Riverside Primary Academy | Newsletter – November 2022

Newsletter – November 2022

07 Nov Newsletter – November 2022

Posted at 15:20h in Newsletters by Clare Freemantle 0 Comments
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Message from Mrs Goodfellow & Our Governors

Hello and welcome back for this school term, we hope you had a great half term break.

As usual, the newsletter contains some really important reminders so please take a moment to read it.

As I’m sure you’re aware, we are still working hard on catching up with the learning time lost to the pandemic. You can help support us by making sure you read with your children for 20-30 minutes a day and supporting them to practise using Times Table Rock Stars if they’ve been asked to use it. It really makes a huge difference in class. If anyone is able to volunteer to read with our children in school, then please speak to your child’s class teacher.

We would like to remind all of our families that all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are eligible for universal free school meals. Our kitchen staff cook a variety of meals every day including vegan options. There is always a sandwich and jacket potato option with a rotation of hot meals and puddings. When you login to the School Grid system, you can see the ingredients used and even the recipes so you can try it out at home if you like. If your circumstances change at any point in the school year, you can apply for free school meals for children in KS2 via the Gateshead Council website and that can be put into place for you in school. Even if your child is eligible universal free school meals you should still apply via Gateshead Council if you are eligible. This helps secure additional funding for our school that we use to buy resources for your children and you may also receive supermarket vouchers during school holidays.

If you are sending your child in with a packed lunch, please remember that we need you to not pack anything with nuts or nut-based (this includes Nutella and items containing Nutella) as we have some children with severe nut allergies in school. If you need some ideas on some great things to pack then we recommend parents visit the NHS healthier lunchbox ideas website.

We held our annual Macmillan coffee morning in school last term and we raised a fantastic £529.00. Thank you to everyone who donated and gave up their time to join in or help out on the mornings.

We also have a lunchtime supervisor vacancy in school at the moment so if you, or anyone you know, might like to apply then please do so.

Mrs Goodfellow

Important Dates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School will break up for half term at 3.20pm on 23rd December 2022 and reopens on 9th January 2023.

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

  • 10th November – Y6b – Den building workshop & local woodland visit
  • 11th November – Y6a – Den building workshop & local woodland visit
  • 14th November – Anti Bullying Week – Odd Sock Day
  • 16th November – KS1 – Bash Your Trash workshop
  • 18th November – Children in Need – Non-uniform day
  • 18th November – Read Write Inc Parent Workshop
  • 23rd November – Y1 & Y1/2 Toys from the Past workshop
  • 29th November – Y2 Toys from the Past workshop
  • 2nd December – Y6 Egyptians workshop
  • 13th December – Reception and Nursery Christmas Production – PM performance
  • 14th December – Christmas Dinner Day
  • 14th December – Reception and Nursery Christmas Production – AM performance
  • 14th December – Y1/Y2 Christmas Production – PM performance
  • 15th December – Y1/Y2 Christmas Production – AM performance
  • 15th December – Community Carol Service
  • 19th December – Reception and Nursery Christmas Party
  • 20th December – Y5 & Y6 Christmas Party
  • 21st December – Y3 & Y4 Christmas Party
  • 22nd December – Y1 & Y2 Christmas Party

 

Announcements

    • Please do not bring single use plastic bottles for water as our children have asked us to ban them.
    • All of our children are able to access our free bagel offering when they arrive at school. This has been provided at no cost to us so we hope our children enjoy this.
    • We have new compost bins on our school field for our fruit and vegetable waste. We will be using the compost in our outdoor learning area when it is ready.
    • 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 continues! 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 do check our online shop on Pay360. There you will see all of the items we have available which you can purchase for a small donation to our school fund. There are lots of bargains and you will be doing your bit for the environment too! We will notify when your items are available to collect from the school office once an order has been placed.

 

Clothing Bank

Don’t forget we have a clothing bank located outside of our Community Room near the car park. Please feel free to donate any unwanted items of clothing as and when you need to. All donations received will raise money for our school fund. Thank you for your ongoing support with this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regular Reminders

Attendance

Riverside Primary Academy is a successful school and every child plays their part in making it so. We aim for an environment which enables and encourages all members of our school to reach out for excellence. For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly. Your child should be at school, on time, every day that the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. Ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is your legal responsibility as parents/carers and allowing absence from school without a good reason is against the law and you could be fined.  We look forward to seeing continued improvement in attendance in September.

Parent/carers are reminded 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.

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, must register for a place to ensure they are allocated one. If you need to register a child for nursery, you can apply online here.

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.

App features – as well as a communication tool, the app offers a variety of other features. You can view your child’s up to date attendance figure and it also offers useful links to other areas such as:

          • School Term and Holiday Dates
          • Our Facebook page
          • School Uniform supplier
          • School Meals
          • Pay360

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

 

 

 

Breakfast Club & PEAK Pioneers bookings

 

With effect from Monday 31st October 2022 all bookings for PEAK Pioneers after school childcare are no longer booked via the school but instead directly via PEAK using the following link: https://www.peak-sport.co.uk/riverside *Please note the first time you do this you will need to create a new account with us and provide your details.

 

Childcare Vouchers – For those paying with childcare vouchers, you will need to add PEAK Pioneers to your nominated childcare vouchers account. PEAK have made contact and registered with all the current providers being used in to make this as smooth a process as possible for you.

 

PEAK have worked with ourselves and the childcare voucher providers to hopefully make the transition as easy as possible, however if you do have any queries please email Dave Roberts at david@peak-sport.co.uk and he will assist and support you where possible.

 

Breakfast Club – All bookings for Breakfast Club will continue to be made via Pay360 in the usual manner. If you require assistance with your Pay360 account please contact the school office by calling 0191 460 1918 or email info@riversideprimaryacademy.org.uk.

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!

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