Head of School’s Message 

Yet again, time has flown over and we are quickly approaching the October half term. The children have settled nicely into their new classes and we’re back into routines. The Y6 children have stepped up into their new leadership roles across school and continue to set a great example to our younger children.  

The dark nights and cold days are approaching fast, so it’s time to dust off the wellies and wrap up warm. I am looking forward to a jam-packed half term full of events, parties and festivities in the lead up to the Winter break and I hope you are too. Please read on for further updates and to find out what your children have been up to this half term.  

Attendance 

We’ve made a super start to the year in terms of whole school attendance and our school is currently sitting at the top of the trust with an average of 97%. The challenge going forward will be maintaining it, however I know that we have your full support with this.  

Just a quick reminder about holiday requests. We rarely authorise time off school and where we do, it must be extraordinary circumstances. Even if you don’t think your request will be authorised, it’s important that you still fill out the form to let us know that you intend to take your child out of school.  

Reporting Absences 

Registers, absences and attendance are all handled by the office, so that everything is kept centrally. If you need to report an absence, please call the office and speak to a member of the office team, or leave a message. If you need to provide further evidence associated with an absence, please send a Dojo message to Mrs Cunningham, who is our attendance officer. 

Year 3

Year 3 have been transported back in time in the weeks since returning to school. Our literacy writing has been based on the story ‘Stone Age Boy’ while our history work has asked the question ‘Who were Britain’s first builders?’. In Literacy, our stories have been all about a boy who mysteriously finds himself in the Stone Age. We have written about hunting animals, fishing for dinner and creating cave paintings. In History, the children created an interactive time line, where they all became an era in history. We have discovered ancient areas of the country, such as Cheddar Gorge and Stonehenge, and studied Bronze Age artefacts and guessed what they might have been used for. In our Art lessons we have produced self-portraits inspired by Andy Warhol, and in science we have learned about the importance of a healthy balanced diet, as well as the main bones of the skeleton. We enjoyed a fabulous multi-skills PE lesson with Mikey from Education Enterprise. 

Year 6

Year 6 have hit the ground running this term. As well as working incredibly hard in class, they have been deciding which secondary schools to apply for. To help them choose, they have visited Parkside Academy and taken part in some informative and very entertaining assemblies. 

In literacy lessons, the children have been looking at the story ‘Varmints’ which tackles environmental destruction, while in maths they have been getting to grips with long multiplication and division.  

In their RE topic this half term, children have been learning about different religious communities in the north east of England. To this end, we paid an extremely interesting visit to the Newcastle Central Mosque to learn about Islamic beliefs and practices.  

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