Monday 3^rd July 2023

Dear parents/carers,

NEU INDUSTRIAL ACTION

As you may have seen in the national media, the NEU has announced two further teacher strike days for this week. The days that will be affected are Wednesday 5^th July and Friday 7^th July. This letter contains information about which classes are open as usual and which are closed on the days affected. Please see the table below for this information. Please note that some classes are open one day and closed on the other so please read the table below carefully.

School Dinners

If your child’s class is closed for either of the strike days, the school office staff will cancel your child’s school meal on Tucasi so that you are not charged for that meal.

Attendance

If you have more than one child, it may be that one of their classes is open and the other is closed. Please could you ensure that the child whose class is open does attend school on that day. The teachers who are in school have planned a normal day of lessons for their class and it will be disruptive to your child’s learning if they don’t attend. If your child’s class is closed we will not be able to accommodate them in another class.

Breakfast Club and after school clubs

Breakfast Club will run as usual on both Wednesday and Friday. The school office will contact parents and let them know if their child’s after school club is cancelled on either day. If you don’t hear from the office you can assume that your child’s after school club is still running.

Year 6 transition day

If your child is in Year 6 and is due to attend a transition day at Furze Platt on Wednesday 5^th July, please note that it is still going ahead and your child should attend as planned.

We understand that these strike days are disruptive for families, but the school also understands why teachers have taken the difficult decision to strike.

Yours sincerely

Mr Richard Daniels 

Headteacher

Today, we held our first Riverside Culture Day! What a brilliant day where the diverse nature of our school was celebrated! All the children looked amazing in their traditional outfits.

Dear parents/carers,

YEAR 1 MOVING TO ONLINE HOME LEARNING FOR THE REMAINER OF THE WEEK

Unfortunately, we have had to make the decision to move Year 1’s learning to home learning for the remainder of the week. Therefore, no year 1 pupils must come into school on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. We have had to do this because:

1. There are a number of staff who work in Year 1 who are currently off with Covid;
2. There are currently 14 positive Covid cases amongst the Year 1 children (with more out awaiting testing).

The Year 1 children will be taught online (via the Google Classroom) by Mrs Black from tomorrow morning. The Year 1 staff are spending this afternoon preparing the resources that your child will need in order to complete their online learning. Please see the notes below to make the move from classroom to online learning as seamless as possible.

ONLINE LEARNING

• Check your child’s resource pack (sent home today) to find their Google login;
• If your child was not at school today, you can pick up their resource pack from the school’s reception area (this afternoon or tomorrow morning);
• Log into your child’s Gmail email account and click on the link to the Google Classroom that was sent by Year 1;
• Once in Google Classroom, click on the link code on the top banner;
• Classes will begin at 9:30 each morning – please try to log in to your child’s Google Classroom before this. If you have any technical issues with the login in please email year1@riversideprimaryschool.org.uk
• Children will have phonics, reading and maths lessons online in the morning and the lessons will finish at 12:00;
• Children will be set tasks to complete independently for the afternoon that they must complete at home;
• Children must log back in at 2:30 so that they can listen to the story of the day;

This has not been an easy decision for the school to make, but faced with the operational difficulties and positive Covid numbers that we have, we were left with no choice. We appreciate that this is going to be disruptive for our Year 1 families - hopefully it will only be for 4 days. As a school, we will re-evaluate the situation at the weekend and we will text Year 1 parents on Saturday to let them know the decision that we have made for next week.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Daniels

Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers 

The main flu season occurs in the first 3 months of the year, so now more than ever, it is important that children are protected from flu. Vaccinating your child not only protects them, but also protects the wider population as children are known to be the main spreader of the flu virus. Most children will receive the nasal flu vaccination, but for some children, this can be given as a small injection in the arm.

As you can appreciate during the Covid pandemic, it is now even more important to have your child vaccinated, to maintain the health of the population, reduce the pressure on the NHS system and reduce hospital admissions. We are pleased to be able to continue our school-aged immunisation service, even if your child is not attending school during the current lockdown. We are working closely with our colleagues in education to provide clinics in schools where possible, otherwise the service will be provided in alternative local venues. Details will be published on our webpage (link below).

We are pleased to be able to offer various locations in the Windsor & Maidenhead, Slough and Bracknell areas. Our service offers the nasal flu or injectable flu vaccination (for those children who are unable to have the nasal flu vaccination due to the porcine gelatin).  

What to do now?

If your child missed their flu vaccination and you would like to arrange for your child to be vaccinated, please contact us on 0300 365 0077 option 1 to arrange an appointment. Alternatively you can contact us via email SchoolImmunisationTeam@berkshire.nhs.uk

Please check our Immunisation Website for up to date information about School Aged Immunisations and clinics which will be taking place from now until the 5^th February 2021.

 https://cypf.berkshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/our-services/public-health-nursing-health-visiting-school-nursing-immunisation/immunisation-team/

Kind Regards,

The School Aged Immunisation Team

Tel: 0300 365 0077

www.berkshirehealthcare.nhs.uk

www.berkshirecommunityhealthservices.nhs.uk

Department for Education 

Keeping you updated on the government’s response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus).
Department for Education Coronavirus helpline

Yesterday, we launched a new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687

Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk

Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday) 

No school should close in response to a suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England.

Where to find the latest information

Updates on COVID-19:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Guidance for educational settings:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus
 

Wow wow wow wow wow, I couldn't be more proud of our Riverside School Netball team today!

It was their last match of the season and it was definitely their best in the worst of weather conditions proving yet again how resilient our children are, they were amazing and on fire and they threw the ball fast and furiously to each other from one end of the court to the other.  We played against White Waltham Primary School and we were leading 3-0 in the first quarter, 5-1 at half time, 7-1 in the third quarter and at full time we won scoring 9 goals to 1.  Not only have they made me proud but they really have got into the habit of being a proper team and working so well together.

Well done to Haleema for being Player of the match and also being a good captain!

Well done to the great defending duo of Amaan and Safia!!!

Fahtima, Ezzah and Vaania all worked hard and fast at getting the ball up to the attacking end and Haleema, Hafsah and Diya worked hard at getting the goals in!!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank staff members  and parents who have helped with lifts to and from  matches and with their words of encouragement  and support, it truly has been a special season, I just hope that the Year 4's and 5's learn at the same rate as this team has which will make a promising start to next years Riverside Netball team.........

Well done to the Girls Football Team and Mrs Dirkin for all their hard work in the football match against Oldfield Primary School.  Although we didn't score a goal,  we did manage to get the ball got into Oldfield's defending half very equally.  The final score was 1-0 to Oldfield and the girls worked really hard to get it into Oldfield's defending half and were really unlucky as there were certainly a few saves made.  Sara was a fantastic goalie and was named player of the match as she made some super saves throughout both halves. Well done to Charlotte, Maryam, Faith, Diya, Reina, Nicola, Elif and Sara.  We certainly have the potential to get a goal in our next game, even the coaches from Oldfield mentioned how well all the girls played and how even it was....