At the early time of 5:00am, on the 20th of January, 30 year 8 students met at Newcastle airport. From there we began our journey on the 2 hour flight to Grenoble. When we landed there was less snow than in Newcastle and the sky was grey. We then got on a coach that took us on an hour and a half drive up a windy mountain road. Luckily, nobody was sick. Everything was covered in snow; the view was completely different from the one at the airport. Mountains surrounded us and there were piles of deep snow everywhere. When we arrived we unpacked and got our ski boots fitted.

The word ‘fun’ completely sums up the stem workshop that myself and another 23 girls participated in.  Two women from Newcastle University, who have a degree in Stem, came into the school to teach and to inspire us - to consider pursuing a career in stem.  Although it’s not for me, the way that they presented this area of study, certainly had a big impact on lots of the girls.

At first I wasn’t too excited about the workshop, I had never really been interested in stem, but as the workshop progressed, I realised that I was wrong. I actually really liked it and I’m sure all of the other girls did too.

This half term, Year 5 were informed about an especially serious issue, bullying. Dave Burns came into the hall with two year 5 classes at a time. He got everyone’s attention with his ‘very hilarious’ jokes but, more importantly, it was very informative. Pupils and even teachers, including Miss Wilson and Miss Simon, got involved in an important demonstration, which showed the consequences of bullying.

GEMS squash team (Evie, Zoe, Kate and Ava) were playing Dame Allen’s and R.G.S and we were teamed up with Central. We won every game apart from one which Central lost (not our fault)! We all got a taxi to the Northumberland Tennis and Squash Club. The team got there at 11am and left sweating at 3pm.But the team are delighted to say that GEMS are through to the next round. Overall, it was a great experience for everyone.

In November, some of each year group were chosen to go to the Tyneside Cinema to see a new movie called ‘Queen of Katwe.’

It was about a young girl called Phiona, who grew up in Uganda with her siblings and hardworking mum. She didn’t really have any dreams that she wanted to achieve; she just thought she’d grow up to work like everyone else. That was up until she met Robert (a more wealthy man, who worked for an education outreach organisation who gave kids a reason to live). Robert would teach all the children how to play chess and how to have fun. Eventually after raising money, he put the kids into a chess competition, which then lead Phiona to a national competition and a lot of success at playing chess. Phiona became ambitious to succeed and to make the lives of her mother and siblings better.