Riverbank School

On Thursday 14 March Riverbank held its second Open Day of this academic session. The theme for the Open Day was SCIENCE!

Parents and carers were invited to attend and join in with their children in a range of science activities.

The classes were engaged in a huge variety of science experiments which ranged from flight and aerodynamics to building the tallest structure they could from given materials, from boat building to an egg challenge.

It was really pleasing to see so many parents and carers visiting the school and joining in with the learning.

I have managed to grab some photos from classes which will give a feel for the day!

Mrs Stephenson’s P2 had lots of visitors.

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P7B Egg Challenge 1 & 2 – I think you’ll know by the noise what happened and who was successful!

Click the link to see – Egg Challenge 1

Click the link to see – Egg Challenge 2

P7B – Group science work.

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We hope our visitors all enjoyed the learning as much as the pupils did. Thank you for supporting the children!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 28 – Everychild has the right to an education…..

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full…..

Thursday 21 March gave all pupils from Primary to Primary 7 the opportunity to take part in a democratic process. As

if we didn’t have enough to worry about with Brexit, our pupils were being given an opportunity to vote for projects which have applied for funding from Aberdeen City Council. This process is called Participatory Budgeting.

A very attentive audience of soon to be voters!

We all met in the hall and Graham and Hamish from ACC came in to explain the process.

Thirteen groups in the Seaton, Kittybrewster, Woodside and Tillydrone areas had asked

Graham began his presentation.

for funding for a variety of different projects. Graham had a Powerpoint which he showed and explained what each group was about and what they were going to do with any funding they received. The pupils then left and were given three tokens each which they could use to vote for their three favourite topics.

Everyone listened very carefully while Graham spoke and explained everything.

The topics ranged from outings for our more mature citizens to Tae Kwon Do, from a sensory garden to equipment for use in school from Sport Aberdeen.

The children then went to The Hub where they cast their votes into containers which had been set up next to a reminder photograph of each projevt. Voting took forever, but ever pupil in attendance cast their votes!

The voters listened carefully.

Well done to everyone who took part and we wonder who will be benefit from the voting process!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 12 – Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.

Article 13 – Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

The Primary 2 IDL topic for this block of time was Scottish Studies and among other things, Mr Flanagan showed the children some of the buildings in Aberdeen designed by the famous Aberdonian architect, Archibald Simpson.

The children were shown the Athenaeum, the Music Hall and Marischal College. Lots of junk was then taken in and the children worked from photographs to rebuild some of Mr Simpson’s finest buildings.

The children were so enthusiastic about their work and were working well in groups or teams to make their copies of some of Aberdeen’s finest architectural heritage!

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I think it’s great that even some of our youngest pupils are learning about famous Aberdonians and the legacy they have left behind for us and I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished work! Well done P2F!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 28 – Every child has the right to an education…..

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for…their own and other cultures, and the environment.

If you were out and about in Hayton Road last Tuesday morning, 26 February, then you can’t have failed to notice the number of high viz vests on display.

Tuesday saw the return of the Speedwatch campaign which involves Riverbank School, Police Scotland and Aberdeen City Council working together to raise awareness of the the speed limits on Hayton Road. This is particularly important at times when children are travelling to and from school.

Many drivers don’t heed the 20mph flashing lights which come on in the morning while children are coming to school and they then come on again at the end of the school day. This can cause problems for our School Crossing Patrol – Lollipop Lady – if cars approach the crossing too quickly.

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We are grateful for the help and support of the Primary 6 pupils who have made themselves available from early in the morning on the days that we are Speed Watching. They have their clipboards and questionnaires with them, should they have to interview a speeding motorist.

If our first trip out saw only 4 motorists stopped as compared with the 14 motorists who were stopped on our first trip out the last time Speed Watch ran. Perhaps our efforts are helping to slow the traffic.

Our efforts certainly haven’t gone unnoticed by our local MP – Kirsty Blackman – who has sent our pupils a lovely letter of praise and encouragement. The letter was sent in 2019 and not 2018 as on the letter. A typo we believe. If you’d like to read Kirsty’s letter, then please click on the following link. – K Blackman Letter

Let’s hope our Speed Watch efforts continue to help with the slowing of traffic on Hayton Road as, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, “We’ll be back!”

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 12 – Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them and to have their views taken seriously.

Our whole school assembly on Monday 25 February was visited by the RNLI.

Ian Begg from the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) talked to us about keeping ourselves safe near water. He explained about the duties performed by the RNLI and that included manning inshore and offshore lifeboats as well as providing lifeguards for certain beaches. Ian explained the meaning of some of the warning signs that we might see as we walk along the beach.

Ian reminded us that if we were unlucky enough to end up in the water that the best way to protect ourselves is to float on our backs until help arrives.

He also gave us tips on what we shouldn’t do near the water eg, we shouldn’t take an airbed on to the water. We shouldn’t swim or dive near cliffs He explained that the water in the sea around Aberdeen was very cold and not good for swimming in.

To help with his presentation. Ian enlisted the help of one of our Primary 2 boys. He was dressed as a lifeguard wearing the RNLI colours of red and yellow. He worked very well worked well with Ian. As a reward for his hard work, he was presented with a pair of Golden Boots badge. These are similar to the boots the lifeboatmen and women wear.

The RNLI rely on donations from the public to pay for their boats and all the expensive equipment which is required. The crew who man the boats are all volunteers and go for special training at the lifeboat headquarters in Poole which is in the south of England. The Aberdeen lifeboat would have cost about £2 million all paid for by donations.

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The talk and video which Ian showed were really informative, interesting and enjoyable. Parts of the video which showed lifeboats tackling huge waves to rescue people were viewed with lots of oohs and ahhs!!

A big thank you to Ian for joining us. Oh, and, by the way, the RNLI online shop sells great gifts and I love their Christmas cards!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 13 – Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full…….

Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax. play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.