July 2022

20 Buckden Roundabout July 2022 School & Pre - School As the Queen ’ s Platinum Jubilee fell in half - term, we got our celebrations under way early. The children decorated their crowns with ‘ gems ’ and sequins and helped staff make Pre- school look festive, with bunting and flags. We also painted Union Jacks on their hands so they could use this as a stamp when making their keepsake. They also had the chance to watch and listen to the National Anthem being performed, and enjoyed cucumber sandwiches and milky tea at snack time! Outside, we challenged them to build a royal castle from Duplo bricks. Our book of the week leading up to half - term was ‘ Fluffy and the Platinum Jubilee ’ by Joshua, Joseph and James Grant. We also explored the theme of bees with the children, as it was National Bee Day on 20th May. The children already had a keen interest in small creatures and insects, so they enjoyed videos all about bees and how they make honey. They also had the chance to make their own bee from yellow and black playdough, and to try honey at snack time. A trip to the grounds of Buckden Towers gave them the chance to see real bee hives from a distance. With the term whizzing by, for our older children, the focus is very much on preparing for school. Mrs Woodward from Buck- den Primary will be visiting to meet the children starting there in September. The planned date for their ‘ graduation ’ event is 14 th July. We will really miss our leavers and wish them and their families all the very best for the future. Talking of families, it will soon be Father ’ s Day. We will be talk- ing about Dads and other special people in the children ’ s lives, and helping the children make something to give them. Finally, as this is our last news column of the school year, it ’ s a great time for some well - deserved thank you. Big thanks to our work experience student Emily for all her help, and to Sally the librarian for always helping us find excellent books to support our topics. Thank you also to Nisa, who so generously supply our snack items for free, and to the committee who give the staff such great support. Have a wonderful summer! For committee enquiries, please contact our Acting Chair, Hel- en Lumb, at buckdenpreschoolcommittee@gmail.com. To ar- range a visit or apply for a place, please call 01480 810600 or email us at buckdenpreschool@yahoo.co.uk. For more infor- mation, visit www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk or read our up- dates on https://www.facebook.com/ www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk/ FRIENDS IN DEED There are times in our lives when we could all do with a little extra support or companionship what- ever our age or circumstance. DO YOU HAVE A CAR AND SOME SPARE TIME? We are al- ways on the lookout for new volunteers; especially volunteer drivers. To find out more about driving for Friends in Deed please contact our transport co - ordinator at peter.mount@btconnect.com or 07914 669967. All our vol- unteers are DBS checked and safeguarding trained. THE COMMUNITY CAFÉ is our hub on the 2 nd Wednesday of most months. Please come and join us, whether you are in need of support or just fancy a cuppa, chat and homemade cake. Note our Summer Tea Party on August 31 st in the Village Hall! Need someone to talk to? - it is not easy to ask for help, but why struggle when there are people happy to listen and to help? When we keep things to ourselves and struggle on, things can feel overwhelming and a little bit of help can make all the difference. Come and speak to us at the Community Café or email friendsindeed@stmarysbuckden.org.uk . We can arrange either home visits or a friendly voice and ear over the phone. This is a free service and can be either a one - off chat or regular chats. Need a lift to an appointment? Our team of volunteer drivers are able to provide transport for vaccination / hospital / den- tal / hair appointments etc when family, friends or public transport is not an option. There are fixed fees for this service. Please email our transport co - ordinator peter.mount@btconnect.com or call 07914 669967 and leave your name, number, address and details of your appointment (date, time, location). Please do give us 48 hours notice if possible; 24 hours notice as a minimum and we shall do our best to meet your needs. BUCKDEN CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY ACADEMY June 2022 We have returned after half term whereby everyone enjoyed the Platinum Jubilee cel- ebrations. We are enjoying the great weather, with teachers taking advantage of the warm weather by taking the children outside for their lessons. Over half term we were very excited to take delivery of a porta cabin which will be transformed into our new library space, which we hope to have up and running in September. We will be decorating and kitting it out over the next few weeks. The week commencing 13th June our Year 6 children went off to Caythorpe Court in Lincolnshire for a 5 day residential, our first one in almost 3 years. They are currently there at time of writing and we have heard back that they are having a fabu- lous time and we can ’ t wait to hear what they ’ ve been up to. This week our Year 2 group went off to Woburn Safari for an exciting day trip, the teachers planned a sea lion demonstra- tion and a guided road safari through the park to get to see the wonderful wild animals. Fortunately, we are still able to say that again we have no ab- sences from staff or children relating to Covid - 19, fingers crossed we can make it to the summer holidays. The summer holidays are in sight and we have lots of things for the children over the coming weeks, especially for our Year 6’ s who are getting ready to leave us and move onto secondary school.