Principal Update
Message from Vicky Ross, Principal
As June draws to a close, and the wonderful weather finally arrives – we start looking ahead to the next academic year. All the children have completed their end-of-year assessments, and children’s reports will be coming out soon – together with attendance information.
On that note - I am concerned by the dip in attendance that we have had in the last week or two, and I'm putting out a plea to all - to ensure children are coming to school wherever possible. We would rather have children in school with a sniffle, tired, or hay fever – we will send them home if we think they need to. The children know my mantra – 'If you’re not here, you can’t learn'. An attendance of 80% might look okay on paper, but this is the equivalent of one day off per week!! Our target is 97% or higher.
On a more positive note, we have had lots of exciting events this term. It was superb to see so many parents, friends, family and carers at the Sports’ Days’ – more about that below.
There have been a number of trips and outings – with more planned. We have trust events too– like the Summer Cup, visits to 'School of Rock' at Skegness Grammar school and our choir are going to sing in Grimsby Auditorium soon too.
Next year’s classes are nearly finalised, and we hope to share this information with you at the same time as reports go out – 12th July.
Lastly for now – the new uniform has arrived – 15 huge boxes of it! We will be organising distribution next week. Our supplier has promised that the website will soon be up and running too! I am so excited about seeing the children in the new uniform –all pristine in September.
Hopefully, I will be able to see you tomorrow at the 'June Day Jaunt' (a.k.a Summer Fair). A thank you in advance to the PFA for all their hard work on this.
Communications
A reminder that we are communicating via:
Email - enquiries@richmondprimary.co.uk
Have a lovely weekend from Mrs Ross
Trust News
Inspiration Awards
This week we joined our Trust Schools to have our very first Inspiration Awards. Joining all the other school via video link, we recognised outstanding staff members and teams that work in the schools. At The Richmond, we voted for our first Support Staff member of the Year and Teacher of the Year....The winners were.....Mrs Edwards and Mrs Sharp! They totally deserve it!
A big thank you to the Year 3 children who provided our decorations and to Nemrud Pizza & Kebab House (Ezgi, Emir and Ela's parents) for the delicious pizzas!
Effective Maths
Now we are part of the David Ross Education Trust, we will be learning our maths using Effective Maths, which is an exciting new scheme. It teaches new concepts in small steps and gives children the opportunity to learn in partners before applying their learning to an independent task.
We have been lucky enough to have Karen Smith, the DRET Primary Head of Maths, come in this week to model some lessons of our new scheme for staff and children, which has been a great experience! We are so excited to start this new scheme and develop the knowledge of our marvellous mathematicians!
Here’s what our pupils said about the new maths lessons:
Geroge: “I really liked the Maths today. It’s something new.”
Grace: “I really liked Maths today, there was no waiting to have work marked, so we could just get on and work with our partner to find the answers.”
Staff Spotlight
A Sad Farewell....
Staff Update.
At the end of July, we will be saying goodbye to a number of staff....
Mr Ball has been at The Richmond Primary Academy for many years. His dedication to the children has been completely unparalleled -he couldn't do more for the children – including putting out sports equipment (and putting it away) every day, organising the PE curriculum and delivery, and never being put off by the stress of organising tournament after tournament.
Mr Liversidge has taught at The Richmond Academy for several years. His shirts and warm relationships have created many smiles for both staff and the children he works with. Mr Liversidge is changing to a very exciting career abroad with his family We hope he has an amazing time and comes to see us again
Mrs Watts has been with us since April 2023 but was here before that too. She has driven the learning of our Reception children, and always brings her endless enthusiasm to her teaching. She expects the highest standards of the children and has been adored by the children she has taught. A parent in our recent survey quoted, ‘Mrs Watts is such a caring teacher’ We completely agree!
Although Miss Eades has only been with us for a short time, her impact has been noticeable. She has worked with our Reception classes, supporting their learning. But it doesn’t stop there! Miss Eades has also supported children at lunchtime and helped out with our wrap-around care. Thank you Miss Eades.
We wish them all our very best for the future! Come and visit because we will miss you!
Class News
Tremendous teaching and learning at Richmond!
This term started off with all of our year groups experiencing their “hook” for their Talk 4 Writing!
We have received anonymous letters in Year 5, a giant egg was discovered in Year 1, a beanstalk has grown in the Year 3 garden area, a request for help from a local caravan park in Year 4, and we have had a crime scene pop-up in Year 2!
All this excitement has really engaged our children in their new writing unit, and we can’t wait to see what writing they will produce!
Sports Days 2024
On Thursday 20th June, Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) and Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6) took part in their Sports Day track events - having held their field events in the lead-up to Thursday. Thankfully, the weather stayed fine for the whole day, meaning that the running track was perfect for some speedy racing.
After displays of excellent sportsmanship by participants and enthusiastic spectatorship by parents and families, the winners of the day were Irving for LKS2 and Martin for UKS2. Thank you to everyone who attended, and to Mr Ball for organising the whole day.
KS1 Sports Day kept up the competition! After a very competitive morning, Martin came out as the victors!
With Reception taking part in the afternoon, all of the children were excited to race and I don't think we've ever had such a large crowd to cheer for the children.
The day began with the obstacle race and the children carefully manoeuvred through hoops and over hurdles to reach the finish line. Then came the hurdles, the beanbags and finally the long-awaited running race. The children showed excellent sportsmanship as they clapped and cheered for their friends as they hurtled towards the finish line.
At the end we waited in anticipation to hear the results. All of the children did an amazing job but Holland were declared the champions. Well done reds!
Wow, what a fantastic first sports day for EYFS!
You Said, We Did
Parent Survey
Thank you for the parent survey – we will be including your thoughts over the next couple of newsletters….
You said….'school hasn’t registered as a tax free child care providers so parents are missing out on 20% payment from the government on breakfast and after school club payments'
We are trying to sort this out – the transition from maintained school to academy has made this tricky – we are hoping to have this ready for September.
You said...'Parents would like more afterschool clubs for the younger children and children with SEND'
We will certainly consider this, and try to accommodate this next year when devising a club schedule.
You said....'The celebration assemblies are a lovely community event that parents thoroughly enjoy being part of! We would love to see or hear the children singing in these!!'
A great idea - we will pass this to our music lead - Mrs Sylvester - and implement this moving forward.
Important Dates
July
Tuesday 2nd July - Prospective EYFS Stay and Play
WB 15th July – Transition Week
Tuesday 2nd July - Some of Year 5 are at the School of Rock - Skegness Grammar School 8am at school please
Monday 8th July - Choir at Grimsby Auditorium
Tuesday 9th July – Grantham Summer Cup Event
Thursday 11th July – Y6 Induction Day Skegness Academy
Friday 12th July – Reports to Parents
Thursday 18th July – Y6 Leavers Picnic
Thursday 18th July – Last day of Summer Term.
September
Tuesday 3rd September – Return to school.
Community News
A letter from Liz King - Investment & Skills Officer fromSouth & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership.....
Dear School Community,
£20M in Long Term Plan for Towns Funding was announced by the government for Skegness in 2023.
The Long Term Plan for Towns funding, which will be invested over the next ten years, puts local people at the heart of its success, ensuring that local people have a genuine stake and say in what happens in their town.
This includes listening to the views of young people – and we are really keen to hear ideas from your students.
As people growing up in the area, we want to understand what they would like to see for Skegness.
All the ideas have to be around these three themes:
• Safety and Security Examples of things this might include: CCTV, lighting, and ideas to tackle anti-social behaviour.
• High Streets, heritage, and regeneration Examples of things this might include: creating and maintaining parks and green spaces, high street cleaning projects, improving markets, and preserving and improving heritage sites.
• Transport and connectivity Examples of things this might include: improving transport links, cycling and walking routes, safer routes, new pedestrian walkways, and electric charging.
There are a number of opportunities to involve your students and listen to their ideas, and we have set out some ideas which are outlined in the attached document. But, we would also like to hear from you – if you have other suggestions for how your students can add their voice, please do get in touch with our team connected.coast@e-lindsey.gov.uk
Get Involved!
We really hope that you would like to engage with us and can’t wait to hear all of the opinions, ideas and creativity coming from your school.