Friends of Coalbrookdale for their dedication and hard work over the years. Their efforts have contributed so much to our school community, and we are incredibly grateful for the time and commitment they have given to supporting school events and fundraising.

As the group has now officially stepped down, we will be looking towards the future and considering the best way to introduce new parent volunteers into school life. With the next intake of Reception children joining us in September, we anticipate that this will be a natural time to induct new parents who are keen to get involved.

All volunteers in school are required to have a school DBS check. If you are interested in becoming a school volunteer in the future, please contact the school office to express your interest, and we will provide you with the necessary information about the DBS process and next steps.

Online Behaviour

It has been brought to our attention that some children are sending inappropriate comments to their friends while they are playing online games, and this is causing upset for some of our pupils.

In school we deliver online safety lesson, which include how to be kind online. Some classes will be delivering extra lessons to further support children’s understanding of these rules. It may also be useful for you to set some parent controls on the devises your children are playing on, to ensure they are safe and happy while playing online.

Please see the links below for further support to understand online gaming and how to set parent controls.

If you have any further questions, please ask the class teacher.

Use Parental Controls to Keep Your Child Safe | NSPCC

How to Ensure Your Children Stay Safe While Playing Online Games | NSPCC

Online Safety Newsletter – March

Please click on the link below for this month’s Online Safety Newsletter.

Online Safety Newsletter Primary March 2025_PDF_Coalbrookdale

Moments Matter – Attendance Counts

Highest class attendance for week ending 28 February:  Year 5

Most improved class attendance from the previous week:  Year 4

News from the Parish: Family Worship at St Luke’s

This Sunday 9th March, St Luke’s Ironbridge would like to welcome children and their families to a Family Worship service, 11am to 12 noon.

The reading is from Luke 4:1-13, in which we find out about how Jesus endured forty days and nights in the desert and was tempted by the devil, but came through it to then begin his ministry.

Theme: The Temptation of Jesus

(Tools to survive and thrive)

In our activity, we will be making and decorating shields to represent that God will protect us, just as He protected Jesus whilst he was in the desert. This will follow on from our last JAM junior church activity, where we made help cards to show that Jesus is with us.

The activity will be at the red JAM tables at the side of the church.

Children are welcome to either sit at the tables, or sit with their families in pews.

There are also books and toys available for younger children to play with in the church.

We hope to see children and their families there, and to share refreshments after the service has finished.

Songs

1. O God our help in ages past: hymn 494
2. In Christ alone
3. Action Song ( shine from the inside out)
4. The Lord’s Prayer: hymn 544
5. Lead us heavenly Father lead us: hymn 379

News from the parish: All Ages Service at school – Sunday 16th March

We are pleased to give details of an All-Ages Service to be held at the school, from 11am to 12 noon on Sunday 16 March.

We would like to invite children and their families to join people from the local churches, so that we may get to know each other and strengthen friendships together.

There will be juice, biscuits, cake and fruit after the service, which will itself include singing and activities as well as colouring.

The service will be held in the school hall. Entrance is through the wide blue gates and up the right-hand slope to the school. Please walk round to your right to enter via the side door.

The local churches look forward to seeing families there.

Community Event – William Brookes School

William Brookes are hosting a family Easter event for prospective Year 5 and 6 parents and students. This event presents an excellent opportunity for families to engage in enjoyable activities on the picturesque grounds of William Brookes School.

Community News – Advice from the Health Protection Hub

Advice for parents/carers on visits to settings involving contact with animals such as lambing events, petting zoos etc.

Visitor attractions involving contact with animals are understandably popular with parents and children but do carry a risk from infectious diseases.

All animals naturally carry a range of micro-organisms, some of which can be transmitted to humans, where they may cause ill health.

Some of these, such as E. coli O157 or Cryptosporidium (Crypto), present a serious health hazard and have the potential to cause serious illness which may be particularly severe in young children.

We see many cases of Crypto each year in the Health Protection Hub, particularly among children, and it’s a miserable experience for them and their parents.

Following these practical steps will help your child stay safe and healthy:

• Children should wash their hands in the following four situations: after contacting animals, before eating, before and after using play equipment, and when leaving site. It will help to explain why they must wash their hands thoroughly in these situations and to show them what proper handwashing looks like. Bear in mind that alcohol gel is not a suitable substitute for proper hand washing with soap and running water – it doesn’t work against Crypto.
• Do not suck fingers or put hands, pens, pencils or crayons etc. in mouths.
• Check that cuts, grazes etc. on children’s hands are covered with a waterproof dressing.
• Do not kiss animals.
• Eat only food that you have brought with you or food for human consumption that you have bought on the premises and eat only in designated areas.
• Never eat food that has fallen to the ground.
• Never taste animal foods.
• Children should not eat, drink or chew anything (including sweets) outside the areas designated for eating at the visitor attraction.
• Where possible, clean or clean and change footwear before leaving. The site should have facilities to clean footwear and pushchair/pram wheels as you leave the site. Wash hands after cleaning/changing footwear.
• Do not use or pick up tools (e.g. spades and forks) or touch other work equipment unless permitted to do so by site staff.
• Do not climb on to walls, fences, gates or animal pens etc. Some animals put their feet on the fences of their pens and contaminate them with faecal matter.
• Listen carefully and follow the instructions and information given by the site staff.
• Do not wander off into unsupervised or prohibited areas e.g. manure heaps.
• Allow plenty of time for hand washing before eating or leaving the site so that the children do not have to rush.
• If a member of your group shows signs of illness (e.g. sickness or diarrhoea) after a visit, visit the doctor and explain that they have had recent contact with animals. Please also contact the attraction you visited and inform them of the illness