British Science Day 2018

9th March 2018J Edwards

British Science Week takes place between the 9th and 18th of March 2018. The majority of the events at Chantry took place on Friday 9th of March. We had the entire day devoted to enrichment activities relating to the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). The aim of all of the activities was to:

  • Engage every student in a range of STEM enrichment activities
  • Raise the profile of STEM subjects at Chantry
  • Help the students see the fun side of STEM

Year 5 students went to the Life Science Centre in Newcastle to see the current exhibition and take part in a Fossils or Rubbish Rockets workshop.

Year 6 students took part in a carousel of activities that included:

  • Technology Tom
  • Creepy Crawlies Roadshow
  • Dove Marine Lab
  • Printing using the heat press
  • Challenging perceptions about STEM careers
  • Cockle Park Farm workshop

Year 7 students went to Newcastle University to take part in STEM day. All students had a tour of the campus and took part in some workshops linked to Science & Engineering.

Year 8 students took part in a carousel of activities that were run by STEM Ambassadors, KEVI students & Chantry staff:

  • STEM Ambassador Tina Scrafton form PDSA
  • Fingerprinting workshop
  • Magnets and Electromagnets workshop
  • Fibre analysis using optical microscopes with KEVI Science Ambassadors
  • Testing leaves for starch workshop

Many thanks to all of the parents and visitors that supported the event.

School Closed Friday 2 March

1st March 2018Mrs K Shutler

Chantry Middle School will be closed again tomorrow, Friday 2 March due to the ongoing poor weather conditions.  Please assume that we will be open as usual on Monday 5 March.  Apologies for the further disruption

100 Years of Women Voting

8th February 2018Mrs K Shutler
Tuesday 6th February 2018 marked 100 years since women over 30 were given the vote in Britain. To celebrate this historic anniversary some of our KS3 children worked with Penni Blythe on Friday and we were lucky enough to also welcome Tyne Tees Television into school to record this too.

 They talked about the Bill in Parliament that allowed women over 30 to vote as a result of centuries of campaigning, militant action and imprisonment by suffragettes and suffragists. Emily Davison, who lived in Longhorsley, was topic of conversation due to her work as a suffragette. As part of their work in Citizenship, the children already knew that she is buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s in Morpeth but found out from Penni that there is going to be a memorial statue built in Carlisle Park, Morpeth.
 
As part of their discussions, the children also talked about a range of women that they find inspirational. Some women were from their own families, some more famous and some other ladies were from the North East. Georgia H said “Grace Darling
 inspire me, and she was from the North East like Emily Davison”.
 
A huge thank you to Penni for her work with the KS3 children and to Julia, from ITV Tyne Tees, who allowed Chantry Middle School to be part of their celebrations to mark 100 years since women got the vote.
 
Below are what some of the children had to say about their experiences.
 
Kitty said “When Penni came in to work with us she told us about the jewellery and rosettes the suffragettes used to make. We wore purple ribbon to represent the things that they made.”
 
Aaron said “When women got the vote 100 years ago they had to be 30 and own a house to be able to vote. The suffragettes took huge sacrifices but were so determined to stand for what they believed”
 
Naomi said “I enjoyed the part where we separated and anyone under a five foot couldn’t vote. It got us thinking about how this might have felt for women over 100 years ago when they were not allowed to vote because of their gender.”
 
Jake said “I really enjoyed the experience and finding out that Emily lived in Longhorsley!”
 
Georgia said “I enjoyed meeting Penni, she was really interesting to talk to. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole morning and I am excited to see us on ITV News”
 
Alice Hepton said “I enjoyed working with Penni and finding out about what she does and how she travels the world finding out about how getting the vote has changed womens’ lives. If it wasn’t for this experience, I wouldn’t know all about Emily Davison being buried in Morpeth and that Tuesday 6th February is the 100 year anniversary since some women, who were 30 and owned a property, were able to vote. I was also very excited about bring on ITV news.”
 
Alice Hudson said “I really enjoyed the experience of working with Penni and Tyne Tees Television. Penni came dressed as a suffragette knowing many facts about them that I had never heard before. We set up a display which included a banner that said “Deeds not words”. Once Julia from Tyne Tees had filmed her footage she let us have a look more closely at her awesome camera and she explained how the videos she had taken would then become a 3 minute feature on ITV news on Tuesday 6th February (100th anniversary of women voting)!”

Safer Internet Day 2018

5th February 2018J Edwards

Safer Internet Day gets hundreds of organisations involved to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.

The day offers the opportunity to highlight positive uses of technology and to explore the role we all play in helping to create a better and safer online community.

It calls upon young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policy makers, and wider, to join together in helping to create a better internet. Ultimately, a better internet is up to us!

At Chantry we take always Internet Safety seriously throughout the year. We have had internet safety assemblies to contribute towards the national event which takes place on 6th February.

Book Fair 2018

5th February 2018Mrs K Shutler

Thanks to your tremendous generosity and support, our week long annual Book Fair has netted a grand total of £2,608 and we are more than delighted with the result!

At break times, the library was so full it wasn’t possible to take pictures and we had to establish a queuing system!

Our children’s enthusiasm and good humour – despite the crush – have been incomparable.

What more can we say except, “THANK YOU!”

 

More than 90 books were ordered – an all-time record – and a more e-vouchers were purchased than ever before!

These sales have raised a magnificent £1,565 in commission, which will be spent on books and resources to stimulate literacy and a love of reading throughout school.

It was a real pleasure to meet those of you who were able to visit the Fair after school!

We do hope that you enjoyed the opportunity of discussing the titles on sale and making your selection in a relaxed atmosphere.

Thank you very much for coming!

The fabric book bags, cubic rubbers and wand pens will be on sale every break time until supplies run out!

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

  • Mrs Danks for stapling 520 letters to Book Fair fliers in record time and assisting with sales all week
  • Mrs Shepherd, who gave up her breaks to do ’traffic duty’
  • Sophie and Eva in Y6 and Amy in Y8 for help in setting up and closing down the Fair
  • Mr Arries and Mr Gray for the ‘heavy stuff’!

This wouldn’t have been possible without you!

Skiing 2018

18th January 2018Mrs K Shutler

A copy of the presentation from last night’s meeting can be found here.

There is also a clothing list and ski exercises.​

Book Fair 2018

15th January 2018Mrs K Shutler

Just a reminder that our annual Book Fair will be held in the school library from Monday, January 22 to Friday, January 26.

On Tuesday 23, the Fair will stay open until 4:15pm to enable those of you who collect your children from school to view the books, if you’d like to.

It would be lovely to see you!

All children will have the opportunity of visiting the Fair where they can purchase from an exciting range of books and items of stationery.

We strongly recommend a visit to https://shop.scholastic.co.uk for a flavour of the books that will be on offer.

From here you can also purchase discount vouchers which give your child 20% more book buying power at the Fair.

The free helpline is 0800 212281

60% of the total Fair takings comes back to school to be spent directly on our children in various different ways, so it’s worth supporting.

Last year we took an astounding £2,910!  With your help, we might break the £3,000 barrier!!