At Riverley, we have built a community, with teams of committed staff providing all students with the best and broadest educational experience. In this way adults and children are engaged in something bigger than the delivery and receipt of a curriculum and are enabled to make informed decisions within and for the community.

Co-Curricular and Extra Curricular

We offer an exceptionally varied extra-curricular free clubs offer which truly widens children’s horizons. Clubs on offer include – gardening, chess, cooking, textiles, robotics, engineering and technology. Our rich and varied provision provides an opportunity to nurture and develop talents and has a substantial and positive impact on our children’s social and cultural development. A mix of virtual and in- school clubs take place to meet the needs of all families.

In addition to providing pupils with a range of activities to develop talents and interests, we are committed to ensuring that our children understand how to live happy, healthy lives where they are responsible and respectful citizens:

Citizenship Clubs

Weekly citizenship clubs provide pupils with meaningful opportunities to understand how to be responsible, respectful, active citizens who contribute positively to society. Pupils know how to discuss and debate issues and ideas in a considered way. A well-established tradition on Founders Day provides our children with opportunities to demonstrate leadership and service to our communities and wider society. For example, litter-picking, designing care packages for the NHS, baking food for the fire-brigade or Police, or creating food packages for homeless shelters are just a small selection of acts of service carried out by our children.

Trust Engagement

Throughout the year there are a number of Trust-wide events that Riverley takes part in:

The Griffin Sports Festival (GSF) is comprised of two elements:

• an Inter-School Competition for twelve year 6/7 pupils from each school within the Trust, taking place at Nicholas Chamberlaine School, Bedworth.
• an Intra-School House Competition for all year groups taking place within each school.

We introduce the pupils to a wide variety of sports including; Duathlon, Orienteering, Archery, Handball, Sitting Volleyball and Curling.

Founders Day raises funds to support a cause chosen by students and connected with the theme of the year. In every school the day centres on community: what it means to be a citizen so that students experience the difference they can make individually and collectively. This often lights leadership sparks in our students.

The Griffin Science Symposium (GSS) addresses the Trust theme of the year. Eminent scientists come from the John Innes Centre and the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London to give lively talks, demonstrations and workshops to students in years 6 and 7 from all schools.

The Griffin Arts Festival is two-fold; all schools run two weeks of events which include performances and activities open to their local communities, plus there is a four day residential for ten Year 5 students from each school. There are now two centres for the GAF residential experience: London and Birmingham, where the competition winners enjoy visits to national arts venues, and workshops with professional choreographers, poets and musicians. The festival ends with our very own Last Night of the Proms concert which itself is preceded by performances from our schools.

In addition to these trust-wide traditions, we have our own traditions which are specific to Riverley. Some highlights include:

• Careers Day where we break down stereotypes and explore non-traditional careers,
• Hello Yellow day, where we take time to explore mental health,
• our Spring and Winter Recitals – where our musicians treat us to performances and our Staff Pantomime which is used to promote a love of Reading.

By the time they leave primary school, pupils have begun to discover their inner musician, artist, poet, scientist, philosopher, sportsperson or campaigner.

Pupil Leadership Teams are appointed yearly with our Year 6 children securing places on this team. In addition, we have the following leadership teams which all include a family representative:

• Inclusion and Diversity
• Creative Arts
• Spanish
• STEM
• Sport
• Humanities
• Well-being and RE

Our pupil leaders lead assemblies, support younger peers in lessons and run activity clubs. During assemblies they explore topics such as Black History, Autism awareness, Well-being, Braille etc – ensuring that difference is valued and nurtured, and bullying, harassment and violence are never tolerated.

Partnerships

We look outwards both nationally and internationally to stay at the forefront of educational development and provide the very best experiences for all children at Riverley.

Below are some of our partnerships:

Leyton Orient Coaching and friends

We have a fantastic relationship with our local football club Leyton Orient. They work with children across the school to develop skills in football as well as educating them about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Through this close working partnership, we have been afforded many great opportunities to collaborate with charities raising awareness for key issues such as racism and the need for defibrillators in public places. Our children engage so well with these topics and visitors are beyond impressed with their high levels of responsibility and ambition.

Royal Overseas League Partnership

The Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) is dedicated to championing international friendship and understanding throughout the Commonwealth and beyond and prides itself on the good it can do for ‘humanity at large’, one of its founding principles. We have a long established relationship with ROSL and have collaborated on many projects over the years including raising money for musical instruments in a school in Kenya and the creation of an Art exhibition exploring the themes of heritage and identity.

International Links

Twinning with school in India

We collaborate with a school in India, which implements a heutagogical approach to teaching and learning, where pupils are highly autonomous and self-determined. An emphasis is placed on the development of the learner’s capacity and capability, with the goal of ensuring pupils are well-prepared for the complexities of today’s workplace. This is something we are committed to at Riverley and enjoy sharing best practices and learning from each other. Through this collaboration, our children enhance their public speaking skills as well as gaining an insight into the culture and traditions of a different country.

Sharing Best Practice in Reading with Maltese School

We are working alongside a school in Malta sharing our exceptional Reading Provision. Colleagues in Malta are supported by our Reading Lead and Creative Arts pupil leadership team to create a Reading Strategy to implement in their setting.

STEM Partnerships

Carefully considered partnerships with national and global companies such as: Imperial College London, University College London, OMNI Architecture, Formula 1, Digital Influx, CREST Star Awards, First Lego League and Dyson have been a key driver in ensuring that our children are provided with real-life, hands-on experiences where they are introduced to the design process and explore developing engineering habits of mind. These collaborative projects provide children with the opportunity to analyse and develop the problem-solving skills that those in the STEM field use daily as well as expose them to a range of possible careers in the field. The wide exposure to careers is seen during our yearly career’s day where children share ambitions of interesting careers.

As a result of these far-reaching collaborations – there is a wealth of opportunities for children to develop their talents and interests in an exceptional manner.

Forest School

We provide children with rich outdoor learning experiences which allow them to develop holistically. We are fortunate in Leyton to have many green spaces to explore, for example: Jubilee Park, The Walthamstow Wetlands and Epping Forest and use these spaces to enhance our Forest School Provision. Together, with our own base camp on our school grounds, we have many spaces where children can experience the natural world.

Forest School Sessions

Every single child at Riverley from Nursery to Year 6 engage in Forest School sessions every year. Our youngest children in Nursery and Reception have bi-weekly morning or afternoon sessions whereas children from Year 1 to 6 will have two-half terms of Forest School Frolics over the course of the year. Forest School sessions broaden children’s ecological knowledge making them more aware of issues relating to energy, air, water, natural resources and wildlife. Pupils’ unique achievements outdoors acts as a springboard for academic excellence. These sessions harness the skills of enquiry, critical thinking and reflection and ensure that our children develop long-lasting connections with nature and the outdoors benefiting their health and well-being.

Through these meaningful partnerships, our pupils, staff and families collaborate to widen children’s horizons, establish new traditions and ensure that children and adults all work together to achieve highly – making our school a truly thriving place.

Impact

Due to our children’s continuous access to a wider range of challenging arts and cultural experiences – stretching their knowledge, skills and understanding, they achieve highly beyond the ‘timetabled’ curriculum. Here are some examples:

World-Class Musical opportunities

Alongside our broad and rich music curriculum a Riverley child also benefits from participating in our instrumental tuition programme. This programme is delivered by our specialist teachers, including those from Waltham Forest Music Service. These lessons provide children with the opportunity to learn to play an instrument as part of an ensemble and to engender a love of music learning.

Our whole class instrumental programme begins in year 1 with students learning the ocarina, the recorder in year 2 and the ukulele in year 3. This tuition is embedded into the taught music curriculum. From year 4 the programme is taught in addition to the curriculum, with year 4 students studying the violin. Following this in year 5 and 6, all students are given the opportunity to continue to study the violin, or transfer to the clarinet or cello through our continuation programme. We proudly offer free instrumental hire and tuition to all pupils as we strongly believe that every child should have access to a high-quality music education.

Performance is at the heart of musical teaching and learning at Riverley and pupils participate in a range of performances. Music strongly leads our school’s Proud Traditions and key celebration points during the year – from our Carols by Candlelight to our Founder’s Day Big Sing and the Griffin Arts Festival, where music is a key component of our whole-school theatrical experience. As well as our own school Christmas shows, pupils also collaborate with our partner schools within the Griffin Schools Trust, performing in our annual Winter and Spring Recitals. Pupils are encouraged to perform in solo performances and are supported in entering the annual Griffin Schools Trust Music Medal Competition and the Mayor of London’s Music Fund award. The skills of our Year 5 and 6 talented musicians are further developed through their participation in our newly formed East London Orchestra.

Whole – school theatrical performance

Each year, we delve into the world of film, theatre, music and dance as we embark on a journey of creating a whole school performance, with the 2021 performance centring around some of the themes from The Lion King. Every Riverley child is provided with an opportunity to express their creativity and imagination whilst working in collaboration with our entire school community.

The children have the opportunity to direct scenes and critically analyse how they can best use space to bring a performance to life within the walls of our school. Every child has a role to play and each role contributes to the creation of this work of art.

During the Summer term, a proportion of our in-school and after school clubs are linked to the performance where children’s individual talents are nurtured. Our team of specialist music and drama teachers are on hand to ensure that each child fulfils their potential in each role. The children become directors, stage designers, singers, choreographers, musicians, artists, actors and much, much more!

Ballroom Dancing

Our children participate in Ballroom Dancing Lessons, weekly. These sessions provide children with an opportunity to be physically active but it also serves to enhance their creativity and develop the characteristics of leadership, curiosity, resilience and general well-being. These sessions have a substantial impact on the physical development of our children by improving co-ordination, posture, strength, agility and flexibility. Teachers also enhance their skills in Dance through these sessions. Our children develop their cultural and historical knowledge and understanding as well as developing rhythmic and musical sensitivity. Undoubtedly, Ballroom Dancing helps develop attitudes and skills in children which will serve them well in modern society.

Shakespeare’s Schools Festival

Every year, we participate in Coram Shakespeare’s school festival. Through this project we nurture creativity by providing pupils with an opportunity to discover hidden talents, raise their confidence through public speaking and develop their critical thinking skills by engaging with the complexities of the content. The children are involved in all aspects of the production through; writing, composing, performing and prop making.

STEM for the future

Ensuring High Achievement through delivering an innovative STEM curriculum is a key priority for us. We have two specialist computing teachers who deliver an exceptional curriculum ensuring that all children are equipped with the skills they need to develop their digital literacy. With robotics set to play a significant part in the world our children will grow into, we have invested in a range of equipment so that every child can explore this exciting technological area in the most interesting and engaging way preparing them for the future.

Every Riverley child has high ambitions of them self as learners; they are curious, creative and always remain resilient in the face of a challenge. They thoroughly enjoy coming to school every day as a result of every adult’s commitment to providing the very best conditions for them to thrive in an inspiring, engaging environment. Through a focus on Proud Traditions, Wide Horizons and High Achievement, everything that can be done to ensure a child succeeds is – and this is reflected in our well-rounded, responsible global citizens who are ready to contribute positively to society.