The Rivermead Round-Up - Friday 4th March

The Rivermead Round-Up
 Fr i d ay 4 t h Ma r c h

Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome back, I hope you all enjoyed the break over half term. We are now half-way through this academic
year! Coming up next week we have the parent/teacher consultations. If you have not booked a session,
please contact the admin team. Yesterday you should have received your child’s consultation profile and
books for maths, writing and science. I hope you had the opportunity to look at your child’s/children’s learning
last night, and feel prepared for the meeting next week. Year 5 and 6 will be sent home with these on Monday.

Rivermead Book Week
The children enjoyed an exciting week back with Book Week happening across the school. This years’ theme
for World Book Day is about “You as a reader”, with the staff being able to promote reading for pleasure with
the children. On Thursday, which was World Book Day, the children were invited to bring in their favourite book
from home and have a ‘chat-a-book’ session with others in the class, sharing why they love their book. It was
lovely to see the variety of books the children brought into school:

The beauty of having a Book Week, rather than celebrating just World Book day, it allowed us as a school to
celebrate over a week the joy of reading and introducing the children to a number of different books, allowing
them to explore books further.
Thank you to all the staff for embracing the week, and sharing their love of reading and books. A special thank
you to Miss Seymour and Miss Finn for their planning and organisation of the week.

Learning & Teaching across the school
Below is some brief information from the week by the Team Leaders/representatives from the team:
EYFS (Miss Hathaway)
EYFS: has loved book week! We have spent time sharing our favourite book with our friends; talking about our
favourite parts and what makes it so special to us. We have also started our Jack and the Beanstalk topic,
singing a song all about Jack’s adventures. We have been ordering the Jack and the Beanstalk story, and we
have written a postcard pretending to be Jack from up the beanstalk. The children have started learning
about repeating patterns; how to spot what comes next to continue one, and how to make their own. Lots of
the children have chosen to make beautiful beanstalk pictures from lots of different materials, which we are
proudly showcasing on our topic wall.

Year 1 & Year 2 (Miss Finn & Miss Churchhouse)
Year 1: What a wonderful first week back for year 1s with lots of exciting learning. The children have enjoyed
learning about the changes from winter to spring and they have been excited to spot some of these changes
happening already in the playground such as flowers starting to bloom. In maths the children have started
learning about length and height and the words we use to compare different objects. The children have been
finding out about different types of writing and have started looking at the features of a recount. They have
enjoyed spotting past tense and first-person words within a sentence. Throughout the week the children have
loved exploring different types of books. There has been a real buzz of excitement about books. Yesterday the
children enjoyed chat-a-book which has made them eager to read new books.
Year 2: have settled back well this week, they have continued with the shape unit in Maths concentrating on
3D shapes and their properties. So far, they have counted faces, edges and vertices with 3D shapes, as well as
creating patterns. In history, the children have really enjoyed the new topic on the Great Fire of London. They

have created a timeline of events and compared the differences between fire safety in the past and now. In
DT the children have begun the new topic all about structures. They will be building up to constructing their
own windmills and started this week by designing and decorating this structure.
Year 3 & Year 4 (Mr Rumble & Miss Finch)
Year 3: have been pleased to get back to school after half term. We have started a brand-new unit of writing
all about Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories and have been studying how the Camel got his Hump. We have also
started to look at some of the grammar features needed for this type of writing. In Science, we dissected a
flower and looked for the parts related to pollination, as well as learning their names and what they do. On
Wednesday, we were also excited to start to learn about our new Geography topic – Where does water come
from and where does it go? We used atlases to find the different rivers and seas around the UK.
Year 4: have been working as a team to help each other thread and knot and cross stitch so that everyone
can create a stuffed toy to bring home to you. In maths, we have been showing off our incredible ability to
solve problems using fractions over 1 whole. This week in PE, we have been challenging ourselves to give
constructive feedback to other children in our class to help them increase their ability. During the week, we
have also spent time using incredible vocabulary in our writing and really impressing Miss Green and Miss Finch.

Year 5 & Year 6 (Miss Southerton & Miss Beale)
Year 5: have really enjoyed getting stuck in to their new music and geography topics which are both based
around volcanoes! Of course, we also loved the Book Week celebrations including the Live Streams and
particularly the chat-a-book activity on Thursday, where we got to talk about our favourite books and learn
why other people in the class recommended theirs. What an exciting first week back after half term!
Year 6: really enjoyed chat-a-book yesterday. They had chance to speak to a number of people in the class
about their favourite book and why they would recommend it. Following that, we have lots of new ideas about
what we want to read next. We have also started our new unit on suspense stories and the work we have
produced in our first paragraphs is really gripping. Our maths classes have all been doing different things this
week: Miss Southerton’s have been starting a unit on algebra; Mrs Tonkinson’s have been calculating the area
of triangles; and Miss Seymour’s have been adding mixed numbers and improper fractions.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Thank you
Mr Brian Prebble

 Achievements
Please forward details to Ms Sloan (csloan@rivermead.wokingham.sch.uk) of your child’s achievements in their
activities outside of school for inclusion in future editions of the Round Up. This week we would like to say well done to
the following children:

EYFS Growth Mind Set Ladder

 We are pleased to mention the following children in EYFS who have tried their best, worked hard and reached the
 number 10 Growth Mind Set Ladder.

 Loddon Dun
 Brooke Laveya
 Ella Elsie
 Callista Ruhaan
 James Arthur
 Ivy Finn
 Lawrence Brooke
 Mehar
 Lara
 Arlo
 Varsha
 Paige
 Reed
 Noah

 Congratulations to our EYFS children who have managed to read more than the expected 5 times a week last
 week. They will be receiving their certificates this week.

 This week’s Special Book
 We are pleased to mention the following children who have worked hard and have achieved a place in our Special
 Book:

 Yellow Team’s Special Book
Thomas.W for working well with his talk partner and being eager to
 Emmbrook
 contribute to class discussions

Jazmin for working hard to improve her reading skills by answering
 Hart
 challenging questions about a text!

Ayla Kennet for great work in maths this week and being so creative

Iman Thames for asking questions about vocabulary to get a deeper
 understanding of a text

 Red Team’s Special Book
 for being a fantastic talk partner. You explain your ideas well
Bella Avon
 and listen carefully to your partner

Elisha Mersey works incredibly hard and is always enthusiastic to learn 

 for impressing me with your motivation and enthusiasm
Seffi Severn
 towards our science topic (from Miss Frost)

Jake Severn
 for always being such a great partner and offering help to
 your peers when they need it (from Miss Beard)

Lukasz for his fantastic improvements in his handwriting and his ability
 Trent
 to edit his learning to make it even better 

 Orange Team’s special book
Amalie.B Amazon for having such a wonderful growth mindset when things
 seem challenging and always trying her best in every lesson. I
 am incredibly proud of you! 

Max & Ben Congo for making such an effort to try and include book talk and
 comprehension words in their writing
 for being an inspiration this week with your positive, sunny
Jake Nile
 attitude. We’ve loved having you back with us, you star!

Poppy
 Yangtze for making excellent vocabulary choices when writing the
 opening to her suspense story. You have really thought about
 engaging the reader 

 Attendance Class Cup
 The class cup is awarded to the class with the highest attendance each week.
 This week, the winners of the Attendance Class Cup is Nile Class with 99.65%. Well done Nile Class!

Y6 Residential Trip 2022 reminder
 The next payment towards the trip is due by Sunday 6th March.
 Thank you to those who have already made the payment.

 2021-2022 Diary Dates
 (Please note these are subject to change)

Information and details will be sent closer to the time regarding the various events during the term
 Date Event Notes
 8th March Year 1 & 2 Perform for schools visit

 7th & 8th March EYFS & KS1 Parent/Teacher consultations

 9 & 10th March KS2 Parent/Teacher consultations

 1st April PTA Mother’s Day night out with Elsie Information has been attached with
 Crumpet the Round up
 1st April PTA Easter egg raffle

 8th April PTA Easter cake sale

 11th – 22nd April Easter break School closed

 29th April Happy bag collection

 2nd May Bank holiday School closed

 4th May Young Voices

 24th May Class photos

 30th May – 3rd June Half term School closed

 30th May – 3rd June PTA Jubilee scarecrow trail

 6th June INSET day School closed

What’s New?
I wanted to say a huge thank you for the success of the Christmas Fair, the kids absolutely loved it & thanks to you all,
 we raised a good sum of money, considering the restrictions at the time is incredible so a huge thank you to you all.
 We have been extremely busy since returning after Christmas trying to get a lot of the “behind the scenes” stuff
organised, such as completely reorganising the contents of the shed, stock lists etc. We have funded the purchase of
 some more AMAZING books for the library, we have also been helping the school seek some equipment so the
 children can enhance some different skills like sawing, wood works etc. which we hope to expand on soon.
 We are also still working towards building the reading huts for the children so exciting times ahead.

 The PTA SHED The Platinum Jubilee
 After the easter holidays the PTA will no longer be As the Amazing Queen Elizabeth celebrates her
 accepting cash. platinum Jubilee, we will celebrate along with her.
We will be offering the 2nd hand uniforms to be purchased We are organising a Jubilee Trail that will run
not only by card at the shed, but also via PTA Events, the Monday to Friday during May/June Half Term.
 same way you purchase disco tickets.
 Those who choose to take part can design & display
 their own royalty themed “scarecrows” (it doesn’t
This will not be live until after the easter holidays, but we
 have to be an actual scarecrow)
 will of course send out reminders closer to the time.
 We have agreed with some local businesses to sell
 If you have any questions, please email us at the maps.
 pta@rivermead.wokingham.sch.uk More details to follow soon

 Easter Mother’s Day
The PTA will be organising an Easter Egg raffle & an Easter This year we are doing something a little
 Cake Sale. different. This year, it’s a Mother’s Day night out
 Easter Egg Raffle – Friday 1st April with Elsie Crumpet.
 Easter Cake Sale – Friday 8th April
 More info has been included in the round up
If you are willing & able, any Easter egg donations to help
 email.
 us with the raffle we would hugely appreciate the
 support.
 If you are able to make a donation, you can do so from
Monday 21st March which can be left on a table under the
 Rivermead PTA’s – Your School Lottery
 shelter in the yellow team playground. You are still able to buy your tickets & not only will
Please remember the school has a strict no nut rule due you be in with a chance of winning £25k but for
 to allergies. every ticket you buy a % of it gets donated to the
 PTA. WIN WIN!!
 School Disco’s Follow the link below to buy your tickets
 Your School Lottery
We know it has been a long time coming & we have been
asked by many of you when we will be organising school
 discos again. Next Happy Bag Collection
Now we are finally able to start organising them & they 29th April 2022
 will take place in the Summer Term.

 Pta@rivermead.wokingham.sch.uk
 www.facebook.com/RivermeadPrimaryPTA