Newsletter – January 2022

18 Jan Newsletter – January 2022

Message from Mrs Goodfellow & Our Governors

Welcome back for this term! We hope all of our families had a great holiday and we wish our whole community a very Happy New Year.

This term we are heavily focussing on reading/ There are massive changes with our reading in Key Stage 1 and Early Years. We have made the decision, following good advice, to use only our Read, Write, Inc programme. We have bought a lot of new books which is exciting for the children as everything looks shiny and new. Therefore, we have withdrawn the Oxford Reading Tree books from our shelves now and nobody will be issued with our old books (the stories about Kipper, Biff and Chip). From last week, parents/carers and children have received a homework ‘bundle’ on Thursday which lasts a whole week and which will be changed every Thursday in school. QR Codes are included in the homework now and children can scan them and re-watch the teaching of the lessons they have had in school whilst at home – using a phone or other device. The school relies very heavily on parent/carers completing the home reading journal so that we know which work you have completed at home with your child, so we ask that you help us with that please. Children read every day in school on the Read, Write, Inc programme and we hope that they read every day at home with you also.

Important Dates

School will break up for half term on 18th February 2022 and reopens on 25th February 2022.

• Tuesday 8th February – Yr 1 Trip – Discovery Museum
• Wednesday 9th February – Yr 1/2 Trip – Discovery Museum
• Thursday 10th February – Yr 2 Trip – Discovery Museum
• Thursday 10th February – Yr 5 Trip – Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens
• Friday 11th February – KS2 Assembly on Energy Efficiency and Environmental Impact
• Tuesday 1st March – Nursery & Reception – Bugs N Stuff Workshop
• Tuesday 8th March – Yr 3 Trip – Hindu Temple
• Tuesday 15th March – Yr 3/4 – Hindu Temple
• Tuesday 23rd March – Yr 4 – Hindu Temple

School will break up for Easter on 8th April 2022 and reopens on 25th April 2022.

The dates can all be found on the website on our events calendar.

School term dates for 2022/23 are also now available to view on our website here

Announcements

• Our school have recently been provided with a clothing bank (pictured) – free of charge –  for unwanted clothing and shoes to be donated into.  A company called Fundraise and Recycle Limited have recently launched a new project called ‘School Connect’. The aim is to educate children and their families about the importance of recycling and becoming more eco-friendly by reducing their carbon footprint, whilst at the same time raising money for our school.  Please therefore donate any of your unwanted clothing into the clothing bank and when it is full we will contact Fundraise and Recycle Limited who will come back to empty it.  The clothing bank is located outside of the Community Room just next to the car park.  Thank you in advance for donating!

• Continuing with our focus on recycling, if anyone has any buckets or bins that we could use to collect our food scraps for composting then please drop them at the office.
• Year 5 swimming lessons have moved to a Wednesday morning. Children need to be at school promptly on a Wednesday so they can travel by coach for their lesson.

• Children can continue to bring in their own water bottle. Please don’t send in juice or milk.
• Please try and continue to read with your children every day for around 15-30 minutes a day. It makes such a huge difference to their progress.
• If you are interested in becoming an in-school volunteer, please either inform your child’s teacher or the school office. This can be regular or occasional and all help is welcome.
• Toddler Group is back! Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during term time from 9.30 – 11.00am in our community room. There is a small cost of £1 to cover the cost of snacks. We welcome babies from birth up to pre-school age. More information is available here.
• We have an abundance of pre-loved school uniform which is available for parent/carers to purchase for a small donation to our school fund. If you require some extra pieces of uniform for your child but do no want to pay for brand new, then please pop into to the office to see if we have anything suitable. There are lots of bargains and you will be doing your bit for the environment too!
• In addition, we are looking for volunteers to setup and run a pre-loved uniform shop. If you are organised and methodical and can volunteer some of your free time, we would love to hear from you.  Just drop us an email to: info@riversideprimaryacademy.org.uk if this is something you would like to help us with.

Regular Reminders

Attendance

Can all parents note that they must report their child’s absence before 9.30am on the day their child is not in school as per the attendance policy.  We must know where all children are from a safeguarding point of view and so that we know that they are safe. The school day commences at 9.00am and all children should ideally be in class and ready to start learning at 8.55am.

Changes to Gate Times

Please remember that the school gates will be locked at 9.05am promptly each day. Please ensure your child arrives to school on time. A child who arrives late, through no fault of their own is often worried and therefore not in the best frame of mind to start the day.  They may also miss the start of the first lesson.

Please see our “Top Tips” for getting to school on time!

10 Top Tips for getting to school on time!

Getting to school on time is part of learning to become a more responsible and reliable person.  You can help your child by:

• Getting school clothes ready the night before
• Packing schoolbags and completing homework the night before
• Having a good bedtime routine and a set bedtime (No TV, IPads or phones in the bedroom)
• Set the alarm clock 10 minutes earlier on a morning
• Enjoy breakfast together
• Do not put the TV on in the morning
• Leave school shoes in the same place (So you can always find them!)
• Leave for school at the same time each day (Reward your child and yourself for being on time!)
• Find a friend to walk to school with

 Result: Your child won’t feel worried about being late for school and they won’t be missing what the rest of their class are learning. 

Nursery Registration

All parents of children under three years old who wish to attend our school nursery need to register for a place to ensure they are allocated one. If you need to register a child for nursery, you can apply online here.

Inconsiderate Parking Around School

As a school we like to prioritise the safety of our children and local residents by ensuring that parking in the local area is both legal and considerate. We regularly get complaints from parents and residents linked to inconsiderate and on occasions, dangerous driving and parking.

If you can walk to school, please do, or even consider parking a distance away and walking the final half-mile or so. Our pupils would also enjoy cycling or scooting to school if this is practical. But if you really need to drive to school, please make sure you avoid the ‘Keep Clear’ zig-zag markings and yellow lines when parking. To help ensure this happens, Gateshead Council staff carry out regular enforcement and issue Penalty Charge Notices (tickets). There have been several instances of vehicles causing obstruction to the main car park gates at drop-off times.

The Car Park gates will be closed to vehicles between the following times:

8.45am – 9.15am

2.45pm – 3.30pm

We also need to remind parents that when dropping your children off or picking them up, please don’t sit in your car with the engine running.  Firstly, it is illegal and could result in a fine but more importantly it is affecting asthma sufferers and the environment of our school community. We realise it is becoming cold but please turn off your engine when parked.

Many thanks for your help and cooperation with this matter.

MyEd App

Have you downloaded the MyEd app yet? The app is simple to use and a more cost effective way of keeping in touch with our community. It is simple to setup and you will receive all updates directly to your smartphone. It is available on both Apple and Android phones. We are encouraging all parents to use it as it is a huge cost saver for us and it means we can spend money on classroom equipment and improvements to our school instead of text messages.

If you are having any problems with the app and getting it setup, please contact the school office.

Breakfast Club & PEAK Pioneers bookings

Our Tea time club has changed and is now known as “PEAK Pioneers” providing wraparound childcare for families Monday to Friday until 6pm.

We politely remind you that the deadline for booking Breakfast Club & Tea Time Club is Thursday prior to the week required. Registers for the clubs are printed each Friday for the following week, to allow us to ensure we have an appropriate number of staff and food supplies for all clubs. We continue to have a number of parent/carers booking their child into clubs over the weekend following the deadline, meaning a number of children are turning up unexpectedly on Monday morning.

If you require a last minute booking into either club, we ask that you first contact the school office to check availability as places are limited or alternatively for Breakfast Club bookings you can contact the staff directly each morning from 7.30am, by choosing Option 4 from the main switchboard. If you are told that space is available, you can log in to your Pay360 account to make payment.

Here are the some of the fantastic activities that PEAK Pioneers offers each week.

Did you know you can do a small thing that really helps our school?  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and share our posts with your friends and family.  That’s it!