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.

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 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.”