Year 5 and 6 thoroughly enjoyed chess after school club this half term. They joined the club with a range of skill, knowledge and experience of the game and all left confident after practising their skills and challenging classmates and teachers.

Year 6 enjoyed their final music lesson with Mr Miller where they combined singing and playing the ukulele. Year 6 have been working so hard with their leavers' assembly. The rehearsal this morning was just brilliant ahead of them going their separate ways to transition days next week. Well done, Year 6! In CHEFF this week, Year 6 worked in pairs to make a curry dish - it looked and smelled amazing! They're thoroughly enjoying this DT topic. Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed their first CHEFF session as part of Design and Technology. They made a delicious-smelling stir fry!

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We have loved using the scales to weigh the sea creatures to find out which is the heaviest and which is the lightest. In RE, we have been learning about the creation story. We made our own book retelling the story of how God created the world in seven days. Reception were very excited when a butterfly hatched out of it's cocoon into the butterfly net. We released the butterfly and it flew away to find some yummy nectar to eat. This week we have also been sorting minibeasts into two categories such as legs/no legs and wings/no wings. Great sorting Reception. Reception have been learning new facts about minibeasts and their habitats. We identified the minibeasts and talked about where it's home is. We put spots on a ladybirds back using counters to practice our doubling of numbers in Maths. Reception enjoyed making minibeast models using clay. We included lots of features of a minibeasts such as the legs and antennae. We can't wait to paint them when they are dry. Reception enjoy taking part in their balance bike lessons on a Monday afternoon with Andy. They play balancing games before riding on the balance bikes Reception loved going to the Rising Sun Country Park with our Nursery friends. We enjoyed travelling on the big coach and had fun exploring in the woods looking for minibeasts. We found plant bugs, cucumber spiders, aphids, water lice, woodlice , ladybirds, butterflies and beetles. All of that exploring had made us very hungry and we were very excited to eat our packed lunches before we went back to school. Reception have enjoyed playing lots of Maths games this week. We played the racetrack game where we had to roll the dice and see who was the first to get to number 20 and we sorted numbers into odd and even sets. We know that the number is even if all the counting objects have a friend. We loved walking around Kenton to look for people who help others as their job. We saw a postman, bus drivers, taxi drivers, shop workers and council workers. On Wednesday we came to school dressed up ready to work. Some of us were firefighters, doctors, nurses, bin men, vets, teachers, builders, police officers and pharmacists. We looked fantastic and were very helpful to our friends. Reception class have loved having different people to visit the class whose job is to help others. We liked climbing on the huge fire engine, enjoyed trying on the police officer's uniform and had fun playing with our teddies when the student doctors came in for our 'Teddy Bears' Hospital' workshop. Reception have loved being back at school playing in the sunshine with our friends. We have been learning about the Muslim faith and have started to listen to stories about our topic of 'People Who Help Us'.

This week, Year 1 learned all about the rich history of the Punch and Judy puppet show! We learned that Victorian children enjoyed watching it just as much as we do. We planned and made some fantastic moving puppets based on the characters. It was so much fun playing with them afterwards! This week, Year 1 explored the difference between wants and needs and thought about what everyone needs to live happy, healthy lives. We also created paper dolls decorated with flags from around the world to remind us that everyone is our neighbour because we are all part of one global family! Year 1 have been scientist this week, testing their prediction about which material would stop the ice from melting most effectively. After we tested the different materials, we found out that the kitchen roll was the most effective at stopping the ice from melting, so we could use that to wrap our lunch in if we were going for a picnic on a hot day! Year 1 have made beautiful beach pictures using real sand and stones to create a background, a middle ground and a foreground. We loved appraising each other's pictures and discussing the things we liked about them! Year 1 have been investigating shells this week. We learned about molluscs and why they need a shell to protect them. We used our senses to look, feel and even listen to some of the shells then we sketched them very carefully! Year 1 have been exploring beach landscapes inspired by a range of artists. They discovered how artists use the background, middle ground and foreground to create realistic and eye-catching scenes. Using folding and cutting techniques we made our own layered landscapes! Year 1 had a fantastic time on our lighthouse trip. It was so exciting to climb all the way to the top of the lighthouse and investigate the rockpools to find lots of different creatures! We loved dressing up as old-fashioned lighthouse keepers and we even had time to create some fabulous sand art. It was such a brilliant experience and the grown-ups we met were very impressed with our polite behaviour and excellent knowledge about the coast Year 1 loved the start of our topic about local hero, Grace Darling! We made some amazing props so that we could tell the story then we acted it out with our friends. Year 1 loved the start of our topic about local hero, Grace Darling! We made some amazing props so that we could tell the story then we acted it out with our friends.

Nursery have been exploring everything under the sea. We decided to make our own sea life collage: we decorated some fabulous fish and stunning seahorses. We have also explored lots of sea themed tuff trays. Nursery were so surprised when we discovered our very own beach and ice cream van in the Role Play Room. We had fun relaxing on the beach, investigating rock pools and enjoying delicious ice creams. Today Nursery celebrated our ‘Full Cube Jar’. We took a vote and decided to have a ‘Fun and Games Day’. We came to school dressed in our sports clothes and Trainers ready for our fun filled day. We played lots of team games on the big field and enjoyed dancing in the classroom with balloons and bubbles. After all this fun we enjoyed a delicious ice lolly. Nursery have loved listening to the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. It was very exciting when we received a special delivery from ‘Bea the Butterfly’ asking us to look after her babies, we were all surprised to find little, tiny caterpillars in the box. We have also had lots of fun making our own caterpillars using pegs and pom poms. Nursery had a fantastic trip to 'The Rising Sun Country Park'. We were very excited getting on the big coach with our Reception friends. We explored the gardens using nets and magnifying glasses looking for minibeasts. We were so hungry after exploring we all sat together and enjoyed our packed lunches. After are busy adventure it was hard to stay awake on the coach back to school. In Nursery we had an exciting time during our firefighter training adventure! We climbed a ladder, tackled the ring of fire, put out a blaze, and even saved a cat from a tree. We graduated on Tuesday and are now officially trained junior firefighters! On Wednesday, we had lots of fun dressing up as the people who help us in our community.

Year 4 worked hard to complete their final piece in Art this week. We looked at reflection, movement and shadows in our work. We also began creating the circuits to make our portable lamps in DT! Year 4's chopping and cutting skills are getting sharper with each recipe we cook! We finished our prep in record time this week when making our Sweet and Sour recipe with CHEFF. Year 4 had a great time exploring our Local Area, on our Heritage trail this week. We went to Kenton Bunker, an important part of the War effort during WW2, and shared the facts we found out as part of our Local history topic. Year 4 have loved collecting data from our friends in Maths this week. We used tally charts to collect raw data then created bar charts to present our data. Year 4 and are loving our cooking sessions with CHEFF this half term! We also had a great time finding out about Energy and the jobs we could have in this sector, as part of our Climate Week in school Year 4 had a great time celebrating those who made their First Holy Communion last weekend and those that helped prepare us for this journey! We danced, had party lunch and of course, cake! Thankfully, we still had some energy left for a fabulous Assembly for our parents! Happy Half Term! Year 4 had a great time sorting fact from opinion, ready for our big class debate! Year 4 LOVED their first tennis session this week! They were so excited to learn new skills such as ball control on the floor and in the air! They can't wait to learn more! Year 4 have had a great start to the summer term! We have been learning how to use a new coding system which we will be using in our computing lessons AND we got a surprise look at a fire engine where the firefighters showed us the equipment they use!'

Year 3 had a wonderful trip to the Great North Museum! Year 3 have had a great time this week cutting and sorting different types of rocks into their 3 different categories. We couldn't believe how many there were! Year 3 have worked really hard this week to prepare for their class assembly and have been looking at pictograms in Maths as part of our statistics topic. Year 3 loved Pe with Miss Hunter this week! On Tuesday Year 3 went on a local heritage walk around Kenton. We walked to the site where Kenton Quarry used to be and Kitty's Drift, a railway tunnel built around 1770 to transport coal underground from Kenton Colliery. Year 3 had a fun session with Miss Hunter playing lots of games and skills practice in preparation for striking and fielding games.

We created art based on the Piton Mountains in St. Lucia in the style of influential artist Yayoi Kusama. We used watercolours, oil pastels and acrylic paints, practising a range of brush and painting techniques Year 2 have done some art work about Kenton's history of coalmining inspired by local artist, Sarah Hill. Here are some pictures of Year 2 enjoying sports day! Year 2 having fun in phonics playing games to remember how to spell homophones. Year 2 had a wonderful eco-focused artist workshop at the Baltic, where we created art inspired by Eric Carle. We also saw the site of our topic about the Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead Here's the Photostory that was shared in Year 2's class assembly. As part of our Great Fire art unit, we have been experimenting with drawing fire using different art materials. We focussed on shape and movement Year 2 led an archaeological excavation this week. We looked at the historic land use and then dug in our trench. We found loads of pottery, building materials, coins, a vice and a marble!

Y5 rounded off our week with a transition session in Y6 and our summer cube jar activity afternoon. It was a lovely day to play outside. Y5 thoroughly enjoyed our Ice pop Friday. We chose our favourite colour from staff. Whilst eating them, we sat and chatted in the sunshine. A perfect Friday! Year 5 had an amazing visit to Beamish to exhibit our amazing crane in the annual STEAM competition. It managed to lift 300g! So, proud! We completed many workshops and visited the sights. Afterwards, we slept over in school! We threw in some pizza making, smores, steal the flag, the World Cup and more. What an amazing 24 hours! Thank you to Beamish, Dr Daryl our engineer and, course, the amazing staff who gave their time to make this possible. Our Y5 friends led our celebration of the word, this week. They planned and delivered a beautiful service. They even included a liturgical dance that others were welcome to join in with. Year 5 had a musical afternoon with Mr Millner and Madam Dryden! We enjoyed learning new chords on our Ukulele and loved the backing track to our PE phrases session in French! Dr Daryl Hickey, engineer, came to visit Y5. We discussed his engineering role in renewable energy. After this, he took questions from the children and discussed our crane designs. The visit made us think more about our design and how to balance the crane itself. This week, Year 5 (and some Year 6 children) enjoyed reading, preparing and performing extracts of poetry from 'The Final Year'. They also had a go at writing and performing their own poems. Year 5 enjoyed there 'Friendship and Teamwork' assembly. The message was clear. Our liturgical dance and song really embraced this idea - 'We all have a friend in Jesus'.

St Cuthbert's were delighted to receive a fantastic donation from Tesco in support of our school fair! A group of our pupils had the exciting opportunity to collect the items, and they were thrilled to see the generous contribution. We're incredibly grateful to Tesco for their kindness and support, which will help make our school fair a wonderful event for everyone!