From Monday 12th March to Friday 16th March, GEMS and all the other schools in Gosforth were doing a STEM week. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and we were now focusing on science. All pupils at GEMS did the same activities. The first activity was to make the tallest tower out of paper clips and lolly sticks. We are looking forward to receiving the highest score! The second activity was to make a glider out of paper and a straw. It is called ‘the circle glider.’ You have to put different sized circles of paper onto a straw. Then you throw it and see how far it has gone. The third activity was ‘paper glider’ where we made a glider out of paper and blew at it with a paper straw. It was a little bit like the circle glider where we measured the distance it had flown. The fourth activity was a paper tower, where we took scraps of paper and made them into the tallest tower we could. The STEM week required an enormous amount of scientific skill and everyone had lots of fun.

On the 20th March, a group of Year 8 students were given an opportunity to have a MFL trip. The students found this day very eventful and interesting and learnt many new things too. The Year 8s left at 9:00 a.m. and came back right before lunch. Some pupils had a chance to stand up and read their work aloud! The movie that they watched was called ‘Sa vie de Courgette’. It is a clay animation and the movie name meant ‘My life as Courgette’. The movie was about a boy named ‘Courgette’ and contrasts from a bad life, to a great one! The movie was highly humorous and some students have something to say about it: One of the students (Jeyana) said: “The movie was hard to understand however, the English subtitles helped and that’s when I understood the meaning and concept of the whole film.” Another student (Phoebe) said: “The movie was so interesting and I would definitely go again. We did many worksheets and the whole day was entertaining. If you have the chance, go and do it.”

The Gosforth Pyramid Ceilidh took place at Gosforth Junior Academy  Lots of children came together to make a ceilidh band to perform to their family and friends .

Ms Hodgson took up some of her precious free time to take GEMS’ performers (on Wednesdays after school) to practice for the ceilidh . The first practice was at Central Middle school, and the second at the Junior academy .

On Thursday 15th march, some year 7 and 8 girls participated in a stem trip, which was held at St. James’s park. Once we arrived, we completed a variety of activities related to stem. But before that, our hosts and helpers were introduced and introduced us to S.T.E.M. We were in a big room that was decorated perfectly. So much effort had been put into the decorations. There were so many tables, as there was so many girls. Huge balloons were spread out across the hall and every decoration was linked to the other. First impressions…. WOW!

We started the Key Group British Pride because we wanted to have a go at organising a trip. We had the idea of helping Jesmond Dene Rangers because we wanted to help the community and wildlife. We thought that this community would be good to support as it provided good activities as well as helping the wildlife. We are helping the wildlife because some are endangered and some animals are dying because of pollution or eating things which are bad for them.

The first step in our project was when we met Sarah (a Jesmond Dene Ranger) and we discussed all the ideas we had. We used our skills of compromise as we organised what we were going to do for the trip to Jesmond Dene. Some activities were: making bird feeders, building new insect houses and even seed planting.

The next step was when we had to talk to some members of the Key, tell them our plans for the trip, and convince them that out project was worth sponsoring with their money. This was a tricky task as it tested our ability to speak for ourselves and convey our ideas to others. Overall it helped us and improved our skills for the future.

Lots of people took part in the trip. We encouraged as many people as we could by speaking at the assembly and asking them to sign up in the resource area at KS2. To choose who was coming to the trip, we decided to pick names out of a hat because there were too many people to take. We had worked out our  budget so we knew  we had enough money for the things that we would do at Jesmond Dene.

We travelled on a minibus all the way to Jesmond Dene and we met other rangers like Cath, who helped us with seed planting, and Ken, who helped at pets’ corner. Everyone had lots of fun (especially when they were feeding  animals.

by Jeffrey and Josh