Riverside News Issue 483 - 27.02.26 - Riverside Primary School

⭐ STAR of the Week ⭐

Leopard: Emilia B

For being such an enthusiastic, happy learner! Emilia strives to do her best every day and loves to challenge herself during independent learning time, completing challenge to become a Risky Risk Taker. She is a kind and helpful friend to everyone and an all round Superstar! We are very proud of you Emelia!

Zebra: Tilly A

For fantastic participation in PE this week! Tilly worked really well with her partner to roll and stop the ball, showing great teamwork and effort. Well done, we are so proud of you.

Lion: Joni T

For working very hard and trying your best in all your lessons. In History, you remembered lots of facts about the Great Fire of London and shared your ideas confidently.

In Maths, you have been practising your tens and ones to 50 and you have been completing lots of ‘Challenge’ tasks!

We are so proud of you — keep shining!

Bear: Mabel S

For engaging with enthusiasm with reading activities, Nessy challenges and phonics sessions. It is so lovely to see you enjoy books so much!

Otter: Halle H

For working hard on her early morning tasks this week and for making excellent contributions during our new topic, The Great Fire of London. Halle is a cheerful member of the class who is always willing to help around the classroom. Well done Halle.

Seal: Megan F

For her outstanding effort in everything she does. Megan has grown so much in confidence when completing her work and shows great perseverance, always giving things a go and trying her very best, even when tackling tricky challenges. Well done superstar!

Dolphin: Rosie J

For working really hard on her handwriting and grip. I can see a great improvement in the formation of your letters. Well done Rosie, keep it up.

Giraffe: Jayden S

For being kind, helpful, and supportive around the classroom, and for always trying his best in everything he does. Well done—keep up the fantastic effort!

Turtle: Ronnie-Ray S

For showing fantastic improvement in his confidence and class participation. He has been putting his hand up more often and sharing his ideas during lessons.

We are so proud you — keep it up!

Panda: Sawyer B

For having a wonderfully positive week, showing great enthusiasm in learning and putting outstanding effort into everything he set his mind to.

Tiger: Tilly M

For consistently demonstrating exemplary behaviour in school and being a kind and caring member of or class.

Meerkat: Alfie B

For demonstrating excellent map-reading skills. You used an atlas confidently to locate cities and rivers independently, and worked cooperatively and positively with your partner.

Rhino: Blake C

For great work in maths when using pie charts, completing your work efficiently and actively seeking feedback, demonstrating real strive and achievement.

Kangaroo: George S

For a super effort with his writing in English- great use of higher level vocabulary to create brilliant suspense sentences!

Koala: Esme M-S

For showing fantastic confidence performing in the musical recital in front of the school and adults, and for her amazing enthusiasm at the O2 Arena during the Young Voices concert – a true performer!

📅 UPCOMING EVENTS! 📅

Dates not shown on previous issues are added in RED!

Spring 2 2026

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

RSHE Consultation – 26.02.26

Year 2 Free Church – 25.02.26

Year 6 WhatsApp Groups – 23.02.26

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

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: 13/02/26

	Class	%
1	Seal	98.00
2	Lion	97.90
3	Tiger	96.30
4	Leopard	96.20
5	Panda	95.90
6	Dolphin	95.70
7	Koala	95.50
8	Turtle	93.90
9	Zebra	93.30
10	Kangaroo	93.30
11	Bear	93.20
12	Giraffe	92.60
13	Meerkat	91.10
14	Rhino	90.80
15	Otter	88.30

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.