Latest News
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Sandwell Mayor opens outdoor learning space at Summerhill Primary Academy
Mon 17 Jul 2023The Mayor of Sandwell, Councillor Bill Gavan and Deputy Lieutenant, Dr M Sakhawat Hussain DL officially opened the new outdoor classroom and garden area at Summerhill Primary Academy.
The Mayor and Deputy Lieutenant were welcomed by children from the school’s eco-committee, who have been responsible for planting wildflowers in the new garden space.
The new outdoor classroom has been funded by The Rivers CofE Academy Trust to help improve the outdoor learning environment for all children.
The new classroom is an extension of the forest school area and allows for older year groups, who don’t currently use forest school, to get outside and utilise the space.
Pupils were very impressed by the new outdoor structure and were looking forward to lessons in the outdoor classroom and gardening in the newly built raised beds.
Eco-committee Leader, Mrs Hughes has great plans for the new garden space “ We will be setting up a gardening club and plan to grow fruit and vegetables”.
After the opening, pupils from the school eco-committee were presented with certificates and books as a thank-you for their involvement in a local ‘Love Tipton’ litter-picking event organised in partnership with community organisations Tibby Tenants and Residents Association and Sandwell Borough Council.
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North Worcester Primary Academy creates art for Police Prayer Room
Mon 17 Jul 2023North Worcester Primary Academy was asked by West Mercia Police to produce some religious artwork to help overhaul their prayer room facilities.
Children were invited to create pictures of religious venues, people and praying or places where worship and reflection could take place.
Children from North Worcester Pre-school and the wraparound afterschool club created colourful artwork representing multiple faiths to help brighten the prayer room.
A member of the police visited the school to collect the artwork and meet some of the children who created it.
The visiting PC said “ The children were an absolute delight and I love their artwork. I was very impressed.”
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Applications now open for National Professional Qualifications 2023-2024
Mon 17 Jul 2023The Rivers Teaching Alliance has recently become a founding Associate College of the National Institute of Teaching. Home – The National Institute of Teaching (niot.org.uk)This is a great accolade and means that we can run our own NPQ courses for teachers in and outside the Trust as well as our own ECT programmes.
We are starting by offering 5 of the NPQs from October which are now open for applications.
- NPQ in Leading Teacher Development
- NPQ in Early Years Leadership
- NPQ in Leading Behaviour and Culture
- NPQ in Leading Literacy
- NPQ in Leading Teaching
If you are interested in completing one of the NPQs please contact us:
01905 950700
teachingschool@riverscofe.co.uk
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Governance Day 2023
Fri 14 Jul 2023Our second annual governance day was attended by advocates, trustees, members, headteachers and directors and was an opportunity for the whole governance team to come together to review the first year of our new governance structure and set the priorities for the year ahead.
The day began with a performance from pupils at Northwick Manor Primary School and an introduction to Matt Meckin, who is due to start as Rivers CEO on 21st September 2023.
Kate Brunt our current CEO, presented an overview of the year and focus for advocates over the next academic year.
The new advocate governance structure has been a great success. Kate has spoken about the new governance structure at external conferences and events and other trusts are now beginning to adopt similar models. It is good to know that Rivers is at the forefront of this change and is, once again, seen to be an innovator and leader within the sector.
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Box Car Rally 2023
Wed 12 Jul 2023700 children from 14 Rivers schools attended the Box Car Rally at Shelsley Walsh, for a fantastic celebration of design and technology.
The purpose of the Box Car Rally is to showcase the knowledge and skills children have gained from their design and technology lessons and to inspire the future generation.
Emily Calvert, Box Car Rally organiser said "We are trying to inspire a generation of children to be game changers of the future. [Through our design and technology curriculum], we aim to get children to think about how they can fix real-world problems. Children have started to think about things differently and become problem solvers. This generation of children is going to fix things for us and this event is the first step towards that."
Children and staff put in a huge amount of effort which resulted in an impressive event to end the year and an amazing send-off to all our year 6 pupils.
- Best Mechanism was awarded to Dudley Wood Team 1.
- Best Fashion/Textiles went to Heronswood Primary School Team 1 for their Endangered animal turtle-themed costume.
- Best Food went to Great Witley CE Primary School for their spooky treats.
- Best Structure went to Jubilee Park for their canal boat-themed box car.
Congratulations to Great Witley CE Primary School for winning the overall top prize for their Ghostbusters-themed car, costume and food.
Jubilee Park Academy was 2nd place and Cherry Orchard Primary School came 3rd overall.