May 2021 Newsletter
7th May 2021
7th May 2021
MAY 2021 NEWSLETTER
Dear Parents, Carers and the Lemington community,
It’s been a great few weeks since the Easter break here at Lemington Riverside as we continue to work hard on our catch-up curriculum here in school following the third lockdown. It is pleasing to see cases of Covid remaining low in the city and we hope that restrictions will ease further soon. In the meantime, I thank you for respecting the social distancing measures that remain in place.
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS OF OUR TEAM!
It is with great pleasure that we welcome three new members of staff to our team here at Lemington Riverside:
- Mrs. O’Driscoll joins us as Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA). She is a very experienced HLTA who has worked in her previous school for 16 years. She will be a huge addition to Lemington Riverside and will be working with classes across the school.
- Mrs. Harris is our new School Business Manager. She will work alongside the senior leaders managing our school finances, health and safety and premises from 17th May.
- Mrs. Bainbridge is our new Admin Assistant and will be based at the reception desk. It is most likely you will speak to Mrs. Bainbridge if you call school or pop into the main reception! She starts with us on 17th May.
Please do say hello to Mrs. O’Driscoll, Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Bainbridge if you see them around school!
RESEARCH SCHOOL FUNDING:
We are very pleased to have secured almost £10,000 of funding from the Newcastle Research School to run a research project at Lemington Riverside that aims to close the gap in reading skills caused by the Covid-19 lockdowns. This funding will enable us to carry out a 3-year reading catch up programme in school and I have no doubt it will have a very positive impact on all of our children. Well done to our Head of Research, Innovation and Pedagogy, Mr. Sayers, for working very hard to secure this funding.
INTRODUCING OUR LEMINGTON CHICKS!
We are delighted to introduce Jack and Elsa (Named by our Early Years children!). Our chicks are currently living down in Early Years and are being looked after very well by the children. Thanks to our cleaner Megan Francis for helping us with this project!
LEMINGTON RIVERSIDE GOES GLOBAL!
We were over the moon to receive our first letters from our pen pals at Lek En Linge School in the Netherlands just after the Easter break. We also received a huge Dutch flag and some ‘stroopwafels’ (which went down very well!). We have been busy writing our replies and look forward to meeting our new friends via video link next month!
INTERNAL REFURBISHMENT WORKS
We have worked hard to secure funding from the Local Authority to carry out some significant refurbishment works around our school grounds during the summer holidays.
All of the internal doors, windows and wall panels will be replaced with modern alternatives that fit in with the character of our historic building. We will also be replacing the external fire doors out of the main building on to Rokeby Street. There will be repairs to the drainage covers and other areas of the playground too.
During the Easter break the two staircases in the main building were carpeted which has really improved the overall look and feel of this part of school.
We will continue to work hard to make our school building as comfortable and attractive for our children as we can – they deserve nothing less!
Thank you for your continued support and positivity! Take care,
Mr. Heeley – Head Teacher