Following World Book Day, a reading challenge was set. Pupils had to do 20 tasks, such as read to a pet, read somewhere different, read someplace where you wouldn’t normally read, listen to an audiobook, read in the bath (careful!), and many more. Those who completed all of the challenges would be put in a prize draw. The school winners were Olivia 5SL and Mina 5SL (me!). We each won a Maltesers chocolate egg and bag of Maltesers (yummy)!
Fifteen year 7 children took part in the ‘Lit and Phil’ writing competition. This was a competition where many children from North East schools entered a piece of writing. The theme for this year’s awards was ‘Journey.’ Children could choose from 3 options: a poem, a non-fiction piece of writing or a fiction piece of writing and for each category there was 1 runner up and 1 winner. However, as there were so many entries into the fiction category there were 2 runners up and 1 final winner!
The colour run event, organised by Mrs Cheape, took place on Friday the 23 of March. It was a 30 minute run where other people throw powder at you. The run was organised to raise money for Sport Relief. Lesson 4, the Year 5s ran and Year 6 threw powder at them, then they swapped round. Lesson 5, Year 7s ran and Year 8s threw then switched. The powder colours used were: yellow, pink, blue, green and purple.
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.
In mid February on Wednesday there was a Valentine’s disco. There was a DJ and live bands by year 5, 6, 7 and 8- some of our talented students were playing their own music. It was AMAZING there were stalls with food, drinks and sweets. Everyone was dressed to impress and everyone danced the night away … there were some sore feet the next morning. The hall was decked out with hearts and Chinese new year decorations to put everyone in the mood for love!
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
