Congratulations go to Hope Hedley in 6P for winning the Methodist Church Christmas Card Competition. Her winning design, ‘Two Carol Singers’ will be printed and sent out to local businesses around Morpeth. Gift tags will also be on sale from the Methodist Church in December. The competition was tough with over 150 entries and artist judges, who sent many lovely comments about the designs they saw.

Thank you to Mrs Laidlaw and the Morpeth Methodist Church for organising this local community event.

‘Greedy Bird’ by Hannah Bishop

Congratulations to Hannah Bishop in Year 7 for coming first in the Young Person’s category for the Northumberland Wildlife Trust Photography Competition. She was invited to attend the Award Ceremony at the Great North Museum where the winners were announced. She won a large scale print of her photograph and the school won £100.

Her winning photograph. ‘Greedy Bird’, can be seen on page 7 of the Roebuck magazine July- November 2016 issue.

Well done, Hannah.

Newminster A contesting a tie break with 8 other teams.

The NE regional heat of this national competition was a closely fought and extremely tough contest.  Each of the top five teams was separated by just half a point and every round went to a tie breaker.

With rounds on Captains, Cannibals, Cutlery, Cars, Comics and cartoons, not to mention Furniture, Hobbies, Rodents, Babies and World War 1, it was hard to predict our strengths and this cost us valuable points, as scores are doubled on the joker round.

Seriously, can you think of ten literary references to cutlery…?

Nevertheless, our teams performed magnificently and should be proud of their richly deserved scores of 71 and 68. Most teams in the contest were composed of Y8 students so we’re especially proud of our Y6 team and hope to see them in the top ten next year!

A review by Ruby Holton, Year 7:

Effective: 13th September 2016 to 31st October 2016

The Online Portal for Admissions to Middle, High and Secondary Schools is now open for children transferring from First to Middle (current Year 4) – Middle to High (current Year 8) and Primary to Secondary (current Year 6). Further information can be found on the School Admissions page by following the link below.

More about Admissions Portal Now Open available here.

The Three Rivers Teaching School Alliance delivers school-based teacher training programmes for both primary and secondary phases via the School Direct route.

Our trainees are placed in local schools for the school year and are trained by experienced and highly skilled professionals.  If you are interested in joining us to become a teacher in 2017, please visit our website.

• Monday (starting Monday 12 September) 3:30 – 4:30pm: Choir (No instrument needed – beginners welcome) in Chantry Hall

• Tuesday (starting Tuesday 20 September) 3.30pm – 4.30pm: Ceilidh Band (violin, guitar, flute, penny whistle, Northumbrian pipes, bodhran, keyboard, bass)  in Chantry Hall

• Wednesday (starting Wednesday 21 September) 3:30 – 4:30pm: Jazz Band (clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, drums, guitar, keyboard (able to use school keyboards), bass) in Newminster Music Room

• Thursday (starting Thursday 22 September) 3.30pm – 4.30pm: Samba Band (Percussion and drums provided – beginners welcome) in Chantry Hall

The Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir is touring the North East for 2 weeks in September fundraising. They are planning to spend a day at Chantry and Newminster Middle Schools on Monday 19 September.

Their visit will comprise of an assembly performance for both schools, workshops for classes and an afternoon workshop for the joint schools choir. Their visit will culminate in an evening performance which will take place at 6.30pm in Chantry School Hall. The Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir will perform along with some joint pieces with the Newminster and Chantry school choir. Tickets for the concert will be available on the door (adults £3 and children £2). There will also be refreshments, African crafts on sale and a raffle.

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