Riverside News Issue 493 - 21.05.26 - Riverside Primary School

⭐ STAR of the Week ⭐

Leopard: Leo J

For his fantastic effort in P.E! Leo has shown us a great routine of balances, rolls and body shapes. He has been a star in P.E this half term. Well done Leo!

Zebra: River W

For always being a little ray of sunshine in our classroom! River has an amazing attitude towards her learning and is growing in confidence every single day. Keep it up, we are so proud of you.

Lion: Jackson B

For being a wonderful helper in PE by showing the whole class exactly how to play rounders. You tried your very best and played with a giant smile on your face all lesson. Thank you for being kind, helpful, and enthusiastic—you are a superstar!

Bear: Jack N

For displaying a positive attitude towards his learning and resilience when finding something tricky. We are very proud of you superstar!

Otter: Diego M

For being an excellent role model in Otter Class! Diego is always so engaged in his learning, consistently following our carpet rules and putting 100% maximum effort into everything he does. He is an absolute pleasure to have in the classroom and a true superstar learner. Keep up the amazing work Diego!

Seal: Eden F

For her fantastic effort and enthusiasm during our learning on fractions over the last couple of weeks. Eden has shown growing confidence by joining in with class discussions and working independently to find fractions of amounts. I have been so impressed with her determination and positive attitude towards learning!

Dolphin: Nathan H

For showing a great understanding in our fractions work. For completing amber and green sheets without support. Well done Nathan, your hard work is paying off.

Giraffe: Olivia L

For overcoming her initial nerves, practicing at home, and showing outstanding determination in sewing. Your hard work paid off with an amazing final piece!

Turtle: Leilani K

For winning our Kahoot! quiz, based on our class reader, The Velveteen Rabbit. She showed incredible focus and adaptability, tackling a variety of challenging question styles to top the leaderboard.

Panda: Lily C

For outstanding digital skill and creativity in designing a brilliant online presentation to share your recount text.

Tiger: Aston H

For working incredibly hard to create a brilliant PowerPoint presentation about his trip to Cornwall. Aston successfully applied a variety of techniques taught in class—including images and smart layouts—to bring his recount to life. Well done !

Meerkat: Ronnie P

For working hard in all curriculum lessons and showing immense engagement and enthusiasm for learning, particularly in French and Science. Your Achievement in putting such outstanding effort into your classwork is incredibly impressive.

Rhino: Emily C

For demonstrating outstanding creativity in crafting a brilliant metaphorical poem about Miss Trunchbull.

Kangaroo: Robert A

For an excellent effort in English- your writing has been superb and you have produced some lovely descriptive sentences.

Koala: Aathavan S

For an outstanding poem about Miss Trunchbull featuring brilliant figurative language. Aathavan, you have shown fantastic creativity and a great command of words. A true poetry star!

Penguin: Caityln S

For continuously working hard on her tricky words. Keep up the good work!

📅 UPCOMING EVENTS! 📅

Dates not shown on previous issues are added in RED!

Summer 1 2026

21/05/26 — Children break up today

22/05/26 — INSET Day

Summer 2 2026

01/06/26 — Children return to school

03/06/26 — M&M Theatre Production

03/06/26 — Year 6 Acting Workshop with M&M Theatre Production

04/06/26 — Year 4 Colchester Zoo

08/06/26 — Class Photographs

09/06/26 — Marvellous Men’s Sale

15/06/26 — Marvellous Men’s Sale (After School)

17-19/06/26 — Year 6 Bawdsey Manor

22-26/06/26 — Year 6 Secondary Transition Week

24/06/26 — Sports Day Rehearsals – AM

26/06/26 — Moving on Day

26/06/26 — New EYFS Play & Stay Session 1

29-30/06/26 — Year 3 Skreens Park

01/07/26 — Sports Day

06/07/26 — KS2 Districts

08/07/26 — EYFS/KS1 PTA Summer Disco

08/07/26 — Year 6 Production to Parents & Younger Siblings at 1.30pm

08/07/26 — Year 6 Production to Parents ONLY at 6pm

10/07/26 — Reports to Parents

10/07/26 — PTA: KS2 Summer Disco

15/07/26 — Year 6 Leavers Party

17/07/26 — Year 6 Graduation at 9am

17/07/26 — Children break up today

Latest Facebook Posts

🎸 RIVERSIDE ROCKERS ARE READY TO ROLL! 🎸

🏆 Tournament Match Report: Resilience & Strive at Deanes School! 🏏

⚽ Penalty Shoot-Out Thriller! ⚽

Huge congratulations to Livvy! 🤸‍♀️✨

🍕 Mad Hatters? No, MAD SATTERS! 🍕

📣 World Championship Success! 📣

✨ Making Waves at Riverside! ✨

Williams Syndrome

Anthony in Year 1 is walking 100k in May to raise money for Williams Syndrome.

Williams Syndrome is a rare congenital disorder that occurs randomly and affects around one in 18,000 people in the UK. It is non-hereditary and causes distinctive facial characteristics and a wide range of learning difficulties. Infants often have delayed development and can develop physical and mental health problems, including anxiety and depression in later life. WS people tend to be talkative and excessively friendly towards adults.

If you are able to donate to this charity, please click here to go to the JustGiving Page.

Further information about Williams Syndrome can be found here.

Letters

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

Leaflets/Posters for Parents

Letters sent this week

Year 6 Production – 21.05.26

Year 1 Hyde Hall – 19.05.26

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

A SEND Inclusion Partner and a SEND Engagement Facilitator will be joining the MegaCentre SEND coffee morning on 14th May 10am-11.30am to briefly explain their roles in supporting SEND and inclusion in schools and settings.

The remainder of the session will focus on supporting parents and carers of children in Years 5 and 6, with or without SEND, as they prepare for the transition to secondary school.

Topics for discussion will include:

How parents and carers can support their child to prepare for the likely differences at secondary school
Practical tips for developing children’s independence skills, particularly around organisation, homework, and travel
Key questions parents and carers may wish to ask when visiting secondary schools, and factors to consider when choosing a school

This will be at the MegaCentre Community space, Eastwood Road, at the rear of Rayleigh Methodist Church. No need to book enquiries to: megastaff@megacentrerayleigh.co.uk or 01268 779100.

External Events

🎹 Free Piano Donation Opportunity

We recently received a very generous message from a community member who is looking to rehome his late wife’s well-loved and maintained Yamaha baby grand piano. He would love to see this cherished instrument go to a dedicated musician or someone who will truly appreciate and care for it.

Interested in learning more? If you would like more information or would like to express your interest, please reach out to us at admin@riversideprimary.co.uk .

*** Please note that we will connect interested individuals directly with the donor.

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 three week rolling menu. The menus, ingredients and allergen lists can be viewed on our website by clicking here.

Attendance W/E: 15/05/26

	Class	%
1	Giraffe	99.50
2	Kangaroo	98.80
3	Tiger	96.90
4	Bear	96.80
5	Lion	96.80
6	Dolphin	96.30
7	Meerkat	95.60
8	Panda	94.80
9	Seal	94.70
10	Otter	93.40
11	Turtle	91.70
12	Rhino	91.20
13	Koala	89.70
14	Leopard	89.60
15	Zebra	76.70

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.

Sports Update

⚽ Penalty Shoot-Out Thriller with Southend United!

On 15th May, our students took to the pitch for an unforgettable penalty shoot-out. The sportsmanship and determination on display were incredible! Even the visiting Southend United pros were blown away by the talent, admitting they struggled to save some of our children’s clinical finishes.

Thank you to everyone who made it such a memorable day.

Reminders:

Sponsorship Deadline: All forms and funds must be completed by 1st June so SUFC can finalise prizes.
Go Cashless: As we are a cashless school, all sponsorship payments must be made via ScoPay (no physical cash can be accepted).

🏆 Tournament Rounders Report: Resilience & Strive at Deanes School! 🏏

Our Riverside Primary rounders team headed to Deanes School to compete, and we couldn’t be prouder of their incredible strive and resilience across all three matches!

Here’s how the action unfolded:

Game 1 (6–1 Loss): A tough start, but the team kept their heads held high and stayed focused.
Game 2 (6–2 Loss): Immediate improvement! Stronger batting and sharper fielding kept us right in the mix.
Game 3 (5½–5 Loss): An absolute nail-biter! The team found their rhythm, demonstrating amazing teamwork and belief until the final play, narrowly missing out by just half a rounder.

It was brilliant to see Team Riverside improve with every single game, never giving up and always pushing for their best. Fantastic effort, team! 🌟👏

🏆 School World Cup Sweepstake!

We are launching a school-wide World Cup Sweepstake to boost engagement and cross-curricular learning!

The Draw: During Thursday’s assembly, two student representatives from each class will randomly select two tournament teams to support. Remaining teams will go to staff groups.
Activities: Classes will decorate doors with their countries’ flags, track match results on our giant school master board, and learn fun geographical facts.
The Prizes: The class backing the winning tournament team will earn extra playtime, a non-uniform day, and special certificates.

A huge thank you to Miss Abrehart for organizing the draw and creating the fantastic displays! Let the games begin!