A warm welcome back,

I hope you have been enjoying the sunshine. 

Please take a look at our Wraparound Care Summer plans, we have so much in store for the children that join us! There are also lots of other dates coming up for your diaries noted at the end of the newsletter and on the parent calendar - we are all looking forward to the restrictions beginning to ease, watch this space!

Best Wishes
Lucy Collins

Easter Activities for those in Wraparound After School Care!

We made some pictures to go up in a local care home to cheer up the residents;

Please see below the lovely message they sent us:  

Dear teacher, students and staff in Linden School,

I like to thank you all members of staff and students for your kind and generous Easter Tree decoration for our vulnerable residents on Easter. They were very happy and cheerful after seeing the tree. Though most of our residents living with dementia, but their expression after seeing that was amazing. Also, all the cards are making them happy.

A huge thank you to you all from The Knoll residents and staff.

Kind Regards,

Hasib Rahman

Registered Home Manager
The Knoll

We also made chocolate nests and hand paintings and all sorts of other great things:

Summer Term

Our Wraparound Afterschool Care team really wanted to let you know some of the exciting things happening during the Summer term for the children that join them. 

We also wanted to make you aware that although we are here for your children when you need to be at work or cannot collect at the end of the normal school day, we can be here for your children if you just need a couple of hours to yourself to run errands or catch up..... we run a structured and comprehensive activity plan with a theme for each term and aim to have the children playing, planting, crafting, creating, making cakes and having a great time with us.  Please see below the activity plan summary for the Summer term for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2:

and as a PDF: Wraparound Care - Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 Summer Term Plan

If you would like more information, please email: [email protected]

• Please can we remind you that all messages sent to you via email are also added to the 'Feed' of your SZapp.  So if you are searching for information we have sent you, you can go to the SZApp and select your Feed to view all the messages.
  
  
• Year 2 and Year 6 start swimming next week - please make sure your child comes to school in the morning with their swimming kit.  All the dates are on the parent calendar. If you haven't done so already, you can make your payment via ParentPay.
  
  
• Activity Clubs start week commencing 10th May.  The dates for the clubs are on the parent calendar and on a tile on the SZapp.  Any questions or queries please email [email protected]
  
  
• Please can all scooters and bikes go straight into the bike sheds, as accidents happen when children ride them around the front playground.
  
  
• If your child is to be collected by someone other than yourself, please inform the school office. For safeguarding purposes, we will not be able to release your child from the classroom unless we have parental permission.

The Stars of the Week for week ending 26th March

The Stars of the Week for week ending 23rd April

Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx - Joe Todd Stanton 

Joe Todd Stanton has written a number of adventure stories set in a historical context. These combine great story telling with a cartoon which means it is great for all ages! 

Stuck - Oliver Jeffers 

Oliver Jeffers offers many fabulous picture books, this being a favourite of Miss White! This story begins when Floyd gets his kite stuck up a tree...

As you may know our school council members are elected by their peers to help make positive change around the school and form important links between pupils and staff.  It can be great fun too, and they are putting members of staff under the spotlight to 'Ask them Anything'!

The council come up with the questions they would like to ask and then once agreed, put these questions to the staff member.

Under the School Council Spotlight is Mrs Collins, our Headteacher.

Full Name: Lucy Collins (I don't have a middle name)

Age: 39 (birthday is 11th January)

Why did you want to become a teacher? Did anyone inspire you?

Yes, my primary school teacher in Year 2, Mrs Digell!  She was kind and calm like Miss Honey from Matilda.  Both my mum and dad are teachers, too.  I always loved working with children.

Do you have any hobbies?

When I have time I enjoy keep fit: training, boxing, cooking and baking.

Tell us about your family

Mr Collins, and Ollie who is in Year 4 and Seth who is in Year 1.  I am very close with my mum, dad and sister.

Do you have any pets

A bouncy 2 year old cockapoo called Otto

What job did you have before being a teacher?

I worked in a call centre, a pub and also a hospital

Where is your favourite holiday destination?

Thailand

Favourite book? Film? Food? Colour? 

Favourite books and films depends on my mood. I love seafood, fish and pizza and my favourite colour is green.

What are the positives and negatives of being a headteacher?

Negatives: takes up so much of time, working evenings and weekends.  I understand it's part of the job but it can be hard.  Sometimes it's stressful and frustrating when I have to spend time on issues that are not focused on learning.

Positives: every single day is different, and I wake up with a smile on my face - Linden is one big family.

Why was your office placed next to the hall?

Mrs Jarvis was the previous head teacher and had the room moved (it used to be the library) as it's bigger and more central to the school.

Do you know everyone's names in the school?

Out of 418 children, I am confident with 98%

If you could improve one thing around the school with a click of your fingers, what would it be?

I would make sure that everyone - both children and staff - treat everyone with respect at all times.

How do you feel we did as a school, coping with COVID? 

I have been blown away, we have come so far from the first to the second lockdown.  When the doors reopened and the school was once again filled with laughter I couldn't have been more proud.

What drives you to succeed / carry on?

My family and my boys, I want to be a model for them and show them that they can acheive anything they want.  I have the self ambition to want to make a bigger change.

What are your aspirations? How do you hope to proceed with your career?

I want to stay at Linden and continue to support the community. The dream would be to have a nursery and a pre-school linked to the school - I am not going anywhere!

Year 6 Leavers Hoodies
We are delighted to be able to offer Leavers Hoodies to Year 6 again this year. Emails have been sent to parents with details of how to order. Please place your order as soon as possible once the order system opens on Monday 26th April.

Sponsored Read
Thank you to everyone that took part in this event last term. You all did amazing with your reading. A huge thank you to everyone that donated to this and supported it through the Virtual Book Fair. We raised a fantastic £800, which with the additional added by Usborne has meant over £1300 of books have been purchased for the school.

AGM 

We will be holding our AGM via zoom on Thursday 27th May at 7pm. If you are able to join us, please email [email protected] for the link. 

Gloucestershire County Council have some exciting courses running this term, they are on Zoom, and are open to all parents/carers/ grandparents living in Gloucestershire.  Please see their information, below:  

I know a lot of parents/carers are anxious about their own maths skills, so we are running a course to build their confidence. Parents will learn in a small group with a friendly and approachable tutor. This is a 4 week course initially, but can be extended to suit parents needs.

All you Need to Know About Numbers runs on Thursdays from 12:30-2:00

Click here for more information:  All You Need To Know About Numbers

We are running a Money Management Workshop on Wednesday 5^th May from 9:30-12:00. This focuses on managing household budgets effectively and can transform parents attitudes to finances.

Click here for more information:  Money Management Workshop

Our Wellbeing Courses are continuing to support families across the county.

• Happier and Calmer: Wellbeing at Home is running on Friday mornings from 9:30-11:00. This looks at the science behind feeling good and gives parents the opportunity to try out different wellness techniques to see what works best for them.
  
  Click here for more information:  Happier and Calmer
• Get Crafty and Relax runs on Tuesdays from 9:30-11:00. This is a practical course where you get to make crafts in a relaxed group. We will send out all of the resources for this.
  
  Click here for more information:  Get Crafty and Relax
  
  
• Writing for Wellness runs on Tuesdays from 12:30-2:00. This course focuses on using writing for wellbeing, using free writing to develop wellbeing and builds learners skills and confidence to write for themselves and possibly to share life stories with their family.
  
  Click here for more information:  Writing for Wellness

We are continuing to run ESOL classes for parents/carers.

• Improve Your English and Help your Child runs on Wednesday and Friday mornings
  
  Click here for more information:  Improve Your English
• Help Your Child with English in the Early Years runs on Thursdays from 9:30-10:30. This course supports ESOL parents to work with their preschool children to build their English skills together.
  
  Click here for more information:  Help Your Child With English in the Early Years

The courses are free to people over 19 years old, have lived in the UK/ EU for 3 or more years, or have a valid Residence Permit, and are one of the following: Unemployed or earning below £17,000 per year; Qualified below a Level 2 ( less than 5 GCSEs); Have mental health challenges, Have a learning difficulty or disability.

If you have any questions or need further information please contact Fay Tucker on 01452 583567 or 07760 171477  /  [email protected]

Please find below the term dates for 2021-22 with inset dates noted in yellow.  These can also be found on our school's website and on the SZapp

And here as a PDF file:  Term Dates 2021-22