It was lovely to see so many families have lunch together at our Nursery ‘café’ and Mother’s Day lunch on Friday 4^th March. It was very well supported and thanks go to Linzi and staff in the kitchen for all their hard work on that day.

A local artist from The Forge has been working with children in Penshaw class to create a mosaic about being safe online. The children designed it together first before creating it. The mosaic will be displayed in the ICT room once it is completed.

A huge well done to all children, and thank you to the many parents/carers, that took part in egg decorating. There were so many brilliant ideas and it was very well supported, it was difficult to decide upon the winners!

This year we held a special assembly about World Book Day and children did different activities in their classes. Each child also received a book token to put towards or spend on a book of their choice.

Well done to Thomas Tsang, Chloe Johnston, Archie Jamieson, Sanisha Mathew, Dylan Long and Amelyn Wood who were asked to take part in a ‘Robotics Day’ at The Hermitage. They were extremely successful with their programming as we came both 1^st and 2^nd places in the ‘competition.

We have 9 extra-curricular clubs taking place in school at the moment, ranging from different sports to recorders to performing arts. It is fantastic to see so many children taking part.

At last the nights are becoming longer and the mornings lighter!

 

Thank you to all parents/ carers who came with their children to have a family breakfast this term. We had an excellent turn out, and this is due to the fact that you have given your support. The children thoroughly enjoyed it too!

Our school council met with a lady from County Hall to discuss how we can be more environmentally friendly in and around school. They participated in an assembly about saving energy and what they can do to help. Our new benches on the school yard were suggested by the school council, who were giving ideas from their classes, about what the children wanted on the playground.

As part of Safer Internet Week, Claire Patterson, our local community police officer came in to school, and led an assembly to remind children to keep safe when surfing the internet or playing online games.

Children in years 5 and 6 have been training for the cross country races which begin on Saturday March 5^th. Mr Hood is impressed by the speed and determination of the team, and we are looking forward to seeing their successes when the league begins

Well done to those children who have been coming to school for 8am on Tuesdays to take part in the ‘Fisch fitness club’. All who are participating are increasing their fitness levels, and ready to start the day full of energy!

Thursday March 3^rd is World Book Day. In addition to an assembly, each class will be doing different activities related to authors and books. The children will also receive a book token that they can buy a book of their choice with.

These last few weeks have been full of Christmas activities and fundraising.

Our Christmas festivities began at the beginning of November, with M&M theatre productions coming into school to perform Peter Pan to the children. The children and staff joined in, and thoroughly enjoyed the show.

This was followed by our own performances from all our children. Well done to all our Nursery and Reception children (and staff!) for putting on a super show, ‘Wriggly Nativity.’ The children were very brave standing and singing in front of all the adults who came to see them.

Children in Years 1 to 6 read and sang beautifully at our Christmas concert in church. It was fantastic to see so many people supporting this lovely event.

Congratulations to all who took part in the performing arts club pantomime ‘Aladdin Trouble.’ It was an excellent performance and was enjoyed by everyone who came to see it. Well done!

All children in Y1-6 went to the Gala theatre to see the pantomime, ‘Cinderella.’ The behaviour of the children was excellent and this was commented on by the Gala staff, which makes us extremely proud.

Bullying is something that we, as a school try to do something about. Thank you to so many of you for the fabulous work that you did at home for our anti-bullying display. I know that many of you saw it on Target Setting day in the hall. The boards are still up in the corridor for visitors to see.

Thank you to everyone who came dressed as a hero or as a Superhero for Children In Need. We raised £227.31 for a very worthy cause.

Thanks also to all of you who brought in £1 on Christmas Jumper Day to help raise money for ‘Save the Children’. There were some super, sparkly jumpers from both the staff and children so thank you for your generosity.

For the Cross Country season this year, our aim is to see more children competing in the Chester-Le-Street Cross Country League with the first fixture being held at Bullion Lane on Saturday 16^th January. In 2014 we had 9 children competing, in 2015 18 children competed. In 2016 we would like to be the largest competing school with over 20 children racing.

This half term Y5/6 children had the opportunity to take part in cross country club. A group of 4 gifted and talented children from Y4 were also invited to attend. There has been a welcome increase attending this year with 34 runners taking part.

Happy New Year to you all!

Thank you so much to everyone who made cakes for, and attended our coffee morning. We raised £323.88 for Macmillan which is a very worthy cause.

Our Big Breakfast was very well attended on Friday with many families coming to share a healthy breakfast with their children.

The football team has been playing well so far this term. We have had a rugby coach and multi skills clubs taking place. The performing arts club is going well with rehearsals for ‘Aladdin Trouble’ underway. We also have a recorders club and a pre-youth group that meet weekly to take part in a variety of activities such as cooking, sign language, arts and crafts.

Our Halloween discos were thoroughly enjoyed by all children who came. There were some fantastic costumes, party games and some great dancing.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable half term break before we begin the Christmas season with a pantomime the first week back!

It is so lovely to see everyone looking refreshed and smart in their school uniforms after the summer break. I would like to welcome Miss Mitchell, our new year 3 teacher and Mrs Perry, teaching assistant to Bullion Lane and hope they enjoy being part of our team.

The Nursery and Reception children are settling in well and are enjoying the bright, spacious, interactive environment that we offer.

The performing arts club was attended well on Monday where we have started to prepare for our pantomime of ‘Aladdin Trouble’ which we will be performing at the end of the autumn term. Football, rugby and youth clubs are also underway.

The building work in school is almost complete and the heating system throughout will certainly improve the environment during the winter!

Our first main event of the term will be the coffee morning on Friday 25^th September where we hope to raise money for Macmillan. I look forward to seeing everybody then

I’d like to say a special thank-you to Mr Seeley who returned to help with the Seeley 5-a-side competition. The trophy was won by The Black Knights – Jayden, Kian, Gabe, Shannon and Molly. Mr Seeley refereed some of the games and presented the trophy and medals. The afternoon was enjoyed by all.

We will be proudly displaying our new school banner at the Leaver’s Service in Durham Cathedral this week.

Our fundraising activities are going well. Children especially liked buying the friendship bracelets. We are looking forward to hosting a coffee morning for families and friends on Friday morning from 9.00am until 10.30am. There will also be a tombola. Please come along for a coffee and a chat.

We have all breathed a sigh of relief now that SATS are over and that’s both children and staff! The children worked extremely hard and this will hopefully show in the results they receive in July.

Four years after our ceilings fell in the floors are now rising! The building work has just commenced with three classes having their floors replaced and a new central heating system being installed throughout school.

We are looking forward to seeing Mr Seeley this week as he makes a return visit to referee the football tournament for the Seeley Trophy.

It was lovely to see Molly the rescue dog from the Dogs’ Trust last week. She came to educate the Year 5 children from Penshaw class about how to be ‘Dog Smart’.

It is creative week in school this week and we are looking forward to Assembly on Friday when we will find out what classes have been learning.