Almost six months of hard (but pleasurable) work came to an end on June 19^th when nineteen Chantry and Newminster students and their parents gathered at the Centre for Life  to meet the authors whose work they had come to regard almost as ‘old friends.’

A small group of us has been reading and discussing possible contenders for North East Book Award 2017 since Christmas and gradually whittling down a long list to five strong candidates. In March, younger students – many still in Y5 – came on board, eager to read and review the shortlist and vote for their favourites.

This year, we were privileged to be asked to present two of the five authors and – by far the youngest participants – our Year 5s rose to the challenge. Ellen (Y7), Talullah, Lilly and Rachel (Y5) introduced debut author Lucy Strange, who was so overwhelmed she was moved to tears.

Not to be outdone, Simone (Y6,) Izzy, Finlay and Chloe (Y5) overcame the inconvenience of being unable to see over the lectern by sharing a script and rotating rapidly around it, managing not to collide and receiving an enormous ovation from the audience for their completely unrehearsed choreography!

Debut author, Peter Buzl is a TV animator by day and he animated the front covers of his steampunk series for our entertainment.

He also decided that demonstrating deportment was better than explaining it – spot our Chantry volunteers!

You never know quite what to expect at a NEBA ceremony!

As usual, a lot of our comments are selected for the posters:Most of us thought that Lucy Strange, debut author of The Secret of Nightingale Wood, should have won NEBA 2017 and we were delighted to meet her.

As usual, a lot of our comments are selected for the posters:

Most of us thought that Lucy Strange, debut author of The Secret of Nightingale Wood, should have won NEBA 2017 and we were delighted to meet her.

In light of the recent Grenfell Tower incident the Learning Trust has carried out a review of both fire safety in its broadest terms as well as narrower concerns on cladding and tower block evacuations.

All of the Learning Trust school buildings have a fire risk assessment in place and all have been reviewed within the last six months, including a discussion with a fire officer. Regular checks of fire safety equipment are undertaken and fire evacuation procedures are practiced termly. Any recommended actions from these systems have been minor improvements and have been implemented quickly.

In April 2017 the Education funding Agency approved an application for capital funding for Newminster Middle School and Chantry Middle School to update elements of fire safety equipment; upgrading alarms, detection and fire doors to the latest building standards. This work will be completed by 31/08/17. The fire risk assessments carried out for this purpose indicated a good level of fire safety existed and that a timely upgrade of equipment would continue to ensure these standards were maintained.

The fire escape procedures for our tower blocks are approved by the fire officer and regularly tested. The blocks are all evacuated in a few minutes.

The cladding on each building has been reviewed and it meets the highest class of fire safety rating. In addition no tower block is higher than four storeys or 18 metres and they are not residential which fire regulations class as a much lower risk situation than Grenfell Tower.

This review has been supported by fire safety professionals, building specialists and the Local Authority Health and Safety Team. The results have been provided to the Department for Education who are satisfied that each school has a low fire risk.

The drop in time for the transition evening tonight is between 4.30 pm – 6.30 pm.

Morpeth Town Football Club are holiding a recruitment day on Saturday 8th July.

On Thursday 22nd June the NMS and CMS Samba Band, lead by Steve Doyle from Music Partnership North, performed for the Northumberland School Games.
They played for the opening ceremony and around the pitches for various sports and events to entertain both players and spectators. The band even paired up with members of Cragside Primary School djembe ensemble to perform some wonderful pieces.
Much fun was had by all!

“This event was a great performance opportunity for our pupils. They played extremely well and we enjoyed a fun musical day out!” – Ms Jones, Curriculum Leader of the Creative Arts at Nemwinster and Chantry Middle School.

“I loved performing with Cragside Primary djembe ensemble. We made some new friends!” – Leo Buchan, year 5.

“I enjoyed playing while the sports were going on. It felt like we were supporting all of the teams!” – Maddie Bullock, Year 5.