Message from the CEO

It has been my privilege and honour to lead the Rivermead Inclusive Trust as Chief Executive Officer, working

alongside the Chair of the Trust and supportive Trustees, since its conception in January 2016. This position

originally was run in tandem with me as Headteacher of Rivermead School (the school which successfully

applied for Multi Academy Trust status). Since its conception we welcomed into our family Walderslade

Primary, Hoo St. Werburgh Primary and the Marlborough Centre. We also have within our umbrella the

Rivermead/Mid-Kent Partnership, Rivermead Outreach Community Challenge (ROCC) and most recently the

extension of Rivermead School, Triple R (Rivermead Routes for Reintegration).

With me stepping down as Headteacher of Rivermead, at the end of August 2018. It has allowed me more time

to focus on the centralisation of the core Trust areas; Finance, Human Resources, Facilities, School

Improvement and the overall network within the Trust.

All of our schools have recently been Ofsted inspected with all of our schools graded as ‘Good’ with areas of

‘Outstanding’ practice.

The Trust has a wealth of expertise and I am ensuring that our Trust maintains its ethos and vision especially

ensuring that we enrich our learners alongside providing a holistic education, what we always highlight

ourselves to be and that is ‘inclusive’.

Tina Lovey

CEO, Rivermead Inclusive Trust

Welcome

A very special welcome to our first Rivermead Inclusive Trust Newsletter. We are very proud of all our

fantastic staff, pupils and parents / carers within our Trust. We see ourselves as truly inclusive for all

and wanted to be able to share with you some of the amazing things we have been doing both at Trust

level and within all of our Schools and Provisions. We hope that you enjoy reading this newsletter as

much as we have in putting it together.

Newsletter No. 1 - 2018

Improvement Information

This first two terms have been an incredibly busy two terms for the School

Improvement Team of Kerri Edge (Director of School Improvement) and

Paul Dadson (Strategic Lead for Teaching and Learning). We have been

incredibly proud to have been able to support all of our provisions across

the Trust and thank the Heads, SLTs and all staff for their hard work that

make our Trust such a fantastic place to work. The hard work and effort in

school improvement has been recognised externally by two very positive

visits by Ofsted at Waldersalde (Nov 18) and Hoo, (Sept 18) which comes

off of the back of a very successful visit by Ofsted at Rivermead in July

2018. All teams in our locations have shown what strong schools they are,

coming out ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ elements in many areas and it has

been a real pleasure for us to support them with their journeys to these

points. Walderslade have also had a very successful Incyte visit which

again highlighted what great strides forward the school are making under

its new leadership team.

Other key areas that the Improvement team have been involved in during these first two terms have included:

Quality assurance of the systems and structures which exist within each school including the very robust

learning walks and pupil progress meetings.

Support and challenge to increase the capacity of the leadership within all of our Trust provisions.

Highlighting and sharing good and innovative practice through training, discussions and our new Teaching

and Learning weekly newsletters.

Bringing together key personnel from across the Trust to work collaboratively in areas such as Teaching and

Learning, NQTs, GDPR and Well- being.

Putting in place a Trust wide CPD programme to support and develop the very best practice.

Supporting the writing of the School Development Plans and accurate School Self Evaluation.

If you would like any further

support during Term 3 from either

Kerri or Paul then please contact

them via your Senior Leadership

teams.

Kerri Edge

Director of School Improvement

Paul Dadson

Strategic Lead for Teaching and Learning

Fabulous Finance

As a Trust we are committed to improving outcomes for all of our pupils and

provide support to all our staff. We have made some exciting purchases this

year to enable this to happen. This includes:

Optimus Education – which provides practical and professional training to support staff with their continuing

professional development. This is an excellent resource that can be accessed by all Staff. Please contact Paul

Dadson if you need any help with accessing this resource.

My Concern - a simple to use, safe and secure software for recording and managing all safeguarding concerns in

any educational setting. As we all know the safety of our pupils is paramount and this resource will help us to

embed our already effective safeguarding practices even further.

Pixl for Primary - an excellent teaching resource that provides tailored programmes containing a wealth of classroom

strategies and resources. It also brings school leaders and specialists together at regular conferences to share

ideas and support.

It is also great to hear that software packages for SEMH and Behaviour have been purchased and are up and

running or due to be shortly. We strive to make life easier for staff in our Trust and we want to continue to invest in

essential services and packages that save time and energy.

Staff Wellbeing is also important to us. Remember…..keep going with your attendance!!! And don’t

forget the fabulous WOW Awards. Get your nominations in by Thursday 13th December.

We also have our Trust Activity-Filled day on Wednesday 19th December. I hope you are

all ready for the fun day ahead…..Nerf guns ready!!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Finance Team who have worked so

hard this year and are amazing! You are all stars! Joanne Le Breton, Karen Kara and

Louise Glennon.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

Dawn Campbell Chief Finance Officer RIT

‘Watkin Writes’

Welcome to all new staff who have joined the Rivermead Inclusive Trust since September.

The Multi-Academy Trust continues to develop and many good things have taken place

between the three schools with training and collaborating across the Trust. This then

enables staff to work together and meet the needs of our learners, whilst further

developing and growing each of the schools.

Some of the achievements since the start of the academic year are: Issuing Contracts, Probation Meetings,

Safeguarding Training, My Concern and Preparation for our OFSTED inspections.

As a Trust we thrive on growing our own, encouraging our staff to develop their skills and qualifications to better

themselves. We have lots of staff across the Trust that have already grown into their positions i.e.:

Qualified teacher status, HLTA’s, Therapy Assistants, Speech and Language Assistants and Cover Supervisors,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff for their continuing commitment in supporting the Trust.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the office staff at all locations for their hard work and

dedication.

If anyone needs to contact me for any staffing issues or training please feel free to do so. My

contact number is: 01634 961080

Karen Watkin

Super Systems

A review of various systems by the SLT occurred in

September and October to ensure that the systems in place

were achieving the best for children, staff and all

stakeholders. These systems ranged from communication in

school to CPD bookings to Teaching, Learning and

Monitoring systems. The outcomes of these reviews were

shared with all staff and new systems put in place, with staff

views gained where required. This has had a real positive

impact on staff with most staff feeling involved in the

changes, which in turn, has led to an honest and transparent

approach at HSW.

Hoo Heroes at Ofsted

After just six days of the first Term, HSW received the call from Ofsted detailing a full

two-day inspection with four inspectors. Despite a very new team, with 59% of teaching

staff and SLT being new to HSW, the inspection went exceedingly well with ‘goods’

across the board, ‘outstanding’ for Personal Development and some very close

‘outstandings’ in other areas too. Some highlights from Ofsted were –

“Good-quality teaching ensures that pupils in all key stages learn well….Standards in reading, writing

and mathematics increased substantially at the end of key stage 2 in 2018…..Children flourish during

early years. They make rapid progress and are well prepared for learning in Year 1”.

“Leaders have taken care to involve staff fully in the school’s development. As a result, staff feel valued

and respected. They share leaders’ aspirations for the school’s future”.

“Pupils are exceptionally polite and well behaved. They value their education

and enthuse about learning. Pupils’ personal development is outstanding.

They feel valued, secure and very safe in school….Pupils feel extremely

safe. They say that adults in school are kind and that teachers and teaching

assistants always take the time to sort out any concerns”.

Courageous Curriculum

The staff at HSW have been working

particularly hard at developing a

Courageous Curriculum. The first two terms

have looked at initiating a topic with a WOW

moment with mini wows running throughout

the term. The children have thoroughly

enjoyed these events and it has enthused

their learning. Some examples are – Year 1

Dinosaur investigation, Year 3 Visit from the

Greek God Zeus, Year 2 had a day in the

life of a King or Queen, Year 5 and 6 both

visited London to start their topics on Crime

and Punishment and WW1, Year 4 spent the

day as Romans completing a Muddy Run to

see if they were fit enough to be a Roman

Solider and FS had a Superhero day.

Creative Corridors

We are proud of our school and our learning environments

demonstrate this. Staff across the school work above and

beyond to ensure that the learning environments are

engaging and enriching throughout. We are going to continue

to work on this throughout the year so that when we have

visitors they are ‘wowed’ down each and every corridor

Exciting English

During Term 1 our Trust English Lead, Chloe Brown has

introduced a new Spelling system into KS2 at Hoo St

Werburgh. To further develop Read, Write, Inc. within the

school she has had the opportunity to become fully

trained in RWI. This allowed her the opportunity to Team

Teach with staff and adapt the planning, so it is most

effective for our learners. She has enjoyed being a part of

the working group that has implemented new planning

systems within the school, giving our learners a bold and

courageous curriculum.

My focus moving forward is to fully embed Accelerated

Reader at Hoo St Werburgh and also look at where it

could benefit other learners across the trust. I am looking

forward to exploring this opportunity with other

leaders.

Chloe Brown

Trust English Lead

.

Magical Maths

Our Trust Maths Lead, Sam Simmonds, has had a really busy Term 1 and 2. Particular highlights have included: Met with head teachers at the start of the

year and I have appreciated their support. Hoo –worked with staff to identify focus

groups, started booster groups in Years 4, 5 and 6.

Walderslade – started a Year 6 Greater Depth work group – a great group who have made a really enthusiastic start.

Rivermead—supporting with the use of ma-nipulatives

Sam Simmonds Trust Mathematics Lead

Together Team

As 59% of the staff at HSW are new, we have to celebrate how quickly

the team have come together to ensure that the children receive a great

education. The team at HSW are remarkable and are such a successful

team already. We are looking forward to ensuring that HSW is

recognised as an Outstanding School at the next Ofsted!

Respectful Remembering

Something we are very proud of is HSW’s links with the community.

For Remembrance Day the whole school created art work for the local

church. This was an awe and wonder event that the local community

enjoyed as well as our children. All the children went to the church to

view their artwork and the Reverend said in a thank you letter -

“It was a real privilege to for us to have such amazing art work on dis-

play and many of the people that visited during the week commented

on the quality and care of the work….the children were a delight to host

and a really good advertisement for their school”.

Cracking Concert

Our confident Year 5 children were involved in an amazing community event which was

headed by the Trust– the Synthesis Concert, which raised money for local charities. This

event was an extremely successful community event and was enjoyed by all that attended.

Creative Centre

Our 2018/19 school year started with a bang when Ofsted came calling in

the second week of the new school year. Whilst very stressful, the

comments from the Inspectors were incredibly reassuring and positive.

I felt they captured the heart of the Centre and our vision for the future

really well.

The Marlborough Centre has been very busy the last two terms looking at how we can best demonstrate our pupil’s very small steps of progress. This progress is often unaccounted for within the constraints of the academic based National Curriculum but should be valued equally. Within special education the basis of all we do starts with identifying barriers to learning and finding ways to reduce these to ensure learning still occurs in whatever form for the individual child. These barriers are often basic in nature, such as struggling to transition, moderate behaviour, develop self-help skills, independence and most importantly the ability to communicate effectively and purposefully. Whilst basic they are none the less vital as the building blocks for engagement both with a more formal curriculum and with the world in which our children live. Securing these skills first, allows children to flourish in a more holistic sense than merely through learning to read, write and count. However, identifying and supporting these skills requires a high level of expertise, skill and perseverance as our pupils can-not sit with pen and paper and complete cold tasks or tests. Assessment of and for learning becomes even more essential therefore, and being able to assess subtle and often inconsistent changes then set small but significant next steps based on these is no easy feat.

With this in mind we have made great strides in the last two terms in developing our own assessment and tracking systems designed to track these very basic, but fundamental skills. This is known as MPAC, Marlborough Pathway Assessment Compass. The system is based around eight key skills that we feel children need to have achieved to a given level before they are ready for formal education. We have used the term Compass because the baseline and ongoing assessment of children using MPAC can indicate which curriculum pathway a child requires. High scores in all or most areas could indicate the need for a differentiated version of the National Curriculum whilst lower scores would indicate a pre formal curriculum pathway. Our pre formal curriculum is VB-MAPP. Basically a curriculum working on developing those very early communication skills, both verbal and non verbal, it is not dissimilar to the EYFS but specifically for pupils with Autism.

We are encouraging a bespoke response to need. This means that a child could have a combination of Individual targets from both the formal and informal curriculum plus SALT and OT targets; whatever is required to meet that child’s unique and individual needs.

We have also looked at connecting steps (PScales/BSquared) and considered how data is collated using this system. Louise Kennett, DHT, has worked tirelessly on developing a cohesive, purposeful and more accessible way of using this programme to demonstrate attainment and progress and then used this to create a reporting package for the Trust.

To support this we have developed ILPs (Individual Learning Plans) which are weekly target sheets for pu-pils. These record the very small steps determined thorough assessment of pupil need. Therefore, they may or may not have reading, writing and maths targets throughout the year dependent upon their unique needs, but will have a set of bespoke targets linked to their EHCP and their presenting profile.

Another priority for us is to forge links with other Medway special schools. Louise and I had a very informative and useful visit to Abbey Court who we are planning to continue working with. We have also met with Danecourt and organised some good practice visits and a moderation event; the hope is to extend this to other provisions.

As Christmas draws ever closer we are, as I am sure you all are, in the midst of rehearsing our Christmas

Production. I look forward to sharing photos and stories with you all!”

Fabulous Footballers

On Tuesday 27th November our Key Stage 3 football team travelled to K Sports FC in Aylesford to take part in a football tournament run by the Kent FA. Several schools around Kent took part. Rivermead played a total of 5 games, winning 4 and losing 1. This was a great

achievement and it was down to remarkable teamwork, effort and attitude from our

footballers which was pleasing to see. For many it was their first ever football

tournament so this was a great opportunity to gain life skills, self-confidence and

valuable experience outside the school environment.

Marlborough Outreach Team

The Marlborough Outreach Team is a small team of specialist teachers with

extensive experience of teaching and supporting pupils with ASD in both main-

stream and specialist provisions. The Team continues to grow from strength to strength and is used by many

schools in the Medway area. In term one alone we received 41 new referrals which were added to our existing

caseload.

The role of the Outreach Team is to provide advice and support to all Medway mainstream schools to enable

them to support the pupils with ASD, with the view to enabling them to remain in the mainstream setting with the

appropriate level of resourcing and support. As a Team we advise and work alongside school staff to ensure that

they have an understanding of pupils needs and are aware of the best resources to support them, whether this

be, for example supporting transitions or facilitating learning.

Within the Trust we provide support to two of our schools Hoo and Walderslade; sharing ideas and good practice

and when requested modelling good practice. It is always pleasing to see the skills of staff growing and the

strategies suggested being put into place to support young learners make progress.

As part of our work we provide training to schools to support their understanding of ASD, including challenging

behaviour and sensory needs. In the last academic year members of our Team delivered training to the

Marlborough Centre to support staff understanding of sensory circuits and how these can help pupils self-

regulate. If you would like information regarding training we would be more than happy to discuss training that is

currently being delivered and if necessary create bespoke programmes to support staff.

We are also incredibly lucky within our Team to have two Team Teach tutors, myself and David. We are

responsible for training all staff, where required, across the Trust and regularly run courses for new joiners and

refresher courses for existing staff. As many of you know Team Teach works on the principle of de-escalation

techniques to reduce risk of restraint. Many of these strategies can be seen used successfully across the Trust.

In the summer we will be sharing information about the Outreach Team at the SENCO conference and are

looking forward to continuing to build the reputation of the Team and share good practice further.

Mandie Lucas

Lead for the Marlborough Outreach Team

Reflective Rivermead

.

Rivermead Term 1 & 2

Since the beginning of September Rivermead has hosted a trainee Social Worker who has been doing some work particularly focussed upon our year 7’s and the Sixth form. Miss Lilley has settled well into the school and will be sadly missed when she moves on to her next placement. The school also hosted 10 Second Year Secondary Trainee Teachers. The aim of the placement was to enable them to see the way a special school works and compare it to mainstream education – this was a very interesting 3 days for them and we were all able to take many positives from it.

September

During September some of our year 10 girls went

to a days conference about women in

engineering. They represented the school

amazingly and enjoyed the activities they took

part in. All of our year 10’s spent a day at

Medway Water sports Centre doing team building

activities which led to building a raft and racing

against each other. This really helped them to

form good working relationships with each

other. The month culminated with the annual

McMillan Coffee Afternoon where fun and games

were had and lots of cake was eaten. Rivermead

raised an amazing £705.22 during this event.

October

October started with the GCSE Art group taking a trip to London to visit the VA as an introduction to their per-sonal projects this year. Miss Sibley has run Hygiene workshops for all of year 7 groups and all learners were given a pack of toiletries to encourage their hygiene routines. India Day was a fantastic day with dancing and Henna designs and an amazing Indian themed lunch provided. We are looking forward to the next theme day in the New Year.

November

Our Annual Celebration Evening event was held

at Mid Kent College once again this year. This

event recognises the achievements of the whole

school over the past academic year and is a time

for us to congratulate the Year 11’s who had just

taken their GCSE’s. 8 Special awards are also

presented to learners who have made

outstanding efforts or contributions during the

year including two learners who were awarded

the Rivermead Inclusive Trust Awards for Key

Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. The school Council

organised two events – The Poppy Collection

and A Children in Need day. Both events raised

fantastic amounts of money £258 for the Poppy

Appeal and just over £200 for Children in Need.

All Key Stage 3 classes have been to the cinema

as part of curriculum based learning relating to

specific topics for each year group. All of Key

Stage 4 attended a STEM activity day at

Brompton Barracks, where once again all

learners represented the school amazingly and

had the opportunity to take part in some brilliant

activities. A special mention should go to Thomas

H who was interviewed by forces TV as he was

superb at manoeuvring a robot and getting it to

complete some quite complicated tasks. The last

week of November saw our Year 11’s complete a

week of practice exams – preparing them for

what is to come in May/June next year when they

will be sitting their Public GCSE exams. Our

Key Stage 3 Learners have taken part in their

first football tournament and had a truly

December

As we move into December we have our Harry Potter

themed 4 days to look forward to from the 10th to the

13th December – finishing with a trip to the Harry

Potter Studios on the Thursday. Friday 14th sees our

annual Carol Concert at the local church with mince

pieces and a hot drink back at school afterwards.

Monday 17th is activities day for the learners and we

finish the term on the 18th

Remarkable ROCC

What a fantastic holiday we had! The end of term one saw our first holiday club

following the funding transfer to direct payments and our families didn’t falter!

We supported 35 young people over the course of the week and undertook

some fantastic adventures! Legoland, Pumpkin picking and Kent Life all topped off with our spooky

Halloween party!

We are now steamrolling into our Christmas event, shopping at Bluewater.

This is something that is brilliantly received, families love getting genuine

surprises from their young people and then of course our thoughts will turn to a

fabulous February.

Of course this couldn’t have been done without the dedication and support of

our fabulous ROCC support team, their commitment to our young people is

phenomenal. They work their hardest every day to ensure fun is had by all.

The feedback from the families has been positive with many commenting on

how comfortable their young people are with us in comparison to other

provisions. One young person has even told us it is her second home!

With the support of the Malborough Centre, we are currently gauging interest

from families on the possibility of running a provision for younger children.

There has been a positive uptake so far and I will be sure to update you as

soon as we have more to share. Some of our current young people have

expressed their delight at the idea of others ‘having a safe, fun place like we

do.’

We welcome any support from any member of the trust, new faces are always

welcome,

As usual we regularly update our twitter or please feel free to contact us.

Exciting Enrichment Our Trust Enrichment lead Mona Whttton is always looking for ways to provide fantastic opportunities for our pupils. Included below is a write up of a cookery experience she provided for some of our Rivermead learners: Today I took three of our students to the Rotary Cooking Competition. This is a national competition with today being the regional heat. There were six contestants in total, three were level two college students and then our three, Ben A, Millie A and Harry T. Throughout, our learners were calm and collected and just put their heads down and got on with it. Every member of staff and judge who came in commented on how well they coped with the whole situation and how polite and eloquent they were, they really were a credit to their parents, themselves and the school. They all produced a 2 course meal (main and dessert) in two hours. They were judged on hygiene, tidiness, menu choice and the food itself. There was a lovely presentation in McLeods at the end of the day

which saw Millie collect third prize and Ben collect second. The college tutor went out of his way to take the three of them one side and tell them how impressed he was with their hard work, determination and resilience.

Term 1 has been a very successful yet very busy time for the Trust IT support

team.

As many of you will be aware, the Trust have recently opened our new

provision Triple-R that had no networking infrastructure in place at all. Triple-R

was a blank canvas, which enabled us to build a network to our own design

and specification. It took the whole summer but Triple-R now has future

proofed, efficient, reliable, quick, secure and up to date network.

There has been networking changes to Walderslade as we moved away from

RM CC4, to a windows network. After a few teething issues, I can happily

report that Waldersalde also have an efficient, reliable, quick, secure and up

to date network.

Rivermead recently had their switches and WI-FI systems upgraded, to

replace the outdated structure. After a few teething issues and changes to the

network, there has been a vast improvement to the network speeds at Rivermead. These systems are so im-

pressive that we will be looking to implement them (all being well) to all schools across the trust, over the next few

years.

At Hoo St. Werburgh Primary School and Marlborough Centre, we have installed new networking points into the

conservatory in the staff room to create a dedicated IT suite for staff. This allows staff to work in a quiet, peaceful

environment and return the staff room to its main function.

Lastly, the trust has been lucky enough to employ a full time IT Technician, Adrian Byles, to help support the day-

to-day running at each of our schools and provisions across the trust. Adrian is a fantastic addition to the Trust IT

Support team, who has helped to improve/support IT for the whole trust.

Pipeline Projects

We are aware of how much of a vital role IT plays

nowadays, and with this in mind, we are hoping to

upgrade the internet to 100Mb at both Rivermead

and Walderslade, during summer 2019. This will

help improve Internet speeds at both schools,

which in turn will have a positive impact on

teaching and learning.

In the near future, the IT Trust support team will be

looking to support Hoo St.Werburgh Primary

School and Marlborough Centre in a greater

capacity. We will be working very closely with

BCTEC to ensure we offer the best support

possible to you all. We hope to see you all at your

schools soon.

Handy Help

The type of support that the

Trust IT support team can

offer:

Support on desktops,

servers, peripherals,

networking and appli-

cations

Onsite support

Evening support (presentation evenings,

celebration evenings,)

Remote support

Reliable/efficient service

Your Tech team for all your IT needs are:

Colin Bellinger—Network Manager Adrian Byles—IT technician

Colin can be reached on – 01634 961080 ext. 307 or at bellc032@rivermeaedinclusivetrust.org

Wonderful Walderslade

It’s been a busy and exciting start to the year for children and staff at Walderslade

Primary School. The children continue to make us proud every single day with

their fantastic attitude, brilliant sense of humour and incredible achievements,

both individually and as a whole school.

Since the beginning of the year, the pupils have fully immersed themselves in

their topics, learning skills across the curriculum in fun and engaging ways. A

wide-range of activities have been planned to help them gain a deeper

understanding of various subjects and to make their lessons even more

enjoyable. Plus the children, themselves have certainly led the direction of

many of our topics to the areas that most interest

them. Through these terms, pupils have dressed

as their favourite Roald Dahl character, made the

most imaginative chocolate bars in their very own

classroom chocolate factory, designed the ultimate Viking shield and followed

the antics of two very naughty dinosaurs. Pupils have taught earthquake survival

skills to others, made their very own Stonehenge and performed mini ‘Escape from

Alcatraz’ stories.

As a whole school, pupils have taken part in special themed days such as, ‘Diwali day’, and an interactive

workshop led by a West-end performer.

We have also been very proud of our children’s achievements in music and sport. Pupils in Key Stage 2

attended mini-youth game competitions, reaching second place in the league for badminton. As well as this,

pupils in year 5 and year 6 performed at the RIT synthesis concert, demonstrating their fantastic singing ability

Supporting charities has continued to remain important to all of us at Walderslade Primary. For

Children In Need, we all arrived at school with our craziest hair and donations in support of this

charity. We also collected our highest amount of food donations this year for Harvest Festival

with everything collected going to the ‘Caring Hands’ charity. In addition, we have a very

special pupil who organised her own cake sale in support of her brother and to raise money to

help others with muscular dystrophy.

Collaborative learning remains integral to Walderslade

Primary. Our children work together across year groups

in various subjects. Our year 6 pupils work as mentors

to pupils in year 3 and year 4.

As a staff, we also demonstrate

this through critical friendships

where we support each other to

develop our practice further.

As a staff, we continue to build and develop as a

strong team. It’s never easygoing through an in-

spection but we’ve achieved successful results in

two inspections, Incyte and Ofsted, within thirteen

working days of each other.

Now, as we approach the end of the year, we’re

looking forward to our whole-school trip to the

pantomime and our staff performance of Jack and

Hello and welcome to Triple R

Triple R is an extension of Rivermead School, based in Long Catlis Road, Parkwood. The provision provides

an additional 30 places for learners with Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties in Year 7 to Year 11.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!!

Admission Criteria

Triple R is a provision made up of three aspects. The learners that Triple R cater for are ‘Pre CAMHS’

learners as part of the Reintegration Programme (previously known as 6+6), ‘Post CAMHS Hospitalisation’

learners as part of the Dual Role programme and our ‘Home Tutored’ learners who are too medically ill to

attend school. All of our learners remain on roll at their home school.

All our learners have Social, Emotional or Mental Health Difficulties, Learning Difficulties or other complexities

that require an EHCP, or a pending EHCP.

Learners present with mental health difficulties being their primary need to address. This makes it necessary

for the provision to provide an alternative or modified curriculum which meets the individual needs of each

learner.

All learners will be on CAMHS’ current caseload as either a post in-patient or out-patient. The young person

must have a CAMHS professional working with them throughout the duration of their education at Triple R.

Also, we must ensure Triple R can meet the needs of the learners as identified in their professional clinical

reports.

Referral Process

Reintegration Programme and Home

Tutoring Service referrals can be sent

direct to Triple R

Dual Roll referrals are sent via the SEN

Dept. at Medway Local Authority

Triple R’s wonderful team are:

Shelley Ribbon –Interim Head of Provision

Sarah Negus – Assistant Head

Wendy Etches – Pastoral & Transition Lead

Kate Speirs – Learning Mentor & Therapy

Lynda Martin – Class Teacher

Helen Thomas – Class Teacher

Rebecca King – Teaching Assistant

Sophie Reid – Receptionist

Carly Tydeman – HLTA & Pastoral Team

You are all most welcome to pop in at

any time to visit, just let us know you

are coming. We would love to show you

around.

Spectacular Six Form

The Rivermead Partnership is based at Mid Kent College and currently supports 39 learners with

additional needs. The provision is designed as a transitional 1 year programme and provides holistic

support ensuring that learners progress both on their courses and also socially. Every year is different

because we respond to the characters and personalities that we are lucky enough to work with and this

year is no different.

This August learners enrolled on and are now accessing a variety of courses including: Hair and Media,

Make-up, Animal Care, Performing Arts, Hospitality and Catering, Bricklaying and Construction,

Engineering, Applied Science, Childcare, Sport & Public Services, Business and ICT. Learners come

from a variety of schools in the area and the Sixth Form staff team work hard to support in and around

lessons.

Whilst in college learners access their main course lessons, English, Maths, personal tutorials and work

experience – each learner has to do a minimum of 100 hours of work experience

across the year to help them become ready for employment and begin preparing

for adulthood. The Sixth Form staff help to access work experience and working

with Medway Education Business Partnership we have sourced several

placements for our learners already. They are out at Dog Groomers, local radio

stations, with CAD draughtsperson, helping in charity shops and even at Creams

(fingers crossed for discount vouchers in the future!)

Whilst the college courses that learners access are quite full on, the Sixth Form still offer a wider holistic

package ensuring that learners can access additional opportunities.

Through this term we have already completed modules on internet safety,

driving theory and a ‘social media world’ which looked into the use of

different social media platforms. Learners explored different opportunities

for online learning including short courses in coding, graphics, health &

safety in the workplace and the prevent agenda. Learners have also

participated in road safety workshops through the UK Youth lead initiative

UPS Road Code where they tried driving stimulators and VR head sets as part of this interactive pack-

Also as part of the wider Sixth Form offer 13 learners participated in the

Rivermead bespoke NCS team with MY Trust, a local youth charity. This

experience is one focused on social action and the development of

independence.13 young people left Kent and headed to Swindon for a weekend of

PGL activities at the start of half term. There was rock climbing and raft building as

well as teamwork and leadership development. The 13 then returned to Mid Kent

College where they completed a first aid qualification, a coding workshop called Generation Code,

Money4Life (lessons around budgeting and finance) and they began to meet with local charities to

choose a social action project. The learners chose Oakley’s Outings and Share-A-Star, two charities that

support children with long-term or terminal illnesses. The learners arranged donut sales, a quiz night and

a raffle along with a Christmas selection box drive to take to sick children in hospital. They raised several

hundred pounds for the charity and collected nearly 50 selection boxes for those in hospital at Christmas.

All in all we are really proud of the start made by all Sixth Form staff and learners this year. We are

heading into 2019 and Term 3 with optimism for new learning experiences and chances to showcase the

good work done across a year in Partnership.

1. The jigsaw project - January 17th will see the launch of the "Art of Synthesis" puzzle project. This Art project seeks to bring all elements of the community together through the use of art to create an installation piece that reflects the Medway community. We are asking everybody to pay £1 to decorate a puzzle piece that reflects their personality. On April 18th 2019 all 15,000 pieces will be installed in the Nucleus Arts Halpern Gallery. 2. The Trust event on 19th - With 14 workshops available there is something for everyone at this interactive Training Day. All the workshops have links to the curriculum and offer staff the chance to reflect on how they might integrate them into their schemes of work. 3. The enrichment days run in school - India Day was a great success with a variety of Indian inspired activities capturing the interest and imagination of our learners with nearly all young people learning something they didn't know about Indian Culture. A wonderful way to develop mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith. 4. Rivermead KS4 STEM day at Brompton Barracks - An opportunity for our young people to have a go at a variety of engineering based activities as delivered by the Royal Engineers. 5. Harry Potter Week - lessons in Mythical Creatures, Defence against the Dark Arts and Potions. On Wednesday we have the owls from the Owl Centre at Kent Life coming in for interactive workshops before the round up of the week, a trip for the whole school to Harry Potter World. 6. Church service - a fresh look at the 12 days of Christmas! 7. Activities Day - Rivermead - From Clay Pigeon Shooting and Laser Quest to soft toy making and escape rooms, learners are offered the opportunity to enjoy a range of activities that help build resilience and social skills. A wonderful end to the term. 8. Art Exhibition - HSW and Walderslade - 14th and 7th December - Learners have spent time creating self portraits just in time for the exhibitions which will be held in the schools. Parents will have the opportunity to buy their child's framed art work, helping to raise money for enrichment opportunities across the RIT. 9. Tuesday 4th December - A group of Year 9 students are delivering an afternoon tea to the residents of a local Residential Care home for the elderly while our own Gina Uden sings songs from the 40's. A wonderful opportunity to bridge the gap between the ages and build relationships within the community. 10. The Synthesis concert which involved all elements of the arts in Medway come together for an evening of song and dance (see write up in our ‘Hoo Heroes’ section.

Exciting Enrichment

We are very lucky within the Trust that we have a published author. Author of Twit and Twoo, Mona Whitton,

co-ordinates a wide range of enrichment activities across the Trust. We asked her for her top ten enrichment

activities that she has organized this academic year to date.

Mona Whitton

Trust Enrichment Lead

The Final Word

It just leaves us to say on behalf of

everyone involved at the Rivermead

Inclusive Trust, we wish you a

wonderful Christmas and a

prosperous 2019. We look forward to

sharing with you all of the fantastic

things which make the Rivermead In-

clusive Trust such a wonderful place to

work and learn in our next newsletter.

The Chairs Corner

As Chair I currently oversee, with the support of the CEO and supportive staff, five different locations with over

two hundred and ten staff and over nine hundred children. As you can see we are a Trust which is growing

from when we started with just one location.

As from September we opened the Rivermead Inclusive Trust head office which has enabled us to centralise

the Trust operational staff. Our financial aspects are centralised as are our HR provision, our schools develop-

ment team ,our Facilities Manager, our School Improvement Team and our CEO. This has made a real

difference, allowing the schools to operate on a day to day basis with the RIT support . Staff are now able to go

into schools and then return to head office.

We have also opened our new provision on the same site as the RIT head office called Tripe R. This stands for

Rivermead Routes for Reintegration and supports those children who need additional support due to their

complex and emotional needs.

Since September whilst it’s been a full on process, all our schools have had an Ofsted inspection and I am

proud to say all our schools have come out with a solid good with outstanding elements.

As I am writing this newsletter we are on the run up to Christmas of which many exciting things are being

planned and rehearsals are in full swing .

That in mind, may I on behalf of the Rivermead Inclusive Trust, trustees, staff, children and myself as chair

wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Ian Chappell

Chair of the Rivermead Inclusive Trust