Riverside News Issue 482 - 13.02.26 - Riverside Primary School

⭐ STAR of the Week ⭐

Leopard: Arabella M

For always trying her very best to ‘show off and shine’ in every area of her learning. Arabella tries hard in everything she does and always with a big smile on her face; she just loves learning! Well done Superstar – we are very proud of you!

Zebra: Reign H

For having a positive attitude towards learning and completing lots of classroom challenges this week. We are so proud of you, keep it up.

Lion: Ronnie B

For writing a brilliant journey story and coming up with an imaginative plan for a brand new one — your ideas were fantastic!

In Science, you were also amazing at explaining why you made your predictions and describing what you found out. You thought carefully and shared your ideas clearly. Keep up the great work!

Bear: Flynn T

For an amazing effort during whole class learning sessions. You have been a wonderful role model and it has been amazing to see you so engaged in our learning. Well done superstar!

Otter: Ayrton M

For amazing contributions during our History lessons this week, especially when exploring the similarities and differences between houses from the past and present. Ayrton also had unique ideas in his story writing. Keep up the brilliant work!

Seal: Isla M

For having such positive and thoughtful contributions during lessons. This has been particularly clear in maths this week, where Isla has confidently shared her ideas as we began our learning on multiplication and division. Keep it up!

Dolphin: Jax S

For being a superstar when learning about groups in our multiplication and division topic in maths. He also so polite and hardworking in all lessons – a real role model. Amazing!

Giraffe: Hayden C

For an excellent dairy entry about the adventures of the Polar Bear Explorer’s club. You have a written an exciting and engaging diary entry that was a pleasure to read. Well done!

Turtle: Koben P

For always taking your time and consistently trying your very best to improve your handwriting in all your work. Keep it up, Koben – you are always striving to be your very best!

Panda: Henry H

For showing an outstanding improvement in your learning attitude. You produced an excellent piece of poetry writing with truly impressive presentation, well done!

Tiger: Lucas H

For outstanding work in Mathematics, demonstrating excellent understanding in calculating the perimeter of closed shapes.

Meerkat: Eva Z

For writing an excellent and engaging diary entry. You used a variety of sentence structures to clearly show the character’s thoughts, feelings, and worries—well done!

Rhino: Daisy K

For great work in computing when creating spreadsheets, and for working hard to make such positive progress, demonstrating real resilience and strive.

Kangaroo: Tilly M

For a super effort all round this week! You have been kind, caring, hard working and volunteered some lovely answers in class- well done!

Koala: Alice C

For putting herself forward to become a Play Leader, which is an amazing achievement, and showing how kind and thoughtful she is by supporting other children in the playground and interacting in such a positive way. Well done!

📅 UPCOMING EVENTS! 📅

Dates not shown on previous issues are added in RED!

Spring 1 2026

13/02/26 — Children break up today

Spring 2 2026

23/02/26 — Children return today

23/02/26 — KS2 performing at Young Voices

24/02/26 — Parent/Teacher Consultations

25/02/26 — Castle & Crowns Special Menu

26/02/26 — Parent/Teacher Consultations

04/03/26 — PTA: Wonderful Women’s Sale

05/03/26 — World Book Day

05/03/26 — World Book Day Special Menu

09/03/26 — PTA: Wonderful Women’s After School Sale

11/03/26 — Infant Music Festival

11/03/26 — Disney Fairytale – Special Menu

13/03/26 — Red Nose Day – Special Menu

23/03/26 — Year 4 – Overstrand Parent Meeting

25/03/26 — Year 3 trip to St Thomas’ Church

27/03/26 — Children break up today

Letters

Below are a list of letters, leaflets and posters uploaded to the website this week.

Leaflets/Posters for Parents

Letters sent this week

Previous letters, leaflets and posters can be found on the school website Events & Letters > Letters & Parent Meetings

Parking Concerns Around School

We kindly remind parents and carers that any parking issues in the local area can be reported directly to Chelmsford City Council. This helps ensure concerns are logged correctly and sent straight to the enforcement team.

To report a parking issue:

Visit the Chelmsford City Council website.
Click ‘Parking & Travel’ on the homepage.
Select ‘Parking Restrictions’.
Click ‘Report a Parking Issue’.

Your report will go directly to the council’s Enforcement Team, who will respond to you directly.

Thank you for helping us keep the area around the school safe for all.

Reminders

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

Latest Facebook Posts

🔐💻 Safer Internet Day with the 2 Johns 💻🔐

🏐 Riverside Netball Club – Another Fantastic Session!

🌟 Koala Class Crushes Parkour in PE! 🐨🏃‍♂️

🌍 Year 4 Geography in Action! 🌱

🎨 Kangaroo Class Art in Action! 🦘✨

🌊🎨 Riding the Wave of Creativity in Year 4! 🎨🌊

🎾🦏 Rhino Class Serve Up Tennis Skills! 🦏🎾

A Polite Reminder – Scooters and Bikes on the Way to School

We’ve had a few parents share their concerns about younger children riding scooters or small bikes at speed on the way to school, particularly along Ferry Road. In some cases, children are well ahead of their adults, and there’s a real worry that one could accidentally veer into the road before a parent is close enough to intervene.

Please can we kindly ask all families to ensure that children stay close and ride at a safe pace when travelling to and from school. This helps to keep everyone safe – especially near busy roads.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support in keeping our school community safe.

SEN

Emotional Based School Avoidance Support

SNAP charity has compiled a short guide explaining Emotional Based School Avoidance (ESBA). The guide includes advice and resources to help parents and carers.

To find out more and access the resources, visit SNAP’s website.

Online Safety Guides

Before children have even learnt to read, most can navigate through devices to play games and watch cartoons.

Internet Matters primary school guide helps you to:

Get up to speed on popular apps and platforms like YouTube and Roblox
Learn more about risks and challenges they might face, from inappropriate content and too much screentime.
Find tips and resources to protect them from online harms

OPAL

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.

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!

As part of our exciting OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) journey, we are continuing to develop a rich and varied outdoor play experience for all our children—whatever the weather!

To help us make the most of our wonderful outdoor spaces even as the weather turns wetter and muddier, we are asking that every child brings a pair of wellies to school from September. These will be kept in school so that children can continue to enjoy outdoor play at lunchtimes and still return to lessons feeling clean, dry, and comfortable.

Thank you for your continued support as we build a happier, healthier, and more active playtime for all our children.

The OPAL Team

OPAL Play Project – Donations Wanted!

As you know, we are developing our playtimes through the OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) project. This exciting approach helps children develop creativity, teamwork and resilience by giving them access to a wide range of play opportunities.

To keep building on this, we’re looking for donations of the following items:

Baby clothes not dolly clothes
Ball pit balls
Sandpit toys/Spades etc
Wooden spoons/Kitchen utensils
Wood chip, wood chip, wood chip!
Suitcases
Tyres
2x working tablets (these would be used to just for the music app as we don’t have any spare)
scooters
remote control toys
medical play kits
hair rollers
bobbles clips etc

If you have any of these at home and no longer need them, please drop them off at the school office. Every little contribution helps us make playtimes even more exciting!

Dinner Menu

We are operating a two week rolling menu. The menus, ingredients and allergen lists can be viewed on our website by clicking here.

Attendance W/E: 06/02/26

	Class	%
1	Giraffe	99.10
2	Bear	98.20
3	Kangaroo	97.80
4	Zebra	97.70
5	Seal	97.70
6	Tiger	96.90
7	Turtle	96.50
8	Panda	96.30
9	Otter	96.20
10	Meerkat	95.90
11	Koala	93.40
12	Rhino	92.40
13	Lion	92.10
14	Leopard	91.70
15	Dolphin	91.30

Team Points

Makaton: Sign of the Week

We’re excited to share our ‘Sign of the Week’.

The Megacentre Community Space

Please see a list of activities that run throughout the week at the Megacentre at their new venue (78a Eastwood Road, SS7 7JP).

Please not you do not need a formal diagnosis to access any of our support.

Unless otherwise stated, sessions take place at our Community Space: 78a Eastwood Road, SS6 7JP.

Here’s a quick guide to what’s on:

Monday Mix
Exclusive soft play for SEND families – plus crafts, football, gaming room, inflatables, laser tag, and more.
Held at The Megacentre, Brook Road
No booking required.

Monday – Youth Group

Open youth group for secondary aged children, Games, Crafts & Snacks. Term time only. No booking required.

Tuesday – Punching for Purpose
Boxing-based sessions to build confidence and resilience.
5:00–5:45pm (ages 6–15)
5:45–6:30pm (ages 16+)
Suggested donation: £7
Booking required: families@megacentrerayleigh.co.uk

Wednesday – T21 Heroes (for families & children with Down Syndrome)
First Wednesday of the month: 1:00–2:30pm (under 5s)
Fortnightly sessions: 3:30–5:00pm (ages 5+) – contact us for dates

Wednesday – Midi Mix (SEND club for school-age children)
4:00–6:00pm
Activities include arts & crafts, sensory play, table football, table tennis, and outdoor games (weather permitting).

Thursday – Your Space – Youth Wellbeing Group

4:00–5:30pm

Secondary age. Referral only, please contact us if this sounds like something your child would benefit from

2nd Thursday of the Month – SEND Coffee Morning
10:00am–12:00pm
Meet other SEND parents, ask questions, and hear from guest speakers on a range of SEND topics.

4th Thursday of the Month – DLA Workshop
Support and guidance for completing Disability Living Allowance forms.

Friday – Mini Mix (Under 5s SEND Group)
A safe, welcoming non-judgemental group for families with younger children who have SEND needs – free play time, no structured activities and no music. Facilitated by experienced SEND professional.