As part of our celebrations of Harvest, the Student Voice have decided to collect donations for the Wansbeck Valley Food Bank. Please click here for further information.
Parentalk – The Primary Years from Care for the Family is a DVD-based course for parents of children aged 4 to 11 years. Providing common sense, jargon-free information and ideas to help you to engage with your children and boost your relationship.
Better never stops – October 2018
Welcome to my first ever Blog and my first ever Blog as Headteacher of Chantry Middle School, Morpeth. Four weeks into the Term and it seems as though the Summer Holidays are just a distant memory.
It has been an extremely enjoyable first few weeks getting to know staff and students of the school whilst trying to prioritise they key strategies for development. One thing that I have picked up very quickly is the dedication of all the staff across the school and the fantastic team spirit that exists amongst us. I am overwhelmed by their welcome and support and have been reassured by their professionalism each day.
From the outset, my main priority is to ensure that Teachers are enabled to deliver high quality lessons to ensure students are making the most progress possible. This includes using research into the most effective strategies to ensure this. As part of our professional development programme we have had a focus on asking students the right type of question in lessons, to aid understanding as well as developing a greater depth of knowledge across the curriculum.
As a trained PE teacher, another major priority for me is to promote and develop the extra curricular offer within school. We are very lucky to have such dedicated PE, Music and Art teachers who deliver the majority of the extra curricular offer on a weekly basis. However, the dedication of staff outside of these departments to run teams or trips is above and beyond the norm. It is rare to see a staff body so committed to both their teaching inside the classroom as well as developing the young person outside of the classroom.
You can see the majority of this success through our website or through our twitter feed https://twitter.com/MorpethChantry
Our Year 5 students have settled in quickly and are now Chantry students through and through. They have been through a sharp learning process in the last month adapting to a new School and a new way of doing things. They have had some superb opportunities to develop their learning outside of the classroom with team building days, trips to Cragside and swimming lessons at the Leisure centre. I would like to thank the Year 5 Teaching Staff for their dedication and relentless drive in ensuring that Year 5 have settled well after their first month.
I regularly get asked by friends and family if I am enjoying the job? I can sincerely say that I am, due to the staff and students at Chantry who have made it such a smooth transition. As with everything in life, we still have things that can be developed further to become even better.
I once attended a conference where Baroness Sue Campbell of UK Sport used the phrase, “Better never stops”. That was her mantra as the Head of UK Sport in the lead up to the Olympics in 2012 where Great Britain and Northern Ireland had one of their best finishes ever in the medal table. This phrase resonates with me now and is one that I will use in my current role moving Chantry Middle School forward into a new era.
The coffee morning will take place on the morning of Friday 5th October from 9.30 am – 10.30 am for the parents of our new Y5 students. We would be grateful for any donations of cakes, to be brought on the day. A raffle will be run by Friends of Chantry.
This will also be a non school uniform day for the whole school in order to raise as much money as possible for the charity.
The King Edward VI High School would like to warmly invite parents/carers of prospective students to visit school and meet staff and students at their Open Evening on Thursday 11 October 2018 from 4.30 pm – 7.00 pm.
There will be a presentation at 5.00 pm in the Lower School Hall. This presentation will be repeated again at 6.00 pm. Please attend whichever presentation is most convenient for you.
Please note that parking is restricted on the school site, therefore it would be appreciated if you could car share or walk where possible to this event.
The portal for applying for places in Northumberland is now open and closes at midnight on Wednesday 31 October. Further information about the admissions process can be found by following the link below:
http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Education/Schools/Admissions.aspx
Music is an international language and Great Britain and Ireland is home to some of the most talented young instrumentalists and vocalists in the world. The RotaryGBI Young Musician competition encourages this talent by providing an opportunity for the thousands of young people who enter each year, to demonstrate their musical skills.
Starting with club level competitions, winners progress to district events followed by regional contests with the hope of progressing to the national final. There they compete to take home the prestigious title of RotaryGBI Young Musician of the year.
The organiser for the District Competition in District 1230 (West of Scotland) is William H Campbell who can be contacted at [email protected]
Entries in Solo Instrumental and/or Vocal categories are invited from clubs within District 1230. These should be submitted to Bill Campbell by Friday 9 February 2018.
What happened when the Bishop came to school?
Some of Chantry’s Year 7 pupils have had the opportunity to explore what it would be like to be a Bishop as part of the Pathways Mission. Bishop Chris Edmondson, along with Sam Corley, Vicar of Leeds Minster and Rob Jones a musician and church youth worker joined a year 7 class in one of their RE lessons to explore what it would be like to be a Bishop as part of the Pathways Mission. During this visit pupils were given the opportunity to ask questions about life as a Bishop, try on some of the traditional clothes and listen to some live music. The event was a huge success and the Year 7 pupils who took part said that they “enjoyed the experience” and “it was fun to wear the Mitre.”
We would like to say thank you to Bishop Chris, Sam and Rob for taking the time to join us at Chantry.
Chantry pupil Lewis Potts was given the opportunity to participate in a CISV Trip to Norway.
See his story below:
I was lucky enough to be selected for a trip to Norway for 4 weeks from June 29th to July 26th, flying from Newcastle to Amsterdam then Amsterdam to Bergen where I spent my time in a school with 42 other children from all over the world; China, USA, Sweden, Lebanon, Brazil, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany, Cost Rica to name just a few. We had activities which made us think about how we live our lives and what we think about other people and how they live, how to respect other people and our community. We sang a CISV song everyday which explains how we all come together and can be free. There are lines from the song that will always stay with me;
“Sow a seed and plant a tree, beneath those branches there may be all the nations gathered free” “Stamp the present with an act dare to make our dreams a fact”
The whole experience will stay with me for the rest of my life, I learnt many things about other countries and the comparison to ours, how different peoples lives can be depending on where they live. I made so many friends and hope to see them again.
All parents and carers are invited to a drop-in roadshow provided by Northumberland County Council SEND team. Please click here to view the letter and here for the flyer containing more information.
Thank you to all those parents who attended the PTA AGM & planning meeting on Tuesday 11th September.
Please click here for minutes of the meeting.
