Year 6 have loved the Healthy Lifestyle workshop this week. They looked and fun games they can play with each other to stay fit and healthy. Year 6 enjoyed revising the properties of 3D shapes by constructing them and creating posters to describe their properties. Year 6 enjoyed the 'Our World, Our Future' workshop this week. They have been thinking of changes they can make at home and at school to help protect the Earth. Year 6 had great fun in Football rounders during PE. Year 6 had an excellent time searching for St Cuthbert's beads during our sponsored walk! Year 6 ready for black and white day to support Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup Final on Sunday! Year 6 have had a great time in PE this week! Year 6 enjoyed learning about human uses of the Amazon Rainforest through trying to solve a murder case. There are definitely some future detectives out there! Year 6 had a great time enjoying reading for pleasure in our wonderful Library. As part of Mental Health Week, Year 6 took time to write a positive message to another member of the class. They exchanged them and there were lots of smiles, high-fives and hugs! Year 6 have been very helpful supporting each other by peer-marking their writing in English. Year 6 enjoyed discussing some controversial topics in English this week in preparation for writing a balanced argument. Year 6 have had a great first week back! They finished the week by making eco-friendly bird feeders and hung them around the grounds to help the birds in these freezing temperatures!

Reception enjoyed going for a walk around Kenton to look at places where 'people who help us work'.  We saw postal workers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, paramedics, shop keepers & council workers cutting down trees.  On Wednesday, we brought in our own teddies & pretended they had hurt themselves.  We took on the role of the doctor and treated our teddy patients to make them feel better. Reception had great fun in their first 'Rugby Minis' coaching session. They played 'Stuck in the Mud', 'What's the Time Mr Wolf', threw the rugby ball and learnt how to place it on a spot to score a try. We had fun celebrating Easter this week in Reception.  We made Easter cards, went on an egg hunt and acted out the Easter story.  Reception class enjoyed sharing the story of Palm Sunday with the rest of the school and their families during the assembly.  They bravely took it in turns to speak into the microphone and say their word so clearly. Fantastic Reception.  You are all superstars.  We loved our first Reception trip to visit Newcastle Castle.  We enjoyed travelling on the big coach and had enough energy to climb the spiral staircase to the roof of the castle.  We could see the whole of Newcastle including the Tyne Bridge and St James’ Park.   We visited the dungeons where some of us had a turn in the pillory and stocks.  After lunch, we made play dough food for a feast to give the King and Queen.  It was great fun. In Reception we have enjoyed working as a group to make our own 3D castle models and loved acting out stories in the castle that we built outside.  We can't wait to go on our school trip on Tuesday to see a real castle in Newcastle. Reception have enjoyed learning all about castles.  We have drawn and made our own castles.  We have painted large castle walls outside so that we can make our own role-play castle in the Butterfly Garden.  On Shrove Tuesday, we enjoyed learning about why we eat pancakes. We had pancake relay races outside before eating our own delicious, sticky, pancakes! We've enjoyed learning facts about elephants and other jungle animals. We have had fun creating our own jungle collage scene and riding on our safari jeep outside.  We spotted lots of jungle animals! Reception class have loved listening to lots of Elmer stories and talked about why Elmer is so special.  We painted, drew and collaged our own patchwork Elmer the Elephant.  They looked so colourful.  Reception enjoyed their visit to church where we talked about the different religious celebrations that take place there such as Weddings, Baptisms and Mass.  We looked at the features we see in churches and named some of them including the altar, lectern, pews, baptismal font & tabernacle. We liked coming to school dressed in red and yellow clothes to celebrate Chinese New Year with our Nursery friends. We danced to Chinese music, played instruments and joined in with a dragon parade.  We even made our own Chinese concertina dragons.   We have enjoyed learning the names of the planets and their position in the solar system. We held the 3D planets, ordered them and moved around the sun.  We have enjoyed telling stories of being astronauts and going into space on our rocket in the Butterfly Garden. We have enjoyed listening to stories about our new topic of ‘Space’.  We have been learning some new vocabulary about space including the words gravity and craters. We painted some very funny looking aliens and made playdough models of them. We have loved being back at school seeing our friends and playing with all the Reception toys.

Year 3 have been preparing for Easter by making some beautiful Easter cards. We wish you all a lovely Easter break! Year 3 have been investigating the key things that plants need to grow and be healthy. They planned an investigation to see whether light and dark affects the growth of cress seeds. Year 3 have been mixing colours to create complimentary and contrasting colour palettes. Year 3 enjoyed choosing new books in the library this week. Year 3 loved getting outside in the sunshine for their first Tag Rugby lesson. We have been practising how to hold, pass and catch the rugby ball. It's been a busy week in Year 3! We have planned and celebrated a 'Celebration of The Word' for our topic: Journeys and have been using atlases to find countries in the world that don't have clean water. Have a lovely half term! Year 3 have been enjoying reading and performing a range of poetry. Year 3 made prototypes of their party hats this week. They produced lots of interesting models! Year 3 enjoyed completing a product specification in Design Technology and refining their recorder skills. As part of their DT topic, Year 3 visited the children in Year 1 to ask them some questions about favourite colours and interests. Year 3 will be designing and making their Year 1 friends a party hat! Year 3 also enjoyed time in our fantastic library this week. Year 3 have been working really hard in Maths lessons this week. They have been practising times tables, completing arithmetic tasks and have looked at fractions.

Year 1 and 2 loved their Easter Craft activities this week! Reception enjoyed it when our parents came into school to make Easter crafts with us.  Our Easter hats looked fabulous.  The parents and children were very creative. Nursery children loved making Easter crafts with our families!

On Tuesday, some of the KS2 children attended a dance festival at Whitley bay Playhouse - they worked extremely hard on the piece with Miss Dembry and loved showcasing it to 11 other school groups! A huge well done and congratulations to our dancers for an amazing performance!

A wonderful article published yesterday, by Newcastle World, sharing highlights from our recent Ofsted inspection and wonderful elements of our school. "A Newcastle primary has received a glowing Ofsted report, which singled out the caring ethos of the school and the positive behaviour of the pupils’. St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary in Kenton was described as providing “an environment that is caring, supportive and highly inclusive” where pupils “thrive”, with the inspector noting: “The school is ambitious for pupils and ensures they are well prepared for each step in their education journey. To see the full article and images, follow the link below! Pupils thrive at 'caring' Newcastle school

Dear Parents and Carers,   Updated Information for Food Allergies We have recently reviewed and updated our ‘School Meals, Packed Lunch and Food Allergy’ policy at St Cuthbert’s. As part of this review and because we have children on roll at St Cuthbert’s who cannot eat nor come into contact with nuts, sesame, tree nuts or nut oils, we would like to clarify the following information with all of our parents and carers: No foods (cakes, biscuits, lollies etc) are allowed into school in EYFS, KS1 and KS2 that contain nuts, sesame, tree nuts or nut oils. These nuts and oils are present in most readily available cakes and biscuits. If you do wish to share something to celebrate your child’s birthday in school, please ensure that these are ‘Haribo’ sweets.  Packed lunches – the hall is a shared space with EYs, KS1 and KS2 therefore all foods, including packed lunches must not contain nuts, sesame, tree nuts or nut oils. To support our own policy, school will also share only ‘Haribo’ sweets at key celebratory events such as Christmas and Easter. We wanted to clarify this information with you as there have been a number of birthday items coming into school which contain nuts, sesame, tree nuts or nut oils. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause but we must prioritise the health and safety of our children first. Thank you for your understanding and support regarding this important information. Should you wish to discuss any of the information shared, please contact the school office to make an appointment. Best Wishes, Mrs Anne Bullerwell Executive Headteacher

Year 5 and 6 had a great time with their parents decorating crosses as part of our Year of Hope activities. A huge thank you to all the parents that were able to attend our Jubilee Year craft morning to decorate crosses as part of our Year of Hope activities in Year 1 and Year 2

Year 5 and 6 were pilgrims of Hope during our Sponsored walk on Holy Island this week! Thank you to everyone that has sponsored all of the classes that have completed their pilgrimage so far! Year 1 and 2 made the pilgrimage to our local church- St Cuthbert's Catholic Church. We loved looking around our church.

Date Time Event Monday 3rd March 8:30am School Re-opens after Half-Term Tuesday 4th March 9:00am Year 1 and Year 2 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Wednesday 5th March 9:00am Year 3 and Year 4 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Thursday 6th March 9:00am Year 5 and Year 6 Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Friday 7th March 9:00am Sibling Workshop of Hope parents/carers welcome Tuesday 11th March 3:20pm Parent/Carer Evening Wednesday 12th March 9:00am Y4 Maths Workshop Tuesday 18th March 3:20pm Parent/Carer Evening Wednesday 19th March All Day Y5/6 Trip to Holy Island Thursday 20th March 11:00am Whole School Mass in Church (parents/carers invited) Friday 21st March All Day St Cuthbert’s Book Day Tuesday 25th March All Day Reception trip to Newcastle Castle Wednesday 26th March 9:00am Y5 Maths Workshop   AM Y4 Stations of the Cross at the Cathedral Friday 4th April 9:00am Reception Palm Sunday Assembly (parents/carers invited) Monday 7th April 9:00am Early Years & KS1 Sibling Easter Craft Morning (parents/carers invited) Tuesday 8th April 9:00am KS1 Easter Craft Morning (parents/carers invited) Wednesday 9th April All Day Nursery & Reception Easter Celebration Day – Children to wear White or Yellow 9:00am Nursery & Reception Easter Craft Morning (parents/carers invited) Thursday 10th April All Day Easter Disco Friday 11th April 3:15pm School Closes for Easter Holidays

We are delighted to share our latest Ofsted Report below. 'Pupils thrive in an environment that is caring, supportive and highly inclusive. The school is ambitious for pupils and ensures that they are well prepared for each step in their education journey. This is reflected in their achievement in reading, writing and mathematics, along with a range of other subjects.' OFSTED, 2025 https://www.stcuthbertsk.org/ofsted

Dear Parents and Carers of St Cuthbert’s,   Please check the Dates for your Diary for more information re: the rest of this term so that you don’t miss out on anything.     Workshops of Hope Thank you to all of our families who were able to attend our Workshops of Hope. In addition to the children and families, all of the staff have completed a cross too and together we have produced some beautiful designs and personal images of what hope means to each of us as either individuals or as families. We will be combining these crosses into a whole school cross which will be completely unique to our school.   St Cuthbert’s Book Day Book Sale – Save the Date! As you know, on Friday 21 March, we have our St Cuthbert’s Book Day Book Sale. This is a family event where you can browse the books we have on sale with your child/children, choose a book(s) at your leisure and then get yourself some light refreshments and enjoy your new purchases alongside your child.   Please continue to send your book donations into school and do your utmost to attend the book sale on the day. This is a lovely opportunity for you to spend some time, if you’re able, with your child in school.   As always, children are invited to dress as characters from their favourite books or come into school in their pyjamas as if ready for a bedtime story. This can include face paints but please ensure these are washable and removed by return to school on Monday 24 March. Please do not feel under pressure to buy any expensive costumes for your child and please join us in dressing up if you fancy! More information to follow re: arrangements for the day.   Climate Change and Walk to School Week, week beginning: 31 March As part of our curriculum work on climate change and the impact this can have on the environment, we have been learning all about the little differences we can make in our everyday lives to contribute positively to the prevention of the negative impact of climate change.   One of the messages we will be sharing with the children is the impact of our ‘carbon footprint’ and how this can affect changes in climate. As part of raising awareness of this with the children, we will be hosting a ‘Walk to School Week’ and will be encouraging all of the children to walk to school during the week beginning 31 March.   We fully appreciate that some of our children live quite a distance away from school and families do need to use cars to get to St Cuthbert’s. We would politely ask those families to park a few streets away from the school gates so that their child has the opportunity to fully take part in the week.   We will be doing a ‘Travel to School’ survey each day of this week and every child who has managed to walk all or at least part way to school will be getting a certificate of achievement for that week for trying to reduce their own carbon footprint.   Please do your utmost to support your child’s participation in our Walk to School Week. Thank you.   New Leave of Absence Form Trial We are introducing a new Leave of Absence Form for parents and carers to complete should they request to take their child out of school during term time. We have included the codes school need to use on our school registers which provides the local authority with the reason why a child is not in school. We hope this clarifies school absence and attendance monitoring procedures further for our parents and carers. We would appreciate any feedback you can provide on the new form. Please share this with the school office. Thank you.   Easter Craft Sessions for Early Years and Key Stage 1 We will be hosting our Easter Craft Sessions in school for our parents and carers to attend alongside their child in Early Years and KS1. If you have more than one child in Early Years / KS1 (Years 1&2) we have added a sibling session that you can attend instead.   The sessions for parents/carers to join their children are as follows:   Monday 7 April 9.00am Sibling Session for N/R/Y1 and Y2 parents/carers welcome Tuesday 8 April 9.00am Year 1 and Year 2 parents/carers welcome Wednesday 9 April 9.00am Nursery and Reception parents/carers welcome   Punctuality Our school day begins at 8.45am prompt. We have a number of children who are consistently late and who are missing the first 10-15minutes, and in some cases even longer, of their learning in school. We have collated some seriously concerning data re: the number of lates and minutes of learning missed for some of our children. We will be reaching out to parents and carers directly over the next couple of weeks to see how school can best support them in helping their child to arrive in school on time to begin their day properly alongside their friends and peers.   If you wish to discuss any item in this letter or anything further, please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.   Best wishes,   Mrs Anne Bullerwell Executive Headteacher