Head and Deputy Weekly Update Archive 2021-2022

Friday 22nd July 2022 - Week 39

We have reached the end of another academic year. A year that has been challenging on a number of fronts but once again our amazing pupils have shown the attitude, commitment and effort to succeed and challenge themselves.

We ventured down to St Michael and All Angels' church on Thursday afternoon to reflect on the amazing year we had. There have been so many new experiences for a number of pupils this year, including a simple trip down to the church in Newburn. We aim to have many more activities like this taking place in the new academic year.

A reminder that from Tuesday, 6th September, school will begin at 8.50 am and end at 3.20 pm (3.15 pm for Reception pupils). Monday, 5th September is a training day for staff and school will open to pupils on Tuesday, 6th September. Reception pupils will use the green gate next to the school office and all other pupils will use the red gates at the front of school. Years 4 and 5 will use the side exit at the end of the school day.

A document providing details and contacts for activities taking place across Newcastle this summer has been sent home with the children.  A number of these opportunities are free of charge but you may be required to book places.

Well done to our final ACE award winners. This week was slightly different with awards being given out for progress in reading, writing and maths…

In a challenging year for attendance, huge congratulations go out to the 19 pupils who achieved 99 or 100% attendance. We know it has been a tricky year for attendance with covid and a range of other illnesses. Well done to you all…

What can we say about our amazing Year 6 pupils? They have been excellent role models for the school and are a huge credit to you as parents. Along with their caring support for the younger children, they have put everything they can into their daily learning and the results they produced in the recent Key Stage 2 SATs shows how good they are and how hard they have tried. On the recent residential trip to Edinburgh, we received more compliments than ever about their behaviour, enthusiasm and outstanding manners. We will miss each of you and we wish all the very best moving forward to secondary school. Stay in touch, we love to hear how you are getting on.

Sadly today we say goodbye to Mrs Merrix. She has been a valuable member of our teaching team since September 2017 but also part of the school community since she attended the school as a child herself. We wish her the very best in the next chapter of her professional career.  

A huge thank you to everyone involved in the Newburn Manor Primary School community. We have once again shown how strong we are as a family moving forward. The children are the stars of the show and continue to be so. They have given their absolute best all year and the support we receive from our families really helps the children with their learning and wellbeing.  I would like to end with a personal thank you for all of the lovely comments I have received about the school over the last few days, it really does mean a lot.

Have a wonderful summer everyone and we look forward to welcoming you back refreshed and ready to go at 8.50 am on Tuesday, 6th September.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 15th July 2022 - Week 38

The penultimate week of the school year has arrived.

We were able to hold our first school sports days since 2019 this week. They were a huge success and it was lovely to see so many mums, dads and grandparents joining us for both days. We have been able to collate all of the results from both KS1 and KS2 with the results as follows:

Key Stage 1

Ladders and Hurdle winners – Stephenson

Standing Long Jump winners – Swan and Hancock

Sprint winners – Darling

Target Throw winners - Collingwood

Key Stage 2

Ladders and Hurdle winners – Parsons

Standing Long Jump winners – Darling and Hancock

Sprint winners – Darling

Target Throw winners – Parsons

The overall winners of this year’s school sports day went to Darling.

Well done to everyone who joined in.  There were so many super performances but also everyone demonstrated such resilience and a supportive nature.

On Tuesday morning all of the children visited their new teacher for new academic year. We are all looking forward to the summer break but also excited about the new year with a new teacher. Mrs Miller and Miss Robinson were both in school and we look forward to welcoming them into the Newburn family in September.

All school reports went out this week. We hope you have enjoyed reading them alongside your children. Thank you to everyone who has sent the reply slips back and the lovely comments that have been made. I have asked permission from one of our Year 6 children to share some of her own comments with you…

‘Newburn Manor feels like a family that I will forever cherish being a part of. I will miss NMPS! Thank you for the past 7 years. I love Newburn and will forever miss being there (an amazing school).’

Well done to this week’s ACE award winners – with just one week to go at school it is amazing how the children are still coming up with new ACE categories for the winners…

Attendance and punctuality has been good in Key Stage 2 but up and down in Key Stage 1:

Key Stage 1

Attendance – no winner – all classes below 91% this week

Punctuality – Year 2 with one late mark

Key Stage 2

Attendance – Year 4 with 98.5%

Punctuality – Year 5 with zero late marks

You will have seen that we are due to experience some very hot temperatures on Monday and Tuesday next week. Children can come to school in their PE kits for both of these days. Please also bring a hat, a water bottle and make sure all pupils are wearing sun cream.

Thanks

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 8th July 2022 - Week 37

Another busy week at Newburn Manor.  It was great to see the nursery children in school on Wednesday, spending time in the Reception class ready for September.  On Thursday we had the pleasure of seeing the nursery parents in school for a visit with Mr Pickup to see the classes hard at work.  Caroline from Newcastle PE & School Sport Service has been in again this week to work with children in PE in preparation for their Sports Day next week.  

I had the pleasure of going with Year 6 to Edinburgh this week on their residential alongside Mr Vyle and Miss Gibson.  The children had a fantastic week.  Highlights include: visiting Edinburgh Castle, Dynamic Earth, National Museum of Scotland and Royal Yacht Britannia, enjoying an afternoon at the beach and climbing Arthur's seat.    The food was also wonderful and the children enjoyed dining out at two fantastic restaurants in the city.  Their superb behaviour was commented on regularly throughout the week by members of the public and the staff wherever we went.  Well done Year 6!  Here are just a few photographs from the week.  Please take a look at the Year 6 class page for lots more.

Year 4 have been working with John Quinn, a local artist and he was in school today to work alongside Miss Phillips and the children on producing stories and pictures.  In the new academic year they will be celebrating the work they have produced with other Outer West Learning Trust schools.

In Good Work Assembly today we had our cycling medals to present to the some Year 5 children from the OWL Trust cycling competition.  We also had Darren and Rachel in school to present our Year 5 Mini Police with their certificates for being part of the Mini Police programme this year. The children have really enjoyed being part of the Mini Police programme and working in the community.  They have used speed cameras, went litter picking and even visited the local police station to name just a few of the activities they have been taking part in this year.

This week  Year 1 was awarded with both the attendance and punctuality award.  Well done Year 1!  Year 5 were the attendance winners in Key Stage 2 and Year 4 won the punctuality award in Key Stage 2.  As always, here are our fantastic ACE award winners for this week.  

Next week you will receive your child's report.  Key Stage 1 Sports Day will be held on Tuesday afternoon at 1.30 pm and Key Stage 2 Sports Day will be held on Wednesday morning at 9.30 am.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 1st July 2022 - Week 36

Another superb week at Newburn Manor Primary.

On Tuesday, our amazing Year 4 pupils took a journey down to the Ouseburn for a look around the Victoria Tunnel. It supported the work they have been completing in history about World War II, finding out how life was for those who sheltered in the Victoria Tunnel during the war. The children got to experience blackout – it was scary and exciting but everyone felt safe.

Mr Vyle took twelve Year 5 pupils to West Denton Primary on Tuesday morning to take part in the Outer West Learning Trust Cycling Competition 2022. As always they were a credit to the school in terms of behaviour, effort and teamwork. We are happy to announce that we came second in the team event with 627.5 points - just 24.5 points behind the winners, West Denton Primary. We are also very proud to announce that 4 of our pupils received British Cycling medals for their individual performances – 2 pupils taking home silver medals and 2 taking home bronze. A great performance from a super set of children.

On Wednesday, the Reverend Allison Harding from St Michael and all Angels Church was in school for her summer assembly. She spoke to the children about the Commonwealth Games focussing on teamwork, practice and giving your best. We look forward to joining Allison at St Michael’s before the end of term.

It was lovely to have our Reception pupils for September in school visiting us on Wednesday morning and afternoon.  Our current Reception class were so supportive and friendly and sold the school so well. We look forward to seeing them all again next week.

Our Year 6 pupils took part in the Lit and Phil Library Young Writers' Competition this year. The award ceremony was held last week. We are extremely proud of Alfie in Year 6 who came runner up in the poetry category this year. He was up against a number of pupils from across the city, many older than himself. Well done, we are extremely proud.

Congratulations to this week’s ACE award winners., you are all superstars…

Attendance has once again been very hit and miss this week. We are on the final push to the summer break but are still working hard each and every day. Remember our 'in it to win it' initiative and the big prize at the end of the year. This week’s winners for attendance and punctuality are:

Key Stage 1:

Attendance – no award given out this week as no class were over 95%

Punctuality – Year 1 had zero late marks all week – a great effort.

Key Stage 2:

Attendance – Year 3 and Year 6 with 95.9% each

Punctuality – Year 3 and Year 4 with 1 late mark each.

Enjoy your weekend. We hope you enjoy reading the synopsis of the academic year we have sent home this week.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 24th June 2022 – Week 35

This week has been another busy week in school with lots happening.  A key highlight for Reception was their visit to Whitehouse Farm on Tuesday where they had an amazing time!  The class had the opportunity to feed many animals including deer, goats, cows and then even had the chance to bottle feed the lambs!  The class also enjoyed holding the mice, rats and rabbits and some children even held a millipede or cockroach.  All the children enjoyed the tractor ride and came back to school full of stories from their adventurous day!  Here are a few photos from their adventures.  Please take a look at the class page for more.

Year 5 are enjoying their new novel: Wonder by R. J. Palacio and enjoy reading aloud to the rest of their peers.  This week the class were stepping into role and writing as one of the characters.

Mr Rudkin was back in school to work with Year 4 this week on their weekly ukulele tuition.  Year 4 was a very musical day on Tuesday as they also had their virtual Big Gig on Tuesday afternoon where they got to sing along with Newcastle Music Service and the rest of the schools in Newcastle.

The weather has been fine all week and staff and pupils have enjoyed being able to make the most of the sunny days.  Many classes throughout school have been practising their athletics skills in P.E. ready for their sports day later in the term. 

Today we had our Good Work Assembly in school.  Here are this week’s amazing ACE award winners:

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 10th June 2022 - Week 33

We’ve had a busy first week back for the final half-term of this academic year.  On Tuesday we were delighted to have 'Open the Book' back in school.  The Open the Book team came into assembly to retell the story of King Hezekiah to the children with a little help from some of Year 5.  With recent festivities happening nationally, they also talked about our own queen and her historic reign.  The whole school enjoyed joining in with the actions and sound effects during the story and enjoyed watching Year 5 act out some of the parts too!  It was a lovely assembly and we look forward to more Open the Book stories from the team.

On Thursday, we had another visitor in school for assembly.  Mr Outterside, the strategic lead for the OWL (Outer West Learning) Trust came into school to lead an assembly all about the our school OWL trust.  He talked to the children about our role in the trust and the values we share.  He also talked about famous groups of people from the North East and significant people in history from our area who have shaped the world in which we live.    

Our new clubs have started again this week and have been a success.  I had the pleasure of joining in with this week’s outdoor cooking club and we enjoyed working together to make special chilli con carne wraps.  Everyone had a role to play and I was very impressed with how well the children worked and supported one another.  
 

This week our Year 1 children have been completing their phonics screening test with Mrs Howse.  She has been very pleased with how hard the class have worked on their phonics throughout the year.  Well done Year 1!  As part of their printing art week, Year 5 visited the Science Cabin this week to try some 'Hapazome'.  This is a Japanese term meaning 'leaf dye'.  The children hammered pieces of cloth with a leaf below to transfer the dye onto the cloth.  It was a very noisy task but the results were fantastic!  Take a look at the class page for more photos.

In Celebration Assembly this week we saw children achieving their ACE awards for a wide variety of things.  A popular theme this week was how supportive our pupils are.  It is so lovely to hear that children are supporting each other in class.  Well done Newburn!  Here are this week’s ACE award winners:

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Thursday 26th May 2022 - Week 32 

We reach the end of another half-term. The last five weeks have seen the children in Year 2 and Year 6 complete their SATs, more children engage with our after-school clubs and our families, along with captains and vice captains, have returned. We are slowly returning to some kind of normality.

This week saw everyone joining in with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. On Wednesday, it was ‘Red, White and Blue Day.’ Children and staff all dressed up and took part in Jubilee activities during the school day. We followed this up with a wonderful afternoon tea party on the school playground on Thursday afternoon. Everyone looked amazing in their outfits and the children enjoyed many Jubilee treats and songs. It was so nice to see everyone together having fun and sharing stories. A huge thank you to all of the staff who got the afternoon tea ready for the children… it went down a storm.

This week’s attendance and punctuality awards go to:

KEY STAGE 1

Attendance – Year 2 with 98.5%

Punctuality – Reception and Year 1 with 2 late marks each this week.

KEY STAGE 2

Attendance – Year 4 with 98%

Punctuality – Years 3 and 5 with 2 late marks each this week.

As always, huge congratulations go to our ACE award winners. There was a real family link feel to this week’s recipients…

Remember that school is closed to children tomorrow as it is a training day. We return to school on Tuesday 7th June at 8.55 am.

Enjoy the extended half-term break.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 20th May 2022 - Week 31

It has been another busy week here at Newburn Manor.  On Wednesday the school photographer was back in school.  Everyone looked their very best for the photographs and put on their big smiles for the photographer.  We will hopefully get the results back after the half-term break when you will be able to decide whether you'd like to purchase a copy of your child's photograph.  This year there will be the option of paying in cash or paying online.  More details will follow.

Families started up again this week with some updates to the family names too.  The children were able to vote for their favourite names in assembly with Mr Pickup after finding out about their achievements.  Our new families are:

Darling  (Mrs Gill)

Grace Darling was a lighthouse keeper's daughter.  She helped save nine people from a shipwreck in 1838.

Hancock  (Mrs Howse)

Mary Jane Hancock was a naturalist, botanist and artist who helped create the Hancock museum, also known as the Great North Museum. 
 

Collingwood  (Mrs Hainsworth)

Vice Admiral Lord Cuthbert Collingwood was an admiral in the Royal Navy and is most remembered for his important role during the Battle of Trafalgar.

Parsons  (Miss Phillips)

Rachel Mary Parsons was the first lady to study mechanical sciences at Cambridge University.  She was also one of the founders of the Women's Engineering Society.

Swan  (Miss Morgan)

Sir Joseph Swan is best remembered for inventing the electric light bulb.  His house in Gateshead was the first in the world to be lit by an electric light bulb.

Armstrong  (Mrs Merrix)

William Armstrong was an engineer and industrialist who owned the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity.

Stephenson  (Mrs Tait)

George Stephenson was a civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is renowned as "The Father of Railways".

The children loved being together with the rest of their Newburn family and enjoyed choosing a Captain and Vice Captain from Year 6 for the rest of the school year.  The Year 6 members of the family had to give a speech to explain why they would make the best captain.  The rest of the family then had a democratic vote to choose the member of Year 6 they felt was the best candidate for the role.  The new Captains and Vice Captains will help the Family teacher during families and support their younger peers.  

Year 2 have started their special tests this week.  Mrs Merrix and Mrs Sales are very proud of how hard the entire class have been trying.  Well done Year 2!  They will be finished their tests next week. 

Our clubs continue to be a success.  We've had Pirate Club and Dance Club this week alongside our Outdoor Cooking and Makers Club.  Hawthorn crowns and special cheesy toasty dreams were made with Mr Pickup and Mr Vyle on Wednesday evening.  They looked fantastic and the special toasties were delicious!

Today we had our weekly Good Work assembly.  Our attendance winners this week were Year 3!  They have won for the last three weeks.  Well done Year 3!  Our punctuality award in KS1 was shared between all three classes.  The punctuality award in KS2 was awarded to Year 4 with only 1 late.  As always, our ACE award winners were at the front of the hall for a range of reasons including commitment to their work, progress in reading, superb analytical work in history and fantastic effort.  Here they are with their certificates:

Next week we have fabulous celebrations for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.  On Wednesday, your child can come to school in red, white and blue instead of their school uniform and they will take part in a range of activities to learn about this historic event.  On Thursday afternoon, the children will come to school in their school uniform but they can bring a change of smart clothing for our afternoon tea party celebrations.

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 13th May 2022 - Week 30

It has been Year 6 SATs week. We could not be more proud of our amazing Year 6 pupils. They have once again shown themselves to be wonderful role models…showing determination, focus and commitment every single day. They thoroughly deserve their celebration afternoon with some naughty pizza treats…they will also be venturing out for some jump adventures in the near future.

A new round of after-school clubs opened up this week including Pirate Club, Outdoor Cooking Club and Key Stage 2 Dance Club. We will keep you updated about the amazing things they get up to over the next few weeks.

Next Thursday, we are very excited to be bringing back our family groups. It will be lovely to have the whole school meeting up across all key stages. It will also give our Year 6 pupils the opportunity to put themselves forward as family captains and for all family members to vote on who will take on the role.

Attendance has not been the best this week. There are some real highlights but also some classes with low attendance…remember our in it to win it initiative. Years One, Three and Six have been the standout year groups this week. Punctuality has been much improved. There were only seven late marks recorded across the whole school this week…let’s keep this going.

Attendance trophy:

KS1: Year 1 with 96.7%

KS2: Year 3 with 100%

Punctuality trophy:

KS1: Shared between Year 1 and Year 2 with 1 late mark each

KS2: Shared between Year 3 and Year 6 with no late marks this week.

Once again, the children have made the task of choosing our ACE award winners so hard this week. Well done to everyone who took home an ACE certificate…

A huge thank you to everyone who completed the parental questionnaire.  They have been extremely useful and we have been blown away by the lovely comments you have made. We will make sure we pass them on to the whole school staff and governors.  We will be sending out information about our Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 6th May 2022 - Week 29

School has been busy this week with trips and visitors in school throughout the four days back after the Bank Holiday weekend.  Year 5 were back from Kielder on Friday so they were back in school this week with many stories to share about their week away.  It was lovely to hear about what they had achieved while they were on their residential with Mr Vyle, Miss Luke and Miss Phillips.  Lots of children faced their fears and the staff were very proud of each and every one of them.  There are now lots of photographs of Kielder on the Year 5 Class page so please take a look at what the class got up to last week.

On Tuesday, Darren and Rachel were back in school to see the Mini Police.  This week, the Year 5 pupils discussed burglaries and how the police would carry out an investigation into the crime.  The pupils even got to investigate a crime scene in the ICT suite where they had to look for clues and create an evidence bag.  They even dressed up for the part!

Wednesday was a very busy day in school.  Year 1 visited Bamburgh for their trip to the RNLI Grace Darling Museum.  The class had a great day and found out lots of information about Grace Darling…  Mrs Howse was very impressed with the behaviour of the class.  Well done Year 1!  Here are some photographs from the day.  Take a look at the class page for more information and photos.

Also on Wednesday, Year 5 had their puberty talk with Dawn and Rachael from the School Health Team.  There were many comments made from the staff about the behaviour and maturity of the class as well as how impressed they were with the knowledge the children already had.  Well done Year 5! 

Mr Vyle also had his first Forest School session with Reception on Wednesday.  Miss Osbourne and Mr Vyle explored our Forest School area of the school grounds this week where they discovered evidence of rabbits and foxes.  The children used the hammocks, tidied up the grass area, built a den, made some flower hats, used nails and hammers and even had time to learn a Forest School song with hot chocolate and a biscuit.  What a busy morning they had!  I can’t wait to find out what they get up to in the coming weeks.  Watch this space…  Here are a few photographs from the day.  Please take a look at the Forest School page for more.

On Thursday, we had our final Year 6 maths booster club after school in preparation for next week’s SATs. We wish them the very best of luck.  To enable the children to come into school feeling relaxed, we will be running a breakfast club Monday to Thursday next week from 8.30 am in the Year 6 classroom.  There will be no cost for this.  Year 6 pupils will be able to come in through the red gates at the front of school from 8.30 am.

This week, our attendance numbers had improved significantly and Mr Pickup had a huge smile on his face.  Well done Newburn!   Reception and Year 5 won the attendance awards.  That's two weeks in a row for Reception!  Fantastic work!  The punctuality award was presented to Year 1 (with only 1 late) and Year 3 (with zero lates).  Here are our ACE award winners for this week.  We had many different reasons this week including super progress, great attitudes to learning, and enthusiasm in lessons to name but a few.  

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 29th April 2022 - Week 28

We start the summer term at Newburn Manor Primary School. It is amazing how quickly the year is passing.

The children have been straight back into the swing of things from Day 1. They have all clearly had a full recharge over the Easter break and are showing amazing focus and concentration from the go.

It is a landmark week for our residential trips. After having to cancel the visits over the last two academic years, it was an absolute joy to wish our Year 5 children off on their week to Hawkhirst at Kielder Water on Monday. They have been having a superb time with Mr Vyle, Miss Phillips and Miss Luke, taking part in all of the centre activities and our very own menu of Forest School adventures. Please visit the Year 5 class page for more information…more photos will be available next week.

This week’s attendance and punctuality awards go to…

Key Stage 1:

Attendance – Reception with 95.5% - congratulations on your first attendance award of the year!

Punctuality – Year 2 with 2 late marks for the full week.

Key Stage 2:

Attendance – Year 3 with 96.6%

Punctuality – Year 3 with ZERO late marks – an awesome performance!

A reminder that we are running our ‘In it to WIN it’ initiative this term…

An amazing week for our ACE award winners with some lovely reasons for being ACE champions such as sharing work from home, being a true role model, excelling across the curriculum, supporting friends and overcoming fears. Well done gang…

Remember school is closed on Monday for the May Bank Holiday. Enjoy the extended weekend and see you all on Tuesday at 8.55 am.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 8th April 2022 - Week 27

We have made it to the end of the spring term. We have all enjoyed the past 13 school weeks and being able to mix a little more. The school trips have been amazing and the after-school clubs have provided so many giggles and smiles.

Thank you for all of the amazing decorated eggs seen in school this week, they just get better and better each year. The children love to show them off as the other classes walk along the corridors.

Well done to Year 1 and Year 4 this week for taking home the attendance and punctuality awards in Key Stage 1 and 2… awesome stuff! Massive congratulations go to all of our ACE award winners… keep up the great work, you have been stars!

Today we say our goodbyes to Mrs Reid. She started her teaching career with us back in September 2018 and has been a fantastic member of the Newburn family. As she moves on to the next stage of her career, we would like to say a huge thank you and wish her all the very best for the future. Thanks again Mrs Reid... you've been awesome.

Have a great Easter break. Please take time to relax, recharge and enjoy lots of family time. Enjoy the delicious chocolate treats but don’t forget to make use of the outdoor fresh air to burn off those extra choccy calories.

See you all on Monday, 25th April.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 1st April 2022 - Week 26

Another week completed and just one more to go before the Easter holidays!

This week Year 4 have had an action-packed week. Each day, from Monday to Thursday, they have been getting the coach over to the East End Pool at Byker. For a number of our children, it is their first time in the water and it has been great to see them growing in confidence each day. They will continue to visit the Byker pool from Monday to Thursday next week as well. Keep up the dedicated work Year 4, you will all make great swimmers.

On Thursday afternoon, Year 4 ventured out on an adventure walk around Newburn with Amanda Quinn. As part of the walk, they were searching for interesting stories about Newburn to influence the art project they are taking part in with John Quinn.

A group of our Year 6 pupils are taking part in the OWL Trust basketball competition at Throckley Primary School this afternoon. We look forward to hearing how they get on.

All of our usual weekly events have also been taking place including Year 3 ukuleles, Year 2 Forest School, KS2 Boxercise  Club, Glee Club, KS1 Dance Club, Reception Animation club, Art Club and Outdoor Cooking Club.

Huge congratulations to this weeks wonderful ACE award winners...

This week we said a sad farewell to our cleaner, Mrs Wheeler. After 23 years of amazing service at Newburn Manor Primary School, she has made the decision to retire. We wish her all the very best for the future and we hope she enjoys a relaxing and enjoyable retirement. Thank you for all of your hard work.

Since the start of the academic year, Newburn Manor has been above the national average for attendance. Over the last two weeks this has slipped dramatically.  Punctuality has also slipped with 48 late marks recorded just this week. It is vitally important that all pupils are lined up ready by 8.55 am, school doesn’t start at 9 am. Each year group runs basic skills sessions in class from 8.55 am each morning and a large number of pupils are missing out on these vital areas of learning.

We will again be able to have a few Easter events in school this year. We are pleased to be able to bring back our annual ‘decorate a hard-boiled egg’ display throughout school. This is where we ask your child (with your help of course) to decorate a hard-boiled egg, these can be as simple or elaborate as you want them to be. We will continue as we have in previous years with each class being allocated a table to proudly show off their eggs to the whole school. If your child would like to take part, please call into the school office either before or after school from Monday 4th to Thursday 7th April and we will show you to your table. As well as our eggs, each class will be performing a dance/song for Easter and we will be putting these on the school website for all to see on Thursday 7th April.

Best Spring Ever 2022: Newcastle City Council has teamed up with community groups to offer support for families in receipt of free school meals with young people (aged 4-16). There are over 50 local community projects who will provide holiday activities and facilities during the Easter holidays. These projects will provide activity sessions and a meal for children. Sessions begin Monday, 11 April 2022 and end on Friday, 22 April and are located across Newcastle at various neighbourhood sites. Some of these sessions will have limited places so interested parents should contact the individual project directly to book a place for their child/children. Further details of the project,  including a full list of the offer provided, can be found here: https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/services/public-health-wellbeing-and-leisure/healthier-city/activity-and-wellbeing/holiday-activity

Enjoy your weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher 

Friday 25th March 2022 - Week 25

This week has been busy for trips and visits at Newburn.  Year 1 had a lovely walk around Newburn with Mr Vyle, Mrs Howse, Mrs Heslop and Miss Luke.  The Year 1 historians looked closely at the older buildings in Newburn.  They also looked at how things have changed in Newburn and how land use has changed over time. 
 

On Thursday, Year 3 visited the church of St Michael and All Angels in Newburn to see the Rev. Allison Harding.  They found out about the Last Supper and asked Allison lots of questions about her faith.

Today, Year 2 visited Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens.  They found out about animal habitats and got to hold lizards, stick insects, hissing cockroaches and a snake!  Here are a few photos from the day...           

The clubs at school continue to be a success.  This week Mr Gill's art club were using a pen and wash technique to create their own story characters.  Mr Gill was very impressed with the art that was produced by the children.  We look forward to seeing their characters develop over the coming weeks. 
 

Outdoor cooking this week involved making onion bhajis which were a spicy success.  The children also helped

Mr Pickup create a path through our wonderful forest school area using bark chippings.     

  

Today was our weekly Good Work Assembly in school.  We celebrated the successes of the children in school for a variety of different reasons.  This week highlights included: great attitudes in lessons, supporting one another with their learning, fantastic writing and building confidence in maths to name but a few.  Here are our ACE award winners looking proud!  
 

We love to praise our attendance and punctuality in school but unfortunately this week we were unable to give out the attendance trophies in assembly as attendance in every class was below 95% this week.  We understand that there are some times when your child will be unable to attend due to illness.  Let's hope next week our attendance is back up to where it should be!

The punctuality award was given to Year 1 and Year 3 this week.  Well done to those classes for getting to school on time with zero lates in both classes!  This week, the spelling award was given to Year 5 for 100% in their weekly spelling test.  Well done Year 5!  Keep up the great work! 

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 18th March 2022 - Week 24

Another great week goes by at Newburn Manor. It was lovely to see all of our parents back in school on Wednesday for our first proper parent consultation meetings since October 2019 and our Year 5 parents on Tuesday evening for the Kielder residential meeting. We hope that you felt the same as us, in that it was great to be able to share how well your children are doing face to face.

Our Year 5 pupils enjoyed an Outer West Learning Trust athletics event on Thursday. Alongside pupils from Westerhope Primary School, they took part in a number of indoor activities before taking on the outdoor cross-country event in the afternoon. Every pupil has spoken very highly of their time at Newburn Activity Centre and the fact they have already made new friends at one our OWL schools. In addition to our Year 5 pupils, we also sent ten Year 6 children to help run the event, alongside Mr Outterside and staff from both schools. We are extremely proud of how well they supported all of the Year 5 children.

We have a number of Year 5 pupils involved in the Mini Police project. On Friday they were picked up from school and taken for a visit to Etal Lane Police Station. They experienced what is involved when someone is arrested by visiting the custody area including the police cells, as well as meeting the police sergeant on duty who explained what takes place on a daily basis.

Year 2 have had their attendance prize party this afternoon. Following the completion of their 100% attendance banner, they have enjoyed an afternoon of crazy ice creams and singing along to Encanto. Well done Year 2, you thoroughly deserved your treat.

Thank you for your kind donations as part of our Red Nose Day celebrations. So far we have approximately £200 to donate. We will confirm the final figure once we have added all the donations together.

This week’s attendance awards go to Year 1 in Key Stage 1 and Year 4 in Key stage 2. The punctuality award in Key Stage 1 goes to Reception with zero late marks and is shared between Years 3, 4, and 5 in Key Stage 2 with one late each.

Congratulations to this week’s amazing ACE award winners…

Enjoy your weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 11th March - Week 23

We've had another busy week in school with different visitors in school and a trip out too.  Year 5 visited Beamish Museum on Wednesday as part of British Science Week.  They had the opportunity to look around the museum and talk to the members of staff who were dressed up.  The class enjoyed talking to the actors and even spotted a group of suffragettes protesting in the town.  The ice cream making workshop was fantastic and the class enjoyed finding out about the history of ice cream, making it and of course, tasting it!  Here are a few photographs from the day.  Take a look on the Year 5 Class Page for more information and lots more photographs!  

It was lovely to have Miss Close, our SEN and English governor, in school all day on Thursday.  She had a great time talking to both staff and pupils and was very impressed with what the children had to say.  She had a wonderful day.  Well done Newburn! 

Our clubs are continuing to be a great success.  This week we had our new group of children for outdoor cooking who got stuck in making soup with Mr Vyle and Mr Pickup.  Animation Club with Mrs Hogarth and Miss Gibson was lots of fun this week.  The children were creating their own superhero characters and then talking about the powers that they would have.  Mr Gill has also been in school to work with a small group of children on creating story characters from the different genres.  This will eventually create a display in our school library.  Watch this space...  We also continued with our Boxercise and Dance clubs too which have continued to be a hit!      
 

In our Good Work assembly this week, our Attendance and Punctuality winners were Year 1 with 97.8% and 3 lates and Year 3 with 100% attendance and only 1 late!  Year 4 won our spelling trophy this week with 96% achieving either 8, 9 or 10 in their weekly spelling test.  Well done Year 4!  Here are our ACE award winners for this week:

Next week we have Parent Consultation Day on Wednesday.  If you have not already organised an appointment with your class teacher, please give Mrs Hogarth a ring in the office and she can help you book one.  Also next week, on Tuesday after school, Mr Pickup, Mr Vyle and myself will be meeting Year 5 parents to discuss our Kielder residential this year.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher   

Friday 4th March 2022 - Week 22

I hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing half-term break. It has been a great first week back with lots going on in school each day. Reception have had an inventive week, leaning how to mix proper pancake batter and make homemade pancakes as well as choosing their favourite fillings, they looked delicious.

World Book Day was another huge success. Thank you all so much for taking the time to get the children dressed up and looking so fabulous. We had such a range of characters. What was lovely this year, was seeing some of the less well-known characters from the last 25 years of children’s literature.  The children took part in a wide range of activities from learning how to draw like a book illustrator and making dream catchers to designing book nooks for the classroom, all while sharing favourite stories and class novels.

Caroline from Newcastle Schools PE Service has been back in this week. This term the children and staff will be getting expert training in racket sports, with tennis being the sport of choice for the next six weeks.

Mr E from Conductive Music was in school for two days at the start of the week. He worked with all of our Key Stage 2 pupils, helping them with a mini project on coding with music. Children worked with a micro:bit, using light, angles and other controls to make music… playing the well know song ‘I’m A Believer.’

Year 6 had their second session with Jessica Worley as part of the Lit and Phil Young Writers' Awards. On Tuesday, Year 6 got to travel into Newcastle and spend a morning at the Lit and Phil Library. They worked on fiction and non-fiction following the poetry workshop at school. They also got to have a tour of the amazing 200 year old library. It was such an atmospheric environment to work in…we can’t wait to send our competition entries off.

Year 1 are the first class this term to complete the 100% attendance competition. They have chosen to have an ice cream and DVD afternoon, it looked like they were having an awesome time.

Well done to Years One and Four for winning the attendance trophies this week with some brilliant school attendance. Year 4 had 98.5% and Year 1 even better with 99.2%. The punctuality award was shared between Year One and Two in the Key Stage 1 with 2 late marks each and by Year Three in Key Stage 2 with zero late marks – PERFECTION!

It was lovely to have a whole school celebration assembly for the first time this term. Our ACE award winners blew us away with so many wonderful reasons for their certificates…keep up the incredible work Newburn. We also had the chance to celebrate personal sporting achievements as we were back in the hall together. This week we had footballers and dancers out with Katie showing off her amazing championship winning trophy.

You should have received your email about how to book a parent consultation appointment. If you are experiencing any issues with this, please contact the school office.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 18th February 2022 - Week 21

This week has been another busy one in school.  It has been Art and DT week and the children have enjoyed taking time out of the usual curriculum to focus on their Art and DT skills.  In Key Stage 1, Year 1 have enjoyed building model bridges.  Year 2 have focused on Aboriginal Art and Year 4 have looked at the colour and textures used by Matisse.  Year 5 have started looking at complementary colours, looking at Monet's Haystacks and Parliament paintings and then creating a scene of our school.  Today, as part of their DT unit, Year 6 made their own burgers.  They have spent time designing and investigating burgers and today they had the opportunity to make them.  They looked amazing!  
 

The after-school clubs are continuing to remain popular.  This week, due to Storm Dudley, the outdoor cooking group had to shelter in the Science Cabin where they made campfire donuts! 

Year 6 were invited by Darrin Potts from Walbottle Academy to take part in two lectures with astronomers from Kielder Observatory.  The lectures were on Light and Meteors.  During the sessions, the class had opportunities to handle rocks from the moon, asteroid belt and Mars!  They even came away with some ultraviolet beads too!  Mrs Tait was incredibly proud of their behaviour and awarded the entire class the ACE award this week.  Well done Year 6!    

To celebrate Safer Internet Day, as part of the OWL trust, Mr Vyle and Year 2 have helped create a video to promote safer internet use.  To watch it, please follow this link.  Click here.    

We had our weekly good work assembly today to celebrate the achievements of pupils throughout school.  This week's attendance winners were Year 2 and Year 5.  The punctuality award was won by Year 3 this week.  Year 6 have continued their winning streak with the spelling trophy this week.  The rest of the school are determined to beat them.  

Here are our ACE award winners for this week:

Reception:

Year 1:

Year 2:

Year 3:

Year 4:

Year 5:

I hope you have a lovely half-term break.  We look forward to seeing you back at school on Monday, 28th February.

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 11th February 2022 - Week 20

An action packed week at Newburn Manor!

On Monday afternoon, Jessica Worley was in school to work with our Year 6 pupils. This year, we have entered the Young Writers' Awards through the Lit and Phil Library in Newcastle. Monday’s session was our introduction to the poetry topic. The workshop was a real success and we can’t wait to go and have our morning working with Jessica at the Lit and Phil Library in March.

This week was Children’s Mental Health Week. This year's theme is Growing Together. Rosie from Bigfoot Arts Education was in school on Tuesday and Wednesday working with all of the children from Reception to Year 6. The Worry Wizard provided wellbeing workshops for everyone…Worries, We’ve Got This!

Our Year 5 Mini Police continue their great work in the community. On Tuesday, they took on the role of keeping our area clean by taking part in a litter collection session at Newburn Park. Go to our Year 5 class page for more information.

Pupils involved in our after-school clubs are having a great time. At present, we have boxing on Tuesday, Glee Club and Outdoor Cooking Club on a Wednesday with Dance Club and Cartoon/Animation Club on Thursdays. The boxers are really put through their paces and it’s great to see such enthusiasm from everyone involved. Our Glee Clubbers are now getting quite a catalogue of songs and dances to perform and our cooking experts treated us to homemade lamb koftas and salsa this week. Our Key Stage 1 dancers are a joy to watch and Reception Animation Club had its very own superhero and villain this week.

Today has been the Outer West Learning Trust dodgeball competition. We sent a team of enthusiastic Year 4s to Simonside Primary School. We can’t wait to hear how they got on.

There were some ups and some downs with the attendance and punctuality this week. Unfortunately, Covid is still having an impact but we did have some outstanding performances from a number of our classes:

Key Stage 1

Year One had a tremendous week – 100% attendance and only two late marks all week – awesome Year One.

Key Stage 2

Year Four take home the attendance trophy with 97.1%, whilst Year Three had a perfect week for punctuality with zero lates – well done to you all!

Once again, we are blown away by the attitude, commitment and effort of all of our pupils. This week’s ACE award winners should be very proud of their achievements…

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Next week we will be sending out information about our parent consultation day in March.

Have a lovely weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 4th February 2022 - Week 19

This week has been a busy one with so many after-school clubs starting in school.  Boxercise started on Tuesday evening and Charlie from Union Jab put the children through their paces; it was intense!  The children worked extremely hard and were exhausted by the end of the session.   

I had the pleasure of Glee Club with some Year 1 and 2 pupils on Tuesday after school and we had a great time learning a Disney song.  The children added some dance moves and sang their hearts out.  I can't wait to try a new song each week; I have even had some requests.  Also on Tuesday evening, Mr Vyle and Mr Pickup took some of Key Stage 2 children outside for Outdoor Cooking and Natural Makers Club.  They had a fantastic time.  Mr Vyle worked with the children on their Cheesy Dreams; special cheese toasties.  Mr Pickup worked with the children using bow saws, junior hack saws and whittling knives to make a wooden spoon that they will need in later sessions.   

Chantal from CM Dance Academy was in school on Thursday after school showing the Key Stage 1 pupils some exciting dance moves which they loved.  Miss Gibson and Mrs Hogarth were also running our Animation Club this week with some Reception children.  The children looked at villains and heroes (with a short demonstration from Mr Pickup and  Mr Vyle) and then watched Mr Potato Head in Toy Story before making their own version.   

We had our virtual assembly again this week to find out what each class had been doing this week.  It was lovely to hear so many different subjects being mentioned in our ACE awards; the children were out for a huge range of different things this week!  In Key Stage 1, Year 2 won the Attendance award and Year 1 and Year 2 shared the Punctuality award this week.  In Key Stage 2, Year 6 won the Attendance award and Years 3, 4 and 5 all shared the Punctuality award with only 1 late in each class.  The spelling trophy was won by Year 6 this week with 96%!  Well done Year 6!  Here are our ACE award winners for this week:

Reception:

Year 1:

Year 2:

Year 3:

Year 4:

Year 5:

Year 6:

Reception have been learning about Chinese New Year in class and today they got to try some Chinese food.  They tried rice, noodles and then stir fry.  It was a great success! 

Have a lovely weekend.

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 28th January 2022 - Week 18

Another busy week at Newburn Manor with lots going on behind the scenes. RGS have had a strong presence in Newburn this week with our challenging reading group of Year 6s continuing their works as well as our Year 2, 3 and 4 readers. On Thursday, Joanne Lynn worked with our Year 5 pupils on game design and coding. They each produced a Pac-Man style game – these can be accessed on the pupil’s Scratch pages.

Year 3 took part in a virtual research workshop with Durham Oriental Museum. They asked lots of questions they had generated in class and the looked at artefacts with the team from the museum relating to the mummy they have on display. This has allowed them to dig deeper into their history topic this term.

Thank you for such an amazing response to our after school clubs. We are sorry if you didn’t get in this time. We will be running the clubs again after Easter for a second group of children…with extra clubs added as well.

Attendance and punctuality winners for this week are:

Key Stage 1 –

Attendance goes to Year 2 with 96.9%.

Punctuality also goes to Year 2 with 3 lates this week.

Key Stage 2 –

Attendance goes to Year 5 with 95.6%.

Punctuality goes to Year 3 with 3 lates this week – awesome Year 3!

Once again we love to hear about all of the hard work and effort the children are putting in each week. Huge congratulations to all of our ACE award winners this week…

Have a great weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 21st January 2022 - Week 17 

I can't believe we are already at the end of the third week of this term.  All staff have commented on how hard the pupils are working in school and the positive attitudes they are showing towards their learning.  Here are some of the highlights from this week.

Our Mini Police children in Year 5 have been working with Darren and Rachel again to look at Water Safety.  They looked at the SAFE water safety code.  Take a look at the Year 5 class page for more information.  They also had the opportunity to look around the Community Engagement Vehicle.  This is a special van that is used as a meeting place so that members of the community can share any concerns they have with the police.

Year 1 and Year 2 had a session from the Music Service called 'Tis the Season' this week.  It was all linked to the theme of spring.  The children were learning new songs with actions and singing in rounds.  Reception also had a session with the Music Service but their workshop was called Storymakers.  They were reading Funnybones and singing songs about the story.  We look forward to seeing how they get on over the next few weeks.  Watch this space...  

Some of our Year 2 pupils were with Mr Vyle and Mrs Heslop on Wednesday morning for Forest School.  Please take a look at the Forest School page to see what they've been doing this week. 

We had our usual Good Work Assembly virtually this week to find out about what each class has been learning about and who has worked particularly hard in each year group.  There was even a special award from Mrs Hogarth this week...  Here are our ACE award winners:

Mrs Hogarth's special award...

This week a new free app has been launched from the White Rose Maths Company.  The app is called 1-minute Maths and is designed for pupils in Key Stage 1.  We have downloaded the app on our iPads in school but you may wish to download it for use at home too.  It is available for both Apple and Android phones/tablets.  Visit the Google Play Store or Apple App Store to download it.  It is very easy to use and the children will enjoy working through the different games.  

Next week you will be receiving a letter about some after-school clubs that will be starting in school soon.  This will include: Boxercise, Dance, Glee and Outdoor/Makers Club.  Watch this space...

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher 

Friday 14th January 2022 - Week 16

The end of week 2 of the spring term. The children are straight back into the swing of things and we have been very impressed with their focus, attitude and learning over the last 2 weeks.

A group of our Year 5 pupils continued their work as mini police this week. On Tuesday morning, they were working on the speed of cars in our local area. They talked about staying safe and within the law on the road and followed this up with some practical checking of the roads surrounding the school. Our mini police are really enjoying working alongside Darren and Rachel.

Mr Rudkin began his work with our Year 3 children this week. They will be learning to play the ukulele over the coming weeks. The first session was a huge success with the children understanding how to tune and strum their ukuleles as well as learning their very first songs.

Mr Vyle and his Year 2 Forest School adventurers had their second week in Walbottle Dene. Throughout the morning, they collected green materials from the Dene and made their very own Jack Frost wands to keep the cold at bay. Visit the Forest School page for more details.

On Monday, Miss Grundy and Miss Stoner from the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, worked alongside our Year 6 pupils working on advanced texts and comprehension work. On Wednesday, Mr Edwards and Mr Wright were in school all afternoon supporting our pupils with their reading.

You will all be aware that the groundworks at the front of school are now in full flow. We have been advised that the works will be in place for 30 working days. Thank you for planning your drop off times around the works, this has been extremely helpful.

During celebration assembly we celebrated some excellent attendance and punctuality this week. A massive well done to Year 4 who had 98.5% attendance and no late marks all week. In Key Stage 1, Year 1 had the perfect week with 100% attendance and no late marks all week, huge congratulations to Year 1 for an awesome week.

Well done to all of our Newburn Manor ACE award winners this week. It is the highlight of the week and always lovely to see how much all of the children in school enjoy celebrating each other’s successes. This week was no different, with awards handed out for reading, maths, being a superb role model and supporting others across the school. Well done to everyone who took home an award today…

Have a great weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 7th January 2022 - Week 15

Happy New Year!  We hope everyone had a lovely festive break and that you all had a chance to relax ready for the start of the spring term in school.  It's only the first week back but that hasn't stopped our pupils getting straight to work.  The pupils have been very busy this week as lots of classes have been working on their Art or DT week in school.  Both Year 2 and Year 5 have been sewing this week and both Mrs Merrix and myself have been blown away by the effort and perseverance the pupils have shown when working on their products.  Year 2 have made puppets and Year 5 have made ‘Save the Rainforest’ T-shirts for a teddy bear.  The process in both classes involved researching, designing, making and then evaluating their products.  In Year 4 the class have been designing and creating flood defences using pulley systems with Miss Phillips and she has been very impressed with how hard the whole class have worked during Design and Technology.  In Year 1, the class have been looking at the artists Gustav Klimt and Peter Hill before creating their own tree tunnels using sketching pencils and pastels.  Here is a selection of photographs from the first week back in school.  Please visit the Class Pages section of the website for more information about what your child has been getting up to in class this week.   

We had our Good Work Assembly virtually this week.  It was lovely to find out what every class has been doing this week and who has stood out for their attitude, commitment and effort.  This week’s attendance trophy winner for Key Stage 1 was Year 1 and in Key Stage 2, Year 5 took the award.  The punctuality award went to Year 2 and Year 4 this week; both classes had zero lates!   

Here are our ACE award winners for this week:   

Reception:

Year 1:

Year 2:

Year 3:

Year 4:

Year 5:

Year 6:

Some of the groundworks that are going to be taking place outside of school have been started this week.  This is going to cause some element of disruption to the front of school so please be mindful of this during drop offs and pick ups for school over the coming weeks. 

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill 

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 17th December 2021 - Week 14

The final week of term has finished. I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Each of the classes enjoyed their Christmas party this week. It was nice for the children to enjoy some down time and enjoy the festive celebrations. I would like to thank all of the staff for their hard work in getting the party food and games prepared. A special mention to Mrs Longstaff for coming in early each day to ensure everything was on track.

Year 1 had an extra special day on Tuesday when they ventured into the city centre to visit the Centre for Life. They got to learn even more about Earth and the seven continents linked to their geography topic this term. Visit their class page for a more detailed explanation of their fabulous day.

Year 4 started their work with John Quinn, a local artist. They have been preparing to become artists and have their new journals to explore. They will be taking part in an exciting new project alongside John in the spring term.

The Reception/Year 1 and the Year 2/3/4 Christmas production videos are now on the website in the video library on the pupils’ section. For the Reception and Year 1 Nativity click here and for the Year 2, 3 and 4 click here.

Unfortunately, due to the current circumstances, we couldn’t celebrate at St Michael's by taking part in our annual carol service. Our Year 5 and 6 pupils did go down to the church and performed for the school with The Reverend Allison Harding also giving us a Christmas message. We recorded the service so it can be shared with our families. Please see Nativity at the Church to watch Year 5 and 6 and Message from St  Michael and All Angels for Allison's Christmas message.

You will have received a letter today informing you of the groundworks that are due to start in front of the school and on Millfield Lane in January. We will keep you updated if there any changes.

We had our final celebration assembly today. Congratulations to all of our ACE award winners. A big shout out to Year 4 who had 97.3% attendance for the first term and enjoyed two celebration afternoons as part of our 100% attendance initiative.

Once again, have an amazing Christmas break. Thank you for all of your support during the first term of the school year. 2022 will bring more adventures and experiences for all of our children…see you on Tuesday 4th January.

Merry Christmas.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 10th December  - Week 13

The Christmas mood really hit Newburn this week. Reception and Years 1 to 4 enjoyed performing their Christmas productions to the school and then recorded them ready for their families to watch. It was lovely to hear the songs coming along the corridor. The pupils performed beautifully and it’s clear we have some real acting stars on our hands.

On Wednesday, the whole school enjoyed their Christmas dinner. We would like to say a huge thank you to Claire and the kitchen team and all of our lunchtime assistants for making the day such a success. There were a lot of full tummies as well as many smiling happy faces.

Years 5 and 6 wowed the school on Thursday with their band in a box performances. Over the last 6 weeks, the children have not only learned how to play the drums, keyboard, electric bass and electric guitars but they have also written their own songs. Both bands put a huge smile on everyone’s face, we are very proud of their achievements. Click here for Year 5 or here to see Year 6.

We would like to say a huge thank you for your kind generosity on Christmas jumper day. This year we collected food for two food banks at Newburn and the West End; these donations will allow many people to enjoy the Christmas period.

Every week, the teachers have the hard task of picking just three ACE award winners and this week was no different. Well done to this week’s winners…

Just one week to go before we break up for the Christmas holidays. Please remember that we close at 1.30 pm on Friday, 17^th December and come back to school on Tuesday, 4^th January at 8.55 am.

Have a great weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 3rd December - Week 12

Another busy week in school with lots of preparations for Christmas taking place.  This week the staff stayed late on Tuesday to make sure the school looked festive for the children arriving on Wednesday morning.  The school looks beautifully decorated in festive cheer and our classroom doors really brighten up the corridors.    

On Wednesday morning, we had two visits for classes in school.  Year 3 visited Newburn Activity Centre and Reception visited Seven Stories.  Year 3 had a lovely morning taking part in a range of activities at the Activity Centre.  They did some wall climbing, archery and took part in a range of team games too.  The whole class had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the session.    

Reception had a great time at Seven Stories.  They arrived in their pyjamas and were welcomed into ‘Christmas Eve’.  The class completed a workshop all around 'The Night Before Christmas’ and enjoyed hearing stories and playing Christmas games.  What a great way to start December!   

Years 5 and 6 have also had their penultimate session for Band in the Box with Franco and Steve this week.  Next week they will record their final piece and this will go on the website for you to watch.  Watch this space...

In assembly this week, Year 1 and Year 4 won the attendance trophies while Year 3 and Year 5 shared the KS2 Punctuality trophy.  Our ACE award winners were out for a great range of things again this week.  Here they are with their certificates.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 26th November 2021 - Week 11

Everyone has enjoyed a great time at Newburn this week with visitors, trips and pantomime visits. On Monday, our fabulous Year 5 children travelled to Sunderland Winter Gardens as part of their Amazon Adventures topic. They had an awesome time finding out new facts about the rainforest, taking part in their very own rainforest workshop and touring the museum. We are loving being able to take the children back out on school trips, with Year 1 and Reception looking forward to their upcoming days in December.

The children had a fantastic afternoon on Tuesday as we managed to get back to the Theatre Royal for this year’s pantomime. We took most of the Grand Circle and everyone had a great time, joining in with singing, clapping, laughing and of course the odd ‘he’s behind you’ and ‘oh no he isn’t.’ As always, the children were absolute stars and the members of the public joining us in the Grand Circle complimented the children and school on their behaviour and manners…we are super proud of them all.

Most of the children across the school received their flu immunisation on Wednesday. Alongside Forest School, RGS readers, Year 4 ukuleles and Year 5/6 Band in a Box, a number of our Year 5 pupils began their Mini Police project with Community Police Support officer Amos and Atkinson. We look forward to hearing more about their project as they become more and more involved.

Well done to our attendance and punctuality award winners this week…

In Key stage 1:

Attendance goes to Year 1 with 97.8%

Punctuality goes to Year 2 with 0 lates

In Key stage 2:

Attendance goes to Year 3 with 97.3%

Punctuality goes to Year 5 with 0 lates

Every week the children make it so hard for their teachers to decide on the weekly ACE award winners. More lovely reasons for our attitude, commitment and effort certificate winners, well done to everyone…  In Year 2, the whole class received the ACE award from Mrs Merrix because of their superb behaviour and attitude at the panto.  Well done Year 2!

Have a lovely weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 19th November 2021 - Week 10

This week has been another busy week in school.  We've had our usual extracurricular activities taking place during the week.  This includes Franco and Steve working with Year 5 and 6 on their 'Band in a box' workshop.  The classes are starting to come together as a band and work well together.  Steve and Franco spoke to Mr Pickup this week to let them know how happy they were with both classes.  I can't wait to see the final performance!  Mr Rudkin has continued to work with Year 4 on their ukulele tuition too so music has been filing the corridors this week.   
 

Mr Vyle and Miss Luke explored the dene again this week with Year 1 who had a wonderful time exploring the leaves that were changing colours, making shelters in the dene to have a hot chocolate and going on rope adventures!  Please take a look at the Forest School page for more information and photographs.     

Darren and Rachel, from Northumbria Police, came in to see Year 5 on Monday afternoon to talk about their role in the community.  They told the class about their daily routine and the pupils had some fantastic questions about life as a police officer.  Both Darren and Rachel will be working with a small group of children in Year 5 as part of the Northumbria Police 'Mini Police Project'.  Watch this space...   

It was Parent/Carer Consultation Week this week where you had the opportunity to talk to your child's teacher about how they have settled into their new class this year.  If you didn't manage to book an appointment and you would like to speak to your child's teacher, please give the office a call and we will arrange something for you.     

Today was Children in Need day at school and the pupils were allowed to come to school in Pudsey outfits, pyjamas or non-uniform, bringing in a contribution for Children in Need.  So far, we have managed to raise £218.34 which is fantastic.  Well done Newburn Manor and thank you for your donations.  Lots of pupils decided to wear Pudsey outfits today...here are a sample few:

We also had our Good Work Assembly today where the children all come together to share in the achievements of each class.  Year 4 won both the attendance and punctuality trophy this week for 100% attendance and no lates!  Superb work Year 4!  Year 2 won the punctuality award in Key Stage 1.  Year 5 won the spelling trophy this week with a score of 96%!

Here are our ACE award winners for this week: 

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 12th November 2021 - Week 9

Another great week at Newburn Manor. It has been a pleasure to welcome prospective parents for our next Reception class into school this week on Wednesday morning and Thursday evening after school. It was lovely to say hello to some familiar faces, as well as meet new families. We hope that you make the decision to join us in September 2022 and look forward to welcoming you all into the Newburn family.

We continue to enjoy the working links we have made with the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. On Monday night our Year 6 pupils continued their weekly ’Reading Challenge’ work and on Wednesday, Mr White, Mr Wright and Mr Edwards were in Years 2, 3, and 4 helping with further reading support.

All of our usual extracurricular activities took place with Mr Rudkin working with Year 4 and their ukuleles, Franco and Steve had their second ‘Band in a box’ session with Year 5 and Mr Vyle enjoyed another great week at Walbottle Dene with our Year 1 Forest Schoolers.

On Thursday, the whole school took part in Remembrance Day activities. We started the day with a whole school assembly, listening to the story of ‘A Song for Will’, reading and discussing the war poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae and taking part in a rendition of Last Post. At 11 am, all of the children took part in a 2 minutes silence to remember all soldiers who have lost their life for our country. A number of classes also learned about further aspects of Remembrance Day in more detail, looking in particular at why the poppy is used as a symbol of remembrance.

Well done to Year 1 who took both the Key Stage 1 attendance (97.3%) and punctuality (1 late) awards this week. In Key Stage 2, Year 4 won the attendance award with 97.8%, with Year 3 taking home the punctuality award with only 1 late this week. Once again, we must give huge congratulations to our amazing ACE award winners this week; it so lovely to see so many different pupils out at the front each Friday, well done…

Next week we have our first parent consultations of the year. These will be taking place on Monday and Wednesday evenings after school and will be done over the phone. If you haven’t already made an appointment you can do so using the school website. On Friday 19th November, we will be celebrating Children in Need day with a pyjama or a Pudsey outfit day.

Enjoy the weekend everyone; see you all on Monday morning.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 5th November 2021 - Week 8

What a busy week we've had for the first week back at school after the half-term break.  We've had our usual enrichments taking place this week including Forest School for Year 1 with Mr Vyle and Miss Luke and ukuleles with Mr Rudkin in Year 4.  Also this week Franco and Steve from Music Partnership North-Newcastle were in school to work with Year 5 and Year 6 on 'Band in a box'.  The class will have tuition each week, looking at the different parts of the band.  This week we looked at drums.  The classes practised the techniques as a class before everyone had the opportunity to practise on a drum kit.  Everyone tried their hardest - it was not easy!  Franco and Steve were really impressed and look forward to working with us over the coming weeks.  Here are a few pictures from the sessions.  Take a look at the Year 5 and Year 6 class pages for more...

Caroline from Newcastle PE and School Sport Service was in school on Tuesday and Wednesday this week to work with every class from Reception to Year 6.  She will be looking at fundamental movement skills throughout school.  In Key Stage 1, they were looking at following instructions during games and looking at how they moved across the floor during a game.  An added competitive element was used in Key Stage 2 where the pupils had the opportunity to practise their movement skills alongside working as a team and thinking about their communication skills.  Every class enjoyed their session with Caroline and look forward to continuing this work each week. 

Year 2 and Year 4 had a fantastic afternoon today celebrating their class attendance with pizza, chips and a movie.  Year 6 completed their attendance banner today so they will get to celebrate their attendance next Friday afternoon.  They can't wait!  Well done Year 2, 4 and 6! 

Today we had our celebration assembly in school.  Year 1 and Year 4 won the attendance trophies this week!  The punctuality winners were Year 1 and Year 2 in Key Stage 1 with only 2 lates each.  In Key Stage 2, Years 3, 4 and 5 all shared the punctuality award with only 1 late each.  Well done!  Here are our ACE award winners for this week:

Mrs Hogarth has sent out an email with the latest newsletter today.  She has also set up the Parent and Carer Consultation Evening system for Year 1 to Year 6.  You should have received an email with a login that will allow you to book a time slot for your child's teacher to ring you on either Monday 15th or Wednesday 17th November.  Any problems, please give us a ring or you can email us on our new email address: office@newburnmps.co.uk and we will help you with the booking system. 

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 22nd October 2021 - Week 7

The final week of the half-term has arrived. It has been hard work but enjoyable. I would like to thank all of the pupils and the Newburn staff for all of their hard work. It has been a pleasure to walk into classrooms on a daily basis and experience the work, focus and drive of everyone first hand.

Once again it has been a week full of extra activities. Year 6 enjoyed working with Chris from the Royal Grammar School Newcastle on a coding project. They used Scratch to make their very own version of a Pacman style game. It amazes me how competent our children are with IT...we'll done Year 6, awesome work.

   

Mr Edwards, Mr White and Mr Wright from RGS joined us for their second week of reading support for our Year 2, 3 and 4 pupils. The children are enjoying their weekly sessions and good relationships are already being built.

All of Key Stage 2 enjoyed taking part in a virtual author visit with Gill Arbuthnott. They heard stories about how she wrote her book A Secret Diary of the First World War, which was based on true events during the First World War. The children learnt how Gill got her ideas through research as well as being moved by stories about brothers bumping into each other in the trenches as well as making lots of valuable contributions through well though out questions.

Reception welcomed Stef from Animal Antics into school on Friday morning. They have been working with the book Dear Zoo and learning about a number of different animals. Today, they had the opportunity to see and handle a variety of creatures including a bearded dragon, an owl, a snake, a hedgehog, a rabbit and some mice. The smiles on their faces showed just how much they enjoyed it.

          

Thank you to Mrs Heslop and her breakfast club team for organising a Halloween special this morning. All of those who attended enjoyed pumpkin and turnip carving as well watermelon, grapes, brioche and some special spooky Halloween hot chocolates.

        

At the start of this academic year we changed our curriculum timetable. The last week of each half-term will be dedicated to art or DT. It has been a real success with the children able to spend more consecutive time on the creative processes. It has been a joy to see the improvements in the planning processes and the finished pieces. I can't wait to see how it develops further during the year.

Every week our ACE award winners amaze us with their dedication to all aspects of school life. Well done to all of this weeks winners...

Huge congratulations to our Year 4 pupils. They are the first class to complete their 100% attendance initiative banner. They will be enjoying a treat afternoon when we return after half-term. On top of this, they are the attendance  champions for Key Stage 2 for the third week in a row:

Attendance champions
KS1 - Year 1 with 97.8%
KS2 - Year 4 with 98.5%

Punctuality champions
KS1 - Year 2 with 1 late
KS2 - Year 3 with zero lates

We will be sending out information in the first week after half-term about autumn term 2 activities including parents evening. We will be having these via phone calls again during the week beginning 15th November, with the hope of being able to have face to face meetings in the new year.

Have a relaxing and enjoyable half-term week off. We will see you all back at school on Monday 1st November.

Stuart Pickup
Head Teacher

Friday 15th October 2021 - Week 6

We’ve had another busy week in school with lots of activities happening throughout the different classes.  Forest School with Mr Vyle, Mr Rudkin has been in again for ukulele tuition with Year 4, and rehearsing and performing Harvest songs to name but a few of the things we've been doing.  

Year 4 have been learning about the Romans this half-term and this week they visited Housesteads Roman Fort.  This was a great opportunity to find out about time in the Roman army.  Some pupils dressed up and everyone had a chance to practise their battle techniques.  Please take a look at the Year 4 class page for more photographs and information about their day.  They had a fantastic time!  

We had three wonderful students from the Royal Grammar School at Newburn Manor on Wednesday to assist with reading in Years 2, 3 and 5.  They all mentioned that the school was lovely and enjoyed reading with our pupils.  We look forward to them joining us for the rest of the year in Years 2, 3 and 4. 

The classes have been practising their Harvest songs over the last few weeks and this week they recorded them.  They are now on the school website.  Please visit the Video Library where you can watch your child’s class song for Harvest.  We hope you enjoy them!

We had our Good Work assembly today in the main hall.  It is a great opportunity to hear about all of the lovely things we have been doing in school.  Our ACE award winners were chosen for a variety of reasons including progress in lessons, positive attitudes to work and always trying their best.  Here are our ACE award winners for this week:

Year 1 and Year 4 have won the attendance trophies this week.  Year 4 have had two weeks of achieving 100% attendance which is superb.  They are well on their way to receiving their attendance treat afternoon.  Well done Year 4!  Attendance and punctuality have been much better this week.  Well done Newburn!  Year 1, 2 and Year 5 achieved the punctuality award in assembly.  Year 6 won the spelling trophy this week.  The rest of the school are now desperate to get the trophy from them as they've had it for two weeks.  Well done Year 6!  

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 8th October 2021 - Week 5

We've had a great week with lots going on for our pupils. It all started on Monday when our Year 5 pupils visited St Michael's and All Angels church in Newburn as part of their Places of Worship topic in RE. Reverend Allison explained the features of the church as well as allowing the children to try her robes on. Mrs Gill was very impressed with the level of questions asked by the class and their enthusiasm to learn more about our local church.

On Thursday, Year 2 took a trip back in time during their workshop at the Discovery Museum. They took part in workshops based around the Great Fire of Newcastle in 1854. They all enjoyed hearing the story behind the fire before making puppets and putting on their own show. Mrs Merrix was very proud of the way the children engaged in the sounds of the fire workshop where the children handled and made use of artefacts from the time. It is lovely having the pupils venture out on trips again.

National Poetry Day was Thursday, 7th October. Our pupils created poems called 'Dream Day'. Simon Mole guided the children through the process of writing their own poem. The children then shared these with their classmates.

On Friday, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 took part in a virtual author visit with Emily Dodd, a screenwriter for CBeebies science programme Nina and the Neurons. The children experienced reading, factual information, songs as well as a dance to support a number of science concepts they were learning about. The children had a great time and we look forward to our next author visit in Key Stage 2.

Well done to our attendance and punctuality trophy winners this week. It has been a much improved week for attendance with two of our classes having 100% attendance for the week - huge congratulations to Year 2 and Year 4.

Finally, more huge congratulations to our ACE award winners this week -  you are all superstars. Keep up the great work Newburn.

Enjoy your weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 1st October 2021 - Week 4

Time seems to be flying this half-term.  I can't believe we are already at the end of Week 4.  Some of the activities happening in school include Forest School in the dene with Mr Vyle and Miss Luke and ukulele tuition in Year 4 with Mr Rudkin from the Newcastle Music Service.  Please take a look on the individual class pages for further information about what has been going in each classroom.  There are some lovely displays going up throughout school to inspire pupils or to show off the fantastic work that the pupils have been doing already this year.  Here are some examples:

We celebrated the achievements of our pupils in our celebration assembly this week.  They were out for a variety of different reasons including: fantastic contributions in class discussions, having a positive attitude to their work, trying their best in lessons and always having a smile in every aspect of school life.  Here are our ACE award winners for this week:

We also handed out the attendance and punctuality awards to some classes during celebration assembly.  Unfortunately only one class qualified for the attendance award this week as attendance throughout school was poor.  Well done to Year 6 who achieved 97% attendance!  Year 2 won the punctuality award this week with only 2 lates.  In Key Stage 2, Year 3 and Year 5 shared the punctuality award with only 1 late each.    

Today was World Smile Day.  I had talked to the whole school earlier in the week about this and it was so lovely to see so many smiles coming through the school gates this morning.  In Year 2, they celebrated World Smile Day by going outside and creating human emojis!  Can you guess the human emojis they have created?

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 24th September 2021 - Week 3

The weeks are flying by...we are already at the end of our 3rd week. This week it has been lovely to have all of our new Reception class in school together for the first time. We are very proud of the way in which they have settled in and they already look like being another Newburn success story.

Our classes are busy booking themselves on school trips and more information will be sent out about these shortly. With all of the lost experiences during the partial school closures, we want to get the children out and about as much as we can this year. Our Year 5 pupils will have received letters about the Kielder residential today. If you need to talk to anyone about payment plans or about the trip please contact the office on 0191 2674533.

We have a number of pupils being late on a regular basis at present. Can I please remind parents that school gates will open at 8.45 am each morning and the school bell will go at 8.55 am. When the children get to class, they take part in SPAG starters and Basic Skills Maths activities, it is vital that they are on time so that they can take part in these aspects of their learning.

Attendance has been up and down this week. As you will be aware from the letter sent out, we have a small number of positive Covid cases across the school. It is important that we think 'Covid first' in terms of stopping any spread. Can I remind parents that if your child is showing any of the main symptoms you need to request a PCR test as lateral flow tests are for identifying asymptomatic cases.

Congratulations to Year 2 this week. They are our Key Stage 2 attendance champions with 100% attendance across the week - they are already half way to achieving the first 100% treat of the year. Year 6 were the winners of the Key Stage 2 award with 96.2%. Huge congratulations to Years 3 and 5 who share the punctuality award in Key Stage 2 with zero lates...awesome! Reception collected the punctuality award in Key Stage 1 with just 1 late, well done to our new starters.

More wonderful reasons to celebrate our ACE award winners this week. We have so many pupils who are giving 100%, supporting their friends, making huge contributions to class discussions, presenting work neatly and so many more reasons. Well done to all of this week's winners, we are incredibly proud of you...

Have a great weekend.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

Friday 17th September 2021 - Week 2

Our second week back at school has come to an end already.  The children have settled in well into their new classrooms now and they are enjoying starting their new topics.  Reception have enjoyed their first two weeks in school and are looking forward to all being together from next week.  They have all received their phonics books so that they can start practising their sounds at home too.  They will be starting their new topic around the book 'Dear Zoo' in the coming weeks. 

The rest of the school have the following topics this half-term:

Year 1 - 'What a wonderful world' where they will be looking at the continents and oceans and thinking about how we can look after our planet. 

Year 2 - The Great Fire of London 

Year 3 - Mountains, earthquakes and volcanoes

Year 4 - The Romans

Year 5 - Ancient Maya

Year 6 - Ancient Greece

Please visit the class pages to get regular updates of what your child has been learning in class.  

It was lovely to see children in assembly today with smiles on their faces, eager to find out who had won an ACE award.  We also handed out our attendance and punctuality awards to the classes.  Here are the results:  

Key Stage 1 Attendance - Year 1 with 98.5%

Key Stage 1 Punctuality - Year 1 with two lates

Well done Year 1 for receiving the attendance and punctuality award this week!

Key Stage 2 Attendance - Year 6 with 96.2%

Key Stage 2 Punctuality - Year 5 with zero lates

This week we've started some of our exciting enrichments in school.  Half of the Year 1 class started their Forest School adventure this week.  They went on a blackberry hunt with Mr Vyle and Miss Luke so that they could make some blackberry jam.  There were so many blackberries that they also used them to make paint too.  The group enjoyed trying the jam on toast once it had cooled.  It was delicious!  There was even some left to give to breakfast club who thought it was amazing!  Next week they are going to be visiting the dene.   

Mr Rudkin was back into school this week working with Year 4 on their ukulele tuition.  The class really enjoy the sessions with Mr Rudkin and I can't wait to see the progress they make this year.  Watch this space...   

Have a lovely weekend.

Thank you for your continued support.

Claire Gill

Deputy Head Teacher

Friday 10th September 2021 - Week 1

Welcome back to the start of the new academic year. We have enjoyed a wonderful first few days and the school feels alive again. As your child may have told you, we have been able to relax certain aspects of school life on our return from the summer break. We are still very much maintaining vigilant hygiene protocols, including children hand sanitizing on entry to different areas of the school building and before breaks and lunch sittings. As we are now able to mix a little more, it has meant that we have returned to having school assemblies throughout the week. It has been lovely seeing the reaction of the children when we meet up and it really does feel the like the school community and family feel has returned. Can I thank you all for the way in which your children have returned. The behaviour has been impeccable and the children have shown that they are all ready to learn from day one.

Over the summer we have had some building work completed. Along with our new outdoor summer cabin and new carpets, Mr Gill has been busy updating Group Room 2 into a super reading environment. Taking inspiration from Harry Potter, it has been changed into a learning library with our very own Newburn Manor stained glass window.

As I said earlier, the children have been amazing on their return. Just as we did last year, here are a few comments from our children about being back at school...

'I have liked playing with magnets and making patterns with ones at the top, in the middle and at the bottom' - Reception

'I have loved playing with my friends and making new ones' - Reception

'It is great seeing my friends because I haven't seen them for 6 weeks and it is lovely to see their faces again.' - Year 2

'I really enjoyed being in our celebration assembly because we had such a fun time.' - Year 2

'I'm really enjoying getting to know my new teacher.' - Year 5

'The work is harder this year but I'm enjoying the challenge already.' - Year 5

Huge congratulations to this week's award winners:

Key Stage 1 Attendance - Year 1 with 99.5%

Key Stage 1 Punctuality - Reception with zero lates

Key Stage 2 Attendance - Year 5 with 99%

Key Stage 2 Punctuality - Years 3 and 5 with zero lates

Well done to all of our amazing ACE award winners this week...

Details

If you have changed your mobile phone number or moved addresses over the summer break, could we ask that you contact the school office on 0191 2674533 so we can update your information on the school system.

Have a great weekend...I'm sure there'll be some tired eyes tonight.

Stuart Pickup

Head Teacher

A few pictures from our first week...