We are delighted to be able to tell you that Newminster and Chantry Middle Schools have been 2 of the 4 schools in Northumberland to be awarded the prestigious Platinum Arts Mark, accredited by Arts Council England. A huge thank you to Ms Jones and all the staff who have worked so hard to provide the opportunities for our students. It goes without saying that the engagement, enthusiasm and commitment of the students is what allows all of the Creative Arts events to be such a success and continue to go from strength to strength.

​This is what Artsmark said about Newminster:

The panel were impressed by your school’s range of provision, the wealth of ‘popular’ as well as classical arts opportunities, the very clear management and development of provision and the focus on evidencing inclusion and quality. It is clear that the school is deeply committed to the arts, both in terms of their intrinsic value and in terms of the wider benefits to the wellbeing, confidence and soft skills of pupils that the arts can bring. The panel recognised how your school has used your Artsmark journey to strengthen your collaboration with other schools, the degree of focus on understanding impact and effect, and the willingness to share and debate that knowledge with a range of local schools.

Future development might focus on developing your CPD offer more widely, sharing and disseminating best practice further afield and using pupils as ambassadors for CPD. The panel looks forward to seeing how you continue to develop your leadership role and advocacy for arts and culture with other schools.

As a Platinum Artsmark school Arts Council England celebrates your commitment to arts and cultural education at a governing body level, the opportunities established across your provision and the leadership you are demonstrating in this area. Your children and young people are offered equal opportunity to influence, lead, experience and evaluate a diverse range of high-quality arts and cultural activities across a broad range of media and you are able to contribute to development opportunities in these areas for both your own staff and others. You have strong partnerships with arts and cultural organisations and can evidence the positive impact of this collaboration. Your children and young people have an opportunity to continually develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of arts and culture and you are working to further develop the leadership role you have established.

We were invited by Northumberland County Council to participate in Local Democracy Week (9 – 15 October) this year. The children took part in one of two workshops which involved making posters, banners and leaflets either about a campaign they are passionate about or about Emily Davidson and her work as a suffragette. Posters included: the number of houses being built in Morpeth, litter, parking, Morpeth’s skatepark, Brexit and more.

The day also included a panel of county and town councillors which pupils were able to fire questions at.

Some quesions included:

• What is the difference between a town councillor, county councillor and MP?
• What interested you in the first instance to become a councillor?
  
• Could you give us any helpful tips and advice on how we can run our student parliament successfully?
  
• What is the hardest decision within your job you’ve ever had to make?
  
• What are the future plans for empty local shops and why are so many businesses struggling in the area?
  
• What is your best memory or proudest moment as a councillor?
  

Lee, Cameron, Alfie and Lewis handed over a hand written letter to County Councillor D. Bawn about their concerns with Morpeth’s skatepark. He said he would take this to the next town council meeting. Well done boys! 

At the end of the session, our School Parliament representatives received a certificate to recognise the school’s participation in Local Democracy Week. *see photo in folder*

This is our 7th year of running the Arts Awards at Newminster and Chantry Middle Schools.

Some pupils in Year 8 are taking part in the Bronze Award which encourages you to try new things and reflect upon your progress in creativity, communication, leadership and an arts form development. It is a nationally recognised award and you will achieve a Level 1 National Certificate on completion.

Doing your Bronze Award means you will:

• Take part in an arts activity (working with an artist, designing a backdrop, developing a personal challenge) .
• Go to an Arts event.
• Find an Arts inspiration, research their story and discover how they got to where they are today.
• Share your skills by helping to run a workshop or by giving a demonstration to others.

Pupils taking the art Bronze Arts Awards will be involved in a project called ARTiculate with the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.

The Explore Arts Award is being run for students in Year 6 and is also a nationally recognised award and you will achieve an Entry Level 3 qualification on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) certificate on completion. As their main project they are embarking on a project to create wall art for the steel pan room.

The pupils from Chantry and Newminster Middle Schools were invited to participate in a Heritage Lottery funded drama based on a book written by Bridget Gubbins called ‘The Conquest of Morpeth’. They have been attending drama club on Tuesday’s after school and working really hard this term. Students have examined different drama techniques including freeze frames, script writing, prop making, costume design, movement, music and shadow puppetry.

They will be staging a performance of their own devised work based on ‘The Conquest of Morpeth’ on Thursday 23rd November 2017 at 2pm in the Chantry Hall. There will be no charge for tickets for this production however there will be a collection tin for donations to the Creative Arts fund in the school foyer.

The children’s book, ‘The Conquest of Morpeth’ by Bridget Gubbins, will be on sale at the event.

Newminster and Chantry choir will be performing at St James’s Church, Morpeth on Wednesday 20^th December from 6.00pm-7.30pm, with doors opening at 5.50pm. The performance will include a festive play called ‘Miracle Child’, Christmas songs and carols performed by our collaborative Middle School Choir. Mince pies will be served at the end of the evening and a collection made for a charity chosen by the church.

Tickets will be on sale from Monday 20^th November from the school office at break times only. Tickets are priced at £2.00 for children and £3.00 for adults and can be purchased with either cash or cheque, (cheques must be made payable to The Three Rivers Learning Trust Ltd).

The Key’s innovative project invited the student voice group to embark on their own enterprising projects through the creation of various products including ‘Merchandise of Morpeth’ and ‘Sugar Crush’ sweets. The student voice worked together to think, plan, do and review their very own projects with the support of trained Key Facilitators every Friday during DLE.

Throughout their journey student voice focused on their development of twelve specified Key skills. These skills are the building blocks for future success in education, training, work and adulthood.

This simple journey, based around a healthy balance of freedom and structure, provides the vital spark that young people need to ignite their passions and practically develop their skills for real world success.

After securing the money through a testing business pitch here at Newminster Middle School to the dragons den (a panel of business professionals) each group’s products were ordered and delivered ready for making and selling.

Click the 12 key skills image to enlarge.

Selling

On 17th May the student voice projects were all invited to attend Sage HQ in Newcastle where they were able to showcase their goods.

Leigh Thompson (Sage Foundation Manager) tweeted us to say “These guys were absolutely brilliant. A credit to the school and the programme. Thanks for being part of our #enterprise day.”

On 7th June 2017, all of the students headed down to Morpeth Market to sell their products on a stall to the members of public. They even got advice from a regular stallholder on how to perfect their market “shouting” techniques. Their final selling location was at our Summer Fayre where pupils, parents and staff were able to buy the products.