Dear Parents and Carers, 

How time is flying – the end of another fortnight and another month draws to a close.  I am sure many of you will be happy to see the back of January and hopefully, the last of the rain for a few days.

Just a short one from me today as an end of term newsletter will be sent out in two weeks’ time.  As always, we have included our most up-to-date calendar of events and key diary dates.

Since Christmas, we have been made aware that a significant number of our pupils in key stage 2 are on various WhatsApp and Snapchat groups and that some of the messages have extremely unkind and worrying content, including children swearing and using derogatory language. What we have seen, is far removed from our school values and what we expect of children attending our school. If your child has a phone and uses WhatsApp or other online communication apps such as Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram then we urge you to check their phones/devices every day to make sure that the content of conversations is appropriate for children.

In school, we educate the children about Online Safety, through our curriculum areas as well as assemblies and workshops, but issues such as the above are unfortunately out of our control. Please note that the minimum age for use of WhatsApp and Snapchat and others is 13 years. Please be vigilant and monitor what your child is doing on the internet or their phones. It is not an invasion of their privacy, you will be helping them to stay safe.

Some questions that you may want to consider:

• Does your child keep their phone on charge next to their bed? If so, is anyone messaging them through the night?
• Are they accessing inappropriate websites?
• Are there specific times every day when phones are switched off to give them a break?
• Are your home and phone internet filters and privacy settings robust?

Research is showing that the mental health of our children is being negatively impacted on through unhealthy online activity. We know that there are benefits to online use, but our children are still at an age where they need the help and guidance of trusted adults to navigate and process the online world safely If you need any support or are worried about your child’s activities online there is a lot of support out there, but please contact us if you need any help or advice.

Many thanks for your ongoing support, enjoy your weekend.

Lucy Collins

The Stars of the Week for week ending 24th January:

The Stars of the Week for week ending 31st January:

Please click on the link below to view the latest Online Safety Newsletter. 

Online Safety Newsletter February 2025

Tuck Shop

Thank you to everyone that came along to our Tuck Shop last week.  Look out for information about the next one coming soon. 

Upcoming Events

We are busy behind the scenes organising some exciting events, so look out for some more details coming soon.  

Donations 

We are delighted to have been able to donate some funds to school, to enable them to purchase some class sets of dictionaries for KS2.   

Volunteers

We are desperately looking to recruit some additional volunteers to help with our events and enable them to be run.  Please do consider if you could get involved in any way.  All help is very welcome, however big or small.  If you are interested in finding out more about what we do and how you could get involved, please get in touch.  We can be contacted via email at [email protected], via the Linden Parents Facebook page (an unofficial page run by parents) or you could leave a message for us in the school office.  

Have a great weekend 

Friends of Linden 

My name is Ms Sidhu, 

Having worked at Linden Primary School for over 20 years, I am now the founder of my own business Draw to Explore.

My practice supports clients with a non-cognitive therapeutic method which is recommended by CAMHS. It is currently being used very successfully with children within my pastoral role at school.

Below are the details of the service I provide, please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information or wish to make a booking.

Email: [email protected]