Head and Deputy Weekly Update Archive 2020-2021

Friday 23rd July 2021 - Week 39

Another school year comes to an end. It has definitely been a rollercoaster of a year and one that we hope never happens again. Once again, can I say a huge thank you from all the staff at school for the support you have given us during the lockdowns and supporting the school protocols. Most of all, I would like to thank our amazing children for their resilience, attitude, effort and humour during a year that has not been experienced before. It has been said to us before that our children are ‘the real prize of this school’ and this year they have shown this to be true each and every day. Well done Newburn…go and have yourself a well-deserved summer break.

Sadly, we say goodbye to our fabulous Year 6 pupils today. They have been amazing role models and set the best example to all of our children. We are extremely proud of all of their achievements during their learning journey with us. They have shown desire to improve and a thirst for new experiences all of the way through school. Keep up this amazing focus Year 6, I am sure you will all go from strength to strength. Please come back and let us know how you are getting on at secondary school, we always love to hear about your achievements.

This week, our Year 6 had a farewell party. We spent the afternoon on the field enjoying a number of giant garden games such as Giant Connect 4, Giant Snakes and Ladders, Giant Jenga, Basketball Hoop Shoot as well as a huge inflatable dart board…the pizza went down a storm too. It was a thoroughly deserved celebration…

We have worked hard all the way until the last day. Huge well congratulations to all of this week’s ACE award winners.

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 4

Year 6

Please enjoy the summer break. Have fun outdoors and remember to keep safe. We will see you all again on Tuesday, 7th September at 8.50 am.

Thank you again.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 16th July 2021 - Week 38

We have completed the penultimate week of the school year.  Four classes have enjoyed a day in the Dene and Forest School area with Mr Vyle all based around a variety of themes. On Monday, Year 3 had a Stone Age day where they were all involved in making Stone Age jewellery and then moving on to rock art in the afternoon. On Tuesday, Year 1 ventured into the Dene on their pirate day. It was lovely seeing them all arrive through the school gates in their pirate outfits. They then enjoyed a range of activities including walking the plank, mud slides, stories in the woods and arts and crafts back at the school. Wednesday saw our Year 6 pupils have a day of fun and creativity. Alongside making their own version of gruel to enjoy, inspired by their history topic on the Victorians, they also made their very own tie dye T-shirts which they have been proudly wearing ever since.  Today is the final Mr Vyle day. Year 5 are completing a Vikings day where they are making their very own bow and arrow out of materials found in the forest school area, making quoits and cooking their own version of a Viking stew. These outdoor days have been enjoyed by staff and pupils alike and I would like to thank Mr Vyle for his hard work and planning. Please visit your child’s class page for more information and photographs.

This week, our brand new outdoor activities/science cabin was completed. This is a fabulous new resource for the school. It provides extra space for learning outdoors and means that sessions such as Forest School can still take place even in indifferent weather conditions. I know the teachers are already planning for their new class time in the cabin for next year.

Due to our current school site Covid protocol, we haven’t been able to invite parents into school for a sports day this year. As this hasn’t taken place, we have taken part in a Newburn Sports Celebration on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week as part of the Newcastle Schools 500 Games. All classes have taken part in multi-skills competitions culminating in a cross country run in the school grounds today. Mrs Reid has put a page together on the school website sharing photographs and more information, please visit the page by clicking here.

Once again, a reminder that we are in school next week. School finishes on Friday, 23rd July at the usual times of 2.50 pm for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 and 3 pm for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.

You will have received an email from school yesterday which sets out the new isolation protocol from Monday, 19th July. From Monday, we will send symptomatic pupils and their siblings/household members home and you must get a PCR test for your symptomatic child. You must inform school of the outcome. If the test is negative, your child and siblings can return to school as long as they no longer have symptoms. If the test is positive, the household self-isolates and you must inform the school office, you will be contacted by Test and Trace. From Monday, we will no longer be expected to send close contacts of the positive case home to self-isolate. All close contact tracing will come from Test and Trace from the Monday, 19th July. We are continuing with our bubble arrangements for the final five days of school. We will be sending you further correspondence next week and over the summer break about the return to school on Tuesday, 7th September via our email service.

Huge congratulations to our ACE award winners this week...lots of great role models...

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 6

Enjoy the sunshine this week and stay safe.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 9th July - Week 37 

Another week has come to an end and I can't believe we only have two weeks left for this academic year.  This week both Reception and Year 2 had their fun days outside with Mr Vyle in the Dene and in our fabulous school grounds.  There was a mixture of weather throughout the week but that didn't spoil the fun!

Reception had a brilliant day with Mr Vyle, Miss Morgan, Mrs Wafi and Miss Osborne.  I spoke to the children to find out about their favourite parts of the day.  Their highlights included: playing on the trim trail, making clay minibeasts, using the slack line and making spider webs to cover our trim trail.  They were all very enthusiastic when talking about the whole day and it was clear they had a wonderful time.  Here are a few pictures from the day:

The weather was not as good on Tuesday for Year 2 who had a rather wet day.  In great spirits, the class became puddle ducks for the day.  Despite the weather, they had an amazing day outside.  The class were busy all day long exploring with Mr Vyle, playing games with Mrs Merrix and making things and reflecting on the day with Miss Luke.  The whole day was a great success considering the weather.  Well done to Year 2 for not letting the rain dampen your spirits!  Here are a few photographs from the day.  Please visit the Year 2 page if you'd like to see more.

Today, the children came into school in their football strips and England tops to celebrate England reaching the finals of UEFA EURO 2020 on Sunday.  Some of the class have made flags to wave and the children were very excited to support the England team.  Here are some of the children cheering England on...

Mr Pickup held this week's virtual assembly and celebrated the achievements of pupils throughout the school.  It was lovely to hear what every class had been doing and the fabulous work the pupils had been producing.  Here are this week's ACE award winners:

Reception:

Year 1:

Year 2:

Year 3:

Year 4:

Year 5:

Year 6:

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill 

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 2nd July 2021 - Week 36

A relatively quiet week at Newburn this week. We currently have our Year 6 bubble self-isolating but we look forward to welcoming them back to school on Tuesday next week.

Year 5 have enjoyed their first STEM session with Mr Williams from RGS Newcastle. They worked on powering cars with balloons and planning their designs to see who could get theirs the furthest. Please go to Mrs Gill's Year 5 class page for even more information and pictures.

We would like to say a big thank you to Lucy, Monica and Kayleigh who have been supporting our Year 1 and 2 classes through the Inamojo Wellbeing Project. The children have enjoyed their time in the sessions. We look forward to working with the team more in the future.

Our new outdoor science cabin is well on its way. It should be completed next week and we look forward to being able to show it off in its full glory. This will be a great addition to our outdoor provision for the new academic year, where we will be able to facilitate further forest school sessions as well as outdoor learning opportunities for full classes.

Just a reminder that school goes all the way until Friday, 23rd July this year. The national news appears to have forgotten us and is stating that schools finish on the 16th...not for Newcastle, we will be here until the 23rd.

If your child requires a test or tests positive over the weekend, remember to call our COVID mobile number on 07736474390. If I am unavailable to take the call please send a text or leave a voicemail and I will get back to you at the first opportunity.

On Tuesday next week we will be sending out your child's report alongside a note of who their teacher will be for the next academic year. Once you have your report, if you would like to speak to someone about it, please contact the school office and we will set something up for you.

Another super week for work across the school. Our weekly celebration assembly continues and it is lovely to hear about the wide range of reasons for each award. Well done Newburn, keep up the hard work. Huge congratulations to this week's winners...

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Have a lovely weekend and once gain, enjoy the match.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 25th June 2021 - Week 35

This week, the Year 5 class finished their swimming lessons with the Royal Grammar School Newcastle.  They have had a wonderful time during the lessons and made superb progress in the 5 lessons they have attended.  The staff at the RGS were impressed with their behaviour and commented on how engaged the pupils were in their learning.  It was a pleasure to watch the class go from strength to strength and see the amount of progress they made each lesson.  Well done Year 5!

Tuesday was Hoopstar day at Newburn Manor and Tracey from Hoopstarz came into school to show the school the best way to hula-hoop.  Pupils were shown the correct techniques to use when hula-hooping and then were shown some tips and tricks that they could try out.  It was great to see everyone having a go and practising their skills. Here are some photographs from the day: 

Year 4 were the first class to have their Bushcraft Day with Mr Vyle this week.  Mrs Reid, Mr Vyle and Mrs Tofield had some time in the school grounds and spent some time in the dene too.  They had a fantastic day building bridges, racing ping-pong balls down a stream, playing Forest School games, orienteering and creating paper decision makers linked to all of the learning they had taken part in during the day.  We can't wait to hear what the other classes get up to over the coming weeks.

Mr Pickup held our virtual assembly again today and we celebrated the achievements of our ACE award winners.

Collecting/dropping off children

We have been made aware that there have been a few near misses outside school at the end of the school day.  Can we please ask you to take care when dropping off or collecting your child from school if you need to use your car.  Please do not park on the zigzag yellow lines between 8 am and 5 pm.  This is for the safety of all pupils at Newburn Manor Primary School.

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 18th June 2021 - Week 34

This week, our Year 5 pupils have been attending swimming lessons at Royal Grammar School Newcastle. We have to thank Mr Smith and his staff for allowing us this amazing opportunity. The children have a had a great time and many pupils are already moving up groups. They have been a credit to the school in terms of behaviour and focus…well done Year 5!

From next week, each class will start to take part in bushcraft days with Mr Vyle in our Forest School area. Year 4 kick things off on Monday. You will receive information before your child’s session so that they can come in prepared for the day.

On Monday, work begins on our outdoor Science and Forest School cabin. We can’t wait to see what it will look like once built. We will share progress photos once the work begins.

Following the Prime Minister's decision to postpone further relaxation of social distancing rules, we have had to have a rethink about the end of term. We were planning to have an open evening/consultation for each class before we close for the summer in July. This will now not be able to take place. You will all receive a written school report before the end of term. If you would like to raise any concerns or discuss your child's report, you will be able to make an appointment for a telephone conversation. Thank you for your understanding on this matter, we hope to be able to return to face-to-face consultations in the new academic year.

You will have seen on the news that cases of COVID-19 continue to increase across the country and Newcastle numbers have risen over recent weeks, especially in younger people. An increasing number of children are having to self-isolate across the city and within our local area. It is important that we still abide by all COVID-19 social distancing measures at present to minimise the chances of transmission and further closure of bubbles within the school.

 - It is essential that children do not attend school if they have been in contact with a positive case and must isolate for 10 days.

 - If you are a close contact of a confirmed positive case, you must now get a PCR test. If you receive a negative result, this DOES NOT change or affect your isolation period, you MUST continue to isolate and complete the full 10 days isolation. 

 - If a household member tests positive with an LFD test then they need to isolate as a household until they receive a PCR test result.

 - Whilst the most common symptoms of COVID-19 are, a new continuous cough, a high temperature and/or a loss of or change in normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia), these are not the only symptoms and these symptoms do not always present themselves. It is therefore important that you do not send your child to school if they are feeling unwell, call us to discuss. Please ‘think COVID-19’ first.

Finally, it has been another great week for our ACE award winners. Congratulations to everyone who received a certificate, you all looked so proud and happy on our Zoom assembly...

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Have a great weekend…enjoy the match.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 11th June 2021 - Week 33

We're into the final half-term of the school year already.  Where did the time go?  I hope you all had a lovely half-term break and were able to enjoy the sunshine.  We have had a number of our regular enrichments on again this week.  Mr Rudkin has been back into school for our ukulele tuition, Inamojo have been working with Year 1 and Year 2, and Mr Vyle and Miss Luke have been back in the Dene with Forest School.  They were very lucky this week as on their return back to school after their adventures, they bumped into Riverside Falconry who very kindly offered to let the children see what was in the box.  It was a baby owl and they all had the chance to get a closer look.  What a special Forest School morning!  

Reception have also had an exciting week because they have received ladybird larvae.  They were very excited and can't wait to see them grow in the classroom before finally releasing them into the wild.  The class took part in a ladybird hunt this week (around the classroom) where they had to find pictures of ladybirds hidden around the room and describe their location using positional language.

Mrs Ginnes has been back in school again this week to work with different classes in school.  In Key Stage 2, the classes were practising the skill of dribbling in three sports within the lesson.  They looked at hockey, football and basketball and had to compare dribbling in each sport, looking at how they are similar and different.  The classes were keen to talk about the sports they were confident in and which sports they required more support.  It was a busy lesson but everyone had the chance to practise the skill in a range of sports.  We look forward to seeing which skill we will be practising next week...

Year 2 have had a lovely week monoprinting this week.  Pupils were printing using their hands and fingers to create patterns.  

Mr Pickup held this week's virtual assembly to celebrate the achievements of pupils in school.  Here are this week's ACE award winners:

Have a lovely weekend.

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher          

Friday 28th May 2021 - Week 32

Another half-term comes to an end. It has been a great week with lots going on.  Mr Vyle’s Monday afternoon Maker’s Club got involved in Jon Churchward Schools of Taekwondo’s Tree of Hope Initiative. They planted two horse chestnut trees in our Forest School area. We look forward to seeing them establish themselves as part of the Newburn landscape.

Tuesday saw Mr Gemmell coming in for the annual school photographs. The children looked very smart and there were so many gorgeous smiles in the Main Hall. We can’t wait to see the finished photographs. The proofs should be back in school on the Tuesday after half-term.

On Wednesday morning, the first half of Year 2 had their final Forest School session. They enjoyed their last morning in the Dene having a May King and Queen celebration where they made headdresses and natural face markings. In the afternoon, Reception stunned Mr Pickup with their superb rhythm skills as they performed their Big Bear Funk song with accompanying instruments.  

Year 1 and Reception had their final storyteller’s session with Newcastle Music Service on Thursday morning. Each child used a variety of instruments to join with the Spooky Castle song after they had read the Funnybones story. All of this on top of ukuleles in Year 3, dance in Reception and Year 2, and the Healthy Active Lifestyle event in Year 4.

We have a number of building developments taking place over the coming weeks and look forward to sharing the end products with you when they have been completed.

A huge well done to our ACE Award winners this week…

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Next week is half-term. If you want to join in some fun and games on Wednesday, 2 June, make your way down to the field in front of the school where Newburn Parish are holding a half-term activities session for children and young people from 10 am to 2 pm.

Have a super half-term. Remember that the first Monday back (7th June) is a training day so the school is closed to pupils.

Enjoy the break.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 21st May 2021  - Week 31

School has had lots of different activities going on this week including Forest School, Maker's Club, Reception and Year 1 music with the Music Service, and Mr Rudkin continuing to work with Year 3 on their ukulele tuition.  Alongside all our usual activities, the whole school took part in 'National Numeracy Day' on Wednesday.  All pupils had the opportunity to take part in various mathematical challenges in class with lots of different investigations taking place. 

In Reception, the class set up their own shop where they sold teddy bears and Duplo animals.  The children enjoyed working with money!

In Year 1, the class completed a robot challenge where they had to choose the correct robot pieces (with measurements) to make the tallest and shortest robots.  They went on further to prove that they were right!  The class did lots of counting forwards and backwards and then tried to complete the 'Hundred Square Jigsaw' after looking at the layout of the hundred square.

In Year 2, the class played 'What's my number?' where they had to ask clues to work out the number that was on their back.  They also used the digit cards to play the Nasty Number game. This involved choosing where to place the digits so that the number sentence made sense.  The class also enjoyed making times table hats! 

Year 3 were also playing 'What's my number?' in pairs in class before completing their challenge of 'Making 100'.  The class found it tricky but persevered with the challenge.

In Year 4, the class played some active times table games in the yard and then completed some challenges in class.  This included using the dice to try to beat their partner by making the largest number and playing a game that involved trying to reach a set target in maths.  

Year 5 took part in the 1-30 challenge where they could only use the numbers 1,2,3 and 4 to make numbers up to 30.  It was tricky but the class showed great resilience when working together on the task and some even managed to solve the entire challenge, spotting the number that could not be made!

Year 6 took part in a challenge involving 'happy' and 'sad' numbers.  The class had to do lots of calculations to find out whether a number was happy or sad... it became quite addictive for them!

Today I had the pleasure of taking our virtual assembly for this week's celebrations of success.  Here are this week's ACE award winners:

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 14th May 2020 - Week 30

A relatively quiet week at school over the last seven days. All of our weekly initiatives have still been taking place with Makers' Club, Forest School, Newcastle Music Service and Key Stage 1 dance making pupils smile. 

This week we are changing our homework approach until the end of the summer term. For at least the next nine weeks, our focus will be on basic skills in English and Maths. These new homework tasks will be sent via the Seesaw for Schools app.

Can we please remind parents that if a member of your family requires a PCR Covid-19 test, then all members of the family must self-isolate until the result is known.

This has been Mental Health Awareness Week. All of our classes have been engaging in this year's theme of 'Nature'. A number of classes have been taking to the outdoor areas to connect with the environment around us and talk about how the outdoors can have huge benefits to our mental health. The children have been using texts such as 'Have You Filled a Bucket Today?', using art as a way in which to engage in self-reflection and giving each other 'boost compliments'…

'Your hair looks so pretty today.'

'You are really good at skipping.'

Huge congratulations to this week's ACE award winners. It's always nice to hear the wide range of reasons for our ACE awards...

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Enjoy the weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 7th May 2021 - Week 29

We've had another busy week in school (despite only being in four days this week) with lots of activities taking place in each and every classroom.  Reception have been growing mung beans in class over the last few weeks, checking on them every day to see how much they have grown.  They are hoping to eat them next week!  Both Reception and Year 1 have had another Story Makers session with Rachael and Jo from Newcastle Music Service.  This week they were using the percussion instruments (including bells, triangles and castanets) to keep the pulse of the music when listening to 'Dem Bones'.  Year 1 have also had the opportunity to work in the ICT suite with Mr Vyle (our computing expert).  The class were practising logging onto the computer independently and saving and opening their drawings they had made in the computer program 3D Paint.                    

Year 1 and Year 2 have both had Inamojo this week with Lucy.  They listened to a story and thought about how they feel when they don't think they are being listened to.  They then created some artwork linked to the story. 
 

Some of the Year 2 children had Forest school again this week with Miss Luke and Mr Vyle.  On Wednesday they worked on a rope challenge, used some tools when having some 'making' time and made garlic dough balls with fresh garlic.  Here are a few pictures from the morning.  Please visit the Forest School page for more information and photographs from the sessions.

Year 3 have started their Stone Age topic this week and have looked at timelines, ordering the different phases from Stone Age to Iron Age.  They are very excited to get stuck into their topic.  Mr Rudkin was also in Year 3 again this week to help the class with their ukulele tuition.  The class are making great progress week on week.  Well done Year 3!        

Year 4 have had a great time learning about the evacuees in the Second World War this week.  They explored an evacuee's suitcase looking at the different items an evacuee may have carried with them.  In Science, they have been carrying out some investigations.  The class were looking at different materials and thinking about whether they are conductors or insulators.  They then had the chance to test them out!

In PE, Year 5 have been some learning hockey skills with Mr Vyle.  They have been organising themselves in groups and playing various games together that promote teamwork.  The class are also turning into bookworms at the moment which is fantastic to see!  They love our mini class library which changes regularly.  The class are enjoying choosing challenging texts and are even giving recommendations to their friends in class.

Year 6 are enjoying their adaptation topic in Science.  This week they were investigating animals that adapt to survive in hot climates.  They were particularly interested in the Saharan silver ant.  Lexi and Helen enjoyed telling me about how it adapts to its habitat where it only leaves its nest for around 10 minutes a day.  They also were keen to talk about the Alaskan Wood Frog and the Corpse Flower. 

Today I was lucky enough to hold our weekly virtual assembly where we got to celebrate the birthdays of pupils in school and listen to all of the hard work pupils have been doing this week.  Here are this week's ACE award winners: 

Some children received their pen licence in Year 4 too:

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend!

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 30th April 2021 - Week 28

We are already at the end of April...this year seems to be flying by. At least we get to enjoy the long weekend this week.

Lots has been happening again this week. On Monday, Mr Vyle was joined by pupils from Year 5 to take part in this half-term's 'Makers Club'. This is a project we run that makes use of the invention shed but also using outdoor materials, working in our fire pit area. This week, the team were learning how to join using an array of techniques and tools.

Year 3 continue to dazzle us all with their ukulele skills. Mr Rudkin introduced the class to the C7 chord this week and the Hokey Cokey song. It's always lovely to hear the music booming along the Key Stage 2 corridor and this week a number of children accompanied the ukuleles with some solo singing…so nice to hear about the growing confidence, keep it up Year 3.

Years 1 and 2 had another lovely Inamojo session this week. Inamojo is a wellbeing program that brings together stories, movement, art, meditation, and specially composed music. They were treated to a story about a jealous Komodo dragon on Tuesday and involved themselves in their own self reflection on feelings of jealousy. Years 1 and 2 also got to spend time with Chantal from CM Dance. Over the coming weeks they will be involved in weekly dance fitness sessions, this week they were getting involved in a number of modern dance numbers.

Forest School goes from strength to strength. A group of Year 2 pupils joined Mr Vyle and Miss Luke in the Dene for some more woodland exploration. Wild Garlic and Rope Adventures were the name of the game this Wednesday. The children learned to tie a variety of knots and cross over obstacles together. They've also searched for and picked some wild garlic that will be used in some outdoor cooking over the coming weeks.

Rachael and Jo from Newcastle Music Service joined Reception and Year 1 for their story telling session on Thursday morning. they were engrossed in the well known story 'Funnybones' and got grooving along to the song Dem Bones.

We have been purchasing a number of class set texts over the last few weeks. Reading is a  always a huge focus and we have been looking at a number of different texts in each year group. If you are interested in reading your child's text alongside them, the children are currently reading:

Reception - Jasper's Beanstalk by Nick Butterworth

Year 1 - The Night Pirates by Peter Harris

Year 2 - Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

Year 3 - Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura

Year 4 - Friend or Foe by Michael Morpurgo

Year 5 - Wonder by R J Palacio

Year 6 - Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

Congratulations to our ACE award winners this week. Lots of great reasons for the certificate winners this week including great work in Maths and English, reading at home, supporting friends in class, improved confidence and joining in class discussions. Well done everyone, you are real Newburn Stars...

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Enjoy the long weekend, hopefully the sun will come out for at least some of it. See you all on Tuesday morning.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 23rd April 2021 - Week 27

Welcome back to the summer term at Newburn Manor.  I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter holiday break.  I can't believe we're already at the end of first week back.  This week we have had skipping mania throughout school.  Every class has been practising their skipping skills each day in order to improve.  Every child has their own skipping counter that they can use to measure the number of skips they complete.  Each week the class will record their results for how many skips they can do in two minutes and hopefully we will see lots of progress over the coming weeks.  Please keep practising at home as this will help your weekly score. 

Year 3 continue to have their ukulele sessions with Mr Rudkin each week and Mrs Hainsworth can see great progress from their first session.  It is always lovely to hear the music drifting down the corridors towards my classroom.  I look forward to seeing their progress continue over the coming weeks.  The class have also been enjoying their tour around Europe in Geography.  This week they stopped in Russia for a visit before writing postcards home from Moscow. 

Reception and Year 1 have also had  music workshops this week with the Newcastle Music Service.  They took part in the Story Makers workshop.  This week was their first session so they got to look at all of the instruments that they are going to be using this half term.  They named the instruments and listened to a story.  They then started to listen to a song about fairy stories.  Next week they will use the percussion instruments to add some music. 

Mr Vyle and Miss Luke visited the dene with some of our Year 2 pupils this week.  The group were very excited to explore the dene crossing the stream (the hard way) to get to the Forest School site. The children used the hammocks, used sharpeners to sharpen some sticks, played some Forest school games including camouflage, investigated the wild garlic and had some quiet reflection time to finish the session.  The group thoroughly enjoyed themselves and can't wait to go again.  Here is a sample of photographs from the morning.  Please take a look at the Forest School page on the website for more information.

Year 4 have started their new history topic for this half-term: World War 2.  This week they listened to Neville Chamberlain's speech declaring war before having a cream tea while listening to some music from the time of the second world war.  They are very excited to start learning about their new topic.    

Years 5 and 6 have both started new class novels this week.  They have looked at the front cover and blurb of their books and made predictions about what they think is going to happen in the story.  Year 5's new book is called 'Wonder' by R J Palacio.  Year 6 have started Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo.  I look forward to seeing the fantastic writing the children produce after being inspired by the novels.  

We held our virtual assembly again today and it was lovely to share the achievements of the pupils as a school through the power of technology.  Here are this week's ACE award winners:

Just a quick reminder about the information sent by text this afternoon.  Can we please ask that children do not play in Mr Leiper's front garden during drop off and collection times.  This area is for Mr Leiper's personal use.

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Thursday 1st April 2021 - Week 26

The Easter holidays have arrived! Hopefully the weather will be kind to us all and we can get some outdoor time over the next 2 weeks. This week, we have enjoyed sessions on the Easter story, making cards and everyone entered the design an egg competition. It has been lovely seeing all the children hard at work and we had some great ideas. Each class voted on a year group winner and those went on to the whole school vote, judged by our resident artist, Mr Michael Gill...won by Bromily in Year 2...congratulations!

It has been lovely to hear our children so enthused about their reading over the last 4 weeks. Since returning, a number of new texts have been introduced by our teachers and the children have been hooked...titles such as "The Tin Forest', 'A Place Called Perfect' and 'Cogheart'.  Mrs Peters continues to introduce new texts and authors through our library - this month's topic has been science with titles to explore including 'Fantastically Great Women Scientists and Their Stories', 'Professor Astro Cat's Human Body Odyssey', 'How to be a Scientist' and 'Outdoor Maker Lab'.

Today we had Dave from 'Skip to be Fit' in school.  The children have learned how to skip with the aim of making progress on a daily basis. Each child has been provided with a brand new set of counting skipping ropes ready for our 'Skip to be Fit' challenge starting when we retune after the Easter Break.

Remember that Newburn Parish and Newcastle Local Authority are running activities over the Easter Break that you and your children can get involved in. Please see the information below.

We had our last ACE award assembly of the term today. Huge congratulations to all of our winners...

Please have a wonderful Easter holiday. Don't eat too much chocolate and we will see you all on Monday, 19th April.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Newburn Parish Easter Fun

Last summer, Revd Allison and her amazing team led days of activities for pupils to engage with. This Easter, they are continuing to support the local community again. Please contact Allison on 0191 2290522.

Newcastle's Best Easter Ever

Newcastle’s Best Easter Ever – Holiday Activity Fun

Active Newcastle, the council’s activity, and health improvement team, has previously worked with StreetGames to deliver Newcastle’s Best Summer Ever, reaching 9000 children in 2019, as well providing a largely home-based digital programme in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Holiday Activity Fund money secured for 2021 will initially cover Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays. It will see local community projects provide activities and healthy food to a school meal standard during school holidays. The delivery will either be face-to-face outdoors or virtual, depending on Covid-19 restrictions.

Guidance

Please Note you must continue to follow Government guidelines and your child must isolate if they have a positive test or have been identified as a close contact and not attend any holiday activity sessions.  If you/they are presenting with Covid-19 symptoms do not attend the sessions and arrange a PCR test as soon as possible. A LFD test should not be used when displaying symptoms.

As restrictions start to ease it is vital that we all continue to follow Hands, Face, Space. You should look to minimise travel, however travel for sport and exercise is permitted ensuring all control measures are followed

If your child has been advised to isolate for a period of 10 days it is important that this period is completed. Even if they return a negative LFD result they must continue isolation and not attend schools, holiday activities, etc. This negative result does not end the isolation period.

Holiday Activity Find -  School Holiday Activity Tyne and Wear TV and Teesside TV- Freeview Channel 7

TV Trailer - https://youtu.be/YVNHwichA8o

What is the project?

From the 6th to the 9th April, Tyne and Wear TV and Teesside TV working with North East Local Authorities will be broadcasting engaging content for school children including PE, Cookery, Arts & Crafts, Wellbeing, Life Skills, Science, Horrible History, Music, Yoga, Photography, Dance:

Kids Breakfast Show (4-8yrs): 7-8 am

Lunchtime Show (9-12yrs): 1-1.30 pm

Evening Show (13-16yrs): 7-8 pm

Please visit the Active Newcastle Facebook page and Newcastle Best Summer/Best Easter Facebook page #HAF2021:

https://www.facebook.com/Activenewcastlepage

https://www.facebook.com/NewcastlesBestSummerEver

Friday 26th March 2021 - Week 25

We've had another busy week at Newburn Manor with lots going on throughout school including some PE and music enrichment sessions!  Mr Rudkin continues to work with Year 3 each week on their ukulele tuition.  The class are enjoying their sessions and I look forward to hearing them each week as the sounds drift down the corridor.  Mrs Ginnes has returned to Newburn this week to work with KS2 in PE.  Each class will be concentrating on their athletic skills in the run up to the Easter holidays.  The classes will look at throwing, jumping and running over the course of three weeks.  This week Year 5 were focused on sprinting, looking at the best technique that is needed to sprint well.  The class listened well to the helpful hints that Mrs Ginnes provided and worked well on perfecting their form.  Here are a few photographs from their session:  

Year 1 have been reading Goldilocks this week as part of their work on fairy tales.  They then followed instructions to make their own porridge in class.  Sounds delicious!  Afterwards, they wrote the steps down that were needed to make the porridge alongside a list of items you would need.  Here are a few pictures from the day:

It seems there has been a travel theme in some classes this week.  Year 2 have been using photographs to learn facts about Australia and in Year 3 the class went on a virtual journey on the Eurostar to Paris and created fact files about the city.  In History, Year 5 have been enjoying learning about the Vikings.  This week they have been looking at different sources to find out why the Vikings had such a bad reputation!  In Science in Year 6, Mrs Tait has been impressed with the scientific vocabulary the class have been using when looking at the process of natural selection in evolution.  She can see some budding future scientists!  Reception have enjoyed learning about the Easter story this week.  They have also retold the story of 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' but have changed the characters and retold their own versions.  This included unicorn and bat hunts!  I'm sure Michael Rosen would be impressed!

Mr Pickup held this week's celebration assembly in school and enjoyed sharing the achievements of those ACE award pupils as well as celebrating with the pupils who have had a birthday this week.  It is a favourite part of the week. Huge congratulations to this weeks winners...

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend!

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 19th March 2021 - Week 24

School feels great this week. The children have once gain shown they have amazing levels of resilience and focus and it can be seen in every class across the school. Some of our weekly enrichment activities have started back up this week as well as some new PE support in Key Stage 2.

Mr Rudkin had his second ukulele session with Year 3.  It was a pleasure to walk along the Key Stage 2 corridor and hear the tunes coming from the Year 3 classroom. It has only been 2 weeks and we are already looking forward to hearing them after the full programme due to the progress they are making. Keep up the hard work Year 3.

Mr Vyle has been working with a number of Year 3 and Year 4 pupils as part of his 'Makers Club'. This week, the children have been creating and building a wide variety of inventions up on the fire pit area. Using tools from the Invention Shed and materials from the school grounds pupils have created golf clubs, elves, dinosaurs and dens.

This week saw Mrs Ginnes in school to support our Key Stage 2 pupils with their athletics. For the first session, the pupils concentrated on running and jumping. They have been talking about the changes in direction and different jumps they have been attempting all week.

Today is Comic Relief. We have enjoyed our non-uniform day and telling each other jokes throughout he day. Can I thank you all for your generosity during these strange times. We will inform you how much we have collected for the charity, once we have counted it all up. The school has been full of giggles all day with pupils sharing their favourite jokes. We have included a few of the pupils jokes below today's update.

Every Friday we look forward to our whole school celebration assembly. Congratulations to all of this week's ACE award winners...

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Can we please remind everyone that Key Stage 1 pupils need to be on site by 8.50 am. We can't let the pupils in once the classes have gone in, they will be required to wait until all corridors are clear.

Have a great weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 12th March 2021 - Week 23

It feels like a long time since we have been able to welcome all of the pupils back into school but on Monday our gates were open to all and it was lovely to see so many smiling faces coming in to school ready to learn.  Every class was full of busy and pupils settled well into the school routine.  Although school life hasn't returned to normal completely, pupils have remembered the rules and procedures that were in place in the autumn term and made a smooth transition back into school.  The children have loved seeing their friends and teachers again and have got straight back into the way of school life.

Reception have enjoyed receiving their new class balancing equipment.  They have been using wobble boards and balance beams this week.  Miss Morgan was very impressed with their patience and sensible attitudes while waiting to use the equipment.  Well done Reception!  Year 1 have enjoyed learning about fairy tales this week.  They have enjoyed listening to the different fairy tale stories and have thought about the features of a fairy tale.  Year 2 have loved their work on shape this week.  They have been using straws and playdough to create 2D and 3D shapes.  Mr Rudkin was in school to work with Year 3 this week on their first ever ukulele lesson.  The class loved it and are looking forward to their sessions each week.  When I asked Year 4 what they had enjoyed this week, they were all eager to tell me about their writing.  They had particularly enjoyed writing about 'The Magic Tree' and Mrs Reid agreed that she had been impressed with the vocabulary they had been using.  In Year 5 we are really enjoying our new book: A Place called Perfect by Helena Duggan.  The class are enjoying writing about the characters and are always wanting me to read a little more of the story as we're left on a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter.  Year 6 have enjoyed their Science lesson this week where they were looking at the finches of the Galapagos Islands.  To represent the different beak sizes of the finches, pupils used different resources to pick up various sized objects and thoroughly enjoyed the practical session!         

We had our virtual assembly in school today and it was a joy to see the faces of the whole school filling my computer screen.  The children love having the opportunity to seeing the other classes and celebrate their achievements with them.  The clapping can be heard throughout the corridors.  Here are our ACE award winners for this week ...

Well done to everyone for a great week back at school.  Thank you for your help to ensure the return to school was as smooth as it could be.   

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 5th March 2021 - Week 22

Monday sees all of our children back in school and we can’t wait for the children to be back in their classrooms with their classmates and teachers.

The last few weeks have been challenging on many fronts. I would like to thank everyone who has been accessing the online curriculum my staff have been providing during this time. Many of you have gone above and beyond, our weekly review of the Seesaw platform shows that many pupils have completed more than 200 pieces of work over the last 8 weeks. This is fantastic and will make the reintegration to school life and class work so much easier.

Just a few reminders for the return on Monday:

• We are operating a new staggered drop-off and collection time – please see the letter we sent out on Monday for the details.
• We ask you not to arrive on the school site before 8:45 am to avoid congestion at the school entrances.
• If you are a parent of a child in Reception, Year 4 or Year 5, you will be required to wear a mask whilst dropping off and collecting if waiting on school grounds (this includes the road area for Year 4 parents at the front of Nursery.
• We ask that our parents do not use the Nursery car park as an entry point to the school.
• Children will return to school March 8th in full school uniform as was school protocol prior to the lockdown.
• School is open on Wednesday, 10th March – the training day has been cancelled and will be rearranged for the summer term.
• Other than dropping off and collecting your child from school, you should not visit the school site unless you have made an appointment.
• If you arrive after 8.50 am (KS1) or 9 am (KS2), we ask that you do not enter the school grounds. Instead, you must wait outside the school and contact the office via the phone, where you will be provided with a drop off time once all the other pupils are in class and the corridors are safe to move around.

I have been speaking to the children in school this week about what they are most looking forward to next week when we reopen fully following the partial school closure. I thought I’d share a few of the comments made as I’m sure your children are feeling exactly the same:

‘I can’t wait to see all of my friends’ faces.'

‘It will be great being back in my own classroom every day.'

‘Being back to normal will be amazing.'

‘I’m looking forward to seeing my teacher every day.'

And one of my favourites, ‘Oh ... I’m looking forward to be writing on paper again!’

Everyone involved with school is looking forward to next week. Back in September, our children once again showed that they are the stars of the show by settling straight back into the daily school routines and I’m sure they’ll be the same again this time. If your child does come home feeling anxious or has any worries, please contact us straight away and we will put support in place.

You will have received a text from school today about Breakfast Club and school dinners. Following the roll-out of our new cashless payment procedure, can you please ensure you prepay in advance for lunch and Breakfast Club via SIMS Pay. Breakfast Club numbers are being finalised today. You need to have booked a place by lunchtime on Friday, 5^th March to attend on Monday morning. Please do not send your child to Breakfast Club unless you have pre-booked by a Friday lunchtime. Any queries please contact the office.

Finally, it is a great feeling to be able to say, have a lovely weekend and we will see you all on Monday morning.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 26th February 2021 - Week 21

We hope you and your families are well and keeping safe. We are delighted that school will open for all pupils on Monday, 8th March 2021.

School will run in a very similar way to how it was before the Christmas holidays. The protocol and procedures we had introduced worked smoothly within the school building. On the return to school we will be quickly re-establishing school routines and expectations as well as working on identifying children who have found lockdown particularly difficult emotionally or academically.

There will be a few changes to pick up and drop off times to alleviate congestion at entrances and exits. We will send full details of this out to you all on Monday of next week.

What will be the same is that the children will be welcomed back to school as part of their ‘class bubble’. At all times during the school day, children will learn and play within their ‘class bubble’ to limit interactions within school.

The government guidance states that all children are expected to attend school from 8th March and this will be mandatory. We understand that pupils and parents may be feeling anxious about the return. When we returned in September 2020, the pupils were absolutely amazing. They got straight back into daily school life and I believe this will be the case again in March.

School staff are now undertaking twice weekly Lateral Flow Testing as part of the asymptomatic testing in primary schools’ programme. If these are positive, or there are any other positive cases of COVID-19 in your child’s class, we will inform you immediately and ask you to keep your child at home to isolate.

On returning to school, all children will wear a full school uniform. On the days in which they have PE, children will attend school in PE kit and trainers. Book bags can be brought in to school but no other toys or personal belongings should be brought to school.

Before the COVID lockdown, we had planned a training day for Wednesday 10th March 2021. This will no longer be taking place. We will look to rearrange this for the summer term and provide notice in advance of when this may take place.

Breakfast club provision will start from Monday, 8th March. Numbers will be limited and parents must contact the office next week to book a place. Breakfast club will be available at a charge of £1.50 a day per child from 8:00 am.  As was the case in the autumn term, we will not be allowing anyone onto the school site. If you need to see someone at school, you will need to make an appointment through the school office. Please call the office on 0191 2674533 to book.

On Monday, we will send out detailed information about daily routines, expectations, curriculum and contacting school. These details will fully explain the school day on your child’s return to school on Monday, 8th March. If you have any particular concerns, please get in touch with school.

We are all very excited about having the children back in school and look forward to seeing you all fit and well on Monday 8th. Have a great weekend.

Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher

Friday 12th February 2021 - Week 20

We arrive at the February half term under very different circumstances to most years. The last six weeks have been challenging for everyone but the way in which the Newburn Manor School Community has pulled together and supported each other is further evidence of the family ethos we pride ourselves on.

Snowy Days

The snow has put huge smiles on the faces of the children in school this week, as well as some of the staff. The children have been making use of the outside areas making snowmen and today we had some sledging down the hill antics in all the bubbles.

Thank you

Without wanting to sound repetitive, can I thank you for everything you have been doing to help your children during this half term. Remote learning will never replace the benefits of face to face teaching and we can’t wait to see the children back in school as soon as we can safely do so. Over the last few weeks you will have faced every emotion possible and we fully understand that there will have been periods of stress and anxiety. From the whole team at Newburn Manor can I say a huge thank you for your continued support of the school and your child’s remote learning.

Reopening

At present, I have no new information for you about the reopening of the school. It is our hope that the government/DfE will be providing this information following the half term holidays. You will have heard from the Prime Minister's briefing that he intends to give schools 2 weeks’ notice in relation to schools reopening. Once we have this information we will be addressing our Risk Assessment to ensure that we can comply with all expectations and we will provide you with more detailed updates once this information is in place.

Positive cases or testing

During the lockdown period, if anyone in your household tests positive for COVID-19 or requires a test due to displaying symptoms, it is important that you still contact school to let us know. We have found a number of families with cases from our weekly calls to some parents. This is for our own records as well as public health.

Nursery Car Park

Can we please ask that parents dropping children off at school do not use the Nursery car park as an access route. Just like ourselves, Newburn Manor Nursery have COVID procedures in place, one of which is that their car park is a designated pick up and drop off point. Access to the Key Stage 2 entrance is our side door but accessed via the front of school.

Half term

Next week is half term – no home schooling for a whole 5 days! Due to remote learning, the children will have been spending substantially more time looking at laptop and tablet screens. Next week is an opportunity to down tools for a whole week and recharge the batteries not using technology. If you’re anything like my family, you may well now be getting a little tired of the same walk every day. Completing the same route around the local area is also inevitably involving higher levels of whingeing than the first lockdown in the more welcoming weather. We have put some ideas together for next week that we have all found fun from personal experience or from the internet:

Cooking

Today is the new Chinese New Year. Why not celebrate by designing and making your own Chinese inspired dishes?

Make a HUGE thing of Pancake Day

Tuesday 16th is Pancake Day. Get excited about it and plan some extra special activities and mix up your toppings. Try both sweet and savoury options. Pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!

Bake Off Day

A great one to do with friends! Set a theme such as cupcakes and get all the kids friends cooking together on Zoom.

Games for walks

Close-Ups

Have someone with a camera or smartphone walk ahead on the trail and take a macro—or super close-up—shot of an object along the trail: a mushroom, a knot in a tree, a crack in a rock. The close-up should focus on part of the object rather than the whole thing. (If you take a picture of the entire object, it will be too easy to find!) When the rest of the group catches up to the photographer, define a small 10-by-10-foot area—and then it’s a race to see who can find the object first. It takes just minutes to play, but the fascination of finding hidden objects in the woods makes it fun and keeps you moving!

Hiking Scavenger Hunt

Who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt? This one is really simple: Make a list of items everyone has to find, and the first one to find them all wins! (Kids don’t have to actually collect the objects; they can announce their finds to the group for a Leave-No-Trace-friendly approach.) Here’s a list to get you started—but get creative!

Four different shades of green

Something blue

Heart-shaped rock

Piece of litter (Pick it up and carry it out!)

Something made by humans

Nature walks and crafts

The National Trust has put together lots of activities suited to different types of landscapes for this February half term:

What's open to visit? National Trust gardens, parks and countryside remain open for local people to exercise. Prior booking is required.

50 things activities to do in your back garden - https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lists/50-things-activities-to-do-in-your-back-garden

Top family-friendly bakes - https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/top-family-friendly-bakes

Plan a Themed Day

The key ingredients of a Themed Day are fancy dress, a themed lunch and some fun activities. Maybe try to throw in a relevant movie for 90 minutes of down time or for when the weather is too grey and chilly.

Home Cinema Day

Grab the popcorn, close the curtains and have a home cinema day, maybe watch some Harry Potter Films or the have the kids pick their favourite film each.

Wednesday 17th February is National Random Acts of Kindness Day

It's the perfect day to attempt to make the world a happier place. Your child can take part in World Kindness Day by doing a random act of kindness, large or small. You can choose different acts each day of the half term holiday. Here are a few ideas:

• Help mum and dad make the dinner
• Help around the house
• Call a friend if you haven’t spoken to them in a while
• Plant something
• Read a story to someone
• Have a complain free day

Please let us know how you get on over the half term holidays. Post photographs of your activities on Seesaw and the school blog. We will attempt to put a collage together if we receive enough photos that can be shared with the school community.

Once again, thank you for all of your hard work. Please try to relax and enjoy the break. We will be in touch with our plans at the start of next half term.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 5th February 2021 - Week 19 

Once again we would like to thank all children and families completing the remote leaning for your continued commitment and support. We are 5 weeks into working away from school and the way the children have responded to the learning has been a credit to the school and their families. Working in front of a screen for prolonged periods of time can take its toll on pupils in many ways, please remember that it is important they take breaks on a consistent basis and we support you in the idea that children also need time away from the screen.

Balancing a job and/or working from home, alongside supporting your child's home learning can be extremely difficult. We have said it on many occasions, but please get in touch with us if you are having difficulties, it may be something we can help with a quick solution or something where we can put extra support in place. This week we have had a number of pupils posting work after 8 pm at night and sometimes into the early hours. This is definitely something that we don't want to happen. Although it is vital our pupils complete the work they are set, this needs to be alongside balanced family time. Emotional wellbeing is key at times such as these and having time for parents and pupils to recharge their batteries is a must. The best time for pupils to complete tasks is during normal school hours as their class teacher is on hand for 'live support' during these hours. I have passed the same message on to my staff that they need to make time for family and recharging. Therefore they will not be available for this 'live support' outside of school office hours.

On Thursday morning, Lani and Bromily attended school to drop off a very special gift. The girls had baked the staff some beautiful homemade cupcakes. It was lovely seeing their smiles in school and the cakes put huge smiles on the faces of the staff. We would like to say a massive thank you to Lani, Bromily and their mum for the very kind gift, it has raised spirits across all the staff ... a lovely end to the week.

Have a safe weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 29th January 2021 - Week 18  

Another week has been completed. This week there has been information in the media about the dangers that can be experienced by children during remote learning. We have put some helpful hints below to use when your children are online. We will never ask your child to sign up to anything with a personal email address - our learning platforms use a username and password. It is important to monitor the use of the message facility on Seesaw and that your child understands what is appropriate to write online. Perhaps remind them that these messages will be visible to the school staff and they shouldn’t put anything in a message that they wouldn’t want anyone else to see.

Keep Security up to Date

Protect your children and their devices from hackers by ensuring you keep all programs on their computer up to date. Run updates, install patches and make sure you install anti-virus or anti-malware software on their computers before use. 

Install Parental Controls

Kids are spending more time than ever in front of their screens, which can inadvertently lead to browsing on websites you don't want them to access. By installing parental controls like computer monitoring software you'll be able to filter websites, block apps, games and other distracting media, and regulate your child's purchases online.

Keep Personal Information out of Usernames

Keep your child's online identity anonymous by avoiding usernames with identifying details. Usernames that hint at your child's age, location, last name or other important identifying details should be avoided. It's also important to talk to your child about online safety and make sure they know they should never give out personal information online, even if the person they are chatting with appears to be a friend. If your child is contacted online by someone they do not know, make sure they alert you immediately. 

Talk to Your Kids About Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices. As school shifts online this year, cyberbullying has the potential to become even more commonplace. Talk to your child about appropriate and inappropriate interactions with their peers online, and help them identify behaviors that may constitute as cyberbullying. If they see their peers cyberbullying, ask that they alert you immediately.

Next week is children's mental health week. This year's theme is 'Express Yourself'. 

Go to the Place2Be webpage below to see what you and your children can get involved with:

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/about-the-week/

Have a safe weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 22nd January 2021 - Week 17

This week seems to have flown by. We have had lots of lovely messages through again this week and the Zoom tutorials have clearly gone down a storm - thank you for the positive support. It has been lovely seeing so many smiley faces again. Seesaw has been kept busy this week with huge amounts of work completed by lots of the children. Keep up the hard work. These are very challenging times and you are doing a great job.

On the topic of remote learning, can we ask that children please access the Seesaw work set by the class teacher before the children work on Lexia, Mathletics and Times Table Rock Stars. We make great use of these support programs at school and they are extremely useful tools but the Seesaw work is a sequence of lessons set by the class teacher and is matched to the work that they would be accessing in school this term. We encourage all pupils to access all of their Seesaw activities to maintain their quality of education. We fully understand that some families may be sharing devices and this is not always possible. Please inform us if you are having issues around this to determine if we can provide you with support. 

Please have a safe weekend. The weather forecast is looking cold but clear for those local walks.

Thank you again.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Time Out Parent/Carer Support Group

A new group is starting to support parents/carers of young people with mental health difficulties. It will run every last Wednesday of the month. If you are interested in taking part, please either contact school or the organisers (see bottom of poster) for the link to join the first Zoom meeting.

Friday 15th January 2021 - Week 16

Week 2 of the new lockdown and the new school year. We are missing having all of the children in school and we hope that you are safe and well at home. The children and staff have been uploading lots of great work through the Seesaw app. A massive thank you to all of our parents. You are doing a superb job of supporting your children with their remote work through very uncertain times. Please remember that we are here to help and support you in any way we can - please ask through Seesaw or by calling school if there is anything that is confusing - there is never a silly question.

This week we have started our Zoom tutorials. These will be a further weekly link with the children on top of Seesaw - the link that we sent out will work at the same time each week. I didn't manage to join all of the meetings but ones I did brought a huge smile to my face. It was so nice seeing children who aren't in school. We are extremely proud of how well you are coping with the current lockdown. You have been working through your daily Seesaw work with wonderful enthusiasm - keep up the hard work and remember to always let us know if you need anything.

Have a lovely weekend Newburn. Have some relaxing family time and remember to stay safe.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 8th January 2021 - Week 15

Happy New Year Newburn. The start to 2021 really hasn't been the one we expected or wanted. Can I thank you all for the support you have provided during the first week of this lockdown. This was thrown on us at very short notice but the way in which the whole school community has pulled together, once again makes me feel extremely proud to be part of such a family driven school.

The last thing we wanted was for schools to be closed again due to the work the children missed in the previous lockdown. As you will be aware from the emails we have sent out, the remote learning offer is significantly different to last time. Your child's class teacher is uploading work to Seesaw Monday to Friday, with 5 sequenced activities each day which need to be completed and uploaded daily. Your child's teacher will mark and provide feedback on this work and can be contacted to provide 'live support' during the day via the Seesaw app. It is important that the children are completing this work every day so that elements of their learning are not missed.

In addition to Seesaw, your child could and should be accessing Lexia, Mathletics or Mathseeds (Reception) and Times Tables Rock Stars (Year 2 and above) for 20 minutes each per day. Following discussions with our IT support, we understand that Lexia, Mathletics, Mathseeds and Times Tables Rock Stars can all be accessed through an Xbox, with Mathletics also working on PlayStations.

We will be in touch with you via email and the school text service should there be any changes you need to know about. Please contact the school if you need any support and we will do our absolute best to help you out.

Have a good weekend and please stay safe.

Stuart Pickup

Head teacher

Friday 19th December - Week 14

Well we’re at the end of term already.  What a busy term we’ve had!  This week has been no different.  We had the rest of our Christmas parties in school throughout the week.  Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 had some festive dancing and a few games including musical statues in the hall.  They then returned to their classroom for pizza and a DVD.  It was a very different party to usual but the children had a wonderful afternoon and enjoyed their pizza treat!  Here are a few pictures taken from the parties. 
 

Over November and December, Year 2 and Year 5 spent a lot of time learning the British Sign language signs for a two different Christmas songs.  Year 2 practised ‘A Christmas List’ and Year 5 practised ‘What Christmas is For’.  Schools in the area also practised this song and a video has been created by the Music Partnership North.  If you would like to watch it, please follow the links below:

My Christmas List - Year 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQYR0GIce4&feature=youtu.be

What Christmas is For - Year 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJ1N9P_Pns&feature=youtu.be 

The last instalments of our nativity have also been uploaded to the school website this week.  We hope you enjoy them.  This week Reception shared with us 'Jesus is born', Year 4 told us the story of the shepherds, Year 5 retold the scene of the three wise men and Year 6 shared a special message for the Christmas period.  Take a look at the Christmas story page for each scene performed by the different classes in school.
https://www.newburnmanorprimary.co.uk/christmas-story-2020/

We had our final virtual assembly of 2020 today to celebrate the achievements of the pupils in school and to send out happy birthday wishes to those with a birthday over the festive break.  Here are our ACE award winners for this week. 

Please note, if your child receives a positive COVID result during the Christmas break or you will be required to self isolate after the Christmas break (due to someone in your household receiving a positive test result or you are informed by Trace and Trace), school can be contacted on 07736474390. 

Thank you all for the amazing support you continue to give us.  It has been an incredibly busy term.  I hope you all have a lovely break over Christmas.  See you all in 2021...we return to school on Monday, 4th January at 8:50 am for Reception and 8:55 am for the rest of the school.   

Merry Christmas!

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher                           

Friday 11th December 2020 - Week 13

Christmas continues to be the big topic this week. On Tuesday, the children enjoyed our Christmas dinner celebrations. Claire, Gillian and Stephen did a great job and provided a lovely meal and smiles to everyone in the hall. There were no cracker and party hats this year but the Christmas tunes helped raise the spirits (just a shame we couldn't sing along). 

A huge thank you to Stacey Law-Williams, a parent of two of our pupils, who came into school on Tuesday night and put up a lovely Christmas arch. The children absolutely love it, especially our Key Stage 1 pupils who go through it on their way to lunch each day.

Our Christmas stories, performed by each year group, have started. So far we have Years One, Two and Three who have given us the story of Mary and the Angel, the Journey to Bethlehem and No Room at the Inn. Each story is accompanied by a related Christmas song. Please visit the Christmas Story 2020 page to watch all of the available videos. Reception, alongside Years Four, Five and Six will be adding theirs next week.

A huge well done to all of our Year Two pupils who have been completing their phonics assessments this week. We are extremely proud of them, they have performed so well. Years Five and Six have been taking part in their final week of Bamboo Tamboo with Franco this week. I had the privilege of being with Year Six on Thursday morning and I was incredibly impressed with their enthusiasm and talent. We have a few budding percussionists in there. If you would like to watch the performance from each class please visit the Year Five and Year Six class pages.

Although we are not having our usual Christmas parties, we don't want the children missing out on the seasonal festivities. This year our 'parties' include some socially distanced dancing and games followed by some naughty take away food and some festive DVDs - as well as a little something from Santa. The children have enjoyed coming into school in their party clothes and the celebrations.

The virtual celebration assembly is always a highlight of the week and this week was no different. So many different reasons for our ACE awards this week from supporting each other in class and being a great friend to outstanding writing and amazing reading progress. Well done to each and every one of our award recipients this week...

Next week is the last before the Christmas holidays. Can I remind you all that next Friday we will close from between 1.45 pm and 2.05 pm, staggering collection times so that bubbles can move around the school building and leave in a safe manner. This means that on Friday, 18^th December collection for each year group will be as follows:

Reception (green gates) and Year 4 (front red gates): 1.45 pm

Year 5 (green gates) and Year 3/Year 1 (front red gates): 1.55 pm

Year 2 and Year 6 (front red gates): 2.05 pm

Have a great weekend. Thank you for all the supportive feedback this week. It has put a smile everyone's face.

Stuart Pickup

Head teacher

Friday 4th December 2020 - Week 12

Just like that, we're in December already.  It has been another busy week in school with lots going on.  The children arrived at school on Monday to see a very festive looking Newburn Manor Primary School.  The staff stayed back on Friday evening to make sure the school looked just right for the run up to Christmas.  We have three Christmas trees this year, for both halls and the corridor, as well as decorations up throughout school and in every classroom.  We also have our beautifully decorated doors to brighten up our corridors.

Throughout the week we have had Bamboo Tamboo, Fitness Dance, Inamojo and Ukuleles to name but a few of the activities happening in school.  We have also started rehearsals for our virtual Nativity story.  The classes have been practising away and I can't wait to see the recordings of the story next week.  From Wednesday we will be uploading part of the Nativity every day, told from a different class in school.  Watch this space ...

Today I had the pleasure of recording some of our Year 6 pupils singing some carols for the Reverend Allison Harding.  These will be played on the YouTube site for St Michael and All Angels Church, Newburn over the Christmas period.   
 

We had our weekly virtual assembly today with Mr Pickup where we had the chance to share in the achievements of pupils throughout school.  Here are this week's ACE award winners. 
 

Next week we have our Christmas jumper day on Tuesday which is also our Christmas lunch day.  If your child usually brings a packed lunch and would like a school dinner on this day, please ring Mrs Hogarth in the school office and we can organise this for you.   

On Monday, we will be sending out a letter with information regarding the closing times for school on Friday, 18th December.

Have a lovely weekend.

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher 

Friday 27th November 2020 - Week 11

We are nearly at the end of November so we can start to mention Christmas. You will have been sent an email this morning about our Christmas calendar and details of what will be taking place.

The children continue to be absolute stars and I can't praise them more highly for the way they adapt to any changes we need to make. We have completed our parent consolation calls this week with some lovely messages of support being passed on to us via calls and emails. Thank you so much for these reassuring comments; it really helps staff morale and gave them a real boost. If for any reason you missed your call or couldn't make the three nights, please contact school and we will do our very best top accommodate a new date and time.

Mrs Gill's Year 5 gang took part in a live stream lesson from Kielder Observatory all about the Solar System. The children learnt new facts about each of the planets and information about the sun. It was lovely to be able to understand the distances in a real life context as well as having the opportunity to ask Dan and Adam questions.

Our weekly extra curricular activities continue to bring smiles to the children's faces especially our dance sessions with Chantal, music with Franco and Mr Rudkin, YogaBugs with Anna and our in school makers club and Forest School with Mr Vyle.

Huge congratulations to our ACE award winners this week. You make us so proud every week and it is lovely seeing everyone's smiley face in our virtual assemblies.

If you haven't managed to open the Christmas email. The information is below:

Christmas Nativity Performance

The staff are currently working on a nativity production that will involve the whole school. This will be filmed and uploaded to our school website for all of our families to enjoy as we are unable to accommodate audiences in school. We will upload a scene a day on our website on the following dates:

Year 1: Wednesday 9th December                              Reception: Monday 14th December

Year 2: Thursday 10th December                                Year 4: Tuesday 15th December

Year 3: Friday 11th December                                     Year 5: Wednesday 16th December

                                                                                     Year 6: Thursday 17th December

We plan to have copies to distribute to parents via DVD if all parents across the school agree to this, please let us know if you do not want your child included on this. We will of course not be including those children who currently don’t have permission to be on the school website.

Christmas Cards

To minimise any potential Covid-19 transmission between our numerous households we politely request that Christmas cards are not sent into school. Our older children usually manage the sorting and delivery of the many hundreds of Christmas cards in school but this year they are not able to travel around the school. Consequently, we will not be hosting our traditional post box in the hall or special deliveries to classrooms to protect year group bubbles.

Children will still be given the opportunity to make Christmas cards and calendars in school for family members and they will be stored safely for the appropriate time-scales in accordance with current DfE guidance, before being sent home.

Christmas Dinner

The children will be having their Christmas Lunch on Tuesday, 8th December.  All children who have a school dinner will be having this option. If your child usually brings a packed lunch but would like to have Christmas Lunch on this day, please inform the school office.

Children who are in receipt of either universal infant free school meals (Reception, Years 1 & 2) or free school meals but bring a packed lunch to school do not need to pay. Otherwise please send in £2.20 in an envelope with your child’s name on marked ‘Christmas Lunch’.

Christmas Jumper Day

On the same day as Christmas Dinner, Tuesday, 8th December, we will be having Christmas jumper/Christmas dress day in support of the Newcastle West End Foodbank. We would like to donate food if you are able to at one of the local drop off points:

Tesco Extra, Kingston Park      06.00-midnight

Waitrose, Ponteland                 08.00-20.00

Sainsbury’s, Throckley             08.00-21.00

Morrison’s, West Denton          07.00-22.00

If you would like to take a photo of your child making the donation you could post it onto our class blog page or e-mail it to admin@newburnmanorprimary.newcastle.sch.uk and we can put this on our website.

Christmas Parties

We will be holding our Christmas parties as usual in our class bubbles.  Each class will have some party food in the afternoon, which will be provided and prepared by school and the children will also take part in fun activities within their classroom.

Children can wear their party clothes all day, but please ensure that they are wearing clothes, shoes and a coat suitable for being outside at break and lunch.

Reception: Thursday 10th December              Year 3: Tuesday 15th December

Year 1: Wednesday 9th December                  Year 4: Wednesday 16th December

Year 2: Friday 11th December                         Year 5: Thursday 17th December

                                                                         Year 6: Monday 14th December

Hopefully, this letter will reassure families that we will do our upmost to ensure all of the children enjoy their Christmas in school and end the term with well-deserved festive fun and experiences.

Choir

Due to current Covid-19 restrictions we are unable to sing Christmas Carols in the community this year. We are planning to record some of our Year 6 children singing and hopefully share with our local care homes and Church to spread some Christmas joy. We will of course be in touch with parents to let them know of the details before we do this.

Community

We have been contacted by some of our local care homes to contribute to their Christmas celebrations. Year 5 will be making some collage Christmas trees that will be used to make garlands in Denecroft along with staff from Hen Pals and also with Lindisfarne #heartsforschools campaign.

Finally, please can we remind everyone of the Covid-19 rules. Please can all parents and children remember the social distancing rules whilst waiting outside school to either drop off or pick up your child.

Please remember if you show symptoms of Covid-19 and take a test you must follow the government guidance. If you have taken a test you and all members of your household must self-isolate until the results are known. You and your child must not attend the school site.

Thank you for your continued support.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 20th November 2020 - Week 10

The weeks are continuing to fly by.  I can't believe we've already reached the end of week 3 since half term.  It's been another busy one this week with lots of activities happening throughout school.  It was Anti-Bullying week so we started the week off with Odd Sock day on Monday.  Pupils came wearing a great selection of odd socks!  Even Mr Pickup came in odd socks to show how different he is!  Classes watched a virtual assembly from the Anti-Bullying Alliance all about bullying and then had discussions in their own classes about how everyone is unique.

This work was continued when Hannah from Bigfoot Arts Education came into school on Wednesday to deliver workshops to each class.  In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, they had a workshop on why ‘It’s good to be me!’  The classes thought about the special superpowers they have including 'kindness' and 'bravery' which make them unique and special.  The children loved Tommy and Sally, Hannah's puppets.  In Key Stage 2 the classes had a workshop on Cyberbullying.  They talked about the different types of bullying and thought about how they make us feel.  Pupils created freeze frames to show the different types of bullying before talking about how to stay safe online by acting safely, respectfully and responsibly at all times.   

Also this week, we have had many other enrichments throughout school.  Year 5 and Year 6 have continued to work with Franco on their Bamboo Tamboo workshop.  They are making good progress and Franco is pleased with how well they are doing.  Well done Years 5 and 6.  Keep up the great work!  Key Stage 2 have also continued their dance fitness sessions with Chantal.  They have loved the different dance routines and are feeling more confident each week.  This week Chantal introduced the plank challenge to some of the classes which was great fun.  I can't wait to see what next week's challenge will be.  Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 had their YogaBugs session this week.  In Reception and Year 1, they were completing yoga movements linked to the story of Hansel and Gretel and Year 2 were focusing on mindfulness while listening to a story.  Year 1 and 2 have also continued their Inamojo sessions with Kayleigh and Lucy this week.  They visited the dragon's cave again and listened to a new story.  They practised some breathing exercises, took part in some movements and dances and thought about their emotions.  Year 4 have also had another ukelele session this week with Mr Rudkin.  The class are learning new chords each week and can now play 'Three Blind Mice'.  What a busy week!

Today we had our weekly virtual celebration assembly with Mr Pickup and it was lovely to see the whole school together (if only virtually!).  Here are this week's ACE award winners:

Thank you again for your continued support.   

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher
 

Friday 13th November 2020 - Week 9

The weeks go flying by at the minute, we are already at the end of week 2 since half term. I hope you have all managed to access the new online provision for signing up to a parent evening slot. Mrs Hogarth has worked hard to get it up and running after some early teething problems. If for any reason you haven’t received your confirmation email or have struggled to access the site, please give the office a call.

Our Year 1 and 2 pupils have been working with Kayleigh and Lucy on the Inamojo Project.  This is a wellbeing program for children using stories, movement, art, meditation, and specially composed music. The children have thoroughly enjoyed themselves stating that it was relaxing and calming and they loved this week's dragon stories. Year 1 and Year 2 will be working with the project for this half term where we will keep you up to date with their progress.

On Wednesday, the whole school paid their respects to those who have lost their lives fighting for their country. In addition to a class assembly with the sharing of poems, the last post and the Christmas Truce, year groups produced individual work around poppies. Every child took part in the 11 o'clock 2 minutes silence either in the classrooms or on the school yards, their observance of the silence was impeccable and their empathy in the discussions that followed was extremely mature...well done Newburn.

Many children continue to be involved in a number of weekly enrichment activities including Bamboo Tamboo, YogaBugs, Forest School, Dance and Ukuleles.

Mrs Peters continues to share so many wonderful book ideas for our children. This week she has included a number of books with a link to Remembrance Day.

Today has been Children in Need Friday. All of our pupils came to school in their sports kit so that they could join Joe Wicks for the final 25 minutes of his 24 hour charity work out. Thank you so much for your generosity during these unprecedented times. As a school we have raised £253 for the Children in Need charity...thank you so much.

Well done to all of our ACE award winners today. Unfortunately, due to a virtual meeting I couldn't take part in the ACE assembly. I have loved seeing your photographs and reading all of the great reasons for the certificates this week. It was also lovely to see our Year 4 pupils with their pen licences. Keep up the great work Newburn, you have been so positive since we got back.

Can I please remind the school community of the importance to be on time for school, especially whilst we have COVID procedures in place at school. A number of pupils are late on a regular basis and this is causing congestion issues at the office whilst other bubbles move through the corridors.

Finally, before we head off for a well deserved weekend break, next week is Anti-bullying Week. As part of the work we will be celebrating Odd Socks Day on Monday, 16th November. All your child needs to do is wear odd socks on Monday. It's a great way to celebrate what makes us all unique in Anti-Bullying Week!

Have a great weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head teacher

Friday 6th November 2020 - Week 8

We have had an incredibly busy first week back after the half term break with lots going on throughout school.  On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week Chantal from CM Dance Academy came into school to work with each class in KS2.  Each year group took part in a fitness dance session where they had the chance to learn lots of different dance moves, improve their fitness and have fun.  There were smiles throughout the whole session!  We can't wait to see which dance routines we will learn next week.

Franco, from Music Partnership North - Newcastle, came into school on Thursday to work with Year 5 and Year 6 on their Bamboo Tamboo workshop.  This was new to Year 5 who gave it their all and made lots of progress throughout the session.  Year 6 had already completed work on Bamboo Tamboo last year so this was their chance to develop their skills and impress Franco with how much they had remembered.  He was very impressed with both classes!  We will keep you updated over the coming weeks to let you know how they are getting on.

Lots of the classes have focused their work around fireworks and bonfires this week.  Reception Class have created chalk firework pictures, Year 3 created collage firework pictures and Year 1 looked at the story of Guy Fawkes and talked about firework safety.  Year 5 also thought about firework safety and created safety posters.  They also wrote firework acrostic poems.  Year 2 have had a firework-themed first week back.  They watched a firework display on the interactive whiteboard with hot chocolate before creating a firework poem.  They also created firework pictures with chalks.    

Also this week, Year 5 had the chance to watch a livestream session from Kielder Observatory on Thursday afternoon.  Adam Shore talked about the stars and constellations, the planets, our solar system and other galaxies.  We looked at lots of pictures and animations to help us understand the complex topics he was discussing.  The children were able to post questions to Adam and he tried to answer as many as he could.  We look forward to another session focusing on the solar system later in the term.  

On Friday, Sarah from Operation Encompass Next Steps came into school to talk to Year 3 about emotions and empathy.  The class talked about anger, thinking about the signs of anger and how to find help when feeling angry.  Sarah had a lovely afternoon with the class who thoroughly enjoyed the session.   
      

We continued to have our Good Work Assembly virtually this week as it was such a success before half term.  It is lovely for the children to see the other classes and celebrate their achievements together.  Well done to our ACE award winners:

We apologise that we haven't sent out further information regarding parent consultation meetings.  We are awaiting an update from our website provider.  We have been informed that this will be made available for the start of next week.  Apologies again for this delay.  It was a technical issue that was beyond our control.       

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 23rd October 2020 - Week 7

Can I take this opportunity to thank every member of the school community for helping us enjoy such a successful reopening of Newburn Manor. None of us can quite believe it is already half-term. The school has felt like a school again and although we aren’t as we used to be or want to be, it has been an amazing experience having the children back looking happy, smiley and ready for the challenges ahead.

For the new academic year we have reorganised our termly timetable to allow for new approaches to be implemented in our Geography and History curriculum areas. As part of this, we have blocked our art lessons into a full week at the end of set half-terms. It has been so nice to walk into all of the classes and the experience the art development across school in the afternoons this week. Work has included work on animal prints, sketching and drawing from the Great Fire, Egyptian vases, Monet's Water Lilies, Masks of the Maya Civilisation and the work of Keith Haring. The blocked art topic has clearly been a huge success.

Breakfast Club staff are always trying to introduce our pupils to new types of food. This week the children have had the opportunity to take part in a continental breakfast including cooked meats, cheeses, croissants, waffles and French baguettes. Mrs Heslop and the team have also been providing the children with pumpkin and fruit carving alongside orange jack-o'-lantern design. Breakfast Club provide a fabulous service every morning from 8 am. If you would like to make use of our Breakfast Club there are plenty of spaces available at present. Please call the school office on 0191 2674533 for more information.

Even though the mornings are darker and a little damper than they were back in September, Mr Vyle and the Year 1 Forest School team continue to enjoy themselves. This week they were on outdoor cooking duty making jam and apple doughnuts all washed down with a lovely mug of hot chocolate.

It was lovely to end the half-term with another Zoom Celebration Assembly. Everyone was able to access their camera this week so we had the joy of seeing each class and join our ACE award recipients in celebratory whole school rounds of applause. Congratulations to each and every ACE award winner.

Parents’ evening

Due to the COVID restrictions, our parents evening meetings are going to take place via a telephone call with your child’s class teacher. We understand that this is not an ideal situation and we would much prefer to have face to face meetings. However, for the safety of the school and the wider community, this unfortunately is not possible at present.

Parents' evening calls will take place on Tuesday 24th, Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th November 2020. Although we usually have our meetings in October, we felt it best to have them later this year to allow all of the pupils to fully reintegrate back into the school year and give teachers, pupils and yourselves a chance to experience the new ‘normal’ at school.

We are introducing a new way of registering for your time slot. To reduce the amount of information having to go back and forward between home and school in paper format, we are using an online booking system via the school website. Class teachers are offering 10 minute slots across the three evenings stated above. When you log on to the new system you will see the availability for your child’s class and be able to reserve your slot. Details of how to access will be sent out in the first week after half-term.

Remote learning  

Many of you will be becoming more confident and experienced in your use of our remote learning app Seesaw for Schools. Over the year, your child will be using this tool more and more but it will be our main remote learning platform if and when pupils/bubbles are required to self-isolate due to COVID-19 reasons. Seesaw works great on any computer or tablet device.

If your child is required to self-isolate, then daily work and online teaching will be provided through Seesaw for Schools. Your child will be provided with 4 tasks per day including daily English and Maths sessions alongside the wider curriculum as well as directed work on our other online platforms such as Lexia, Mathletics and Times Tables Rock Stars. Seesaw for Schools enables our teachers to provide frequent and clear explanations of new content. This may include teachers uploading videos of themselves explaining a concept or videos from expert teachers connected to programmes the school are affiliated with. This vital feature will enable pupils to see and hear their teachers daily.

Each task will have an identified way of recording your child’s work. This will be completed via Seesaw and uploaded to the app. Seesaw gives isolating pupils the chance to ask for support and other questions whilst at home. Teachers will also be able to give individual feedback to work submitted, which will in turn give motivation to children and support with their ongoing progress.  Work will be marked at least twice weekly from your child’s teacher.

COVID measures 

Can we please ensure that children are dropped off at school at the designated place at the correct time. During the last week we have had an increasing number of late pupils. This causes congestion at the office/reception area as pupils cannot enter their classrooms until the corridors are clear of all other children. Can I also remind parents/carers that if any member of your household is being tested for coronavirus then your child/children must self-isolate with you until the results are known. If you are advised of the need to take a test, then please contact school to come and collect your children from the main office.

School contact over half-term 

During the half-term holiday break the school office will not be open. If anyone within your household develops COVID-19 symptoms, requires a test or returns a positive test it is important that you still inform school. Please ensure you contact us on the following number 07736 474 390.

Flu jabs day 

On Wednesday, 4^th November, the school health team will be in school to administer nasal flu spray to all children who have returned the permission forms.

Children in Need 

On Friday, 13^th November, we will be celebrating Children in Need by taking part in Joe Wicks’ Ultimate Feel Good Friday. On this date the children can attend school in sports kit and bring along a donation of £1.

I hope you all have a wonderful half-term break and enjoy the extra hour in bed on Sunday. Please stay safe during your time away from school, we will see you all on Monday 2nd November.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Pickup

Head teacher

Newburn and Newcastle are currently under local restrictions, in the Tier 2/HIGH alert category. This means...

Friday 16th October 2020 - Week 6

Another week has come to an end at Newburn Manor with only one more week before half-term.  This week, Year 2 have continued learning about 'The Great Fire of London' as part of their history topic.  They have been thinking about the causes of the fire this week and deciding which causes were more important.  This afternoon, they have been designing a new waterproof hood for Mrs Merrix so they have been testing different materials in the classroom.   

Reception went on their autumn walk this week around the school grounds.  They collected different items and then used them to create some Andy Goldsworthy inspired artwork. 
 

In Science in Year 4 this week, pupils have recreated the water cycle using ice, hot water and a glass to think about evaporation and condensation taking place.  They have also been writing letters as a Roman slave linked to their history topic this half-term.                                 

Year 5 and 6 had a visitor this week from Studio West in West Denton.  Ms Wigham, the Principal, came in to each class to talk to the pupils about her school.  The children asked lots of thoughtful questions and discussed the careers they wanted to pursue in the future.  Ms Wigham was very impressed with the children's behaviour and contributions during the session.   
 

Year 1 have created autumn trees this week.  They used broccoli and poster paints to print some impressive autumn leaves.  They look fantastic and are up on display in their classroom. 
 

This week our assembly was slightly different to previous weeks.  Mr Pickup held a virtual assembly, beamed into every classroom so that the whole school could celebrate everyone's achievements.  It was lovely to hear the clapping from each class as I walked around school.  The children loved seeing Mr Pickup on the big screen in their room. 

Here are this week's ACE award winners:

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 9th October 2020 - Week 5

Week 5 already, this term is absolutely flying by. Lots of great work continues to be completed by all of the children. It is so lovely to walk into all of the classrooms and see the children giving their work 100%. The smiles and enjoyment on all of their faces really does make the school feel a great place to be.

Huge congratulations this week to our super ACE award winners. The teachers find it so hard to get it down to just three pupils per week, such is the enthusiasm and focus we see from all of the children. Keep up the hard work everyone, you have all been absolute stars. This weeks winners are so proud of their achievements...

With changes to COVID restrictions appearing to have daily updates, our Local Authorities have got together to collate and share clear helpful information for us all...

Following further re-evaluation of our procedures, we have decided to make some further changes to our drop-off and collection protocol. You will be glad to know that we are not changing the drop-off and collection points as these appear to be now working more smoothly. However, we do feel we need to change the times for our Reception class so that these areas are not as congested on mornings and afternoons. We understand that changes in times may cause child care issues so we have decided to make a small 10-minute change to the day. From Monday, 12^th October, the Reception school day will start at 8.50am and finish at 2.50pm – both drop-off and collection will remain at the green gate.

You may have seen in the news this week, that along with Nottingham, Manchester and Liverpool, Newcastle has one of the highest levels of Coronavirus currently in England. There are a number of schools in Newcastle who have been required to close bubbles in their schools; this is something that we may be required to do in the future if pupils or teachers contract the virus but by minimising the chances of transmission it lowers the risk of this happening in school. Therefore, can we please ask that all parents abide by current social distance rules, where at all possible please stand 2m apart and away from members from other families, if not 2m please wear a face covering.

Have a great weekend and see you all next week.

Stuart Pickup

Head teacher

Friday 2nd October - Week 4

We've had another busy week at Newburn Manor.  This week we celebrated Healthy Eating Week around school.  Breakfast Club had a wonderful Healthy Eating themed breakfast on Thursday where the children were able to have some delicious fruits alongside their toast and crumpets.  Year 1 tasted a variety of fruits, including blackcurrants, mangoes, blueberries, raspberries and bananas.  The class loved their fruity treat and the mango and blueberries were a particular highlight!  Years 4 and 6 also tried some different fruits in class.  Children in Year 6 told me it was lovely to try something a little different that they now know they like.  Favourites included kiwi, mango and pineapple!  Both Year 4 and 5 talked about the importance of keeping healthy, thinking also about keeping active.  Year 5 took part in some 'Joe Wicks' style exercises and Year 4 created their own circuits in PE.       

On Thursday the school celebrated National Poetry Day.  Mrs Peters filled the school corridors with poems that the children could read.  A variety of poems were read and recited in school by children of all ages.  Year 5 loved listening to Michael Rosen read 'The Register' which they found hilarious!  Reception read 'Rumble in the Jungle' as part of their 'Dear Zoo' theme for this half term.  Year 2 wrote poems about how they are special and Year 3 recited a poem all about Little Red Riding Hood.  In Year 4  pupils read a range of poems, recited them to the class and started writing poems about themselves  It was lovely to hear how children were gaining in confidence when reading a poem aloud to their class.  Year 6 pupils read 'Quick: There is a poem' before writing their own verse in the same style.  Here are a few photographs from the day.  Please see the class pages for more...

A group of Year 1 children went out with Mr Vyle and Mrs Heslop for Forest School again this week.  They had a great time lighting fires and then cooking apples from our own school grounds.  They were dipped in sugar and cinnamon and tasted delicious! 

Today the Newcastle PE and School Sport Service came into school to assess our fundamental skills in PE.  They looked at the children's balance, agility and coordination.  They were very impressed with the pupils of Newburn Manor.

Many congratulations to this week's ACE (achievement, commitment and effort) award winners. You have all shown a superb attitude in school this week and we're very proud of you!

Have a lovely weekend!

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 25th September 2020 - Week 3

We are already at the end of week 3…time is just flying by!

This week, it was so lovely to have all of our Reception children in together. They are settling in extremely well; they are all fully fledged Newburn Manor pupils. Having their first week together has allowed them to make friends with many newer faces and we can already see friendships blossoming.

Our Year 1 pupils have continued to enjoy their weekly session of Forest School with Mr Vyle and Mrs Heslop. This week they made their own drawing tools and ink. Mr Vyle is also working with a group of our Year 3 pupils on Tuesday afternoons. At present, the Invention Shed is just a little too small so this group has spilled out onto the Forest School fire pit area where they were making Elder jewellery.

Mrs Longstaff has been working with her Acorns and Lego Therapy groups. The children have left their sessions with huge beaming smiles. This week Acorns have been making their very own worry monsters.

You will be receiving a letter from school today with your child’s Seesaw for schools home login details. If the school is required to have bubble closures or your child is having to self-isolate for COVID related reasons, we will be providing work via the Seesaw app. All of the information is contained in the letter your child will have brought home today. Mrs Hogarth also sent out an IT equipment survey earlier this week. Please ensure that you have completed it and returned it to school.

As per usual, there has been a huge amount of wonderful work being completed in all classes. Mrs Gill and myself held our weekly round of celebration drop-ins. The ACE awards ranged from progress and attitude in maths to leadership in PE. Congratulations to this week’s winners, well done for working so hard and giving so much to school life.

Keep an eye out for updates on our Healthy Eating Week and National Poetry Day work next week.

For further information about coronavirus, Newcastle city Council have produced a Q&A page for parents. You can find it by clicking the link below:

https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/services/public-health-wellbeing-and-leisure/public-health-services/coronavirus-covid-19/school-and

I hope you all enjoy a super weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head teacher

Friday 18th September - Week 2

Another week has come to an end in school.  The children continue to follow the new school rules well and are showing enthusiasm and smiles in and around school which is lovely to see.  Our new procedures for school drop-offs and pick-ups have worked well this week so thank you to all parents and carers for following our new daily routines.  However, in light of the new tighter restrictions in the North East, it is imperative that once your child has been dropped off, you leave the school site.  Can we also ask that when dropping your children off that you do not arrive earlier than your allocated drop off/collection time and please also abide by social distancing. 

We have visited each year group for a second week to deliver the ACE awards to each class.  We had a range of ACE awards this week from ‘having a positive attitude in all aspects of school work’ to ‘contributing well in lessons’, 'showing kindness' 'working hard' and 'overcoming own doubts'. 

It is always lovely to hear what each class has been getting up to and how hard they are all working.  Here is a brief summary of the work that has happened in class this week.  Please check the individual class pages for more information and any photographs.  Reception have had another exciting week making fruit smoothies, creating their own self-portraits using the iPads to take a photograph and starting to recognise amounts up to 3.  This week, Year 1 have been reading ‘Where’s my teddy?’ and then talking about times when they have lost an item that is special.  They have also been counting forwards and backwards within 10 and then reading and writing the numerals.  Some of the Year 1 children got to do some Forest School with Mr Vyle this week.  They had a great time picking blackberries and then making Newburn Blackberry Jam.  It was so good that the children in Breakfast Club had some on their toast on Friday morning.  Year 2 have been talking about ‘how to be a good friend’ in PSHE and have thought about Fire Safety ready for their new topic all about the Great Fire of London.  They have also been listening and appraising songs in Music this week.  In Year 3 the class have started looking at traditional tales in English and have created their own story maps to retell stories.  They have also started their new topic: Mountains, Volcanoes and Earthquakes where they have created their own layers of the Earth.  Year 4 have started their work on the Romans this week and have started reading a new book: ‘Roman Diary’.  They have also been classifying solids and liquids in Science which was a lot of fun and a little messy!   In Year 5 this week we have started learning about Ancient Maya.  The class looked at different artefacts and discussed what they think they would have been used for.  We had some great suggestions and reasons!  We are looking forward to finding out more about the Ancient Maya this half term.  Year 6 have started researching Greece in preparation for going back in time to learn about Ancient Greece.  They have been enjoying reading their class novel: Who let the gods out?  Mrs Tait has been very impressed with their understanding and is looking forward to some great writing as a result!  Here are a few pictures from this week's learning:

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 11th September 2020 - Week 1

The first week has come to an end and time has flown by. Every day the new procedures have become smoother and smoother. I can't praise the children highly enough, they have been fantastic! From making sure they wash their hands more often to getting straight back into the swing of their work, they have thrown themselves into all aspects. More importantly they have brought that school feeling back to Newburn Manor and done everything with enthusiasm and a smile.

We have emailed all parents the updated changes to morning drop off and evening collection procedures. Please read through so that you know which gates to drop your children off on Monday morning.

Rather than tell you everything the children have been up to this week, I thought it might be nice for the children to share a few quotes with you about their first week back...

'I really like it, I love playing in the kitchen area' - Reception 

'It is great doing maths again' - Year 1

'I'm so happy being back at school and seeing all of my friends' - Year 2

'Feels great to be back, school has been great fun' - Year 3

'It has been so much fun with Mrs Reid giving us lots of hard work' - Year 4

'I was looking forward to seeing everybody again, it has been so exciting' - Year 5 

'It has been fun' - Year 6

'I love playing with friends again' - Year 1

'I've liked the reading books' - Reception

'I've loved seeing all of the friendly faces' - Year 3

'I really love my class' - Year 2

'It's exciting, I'm loving the hard work.' - Year 4

'It has been a really exciting first week back' - Year 6

'I was nervous to start with but now I'm prepared, ready and excited' - Year 5

We also had a celebration session in each classroom today where each teacher gave out their first ACE awards of the school year. It wasn't as enjoyable as when we have our full celebration assemblies but it did allow all of our classes to celebrate the successes of the first week.

Thank you once again for the support you have given us during lockdown and the first week back, it is greatly appreciated. We look forward to sharing lots of experiences with you as the year develops.

Have an enjoyable weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Tuesday 8th September 2020 - First Day Back

It has been a long time since we've been able to welcome all of our children back into school but today was the day. It has been a wonderful feeling having smiling, bouncy, happy pupils back in every classroom. Thank you to everyone who made getting into school and leaving school as painless as it could be. Another huge thank you for the amazing attendance we had today which was over 97%. Although we are not back to the old normal, the pupils across all of the classes have adapted to all of the new rules and procedures straight away. We always say that the children are the most prized asset of Newburn Manor Primary School and they have all shown that today. Here are a few photos of our first day. We will have more to show at the end of the week along with an update on your child's class page

Over the summer we have been been able to get some building updates done. Mr Gill has produced an awesome wall mural in the Dining Hall representing the path of the River Tyne and the famous landmarks you can see along it. We have also completed our KS1 playground build, where the children now have access to a fantastic climbing frame and balance beam set.