21st July 2023

Have a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

I hope you enjoy the final blog of the year. Wishing you all a wonderful summer break.

School finishes at 1.30pm / 1.45pm on Monday.

Mrs Goldsmith

14th July 2023

Wishing you a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Summer Extravaganza this weekend.

Mrs Goldsmith

7th July 2023

Wishing you a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith

30th June 2023

Wishing you a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith

23rd June 2023

Wishing you a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith

16th June 2023

Wishing you a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith

9th June 2023

Congratulations to Scarlett Schiffman and Seth Drew who are the winners in our competition to design a new Celebration Tea certificate! All our other entries will receive house points next week.

Wishing you a lovely hot weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith

19th May 2023

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and a lovely weekend. שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

12th May 2023

We hope you have a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom. 

A special MAZAL TOV to Metoddi, our security guard and his wife on the birth of their baby boy Lucas. 

5th May 2023

I hope you have a lovely bank holiday weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

21st March 2023

I hope you have a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

31st March 2023

Wishing you all a restful break. We look forward to welcoming the pupils back on Monday 17th April.

24th March 2023

17th March 2023

I am excited to welcome you to our new website! We hope you find the browsing experience user friendly. We have introduced a new calendar feature which will be up and running for the summer term. I welcome any feedback on your experience of using the site.

As our site has been down this week, I introduce the new 'Clore Columns' - a weekly newsletter with highlights and reminders of events coming up. This will be a regular feature on the blog with contributions from our Heads and Deputies.    

10th March 2023

Purim

The highlight of the week this week has to be Purim. Purim at Clore, at any school, is known for being loud and positively chaotic so we really considered those who may have found the day overwhelming by providing plenty of opportunities for breaks and quiet spaces. All the children engaged so well in the activities, and we are really proud of how all our pupils behaved.

We began the day with an assembly where each class paraded their outfits down our catwalk. All the classes had fantastic costume however a particular mention must go to Year 5 for being Best Dressed. They each received house points for their efforts (well done parents too!!)

The children decorated masks and bags, gave mishloach manot (food gifts) to each other and watched the staff Purim Pantomime. Thank you to all the staff who got involved in this with particular mentions going to Mrs Levenson for portraying a scary Haman and to Rabbi Neil for being a fantastic contestant in the beauty pageant.

Football

Our football team was in action again this week with a 1-0 defeat against Monkesmead. However, they haven't let this get them down and are looking forward to their next fixture.

Norwood

On Monday, with support from Norwood, we ran a parent and staff workshop on the topic of SEN. We were visited by an Educational Psychologist (EP) and an Occupational Therapist (OT) who helped us gain a greater understanding into a variety of behaviours to help us better support your children. From speaking to parents, they found the workshop helpful, and we look forward to running additional workshops in the future.

Visiting Speaker

Year 6 are learning about how the World Wars have impacted our local community.  We would be grateful if anyone would like to (or if you know of someone) who could come and speak to Year 6.  Alternatively, if anyone knows of any local history about World War One or Two, we would be happy to listen and learn information about the local area! 

Kabbalat Shabbat & Coffee Morning

Thank you to our visiting Rabbi this week during Kabbalat Shabbat, Rabbi Debbie Young Somers, who shared her thoughts for Shabbat with the children.

We had a very productive discussion at the Clore Coffee Morning this week around communication. Myself and Mrs Lax found it useful to hear from parents and the concerns they have around communication and it gave us some food for thought going forward. A flyer will be sent out towards the end of term for the next date.

Congratulations

Well done to the large group of Reception AND Year 1 children who came to visit me this week. Reception bought me a delicious jam Hamantashen they had baked themselves whilst Year 1 had written their own letters. What superstar writers! Congratulations to those who joined me at celebration tea: Blake (R), Freddie (Y1), Siena (Y2), Gabriella (Y3), Jemma (Y4), Mia (Y5) and Emily (Y6).

Have a lovely weekend and Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith

3rd March 2023

We welcomed the Festival of Ivrit back to school this week to deliver an interactive show to Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. The children absolutely loved it. The show, The Fisherman and the Goldfish, taught the children about being happy with what they have. The show was delivered in English and Hebrew and each class was given a shell to remind them of the moral of the story.  

Mrs Berger delivered a hands-on assembly to the children to help them understand about fair trade. She explained to them that the farmers who are growing and harvesting the products get an unfair price for their goods. The children played an interactive shopping game – 2 children were given two different sized baskets and runners had to bring them food to pack it. The rest of the children provided the count down. It was clear that the child with the bigger basket had won. The children recognised the unfairness of the game and how one child had started with a disadvantage. This is what it is like for poorer people in the world who cannot afford to buy the food they need, and in those poorer countries, farmers receive an unfair price for their goods and their hard work. But when they are sold through a fair trade organisation, they can receive a fair price and can provide better for their families.  

To mark the occasion of World Book Day, 'Perform' came in and delivered explorer drama workshops to reinforce childrens' experiences with literature. These included: The Gingerbread Man, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George's Marvellous Medicine and Matilda.

Mrs Colmans also came to speak in assembly on World Book Day about her job as a Writer. She began by reading a children's story she had written that was about how she became a journalist. The children began to work out towards the end of the story that the story was about her! They were fascinated by some of the adventures she had been on as part of her job such as climbing a volcano, toasting marshmallows in the lava and swimming with sharks.  

This week we met our new therapy dog, Nola the black Labrador and her owner Fiona. They visited each class to say hello so that the children had an opportunity to meet them. The aim of Nola is to take the pressure off that a child may associate with reading to an adult. It is also an opportunity for children who just want to spend a little bit of time just enjoying the therapeutic impact of being with a dog, without reading.  

Next week is PURIM. On Tuesday 7^th March, we have a jam-packed timetable of events running throughout the course of the morning. Your child is invited to come to school in fancy dress (no football kits!). If your child does not want to dress up, that is also fine. A reminder, please ensure your child brings in 3 ready to eat items of food or drink for Mishloach Manot. There will also be a quiet space available for children during the louder periods of the day. We finish at 1.30pm / 1.45pm on this day.  

Congratulations to Zachary (R), Ella (Y1), Ava (Y2),  Ella (Y3), Leo B (Y4) Cecelia (Y5) and Ollie (Y6) who joined me for celebration tea today and enjoyed a delicious birthday cake made by Mrs Garfen - thank you!

Have a lovely weekend and a Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם‎ 

Mrs Goldsmith

24^th February 2023 

Welcome back to a new half term. The children have settled back into their working routines well and there has been a lovely buzz around the school.

For Internet Safety Day 2023, the children looked specifically at how the online world is vastly different to the real world. KS2 children had an exciting internet safety day quiz to start their sessions before discussing how it is hard to know whether people's online behaviour is a true reflection of themselves. KS1 children looked at how websites show age ratings and considered how they could stay safe when surfing the web. An exciting SMART Poster competition was also announced by the STEM monitors during assembly where the winners from each class will have their poster displayed around the school. If you would like to discuss online safety with your children at home, CEOP Education https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ as well as NSPCC https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/talking-child-online-safety/ have some useful resources to support discussions.  

The children have taken part in a variety of events this week. Reception – Year 3 were visited by Mrs Morris who kindly brought in her 2 rabbits to develop the children’s understanding of caring for animals. Thank you for giving up your time. Year 1 celebrated pancake day with a pancake race during daily exercise! Year 5 and Year 6 took part in the Festival of Spoken Ivrit – an interactive play entitled ‘Made In Israel’ which was delivered to the children partly in Hebrew. Year 6 had a World War 2 day to kick-start their new History unit. They took part in an online workshop with the RAF Museum looking at life in the Blitz, the role of ARP Wardens and specialist equipment used during this time.  In the afternoon, they learnt about VE Day and had a VE Day picnic.  

Well done to Freddie, Harper, Gabriel, Freddie and Frankie from Year 1 who were super scientists this week. Thank you to Ethan, Thomas and Zack for sharing their work from this week too. 

World Thinking Day 

In recognition of World Thinking Day, our Guides and Girl Scouts came to school in their uniforms. It is a day for them to think of each other and celebrate their sisters all around the world. We discussed some of the badges the girls had been awarded and what they had to do to get them.    

World Book Day - 2nd March

On Thursday 2^nd March to celebrate World Book Day, our fabulous chef Holly will be cooking a Harry Potter themed lunch. Please book on using School Grid. The flyer below details further information. On that day, ‘Perform’ will be visiting us to provide the children with interactive story telling workshops throughout the day.  

Clore Coffee Morning – 10th March 

Thank you to those of you who have already signed up. There are limited spaces remaining for my next coffee morning. The smart survey will close at the end of the day today. Please do sign up if you wish to come along. 

Security

I would like to draw your attention to the security email that was sent this week. It is really important that we have the full support of our parent body in ensuring the safety of our pupils around the school site. This includes listening to the parent volunteers and the guidance they are giving. If you are able to support with drive thru or security, please contact the school office. 

Football  

On Wednesday, the Year 5 and 6 boys played Parkside primary in a football league match. The match got off to a tough start falling behind by 2 goals, however with some resilience and determination the boys managed to pull it back to end the game in a 3-3 draw. Thanks to goals from Sam and Louis B and some magical saves from Rupert to keep us in contention. A big well done to all the boys for good teamwork as they look forward to their next fixture. 

Haggadahs 

In preparation for Passover, we would like to print Haggadot (order of the passover seder booklets) for the children and their adults to use during our Sederim. The approximate cost is £200. We are kindly looking for sponsorship. Please contact the school office if you would like to sponsor or part sponsor these.  

PTA
Thank you everyone who sent in their sweet tubes. The PTA have collected them up from each class and are now busy counting up! If you forgot to send your tube in, there is still time on Monday.

Celebration Tea

Congratulations to Mia (R), Nathan (Y1), Ruby (Y2), Skyla (Y3), Jakey (Y4), Natasha (Y5) and Judah (Y6) who came to celebration tea with me today and enjoyed delicious crispies baked by Mrs Brahams. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend and a shabbat shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith 

10th February 2023

We began our week with an assembly from Mrs Jacobs along with some Y6 helpers about Tu Bishvat. Tu Bishvat is the new year for trees and a time where we focus on our environment and the natural world around us. Years 1-3 and Years 4-6 each took part in a fruit assembly on the astro-field where they discussed the importance of looking after our school environment, different types of fruits and trees and what we can do to help our environment. They had the opportunity to eat the fruit they had brought in too.

I have been visited by so many children this week to show me a wide range of work across the curriculum. Abigail, Jack and Jack from year 5 came to share their work on multiplying fractions. Freddie, Freddie and Corey from Year 1 shared their non-chronological reports. A group of children from Year 2, including Flora and Mia came to tell me what fantastic behaviour they had shown in their classroom this week and Rupey from Year 6 shared his writing with a focus on creating tension. I also had a sock puppet, Tilly, in my office which was created by Leah in Year 3 during her Art lesson. Reception very kindly brought me some pizza to try that they had baked themselves. Jakey from Year 4 ended off my week with a performance as the witch from Rupunzel. It was really spooky! Well done to all the children this week.

Please note the below message from the PTA regarding the sweet tubes coming home for half term. 

I want to take this opportunity to thank the parents, grandparents, carers, aunts, uncles and any other adults who were able to support at the book fair. I am extremely pleased to announce you raised over £600 for us to spend on books and resources for our children. This is an incredible amount, and the second highest since we started arranging book fairs so thank you very much! We are able to allocate each class, along with our SEN and Pastoral team, an amount of money to spend on resources for their class. The remainder of the money will be spent on more non fiction texts and graphic novels for the library. Your money last year helped to fund the collection of books below.

This week for Childrens Mental Health week, the children took part in a workshop - Year 1 and Year 2 on the subject of role models and Year 3 - 6 on resilience. Here is some pupil voice from this week:

Y1 - If you feel sad, exercise makes you feel happy. I like to do cartwheels.

Y2 - We talked about our feelings and what makes us happy. We drew our favourite superhero character.

Y3 - We shared calming down techniques . Breathing, I'll try and use. Don't be annoyed you didn't win - be pleased they did!

Y4 - I've learnt some breathing exercises. I also learnt what to say when you're feeling negative. If you can't do a maths problem say, keep on trying. 

Y5 - Even if something is not really going your way, find a way to make it not really bother you.

Y6 - persevere more and try harder. Don't give up after the first try, keep on trying. 

A huge congratulations to Year 2 who delivered a FANTASTIC and highly energetic class assembly on Wednesday. They covered all aspects of their learning this year so far, in an energetic and engaging way for their parents. Thank you to the Year 2 teaching team for all your hard work in preparing the children for this. 

Finally, congratulations to Sofia (R), Bailey (y1), Flora (y2), Poppy (y3), Leo H (y4), Gracie (y5) and Chloe (y6) who attended celebration tea today. I hope you enjoyed the 'Chesed חֶסֶד' - loving kindness themed cupcakes.

I hope you all have an enjoyable half term and Shabbat Shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם
Mrs Goldsmith

Tu B'Shvat

Next Monday is Tu B'Shvat. In preparation for this, Reception have created trees using hand painting. Please check your emails for further information of the fruit your child has been asked to bring in. 

Animal Visit

In their final animal visit, Year 1 were lucky to have Kiwi the Tortoise and Basil the Rabbit come to visit. The children had the opportunity to feed and pet the animals. They also went to visit Reception during their time here. 

Congratulations

Well done to all the children who came to show me their work this week. Abigail (Y5) shared her work about Jupiter, Jamie (Y5) shared his about Pluto. I was also visited by Cecelia (Y5) who came to show me some very well-presented statistical information work. Thank you to Bella (Y2) and Amelia (Y2) who retold the story of Joseph and his dream coat to me using their storyboards. Charlie (Y5) completed a fantastic homework about The Anglo Saxons. 

PTA

After an incredible event and a fantastic firework show, I am pleased to let you know that the PTA raised a whopping £4000 for our wonderful school. Thank you to Mrs Graham, Ms Allan, Mrs Raman and all the volunteers for all their hard work.

Finally, a big well done to the children below who attended celebration tea this week:

Reece (R), Kora (1), Tilly (2), Zoe (3), Jake (4), Jamie (5) and Sam (6)

Wishing you all a shabbat shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith

Firstly, a huge Mazal Tov to Year 1 this week on a fantastic Chaggigat HaSiddur performance. The children made their parents a flower. As their parents presented them with their siddur, the parents received the flower in return. Rabbi Neil then held up a tallit (prayer shawl) with some help from the parents and delivered a prayer for the Children. The children were very excited about their newly decorated siddurim and we look forward to seeing them in use throughout the school week. 

Year 1 were also visit by another dog this week (I am told this is the last one!) linked to their learning about Mammals. Thank you to Mrs Weston who very kindly brought in Ely for the children to pet and ask questions about.

Last weekend, I along with Mrs Berger, Mr Thompson, Rabbi Neil, Mrs Drew, Yotam and Yuval spent shabbat with Year 5 at the shabbaton. We all had such a fantastic time. The children were so well behaved, an absolute credit to the school. They took part in range of activities on Friday to prepare for our own Kabbalat Shabbat service as well as spending much time outdoors. Thank you to our Shinshin Yotam and our visiting Shinshin Yuval who both delivered a thoughtful session for the children about how they celebrate Shabbat in Israel and what makes a good shabbat. Thank you to Rabbi Neil for his time too. He spoke to the children about the 10 commandments and we had a very enthusiastic sing along session prior to shabbat. Miss Grant and Mrs Cohen came to visit for the evening, and they spent time with the children playing games. 

We are very excited about the new playground lines and consequently new game opportunities being created in the playground. It is lovely to see the children (and staff!) during daily exercise and at breaktime having fun. 

We had a fantastic music assembly on Monday where children who attend in school music lessons had the opportunity to perform. We had children playing the piano, the guitar, the recorder and the clarinet. 

Well done to all the fantastic writers, scientists, mathematicians, geographers that came to see myself or SLT this week with their superb work. We really enjoy chatting with the children about their work and discussing what they are most proud of. 

Next week is STORYTELLING WEEK. Our focus is on Science through stories. Our BOOK FAIR will also be open every afternoon Monday through Thursday 3.00-3.30 and Friday 1.30-2.00. Please pop along and support the school by buying a book for your child. Money raised enables us to be able to buy much needed resources for the children. 

Well done to all the children who attended celebration tea this week. Caitlin(R), Leia (1), Jasper (2), Rafael (3), Ava (4), Ethan (5) and Sloane (6). Thank you to Mrs Jacobs for supplying delicious treats.

Finally, a huge Mazal Tov to the Rathbone family on the birth of little Jackson Rathbone!

Have a lovely weekend and a shabbat shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

‎

Mrs Goldsmith

This week's blog is a little earlier in the week than usual as I am fortunate to be spending Friday and Shabbat with the Year 5 children at their Shabbaton. I look forward to sharing moments from this with you next week. 

Last year, Mrs Bean decided to jump out of a plane to raise money for our wonderful school. I am delighted to tell you that this coming Monday, we are having new lines drawn in the playground to provide the children with a range of activities for breaktime. We also have some new playground equipment arriving in the next few weeks. The School Council, together with Mrs Bean, have decided where each of the activity lines will be drawn in the playground to best utilise the space. Have a look out for them during drive thru and pick up next week.

Year 4 have been looking at the digestive system this week and carried out a poo experiment! They created the digestive system out of different materials, showing how food passes through the oesophagus and is excreted at the end of the system. These were some of my favourite pictures:

Year 1 had a special visit from Tilly on Tuesday who came in for lots of cuddles to reinforce the children's learning on mammals. They had the opportunity to ask questions and find out about Tilly's story. Thank you to Mr and Mrs Burnham Miller for bringing her in. 

Well done to both the boys who came to see me this week for their fantastic maths work around mass.

We look forward to seeing as many Clore families and their relatives as possible at the Fireworks Night on Sunday. Thursday was own clothes day for the children as a thank you. For those who were able to bring in a bottle or box for the tombola, thank you too on behalf of the PTA. 

Finally, a huge congratulations to those children attending Celebration Tea this week with Mrs Lax.

Well done to:
Luca (Reception)

Sloane (Year 1)

Annabelle (Year 2)

Mia R (Year 3)

Raphael (Year 4)

Kara (Year 6)

Year 5 weren't accidentally missed out, they're on the Shabbaton! 

I hope you have a lovely weekend and a shabbat shalom שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

Mrs Goldsmith

Another food filled week here at Clore Shalom. The children in Years 4-6 have been creating culinary delights, filling the school with smells of fresh cookies, garlic and onion (not in the same recipe!).

Year 4 sampled different biscuits before creating their own. The children combined different flavours to create tasty alternatives. I hope you too got to enjoy what was taken home to taste. 

On joining Year 6 during their D&T activity in the Studio, I was met with an overpowering smell of garlic - the children in Year 6 had created 3 course meals featuring red pepper, tofu and pineapples.  The originality of all the children's dish designs and combination of flavours was really quite extraordinary.

Thank you to Reception, who brought me a delicious bean soup they had made linked to their learning on Jack and The Beanstalk. Needless to say, there has been lots of eating for us all in school this week.   

I have also had many visitors this week. Reception came to show me what they wished for if they had magic beans; spiderman and a tent. Year 5 completed some work on improper and mixed fractions. I really enjoy seeing what children have achieved over the week. 

Year 1 had a special visitor of their own this week. Thank you to Mrs Austin who brought her dog in, to link to their learning about mammals. 

Congratulations to our house point winners from last half term. They all did extremely well to collect so many house points. Here they are with their certificates.

We are very excited as a school to be taking part in PAJES Israel 75 project to celebrate Israel turning 75.  This is an international educational programme culminating in celebrations and exhibitions in the UK and in Israel. It gives our children the opportunity to explore, connect and reflect on the cultural, artistic and historical narratives of Israel via a selection of objects from a range of Israeli museums. All class teachers have chosen artefacts from an Israeli museum and the children will spend time over the next few weeks exploring the object and formulating an artistic response of their choosing to the object. All the children's work will be sent to an exhibition selection committee who will decide on exhibits for JW3 in London and Israeli international shows. All work will be exhibited on their online gallery. 

We look forward to seeing as many families as possible at our firework event on Sunday 22^nd January. For those who have not attended before, it is a fun filled family afternoon out with lots to keep little ones entertained. Please see flyer below for more information.

I hope you all have a great weekend a Shabbat Shalom שבת שלום

Mrs Goldsmith

Welcome back to a new term and a new year!

Although a cold and rainy start, it hasn't stopped us from having a jam packed first week back. It has been really enjoyable for me to walk around the school and see all the varied learning opportunities and the smells of all the different fruits and vegetables coming from your children's classes as we launched into D&T week for Years 1-3.

The children in Year 1 were tasting and discussing different fruits and vegetables, choosing which ones to make their own smoothies with. In Year 2, I walked into a cheese filled room where the children had the opportunity to create different flavour profiles using cheese and vegetables. Some very interesting (and smelly!) combinations were made. They then looked at the different amounts of sugars within each. Year 3, discussed where different fruit and vegetables come from and what is grown locally in the UK, seasonally. They then went on to make their own fruit kebabs. Photos of all these delicious creations can be found on the class blogs - please make sure to read them regularly. Some highlights are below.

We are pleased to see the return of Miss Grant this week following her operation. The children were very excited to have her back in the classroom. Details for parents evening in Year 4 will be sent out in due course. 

I also had the pleasure of attending my very first Teddy Bears Picnic in Reception linked to their learning on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Although I did not have my own bear, I was very kindly lent one by Mrs Spencer. 

What to look forward to - January:

At the end of January, we are holding our annual book fair during storytelling week - dates can be found on the key dates for this term. More details will be sent by Mrs Athersych in due course, but for now please find below the book fair flyer with some of the available titles for sale. Last year, the fair raised over £300 for us to spend on new books for the library. This year, we are hoping to expand our library even further with some new titles from up-and-coming authors. If you are available to come and help run the fair at the end of school one afternoon, please contact Mrs Athersych through the school office. All volunteers welcome!

Thank you to the girls from Year 4 who came to visit me to show me their accurate play-doh creations of the digestive system. Well done to all the children for creating such wonderful models! Thank you also to Year 5 for bringing me their Sikh creations linked to RE Day today.

Finally, well done to Jackson L-A (R), Amelie (1), Sienna L (2), Jessica (3), Ruby (4), Nate (5) and Louis B (6) on attending celebration tea this week and thank you to Mrs Berger for the delicious cupcakes!

Have a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom שבת שלום

Mrs Goldsmith

16^th December 

What a very chilly week it has been this week! We started the week with a snow day as we couldn't make it up the driveway to school! I hope that the closure didn't cause too much of an inconvenience. Thank you to the parents who came to school in the afternoon to clear paths so it was safe for us to return to school on Tuesday. 

This week we invited parents in to see the Year 6 assembly, the pupils shared some of their learning and I especially enjoyed hearing the results of their music lessons!

This week our Pikuach report was published. We are extremely pleased that the inspectors recognised how special and unique our school is. 

Congratulations to the following children who joined me for tea today:

Reception - Chloe

1 - Sofia

2 - Sophie

3 - Isabella

4 - Taylor

5 - Max

6 - Maya

As I write at this time of year my thoughts turn to people that are struggling at the moment. I am having an increased number of conversations with families about the financial challenges they are having and as a school we try to think about different ways we can offer support and advice. We're a community at Clore and connected to the wider Jewish community. If you are in need of help or would like to offer help (perhaps with food or warm clothes) please be in touch with myself, Mrs Goldsmith or Rabbi Neil. We will uphold the principles of tzedakah (charity) by keeping donor and recipient details anonymous.

And finally, it is now time to pass on my blog writing to Mrs Goldsmith for next term. I hope you have enjoyed reading my ramblings each week!

Please don't forget to join us for our 'Celebration of Faiths' concert next week. 

I wish you Chanukah Sameach. May the lights of the candles give us all hope for our future...

Have a lovely holiday (we break up next Thursday at 1.30pm and return to school Tuesday 3rd January 2023) and Shabbat Shalom.

Mrs Cohen

9th December

As the weather gets colder and the sound of our children practising for the 'Celebration of Faith' concert, it is clear to see that the festive period is upon us. We enjoyed our Kabbalat Shabbat this morning, singing Chanukah songs. Next week is the Parent Kabbalat Shabbat week of 2022!

This week the police visited Year 1 as part of their learning about people who help us. 

This week I was invited to receive a heritage grant from Jewish Child's Day charity. We were selected out of over a hundred organisations to benefit from a £50,000 grant. We are going to be using the money to develop a nurture and well being provision in our outdoor area, by the pond.

This week Henry and Raphael were awarded for excellence in their work! Well done both!

Year 2 went to Mill Green museum this week to support them in their learning about 'The Great Fire of London'. Everyone had a great time and trips like this really bring learning to life. 

Well done to everyone who made it to this weeks tea party:

Rec-Reece, Year 1-Corey, Year 2-Ayden, Year 3-Lexie, Year 4- Lily, Year 5- Raphael S, Year 6 Sonny. 

Good Luck to our England footballers at the weekend! 

Shabbat Shalom, Mrs Cohen

2nd December 2022

Another busy week at Clore Shalom.. Reception have been making tea parties on the moon, making their own sandwiches, flags and light jars. Year 5 have made truss bridges out of spaghetti, to look at forces and everyone else has been equally as busy!

It has been lovely having parents here for consultation evening, I hope you found the meetings useful and enjoyed looking at your children’s work. Any further communication you need from the school, please don’t hesitate to contact us via the office but please be reminded there is a 48 hour timeframe for staff to respond to you.

We are getting excited about our Celebration of Faith concert and is such a delight to hear the children practising the songs. We are looking forward to welcoming visitors on the 20^th and 21^st December to enjoy the performances.

Thank you to all those families that filled a shoe box for the rotary appeal. There were so many the delivery driver had to make two journeys!

We were very excited when we received a card from King Charles, this week. It read: "It was so very kind of you to send me such a wonderfully generous message following the death of my beloved mother. Your most thoughtful words are enormously comforting, and I cannot tell you how deeply they are appreciated at this time of immense sorrow." 

This week we have changed all of our corridor displays to reflect the progression of skills taught in our Science units. the children are so proud to talk about their learning in this way and there is always a great buzz around when the displays are changed.  

Welcome to Pippa Oliveri, who starts at Clore Shalom as a Teaching Assistant, we hope you will be very happy here!

Congratulations to the following children who joined me at tea party this morning:

R - Albie 

1 - Sasha 

2 - Bella 

3- Jesse

4 - Oliver 

5 - Jamie 

6 - Louis 

Here’s hoping that we get a great outcome in the football on Sunday! Come on England!

25th November 2022

The highlight of this week was our visit from Courtney Tulloch who is a double commonwealth games champion on the rings and vault. We loved having him at Clore! The afternoon consisted of exercise workshops for all of our pupils from Year 1-6 and then we had a special assembly. During the assembly Courtney shared with us all his determination to succeed and even when he made mistakes in his events or didn’t get through to be in the Olympic squad the first time, he persevered and worked hard and kept working hard until he was successful. He finished the assembly by showing us some of his gymnastics! A big thank you to Courtney for taking time to visit us. Our children have raised an incredible £1158.48 for our school and for ‘Sports For Champions UK’. A massive thank you must go to Mr Manning for arranging such a wonderful experience for all of us. 

Congratulations to the following children who joined Mrs Goldsmith for tea this morning:

Reception Toby

Y1 Micah

Y2 Thursday

Y3 Samuel  

Y4 Adam 

Y5 Charlie 

Y6 Katie

Sam, Louis L, Scarlett, Sophia, Eli and Zack all went with Miss Winwood and Mrs Drew to the Arsenal training ground to participate in their Year 6 learning and football programme. The children said "We played three matches with other schools and although we didn't win our games we had alot of fun!"

Here's hoping that England play well in their game tonight and we all enjoy watching them!

Shabbat Shalom, 

Mrs Cohen

18th November 2022

On Monday and Tuesday we had inspectors here from Pikuach (Jewish Inspection) carrying out a section 48 inspection (which all faith schools have to have). I was so proud of everyone in school especially our JS and Ivrit teachers and our year 6 Jewish life and learning leaders. We all, as ever, pulled together as a community to share our wonderful Jewish Life and learning. Thank you to those families who completed the survey and spent time talking to inspectors in the playground. The inspectors recognised our uniqueness and could really see how well embedded our school value of Chesed (loving kindness) was evident in all we do.

Coincidentally we were able to demonstrate our Chesed through anti-bullying week this week. We kicked off the week with a special assembly where Mrs Lax set us lots of tasks to do such doing secret mitzvot (good deeds), watching out for each other and just generally being a good friends to all. Pupils also did activities in their class all week .

This is an explanation of our Anti-Bullying week from Kyle:

"This week was anti bullying week, we read an inspiring book called one. In our houses, we made animations about the book on purple mash. we made the animations by making a character out of plasticine and taking pictures of every little movement of the character moving. there was also animation for the bully, who was bullying the character. i enjoyed the whole week and all the activities."

Well done to those children that joined me for tea this morning!

Rec: Zachary

1: Sadie 

2: Max 

3: Johnny 

4: Abby 

5: Oren 

6: Rupert

Today we enjoyed our Kabbalat Shabbat assembly, it was lovely to have so many parents with us.

Next week we have our Olympic athlete, Courtney Tulloch coming in, which we are all so excited about!

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and a lovely weekend.

Mrs Cohen

11^th November 2022

The week, as ever, has flown by. We really enjoyed welcoming in prospective parents on Tuesday night and was I was moved when Mrs Collins (Ruby and Nathan's Mum) shared some of the reasons why her family selected Clore Shalom. Thank you also to Mr Konopinski (Mia and Zoe), who as always shared his passion and enthusiasm for our school.  I was especially proud of our Head and Deputy pupils, Louis, Kara, Ava and Callum who spoke so well about why Clore Shalom is special. There was such a buzz in the hall and it is always moments like these when I am especially proud to be the Headteacher of our school.

On Wednesday our year 5 and year 6 girls represented our school in a Maccabi Netball tournament, they thoroughly enjoyed participating and played really well. Well done all!

Today we had 2 minutes silence to mark Armistice Day and to think about the soldiers that have fought for us in the world wars. I look forward to being at Shenley Memorial on Sunday as part of the Shenley Remembrance Day ceremony and I hope many families from school will join me. 

We are looking forward to our Chanukah fireworks night on Sunday 11th November. Please get in touch with the PTA if you would like to sponsor the event pta@cloreshalom.herts.sch.uk. We really rely on sponsorship of these events so we all our profit goes directly to support the school.  

Please be reminded that we are celebrating Mitzvah Day in school next Wednesday 16th November in school by taking part in Camp Simcha Toy Drive for children spending the holiday season in hospital. Also we are hoping to fill rotary boxes for those in need in European countries that may not be able to have presents.  

As we come closer to the Olympic gymnast, Courtney Tulloch visiting Clore Shalom on the 23rd of November we need to collect in the sponsorship forms and money. Please can your child bring in the sponsorship form and collected money by Wednesday 16^th November and give it to their class teacher.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/cloreshalom

Well done to those that came to my tea party this morning:

Rec: Jake 

Year 1: Joel 

Year 2: Lyla

Year 3: Samuel

Year 4: Amy 

Year 5: Dylan

Year 6: Anna 

Next week we welcome two inspectors from Pikuach to see the wonderful Jewish life and learning in our school. If you haven’t completed the questionnaire please do so. We are really looking forward to sharing our wonderful school with the inspectors. 

Wishing you all a restful weekend. 

Mrs Cohen

4^th November 2022

I hope everyone had a good half term break.

We have started the second half of the Autumn term as busy as ever. This week Year 3 had a stone age workshop. It was wonderful to see them all dressed in their leopard print. They learnt about how stone age people lived, what they ate and how they hunted for food. It was an amazing day, and all our pupils (and staff!) took much from the day.

Yesterday Year 6 had an Ancient Greece Day with creative drama and performance being the focus of the day. Everyone really enjoyed the day.

Year 1 have had some drama this week. They made some amazing gingerbread people and they came in from play and they had all disappeared!! Mrs Jacobs suggested that the children design some posters describing their gingerbread people, so that they could all be found. Thankfully the fox did not eat them and they were all delivered back the children for them to eat! 

Today we held our first parent's coffee morning of the year. Mrs Goldsmith and I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk to parents in this informal way.

Please join me at Shenley war memorial for Remembrance Sunday 13^th November at 11am. Some of our children will be performing a poem and we will be laying a wreath, as we do every year.

Details regarding parents evening have been sent out, please book a time with your child's teacher. Myself, Mrs Goldsmith, Mrs Lax and Mrs Garfen will be available if you need to talk to us too.

We are very excited that we will be welcoming Courtney Tulloch to our school on the 23^rd of November. He is a Team GB Gymnast and double commonwealth games gold medallist. The children will be participating in a sponsored exercise circuit as well as meeting Courtney. Please find the sponsor form and we will be raising money for our school.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/cloreshalom

We hope as many families and friends will attend our PTA Chanukah event on Sunday 11^th December. Tickets will be available shortly

Please spread the word if you know anyone who would like to attend our open events.

Well done to all those that came to tea party with Mrs Goldsmith this week:

Rec - Reuben 

1: Felicity

2: Indi 

3: Rose 

4: Jonah

5: Ella 

6: Judah 

Have a lovely weekend all, Shabbat Shalom. 

Mrs Cohen

21st October 2022

Thank you to Mrs Goldsmith for taking over my blog last week. Last week I spent a couple of days away at the annual Hertfordshire Primary Headteachers’ Conference, listening to inspirational speakers from across the country sharing their experiences. The most inspirational was without doubt Baroness Floella Benjamin and her key note speech titled ‘Facing Adversity With a Smile’. Whilst we all go through tough times and challenges throughout our lives it is how we tackle these and overcome them that truly shapes the people that we become, something that we try and instil in our pupils here at Clore. 

We have, again, managed to squeeze our learning in to 3 days this week. Well done to Bailey and Freddie who achieved academic excellence this week with their English work.

I had the pleasure of celebrating with our newly appointed Deputy Head and Head Pupils this week, which was an absolute delight- Well done to Ava and Louis and Kara and Callum.

Look out for details of our Celebration of Faith event- we will be inviting parents to at the end of term. 

We are delighted to welcome prospective families to our open events. Please spread the word if you know anyone that would be interested. 

Well done to everyone who joined me at my tea party this week: 

R: Mila 

1: Jacob 

2: Amelia

3: Seth 

4: Alex 

5: Sophie 

6: Scarlett

We have gained much from celebrating Black History Month through our Music lessons each class was given a style of music and a song to learn (or create). We have enjoyed celebrating the influence of black culture and black musicians by learning about the different music styles they have created.

We hope you enjoy this small excerpt from Year 4. Thank you to Miss Grant for her organisation and support with this. 

Lastly thank you so much to Mr Martin and Mr Salaman for standing as parent governors in the recent election. Congratulations to Mrs Auerbach who gained the most votes and will be taking up her place on our Governing board. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend and half term week.  By the time we return to school on the 31st October we will have another new prime minister!

Mrs Cohen

14th October 2022

Although it has been a short week here at Clore Shalom, we have had a very busy one! To fulfil the mitzvah of celebrating in the Succah, Rabbi Neil has taken each class to visit our school Succah where he has taught the children about the importance and significance of Succot as well as provided them with a snack in order to say the bracha. Those who wanted to, were given the chance to shake the lulav and hold the etrog. A big thank you must go to the Simons family for donating the fruit and vegetables for our Succah and to our school caretaker Paul for building it for us.

We were overwhelmed with the entries for our Succot decorations competition. Thank you to all those families who got involved. It was really tricky for us to choose one from each class. Congratulations to the children below who came and had a treat with me today and received 10 house points. All other entries will receive 5 house points. Please see photos below of some of the creations:

Winners - Zachary (Rec), Freddie (Y1), Tilly (Y2), Issy (Y3), Hanna (Y4), Charlie (Y5), Chloe (Y5) and Kyle (Y6)

To recognise Black History Month, each class is celebrating a genre of music which has been influenced by black culture. Children are learning a song made famous by a black musician whilst also exploring a range of music by black composers and singers. 

In class this week, Year 2 drew the solar system using pastels and blended using different materials. Year 4 joined a Disney theatricals live stream at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane where they learnt part of the song and dance to Fixer Upper with members of the cast. In Year 6, they have been learning about famous scientists and pioneers of modern medicine and the impact that this has, even now.  I have also been fortunate to have lots of visitors to my office this week to share their work with me. Congratulations to all the children below who produced outstanding Art, Science, Maths and Writing.

Myself and Mrs Cohen look forward to seeing those who have registered for the coffee morning on Friday 4^th Nov. If you cannot attend this time, please look out for future dates. 

Congratulations to those who attended celebration tea party today with myself and Mrs Lax in the Succah. We enjoyed delicious Succot themed cupcakes made by my Mum!

This morning in Kabbalat Shabbat Rabbi Neil spoke to us about Simchat Torah and we rolled the Sefer Torah back to the beginning whilst singing our shabbat songs. 

Lastly, a huge congratulations to all the children in Year 6 who received their jobs today. Please click here to see a list of these.

I hope you have a lovely weekend and a restful Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret and we will see the children back in school on Wednesday. 

Mrs Goldsmith 

7th October 2022

This week started very strangely for me, sharing my news with you all has been one of the hardest things I have done over the last 6 years here at Clore Shalom. Thank you for all your support. 

Year 1 went on a nature walk, this week, recording smells, sounds they heard, and objects they could see. They are going to use their findings for their poetry writing.

We have received some amazing decorations for our sukkah. Despite only using natural objects people have been so creative with this! The competition is still on-please send in your entries by Wednesday!

We are looking for a range of games to refresh the ones we currently have in school that can be used in groups to teach resilience and teamwork. If you have any games, in excellent condition with all pieces, that you would be happy to donate to us, please bring them in for the attention of Mrs Woolstone. If you have any outdoor versions e.g. Giant Snakes and Ladders, these would be particularly appreciated. 

This week we have sent out the parent election forms for you to vote electronically. Thank you to Mrs Auerbach, Mr Martin and Mr Salomon for standing and putting yourselves out there. 

We are delighted to welcome prospective families to our school and we are holding some events. If you have a child who is looking for a Reception place for 2023 please get in touch and join our interest list and attend our events. 

Thank you so much to our PTA for the movie night this week.

We had a lovely Kabbalat Shabbat this morning and Rabbi Neil shared his knowledge about the plants that make up the lulav and the etrog, which we use at Sukkot. It was lovely to have so many parents join us this morning. 

Well done to those children that joined me for Celebration tea party: 

R:Camden, Y1 Olivia, Y2 Noah and Sophia, Y3 Isabel, Y4 Cooper, Y5 Chloe, Y6 AJ

We enjoyed delicious Autumn cupcakes baked by Mrs Garfen.

Lastly wishing you Chag Sameach. Next week we will all be having the opportunity to sit in our sukkah and enjoy the festival of Sukkot.

Shabbat Shalom, Mrs Cohen

30th September

This has been a very short week with us being off school for Rosh Hashana, despite this we still have all been very busy. Our School Improvement Partner, Mr Bedford visited us on Wednesday and we shared with him our STEM learning and development areas. It was so lovely to have many of our pupils speak so positively about their learning in this are of the curriculum. 

I have lots of children come and show me their work today and received Excellence Awards, well done to Sofia, Dylan, Toby, Gabriel and Anna, 

This morning in Kabbalat Shabbat Rabbi Neil taught us a song about being Sorry in preparation for Yom Kippur, our day of atonement. I also really enjoyed joining Rabbi Neil for Reception Kabbalat Shabbat this morning too.

Well done to all those that attended tea party today, we enjoyed a delicious cake from Mrs Berger.

Have a great weekend, Shabbat Shalom.

Mrs Cohen

23rd September 2022

As we start a new week following on from an emotional week in our country’s history, we begin to look towards Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is a time for reflection, for setting goals and aspirations for the Jewish year ahead. In year 6, the children have been working on describing their own visions for the future.

Sloane "If it be your will oh g-d, please may everyone be happy and healthy"

Orli "I pray the world will be a peaceful place and there will be no bad behaviour and it is vital that everyone has a roof over their heads and hot food on the table"

Year 6 have also taken on the important roles of Tefillah leaders across the school, supporting children in all classes to say their morning prayers.

In Year 3, the children looked at ‘The Akeida’ (the story of Isaac) and why this is read at Rosh Hashana. This story helps children to think about their behaviours and what God wants of us.

As I have walked around the school this week I have heard fantastic renditions of ‘dip the apple in the honey’ as well as ‘I like to hear the shofar blast’, in preparation  which we shared with parents this morning in our first Kabbalat Shabbat service of the academic year. It was amazing to have such a great turnout this morning and having the community together creates a wonderful atmosphere and end to our week.

We hope the children enjoy their mini honey cakes, lovingly baked by our fantastic staff – thank you!

We wish all of you a healthy, happy and sweet new year – Shana Tova U’metukah. See you on Wednesday. 

Mrs Goldsmith

16th September 2022

As we come to the end of a very poignant week in our country’s history, there is a lot for us all to reflect upon. As you will know we will be closed on Monday as a mark of respect for Queen Elizabeth II, and for everyone to be able to watch her funeral. Whether we are royalists or not, there is so much to admire about a person who devoted over 7 decades of their life to serve others. It has been fascinating seeing the proceedings linked to The Queen’s passing, and I hope that you have taken the time to discuss and share this with your families at home.

“Commitment means staying loyal to what you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it has left you.”

We were honoured to receive 'The book of condolence from Shenley Parish Council' and have the opportunity to sign it. The book had been to Shenley primary school before us and we have all really enjoyed the opportunity to sign it. 

We have also written and 'posted' letters to the royal family in our new postbox. These are just a few...

It was wonderful to have a hall full of parents last night for our curriculum evening. Parents had the opportunity to hear from members of the senior leadership team and most importantly meet their new teachers and hear about the learning their children are going to be experiencing this year. Thank you to you for coming and thank you to all the staff for their hard work in preparation for this.

Watch out for parents coffee morning information and parent phonics workshops-coming soon!

Well done to all my tea party attendees today. We had delicious cornflake crispy cakes made my Mrs Bean!

Reception Jaxon, Year 1 Jodie, Year 2 Henry, Year 3 Mia J, Year 4 Ollie, Year 5 Abigail, Year 6 Alana.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, Shabbat Shalom. We will see you back at school on Tuesday. 

Mrs Cohen

Please check out our Jewish Life and Learning page.

Please check out your child's class blogs!

9^th September 2022

Welcome back to a new school year.

I feel it only right to begin with the sad news that greeted us all yesterday evening. For most within our school community we have never known a world without Queen Elizabeth II, she has been a constant and consistent figure head for our country through tough times as well as the good. The celebrations earlier this year, for her Platinum Jubilee, went a long way to demonstrate how much love, affection and gratitude there is in our community, across the nation and in the wider world, for the role that she performed and the values that she embodied. There is much that we can learn from the selflessness, commitment and consistency that she showed throughout her reign as the longest serving monarch our nation has seen, and her life will be well remembered by those who have lived through it.

"When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all determined to struggle for a better future"-Queen Elizabeth II

All the staff started back to school last Thursday and Friday with two days of INSET. The first day was spent with a Read, Write Inc. trainer which is the early reading strategy we use in school to support our pupils develop their reading skills. The second day of our INSET, we reminded ourselves of school routines and looked at how each of us plays such an integral part of our team. We also discussed and shared thoughts of our school development plan and have some amazing ideas for the next year to make our school even better!

We were all so delighted to welcome back the children on Monday, and it was pure joy to see so many jumping out of cars and running into school with such big smiles and energy. A warm welcome to our new Reception class, they too have made a fantastic start to their Clore Shalom journey.

Walking through the corridors and popping in and out of class it is so pleasing to see children who are focussed with their learning and doing their best with their new teachers. What a fantastic start everyone has made!

Welcome to all of our new families. I hope you will get involved in our community. There is the PTA AGM on Wednesday 21^st September at 7.30pm and we would love to have as many current and new parents there to volunteer for organising events. We are always looking for parents to hear children read (in English and Ivrit), help out on drive thru in the mornings and security rota. We value our relationship with our parents. In the coming weeks, Mrs Goldsmith will be holding a coffee (and cake!) morning-watch this space for details!

We are looking forward to welcoming parents to our ‘Curriculum Information’ meeting on Thursday 15^th September and will be sending out our home school agreements after the meeting.

Congratulations to the following children who joined me for celebration tea party this morning, we enjoyed delicious 'garden' themed cakes: Rec Ella B, Year 1 Cody, Year 2 Amelia, Year 3 Lily, Year 4 Gautam, Year 5 Maxwell Year 6 Callum.

This week Henry received our Strive for Excellence award

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom, Mrs Cohen