Since half term, we’ve been preparing a gymnastics routine every Wednesday morning with Mrs O’Sullivan and we preformed them at the Christmas fair; since it’s the winter season, the dances were very festive. It was a great turn out to watch the performance and, as I am one of the gymnasts, I know every one of the performers enjoyed it.
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.
On Wednesday the 22nd of November, Yr 8 went on a trip to see THE WORD perform rap and music. The performance was to mark Dr Martin Luther King’s visit to Newcastle 50 years ago. In November 1967, Newcastle University gave Dr King an honorary degree. Newcastle was the only UK University to do so.
Fifteen pupils from Year 7 were chosen to take part in the Lit and Phil Writing competition. The Lit and Phil is a very old library where people study, read and work. The competition has different themes each year and this year it is ‘Journeys’.
On Tuesday 14th November, the Eagles came into our school to talk about Hoops for Health. Hoops for Health is an event where teams from different schools compete in basketball tournaments to win medals.
When the Eagles came, we were split up into our classes. We went to different rooms around the school and each room had a different member of the Eagles in. In all rooms, we did a different activity: we filled in two types of booklet, did some exercise and practised some dribbling and playing (basketball techniques).
On Friday 10th November, our key group MEAMSH (Megan, Ella, Abbie, Mia, Scarlett, and Hannah) held a tea party as well as a nightline, raffle, name the guide dog competition and a keyring stall. Last lesson pupils and teachers came down to the hall to enjoy cake and have fun. It took us over a year to plan the event, with hard work and the taking of lots of responsibility. We received lots of help and support from teachers and students. We are happy to tell you that, as a result of this event, we raised approximately £790.
On Wednesday 1st November there was a Halloween disco in school between 5:00 and 7:00 and it was amazing. Pupils were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes after school while the hall was transformed from a formal assembly room to an epic partying scene. The lights were turned off and all drapes were closed. There were bright red and green lights that sparkled in polka dot patterns on the floor and, when they reached the walls, they formed red and green fireworks. Smoke poured out of a small machine. You could hardly see anything, which was fun and “halloweeny.”
On the 8th of November, Year 5 and 6 got the chance to watch a pantomime production of Cinderella. It involved spectacular singing, dancing and acting. It was a very nice treat (oh yes it was) and a very good show.
We are a group of children in Year 8, Abbie, Bethan, Finn, Muntaha and Phoebe, and have been involved in a project focusing on Launchpad, a charity that supports mental health service users. We are doing the project as a part of the Key, which is a charity that helps young people develop multiple life skills, including teamwork and problem solving. We have presented our ideas to the Key, who awarded us £250 to carry out our project.
In November, four Year 8s had a great opportunity to go to the Centre for Life on a Maths Gifted and Talented day. There were meant to be lots of different schools there, but when we arrived we were the only school that showed up! We completed puzzles, learnt card tricks and even learnt the maths behind navigating in the night. The first thing we did were the puzzles, some of them included: a pyramid, a mountain and there was a puzzle where one person would make a shape using bricks in a certain amount of time and the other would use the rest of the time left to copy it. This only names a few. We had lunch there then carried on, answering questions about the exhibition there and learning card tricks. We all had a very entertaining time and learnt lots of new things too!
On Friday 23rd November, 6HT and 6NG made the long voyage by metro to Segedunum. If you are wondering what or where Segedunum is, it is a place in Wallsend that has a Roman museum.
After the train trek, we finally arrived at the museum, where we were ushered to a room where we dropped off our bags and coats. It was there when we had to be split into two halves. 6HT had the good fortune to stay inside and be warm and poor 6NG had to go outside on a freezing day.
On the 20th of November, 12 year 7s went to the Live Theatre for a writing workshop with a focus on script writing working both independently and collaboratively. The first activity was freewriting when we had to write for three minutes without stopping (surprisingly hard work!) Next, there was a quick write where we were given a time limit, a rule for writing and a theme. These first two activities were designed to get our brains thinking about writing.
