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.

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!”

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.

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.”

The Gosforth Pyramid Ceilidh took place at Gosforth Junior Academy  Lots of children came together to make a ceilidh band to perform to their family and friends .

Ms Hodgson took up some of her precious free time to take GEMS’ performers (on Wednesdays after school) to practice for the ceilidh . The first practice was at Central Middle school, and the second at the Junior academy .

On Thursday 15th march, some year 7 and 8 girls participated in a stem trip, which was held at St. James’s park. Once we arrived, we completed a variety of activities related to stem. But before that, our hosts and helpers were introduced and introduced us to S.T.E.M. We were in a big room that was decorated perfectly. So much effort had been put into the decorations. There were so many tables, as there was so many girls. Huge balloons were spread out across the hall and every decoration was linked to the other. First impressions…. WOW!