On the 17th, 18th and 24th of May, pupils from Dinnington First School, Broadway East First School and Gosforth Park First School came to visit GEMS. During their visit, they took part in either computing, art or cookery. Everyone had a great time and we are sure they are all looking forward to coming to GEMS in September.
On Friday 17th May, 16 students in Year Seven had the treat of participating in a Lit quiz. We went on a coach into Morpeth in the afternoon to meet many other schools. The hosting school was called Chantry School and the event took place in their hall. We were in groups of four in our form classes as we completed the six sections about literature. Some of the categories were Pictionary, Transport, Threes and Mini and not so mini beasts. It was a fun afternoon and we all enjoyed going and taking part.
The girls pamper night was fab and at a discount price!
As we walked in, the room was inspiring with its decoration using pink accessories. Gold-glittered cupcakes and mock-tails awaited us. White and pink mock-tails were on offer filled with healthy organic fruit and sugar surrounding the rims of the glasses. Tasty Doritos with dips were also there for us to help ourselves. One of us… no names (Juliette) had 4 mock-tails!
WING is an organisation that selects to work with students who they believe would benefit from building self-confidence, friendships and leadership skills. We take part every other Tuesday and Friday and go out for the day and do an activity. The activities include things like: canoeing, mountain biking, kayaking and orienteering. These help us because we have to work together as a team and/or by ourselves to figure things out. So far we have been: canoeing, navigating, cycling and we have completed forest school training.
Earlier this year, a group who had been successful in bidding for £250 as part of the Key project, went on their trip to Gravity Force, a trampolining park in Sunderland. The team leader said, ‘’It was an amazing experience and I would definitely recommend becoming part of the Key Project and a visit to Gravity Force. I would go there again.’’
Four representatives from Daft as a Brush (a charity that brings people to hospital and back) taught us how this important local charity works when they came into school on Tuesday the 25th April.
On Friday 28th April, a group of Year 7s and Year 8s went to a mini tennis tournament at Churchill High School. We took a coach there in the morning and came back in time for lunch. At the event there were three schools; Gosforth East Middle School, the Royal Grammar School (RGS) and Churchill High School. We were playing against Year 10s who were from RGS - quite a big age gap there! Our team was split up into four teams, which were then split up again, into four groups of two. Half of the group from each team then played each other, as well as the two teams from RGS and the one team from Churchill High. The results were as follows: the two teams from the Royal Grammar School came 1st and 2nd receiving a gold and silver medal and a plate to take back for winning. 3rd place was one of our teams! James McGrath, Tim Renshaw, Isaac Douch and Cameron Pears (Team 3) who happily showed off their bronze medals to the other teams as well as when we were walking back into school!
On the Friday after the SATs week (yippee, they’re over) the Year 6s went for a treat to … WET ‘N’ WILD!
On the 2nd of May, some students from Year 8 were selected to go on a trip to the Democracy Day at the Discovery Museum in town. On this trip we got the chance to meet the Lord Mayor of Newcastle Councillor Hazel Stephenson. We also got to look around the museum to find out more about the history of Newcastle, and to explore the issue of democracy through looking at the exhibits; this included material from past election campaigns. We were able to ask the Lord Mayor questions and she explained the history of Newcastle’s Lord Mayors. Did you know that the Lord Mayor’s chains have different local landmarks and that she gets to choose four charities to support for the year?
The BBC visit took place on the 4th of April, when the press team (the group who put together this newsletter) got the chance to see how this branch of the media works.
As part of the visit, we went to the CBBC section of the studios which is where we did our own Diddy Dick and Dom show and where we saw part of the Wolfblood set. Then we learnt some interesting facts for example that the big fluffy boom microphone is called the ‘dead cat ’and a small microphone a ‘dead kitten’. (No cats were harmed in the writing of this article). As well as that, we were able to learn the secrets of the BBC’s studios.
The cancer run took place on the 21st of May and there were 71 participants from GEMS, including students and family members. They all ran 5 miles. All years from 5-8 were allowed to compete.
GEMS swam past expectations in the swimming gala. (Sorry…) They came 3rd out of five schools and, even though they didn’t win the competition, each child represented the school in a fantastic way. Fifteen children should be exceptionally proud of themselves: Rebecca, Ben, Miyla, Dillon, Izzy, Rosie, Sky, Issay, Matthew, Lydia, Finlay, Joe, Abbie, Marcie and Erica.
