To celebrate all the marvellous mums, GEMS had a mother’s day afternoon tea with sons and daughters welcome too. For all the cake lovers (including me!) you got some cake, scones, tea/coffee and sandwiches to enjoy.

The girls Under 13 squash team, Evie , Zoe , Kate and Ava from GEMS and Grace and Libby from GCMS , played Royal Grammar School at Northumberland Tennis Club and won which meant that they were then through to the national finals. They won every game that they played which gave them a lot of confidence for the next round of matches. On Monday 19th March, they played in the finals which were in Nottingham. The team stayed overnight and had lots of fun. They went to bed at 10pm and had to get up at 6am  so there were some sleepy faces at breakfast. Each member of the team played one or two matches and only three were lost. This was a brilliant achievement  as their opponents  were generally 13 year olds  and Kate noted how tall they were compared to her diminutive 4’ 6”! In a ceremony at the end of the  competition the team received a trophy  for the school and medals for each team member. Ava and Kate train everyday so this effort and dedication has certainly payed off.  The team had left Newcastle hopeful  and returned delighted if a bit unwell after too many celebratory sweets! Well done to the team and to coach Richard Vitty.

By Ava and Kate, 5ER

On Tuesday 16th January, the six of us, (the Guide Dogs for the Blind-MEAMSH Key Group) got the chance to go back to the guide dog centre in Four Lane Ends. This time, we got to witness a guide dog in training. We met 5 of their guide dogs – some were professional guide dogs, ready to meet their companions.

On Thursday 11th, all year sevens went to the hall  and experienced a drug workshop. As we are getting older, we need to be aware of risks and potential situations that we may get into. Most importantly, we need to be aware what to do in those situations.

On the 14th January, the Year 6 girls went on a trip to an historic place called the Victoria Tunnels. The tunnels might not be particularly “well known” but it has been part of Newcastle for nearly 200 years! Part of its 200 year service has been for “coal transportation” from a colliery to the River Tyne (The advantage of that was that the colliery could deliver coal to the other side of Newcastle cheaper) and it served as “The Safest place in Newcastle” as it was Newcastle’s Air Raid shelter in World War 2 (did you know when it was an air raid shelter, the original plan was for it to shelter 9000 people, but only 7000 people went to the shelter!)