On Friday the 22nd June, GEMS held the Summer Fair and this time it was better than ever. Fortunately, many pupils from all year groups made their own stall to run which made the day even more exciting with a massive variety of stalls.
Recently, a group of Year 8 pupils organized workshops for key stage 3 all about mental health.
These workshops were provided by Launchpad, a charity which works with mental health service users and helps to educate the public on these issues. The workshops included talking about everything from depression to anxiety.
On Tuesday 27th March, 12 students from year 8 (Zahra, Lacie, Jessica, Charlotte, Maddy, Isobel, Delphine, Lucy, Sophie, Erin and Frazer) and Mr Dowman and Mrs Batt went on a fantastic trip to a trampoline park. We did lesson 1 and 2 just like usual and had lunch early (thank goodness nobody ate too much otherwise they would have got a stitch). We had an hour of fun at the park. On the way back everyone stopped at a dessert place called Kaspa’s and ordered. “I’ve never been to Kaspa’s so I was excited to try them. From what I’d heard it’s the best dessert on earth, I simply couldn’t wait!” said Zahra before trying it. “Oh my goodness! Can someone please buy me 7 of these for my birthday!” said Jessica, after trying it. Everyone arrived at school with their stomachs full of desserts and huge smiles on their faces.
The Great North Exhibition is being held this summer. It is an event in which music, history, art and the whole of the culture and achievements of the North is celebrated. It is brilliant to live in the North East and the Festival of the North is an opportunity to remember how much they appreciate everything our region has contributed to the development of the arts, of science, of industry. It is also a chance to show to the rest of the country, the rest of the world in fact, everything that it means to be a Geordie.
The cast of Bugsy Malone had been practising since the beginning of the school year; so much dedication and resilience had been put into this show.
Last year, people signed up to be in the cast while lots of people signed up for backstage crew too. Then this year, Ms Hodgson and Miss Thompson held auditions and then, to great excitement, the cast list was announced. The main characters were Bugsy Malone, Blousy Brown, Fat Sam and Tallulah (weird names I know!). It was great fun during rehearsals especially since splurge (cream) was flying everywhere.
We want you to send us a short piece of CREATIVE and EXCITING writing which puts us in the shoes (or football boots) of someone at the World Cup. It doesn’t have to be a moment from this year and you don’t have to wait until the final. Pick an amazing or interesting World Cup moment (it can be on the pitch or off) and write it from the point of view of someone who was actually there ("in the first person" as it's called).
Recently, a group of Year 8 pupils, Abbie, Bethan, Finn, Muntaha and Phoebe, organised a film afternoon and non-uniform day to raise money for Launchpad, a charity based in Newcastle which supports mental health service users. The film afternoon raised an astounding total of £266.15! They also raised over £443 with a bake sale: a huge success! The film afternoon was hugely enjoyed by all the pupils: Jessica said, “I loved watching the film and it was for such a great cause, too!”
On Tuesday 6th March, 6 girls (Zahra, Lacie, Jessica, Charlotte, Grace and Maddy) and Mrs Cheape went on a fantastic trip to Sunderland. They left school in the morning and set off to Katie’s garden by metro. Although the weather was cold, when we arrived we met the two nice ladies that worked there and they offered us hot drinks and the most incredible cupcakes. Jess says “It was an excellent experience; I have always wanted to go there!” we created a conveyer belt, and we split into twos and every pair did a part all to create packs for a hospital (The Great North Children’s Hospital) which, when made up; turned into 10 amazing unicorn reefs. The two ladies that worked there were very animated and kind people. After we created the packs (which was extremely fiddly) the owners of Katie’s Garden showed us all unique types of craft packs and very helpfully gave all of them to donate to the hospital.
From Monday 12th March to Friday 16th March, GEMS and all the other schools in Gosforth were doing a STEM week. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and we were now focusing on science. All pupils at GEMS did the same activities. The first activity was to make the tallest tower out of paper clips and lolly sticks. We are looking forward to receiving the highest score! The second activity was to make a glider out of paper and a straw. It is called ‘the circle glider.’ You have to put different sized circles of paper onto a straw. Then you throw it and see how far it has gone. The third activity was ‘paper glider’ where we made a glider out of paper and blew at it with a paper straw. It was a little bit like the circle glider where we measured the distance it had flown. The fourth activity was a paper tower, where we took scraps of paper and made them into the tallest tower we could. The STEM week required an enormous amount of scientific skill and everyone had lots of fun.
In GEMS, we have a lot of keen crafters and Mrs Cheape wanted to organise a special event, the Crafternoon Tea! It was after school on the 16th of March and it finished at 5pm. Anyone from Year 5 to 8 could participate, however, there were only 30 available spaces. The crafters made a ‘Willy Wonka dreamcatcher’ which was delivered by Katie’s Garden, a team of professional crafters who work for a vintage craft/ tea shop in Sunderland. Also the lucky few got treats and drinks too.
On the 20th March, a group of Year 8 students were given an opportunity to have a MFL trip. The students found this day very eventful and interesting and learnt many new things too. The Year 8s left at 9:00 a.m. and came back right before lunch. Some pupils had a chance to stand up and read their work aloud! The movie that they watched was called ‘Sa vie de Courgette’. It is a clay animation and the movie name meant ‘My life as Courgette’. The movie was about a boy named ‘Courgette’ and contrasts from a bad life, to a great one! The movie was highly humorous and some students have something to say about it: One of the students (Jeyana) said: “The movie was hard to understand however, the English subtitles helped and that’s when I understood the meaning and concept of the whole film.” Another student (Phoebe) said: “The movie was so interesting and I would definitely go again. We did many worksheets and the whole day was entertaining. If you have the chance, go and do it.”
Netball matches took place on the 22nd February at the rival school…… CENTRAL! As was expected, everyone had a great time competing. We also had a coach come from South Northumberland Cricket Club.
