How time is flying – the end of another fortnight and another month draws to a close and at Linden School we have elected our School Council and enjoyed a whole school Skills Builder Challenge Day amongst many other activities.

Applications for children to start school in September 2021 are now open and we have lots of information on our website including a virtual tour of our school - please spread the word.  

As we enter December next week, our Christmas preparations are well under way and we hope the children enjoy what we have planned for them – watch this space!

Lucy Collins
Headteacher

Whole School Skills Builder Challenge Day

On Friday 20^th November, all of Linden took part in a Skills Builder Challenge Day.

The Reception children focused on the listening skill. They were introduced to their new class friends Lola the Tiger and Sid the Sloth, who taught the children the key skills needed for listening. The the children have been practising these skills by playing games and through their continuous provision.

KS1 and KS2 took on the challenge of ‘Crime Scene Investigation.’

The children came to school this morning to find that somebody has stolen Mrs Gelsthorpe’s and Mrs Wellington’s chocolate! Detective Inspector Firth came to the school and asked the children to help her solve the crime.

All day the children worked in teams to gather and analyse the different pieces of evidence, including fingerprints and clues that were left at the crime scene in order to narrow down the suspects and identify the guilty culprit.

The children learnt lots about the individual Skills Builder skills and put them into practice as they worked together on the problem.

The whole school will be focusing on the ‘Staying Positive’ skill for the remainder of this term and completing activities in class around this.

We would like to introduce to our new School Council for this year. Voted by their peers, each member has been chosen to represent their class whilst being a role model for the rest of the school.

Reception

Class 1 & 2 went out to explore on this chilly winter day - they found lots of frosty spiderwebs.  They enjoyed a hot chocolate to warm up afterwards!

Year 2

Class 5 & 6 have brought their 'Materials' unit in Science to a close with an afternoon of investigations. We have used our understanding of the properties of materials (such as waterproof, absorbent, transparent, etc) to test out which materials would be best for certain jobs. The important skill here was being able to explain why:

Stars of the Week for week ending 20th November

Stars of the Week for week ending 27th November 

 Well done to ALL Stars of the Week for their acheivement!

Our catering team at the Lin-Diner are going to cook a Christmas dinner for every child who wants one. This will be on Wednesday 16th December 

Children entitled to a free school meal can be provided with a festive packed lunch on the day when they do not have a hot school dinner – but again this will need to be pre-ordered.  Please place your child's order by midday on Friday 4th December on the school's app, SZapp.

Following a few parent's concerns please can we remind parents that children shouldn't lick, but stick their cards with a glue stick or tuck the envelope fold in.

Our focus topic for PSHE this term, throughout the school, is ‘Celebrating Difference’! Lessons throughout the school include objectives on identifying what bullying is and how to report it, ways to make friends, discussions on racism and how everyone’s families are different. As well as completing units in lessons and raising awareness of anti bullying week with wearing our Odd Socks, Key stage 2 children also watched the latest video from the Childline campaign called ‘Nobody’s Normal’. https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/your-feelings/normal?utm_source=Safeguarding+Network+membership&utm_campaign=91fc5326ed-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_6_10_2020_23_31_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6b3d26a8ba-91fc5326ed-372513526 It states “everyone is different, which means that nobody is normal, but sometimes that can make you feel left out or alone”. This linked incredibly well with our focus and recognising that we should be celebrating our uniqueness and differences.

Barrier 

Following an incident we must remind you that the barrier to the car park is in use at drop off and collection times. Please stay on the path and be mindful of cars entering and exiting our car park.

Packed Lunches

Children are eating their own packed lunches in the classroom, so please can you make sure they have a spoon if they need one in their lunch box. 

Flu immunisation

As you are aware the Flu Immunisation Team will be at school December 1st, 2nd & 3rd of December. It is important that you consent or decline the flu vaccination via the online consent form. A failure to do this will result in further contact from the Immunisation Team to ensure that you have received the offer of vaccination.  The vaccination is a quick and simple spray up the nose

If you haven't already, you can complete the form online via this link as soon as possible:

Self Isolating Children

Please can we remind you that if you have children in isolation (for example, due to secondary school closure) they should not attend pick up / collection at our school to reduce transmission risk of Covid-19 to all.

Wraparound Care

Bookings are closed at the moment.  Please be aware that the dates and times bookings open and close are on a tile on the SZapp.  Bookings cannot be taken outside of these times.  Please email [email protected]  with any queries.

We have two exciting opportunities within our school - for a Midday Supervisor and a Cleaner - please see our website for details, job description and an application form:

https://www.lindenprimary.co.uk/vacancies

As you are aware Covid has affected our ability to fundraise this year which is why we are pleased to be working in conjunction with a local business Dixie Dot Crafts.

Dixie Dot is based in Quedgeley and offers a wide range of gifts and lovely things, from personalised pottery painted items to bath bombs to craft kits. For every order that is placed through the website (www.dixiedotcrafts.com) between now and 31^st December 2020, 10% will be donated back to our school to kickstart the fundraising into 2021.

Our Unique code is LINDEN2020. Please do share this with all your family and friends so they can purchase Christmas gifts and craft projects through Dixie Dot while helping our school. Thank you in advance for your support!

More information will follow about these dates

More information will follow about these dates