Newsletter – May 2023

23 May Newsletter – May 2023

Message from Mrs Goodfellow & Our Governors

Hello everyone, we hope you’re all well.

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

Mrs Goodfellow

Important Dates

We break up for Half Term at 3.30pm on 26th May 2023 and we reopen on 12th June 2023.

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

• Friday 26^th May – Last Day of term

HALF TERM HOLIDAY – 29^th May to 9^th June  – SCHOOL CLOSED TO ALL PUPILS

• Monday 12^th June – First day of Summer Term 2 – School reopen to all pupils
• Monday 19^th June – Year 6 Outdoor Learning Workshop with Mr H Outdoors
• Wednesday 21^st June – Sports Day (Provisional Date/Weather permitting)
• Monday 24^th July – Year 6 Leavers Silent Disco and buffet – details to follow
• Tuesday 25^th July – Year 6 Leaver Assembly – details to follow
• Tuesday 25th July – Last Day of Term

SUMMER HOLIDAY – 26^th July to 1^st September – SCHOOL CLOSED TO ALL PUPILS

•  Monday 4^th Sept – First Day of New Academic Year – School reopens to all pupils and staff

All dates are subject to change. Outdoor activities are weather dependent and may change if we feel that the conditions are not right.

Announcements

• • If your child is entitled to a free bus pass to travel too and from school, you can apply for the new years pass here – https://www.gateshead.gov.uk/article/2784/School-transport
  • 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.
  • 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.

RISE Mental Health

The Children’s Society RISE Mental Health Support in Schools programme have a range of resources available for children, young people, professionals and parents that offer practical tips to feel more in control and become more resilient in managing emotional wellbeing and mental health. The resources can be accessed by visiting https://rise.childrenssociety.org.uk, and click on Find Wellbeing Resources then scroll down to the topic you would like support with.

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 during the remainder of the year.

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

We have been made aware that some parents are experiencing issues receiving school notifications via the MyEd app. We have raised this with the MyEd team who assure us that there are no known issues with the app.

Anyone experiencing these issues are advised to follow the troubleshooting steps below.

1. Ensure notifications are enabled on yourdevice.
2. Check the App/Play store, and check for any updates for MYEd App, to ensure you’re on the latest version.
3. Syncing the data by clicking the 3 lines (Top left for Andriod, Top Right for iOS) > Sync Data.

Sometimes, (depending on the device) there is a “Do not Disturb” function, please ensure this has not been accidentally turned.

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

Pay360 – School Payments

Image by Satheesh Sankaran from Pixabay

Following the announcement that Pay360 will cease to operate with effect from 31 July 2023, we are currently looking at our options to change to an alternative payments provider to ensure we can continue as a cashless school.  We will keep you informed of this leading up to the summer holidays, but for now you can continue to use Pay360 as normal.

Breakfast Club & PEAK Pioneers bookings

Bookings for PEAK Pioneers after school childcare can be made 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!