July 2021 Newsletter
8th July 2021
July 2021 Newsletter
Dear parents, carers and the Lemington community,
As we come to the end of the school year, I would like to bring you some of the latest updates from the school.
The Lemington Doodlemap:
We were joined in school last week by artist ‘Dave Draws’, who created a magnificent piece of art in our school hall called the Lemington Doodlemap. The doodlemap celebrates everything that we all love about Lemington and the Outer West. The children have already loved locating their own houses on the doodlemap!
In-School Counsellor:
We know that a growing proportion of children at our school need additional mental health support. We also know that waiting times for these services are often incredibly long - we don't think it's right that our children should have to wait for the additional support they need.
Therefore, we have made the decision to employ our own LRPS counsellor from September 2021 as part of our wellbeing and support package for the pupils of Lemington Riverside. We know that this will complement the already comprehensive support we can offer in our social, emotional and mental health provision, 'The Bridge'.
Euro 2020 fame for Lemington Riverside!
We were very excited to see a photo of the awesome England cupcakes, created by our kitchen team, appear on the Euro 2020 Twitter feed and on a giant screen in the Glasgow Fan Park last Friday!
Summer Holidays:
We break up for the summer holidays on Friday 23rd July at the normal times, there will be homework club as normal on this date, but there will be no after school wraparound care.
Children return to school for the new school year on Tuesday 7th September – doors will be open from 8:45am.
The Lemington Riverside Experience:
We are looking forward to giving our children some amazing experiences out and about in the North East from September. We are delighted to have secured a significant grant from a large company that will enable us to offer many of our day visits and residential visits completely free of charge to parents/carers for the next 3 years.
Uniform:
Since the winter lockdown we relaxed our uniform policy to support parents/carers in not having to buy replacement uniform for the end of the school year. A reminder that from September 2021 all children across the school will be expected to wear our school uniform again. Our uniform is as follows:
- LRPS jumper or cardigan (available from Elite Embroidery). Children may also wear the LRPS hoodie from September – for all those who returned your forms, hoodies will be handed out in the final week of term. You will also be able to purchase hoodies from Elite Embroidery.
- White or blue polo shirt or white or blue button-up shirt (available from most large supermarkets/school logo versions available from Elite Embroidery).
- School trousers or skirt (Grey or black).
- School shoes or trainers.
Optional extras are:
- School waterproof coat (available from Elite Embroidery).
- School tie (available from Elite Embroidery).
You can also purchase PE bags and reading bags from Elite Embroidery.
Elite Embroidery: Front Street, Bells Close, NE15 6XY.
Sleepy children!
We’ve noticed that a lot of children are really tired at the moment in school. As we all know, if you’re tired it’s really hard to focus – just a reminder that the recommended sleeping times from ‘The Sleep Foundation’ are as follows:
- Pre-School (3-5 years old) – 10-13 hours per night
- School-age (6-13 years old) – 9-11 hours per night
Ice cream treat for our departing Year 6 children:
A huge thanks to local supply agency ‘Vision for Education’, who are based at Newburn Riverside, for sending an ice cream to our school as a leaving treat for our Year 6 children. The treat was hugely appreciated by our children!
We would also like to thank one of our Year 6 parents, Emma Hawthorn and her company Evolution Fitness for donating £50 to buy our Year 6 children a sweet treat on their farewell visit to the beach on Friday.
‘Riverside Restaurant’ updates:
Our recent menu changes have proved really popular with the children and it’s great to see more and more children choosing to have a school meal every day. We have also upgraded our lunch tables as you’ll see in the photo!
Thanks to the Royal Grammar School
We have been working closely with the RGS in Newcastle on a number of projects recently, including swimming lessons for our Year 4 children, guided reading for our Year 6 children with older students from RGS and a computing masterclass for Year 6. We look forward to continuing to develop this partnership as we move into the 2021/2022 school year.
Text messaging & school app
We will be sending letters out shortly about an app that parents/carers can download on to their mobile phones/tablets to get direct updates from school on their mobile devices. We will also be using a text messaging service to parents to complement our website and social media channels so that everyone always gets timely updates when needed.
The Rainbow Flag Award:
From September, we will be working towards the Rainbow Flag award – promoting equality, tolerance and diversity across our school.
Thank you:
I’d like to end this letter by thanking the children, our parents and carers and all of our staff – this school year has been so challenging at times, but we have continued to work together for the best of our children.
September brings a new start, with less restrictions in place and more opportunities to return to school life as we knew before Covid-19 – we are really excited about this.
Take care,
C. Heeley
Mr. Heeley
Head Teacher