Head of School’s Message

This year has absolutely flown by – I can’t believe the Summer holiday is just a few days away. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year in the role of Head of School and look forward to many more. I am immensely proud of what we have all achieved this year and look forward to building upon this in September. I hope you all have a pleasant break filled with fun adventures and wonderful weather.

Year 6 SATs

Before I go any further, I would like to formally thank and congratulate our Year 6 children on their fantastic effort with SATs – they had a first class attitude and put their hearts and souls into it. I would also like to extend my thanks to the staff, who have supported the children with booster sessions and mentoring. A special shout out to Mr T Pratt for having unyielding expectations and bringing out the very best in the children. Although we will be sad to see the Y6 children move on, we are confident that they are ready for the next step in their education and life.

We are awaiting confirmation, following the review of papers, but as it stands, here are our Year 6 SATs results for 2023.

Uniform Swap Shop

We have a free uniform swap shop, so that parents can access preloved uniforms that are in good condition. Contact the school office to arrange a time.

Jewellery, Hairstyles and Accessories

• Long hair must be tied up
• No brightly coloured hair
• Hair accessories should be simple and reflect the school colours
• One set of studs is acceptable, but should be removed for PE
• If you intend to get your child’s ears pierced, can I ask that you do so at the start of Summer to give them adequate time to heal.

School Holidays

Please see the school holidays for 2023/24. They do differ slightly from the Durham holidays; however, the ALP schools will be aligned going forward.

Kindest regards,

Dawn Simpson
Head of School

EYFS

Last term, the Early Years Foundation Stage went on a school trip to Seaham beach! This was part of our ‘52Thrive’ programme in which parents submitted things that they believe every child should do before they are 5. We accomplished:

• ‘build sandcastles’,
• ‘explore water on a large scale’,
• ‘eat an ice cream’
• ‘paddle in the sea’… It was a busy day!!!

We were all very excited to get on the coach, we arrived at Seaham and walked along the coast to the bay. We splashed in the water, jumped the waves, built magnificent sandcastles, played ball games and made memories with our friends. We finished the day off with an Ice cream before heading back to school. We were very lucky with the weather, which made the day even more special. We also enjoyed a brilliant day with ProCycling on their balance bike course, we impressed the coach with our skills and worked hard on our balance and coordination!

Year 2

In literacy, Year 2 have been looking for ideal reading corners. We explored different places such as the library, the sensory room and the woods.  Each of us decided somewhere different was the best place to read. We then read all about Little Red Reading Hood who just loved books! We learnt that not all stories have to end the way that we expect them too. We finished off by creating our ending for a story.

In Music, we have been finding the beat in different pieces of music and using the glockenspiels to create our own pieces of music. We then added the glockenspiel to the song we had learnt.

Year 5

The Year 5 children have been learning all about the prominence of coal mining in our community, as well as how children worked in the mines too. We enjoyed a fabulous day at Beamish, which included an investigation about how a young boy had died, along with a walk down the mine. We have looked at primary sources which tell us all about local mining disasters, as well as considering how the North East would have been a different place without the coal mining industry.  In art, the children have been working on their sketching and painting skills, while using Norman Cornish’s pit art as inspiration. They have refined and developed their sketching of the human form, and have learned about lightening and darkening colours to achieve a finish similar to that of the artist.

The Fifth Annual Hartside Spelling Bee

Twenty-one children ranging from Reception class up to Year 6 qualified for this Year’s Spelling Bee Grand Final. As always, the event showcased some wonderful spelling talent and provided a nail-biting finish which kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Jacob was this year’s winner from Reception, while Year 2’s Tom came out top in the Year 1/2 event. Holly (Year 4) triumphed in the Year 3/4 contest while Grace (Year 6) won an epic battle with Lily (Year 5) to take home the Year 5/6 title. Congratulations to all this year’s finalists. The annual Hartside Spelling Bee will return next May.

Reading Update

Accelerated Reader update – for children from Years 2-6

Congratulations to children in Iron and Green Lantern for their effort in reading this term.

Five²

We had the privilege of hosting the first ever ALP Five2 event here at Hartside. Twenty-five year 5 pupils from across our family of schools came to take part in five maths based activities. The children had a great time getting to know each other, whilst collaborating on different problems. There was a 3D shape challenge in the forest area, as well as different number puzzles. The children received a special t-shirt for taking part in the event as well as an ALP goody bag with a copy of the book ‘This is not a Maths Book’. Thank you to everyone who helped make the event a success and we hope to run more collaborations like this in the future.