I hope that you had a good weekend and had the opportunity to read the March newsletter which was emailed to you on Friday

On Saturday I had the great pleasure of attending the Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial at South East Northumberland Law Courts in Bedlington. This is the fourth year that we have competed in the local heat and were winners in 2013 & 2014. We competed against teams from Dukes Middle, Seaton Sluice Middle, Whitley Bay High & Cramlington Learning Village.

Over 95% of criminal cases (more than a million a year) are dealt with by magistrates, yet many people know very little about what they do. This competition that has been running annually since 1994, introduces the legal system to young people in an innovative and exciting way. In the roles of lawyers, witnesses, magistrates and court staff, students prosecute and defend specially written criminal cases. This year it was the trial of Pat Taylor, accused of theft.

Our team compromising of Josh Wilson, Adam Williams, Helena Marley, Jessica Hawkins, Rosie Bowden, Olivia Carrick, Lauren Hodgson, Jack Simm, John McLean, Beth Lightley, Kate O Halloran, Olivia Henery, Pascale Brennan and Fay Bloodworth, were amazing. I was astounded by their knowledge and understanding of the legal system, their confidence in public speaking, their team work, their ability to develop an argument and their analytical skills. They did very well in both rounds where they took turns in defending and prosecuting. Whitley Bay High were the eventual winners and go through to the next round – well done and good luck to them!

A massive thank you to Mrs Michie and Mr Warner, who have worked with the children, throughout the process. I would also like to thank Kate and Carolyn, two local magistrates who also helped us to prepare the case. My last thank you is to the parents and carers who turned up on Saturday morning. I know that the children really appreciated this and showing to you their hard work.

Thank you to all the parents who supported World Book Day on Thursday. I know how stressful this can be but the children really enjoyed coming into school, dressed up as their favourite characters. Mr Shields and Mr Storey said it was very difficult to choose the winners in each year group. See April’s newsletter for more information and pictures.

Thursday was an extremely busy day in school as we also played host to the Show Racism the Red Card workshops in Year 5. This educational charity was established in 1996 and uses the high profile status of football to help tackle racism in society. Thank you to Richard Offiong, Trevor Benjamin and Justine King who delivered the workshops. One student commented to me that the day was fantastic and gave him the opportunity to ask lots of questions that he was unsure about, without worrying. The presenters reinforced that using racist language within Chantry Middle School and in society is not acceptable and will be challenged. Thankfully the use of racist language is very rare at Chantry and hopefully will be eradicated after these important workshops.

I do hope that you have a good week

With best wishes

Steven Johnson