Year 6 wrote and performed Poems based on The Undefeated, as part of Black History studies. Year 6 loved creating their own poses as part of dance this week! They have been working hard to practise their new routines. Year 6 had a brilliant first week back and enjoyed programming code for the Microbit using their iPads. They are looking forward to the topic where they will make their own reaction games. Year 6 made a fabulous effort with their spooky costumes this week. They had a great time at the disco! Year 6 enjoyed a trip to Safetyworks earlier this week where they took part in workshops about peer pressure, e-safety, anti-social behaviour, dog safety and water safety. Year 6 worked well with their peers to complete some tricky balances in gymnastics this week. Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed their first gymnastics lesson this week and all learned something new in their first Mandarin lesson! Year 6 have had a fantastic first week back at school. They've worked hard and they're ready for the year ahead!

Year 4 investigated how sound travels this week. We used drums, tuning forks and metal hangers to explore different ways we can see sound travelling. Year 4 loved Latin this week. We read the story of Pandora in Latin and retold some of this to our partners! We are also making good progress learning Crocodile Rock on ukuleles! Year 4 had a wonderful start to our history topic, with an interactive workshop all about Ancient Greek life! Year 4 were so excited on Monday to start their Gymnastic sessions for this half term. They had a wonderful time trying new poses and holds. Year 4 loved dressing up for their spooky disco. We also had a wonderful end to this half term, celebrating our full cube jar afternoon in our comfy clothes watching a film! Well done on a wonderful start to Year 4! Year 4 had a great time sharing stories in our library! We looked at how to navigate our way around the library, what codes mean and genres we have. We each tried a book recommended by a friend too! Year 4 put our place value and addition knowledge to the test this week! We loved using our interactive counters to help us with addition, adding into the thousands! Year 4 loved Latin and dance this week! Year 4 have loved learning about Alice in Wonderland this week and had a great time creating our own tunes in music! Year 4 loved learning Latin and Dance this week! Year 4 have loved being back together! We've had such a busy week, it's been raining place value counters in Maths and we've become particle of solids, liquids and gases.

This week in Nursery we completed the dragon’s quest to rescue the princess. During this quest we had to balance on the stepping stones, crawl through the thorny forest, tip toe past the dragon and rescue the princess. On Friday we enjoyed a ‘ Magical Kingdom Day’. We danced in the hall, played party games, made crowns and enjoyed a royal feast. We have had a magical adventure in Nursery this week. Our journey began when we received a special letter from King Rolo. He sent us a quest to find the correct key to his treasure chest and once our quest was complete, we could keep what was inside. We also enjoyed acting out fairy tales in our magical kingdom. Nursery have been learning all about Remembrance Day. We found out that people wear red poppies to remind them of the brave soldiers who fought in the war. We talked about how the purple poppy is worn to remember all the animals who were in the war. We made some giant poppies and created our own poppy to take home. We celebrated the soldiers and animals in our liturgy and observed the two minute silence at 11 o'clock. We have had a colourful and explosive week in Nursery talking about the fireworks we’ve seen and recreating them. We flicked paint onto large paper to create a firework filled night sky. We Made a fantastic rocket in the garden which blasted off into the sky and explored lots of firework themed tuff trays. We have had a spooky scary week celebrating Halloween in Nursery. We enjoyed dressing, dancing & playing games in the big hall. We played in the spooky witches’ house & made lots of magical potions. We loved making monster biscuits to enjoy when watched ‘Room on the Broom Nursery have loved investigating the season of Autumn. We created our own sticky collage of autumn objects and painted large logs with autumn-coloured paints. We enjoyed making our very own Spiky hedgehogs using clay and sticks. Nursery have been learning about ourselves this week. We painted, chalked, and drew images of ourselves. We talked about how our body reacts to big feelings e.g. happy and sad. We enjoyed making silly faces with fruit and vegetables. Nursery have been ‘Happy and you know it’ this week exploring all things ‘Nursery Rhymes’. We have been ‘Five little monkeys jumping on the bed’-Don’t tell Mrs Bullerwell! We have loved playing musical instruments and singing along to different rhymes and have played with numerous nursery rhyme tuff trays . Nursery have enjoyed exploring their senses in the new ‘Sensory Room’. We loved playing in the ball pool, chilling out in the den surrounded by twinkling lights. We have also been learning how to balance on various beams and objects. We have also shared lots of magical stories in our amazing new Early Years Library. We have had great fun in our first week of Nursery. We have explored the Rainbow Garden and had lots of fun playing with the new toys and making new friends.

5 had a choice of golden time or a PE activity. Democracy ruled, PE was voted for and we played two games. The teamwork and determination was super. We have unearthed some potential netballers, volleyballers and basketballers of the future.  Wow, what a busy week in Year 5! We've had a visit from the school nurse, used wax resistant techniques in Art and celebrated the end of our RE topic, in the presence of God. Y5 had a fantastic trip to Newcastle Racecourse for a BHA Racing to School Maths Day. Toby and Carrie were incredible and taught us about the racing industry, we got to watch the horses' parade and race and we even met legendary presenter Derek Thompson. What a great day! Year 5 enjoyed dressing up for our 'Spooky Disco'! There were some amazing costumes! We had great fun in the disco and danced our socks off! Y5 had a visit from the police this week. We talked about road safety, the law and what we can do to keep ourselves safe - especially wearing a helmet on a bike or scooter.  Year 5 enjoyed a prayerful 'celebration of the word', this week. We followed the Lectio Divina format for the first time. We had several readers, shared our thoughts, and listened to a hymn whilst in the presence of God. It was a spiritual and calming experience.  Y5 enjoyed a vector drawing computing session using our iPads. We had great fun experimenting with shape, colour, outline and more. Our first task was to create a penguin and a parrot adopting specified techniques. After that, we had freedom to use these techniques to create our ultimate colourful parrots! Great fun! Year 5 enjoyed Tai Chi with Professor Li. We had a great time learning some of the moves that linked to animals. Ni Hao! This week, our new friend Sylvia taught us Mandarin! It was so exciting. We learnt a lot of new words and phrases. We can't wait for next week!  Year 5 have settled back into school life, well. The children are trying hard and have embraced their new curriculum. We have been into space in science and the Equator in geography; followed Alice and the White Rabbit in English; began place value up to and beyond one million and discussed our gifts and talents in RHE. Phew! Bring on next week!

Reception class enjoyed it when some of our families came into school to read us some stories. We loved listening to the story of the Gruffalo that Mrs Marley read to us in the library and had fun guessing which creature was trying to trick the mouse next. We couldn't believe how clever the mouse was. Reception have loved listening to the story of 'Funnybones' and had fun acting it out in the Butterfly Garden.  We couldn't believe it when we saw a real skeleton in school.  Reception class enjoy using the ipads to go on the Reading Eggs programme at school. They love the fact that they can play on the same games at home too! Reception class loved talking about fireworks they had seen and enjoyed creating their own firework pictures.  They thought of lots of words to describe the fireworks. Reception had great fun at our Halloween disco where we played party games and danced to the music.  We loved playing in the classroom with gloop, pumpkins and green spaghetti! We liked seeing our Buddies dressed up too when we rehearsed our assembly together.  Reception enjoyed walking to Kenton Library where we had a story read to us by the librarian. We looked at some books and chose some to bring back to school.  We loved acting out the story of ‘Farmer Duck’. We were one of the characters from the story and wore the masks. Some of us were the farmer, duck or an animal.  We liked it at the end of the story when the animals chased the lazy farmer out of the farmhouse. Reception are enjoying learning the Phase 2 letter sounds.  We went on a hunt outside to find the magnetic letters that had been hidden, state the sound and put them in the correct letter hoop.   Great work Reception. Reception have enjoyed building big models outside, cooking yummy food in our mud kitchen and making models of ourselves with the playdough.  Our Reception class have loved making new friends, learning new songs, listening to lots of stories and exploring all of the Reception toys.  We have had a great few days and can't wait for next week.

Year 1 have been inspired by Andy Goldsworthy, an English sculptor who uses natural resources to create beautiful pieces of temporary art. We made ice baubles using berries and fir leaves and decorated the bushes outside! Year 1 have been following the progress of Antarctic explorer Colin O'Brady and comparing his journey with the journey of Captain Scott, over 100 years ago. We found out that the clothes, food and transport the explorers used were all very different in 1912! Year 1 have been fantastic scientists this week, finding out about different materials. We conducted an experiment to find out which materials were waterproof so that we could help our Polar explorer friend build a waterproof shelter! Year 1 have been finding out all about the amazing adventures of Captain Scott as he journeyed to the Antarctic! We acted out the events of his expedition and sequenced the sentences to explain what happened to him and his crew mates. Year 1 loved dressing up for the Spooky Disco! We designed our own spooky creatures and thought about how to describe them. It was spook-tacular! Year 1 have been thinking about what it means to belong. We found out all about the signs and symbols of a baptism and planned our own Celebration of the Word in the Chapel!  Year 1 have been amazing scientists, classifying animals into groups depending on which features they have in common. We learned that some animals can be sorted into mammals, reptiles or amphibians and we dressed up so we could remember the features of each group! Year 1 have been amazing designers this week! We investigated different books with moving parts and created a prototype of a slider so that we could create our own page for a book. We planned, made and evaluated sliders which show Alice falling down the rabbit hole! We were very proud of our fantastic work.  This week, Year 1 have been finding out about our bodies. We labelled a picture of a body with as many words as we could think of, then used our senses to find out about the environment around us! Year 1 have been finding out about lots of big numbers this week! We completed our own number square jigsaws, created sets of 10 so that we could count lots of objects and even drew a picture of 100 things! Year 1 have had a fantastic first week at school! We have loved reading the story of 'Alice in Wonderland' and making lots of props to help us to role play the story.

Year 3 loved their Stone Age Day this week! We collected created amulets, practised our hunting skills and investigated what a hunter gatherer may have eaten! Year 3 had a busy start to the week. They were learning new holds in Gymnastics and enjoyed a well earned cube jar afternoon! Well done Year 3! Year 3 began reading basic formal notation this week and are learning to play recorder this half term. Year 3 looked fantastic in their Halloween outfits this week! A spook-tacular time was had with Year 4 at their Spooky disco with lots of games and lots of dancing. Year 3 have had a busy week! We've collected natural resources to create different textures in art and looked at historic maps of our local area, comparing then and now! Year 3 enjoyed an afternoon re-imagining rainforest animals and exploring bold colours. We have begun to explore the texture of these rainforest items and how we can show this in our drawings. In music this week we used stick notation to compose and improvise our own melodies. We used stick notation to show beats and pitch of our music. Year 3 have had a busy week! We loved dressing up to watch Alice in Wonderland, playing 'guess who' with our spellings and finding different ways to partition numbers! Year 3 loved their time sharing stories in the library! Well done to all the children in Year 3 for a fantastic start to the year! They have been working very hard and enjoying time outside with their friends.

Year 2 loved their Christmas Dance session this week. What a treat! Year 2 have been learning to write instructions, to do this we have been following a range of different instruction types - including making a jam sandwich! Year 2 have been investigating how different materials change shape in Science this week. Year 2 had a blast in our Spooky Disco! As part of our art topic on North American Indigenous art, Year 2 completed a study in Earth tones using watercolours Step into the world of Oliver Twist…Year 2 all took part in the role play from the scene in the workhouse, where poor children lived and worked in difficult conditions. Oliver and friends ate the disgusting ‘gruel’ then Oliver approached Mr Brumble and said” Please, sir I want some more”!  Sorting out! In Science Year 2 have been learning about recycling and disposing     all the different types of rubbish into the correct bins to help out our planet. Year 2 had a blast on our Alice in Wonderland celebration day! Year 2 have loved catching up with their friends this week!

Date Time Event Thursday 6 th  November 9:00am Eco Warriors trip to Durham University 11:00am Y5 Mass in Church Wednesday 12 th  November 3:20pm Parent/Carer Evening Thursday 13 th  November 11:00am Y6 Mass in Church Friday 14 th  November 9:00am Y5 Trip to Newcastle Racecourse Monday 17 th  November All Day Odd Sock Day (Anti Bullying Week) Wednesday 19th November 3:20pm Parent/Carer Evening Thursday 20 th  November 11:00am Y3 Mass in Church Friday 21 st  November All Day Own clothes day – Bring a Tombola/Raffle Prize Tuesday 25 th  November All Day Y3 Stone Age Day in school Wednesday 26 th  November 8:50am Reception Reading Cafe Thursday 27th November 11:00am Y4 Mass in Church Wednesday 3 rd  December 10:00am Y5 Carol Service at St Mary’s Cathedral Friday 5 th  December 3:15pm Christmas Fair Tuesday 9 th  December 9:00am Reception Christmas Sing Song - Parents/Carers invited Wednesday 10 th  December 9:00am Nursery Christmas Sing Song- Parents/Carers invited 12:00pm Christmas Lunch Thursday 11 th  December 11:00am Y6 Carol singing at the Toby Carvery 2:15pm KS1 Nativity - Parents/Carers invited Friday 12 th  December 9:00am KS1 Nativity - Parents/Carers invited Monday 15 th  December 2:00pm KS2 Carols by Candlelight - Parents/Carers invited Tuesday 16 th  December 2:00pm KS2 Carols by Candlelight - Parents/Carers invited Wednesday 17 th  December All Day Whole School – Christmas Party Day/Disco Friday 19 th  December 3:15pm School Closes for Christmas Holidays (No After School Club)

Some of our pupils from Year 5 and 6 visited Kenton Hall Care Home this week, to spend some time with the residents and complete some spooky crafts. It was a wonderful experience for everyone involved and we are really excited to continue to make links between school and the care home.

Our Eco-Warriors went to the Youth Climate Summit at Durham University where they took part in a range of workshops and shared ideas with other schools. Our Eco warriors had a great start to the year with a trip to Scotswood gardens to gain ideas for our own forest school!

We are delighted to share some exciting news about our school. St Cuthbert’s has been awarded the Champion Heritage School Award  by Historic England. This is a national honour recognising schools that celebrate and promote their local area’s heritage. We are especially proud because we are the first school in Tyne & Wear  to receive this award. Currently, only eight schools nationwide hold this accolade, and with this second national intake, that number will rise to just sixteen. What a fantastic achievement!