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Leopard: Sunday R For all her wonderful work this week on our Space theme! Sunday’s Exciting Writing about Jupiter and Mars was fantastic and showed us what a fabulous independent writer she is becoming. Well done Sunday! |
Zebra: Oscar W For being a Marvelous Mathematician! Oscar has worked very hard to solve number sentences this week. Well done Oscar! |
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Lion: Gabriel B For his amazing participation in all areas of learning this week. Gabriel has loved learning about the planets and wrote a fantastic sentence, using his sounds to spell new words. Keep it up. |
Bear: Joseph J For excellent particiaption in phonics sessions, blending words with level 4 and 5 phonemes with increasing confidence. |
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Otter: Grace H For your excellent focus and effort during our phonics sessions. You have been working really hard to segment and blend words containing split digraphs. Fantastic work! |
Seal: Thea S For showing fantastic enthusiasm and engagement in lessons recently. Your growing confidence has really shone through – well done Thea!! |
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Dolphin: Saketh C For always working so hard in class and challenging himself to do his best. His presentation is getting neater and he is reaching reasoning questions in Maths. Well done Saketh, keep up the good work. |
Tiger: Lucy S For working really hard on Telling the time and for always trying her best in all lessons. Well done Lucy, keep up the excellent effort! |
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Panda: Oliver O For your enthusiasm in science when exploring the lifestyle of a plant and confidently using scientific vocabulary during our trip to the nature reserve! |
Turtle: Anabelle L For “Writing a brilliant modelled balanced argument on ‘Should children be allowed to bring their own choice of drink into school?’ |
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Giraffe: Jason Z For having a really positive end to the week and being an excellent helper in the classroom, especially in our science experiment this week, as well as showing excellent skills in our sewing project. Well done, keep it up! |
Monkey: Thomas B For excellent work when adding and subtracting decimals. |
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Kangaroo: Olivia W For working hard on her Wizard of Oz hot write and producing a carefully painted portrait of King Charles. |
Koala: Eva C For her hard work and focus during the SATs but also the improvement in her writng in the short time she has been at Riverside. Well done Eva. |
W/E: 16/05/25
Please ensure that children do not play in the sandpit before or after school. When the cover is on, it means the sandpit is not in use.
We want to keep this fantastic resource in great condition so all children can enjoy it safely during school hours.
Thank you for your support.
Below are a list of letters, leaflets and posters uploaded to the website this week.
Letters sent this week
Marvellous Men’s Initial Letter – 21.05.25
KS2 Sumdog and TTRS clubs for September 2025 – 20.05.25
Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) – 19.05.25
Previous letters, leaflets and posters can be found on the school website Events & Letters > Letters & Parent Meetings
You can find out all about what your child will be learning over the coming weeks. Additionally, it contains some ideas and suggestions for how you could support your child’s learning at home, including: books to read together, ideas for activities, days out and programmes/videos to watch that link in with the theme. We hope you find it useful.
Reporting Pupil Absence
This is a reminder to all parents/carers that the correct way to report absences is to leave a message on the absence line answerphone daily. If messages are sent by email to the admin email address they will not be registered in time for the morning attendance and you may then receive a call from our attendance team.
Supervision
This is a gentle reminder that parents are responsible for supervising their children and siblings on-site before and after school. We have had a couple of incidents reported to us which were considered ‘near misses’ and children could have got hurt. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
KS1 Playground
Please do not allow children to play on the equipment either before/after school. At the end of the day, parents and children should leave the site promptly . This enables us to open up the playground for our other clubs. Thank you.
KS2 Playground
Please note that the day in KS2 does not start until 8:40am when the doors open. Children should not be left unsupervised on the playground before this time. Children should not play on the equipment. Thank you
Tax free childcare vouchers can be used to pay for Breakfast and Twilight sessions.
Breakfast club cost £6.60 per session.
Please arrive in between 7.30 – 8.15am. Your child will be walked back to their class by a member of staff when the school day begins.
Included in this cost will be a drink and a breakfast of toast and cereal.
Twilight club cost £8.25 per session.
Twilight Club runs from 3:15pm to 5pm. Your child will be taken to Twilight club by their class teacher at the end of the school day.
Included in this cost children are provided with a drink and healthy snack
Bookings must be booked 24 hours in advance via ParentPay.
To contact a member of the Twilight staff, please call 01702 230911 and select the Twilight Club option.
Dear Parents and Carers,
Essex County Council is committed to providing outstanding childcare services. But to help us improve we are conducting our annual survey to see how well our program is working.
If you are a parent or carer of a child aged 0-19 years (or 0-25 years for children with SEND), then we want to hear from you!
The survey includes questions about:
Your participation is invaluable to us and will remain entirely anonymous. The result of the survey will help Early Years and Childcare teams understand the needs of parents and carers in Essex.
The survey will be open until Friday the 13th of June, and can be accessed through this link – ECC parents survey 2025
Thank you so much for your time.
We are excited to share that we have begun the OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) project to enhance the lunchtime experience even furtherfor your children. The aim is to provide more opportunities for creative and active play.
Please keep an eye out for a parent survey that will be sent to you soon. This section of the newsletter will keep you updated on our OPAL journey, including upcoming developments and ways you can get involved.
Also, if you are having a clear-out, please look out for our donation requests for resources to enhance the playground. Your contributions would be greatly appreciated!
Calling All Dinosaur Lovers! 
We’re creating an exciting Dino World for the children to enjoy at lunchtimes, and we need your help! If you have any spare dinosaur toys—big or small—we’d love to give them a new home where they’ll be played with and loved.
Donations can be dropped off in the red foyer
Thank you for helping bring this prehistoric playground to life! 
Each term, class teachers will award a child with:
“The Writer of the Term”
The child is chosen for producing a piece of writing during the school term that is felt to be worthy of this high praise. A copy of the work is sent home with the child.
This half-terms Writers of the Term are:-
EYFS
Aleanna W (Leopard)
Joni T (Zebra)
Luna B (Lion)
KS1
Megan F (Bear)
Jax S (Otter)
Aarush S (Dolphin)
Aston H (Seal)
LKS2
Saraya B (Giraffe)
Chloe P (Turtle)
Robin M (Panda)
Casper G (Tiger)
UKS2
Gaetano C (Monkey)
Sophie H (Kangaroo)
Sophia H-R (Koala)
Silver Reading AwardsWell done to the following children who have received their Silver award for reading 100 times.
EYFS
Year 1
Year 3
Gold Reading AwardsWell done to the following children who have received their Gold award for reading 200 times.
EYFS
Year 3
Year 5/6
Times TablesCongratulations to the following Year 3/4 children who have earned their;
Silver award as they can fluently and rapidly recall the 3, 4, 6 and 11 times tables.
We’re excited to share our ‘Sign of the Week’— My Name is
Are you a parent of a child diagnosed with ADHD or showing traits of it? You’re not alone. Navigating the world of ADHD can be challenging, but an invaluable support network is just a click away!
Our featured website, created by a dedicated group of volunteers, is a hub of information, advice, and resources for families managing ADHD. Whether you’re looking for practical strategies, up-to-date information, or a supportive community, this platform offers it all.
For a full list of events and booking details, visit the website’s Eventbrite page or their Facebook community for updates.
Learn More
We are operating a two week rolling menu. The menus, ingredients and allergen lists can be viewed on our website by clicking here.
Schools Dinners are free (UFSM) for children in EYFS & KS1 (Years 1 & 2) and for families eligible for FSM (Free School Meals). For children in KS2, who are not entitled to FSM please see pricing below.
Trouble viewing? Please click here.
May 2025 — Registration opens
Further details here – https://csse.org.uk/examination/
Dates not shown on previous issues are added in RED!
23/05/25 — INSET Day
Half-Term – Monday 26th May – Friday 30th May 2025
02/06/25 — Children return back to school
04/06/25 — PTA Marvellous Men’s Sale
13/06/25 — Mad Hatters Tea Party – non uniform £2 and special picnic
23/06/25 — Year Six secondary transition week (Essex)
27/06/25 — ‘Jump Up’ Day
27/06/25 — New EYFS Stay & Play Session 1
30/06/25 — Year 6 to Mersea
02/07/25 — Year 6 Return from Mersea
03/07/25 — KS2 Districts
04/07/25 — Year 6 Performance to school
04/07/25 — Reports to Parents
08/07/25 — EYFS drop in session
09/07/25 — Sports Day
11/07/25 — PTA Event – KS2 Summer Disco
11/07/25 — New EYFS Stay & Play Session 2
15/07/25 — Year 1 to Hyde Hall
16/07/25 — Sports Day (Reserve)
17/07/25 — PTA event – EYFS / KS1 summer discos
18/07/25 — EYFS Trip – Gruffalo Park
18/07/25 — PTA event – Year 6 Leavers Event
22/07/25 — Year 6 Graduation 9:30am