Whole School Careers Afternoon 2020

24th February 2020Mrs C Allison

On Wednesday 12th February, Chantry Middle School held their annual Careers Afternoon. This is an exciting opportunity for business ambassadors to visit the school and take the opportunity to educate the young people about the vast array of jobs that exist.

This year we had 15 visitors in the school with a range of business expertise and advice including M&S, Intelligence, Fire & Rescue, Banking, Lecturers, Engineering and Dance. All of which provided a wealth of knowledge to the pupils and shared their stories about how they have become involved in their line of work.

Pupils gained a lot out of the afternoon with feedback being really positive:

“It was great to find out about lots of jobs in a short amount of time.”

“The intelligence sounded cool – I would love to be MI5 one day”

“I never knew you could do management training schemes to work in big companies like M&S”

“I have always wanted to help people so if was great to listen to people from the fire service and learn about the equipment and vehicle”

This was echoed by the visitors who mentioned:

“I enjoyed the afternoon and the children were very well behaved and asked lots of good questions”

“Great day, great interaction from kids and they all showed amazing enthusiasm”

“Great kids – very enthusiastic. Would love to attend next year!

“Love the idea, really enjoyed being part of it and the kids had great questions”

Another string to Mr Storey’s bow! 

14th February 2020Mrs C Allison
Mr Storey has been made an honorary language ambassador!  He is a passionate linguist, supports the MFL department on a regular basis and wears his badge with pride.  Our Y8 ambassadors Ben and Jack interviewed him to find out more.

What do you think that your role is as a language ambassador?

It is a pretty prestigious role and I try to help promote languages across the school, encouraging and ethusing pupils.  I help out in class, assisting students to reach their full potential and I am also Señora Said’s artist in residence. I have drawn quite a few pictures that classes may have seen in lessons, such as the pirate when Year 8s looked at El Día de Los Muertos.

She said she did it herself!

She lies.

Do you have any language qualifications?

I got a B in GCSE German and my favourite word is Jawohl!  I have also learnt quite a lot of French and Spanish from being in lessons.

We know from the Languages Day bingo game that your brother lives in The Czech republic.  

Yes, my brother really likes to travel, and he has lived all over Europe since he was 18 years old.  He has lived in Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Austria and the Czech Republic.

So he’s as interested in travelling as you are in languages.

Oh definitely!

Do you know much about their culture?

As a Christmas tradition, people from the Czech Republic don’t have turkey.  Instead, they get a carp (a big fish), which they buy at the start of December and keep in their bath tub for a month. Throughout that month they feed it lots of different things to give it flavour for when they eat it on Christmas day. However, their Christmas day is actually in early January.

It’s strange how every culture has something eccentric about their Christmas. I like how in the last month of its life it gets treated extremely well, as it’s lavished with food.

They will all have a shower, with the carp just swimming around.

Have you ever seen the carps that people buy at that time?

I have seen them up for sale the last time I was there, for others to put in their bath tubs, but have yet to see one in a bath tub.

How important do you think it is that someone should learn a language?

Very important, as it helps you with so many different careers and it gives you more confidence.  The curriculum intent up in the MFL block shows you where your languages can take you.

Do you have any plans for your future as a language ambassador?

Well, just today I drew yet another picture for Miss Said, and I imagine that is what I will mostly be doing.  Although, I do love covering Spanish lessons, as I never had a Spanish lesson at school which means that the pupils usually know more Spanish than I do.   So I learn quite a bit when covering those lessons. I think our students are so lucky to get the chance to do 2 foreign languages.

Ben’s mum works in human resources. Every time she sees a CV with a language qualification, even if they don’t have the qualifications for the job she is looking for, she considers them, and puts them to one side.

My wife works in a company, and when she was applying, as it was a German company, her GCSE in German helped her get the job.  Now, she usually has to travel to Germany as part of her job.

Would you like any additional responsibilities?

No, I’m happy with my current role.  I’m also mainly in it for the badge 🙂

Sign2Sing

11th February 2020Sarah Hall

The students of Newminster and Chantry Middle Schools have been learning songs to sign and sing in their Music lessons, at home with their families and rehearsing in assemblies for their Sign2Sing event which took place on Tuesday 11th February 2020. This was performed as a whole school which involved over 530 pupils from each school and took place in the Chantry School hall during the day. They performed ‘True Colours’ by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, Make Your Own Kind of Music’ by Paloma Faith, ‘Count on Me’ by Bruno Mars and ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ by Keane. Pupils learnt about the creator of Makaton signing, Margaret Walker, and learnt some everyday makaton signs.

Charlotte Jones, Curriculum Leader of Creative Arts at Newminster and Chantry Middle Schools said, “We think this is a terrific initiative which has taught the children a new and valuable skill as well as raising awareness of deaf issues. The behaviour of the students was impeccable and students and staff performed brilliantly on the day. The event was really emotional.”

SignHealth, which is a national charity, dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of deaf people, are behind the event.

Students at Newminster and Chantry Middle Schools raised money for SignHealth on the day by wearing non uniform day. All money raised will go towards helping SignHealth transform the lives of thousands of people living in the UK and Africa.

We thank everyone for their hard work and donations.

 

Three Rivers Ceilidh

11th February 2020Sarah Hall

Our yearly Cheviot Ceilidh took place on Saturday 8th February 2019, 7.00 pm – 9:30 pm at The King Edward VI School in Morpeth.  Students from KEVI, Newminster and Chantry Middle Schools Ceilidh Bands came together to perform various sets for people to dance to lead by caller, Alistair Anderson.

The students all performed brilliantly and everyone had a fabulous time. It was so lovely to see so many families and people of all ages at the event having such a fun night out.

A huge thank you to Heather Harrison for organising this and to the KEVI tech, sound and lighting team supported by Jonathan Hughes.

 

Non School Uniform

10th February 2020Mrs C Allison

SignHealth is simply asking for a £1.00 donation in return for wearing non school uniform and taking part in the event on Tuesday 11th February 2020.

So don’t forget it’s non school uniform tomorrow for our Sign2Sing event.

KS2 Spring Disco

10th February 2020Mrs C Allison

KS2 Spring Disco is on Tuesday 11th February 6.30-8pm. Only £2 entry on the night! Don’t miss out – get your dancing shoes on!

New school motto

7th February 2020Mrs C Allison

New school motto

Prior to Christmas, Chantry Middle School set a challenge to all of it’s students in a quest to find a school motto. Students took part in a quiz during assemblies to identify key mottos / slogans for companies and services from around the world. The majority of students could identify at least one motto / slogan with a brand yet when we discussed Chantry Middle School, students drew a blank.

Therefore, the challenge was set – any student could enter to come up with their own motto for Chantry Middle School which relates to everyday life at the school.

We received over 200 entries but there could only be one winner.

We are pleased to announce the winner is I Ellerbrook in Year 8. Her motto is shown below on our newly designed badge.

 

A simple but meaningful motto, which I am sure you will agree with, is what Chantry Middle School should have as a goal for all of it’s young people who pass through it’s doors every day.

We look forward to using our motto on our school’s branding and also to remind all members of Chantry Middle School’s community that we are here to inspire and believe in the students of the school, whilst striving for achievement in all aspects of life, to enable them to become accomplished students.

Please note: We will not be updating the badges on school uniforms as we understand the cost implications.

Chantry Book Fair 2020

3rd February 2020Mrs C Allison

Owing to your tremendous support, our week long annual Book Fair was a great success, achieving sales of  £2,963!

More than 200 books were purchased!

These sales have raised a magnificent  £1780 in commission,

which will be spent over the coming year on books and resources to stimulate literacy and a love of reading throughout school.

What more can we say but ‘Thank you!’

The eco-friendly, fabric book bags will remain on sale throughout the year.

A special “THANK YOU” must go to the following Fair Makers who ensured that everything ran smoothly:

Phoebe, Eleanor and Amelia in Y7 for helping to staple 530 letters to Book Fair fliers;

Ethan, Charlotte and Rachel in Y8 and Phoebe, Amelia and Eleanor in Y7 for indispensable help setting up and closing down the Fair and assistance at break times;

Sophie and Ruby in Y8 for assistance at break times;

Ethan, Charlotte, Rachel and Sophie for delivering orders and the truly incomparable Mr Wigham for doing all the ‘heavy stuff’ at the beginning and end of the Fair!

This wouldn’t have been possible without you!