Dear Parents and Carers,

Not quite the last week of term we were anticipating what with snow, ice and lots of illness, but we have had a fun-filled week with Christmas dinner, class parties and end of term festivities.

I would like to say a massive well done to our Reception and Key Stage 1 children for their nativities last week; the singing and the acting, they were absolutely amazing! A huge thanks to parents and family members who helped provide costumes and came to show their support. 

We were all disappointed to not have been able to safely go ahead with our Key Stage 2 carol concerts, but we have now had dates and time confirmed for the playing of our whole-school singing as recorded by BBC Radio Gloucestershire. Please remember to tune in on either:

Dec 23^rd 1pm & 10pm

Dec 24^th 6am

Dec 25^th 1pm

We’d like to wish all of our children and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – we will hopefully see everyone back in school safe and well on Wednesday 4th January 2023! Happy Christmas Everyone!

Lucy Collins

The Stars of the Week for week ending 2nd December:

The Stars of the Week for week ending 9th December:

Year 4

In Art we were looking at wax resist creating pictures.

Year 2 Cathedral Trip

Year 2 had a fantastic time at Gloucester Cathedral on Thursday 24^th November to learn all about how Christians celebrate Christmas. We learnt about the Nativity story as we toured the Cathedral, and the children dressed up and acted out the story as well as singing 'Little Donkey' on the journey to Bethlehem. 

Of course, the trip round the Cathedral was nothing compared to the journey home! What began as a walk through some drizzle turned into a swim along Seymour Road, but the children were brilliant (as always) and everyone made it back safe and sound. A big thank you to the governors who accompanied our trip, really going 'Over and Above' to make sure our children could have such a wonderful experience.

Year 2 Multi-Skills Trip

Year 2 were very luck and got the chance to go on a second trip this term to Plock Court where we took part in their Festive Multi Skills event. We had so much fun being active and trying out lots of different sports- based games.

Year 3
In DT, year 3 designed and made their own Roman catapults (onagers)! The children used hacksaws, woodblocks, hot glue and wood to create their own Onager. We then tested them out (safely) in the classroom. 

Nativities

We are sure you are as proud of the children as we are!

Street Art - Outdoor Art

The street art activity club have been working together with the 'Your Next Move' team to create this wonderful piece of artwork on the stage in our field - it's nnot quite fininshed yet but here's a sneak peek:

The Rocksteady & Choir performance was amazing.  Well done to all of the children that took part!

If your child would like to be a part of a Rocksteady Band details below:

We have been taking lots of photos of all the trips, visits and events our school children have taken part in.  We love to take photographs or video clips of your children having learning experiences at school. 

We havent been able to share all of these with you as we still do not have updated permissions on file for a lot of the children (you may recall we have changed how we capture permissions).  

Here's the form should you wish to review the photograph permissions for your child:

FORM: Photograph Permissions

We have our own Facebook page now!

Please find the link to join the school's Facebook page (users can't view the group's content until they become a member which school have to authorise):

https://www.facebook.com/groups/lindenprimaryhub/?ref=share_group_link

(Please ensure you answer ALL the questions - if you miss any we cannot add you) 

SZapp

You are probably already aware that, like many other schools, we use an app called SZapp. To ensure that your device is tied to your child's details, we ask that you register with SZapp using the same email address that you have listed on our database. Please ensure you keep us updated with any changes to your personal contact information. Finally, please ensure that the SchoolZine email address:   [email protected] is added to your safe senders and contacts list to avoid messages going into your junk or clutter folder.

and here as a PDF:  Lin Diner Menu 0401 - 1702

Thank you to everyone that placed orders for cards, mugs and other items from our Christmas Art project.  All items were delivered through classes earlier this month.  A huge thank you to our volunteers for helping with the behind the scenes work and the class staff for facilitating the beautiful designs. 

It was lovely to see the children in their outfits for our Festive Non-Uniform day.  Thank you to everyone that donated, we raised an amazing £157. 

We were delighted to be able to donate some money to every class for their Christmas festivities once again this year.  

We hope that you all have an enjoyable Christmas break and we have some exciting projects planned for next year.  

We are always looking for people to get involved.  Without our wonderful volunteers, we are unable to arrange and run the projects and events.  Please get in touch if you would like to find out more at [email protected] 

Friends of Linden 

Recommended Christmas Books

Below are some great book ideas if you are struggling to think of books for Christmas presents. Follow @TheReaderTeacher on Twitter for more recommendations!

Key Stage 1

Years 3 and 4

Years 5 and 6

Other Recommended Reads 

Each month CLPE's Librarian, Phoebe Demeger, will reveal some of her favourite books she has recently added to her Literacy Library.

EYFS:

The independent and brilliantly inclusive publisher Alanna Max brings us two new titles in the ‘Zeki’ series, by author Anna McQuinn and illustrator Ruth Hearson. Zeki Rise and Shine and Zeki Sleep Tight follow the routines and rhythms of waking up and bedtime, respectively – the language, alliteration and phonics are absolute Early Years perfection and, like the rest of the series, the friendly rounded pages are such a well-thought-out formatting feature for little hands.

From Tate Publishing’s backlist, I greatly enjoyed Emily Rand’s A Dog Day for its blocky, greyscale ink-and-collage illustrations, simple rhyming text, and the sweet relatability of a trip to the playground (or dog-park) being foiled by one’s grown-up insisting on stopping to chat. A neatly constructed narrative with lovely emotional beats.

KS1:

New from Moira Butterfield and Salvatore Rubbino, Grandma’s Story (Walker) is an insightful and empathetic work of illustrated non-fiction. It invites the reader to ask questions of their grandparents, to delve into family histories and interconnections, and to consider the fact that all grandparents were once children too, with full lives of their own. Great for both Early Years and KS1.

Luminous (Greystone Kids) unveils the lives of various bioluminescent creatures, observed by a mother and child, and with dual text of short poetic musings and fuller informative paragraphs. Notably, author-illustrator Julia Kuo utilises black paper stock in order to beautifully spotlight the glowing organisms.

Framed as a journey through the landscape, A Walk Through the Rainforest (Walker) is filled with documentary-style narration with invitations to ask questions, to look closely, to consider carefully, to travel slowly, and so on. Martin Jenkins is at his narrative non-fiction best, and Vicky White’s accompanying photo-real pencil illustrations have to be seen to be believed.

A new picturebook from Grahame Baker-Smith, The Ever-Changing Earth (Templar) follows on from The Rhythm of the Rain and Wild is the Wind, taking us on an illustrated journey through Planet Earth’s fiery beginnings and early evolutions. It also briefly zeroes in on two children living on opposing continents, and how their lives and homes sit alongside this vast geological history. A good companion text to The Pebble in my Pocket.

Lower KS2:

When Mino Took the Bus (Flying Eye) is the latest picturebook from Simona Ciraolo, creator of Hug Me. A young chipmunk takes a long bus journey to his new home, and shares many small moments with his fellow passengers along the way. This gentle and empathetic book has plenty to say about journeys, friendship, time, memory, and growing up, and is surprisingly moving in its simplicity.

Superstar duo Katie and Kevin Tsang bring us a brand-new sci-fi adventure series, Space Blasters: Suzie Saves the Universe (Farshore). Starring keen young inventor Suzie Wen and a diverse spaceship crew, Space Blasters is highly illustrated by Amy Nguyen, with plenty of comedy moments and STEM-related content.

Once Upon a Time There Was and Will Be So Much More (Walker) is an imaginative experiment on perceptions of time by Johanna Schaible, recalling the work of Jeannie Baker. History is recounted in ever-smaller increments (“billions of years ago, ten years ago, one minute ago”), until the fulcrum of “now” tips us into the present, and asks rhetorical questions of the future. The content is reflected in the form as the mirrored pages grow smaller, then larger again, accompanied by block collage and painted illustrations. A unique picturebook.

Upper KS2:

An exciting collaboration between historical novelist Emma Carroll and illustrator Lauren Child, The Little Match Girl Strikes Back (Simon & Schuster) retells the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale as an empowering call for workers’ rights, based on real women-led protests and activism from the 1880s.

Lands of Belonging (Nosy Crow), subtitled ‘A History of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Britain’, is an impressively comprehensive look at the historical and contemporary interconnections between these four places. Written by Donna and Vikesh Amey Bhatt (a historical consultant and two sensitivity readers are also credited) and brightly illustrated by Salini Perera, the book covers everything from ancient Indian inventions to Partition and the 1979 Southall protests, as well as South Asian culture and identity today.

Newly translated from the original French, Saving Celeste (Walker) by Timothée de Fombelle is a sort-of love story in which the environmental fate of the planet is linked to the body of a girl. This novella is still remarkably relevant since its 2009 publication, as well as hopeful.

Finally, some traditional tales in an all-new package: Jane Ray’s celebrated ‘Story Collector’ trilogy The Lion and the Unicorn and Other Hairy Tales, The Little Mermaid and Other Fishy Tales, and The Emperor’s Nightingale and Other Feathery Tales has been republished by Boxer Books in a new paperback gift format. The books are themed according to the animal tales within, and feature Jane’s evocative black-and-white linocut illustrations.

To find out more about the books featured in CLPE’s Literacy Library, discover CLPE's Corebooks List...

Linden Primary School Virtual Library

Children like different books.

Some love learning something; others like to be carried away in fiction; some enjoy a scary book and others want to laugh. Some want stories about familiar things, others want to be transported into new worlds or fantasy settings.

Please note if you need access to books at home, our school virtual library is a really good resource to access at home and can be found here: 

https://lindenprimary.co.uk/reading-for-pleasure

We would like to make you aware of the Holiday Free School Meal voucher scheme that Gloucestershire County Council is currently offering to families in Gloucestershire.

This winter holiday period, Gloucestershire County Council are providing vouchers to eligible families who have signed up to our Holiday Free School Meals (FSM) scheme. These vouchers are provided by Gloucestershire County Council as part of our commitment to 'no child goes hungry'. The vouchers are funded through grant funding we have received and they are separate to that of term time free school meals.

The scheme is for children in reception to year 11 who receive benefits-related free school meals and attend a school in Gloucestershire. We are unable to consider college and sixth form students, as well as children who receive infant free school meals (available to all children from reception to year 2), as they are not eligible for this scheme.

Families who have signed up to the scheme will receive £15 per child, per week for the holiday period. We will be distributing  2 weeks of vouchers for the winter holiday period.

To find out more about the scheme and to apply, parents can visit our Holiday free school meal vouchers webpage<https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/education-and-learning/school-transport-and-free-school-meals/meals-during-school-holidays/holiday-free-school-meal-vouchers/holiday-free-school-meal-vouchers/#main>, seen below:

https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/education-and-learning/school-transport-and-free-school-meals/meals-during-school-holidays/holiday-free-school-meal-vouchers/holiday-free-school-meal-vouchers/#main

Parents who have signed up previously do not need to re-register, they will already have been included. To ensure we reach all those who are eligible, we are encouraging parents that have not previously signed up, to sign up as soon as they can.

For any parents wishing to update details of an existing application, please ask them to email [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>  so we can update their account, as this not an automatic process.

Applications for Holiday Free School Meal vouchers for the winter holiday period are now open until the 6 December. Voucher emails will be sent out on 13 December.  Please encourage parents to check their junk/spam email folders during this period as sometimes the vouchers end up there. If parents have not received their vouchers by the 14 December please encourage them to email [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>.

My name is Ms Sidhu, (previously known as Mrs Atwal)

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]