For this year’s Children in Need we are going to attempt to make and decorate a giant cake which will take the shape of a patchwork quilt – what a spectacle!

Each form class will​ design, plan and decorate a 12 inch square cake on the theme of friendship, care, Children in Need and charity.

On the Friday morning of Children in Need all students, in form classes, will decorate a class cake to match their design. The cakes will then be taken to Chantry Hall where they will be displayed as one giant cake. Students will be given time to admire their work as a whole before sampling later in the day.

The ingredients for the cakes, icing (not decoration) and boards will be provided by the school. However, to allow students to be as creative as possible, we will ask students to volunteer to bring a small amount of the decorations required, as directed by their form teacher.

There will be no charge for the cake as we are also having a Pudsey themed non-uniform day to raise money for the charity with a voluntary £1 donation. The choir will also be doing a sponsored sing in the hope we can raise some additional funds for this fantastic charity!

Linking to the health and well being of our students we have designed whole school projects to encourage individuality and uniqueness. This year we have planned for each pupil to create a unique design on a pebble and we are putting them together, as a school, to form an outdoor sculpture. We have based the project on a book called ‘Only One You’.

We had a fantastic turn out for our Year 5 school lunches last week hosted by our Year 8 prefects.

Families comments included: “It was good to see how dinner times work”. “Fresh food and tasty – thank you for the warm welcome”, ‘”Loved having the chance to spend some time with my child in school” and “Lunch was delicious… when can we come back!”.

Thank you for all the lovely feedback that we passed on to our kitchen staff!

Thank you for joining us!

Having a Coffee Morning was the perfect chance to catch up over a cuppa, enjoy gorgeous treats and help Macmillan be there for people facing cancer. With your help, we managed to raise a grand total of £621.80.

Thank you for all your wonderful support and contributions with the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, it was great to see so many friends, family and members of the community fill the Newminster Hall. From creative cupcakes to terrific tray bakes, Newminster students you really pulled out the stops this year! Well done to our very own student voice for helping to organise and run the event – the school hall looked like an episode from the Great British Bake Off!

Year 6 have been creating underwater compositions this week.

Thank you and well done to everyone who entered the Steel Pan Logo Competition.

Jenny Gilberg, the steel pan teacher, chose the winning entry by Poppy Mackenzie in year 7 at Newminster.

This logo is going to be put onto grey hoodies for the steel pan players to purchase and wear for their performances. More information to follow …

Members of the Ellington Colliery Brass Band visited Newmister and Chantry Middle Schools on Friday 15th September 2017.

The performed various pieces, demonstrated each sound of the instruments in the band and pupils even go to try some of the brass instruments.

They wanted to invite interested pupils to join the Ellington Colliery Brass band Academy which gives young people the opportunity to learn to play a brass instrument, play in an ensemble, have fun and build confidence.

They meet on Wednesday evenings, during term time, at Chantry Middle School.
If you are interested in becoming part of the academy or would like any further details please contact the Band Manager, John Colvine on 07734437987.

Congratulations to Michael ( Chantry) and to Peter ( Newminster ) who caught a fish at the Trout Ticklers event at Chatton on Saturday. The children had a really good day although it was quite overcast and a little cold. The last event of the fishing season will at Thrunton Fisheries on the morning of Saturday 7th October – watch your emails for more details