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- Fire Safety | Year 4
Visit from Tyne and Wear Fire service Year 4 had a visit from Amanda from the Tyne and Wear Fire service. She told us how quickly a fire can start in our homes. We watched a video it was scary to see how quickly fire and smoke spreads! Luckily, TWFS have the fastest response time to an emergency- approximately 5 minutes! We have all been asked to test our fire alarm weekly to check that it works. Amanda reminded us about the dangers of charging phones, tablets and games consoles overnight, as they can overheat and cause a fire. You can find out more information about keeping your home safe by visiting the TWFS website and safelinks - HFSC (safelincs.co.uk)
- School Council
What is the School Council? A school council provides a meaningful way in which pupils can voice their opinions and have their views taken into account in decisions that impact upon them. At English Martyrs' Primary School, our school council is a group of children that represents the views of all our pupils. It gives our children the opportunity to have their voices heard and be part of the whole school community. They help to make decisions about school life and organise projects that support learning and development. Who are the School Council representatives? A new school council is elected each year and is made up of 2 representatives from each year group, from Year 1 to Year 6. All school council representatives are elected by their peers at the beginning of each academic year. The children who would like to be considered for school council write a manifesto, the children then vote in a secret ballot to elect the school councillor. Mrs Sutcliffe School Council (Teacher representative) I am very proud to support our School Council this year. We have fantastic children in our school who have lots of great ideas on how we can work together to make a better school. We have children from Year 6 all the way down to Year 1. We want to make sure that all children’s voices are heard in our school. We will meet regularly to discuss ideas and events. I am very excited to work with the children this year and I know we are going to achieve a lot for our school! School council aims: To meet regularly to discuss their views and be heard. To organise whole school and class events To make sure our school is a happy and safe place for all of our children To make sure children have a place to voice their concerns, opinions, and thoughts To encourage all children in school to suggest ideas and improvements To ensure any suggestions or concerns are listened to and acted upon
- Water Safety talks with Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
This half term we were delighted to welcome Tommy, from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, into school to discuss the dangers of water and how to keep safe. Tommy worked with pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 in special workshops. Teaching water safety in primary schools is crucial for ensuring the well-being of young students. By educating children about water safety in primary school, we can help prevent accidents and drownings in water such as pools, lakes, rivers and in the sea. Tommy was able to explain the important elements of water safety, like how to swim, float, and recognize dangerous situations, around water. This knowledge not only helps to keep our pupils safe but also instils a sense of confidence and independence when enjoying activities near and on water. The sessions were interactive and engaging with lots of opportunities to ask questions. We hope that this knowledge never has to be used but having taken part in the workshops, it can potentially save lives and promote a culture of safety around water. You can here more from Tommy in a safety video and find out more information about water safety by clicking the link HERE. Thanks to Tommy and the TWFS for their support.
- Karneval Celebrations with Rainbow School
Fasching is a traditional German celebration, also known as Karneval or Fastnacht. It is carnival season preceding Lent, which has been celebrated for centuries by people worldwide with German heritage. At the end of this season, people celebrate with a carnival and in school pupils dress in party clothes or fancy dress and enjoy sweet treats and party games throughout the day. At English Martyrs’, we wanted to celebrate this festival with our partner school and friends over in Gelsenkircken, Germany. On Friday 9th February, we took part in activities throughout the day to mark the occasion. We were even able to see and speak to some of the pupils at Rainbow School (Regenbogenschule). Here are some highlights from our day. Dressing up and making masks It is traditional for people to dress up, wear costumes and masks during Karneval. In school our pupils were encouraged to come dressed in costumes and/or colourful clothes. The teachers even joined in too! You may spot teachers at both English Martyrs' and Rainbow school in the pictures below. Children at English Martyrs' also made colourful festival masks to wear in school for the day. Video Conferencing Pupils in KS2 took part in video conferencing sessions with their equivalent classes at Rainbow School. We played games such as 'guess the costume' as well as musical statues. We listened to some traditional Karneval music and created a shared playlist of songs. Mrs McCaffrey played the piano and we shared one of our favourite traditional songs from the north east - The Blaydon Races. 'It was great seeing everyone at Rainbow School, in Gelsenkirchen - it made it all real to see the other children via the live link.' Sterling
- English Touring Opera | Year 5
On Monday 25th March, Year 5 were lucky enough to visit Sacred Heart High School to watch a performance of "The Great Stink" by the English Touring Opera. Through songs, drama and puppetry, the company told the incredible true story of Summer 1858, when the city of London was brought to a standstill by the terrible smell from the River Thames. The Head of Music from Sacred Heart visited school beforehand to teach us some songs, which made the experience so much more enjoyable and interactive. Year 5 even created some puppets to bring along to the performance! Here are some reviews from our Year 5 children: "I liked how they put comedy into the songs - it was funny!" "It was really interactive, so we got to join in with the singing and holding up signs!" "It wasn't what I expected - there were lots of different voices, not just high ones." "We got to learn a lot too. They told a story through the songs but we also learnt about Victorian history!" As you can see, Year 5 had a fantastic time and took a lot away from the experience.
- Comic Relief - Red Nose Day 2024
Comic Relief supports incredible projects and organisations that are making a difference for people across the UK and around the world. To support this vital charity work and good causes, pupils at English Martyrs' were to come into school dressed in red clothing. There were some great red coloured outfits on show, including lots of red noses! Pupils were invited to bring in a small donation towards the fantastic causes that Comic Relief supports. We were able to donate £279.05 which is fantastic! Thank you for your support. As part of the day our pupils learned about different kinds of Migration and why people often have to move homes or countries without warning and often through no fault of their own. We considered how we can support others who find themselves in this position.
- Author Visit | 'New Home'
Year 5 were visited by Helen King researcher and author, alongside illustrator Lily Kroese. They introduced the pupils to ‘New Home’, which is a children’s book written and illustrated by asylum seekers living in Newcastle. Listening to the story allowed us to think about how the people in the story would feel; it helped us reflect on our actions towards people experiencing personal hardship. We were so impressed by the moving story and we offered our own ideas for how we would help to welcome refugees to our community. During the workshop, we decorated a fabric square which will be sewn together by Lily to create a "belonging" scarf for our class. Thank you for inspiring us!
- German Day at Durham University
Pupils from our German club were invited to Durham University to join in their special ‘German Day’. Our pupils joined in workshops which included an introduction to the geography and peoples of the German Speaking World, a language lesson and a session exploring German culture. Our pupils were given some souvenirs to take home as part of their day provided by The Goethe-Institut, Germany’s cultural institute. We even managed to enjoy our packed lunches by the river. "It was good to spend time out of school where we could learn the language and take part in activities and not feel rushed. We also found out that there are similarities with languages and that you can work out the meaning of German words from some of our own English words" Harrison Y5 "The Staff and teachers were really nice, and the activities helped us learn quickly. As well as the language we also found out more about Germany." Chuigo Y5
- Internet Legends - Online Safety
Pupils across school took part in a National online assembly to raise awareness of online safety. Pupils took part in a very interactive assembly and were guided through different scenarios to highlight some of the dangers that might occur by being online but also how these can be avoided by keeping safe. Part of the assembly involved listening to situations where unkind messages were sent online. We were told different ways on how we could deal with this. As a follow-up activity, Y3 enjoyed sending words of kindness to friends during ‘Kind Time’ and talked about the positive impact of messages of kindness. In Y2, pupils played an online game, Google Interlands to apply what they had learned.
- Advent Mass in School
We were joined by Fr John who celebrated Holy Mass with us, in the school hall. Y3 and Y5 helped us to celebrate the mass, leading the readings and singing hymns. We marked the start of Advent and thought about how we can prepare for the arrival of Christ, at Christmas. We celebrate Mass, in school on the first Friday of each month. All of our English Martyrs' parish and school community are most welcome to join us. There are refreshments served by our pupils available after Mass.
- Knife Crime Workshop Y5 & Y6
Year 5 and 6 took part in a knife crime worship, in partnership with Northumbria Police. Representatives from Northumbria police came to visit our upper KS2 classes to talk about the perils of knife crime and consider the consequences of this. The pupils took part in the interactive workshops, which covered: risks of carrying a knife or a bladed article misconceptions about knives why people might carry a knife helping students to have some understanding of the consequences of carrying a knife sources of support for young people The workshops were really informative and helped our pupils gather a better understanding of some of the issues the police and young people in our community are facing.
- World Book Day 2024
World Book Day 2024 What a fantastic day we had in school, celebrating World book day and our love of reading. Our pupils looked amazing in their book inspired outfits, we had a host of characters from super heroes, cartoon characters, authors and characters from classic fairy tales. Some pupils wore colours to represent the feelings we explored in one of our whole school texts, 'The colour Monster'. The video below gives a little insight into our fun filled day. For World Book Day, all of our pupils took part in activities based around two books. One of the books was called 'The Colour Monster' - this book helps us to recognise our feelings, using colours as a way of expressing different emotions we may feel, at different times. Some of our children designed their own colour monsters to show how they sometimes feel in different situations - others made feelings Jars to show things which make us feel different emotions. This was a great way to discuss our emotions and to know that we all feel different emotions and that this is perfectly normal and part of who we are! The other text that we shared was the prize winning book called 'Flooded' by Mariajo Ilustrajo. Flooded is the funny and beautifully illustrated tale of animals who live in a city that is ever so slowly flooding. The flood comes gradually at first. All the animals ignore the obvious and go about their busy lives, disjointed from one another and preoccupied by their own problems. Eventually, the flood water reaches a height that they can no longer ignore and they have to work together to save their city. All the animals join together in a line and pull out the plug that is drowning the city. This is an exceptionally illustrated story that teaches a message not to let problems fester and with a little team work and community spirit, no problem can't be solved. We took part in lots of activities based on this book, including designing our own wellies! It was also a great opportunity to talk about some important environmental issues and how we can do our bit, working together to protect our planet. MISS ELLIOTT: MRS COOK: MRS DONNELLY: MRS CLARKE: