Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this newsletter finds you well. It has been an eventful few weeks here in school and I am delighted to share the latest updates with you.

Last week, we took part in the returning Really Wild Reading Festival, which featured a focus on poetry and a range of online and in-person author visits. The festival concluded with our whole-school celebration of World Book Day on Friday. I would like to extend my gratitude to all the parents, children, and staff who put in tremendous effort to make this event a success. It was an absolute delight to see everyone dressed up, and I must say, I have never seen so many Harry Potters in one place! A special thank you to the parents and families who were able to join us for story time; it was lovely to see so many children and families sharing a story.

Today, we wrapped up the week by donning our finest red attire in support of Comic Relief and well done to those children (& staff) who came to school and shared their favourite jokes. Thank you all for your donations, as they will undoubtedly make a difference in the lives of those in need.

Looking ahead, I would like to remind you that next Friday marks the end of our Spring Term. While we approach the final stretch, there are still a few exciting events lined up, including a Clarinet and Rocksteady Concert. Please review our key dates to ensure you don't miss out on any of the upcoming happenings.

Finally, I would like to wish our Linden boys football team the very best of luck for their cup final match tomorrow against Heron Primary School.  The boys have had a fantastic season and we are all incredibly proud of their success.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us and thank you for your continued support and involvement in our school community.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Lucy Collins

Headteacher

The Stars of the Week for week ending 1st March:

A group of 12 children who regularly attend our extra-curricular STEM Club had the opportunity to visit the YMCA in Cheltenham to complete a project to design and build shelters as part of their Sleep Easy fundraising event.

The children had limited access to resources and had to work together to create a shelter that a member of the YMCA team would then sleep in that evening.

The event has been a huge success and the YMCA have nearly reached their £10,000 fundraising total; you can view their progress by clicking the link below:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ymcacheltenhamsleepeasy2024

A big well done to all involved!

The boys’ football team have made it through to the Gloucester Schools Cup final this weekend where they will play Heron school after beating Kingsway on penalties. All of the boys were brilliant and it was a real team effort.

Shout out to Harry Smith who saved every single penalty that was taken against him. Come and cheer the boys on at 3pm this Saturday at Longlevens Junior.

Reception had the opportunity to speak to the author Charlotte Middleton. She read us one of her books 'Christophers bicycle;. We enjoyed listening to her explain how she became an author and answering lots of our questions.

She then taught us how to draw a guinea pig like Christopher in her stories.

After our talk with the author Charlotte Middleton we created and made our own book marks with Christopher the guinea pig on them.

This week Reception have been reading poems from the book 'Commotion in the ocean'

We spoke about and shared with the class what our favourite sea creature is and we created an EYFS big art scene using watercolours.

How amazing does it look! 

In year 1 we are learning about hospitals long ago and how they are different from hospitals now. We borrowed a box of resources from The Wilson museum and have had the chance to explore some different artefacts.

Welcome to our first gardening club letter of the 2024 season! We are very happy to share some great news with the school community.

Our new gardening shed is up and running. This purchase would not have been possible without the support of our fantastic sponsors: GFGS- Gloucestershire Federation of Gardening Societies and Friends of Linden Parent Association. We thank you all for helping us thrive.

Although the weather was not very kind to us at the beginning of the year, we enjoyed mixing up compost and planting houseplants such as spider plants and aloe vera. We also made flowers using pipe cleaners and tissue paper.

Pebble decorating is always a treat with the children with many of them practising their marks and patterns learned in Art.

As the weather improved, we were able to start thinking ahead and prepare for the new planting season. We started with washing pots and the children were so excited to count up to 150 of them.

We painted some of the pots in preparation for our house plant sale. Thank you to all the staff, parents and carers who purchased a plant and donated towards compost and seeds.

When the dry weather settled in, we were so keen to do some weeding and allow our strawberry plants a clean place to grow.
The new initiative for this year is creating our own compost. We are off to a great start with the children recycling all the fruits and vegetable leftovers from snack time and also adding all the weeds to the compost pile.

During Science week, we planted some lettuce seeds and we “ploughed” the ground using spades and forks. The children’s enjoyment was written on their faces, as they was exploring the little creatures in the soil, counting the worms and levelling the planting beds.

We talked about new adventures such as creating some new homes for the minibeasts in the form of insects’ hotels. The time goes so quick when we are busy gardening!

Last but not least, we are so happy for Albie’s success in planting an orange pip and growing it at home. Thank you for sharing with us. Keep us informed with the progress!

In year 3 for science week, we looked at the reaction of skittles and water. We observed over time and saw some amazing rainbow patterns. 

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]