October Newsletter

01 Oct October Newsletter

Message from Governors

The new term is in full swing and we’re working on lots of activities for the whole school community to get involved to raise funds for our school. The planning for the Winter Fayre is now well under way and we are asking for donations for the raffle and tombola please. We also need donations of gift bags too so if you save them away for a rainy day then we could make really good use of Christmas designs for one of our stalls.  Please send them in to school if you can.

Important Dates

• 1^st Oct – Reception trip to Gibside National Trust
• 10^th Oct – School Photographs – Individual and Family Portraits now taken in Autumn term in a change from previous years.
• 15th Oct – Harvest Festival
• 18th Oct – School closes for half term
• 28th Oct – School re-opens to pupils

Giveaway

In association with Gateshead College and Psycho-path.co.uk, Metro Radio are staging a family friendly Halloween event at Lintz Hall Farm in October.

They have kindly donated a family ticket for the event worth £29.00 to us which will be won by one of our lucky pupils. (Family ticket is for 2 Adults & 2 Children)

This ticket will give you access to a whole new world of Halloween adventure including;

• Fun Scare mazes
• Magic Shows
• Live Bands
• Stage Shows
• Pumpkin Carving
• Spooky Tales Tipi
• Daily Fancy Dress Prizes
• Fairground Rides from white knuckle to Little nippers
• All manner of food and beverage pop ups
• Fun and Games Barn
• Professional Photography Station

And much much more!

To be in with a chance of winning this spooktacular prize, simply purchase a raffle ticket through your SIMS Pay account by selecting the “Events” link on your home page. If you require any assistance with your SIMS Pay account please contact the school office.

Tickets cost £2.00 and are on sale now until midnight on Wednesday 9^th October. The winner will be selected at random on Thursday 10^th October 2019

Announcements

• Our poster is starting to fill up but we need more stickers. Please ask your friends and family to collect them for us too. When you spend £30 in Aldi, you will receive a Team GB sticker (don’t forget to ask if you don’t receive one) and we will add it to our school poster.  We need to collect 300 to fill our poster and we will receive some sports kit and we could win £20,000 for our school.  Please ask your friends and relatives to collect them too.

• Year 3 have asked for any donations of magazines and comic books that older children might enjoy. Please send them to Miss Newby’s classroom.

• If you have any spare PE kit that you could donate, we could make good use of this in school for some of our children. Please drop it into the school office.

• There have been some changes to the gate opening times.  Morning gate times will remain the same. In the afternoon, KS1 gates will open at 2.55pm to allow parents to collect from the nursery and the gates will remain open for Reception and KS1 parents.  KS2 gates will open at 3.15pm.  Both gates will be closed as soon as possible after completion of school activities.

• We would like to ask for donations for Forest School.  If anyone has any old wellington boots, nail varnish, gloss paint and/or clear varnish please bring them to school.   Please also provide your child with a waterproof coat when they do Forest School.

• We regularly need volunteers to accompany groups on school trips. If you receive a trip letter and you are available to go with us, please let the class teacher know.

• We also need volunteers to listen to our children read in class. If you have a spare hour and could come in and listen to children read, please let your child’s teacher know. If your class already has a volunteer, please speak to Miss Bradley (Yr 1) who will find a class you can support.

Regular Reminders

We would like to take this opportunity to remind parents that school attendance is extremely important.  If you do need to report an absence, you should follow the school absence reporting procedure. Holidays should be avoided during term times and any pupil leave of absence must be made in advance. Holiday dates and Leave of Absence Forms are available from our website or school office.

Attendance will be a key focus for the leadership team and school governors this year. Governors have been assessing pupil attendance and would like to remind you that it is an important aspect of maximising your child’s learning potential.

Facts:

• A 90% attendance over a five-year period is the equivalent to missing approximately one half of a school year over the same period!
• Four weeks absence over the year (20 days) reduces your child’s chances of success. SAT’s results could drop by one grade across all subjects!

Therefore, any child with attendance below 96% will be monitored closely. If you think you may have a situation which will be detrimental to your child’s attendance, please contact the school office to arrange an appointment to discuss how we may be able to help you.

Uniform

The wearing of uniform is an essential part of being a pupil at Riverside Primary Academy. We want children to understand the importance of wearing appropriate clothing and taking pride in their appearance, whilst developing a sense of belonging to our Academy.

A reminder that our school uniform is:

• • Bottle green sweatshirt/cardigan
  • Emerald green polo shirt
  • Black or Grey trousers/skirt
  • Black sensible shoes

Jewellery

You are reminded our school policy states children are NOT permitted to wear jewellery in school.  Rings, chains, earrings and sleepers represent a considerable accident risk in physical education and play activities.  Children who wear jewellery at school will be asked to take it off and hand this into the school office until the end of the day. Any lost items found in school will be sent to the school office.

Ear piercing should ONLY BE DONE at the start of the summer holidays as newly pierced ears require stud ear rings and sports activities, including swimming are not permitted whilst wearing ear rings of any kind.

PE Kit

You should now be aware which day your child’s class have PE. Please ensure your child has the correct PE kit in school on the appropriate day (except Reception class during the Autumn Term).

School PE kit is;

• T-shirt (in allocated House colour)
• Black shorts
• Plimsolls
• Trainers for outdoor
• All kit should be kept in a named PE bag
• During the winter months, it is acceptable for children to wear tracksuit trousers/tops for outdoor games.

Behaviour

We have made some adjustments to the school behaviour policy.  Please take a moment to read it.

SIMS Pay

The integration of SIMS Pay at the end of the summer term has been a great success so far. As well as the administrative cost and time savings to the school, it is a much more secure way for parent/carers to send money to school and we hope that you will find that paying in this way is also much more convenient. From this term all school trips, clubs and events will be available through SIMS Pay. If you require any assistance with creating your SIMS Pay account please contact the school office.

Breakfast & Tea Time Club bookings

Please remember if you require a last minute booking into either club, you must first contact the school office to check availability as places are limited.

PTA News

The date of the first PTA meeting will follow soon.

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