February 2021 Newsletter
4th February 2021
4th February 2021
FEBRUARY 2021 NEWSLETTER
Dear Parents, Carers and the Lemington community,
COVID-19 UPDATE:
It has been a challenging start to 2021 with remote learning in place for the majority of our children since the start of term. The Prime Minister has indicated pupils may begin to return to school from Monday 8th March dependent on a number of factors – we will be monitoring developments closely and will inform you through our website and social media channels of any updates as and when we receive them.
I would like to place on record my thanks to the parents and carers who are working so hard at home to support their children with remote learning, often whilst trying to balance this with working from home. You are doing a fantastic job in very trying circumstances!
I am sure that you will all agree that the teachers and teaching assistants should also be commended for their amazing effort in pulling together online learning at such short notice. They are working tirelessly every day to provide good quality lessons for your children via Seesaw and Tapestry, whilst at the same time giving live feedback and challenges to keep your child learning from home.
Our pastoral staff have also been in regular contact with many of you throughout lockdown and I know how valuable many of our children have found this.
We have loaned over 50 laptops and wireless routers to families in our school during the current lockdown to enable children to access home learning. Following my appearance on ITV Tyne Tees News in early January, where I talked about the lack of technology support we had received from the Government, we received two very generous, anonymous financial donations to the school that have enabled us to purchase laptops and routers to support our families. We are so grateful for these kind donations.
FREE SCHOOL MEALS:
We know that many of our personal circumstances have changed in the past year. We would encourage you, if your circumstances have changed, to consider applying for free school meals if you are not already entitled to them. The form is quick and easy to complete and can be found at this link: https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/services/schools-learning-and-childcare/help-school-and-learning-costs/apply-free-school-meals
If you are entitled to income-related free school meals, we will continue to send you a £15 supermarket voucher, per child, every week until face-to-face learning resumes for your child. We can confirm that we will be providing the vouchers in the February half term holiday too.
A WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEW ASSISTANT HEADTEACHER:
I would like to officially welcome Ms Rachel Turner to Lemington Riverside as our new permanent Assistant Headteacher. Ms Turner has been seconded to our school from Throckley Primary School for the past 11 months, and during that time has made a huge impact, teaching our Year 2 class and leading Key Stage 1, leading English and Phonics and developing our brand new libraries! We are delighted Ms Turner is now a permanent member of our team!
WEEKLY LEMINGTON HEROES ASSEMBLY:
A reminder that our weekly Lemington Heroes assembly continues to take place (via Zoom) every Friday at 11:30am. You can tune in by following this link on any laptop, PC, tablet or mobile device: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84070403298
KEEP IN TOUCH:
We remain here for our families throughout this period of national lockdown. If you require any further support for your child, yourself or a member of your family or you just need a chat or vent, we are here for you. You can contact us in the following ways:
EMAIL: headteacherLRPS@gmail.com
PHONE: 0191 267 4315 (Between 8am – 4pm, Monday-Friday).
We look forward to seeing you all, hopefully, very soon.
Take care,
Mr. H
Mr. Heeley (Head Teacher)