Hello Lyndhurst Family,

 It was lovely to see so many of you attend the parent session last week either meeting with your child’s class teacher or myself to discuss secondary school options. I also hope that many of you were able to sample some of our new caterers’ food. I’m sure that like me, many of you are looking forward to the two-week holiday. I am very aware that particularly at the moment world politics are turbulent and can raise lots of questions from your children especially with more time at home. There are lots of great places to get more information from Newsround to the NSPCC. A great resource is Unicef’s guide on how to talk to your children about conflict.

Here are this week’s announcements.

‍SEND Fundraising Quiz: This Thursday we have our much-anticipated fundraising quiz for our Special Educational Needs Department’s Sensory Room. How can you get involved, you may ask? There are still tickets available (via parent pay, social media or look out for our volunteers/SENCO by the gate) if you want to take part in an evening of great food (cooked by staff and parents!) and great drinks then please just come along. There will also be a raffle with some brilliant prizes as well as an auction for some incredible theatre tickets. And, if that isn’t enough to entice you (or you are unable to attend), you can still donate using our go fund me page. Every penny of the money raised will go towards the setting up of a professional, state-of-the-art sensory room in our fantastic school, which will benefit all of the children in our community.

‍Parent Survey: Last summer we conducted an in-depth parent survey, whilst the response rate was high we know that it was not representative of our full community. Having had conversations with some families who did not complete the survey we are trying something different for the Autumn and Spring surveys—we have made them shorter and more action focused. Our hope is that as you see us listening, you will feel more willing to take the time to complete the surveys (ready for the big one in the summer term). You can access this term’s survey here.

‍Term Dates: A reminder that you can find our term dates on our school website. The dates for both this year (2023-4) and next year are listed including the planned early closures for the year. Please note the dates for the Christmas break which start and end mid-week. Any requests for absence must be made using the request form which can be downloaded from the website.

‍International Evening 16^th Nov: For those who have been here a while, you will notice that International Evening has moved back to the autumn term so that our events are more spread out and will start directly after school. For those new to our community, International Evening is a fantastic celebration where we celebrate the range of countries and cultures represented in our community. We ask that families bring in food to share with others (we will set it all out on grouped tables and staff will serve it) and that we all dress in either clothing traditional to our heritage or that represents our heritage. We are also hoping to have some entertainment, like last year, so if you know of any performers from a certain heritage please contact Ms Sawh or Nowakowska. More details to come after half term.

‍Holiday Camp Booking: Jaegar HC Half-Term Camp is now open for bookings, click here to book. This camp has been running for a year now as a partnership with the school as a non-profit project. So far it has raised £12,500 for the school in addition to having brilliant reviews from families and external agencies. It is open to anyone not just Lyndhurst families—so do spread the word.

‍Recorders: Have one of your children had a recorder lesson at Lyndhurst? Has a recorder found its way to your home, if so we would love to be reunited with them. Please hand them in to the school office.

‍Working Weekend: Don’t forget we will be having a working day on Saturday, 18^th November. You do not need any experience just gardening gloves and a travel mug. Children are welcome to join but will need to be willing to help out or have activities to entertain themselves (we will have tools and chemicals out and there will be sessions taking place in the muga).

‍Friends of Lyndhurst: Don’t forget that if you have a suggestion or request for what FOL should use its money on, then please use either the ‘what’s on your mind’ form on the school website or the ‘funding request’ form on the FOL page of our website although we ask that you discuss your proposal with the school leadership first. You can find the minutes from the first meeting of the school year here.‍

‍Support for Families: Half term can add a huge financial strain for families. You can find places offering free or discounted food here and here. You can also access Southwark’s Early Help Support using these contact details.

‍Author Visit- Benji Alexander: On November 10^th the author Benji Alexander will be visiting our school to conduct some assemblies and workshops. You can use this form to order a copy of his book.

‍Emma Gleadhill Parent Seminars: Our Trust are running another brilliant session by Emma, this one will focus on maintaining a connection with your child as they enter adolescence or puberty. Register in advance to attend the webinar:After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.That’s it from us, have a great week. Don’t forget that we have a two-week half term so we will see you back on Monday, 6^th November.

‍Key Dates:

‍W/C 16^th Oct- Religious Rotations (Sukkot, Navaratri & St. Francis Day)

Thur 19^th Oct- Reception Parent’s Phonic Workshop

Fri 20^th October – Yarra Class Assembly (10am start)

Thur 19^th Oct --SEND Quiz Night

Fri 20^th Oct-- Coffee Morning- SEND & Mental Health

Fri 20^th Oct – Last day of half term.

Mon 6^th Nov- first day back

Thur 16^th Nov- International Evening (3:30pm)

Thur 16^th Nov- FOL meeting (8pm online)

Fri 17^th Nov- Coffee Morning – Behaviour & Bullying