Links News 
Friday 10th January, 2025
Dear Links Families,
Happy New Year! We hope you all had a lovely break, despite the cold weather. It has been lovely to welcome back the children and to also welcome our new children and families in nursery. This week, the children have started their new topics. Our early years pupils are learning about Food - Glorious- Food. It sounds delicious! Year 1 are learning about toys, old and new and Year 2 are learning about the life and work of two inspirational nurses Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. Year 3 will be stepping back in time to learn about the Romans while Year 4 will be investigating the harsh climate of Antarctica and the animals that live there. Year 5 have already started to learn about the Ancient Greeks by reading some of their myths and Year 6 are looking at the Mayan civilisation.
Our trips have already started! Yesterday, Year 2 visited St Paul’s Cathedral, where they embedded all their knowledge of the Great Fire of London in a workshop and took a stroll to Monument, where the Great Fire of London started.
This week, we welcomed Ms Samuel and Miss Kowalski to the Links Team. They spent their first week getting to know Links and their new classes. It is always difficult to step into the shoes of their predecessors but we are optimistic that children will thrive under their teaching.
Meet our new Year 6 teacher - Ms Samuel
I was born in the UK but both my parents came here in the 1960s from Trinidad - Port of Spain and Ireland- Belfast. I have been teaching for 24 years and I really enjoy teaching all subjects. As a child I loved Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton and as an adult I love historical fiction. In my spare time I'm writing a book of historical fiction set in the Tudor period connected to black history and I am passionate about art and go to lots of exhibitions.
I am excited to go on trips with the children, the Science Museum and Junior Citizenship is coming up. I am also excited to see how much I can help the children make progress and achieve their goals for the end of the year SATS. I'm also looking forward to the end of school year 6 production and can’t wait to find out what play will be chosen!!!
Meet our new Year 1 teacher - Miss Kowalski
Hello! My name is Miss Kowalski, and I am thrilled to be a teacher at Links Primary School in 2025. I’m originally from the beautiful beachside town of Byron Bay in Australia. At the end of 2022, I packed up my life in Australia and moved to London. I’ve been teaching for five years across both Australia and the UK. I enjoy teaching the wider curriculum subjects and how the students draw connections between the wider curriculum subjects and get excited to learn about the world that they live in. I’m a huge fan of anything by Julia Donaldson and am excited to read these to 1W. In my spare time, you’ll find me travelling around Europe, exploring new places and cultures. I am very excited to be working at Links this year and I look forward to watching each student grow together, building their skills and confidence to become writers, mathematicians and global citizens!
Goodbye Parentmail, hello My Child At School.
We’re excited to announce that we’re now using a new messaging system to streamline communication. We encourage all parents/ guardians to download the app to stay updated and receive important notifications in real-time. This will help ensure you don’t miss any critical information, trips, clubs and reminders.
Just a reminder that we will no longer be sending emails via Parentmail.
The My Child At School App, can be downloaded from the app/play store. Just use the email address that we have at school for you to register. The app is available in in lots of different language, making it easier to communicate with our families , whose first language isn’t English.
- MCAS Parent Guide
- See other Parent MCAS articles HERE.
PE@Links
A message from Coach Cardisha. Please can you ensure that your child is wearing the correct PE kit for PE, including trainers. Please could you also ensure that they bring a water bottle with them to school, to keep hydrated during the sports lessons.
Please see our school website for at list of our school uniform expectations - https://www.links.merton.sch.uk/Parents/Uniform/
Links Values Award
Links Value Winners 10th January 2025
This week’s Values Awards go to:
- Nursery - Kayan, for settling into Nursery so nicely and joining in with rhyme time!
- Reception - Taqwa, for super writing in phonics.
- 1T - Alveena, for growing in confidence, in answering questions during carpet time
- 1W - Saraa, for demonstrating a happy and kind disposition in class.
- 2KB -Samreen, for exemplary behaviour on our school trip to St. Paul's Cathedral.
- 2EJ - Polly, for her enthusiasm when answering questions about the Great Fire of London on our school trip to St Paul's Cathedral.
- 3B - Azaan, for working independently to write a persuasive letter.
- 3T - Maximillian, for having a positive attitude to his learning and for working hard.
- 4M - Raihan, for his continued determination to improve his recall speed for times tables.
- 4P - Adam, for tremendous effort in all subjects and taking pride in his work.
- 5GP - Sarah, for always being respectful to everyone and for being a great role model
- 5M - Charlie, for demonstrating resilience during our sewing lesson
- 6G - Harrison, for always being respectful and for carefully listening to other people's ideas so he is able to build upon them.
- 6P - Zhihan, for having a great attitude towards his learning this week.
Our Links Value winners joined Mrs Anderson and Mrs Murray for Hot Chocolate Friday!
House Points
The house point totals for this week are….
Yellow House - 3586
Blue House - 3499
Red House - 3384
Green House - 3321
Congratulations to Yellow House who are in the lead.
Weekly Attendance
This week’s attendance figures for each class are:
- Reception - 88%
- 1T - 93.4%
- 1W - 93.6%
- 2EJ - 92.7%
- 2KB - 95.3%
- 3B - 90.1%
- 3T - 92.9%
- 4M - 92.1%
- 4P - 95.3%
- 5GP - 91.3%
- 5M - 93.7%
- 6G - 91.7%
- 6P - 96.2%
Congratulations to 6P who achieved the highest attendance this week.
Lincoln the Bear will be in 6P week and will be learning about the Mayan Civilisation and will be making Mayan masks.
95% Attendance Raffle
This week’s winning tickets go to 2KB, 4P and 6P. Any class who achieves a weekly attendance of 95% or above will receive a raffle ticket. At the end of the half term, one ticket will be drawn and the winning class will receive a mystery treat. Last term 1W won the surprise treat of gingerbread person making.
PTA Event
Put your thinking caps on and join us for a fun-filled evening at the PTA Quiz Night! Gather your friends, bring your snacks, and get ready to put your knowledge to the test. While the adults get quizzical, children can enjoy a movie night complete with popcorn!
When: Friday, 24th January
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Where: Links Primary School
Tickets: • Quiz Tickets: £5 per person (purchase on ParentPay from the first week of January 2025)
Children’s Movie & Popcorn: Pay on the night
Important: Only children whose parents are attending the quiz can join the movie.
Bring Your Own Drinks & Snacks!
We’ll also have a bar and snacks available for purchase.
It’s a night of fun, community, and a bit of friendly competition – don’t miss out! 🚀
All proceeds support the school and PTA initiatives.
Links in Action
