Head and Deputy Weekly Update Archive 2022-2023
Friday 21st July 2023 - week 39
Another school year comes to end but what a year it has been!
There is so much to be proud of across the whole school. From our amazing Reception children, who have blossomed and are now ready for the challenges of the national curriculum, to our Year 6 pupils, who have once again proved themselves to be absolute stars.
There is too much to list on this blog today, please take a look back through each of the pupil class pages to see just how much has gone on this year. I do have some thank yous to give out, on this, our last blog of 2022-23:
- First of all, I have to say a huge thank you and well done to each and every one of our phenomenal pupils at Newburn. They are the stars of the show and make the school what it is. Every day they make me smile and proud, and a place to thoroughly enjoy your working week. Enjoy the summer holidays and we can’t wait to see you back raring to go in September.
- To my amazing team of staff, you are just the best. The love and nurturing environment you provide for the children of Newburn Manor is second to none. You make working at Newburn a great place to be and our pupils are a credit to the support and hard work you put in every day. Enjoy the break. Thank you.
- To every parent of each of our pupils, thank for your continued dedication and support. The children wouldn’t be where they are without you. The comments and emails we have received this year, especially after Ofsted visited, will stay with us all for a very long time. Thank you.
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- Our governing body goes under the radar. They volunteer to support the leadership and direction of the school. They were another key element on our extremely positive Ofsted report. Thank you for being there for me as head this year.
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- To the schools of the Outer West Learning Trust, and for me personally, the head teachers of these schools, thank you for being at the end of the phone and for your wonderful support. As a group of schools, we continue to grow and provide the children of the Outer West with amazing opportunities. This will only grow stronger in the future. Thank you.
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- Mrs McFadyen, our school Achievement Partner, continues to ensure Mrs Gill and myself are kept on track. She is always there for us when we’re having a tricky moment with her advice and support when she always knows what to say. She is the best. Thank you.
Today we say goodbye to our Year 6 pupils. They have come so far in their seven years with us. Although very sad to see them go, I am so proud to say that they are all absolutely ready for the next stage of their educational journey. They have been true role models this year and looked up to by all of the other pupils. We know you have the potential to go on to be stars at secondary school and we can’t wait to hear about the choices and achievements you experience in the future.
Week 39's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 2 with 97.7%
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with one late mark
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 6 with 95.4%
Punctuality winners – Year 6 with one late mark
Year 6 were also the overall winners for attendance and punctuality for the whole school year – an awesome year.
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Reception with 8,880 m
Congratulations to our final ACE award winners of the year. You should all be very proud of yourselves...
Once again, thank you to the whole Newburn Manor school community. Enjoy the summer break. See you back at school on Tuesday, 5th September at 8.50 am.
Happy holidays!
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 14th July 2023 - Week 38
The penultimate week of the academic year comes to an end.
Huge congratulations go out to our amazing Year 6 students. We always knew how amazing they were but this week’s SATs results just backs this up further. They have produced some amazing scores at the expected and greater depth level. We are incredibly proud of your achievements… well done to every member of the class.
Monday and Tuesday saw our annual Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 sports events. They were a real success and it was lovely to see so many parents coming along to join in the fun. Another big shout-out to our Year 6 pupils who helped out with the younger children on Monday afternoon; you were excellent role models and really helped the afternoon run smoothly.
Thursday saw our Year 2 children visit Alnwick Garden. It’s a long time since we have been to Alnwick but the weather held off and the children had an amazing time. Visit the Year 2 class page for more photos and information about the amazing day they all had.
Our summer fair had to take place indoors on Friday afternoon, but it didn’t dampen the mood. Thank you to all of the mums, dads and grandparents who came down to support us.
Week 38's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 1 with 100% - awesome!
Reception had 97% and Year 2 98.2%
A fabulous week from all our Key Stage 1 pupils
Joint punctuality winners – Reception and Year 2 with one late mark each
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 6 with 97.1%
Year 3 had 94.7%, Year 4 had 95.2% and Year 6 had 95.2%
Punctuality winners – Year 4 with zero late marks – awesome!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 144,360 m
2nd place – Year 6 with 24,560 m
3rd place – Year 2 with 12,120 m
Next Wednesday is our Year 6 leavers' assembly – all Year 6 parents are invited along to join us. School will close for summer on Friday, 21st July at 3.20 pm.
Have a great weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 7th July 2023 - Week 37
We're nearing the end of the academic year and still managing to pack lots into the curriculum in school. Year 6 had their residential in Edinburgh this week and they had a wonderful time. The week was jam-packed with activities from beginning to end. The weather was varied throughout the week but come rain or shine we were able to enjoy ourselves and take part in all of the activities we had planned. Many members of the public and staff commented on the wonderful behaviour our children showed while we were there. Well done Year 6! Please take a look on the Year 6 Class Page for photographs and more information on what we got up to while we were there.
Back in school, Year 1 visited the church of St Michael and All Angels in Newburn to meet the Rev Allison Harding. The class found out about her role in the church and what she has to do. They also found out about what happens in a church. A particular highlight was when the children got to try out the organ! Yesterday was our non-uniform day in school to collect contributions for our School Fair tombola next week. Thank you for all of your kind donations of bottles for the stall!
During the summer holidays, Waverley Primary School will be holding a summer camp as part of Newcastle's Best Summer Ever 2023. It is free to children who get Free School Meals from Years 2 to 6 and £20 a week otherwise.
Just a reminder of the upcoming events. Next week we have our Key Stage 1 Sports Afternoon on Monday and our Key Stage 2 Sports Afternoon on Tuesday. It is also our Summer School Fair on Friday at 1.30 pm.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 30th June 2023- Week 36
Three weeks until the end of the term and there’s so much going on.
Thank you to everyone who attended our final come and see session of the year. It was lovely to see over 60 mums, dads and grandparents spending a morning in class with their children. It has been so nice having these sessions back on the school calendar and we look forward to seeing more of you in the new academic year.
RGS were in school on Tuesday morning for some Big Sing training. All the children were involved in a 40-minute assembly to teach the children the song, 'Best Day of My Life'. Then, in November/December some of our pupils will gather at the Sage to sing the song as part of a Big Sing Choir.
Year 5 enjoyed their morning at Sainsbury’s in Throckley on Wednesday. As part of their current geography topic, they have been learning all about the origin of foods… although I think their favourite part was eating the snacks they enjoyed at the end of their work.
It was lovely to see our new Reception starters in school on Thursday. They settled in beautifully and all had a great time. We can’t wait to welcome them in properly in September.
Year 2 visited the Westmacott Allotments' new community Rainbow Garden on Thursday afternoon. Mr Vyle’s Makers Club had been down previously to work with the team. Year 2 planted radishes, green beans and beetroot. We can’t wait to see what they look like when fully grown.
Week 36's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Reception with 97.8%
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with two late marks
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 3 with 98.4%
Punctuality winners – Year 4 and Year 6 with one late mark each
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 84,360 m
2nd place – Year 2 with 41,560 m
3rd place – Year 6 with 40,120 m
Congratulations to all ACE award winners…
Have a great weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 23rd June 2023 – Week 35
This week has been extremely busy in school with various trips and visitors throughout the whole week. Tracey from Hoopstarz visited school on Tuesday to work on our hula hooping skills. The children practised how to hula hoop using the correct technique and then tried some more technical challenges involving using more than one hoop and using different parts of the body. It wasn’t easy! Tracey was very impressed with the behaviour and resilience of the children throughout school. Well done Newburn! School has now invested in some more hula hoops so that children can practise these skills on the yard during break times.
Year 2 visited the United Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Gosforth on Tuesday morning where they got to find out all about Judaism. They met a rabbi, handled artefacts and read some Hebrew too. The children had a wonderful morning and came back full of information about what they had been finding out.
Tuesday was a very busy day in school as we invited nursery parents into school for a visit around the different classes. The nursery children then came for a visit on Wednesday to spend time in the Reception class ready for September. It was lovely to have them in school. We look forward to seeing them again next week for another visit. While nursery were visiting, this gave the current Reception children a chance to visit the Year 1 classroom so they could see what it will be like for them in September. They had a lovely time in Year 1 with Mrs Howse, getting to know their new classroom ready for the start of a new academic year in September.
Wednesday was a great day for Year 4 who took part in the Big Gig with over 1900 other children. The event was held at Vertu Motors Arena and the class had a brilliant time taking part with their ukuleles and singing 80’s songs alongside the other schools from Newcastle.
On Thursday, Reception visited Low Barns Farm as part of their ‘What the Ladybird heard’ topic. The class loved exploring the farm, learning about the animals and listening to all of the farm sounds. They had a brilliant day! Please take a look at their class page to find out more about what they got up to while they were there.
This morning Year 3 visited the Laing Art Gallery to take part in a printing workshop. We look forward to seeing their amazing artwork back in school.
Week 35's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners –Reception with 99%. Amazing attendance Reception, well done!
Punctuality winners – Reception with only 1 late! Well done!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 3 with 99.3%. Amazing attendance Year 3, well done!
Punctuality winners – Year 3 and Year 6 with only 1 late. Well done!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 6 with 50,320 m
2nd place – Year 3 with 50,160 m
Huge congratulations to our ACE award winners this week. Here they are with their certificates.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 16th June 2023 - Week 34
What a week! It has been non-stop every day. First of all, well done to our Year 1 and Year 4 pupils. Across the week they have been undertaking their national phonics screening in Year 1 and the National Multiplication Check in Year 4. Each and every one of them has given it their absolute best and we are extremely proud of them all – we look forward to seeing how they got on when the results are published.
Tuesday was a very busy day for educational visits. Year 6 ventured out into Northumberland to visit The Sill and Year 4 travelled down to County Durham to take part in workshops at Beamish. Year 6’s ‘Geology Rocks’ workshop was very interesting and they even got to have a walk along the Whin Sill itself in the afternoon – even better, I got to tag along with them and share (not bore them) my own geological expertise. A great day! Year 4 got to experience evacuee life on the farm as well perform rifle drills… sounds like they all had a great time.
Year 1 took themselves off to the Rising Sun Country Park in North Tyneside as part of their Pirates Topic. What a week to get outdoors, the weather was absolutely stunning. Throughout the day they the children got to read their pirate treasure maps, locate the clues and open their boxes of treasure. In the afternoon they enjoyed making pirate art using natural resources from the environment around them.
It was a pleasure to invite our new Reception parents for September 2023 to school on Wednesday evening. We held a stay and play session so that the children could see their new classroom alongside their mums and dads. Over the coming weeks, the children will be having sessions at school during the day to acclimatise themselves further into their new surroundings for September. We are also holding a parents session on Tuesday, 20th June at 9.15 am.
Year 6 visited Westerhope Primary School on Thursday morning to take part in the Outer West Learning Trust Careers Event. Our children returned enthused about the range of careers they can go into once they leave school. We would like to say a huge thank you to our friends at Westerhope Primary for organising a wonderful event.
Week 34's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Reception with 96.6% - second week in a row for Reception – keep it going
Year 1 had 95.6% and Year 2 96.0%
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with 2 late marks
Year 1 had 8 late marks this week, please remember that the school day begins at 8.50 am
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 6 with 98.4% - you are the overall school winners and as you are over 97% will get double Newbies for this week.
Year 3 had 89.7%, Year 4 had 93.7% and Year 5 had 91.2%
Punctuality winners – Years 4 and 5 with two late marks each
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 45,680 m
2nd place – Year 6 with 35,280 m
3rd place – Year 2 with 22,640 m
Huge congratulations to this week’s ACE award winners…
A reminder to our Year 6 parents that we are holding a meeting for our Edinburgh residential straight after school on Wednesday, 21st June.
Have a great weekend... enjoy the summer sun.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 9th June 2023 - Week 33
We are in the final half-term of the academic year. This half-term is going to be as busy as the rest with many visits and events planned in the coming weeks. Today was particularly busy in school as our Newbie Shop was open for children to spend some of their Newbies. We had many different items on offer today and the children enjoyed buying a trinket, craft, book or cuddly toy.
At lunchtime, some children had chosen to spend their Newbies on a takeaway in school. We had pizzas, McDonalds and KFC for takeaway choices and the children thoroughly enjoyed their lunchtime treats.
This afternoon our Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children were performing to their parents and carers with Steve from the Newcastle Music Service. He has been in over the last few weeks teaching the children on a project called Animal Pageant. This involved using the djembe drums to play different rhythms for different animals. There was drumming, dancing, singing and actions throughout the performance and the children had a great time showing what they had been learning with Steve. Well done Key Stage 1!
Week 33's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Reception with 97.5% - Well done Reception
Punctuality winners – Reception with only 1 late mark. Double winners Reception!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – No winner this week as all classes were below 95%. Let's try to get these numbers up again next week.
Punctuality winners – Year 6 with only one late mark. Well done Year 6!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 93,400 m
2nd place – Year 6 with 88,320 m
3rd place – Year 3 with 79,200 m
Congratulations to this week’s ACE award winners… a range of reasons for being out in assembly today. Well done to you all!
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Thursday 25th June 2023 - Week 32
The end of the first half of the term has arrived very quickly.
It was great having the Rev Allison Harding from St Michael and All Angels in school on Monday for her assembly. She ended with her all action songs that the children love to join in with. We look forward to seeing Allison again before the end of term and visiting her at the church for our end of year celebration.
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 continue to enjoy their djembe drumming session with Steve from Newcastle Music Service. They have been learning the actions, beat and words to the song as part of their animal pageant. We really can’t wait to hear the final piece from all of the classes.
Mr Rudkin continues to support Year 4 with their ukulele preparation for the North East Big Gig at the Newcastle Eagles Arena on Wednesday, 21st June. Parents will be able to attend the performance by over 1700 pupils including our very own Year 4 children. We will send out further information at the start of next half-term.
It was school photograph day on Tuesday. It’s always lovely to see the children looking so smart and the family photographs were adorable. The prints will be ready in the first week after half-term. They will be sent home with your child.
Attendance for the last four weeks has been the poorest all year, with term time holiday having a huge impact across the school. In the first half of the academic year we were well on target to having the best attendance we have ever had. We need another push as we enter the last half-term, especially in Reception and Year 1. In the first week back, the class with the highest attendance that week will receive quadruple newbies.
Week 32's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 2 with 96.7%
Reception had 92.9% and Year 1 89.9%
Punctuality winners – Reception and Year 1 with zero late marks – awesome!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 4 with 95.7%
Year 3 had 92.6%, Year 5 had 93.6% and Year 6 had 94.7%
Punctuality winners – Year 4 and Year 6 with one late mark each.
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 6 with 87,280 m
2nd place – Year 3 with 83,520 m
3rd place – Year 4 with 52,640 m
Congratulations to this week’s ACE award winners… thoroughly deserved…
A reminder that school is closed for INSET days on Friday, 26th May and Monday, 5th June. We welcome our pupils back on Tuesday, 6th June at 8.50 am. Enjoy the half-term break.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 19th May 2023 - Week 31
We've had another busy week in school. On Tuesday, Year 6 had a special treat after completing their SATs last week. The ice cream van arrived in the school grounds to give each member of the class an ice cream or ice lolly to celebrate all of their hard work leading up to their SATs last week. The ice creams came courtesy of 'Vision for Education'. Thank you Vision! After their ice creams, they then had the opportunity to try out our new trim trail in our school grounds.
Year 1 were on a trip on Tuesday and visited Scotswood Nature Garden. The class were learning all about plants. They looked at the different parts of the plant, thought about what plants need to survive and explored the garden to find common plants. They also found out about bees and why they are so important to plants. At the end of the day, they even planted their own seeds to bring back to school. What a busy but exciting day they had!
On Wednesday, it was our Come and See morning in school. We welcomed lots of parents, carers, grandmas and grandads into school to see the wonderful work the children were doing in class. Thank you to everyone who came in to see your child's learning. It is lovely to have you all in school; the children really enjoy it and it is a real highlight for them.
Week 31's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 2 with 95.9%
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with zero lates! Well done Year 2!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 3 with 96.7%
Punctuality winners – Year 3 and Year 6 with zero lates! Awesome!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 126,240 m
2nd place – Year 6 with 95,840 m
3rd place – Year 5 with 70,800 m
Here are this week's ACE award winners with their certificates:
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 12th May 2023 - Week 30
As you will know, it has been Year 6 SATs week. All of our pupils have been absolute stars, giving their very best each day and demonstrating a focus and attitude that anyone would be proud of. Well done to each and every one of you… you are true role models for everyone in the school.
Tuesday was a first for all of our Year 4 pupils. As part of their river topic, they ventured all the way to the Ingram Valley to take part in a river study supported by the team from The Sill in Northumberland. They had an amazing time hiking up the valley before taking part in a creature study along the river. Due to the fast flowing water, they couldn’t complete their speed and depth survey but it didn’t dampen spirits and we look forward to returning next year.
A reminder that next Wednesday is a ‘Come and See’ morning. For Years 1 to 6, the school will be open from 9 until lunchtime for you to join in with your child’s learning experience. In Reception school be open from 11 am to lunchtime.
Week 30's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 1 with 99.1 Reception had 97% and Year 2 97.8%
Punctuality winners – Reception and Year 2 with zero late marks – awesome!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 6 with 100%
Punctuality winners – Years 4, 5 and 6 with zero late marks – awesome!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 6 with 102,080 m
2nd place – Year 4 with 94,160 m
3rd place – Year 2 with 49,600 m
Have a great weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 5th May 2023 – Week 29
This week Steve from the Newcastle Music Service was back in school. He was working with Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 on a project called Animal Pageant. This involves using djembe drums which looks like great fun. When I had the chance to pop in for a closer look, the whole of Year 1 were dancing to the beat of the drum with huge smiles on their faces. They practised using the drums to create the different animals and enjoyed doing the actions too! I can’t wait to see how they progress each week. Watch this space…
Today we also had our Newbie Shop open for business. Children had the chance to choose different items depending on how many Newbies they wanted to spend. Some children had saved their Newbies so they could have a takeaway for their lunch! Some children have decided to keep on saving for the bigger prizes later in the year.
Today we have been celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III ready for tomorrow. Children were able to come to school dressed in red, white and blue and the outfits were fantastic! They enjoyed a special Coronation lunch and took part in a range of activities in their classrooms. Here is a sample of photos from the day:
Week 29's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – No winner this week - all classes were below 95%. Let's try to get these numbers up again next week.
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with only 1 late.
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 3 with 98.9%
Punctuality winners – Year 4 with zero lates. Well done Year 4!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 71,440 m
2nd place – Year 6 with 53,840 m
3rd place – Year 5 with 29,200 m
Here are our wonderful ACE award winners with their certificates:
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 28th April 2023 – Week 28
Our Year 5 pupils, along with Mr Vyle, Miss Gibson and Mrs Gill, have been on the first residential of the year. On Monday they ventured up to Hawkhurst Centre on Kielder Water. They have been posting regular updates and look like they have had an amazing time. We look forward to hearing more about their adventures when they return on Friday afternoon.
Year 1 had a fabulous time at Sunderland RNLI Lifeboat Station, linking nicely to their Grace Darling topic in school. The children had a great time looking at the fleet of boats and all the related equipment as well as hearing about the amazing rescues the team have been involved with. This is the first time we have visited Sunderland RNLI station and we would like to thank the team for their support; the children have remembered so much about their visit.
Next Friday, to commemorate the coronation of King Charles III, we will be having a red, white and blue day at school. Children can come to school in red, white and blue non-uniform clothes. We will be decorating the school and having a coronation lunch to celebrate this momentous occasion.
Week 28's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 1 with 98.2%
Reception had 95.6% and Year 2 had 98.1%
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with one late mark
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 6 with 97.5%
Year 3 had 96.7% and Year 4 had 96.2%
Punctuality winners – Year 4 with one late mark
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 6 with 121,200 m – taking the lead in the race to Paris
2nd place – Year 3 with 74,960 m
3rd place – Year 4 with 27,200 m
Here are our wonderful ACE award winners with their certificates:
A reminder that school will be closed to pupils in Year 2 and Year 4 on Tuesday, 2nd May due to NEU industrial action.
Have a great Bank Holiday weekend
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 21st April - Week 27
The start of the summer term has finally arrived and we have had a lovely week back in school. Mr Rudkin has come back to school this term to work with our Year 4 children on the ukulele. This is in preparation for the Big Gig later in the year where approximately 1,800 children from across Newcastle will take part in a fantastic celebration of playing instruments and singing a variety of songs together.
Some of our Year 1 and Year 4 pupils visited the Discovery Museum with Miss Phillips on Tuesday morning. They were Primary Engineers and had the opportunity to take their projects to the Museum to take part in a competition. The organisers of the event were really impressed with how hard the children had worked on their vehicles. The children had to explain how they had built their vehicles and then they had to test them out. They had a brilliant morning and Miss Phillips was incredibly impressed with how well they worked as a team.
Breakfast Booster class took place this week on Wednesday morning with Mr Pickup. There was a huge turnout from the Year 6 class who enjoyed the breakfast treats and worked on their mathematical problem solving before school. Well done Year 6!
Today was Celebration Assembly and there was a lot to celebrate. Many children received Lexia and times table certificates this week which was lovely to see. Our ACE award winners were out for a range of reasons this week including: contributing more in lessons, moving up in reading, superb work in maths and great writing in class! Here are our wonderful ACE award winners for this week:
Week 27's attendance and punctuality awards:
Key Stage 1
Attendance winners – Reception with 98.4% - well done!
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with zero lates!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 6 with 100% - amazing!
Punctuality winners – Year 5 and Year 6 with both classes having zero lates!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 80,880 m
2nd place – Year 6 with 59,520 m
3rd place – Year 2 with 36,480 m
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 31st March 2023 - Week 26
The final week of spring term has arrived and it ended in style.
We have been able to hold our Easter hat, tie and T-shirt parade this week. It is the first time since 2019 we have been able to perform live in front of our mums, dads and grandparents. It was by no means a polished West End production, but it was a fun way to end the term and celebrate the upcoming Easter break. Thanks to all of the family members who attended both performances, with a huge thank you also going to the teachers, teaching assistants and pupils for some outstanding dance moves… who would’ve thought Agadoo would be such a hit in 2023?
Our annual decorate an egg Easter activity has once again produced some amazing finished pieces. It is always great to see how creative our children can be and this year has been no exception. We have included a few photographs of some of our eggs. I’m sorry I couldn’t get them all on but I hope you managed to see the amazing creations when visiting us for the hat parade.
It has been a week of great performances. On Tuesday, Year 3, led by Mr Rudkin, put on a trumpet concert for their parents. It is hard to believe that only 12 weeks ago, the children were struggling just to get a sound out of their trumpets, yet here they were performing five songs with amazing confidence, including individual improv moments. We are incredibly proud of you and look forward to seeing Mr Rudkin again after Easter when he returns to Year 4 and their ukuleles, preparing for the North East Big Gig.
The Open the Book team were in on Tuesday morning to perform their Easter assembly. We always looking forward to their visit and interacting with the actors and the narrators. Well done to our Year 4 and Year 5 pupils for helping out this week.
It was Miss Osborne's last day with us for a while on Wednesday. She will be welcoming a new member to her family in a few weeks time. We can’t wait to meet the new addition and we wish her and the family all the best until we see her back at school in 2024.
A reminder that after half-term a number of classes will be taking part in national assessments. During this time, it is essential that all children completing statutory assessments are in school during the periods specified below and that no holidays are taken during this time. The schedule is as follows:
Year 1 Phonics Screening Check takes place week commencing Monday, 12th June 2023. It is essential that all children are in school during this time.
Year 2 SATs take place throughout the month of May 2023. It is essential that all children are in school during this time.
Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check takes place across a 2-week period from Monday, 5 June 2023. As Monday, 5 June is a training day for Newburn Manor Primary School, the Multiplication Tables Check will commence for Year 4 on Tuesday, 6th June. It is essential that all children are in school during this time.
Year 6 SATs take place Tuesday, 9th May - Friday, 12th May 2023. It is essential that all children are in school during this time. An additional bank holiday in honour of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III will take place on Monday, 8 May 2023. KS2 tests will take place in the same week with tests following the usual order but each taking place one day later than originally planned. Therefore, the dates for Year 6 SATs will be Tuesday, 9th May - Friday, 12th May 2023.
Week 26's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 1 with 98.5% - second week in a row for Year 1 – keep it going.
Reception had 97% and Year 2 97.8%
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with zero late marks – awesome!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 4 with 99.4%
Year 3 had 88.5%, Year 5 had 92.7% and Year 6 had 95.1%
Punctuality winners – Year 4 with zero late marks – awesome week Year 4, double winners!
Well done to all of the children who have achieved 100% attendance since September! Here are some of them with their Easter eggs.
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 27,360 m
2nd place – Year 2 with 26,560 m
3rd place – Year 6 with 25,120 m
Here are our wonderful ACE award winners with their certificates:
Thank you for your amazing support this term, especially with the Easter T-shirts, hats and ties. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter holiday. See you all back on Monday, 17th April at 8.50 am.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 24th March 2023 - Week 25
This week has been full of visitors and visits throughout school. On Tuesday, Reception visited the Rising Sun Country Park to enjoying going on a ‘Bear Hunt’. The class had a great day. They made dens for the teddy bears to live in, created clay faces for the trees and filled egg boxes with different types of objects found in nature. The whole class had a wonderful day and Miss Morgan was really impressed with their behaviour and attitude. Well done Reception!
Back in school on Tuesday, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 took part in a virtual session with Guy Bass (author of Stitch Head). He talked to the classes about his love of poetry and read many of the poems he had written. He talked about how he became an author and some of his favourite books and poems. It was a great opportunity to listen to a published author read some new and unpublished material before having the chance to ask questions about his life as a writer. Year 4 are currently reading Stitch Head so this made it even more special!
On Wednesday, Year 5 had a Tudor day in school. Olivia and Michael from Durham University Learning came into school for a whole day’s outreach workshop. They had a fun-filled day investigating Tudor artefacts, looking at Tudor inventories and creating their own inventories with feathers and ink. To find out more about what they got up to and to see more photographs, please visit the Year 5 Class page.
On Thursday and Friday, Miss Yui from Conductive Music came into school to work with Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5. The classes had computing/music sessions, using laptops and playing and creating music using the wonders of I.T. Please take a look at individual class pages for more information.
Huge congratulations to our Year 5 and 6 dodgeball team. Today they have been at Throckley Primary School taking part in the Outer West Learning Trust dodgeball competition. We are extremely proud to say that they got to the final where they played Throckley and came out as the tournament winners… awesome stuff!
Weekly attendance and Punctuality:
Key Stage 1
Attendance winners: Year 1 with 99.3% - an awesome turn around – you’ve now shown us what you can do, keep it up.
Punctuality winners: Reception and Year 2 with zero late marks – perfection!
Key Stage 2
Attendance winners: Year 3 with 97.5%
Punctuality winners: Years 4, 5 and 6 with zero late marks – perfection!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st Place: Year 6 with 108,800 m
2nd Place: Year 4 with 80,400 m
3rd Place: Year 2 with 33,040 m
Here are this week’s ACE award winners:
Thank you for your continued support.
I look forward to seeing you at the Easter Hat Parade next Thursday.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 17th March 2023 - Week 24
Thank you to all of our Reception, Year 3 and Year 5 parents who attended parent consultation appointments on Wednesday this week. If you didn’t get to see your child’s teacher, please contact school and we can arrange a new time. There are further parents’ evenings in school for Years One, Two, Four and Six on Wednesday, 22nd March and Monday, 27th March. Please use the school website to make your appointments.
Reception, Year 3 and Year 5 enjoyed a session with Nicola from Rockpool School on Thursday. They learnt all about the rock pool ecosystem and what it takes for the different animals to survive. The highlight of each session was handling the different rock pool creatures… crabs and starfish being the big favourites. Nicola says she had a great time and the children were a credit to the school.
We have our Year 2 Forest School Explorers to thank for today’s beautiful weather. This week they were learning about Jack Frost and created their own frost wands to get rid of the cold and bring in some spring sunshine. You must have done a great job.
Our digital leaders have ventured back to RGS for their second day of computing. In today’s session, the children completed their arcade machines and tested them out. They are currently being checked over by the team at RGS before being delivered to the school. We can’t wait to try theirs out once it arrives.
It was a pleasure to invite Mya from Vision for Education for our celebration assembly today. We had nominated one of our pupils for a Kindness Award and Jay received his award from Mya in assembly. He thoroughly deserves his reward and praise for the many random acts of kindness he displays around school on a daily basis. We are so proud of him.
A huge thank you to everyone who donated to our Red Nose Day non-uniform celebration. As a school we have raised £298, another great contribution from our amazing school community.
A bit of a mixed bag with our attendance and punctuality across the school this week – some real highs but unfortunately some lows as well.
Week 20's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Reception with 96.1%
Year 1 had 94.7% and Year 2 96.0%
Punctuality winners – Reception with zero late marks – awesome!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 4 with 99.4% - amazing!
Year 3 had 98.9%, Year 5 had 93.6% and Year 6 had 85.9% - the lowest mark of the year. Hit back next week with a much improved performance please.
Punctuality winners – Year 3 and Year 6 with zero late marks – awesome!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 33,360 m
Huge congratulations to this week's ACE award winners...
Have a great weekend everyone.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 10th March 2023 - Week 23
This has been another busy week in school. On Monday, Abbie and Elena from Newcastle Physical Education and School Sport Service came into school to train some of our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils as Playground Leaders. All of the dinner time team and the Year 5 and Year 6 pupils worked on setting up inclusive games that they could lead in the yard and thought about the qualities of a great playground leader. The children were incredibly enthusiastic about their new role and have had a great week leading games outside during break and lunchtime.
On Tuesday morning, Year 6 had a workshop with Sarah Gouldsbough from the Darlington Railway Museum. She came to deliver an outreach workshop about the Stockton to Darlington railway linking with their topic on the Victorians. The class found the sessions interesting and were very eager to handle the artefacts and use the sources that Sarah had brought along to the session.
The Newbie Shop was back again today with Mrs Longstaff. Children could use some of their Newbies to buy a small trinket, a book, a craft or cuddly toy depending on how many Newbies they wanted to spend.
Some children decided to cash in their Newbies to enjoy a takeaway for their lunch. They had a choice of something from Dominoes, KFC or McDonalds. The children had a special table set up in the hall to have their lunch and enjoyed their special treat.
It was our Good Work Assembly today where we share the fantastic work we have been doing in school.
Newburn Runs the World:
1st Place -- Year 4 with 93,440 m
2nd Place – Year 6 with 57,760 m
3rd Place -- Year 5 with 46,880 m
Attendance and Punctuality
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winner: Year 2 with 98.9%
Punctuality winner: Reception with only 1 late.
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winner: Year 3 with 99.2%
Punctuality winner: Year 6 with zero lates!
It was lovely to see our ACE award winners out for a great range of reasons this week. Here they are with their certificates:
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 3rd March 2023 - Week 22
Welcome back to the second half of the spring term. I hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing half-term break.
It has been lovely to have Olivia from Newcastle PE and School Sport Service in school this week. All classes have started their dance topic for the term and have been supported by Olivia and their class teacher. All of the expertise should make for some great dancing at our Easter hat parade at the end of the term.
On Thursday, the children celebrated World Book Day with a virtual author visit from Simon Bartram, with a focus on his book Man on the Moon (a day in the life of Bob). Simon is an author and illustrator from Gateshead, so it was inspiring to hear how someone from our local area has followed their passion. During the hour visit, Simon read the whole school his book and talked about his inspiration. He then demonstrated how to draw one of his aliens with everyone drawing their very own version.
Thank you for supporting the children with their World Book Day costumes. It was lovely to see so many different characters wandering the corridors of the school.
Three of our Lower Key Stage 2 children have ventured out to the Royal Grammar School Newcastle today to take part in a digital leaders computing event alongside other Outer West Learning Trust schools. This is the first of two days. All three came back glowing with confidence after starting work on building a joystick controlled arcade game.
Everyone should have received our most recent newsletter via email this week. It explained this year’s spring parent consultation dates and the online sign-up process.
A reminder of this half-terms celebration assembly dates:
Friday 3rd March – Year 2 and Year 5
Friday 10th March – Year 1 and Year 3
Friday 17th March – Reception
Friday 24th March – Year 4 and Year 6
Friday 31st March – Year 2 and Year 5
Week 22's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 2 with 98.6% - a great week, well done
Reception had 95.0% and Year 1 94.3%
Punctuality winners – Reception with zero late marks – awesome!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 5 with 98.5% - a great week, well done
Year 3 had 91.4%, Year 4 had 97.1% and Year 6 had 97.4%
Punctuality winners –Year 6 with one late mark
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 43,920 m
2nd place – Year 6 with 32,480 m
3rd place – Year 2 with 16,800 m
Once gain, a huge well done to all of our ACE award winner this week. You have all been trying so hard after half-term and deserve your awards...
Please use the link in the email sent on Thursday 2nd March to sign up for a parental consultation slot.
Have a great weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 17th February 2023 - Week 21
Final week of the half-term before everyone can recharge their batteries for the run up to Easter.
This week, Year 6 enjoyed a trip to Durham Oriental Museum to learn about Early Islamic Civilisations. During their visit they handled museum artefacts, acted out scenes from 1001 Arabian Nights as well as designing their own Islamic pattern inspired artwork and learning to write their own name in Arabic. A great time had by the whole class with superb links to the class’ RE topic.
The Open the Book team were in school on Tuesday morning for our next Bible story. This session was based on the story of the Epiphany, learning about the three kings and their visit to Herod and the newborn Jesus. It is always lovely to see the team in school and we look forward to welcoming them back just before the Easter break.
Our Mini Police project continues to thrive in Year 5. Today they have been involved in looking at how to be safe on the internet. Our group of budding officers learnt about the risks of social media, especially when posting photographs and comments. They will be able to support their class and families with their knowledge and promote the correct behaviour around correct use and cyber-bullying.
It was lovely to see such a full house at our Friday Celebration assembly today. Thank you to every mum, dad, brother, sister and grandparent who joined us. Having so many of you attend really makes it special for all of the children.
Week 21's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 1 with 98.2%
Reception had 83% and Year 1 94%
Punctuality winners – Reception with zero late marks – awesome!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 3 with 98.4% - winner for two weeks in a row, keep up the great attendance Year 3
Year 4 had 90.4%, Year 5 had 95.4% and Year 6 had 96.3%
Punctuality winners – Years 4, 5 and 6 with one late mark each
Congratulations to Year 5 who completed their 100% attendance banner this week. They will be enjoying a Friday afternoon treat as their reward.
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 6 with 61,520 m
2nd place – Year 3 with 60,480 m
3rd place – Year 2 with 30,480 m
Well done to each ACE Award winner this week. It is clear that so much great work has been taking place again this week...
Have a great half-term break.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 10th February - Week 20
We have had another busy week in school. On Tuesday it was lovely to see so many adults in school for our 'Come and See' morning. Thank you to everyone who came in to see the learning taking place in your children’s classroom and for those of you who came in to our weekly singing assembly. It was a wonderful morning with almost 100 parents, carers and grandparents in school throughout the morning; the children had a great time.
Year 4 visited the Hindu Temple on Wednesday morning to help them with their topic in RE. They found out about what happens in the temple, had the opportunity to look at the shrines and got to see some of the religious objects that are used within a service. Year 6 will be visiting The Oriental Museum in Durham next Tuesday to help support their RE topic.
Today, I was lucky enough to take some of the Year 5 and Year 6 children up to Throckley Primary School to take part in the OWL Basketball Competition. Although we didn’t win, I was impressed with the attitudes and resilience the children showed throughout the competition. Everyone showed great support for one another and showed fantastic sportsmanship with the other teams. Well done to everyone who took part today - we are very proud of you!
Today was Good Work Assembly in school and Mr Pickup was thrilled to announce that the attendance and punctuality had improved significantly. Well done Newburn; you should all be very proud!
Week 20's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 2 with 97.4%
Reception had 92% and Year 1 96.3%
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with zero late marks – awesome!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 3 with 100% - perfection!
Year 4 had 96.7%, Year 5 had 99.2% and Year 6 had 98.8%
Punctuality winners – Year 4 and Year 6 with zero late marks – awesome!
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 6 with 89,040 m
2nd place – Year 4 with 56,480 m
3rd place – Year 2 with 40,880 m
Here are our ACE award winners with their certificates:
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 3rd February 2023 – Week 19
A relatively quiet week for us at Newburn this week. Mr Vyle and our Monday afternoon Makers Club had their first visit to the Rainbow Garden at Newburn Allotments. Whilst there, they met up with Tony to begin planning what they would like to plant and grow in the coming weeks and months. We look forward to seeing how this project grows throughout the year.
Next Tuesday is our first ‘Come and See’ opening morning since 2020. We are looking forward to seeing as many of you who can make it. School will be open from 9 am to 12 noon for Years 1 to 6 and from 11 am to 12 noon for Reception. This is an informal drop-in session where you can call by and see the learning taking place in your child’s classroom.
Week 19's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 2 with 99.1% Well done!
Punctuality winners – Reception with zero lates! Fantastic!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 5 with 97.7%
Punctuality winners – Year 4 with 2 lates
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 6 - 68,000 m
2nd place – Year 4 - 64,400 m
3rd place – Year 3 - 47,960 m
Well done to everyone who won an ACE award this week. You are the stars of the show this week. Keep up the super attitude, commitment and effort…
Have a great weekend.
See you all next Tuesday morning.
Stuart Pickup
Headteacher
Friday 27th January 2023 - Week 18
This has been another busy week with lots happening in school. Reception have been writing about the legend of the Chinese zodiac and the order of the animals. They also tasted some rice and noodles for their Chinese New Year topic which went down well (the stir fry had mixed results). Year 1 have been using Word on the computer for the first time. They were writing a sentence about their favourite animal and then copied and pasted a picture of the animal into their document. Very impressive! In music, Year 2 have been composing their own soundtrack to Lost and Found and then adding in some musical instruments. They have created a baker's shop on Pudding Lane (linked to their work on the Great Fire of London) and have been calculating the total costs when buying items. Year 3 have been learning about gods and goddesses and have created fact files this week. Year 4 have been mapping Anglo-Saxon settlements with Miss Phillips. With Mr Vyle, they have been making sound tracks. Click on this link to listen to a police detective theme tune. Year 5 have been thinking about the characters in The Explorer, their class novel. They have started planning and writing a letter as one of their chosen characters from the book. Year 6 have had a fantastic week completing their DT. They made their own burgers after tasting buns and sauces that would complement their burger the best.
Today was Celebration Assembly and it was lovely to have parents and carers in school to share in our celebrations. Thank you to everyone who came to watch the assembly, I hope you enjoyed it.
Unfortunately our attendance this week has been the poorest of the academic year so far. We understand there are a lot of illnesses going around however this does not account for all absences in school. Being in school on time every day is the best way of making progress across the curriculum.
Week 18's attendance and punctuality awards:
Key Stage 1
Attendance winners - There was no attendance award winner this week in Key Stage 1 as all year groups were below 94%. Year 1 had an attendance of 82.6% this week; we need to see an improvement next week.
Punctuality winners - Reception won the award with zero lates! Fantastic!
Key Stage 2
Attendance winners - Year 4 won the award with 98.5%. Well done Year 4!
Punctuality winners -Year 6 won the award with zero lates. Fantastic!
This week's Newburn Runs the World:
1st place - Year 4 - 61,120 m
2nd place - Year 5 - 8,880 m
3rd place - Reception - 8,640 m
Our ACE award winners were out for a range of fantastic reasons this week including resilience in class, supporting others and super progress. Here they are with their certificates:
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 20th January 2023 - Week 17
On Tuesday, our Year 3 class went out on the first educational visit of 2023. As part of their Ancient Egyptians topic, they visited the Oriental Museum in Durham to take part in a workshop about 'Life and Death in Ancient Egypt'. It was a fabulous day and included a real mummy and taking part in the weighing of the heart ceremony.
Year 5 visited the Buddhist Centre Newcastle on Wednesday morning. They found out about the life of Buddha, what it means to be a Buddhist and even had a go at some meditating. The class had a wonderful morning, learning lots of new facts and were very enthusiastic to share their new found knowledge back at school.
Week 17's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – no winners this week - all classes were below 95%. We have a had a lot of illness in Key Stage 1 this week. Let's try and get these numbers up again next week.
Week 18 will be a double 'Newbies' week meaning there will be ten up for grabs next week. Remember you must be in on time and in every day to win your 'Newbies'.
Punctuality winners – Reception win with 2 late marks this week - come on Year 1 and 2, try and take the award next week.
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 4 with 98.5% - also good weeks for Years 3 and 4, both over 97%
Punctuality winners –Year 6 with zero late marks – perfection - awesome Year 6, that's two weeks in a row
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 17,200 m
2nd place – Year 5 with 14,960 m
3rd place – Year 2 with 8,480 m
Considering we've had a snow and ice covered playground all week, this a great achievement.
Well done to everyone who won an ACE award this week. It was lovely to hear so many people being nominated by their classmates again this week. We look forward to having our Year 2 and Year 5 parents joining us for Celebrations Assembly next Friday morning...
This week has also seen the election of our new school councillors. Well done to everyone who was elected. We look forward to working alongside you in 2023.
Have a great weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 13th January 2023 - Week 16
Happy New Year! I hope you have had a lovely festive break and you had the chance to relax before the start to the spring term. The children have returned to school ready to get straight back into their learning and have had a great first week back. You should have received a letter, earlier in the week which included our latest Ofsted report. This is also available on our school website. Please click here to have a look. We are very proud of the children at Newburn Manor Primary School, they really are stars!
Half of our Year 2 pupils have started Forest School with Mr Vyle and Mrs Heslop this week. They ventured into the dene and explored knots, made woodland animals and took part in some hill exploration. Please take a look at the Forest School page on our website for more information and to see some great photographs.
Year 3 have started their pocket trumpet tuition this week with Mr Rudkin. The class had a fantastic first week and loved using their instruments. Mr Rudkin was very impressed with what they did in their first session. I look forward to seeing how they progress over the coming weeks.
Today we had celebration assembly in school and Mr Pickup was really pleased with the whole school attendance. Well done Newburn!
Attendance and Punctuality:
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners - Reception with 99.23% Fantastic!
Punctuality winners - Reception and Year 2 with 2 late marks.
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners - Year 5 with 100%. Perfection!
Punctuality winners - Year 6 with zero lates. Perfection!
This week's Newburn Runs the World
1st Place - Year 6 with 43,040 m
2nd Place - Year 5 with 38,800 m
3rd Place - Year 3 with 30,880 m
A huge congratulations to this week's ACE award winners. The children were out for a whole range of different achievements this week which was lovely to see. This included: 'super support of their peers', 'fantastic writing' and 'showing resilience in their work' to name but a few. Here they are with their certificates:
Today was also a day for children to spend their Newbies (if they wanted to). Some children have chosen to save their Newbies for a larger prize later in the year. Some children visited the Newbie shop today to buy a prize with their savings...
'Celebration Assemblies' and 'Come and See'
We will be inviting parents/carers into school to share in our Friday Celebration assemblies from Friday, 27th January. We will send a letter out next week letting you know which year groups' parents will be invited to each date.
We are reintroducing our ‘Come and See’ morning sessions this term. Each half-term, we will open up the school from 9 am to 12 noon, where all parents/carers/relatives are welcome to see what happens in your child’s class on a typical morning. All class teachers will inform you separately of what they have planned. This is a drop-in session when you can call in for a short period of time or even stay for the whole morning. For this half-term the date will be Tuesday, 7th February. We look forward to seeing you in school.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 23rd December 2022 - Week 15
What a term! Action-packed, full of amazing experiences and laughter. Once again, the teachers, teaching assistants, parents and most importantly, the children, have shown themselves to be absolute stars.
Today we finished the term in style. Georgina and the Hot Shots Rock Band treated us to some Christmas favourites and some huge rocking numbers. It was a great way to celebrate our last morning together before Christmas. Each class has enjoyed their Christmas party this week. Games and dancing in the hall followed by some wonderful party food. Thank you to all of the mums, dads and grandparents who provided the children with such lovely food. Visit your child’s class page for more photographs of each party.
On Tuesday morning, the Illegal Money Lending Team, alongside Blowin’ A Hooley Theatre company were in school performing Cinderella’s Dilemma. The children had an amazing time. Two of our children won the Dangers of Loan Sharks poster competition. The overall winner will have their poster made into a banner that can be displayed in school – they also won Amazon vouchers – well done to everyone involved. On Tuesday evening, many of the children came back to school at 4.30 pm in their Christmas pyjamas for a festive movie night. Everyone enjoyed some chocolate milk and a bag of popcorn as they enjoyed a night of watching The Muppet Christmas Carol.
The whole school ventured down to St Michael's and All Angels church on Thursday afternoon for the school carol service. Years 5 and 6 led the service beautifully. The speaking was clear and singing from all was amazing. Thank you to Rev Allison Harding, for welcoming us down to the church; we look forward to seeing Allison in school in the spring term. Please watch the video link below of the whole service.
Please enjoy watching our Carol Service by clicking here
Overall, it has been a successful term for attendance. As with the whole of the country, the last few weeks have been tricky with illness but the children have still been coming into school. 63 children across the school have 100% attendance for the whole of the autumn term. This is a fantastic achievement and you should all be very proud of yourselves. We will be having a ‘Double Newbies’ week from Monday 9th January to Friday 13th January – you’ve got to be in it to win it.
Week 15's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 1 with 98.2%
Punctuality winners – no winner this week – remember that school starts at 8.50 am
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 5 with 97.3%
Punctuality winners –Year 6 with zero late marks – perfection
Attendance for the whole autumn term – attendance should be minimum of 95% - our school target is 97%:
Reception – 94.4%
Year 1 – 93.9 %
Year 2 – 97.0%
Year 3 – 96.3%
Year 4 – 96.2%
Year 5 – 96.7%
Year 6 – 97.2%
Well done to Year 2 and to Year 6 for being above our target – keep it going.
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 4 with 51,250 m
2nd place – Year 3 with 40,000 m
3rd place – Year 5 with 19,540 m
Massive congratulations to all of this week's ACE award winners. It was lovely to hear so many different reasons for their awards including above and beyond levels of support to each other across the school. Well done to everyone who got a certificate…
In the New Year we will be sending out information to parents about restarting our ‘Come and See’ mornings each half-term, as well as inviting parents back to our celebration assemblies from January 2023.
I would like to finish with a thank you to everyone involved with the school for all of your hard work and support. Newburn Manor is a family and each member of our school community makes a real difference… thank you.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Have a relaxing break spending time with family and friends. I hope Father Christmas is good to you all.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 16th December 2022 - Week 14
It has been an extremely busy week in school for our penultimate week of the autumn term. Reception visited Seven Stories on Tuesday morning to watch a Christmas story performance. Someone had stolen the naughty and nice list so it was up to Reception to become 'Detective Elves' to see if they could find it. Take a look at the Reception class page for more information and to see some photographs of their morning.
Tuesday was a busy day as we also had the choir singing in the Grainger Market to raise money for school funds. We raised just over £100 which was fantastic. Thank you to everyone who came to hear us sing; we appreciated the support as it helped us sing through the chilly weather. The choir were also singing again on Wednesday as they walked up to The Grange in Throckley to sing carols and spread some festive cheer. It worked really well as everyone had a smile on their face and the children were applauded with cheers throughout the songs.
We have had our Reception and Year 1 production of Baarmy Bethlehem this week and the Year 2, 3 and 4 production of Fireside Nativity. Both productions were superb with lots of singing, acting and great dancing! Thank you for everyone who came into school to see the plays; we hope you enjoyed them.
Next week, Year 5 and Year 6 will be going down to the church to perform their Nativity which will be recorded and put onto the website for your viewing.
It was Celebration Assembly today in school. Our ACE award winners were out for a whole range of reasons this week which was lovely to see. Here they are with their certificates:
Week 14's attendance and punctuality awards:
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners - Year 2 with 97%
Punctuality winners - Year 1 with 2 late marks
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners - Year 6 with 100%
Punctuality winners - Year 6 with zero late marks! What a week for Year 6 - well done!
Year 6 have now completed their Attendance Banner for this half-term. They will receive a treat afternoon next week for their great attendance. Well done Year 6! Keep it up!
Children will receive their Newbie Vouchers next week so they know how many they have collected this half-term. The Newbie shop will be open in the New Year for those children who would like to spend their Newbie Vouchers and those who wish to save them can continue to do so.
This week's Newburn Runs the World winner was Reception running 12,760 m. Well done Reception! The whole school will continue to run next half-term to see which class will be the first to reach London. Currently, Year 5 are in the lead but there are many miles to go before we reach our target.
It is our Christmas Fair this afternoon at 1.30 pm. We look forward to seeing you there.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 9th December 2022 - Week 13
The Christmas festivities are in full flow this week.
On Monday and Wednesday, it was lovely to have Newburn Manor Nursery in the school hall performing their Nativity. They looked and sounded amazing. Our very own classes have also been in full rehearsal mode and we can’t wait for the full performances next week.
Years 5 and 6 took part in an assembly about protecting yourself from loan sharks and taking care of your money on Tuesday morning. The Moneywise team spoke to the children about where their money comes from, how to look after your money and about how sometimes people need to take a loan but do so sensibly and stay away from loan sharks. Years 5 and 6 will be designing posters to alert people to the dangers of loan sharks, with a winner being picked in the last week of term when they return to school with a pantomime production.
Wednesday saw Year 1 taking a trip down the A1 to the Darlington Railway Museum. They took part in a workshop all about bridges in preparation for their DT topic at the end of this term. It will also help them with their history work in summer when they will be studying George Stephenson.
Today has been Christmas jumper day at Newburn Manor. A huge thank you to our amazing families for bringing in a bottle or a chocolate treat for the next week’s Christmas fair. The children have all looked so festive around the school, the Christmas mood is really taking over.
Week 13's attendance and punctuality awards
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Reception with 98.1%
Year 1 had 90.7% - very low and Year 2 had 93.3%
Punctuality winners – no winner this week – remember that school starts at 8.50 am – children who are late also miss out on their Newburn Newbies for the week.
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 6 with 98.4%
Year 3 had 92.5% - very low, Year 4 had 94.1% and Year 5 had 95.8%
Punctuality winners –Year 6 with 1 late mark
This week’s Newburn Runs the World:
1st place – Year 6 with 73,120 m
2nd place – Year 2 with 59,360 m
3rd place – Year 5 with 41,520 m
4th place – Year 3 with 33,200 m
5th place – Reception with 19,520 m
6th place – Year 1 with 4,230 m
Since we started the Run the World initiative, the classes are currently at the following points:
Reception – Durham
Year 1 – Scotswood Road
Year 2 – Darlington
Year 3 - Durham
Year 4 - Coxhoe
Year 5 - Leeds
Year 6 - Catterick
Congratulations to our fantastic ACE award winners this week. It was lovely to hear that some of our winner were nominated by members of their class for their kind and thoughtful behaviour to others across the school…
A reminder that next Friday afternoon is our Christmas Fair. Doors will open at 1.30 pm. Any child without adult supervision will be able to stay in the Reception class with a school adult and be picked up at normal school closing time.
A further reminder that school will close at 1.30 pm on the last day of term
Enjoy your weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 2nd December 2022 - Week 12
Another busy week in school for the start of December. We started the week off with an assembly from Rev. Allison Harding from St Michael and All Angels Church in Newburn Parish. Rev. Allison came to talk to us about Advent and the word 'joy'. The children discussed what the word meant to people and Rev. Allison explained what joy meant in the Church. They ended the assembly with Allison, as always, with a singalong and a dance.
Tuesday was an exciting day in school as this was our day to visit the Theatre Royal in Newcastle to watch "Cinderella". The children had a fantastic time watching the performance and showed superb behaviour. A member of staff who was looking after our floor commented that our school was one of the best behaved schools she had ever seen. Well done Newburn!
On Thursday morning, the children came in to school to find out that Christmas had arrived at Newburn Manor. All the classroom doors had been decorated and the corridors, halls and classrooms were filled with festive cheer. Here are a few photographs of school:
Today was Good Work Assembly in school and the children came together once again to share in the achievements of the whole school. As always, the children were out for a range of achievements and it was lovely to see what everyone had been doing in class this week. Here are our ACE award winners feeling proud with their certificates:
Attendance and Punctuality
Key Stage 1:
Attendance - Unfortunately, we couldn't give out the attendance award in Key Stage 1 this week as all classes had attendance below 95%. - let's see if we can get Key Stage 1 back above the magic 95% next week.
Punctuality - Reception won the punctuality award this week with zero lates! Well done Reception!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance - Year 3 won the attendance award this week with 98.4% attendance. Well done Year 3!
Punctuality - Year 6 won the punctuality award this week with zero lates! Fantastic work Year 6!
Just a reminder that all children should have received a letter inviting them to our Christmas Movie night on Tuesday, 20th December at 4.30 pm. This year's film is "The Muppet Christmas Carol". As part of the celebrations, children will receive a chocolate milk drink and a bag of popcorn. Children may come dressed wearing their Christmas jumpers, Christmas pyjamas or a onesie. They can even bring a pillow or cushion to relax on while watching the movie. There is no cost for the movie night. Please complete the permission slip on the bottom of the letter and return to school by Friday, 16th December.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 25th November 2022 - Week 11
Another full week at Newburn Manor.
Years 5 and 6 have been taking part in ‘Bikeability’ Level 2 training. Nearly every child has spent two days with the cycle team from Newcastle City Council. They began by practising their skills on the school playground using cones before venturing out onto the roads around the school. It has taught them the skills they need to ride proficiently on public roads, well done to every child taking part.
On Tuesday, Year 5 travelled to Sunderland Winter Gardens to take part in a rainforest workshop as part of their ‘Amazing Amazon’ geography topic. They came back eager to share their knowledge and understanding of the different layers of the rainforest as well as wider experiences of the day. They also returned with some ‘not so small’ gifts from the museum – we now have some lovely banana leaves hanging from the Year 5 classroom ceiling.
We have a number of new additions to the school site following work that was completed at the start of the week. We have two lovely new reading areas, one on the KS1 yard and the other at the back of school – we are calling this the secret reading garden and it will be developed further in the spring. The star of the new installations is our trim trail. It looks absolutely amazing and we can’t wait to show you more pictures of the children enjoying the new equipment in the future.
Thank you to all of the parents that joined our Anxiety and Worry Workshop this week. This was the second of two sessions run by the RISE team through the Children’s Society. The team wanted to pass on their thanks for the wonderful response they had at both sessions.
Today was the first of our Reception ‘Find Out Fridays’. Reception parents have been in to share all of the wonderful work that has been taking place during the children’s recent ‘Senses’ topic. In the spring term, we will be re-introducing our ‘Come and See’ mornings for the whole school. We are very much looking forward to having you all back in school.
We haven’t enjoyed our best week for attendance and punctuality. Although there have been some standout figures from some classes, we have got some numbers that have shown a sharp drop. We are having one of our best years for attendance and punctuality, let’s get back on it next week. This week’s winners are...
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 2 with 95.6%
Reception had 89.7% - very low and Year 1 had 92.7%
Punctuality winners – Reception with one late mark
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 6 with 98.8%
Year 3 had 90.5% - very low, Year 4 had 93.7% and Year 5 had 96.1%
Punctuality winners –Year 6 with zero late marks – a perfect week!
Once again we say a huge well done to all of our ACE award winners this week…
You may have heard your child talking to you about our ‘Newburn Runs the World’ initiative. Each day, the children walk or run circuits of the yard or MUGA. Their combined totals go into the year group draw each week. We are aiming to get the children to have travelled the distance of Newburn to London by the start of the Christmas break. This week’s winners: Year 5 with 79200 m over the last 2 weeks – what an awesome start, well done Year 5.
The whole school is at the Theatre Royal next Tuesday for the Cinderella pantomime. We have been given an approximate return time of between 5 pm and 5.30 pm. Please allow space for all of the coaches to drop off at school so as to not further delay collection times.
Can I once again, personally thank all parents for the wonderful support and messages we received during our Ofsted inspection last week. They were very warmly received by all members of the staff and meant a great deal to everyone at the school.
Have a great weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 18th November 2022 - Week 10
This week has been another busy one in school and today it was lovely to see all of the children dressed up for Children in Need. The children looked amazing! Thank you for your kind donations that children brought in to school and on the JustGiving page. We will let you know how much we have raised once all donations have been collected.
As you will all be aware, we've had Ofsted in school this week. Can we say a huge thank you for the overwhelming positive messages from you all. We couldn't be more proud of our children; they have been absolute stars! We will of course let you know the outcome of the visit as soon as we receive our report.
Today we had our weekly Good Work Assembly to celebrate the achievements of children all the way through school. Our ACE award winners were out for a range of different reasons this week including... progress in the curriculum, gaining in confidence, showing resilience and being kind and helpful to others to name just a few. Here they are with their certificates.
Our attendance winners this week were Year 2 with 98.5% and Year 4 with an amazing 100%! Fantastic attendance from both classes! Year 2 had a brilliant week as they also won the punctuality award with only 1 late and Year 5 won the punctuality award in KS2 with zero lates!
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 11th November 2022 - Week 9
Year 5 are working with Northumbria Police on the Mini Police school project again this year. On Wednesday, they enjoyed their first session with Darren and Michael looking at healthy friendships and relationships. We look forward to hearing more about their work over the coming weeks.
It is lovely to have our RGS students back in school supporting reading with our pupils across all phases. We have two links with RGS at present. On Wednesday afternoons we have three students supporting our Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5 classes with their reading and on Friday afternoons RGS support our Year 6 pupils looking at challenging texts from a range of genres. We are very grateful for the help and support they provide and the children love working with the students in their classes.
Thursday was Science Day. A number of classes took the opportunity to get involved in experiments including making rain clouds, investigating how blubber keeps animals warm, making lava lamps and dissolving in hot and cold water.
The PE assessment team have been in school on Friday working with all children across the school. This assessment will help us to focus on specific skills and areas over the coming year.
Friday has seen all pupils taking part in a two minutes silence at 11 am to commemorate Remembrance Day. The children observed the national two minutes silence impeccably, taking time to think of those who have lost their lives and personal links to those in the armed forces. Children will be learning more about why we remember in class throughout the day.
This week has been a ‘Double Newbies’ week and it has resulted in vastly improved attendance on last week. All classes across the school were above 95%... a great effort and well done to everyone across the school. This week’s attendance and punctuality awards are…
Key Stage 1:
Attendance winners – Year 1 with 99.2%
Reception had 96.1% and Year 2 had 97.4%
Punctuality winners – Year 2 with zero late marks – a perfect week!
Key Stage 2:
Attendance winners – Year 4 with 98.5%
Year 3 had 95.9%, Year 5 had 96.8% and Year 6 had 98.4%
Punctuality winners – Year 5 and Year 6 with zero late marks – awesome!
This week saw the Newburn Newbies Shop open for the first time. Anyone with 20 Newbies saved up over the first half-term could spend them on trinkets. It was lovely to see how many had collected and were enjoying choosing at the shop. The next shop will be open at the end of this term.
Another superb week for ACE awards with reasons for being chosen ranging from manners and enthusiasm to critical thinking across the curriculum. Well done ACE award winners, you should be very proud of yourselves…
We are currently having a new Trim Trail and seating areas erected on the school grounds. We hope to be able to share the finished work with you next Friday.
Next Friday, 18th November, is Children in Need Day. Children can come to school dressed in any fancy dress outfit/Children in Need clothes/non-uniform. Staff will also be taking part. Any monetary donations welcome or follow the link for our JustGiving page - https://www.justgiving.com/Newburn-Manor-Primary-School2
Have a wonderful weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 4th November 2022 - Week 8
This week we’ve had lots of new activities taking place. Year 5 and Year 6 have started their Samba Drumming with Newcastle Music Service. Steve and Georgina were in this week teaching the children about the different instruments. Every child had the opportunity to play a surdo drum this week. Every week the children will meet a new instrument and build up the band so that everyone has a part to play. We can’t wait to see how the samba band develops over the coming weeks.
Olivia from Newcastle Schools PE Service was in school this week to work on our gymnastics skills in school. Every class in school will be having gymnastics sessions with Olivia this half-term. This week the children were focusing on creating shapes individually and in groups. This started in Reception where they were learning how to create the ‘tuck’ and ‘pike’ shape and progressed in difficulty throughout school. In Upper Key Stage 2, pupils were looking at many different shapes including arch, dish and straddle and had to be creative in their ways of making those shapes.
Year 4 had ‘Bikeability’ this week. Jill and Yvette came into school to deliver our 'Bikeability' training on Wednesday. The children enjoyed the sessions and focused on using hand signals while cycling.
Thank you to the nursery parents who visited our school this week on Wednesday and Thursday. It was lovely to show you around our school and we hope you enjoyed it. If you were unable to make the visit, please get in touch with the school office and we can arrange a time to show you around school.
Flu immunisations took place in school today. If you signed up for your child to have their flu immunisation in school, you will receive an email to confirm that they have received it.
During the half-term holiday, some of our Year 6 pupils took part in a Space Camp in Newcastle. The children had the opportunity to take part in workshops and listen to inspirational speakers from the National Space Academy. The pupils took part in lots of experiments including creating a rocket to see which team could get their rocket to travel the furthest. Please take a look at the following article for more information:
https://newcastlemagazine.com/space-camp-for-north-east-students/
Today, Reception joined us for our Good Work Assembly and shared in our celebrations. Reception won our attendance award with the best attendance in Key Stage 1. Year 2 won the punctuality award with zero lates! In Key Stage 2, Year 3 won both the attendance and punctuality awards for the week. Well done Year 3 – a fantastic week! Here are our ACE award winners for this week:
Today we also had our first presentation of Newbie vouchers. Every child now knows how many Newbies they have and those children who have 20 Newbies have the option to spend their Newbies or continue to save them for a bigger prize.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 21st October 2022 - Week 7
The end of the first half-term has arrived. It has been filled with lots of great learning and memories and sets us up for a great year ahead.
We would all like to say a huge thank you to the team at the Kielder Observatory (Adam, Finn and Ishbel) who spent the whole day in school on Tuesday. The children had a fantastic time learning about the solar system, space, rocks and investigating light. The level of questioning seen was outstanding and we can’t wait to have them back next year. Thank you again for such a brilliant day.
Reception class had Animal Antics in school on Thursday morning. As a celebration at the end of their Dear Zoo topic all of the children got to handle and enjoy animals such as mice, a rabbit, an owl, a snake and a bearded dragon. It was great to see so many parents in school on Monday and Wednesday night for the first parent consultations of the year. The teachers said there was so much positivity around all of the discussions. Thank you for taking the time to come in to school. For those small numbers who couldn’t make it please contact school and we will arrange a time after the half-term holidays.
Another good week for attendance in most classes across the school and the first Newburn Newbies vouchers will be handed out the first week after half-term. Year 3 and 4 have completed their 100% attendance banner so will be enjoying a Friday afternoon treat this week. They have both chosen movie afternoons with Year 3 enjoying some lovely pizzas and Year 4 choosing popcorn and sweet treats as their prizes.
This week’s attendance and punctuality winners are:
Key Stage 1:
Attendance – Year 2 with 98.9%
Reception had 87% and Year 1 91% - let’s see if we can get these number back above the magic 95%.
Punctuality – Year 2 with just the 1 late mark this week
Reception had 6 late marks and Year 1 had 3 late marks
Key Stage 2:
Attendance – Year 3 with 98.8%
Year 4 had 97.4%, Year 5 had 98.5% and Year 6 had 95.5%
Punctuality – Year 6 with no late marks all week – awesome Year 6!
Years 3, 4 and 5 each had 2 late marks each
Once again, another great week for our ACE winners. This first half-term has shown outstanding Attitude, Commitment and Effort from everyone and we are extremely proud of our children. Well done to this week’s ACE champions…
We have also had a record week for Lexia Superstars with a large number of pupils receiving their next level certificates. On the Ultimate Maths challenge, it has been so nice to welcome five Year 5 pupils onto the Top Ten leader board – so many children in the sixties and seventies with our number one spot going to a pupil with 72 out of 72 for the second week running. It was mentioned in Mrs Gill’s most recent blog but another shout-out to our wonderful Year 4 dodgeball team who represented the school so well at last week’s OWLT competition…
Have a great half-term holiday. See you all back on Monday, 31st October at 8.50 am.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 14th October 2022 - Week 6
An incredibly busy time in school this week with many visits taking place. Year 6 visited the Great North Museum on Monday to support them in their learning about the Ancient Greeks. They had a fantastic day looking at the artefacts on display. They even had the opportunity to look at other areas of the curriculum that they had looked at earlier in their school life at Newburn Manor. On Tuesday, Year 4 explored Housesteads Roman Fort as part of their history topic this half-term. They spent the day finding out about life as a Roman soldier. The class met a ‘Roman soldier’ while they were there and found out about the lives of Roman soldiers including how much they would have been paid and what their duties would have included. Some children had the opportunity to dress up as a Roman soldier and everyone had the chance to do some marching too. On Wednesday, Year 1 visited the Centre for Life to support them in their geography topic: Our World. The class took part in a workshop all about the continents and oceans of the world. They also had the opportunity to visit the space zone, science show area and go into the planetarium too. A busy but exciting day was had by all!
Also on Wednesday, Darren and Michael from Northumbria Police came into school to work with our Mini Police in Year 5. Some of the Year 5 pupils will be working with Darren and Michael throughout the year on projects linked to the local community. This week they found out what they would be doing over the year to help the local area. Some future highlights may include visiting the police station and doing some litter picking in the area. Watch this space...
Today, some of our Year 4 pupils visited Simonside Primary School to take part in an OWL Dodgeball competition. The children were great ambassadors for the school and Miss Phillips was very proud of them all. The coaches who were running the event gave a special mention to Newburn Manor for their superb behaviour, attitude, great sportsmanship and fabulous teamwork. Well done Year 4 dodgeball players!
Today we had our weekly Good Work Assembly in school. Our ACE awards were given for a variety of things this week including: great attitude and behaviour on school visits, progress in reading and maths, enjoyment and interest in lessons and great manners and thoughtfulness. Lots of things to be proud of this week. Well done Newburn! Here are our ACE award winners:
Our winners of the attendance trophies this week were Year 2 with 98.5% attendance and Year 3 with an amazing 100% attendance. You can’t beat that Year 3, well done! The punctuality awards were given to Year 2 and Year 4 this week.
Our Parent Consultation evenings are Monday and Wednesday next week for Years 1 to 6. If you haven't already booked your appointment online, please contact the school office and they will arrange an appointment for you. Also next week, we will be having our open evening/day sessions for the parents of prospective reception children joining the school in September 2023 on Wednesday, 2nd November at 9.30 am and Thursday, 3rd November at 5.30 pm.
Mr Pickup mentioned last week in his blog that you will have been sent an email from school regarding the exploration of MAT conversion. Please take some time to read through the letter and respond to the consultation survey with any concerns or questions you would like responses to – it can be accessed through the school website by clicking here.
Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 7th October 2022 - Week 5
An awesome action-packed week at Newburn Manor!
Wednesday, saw a very different assembly to normal. We welcomed David Bavaird, the High Sheriff of Tyne and Wear to our school. He came in his full uniform and spoke to the children about the role of the high sheriff, the history of his role as well as discussing the importance of being part of a community and what makes the school special. We would all like to thank David for his time and another big thank you for the kind letter we received from him following his visit.
Year 2 had a wonderful day at the Discovery Museum on Wednesday. They took part in a number of workshops to give them an understanding of the Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead. The workshops included analysing artefacts, making puppets and taking part in a theatrical re-enactment of the fire and becoming sound effect technicians to run alongside the story of the Great Fire. A superb day, Mrs Miller was extremely proud of the whole class.
Thursday was National Poetry Day. Family Assembly had a focus on Black History Month with all children celebrating using the poem Checking Out Me History by John Agard. Year 6 are in the process of writing their own class poem and Year 5 have enjoyed reciting their favourite poems from books in our library. Their class pages will have more detailed information relating to the day’s activities.
Reception, Year 1, Year 4 and Year 5 have all taken part in virtual author visits through the Literature Works Project this week. On Thursday, Reception and Year 1 joined Emily Dodd on a virtual workshop about her book ‘Can't Dance Cameron’. The session included science, storytelling, dancing and singing – they all had a great time and it was lovely to see our Reception children joining so well so early in their school life. On Friday, Year 4 and Year 5 also joined Emily Dodd in a further session about her book ‘Surfing the Moon’, a fictional first-person narrative from the perspective of a boy with ASD.
Lots of our weekly activities continue to engross pupils across the school – Year 1 enjoyed their fourth session of Forest School, Year 4 continue to wow us with their ukulele skills ably led by Mr Rudkin, Year 6 reading support with RGS sixth formers and Year 6 had their penultimate swimming session at RGS Newcastle, learning about life saving skills in the water.
We have revamped our outdoor area over the last two weeks. Maker’s Club provision will start up again after the October half-term. This new area will mean we can support more pupils throughout Key Stage 2 due to the expanded area by our Invention Shed.
Newburn Newbies are clearly having a very positive effect on our attendance and punctuality. This week 167 pupils across the school got their 5 Newbies for the school week. For the second week running we have really positive attendance data:
Winners of the Key Stage 1 attendance award –
Year 2 – 98.9% - congratulations
Reception – 95%, Year 1 – 93.3%
Winners of the Key Stage 2 attendance award –
Year 6 – 100% - congratulations, you can’t beat 100%!
Year 3 – 98.8, Year 5 – 97.7%, Year 4 – 95.9%
Winners of the punctuality awards –
KS1 – Year 1 – One late mark all week
KS2 – Year 5 – zero late all week – awesome, you can’t beat no lates!
Well done to all of the ACE award winners this week, some fabulous reasons to be out at the front for celebration assembly...
You will have been sent an email from school this week about the exploration of MAT conversion. Please take some time to read through the letter and respond to the consultation survey – it can be accessed through the school website by clicking here.
Have a brilliant weekend everyone.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 30th September 2022 - Week 4
Another busy week in school with lots happening in each class. Here are a few highlights of the week. On Wednesday, Year 3 had an amazing opportunity to visit St Nicholas' Cathedral in Newcastle to watch a special performance from the Coldstream Guards. The children thoroughly enjoyed the concert and came back to school inspired ready for their pocket trumpet tuition which will start in the spring term. The children showed fantastic behaviour while in the cathedral and Mrs Hainsworth was very proud of them all.
Today we were lucky to have two Year 12 students from the Royal Grammar School, Waseem and Abdulaziz, visiting the school. They were in school to work with some of our Year 6 pupils. They read an extract from Romeo and Juliet today and discussed the complex vocabulary in the text. I look forward to seeing which texts the group will look at over the coming weeks.
This week has been the first week of our new 'Newbies' initiative in school. The pupils were very excited to earn their Newbies this week and we have had great attendance throughout school.
All classes had more than 95% attendance this week which is great. We hope this continues over the coming weeks. This week's attendance:
Reception: 95.8%
Year 1: 97.6%
Year 2: 98.9%
Year 3: 98.4%
Year 4: 99.3%
Year 5: 96.9%
Year 6: 98.4%
Congratulations to Year 2 and Year 4 for winning the attendance awards this week. In Key Stage 1, the punctuality awards were shared by Reception and Year 1 with only one late each. Years 3 and 6 shared the punctuality award in Key Stage 2. Well done to everyone who has been in school and on time every day this week. You have earned yourself 5 Newbies.
Our ACE award winners were out for a range of things again this week including lovely manners, enthusiasm in lessons and great progress. Keep working hard Newburn - we are very proud of your achievements! Here are this week's ACE award winners:
Books Build Brains:
Every class in school has an amazing book hamper full of brand new reading books. If your child has been on time in school every day in the week, they are entered into a draw within their class with one child each week choosing a brand new book. Here are this week’s Books Build Brains winners with their books:
Our School Family Partner has been in touch with school this week to let us know about things that are happening in our area and information you may find useful. Please see below for the links to each page.
This is the new Facebook page for CFN (Children and Families Newcastle) in the Outer West, there is a lot of information shared on a variety of subjects. Children and Families Newcastle, Outer West | Facebook
Information now is a useful website to find services and support for families on a wide variety of issues, including housing and finance. It has recently been updated and is easy to use and mobile friendly, it also includes a handy read aloud and translate function. InformationNOW - Information for people in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle Support Directory contains information for families such as childcare and activities, including the Local Offer (SEND information) is also undergoing an update and is easier to use. Again this site is mobile friendly and has the same read aloud and translate function. Newcastle Support Directory | Newcastle Support Directory
Thank you for you continued support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 23rd September 2022 - Week 3
We are definitely back into the swing of things now at Newburn. Another great week with lots going on across the school.
This week we have welcomed Rachel and Sarah from the RISE team in to school. They shared an assembly with the children about the role of the RISE team as well working with groups on topics such as resilience and feelings of anxiety. We look forward to more and more pupils working alongside Rachel and Sarah over the coming weeks.
Wednesday was a busy day. Our Year 1 pupils continued their work with Mr Vyle at Forest School. I know they are having a thoroughly enjoyable time, making the most of the school surroundings and Walbottle Dene. Year 6 enjoyed their second swimming session at RGS Newcastle after school on Wednesday. They are thriving in their amazing facilities and it is wonderful to see every child growing in confidence with the extended time in the pool. We would like to thank RGS for this fantastic opportunity.
Year 6 enjoy the title of being the first class out on a school trip this year. On Thursday morning, they visited Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead. In preparation for their sculpture topic during the next art block, they learned how to form clay sculptures as part of a focussed workshop. We can’t wait to see them showing off these skills later in the term.
The start of the school year has shown good attendance across much of the school. We have lots of classes above the school target of 97% attendance. This is a great start, the more we are in school the better we become as learners. This week’s attendance is:
KS1
Reception – 95.6%
Year 1 – 95.4%
Year 2 – 97.6%
KS2
Year 3 – 98.4%
Year 4 – 100%
Year 5 – 98%
Year 6 – 93.7%
Congratulations to Year 2 and Year 4 for winning the attendance awards this week. The punctuality awards go to nearly every class this week. We have seen a huge improvement in punctuality with only 9 late marks across the whole school this week…well done to everyone and thank you, it makes the start of the school day a smoother place to be.
Another superb array of reasons for our pupils winning ACE awards this week. The children are trying so hard across the school and it is so nice to see children receiving awards for work completed at home, support to their peers, enthusiasm across the curriculum and resilience. Keep at it Newburn - you’re amazing. Well done to all of our winners this week…
From next week we will be starting two new attendance initiatives. Every child that is in school on time and in for morning and afternoon registration all week will be entered into a prize draw within their class. One of these children, every week, in every class, will get to choose a brand new reading book to keep. This will be from the top 50 books for their age group.
In addition to this, we will also begin our Newburn Newbies system. Every child that completes a whole week in school and is on time each day will receive 5 Newbies. At the end of each half term these Newbies can be used to redeem items from the Newburn Shop. I will send out further information at the start of next week.
An early reminder that our parent consultation evenings for Years 1 to 6 will take place on Monday, 17th October and Wednesday, 19th October. More information will be sent out nearer the time.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher
Friday 16th September 2022 - Week 2
I can't believe we are already at the end of the second week of the new academic year. The children have all settled well into their new classes and are working hard on their learning. This week half of our Year 1 class have been working with Mr Vyle and Mrs Heslop in Forest School. The children enjoyed collecting blackberries, making jam and then making their own sandwiches for a snack. They also enjoyed using the hammocks and found time to do some hammering too. What a busy morning they had!
The Year 6 class visited the Royal Grammar School this week for their swimming lessons. The class had a wonderful time and I was incredibly impressed with the positive attitude and commitment of the whole class. Those children who were nervous about swimming had an amazing time and said they had loved the lessons. I can't wait to see the progress they make each week. Watch this space...
Mr Rudkin from Newcastle Music Service was back in school this week to work with Year 4 on their ukulele tuition. Having already had some tuition in Year 3, the class will build on the skills from last year over the next 12 weeks. They will take part in a concert with other schools from the region at the end of the school year.
Today we had our weekly celebration assembly to celebrate the achievements of the children in school. We had some very good attendance this week with Year 2 and Year 4 winning the trophies. Year 1 and Year 3 won the punctuality award this week with only 1 late each. Well done Year 1, 2, 3 and 4! Our ACE award winners were out in assembly this week for a range of different things including: completing extra work at home, great attitudes in lessons and gaining in confidence. Here are our ACE award winners for this week:
Thank you for your continued support.
Claire Gill
Deputy Head Teacher
Friday 9th September 2022 - Week 1
It was lovely to see everyone back at that start of the week and showing that we are ready for another action-packed year at Newburn Manor Primary School.
We must start by saying that all of us at Newburn Manor are saddened by the loss of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. As a mark of respect, we all took part in an extra assembly this morning focussing on on the life of the Queen. Children from Year 1 to Year 6 looked back at the Queen’s life and celebrated her many achievements. We followed this with a minute’s silence of reflection.
Further commemorations will be planned in-line with guidance from the Department of Education, when we receive them.
We held our first celebration assembly later this morning. With the changes to our daily timetable, it was lovely to see so many pupils on time each day with only eight late marks across the whole school over the first week. We had some great attendance to champion as well with Year 1 having 99% attendance and Year 5 topping that with 100%. Keep this up Newburn, it is so important to be in school every day and on time.
Congratulations to our first ACE award winners of the new year…
Our Year 6 pupils all took the opportunity to speak in front of their respective school families this week in a bid to become family captains. We are extremely proud that you all took part and spoke so clearly and passionately. Congratulations to this year’s Year 6 family captains and vice captains…
During the previous academic year, our Year 5 pupils helped design a new bench for the Wylam Waggonway with Mr Vyle. We are very happy to announce that the bench now has pride of place on the walk between Newburn and Wylam. Please go along and have a look at the design from our amazing children.
Have a lovely weekend.
Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher