Today, Year 3, visited Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside as part of their 'Building Bridges' topic. We've been finding out about the bridges and even viewed the bridges from the top of the Baltic.

Yesterday we sent home our latest newsletter. Perhaps you might like to download a copy.

Autumn 2nd half newsletter.pdf

Carr Hill works very closely with our 'Link Schools' on a range of projects. Bede Primary have gained 'Forest School' status and are busy planting hundreds of trees around their school, creating fantastic, natural outdoor learning environments including a fire pit for toasting those marshmallows.

They invited us to join the Mayor of Gateshead and themselves at the tree planting ceremony and presented us with our own trees to plant here at Carr Hill.

As mentioned on Tuesday evening, the school will be open as normal tomorrow. We look forward to seeing you bright and early in the morning!

Mr Harris

Wow, Thursday was amazing! We took our super Year 3 and 4 children in Mrs Richardson's class to see the Totem Poles at Stonehaugh in Northumberland! We had great weather, got a little muddy, cooked our bread and drew some wonderful pictures of the Totem Poles!

The Wonderful Totem Poles! Guess how many animals we saw?

Walking through the woods looking for the best place to make our settlement!

Having our lunch in our carefully designed shelters! Yum!

What was your favourite part of the day?

Training Day
Firstly, a reminder that school will be closed on Friday 25th Novemeber for staff training purposes.

School Closure
As you will be aware from my previous letters and the media, the combined teacher, support staff and school leadership trade unions will be taking industrial action on Wednesday 30th Novemeber.

The action ( a one day strike) will result in class or whole school closures across the country.

The decision to close the school or send pupils home is never taken lightly, but in this instance, where the majority of staff have elected to take lawful industrial action, there is no choice but to close the school.

We are aware that school school closures inconvenience parents and carers and so I am writing to confirm the impact of the action on this school.

Carr Hill Primary School will be CLOSED on Wednesday 30th Novemeber and will reopen on Thursday 1st December.

I am sorry for the inconvenience this will cause you. If there is any change to this, I will notify you.

Thank you

Callum Kidd
Head Teacher.

Following the success of our 2010 Children in Need Talent Show, we invited entrants for a second extravaganza. Children from years 1 to 6, created their own acts to entertain the audience and raised funds for needy children.

Here are the shoe boxes collected in school at 9:40am on Friday 18th November!

I will continue to add pictures as we collect more boxes throughout the day!
Shoe boxes at 10:15am - 65 and counting! Over fifty, will we make 100?

Shoe boxes at 11;20am, we must be close to 100 - it just keeps getting taller and bigger! What a fantastic effort for the homeless people of Gateshead and Newcastle!

This is the desk at the minute! Loads of boxes, we will count them on Monday!

A wonderful message that has been included as well! Thanks guys!

Monday Morning - Loads of boxes! An excellent effort, well done!

Our kids look very spotty today! Once again we are supporting BBC's Children In Need and as ususal our children and families have been fantastic!

We will keep you updated as the day goes on - our Year 3 and 4 children are currently performing in our performing art studio!

Lucy and Jade have brought in buns and cakes that they have made at home! The teachers, I am sure will snap them up at lunch time and money raised will go towards Children in Need!

Callum performs, on stage, on his own! legend! Well done!

Bob stars on his own in front of his friends!

It looks like we have raised around £200! Well done guys!

Today, 'Bike It Alan' came to school on his bike. He took 12 lucky Year 6 children on a road safety lesson around the streets of Carr Hill.

First he checked our bikes to make sure that they were safe and taught us a quick safety checklist! Then we took to the roads.

Alan explained about the dangers of riding on the road and how we can remain safe whilst on our bikes. We learnt that it is important to cycle around 60cm away from the curb and to make sure that we check over our right shoulder to see what is behind us!

The first group were great at listening and corrected some of their bad habits!

Here is the second group with their bikes standing by our fantastic new cycle shelters!

Alan will continue to ride with other groups of Year 6 children over the coming weeks to make sure everyone is safe and confident while riding on the busy roads around our school.

We are currently running a shoe box appeal to help support homeless people in Gateshead and Newcastle.

It is so simple and worthwhile to get involved!

We need:

Shoe boxes, and

Food: biscuits, tinned food, chocolate, sweets, crisps, nuts

Toiletries: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorants

Warm Clothes: woolly hats, gloves, scarves, socks

Useful: torch, inflatable pillow, tin opener, playing cards

In school, we are going to put these amazing gifts together and add special designs to the shoeboxes. We will include a little message from yourselves!

Dylan and Leon have already brought in some boxes with supplies!

Well done lads!

Our Autumn term newsletter is ready to view. Download a copy here.

Autumn Term Newsletter.pdf

This week, Carr Hill played a huge role in improving our local environment. Our Council comissioned artist Mandy Matthews, a specialist in the design of social spaces, to work with our children. She has previously worked on designs for playgrounds and parks and was excited about the opportunity to brighten the lane between Elgin Road and Gainsborough.

They helped to design a 'Wizard of Oz' inspired mural for the wall and took great care as they painted the final product.

Arriving at school today, our children knew they had a real treat to look forward to. A visitor to school could be forgiven for thinking they had wandered into central Paris. Pupils worked in groups, containing children from year 1 to year 6 and travelled around various French workshops throughout the day.

Children made clay models of French landmarks, Mardi Gras masks and treats. They enjoyed French dancing, cooking, games and food tasting. We all came together at the end of the day, to celebrate our achievements and share our experiences.

Golden Book assembly was particularly special for three children today! Ellie Stringer, Ellis and Owen Simpson will be taking part in the Junior Great North Run on Saturday, raising money for the NSPCC (a charity close to all of our hearts)! Share your support and comments here. Good luck! We will all be thinking of you (and shouting very loud!)
Mrs Thompson

What a day! So many fabulous acts. Well done to our quieter friends, who shocked us by getting up and strutting their stuff!

Once again we celebrated World Book Day today at Carr Hill. We entered into the spirit by dressing as our favourite book characters and exchanging stories. Many thanks to Miss Pullen for the attached images.

A new document is available containing step by step instructions to ensure safe use of the internet. Many parents don't know how to alter the 'settings' which control web access for their children. This is the document for you!

Screen shots show exactly what to click to complete the process. The document also contains links to organisations such as CEOP for further safety guidance. Download it here.

Parental Control Settings.pdf

It's almost time to rebuild our Carr Hill blog! Help us add the links you'd like by 'sticking' them on our wish wall. Take a look......

Here at Carr Hill we reached an important mile stone today. Children from years 5 and 6 came together to perform violin music, for their KS1 and KS2 friends. Children and teachers were shocked by the performance they encountered, finding the children far more advanced. professional and polished than expected. The performance came after only two terms of tuition from Judith Thompson to whom we are extremely grateful.

Circle Madness.m4a

At the Ballet.m4a

Grand Old Duke of York.m4a

Hokey Cokey.m4a

Sailing Home.m4a

Twinkle.m4a

The report from our school inspection last month (November 2010) has been published and we have now been graded as an 'outstanding' school.

The report begins, 'This is an outstanding school in which pupils are exceptionally well cared for as they thrive in the happy, nurturing, family atmosphere'.

We are, as you can imagine, delighted with this acknowledgement. It has been a progressive journey to attain this highest judgement. The tremendous dedication of our staff, the enthusiasm of our pupils and support from their parents/carers demonstrate our commitment to providing the very best for our community.

Callum Kidd

To read the full report visit:

www.ofsted.gov.uk

Our school web site will soon be having a 'face lift'. Included in the improvements will be an 'e-safety' provision, enabling children to report material that may concern them.

As the comments posted on our site are filtered within school before publishing, we are hopeful that this tool will not be called open.

For further information on e-safety, visit:

http://www.thinkyouknow.co.uk/

As our bid to take over the world continues, we added 30 sparkling new bikes to our school. These bikes, in various sizes, will enable classes to fully access the environments we encounter on educational visits.

Two huge bike trailers allow us to attach the bikes to the minibuses and will add to the opportunities we enjoy at Whithaugh Park.

Hi Everyone. Mr Kidd here in Moshi, Tanzani with Mr Fowler, Mrs Ford, Miss Crooks, Miss Drummond and Mrs Richardson. We've just finished our first day's teaching and wanted to upload some photographs to show you what we've been up to. However, things are running just too slow (Tanzania speed). We just wanted you to know our partner school 'Korongoni School' is fabulous. The kids are amazing and teachers work just as hard as we do for you.

Hopefully we'll have some pics uploaded for you to see by the end of the week.

Bye for now from Tanzania (look up on the web for Moshi, Tanzania, East Africa to find us)

At Carr Hill we welcome interest in our school and enjoy opportunities to show how special we are. Ofsted provided such an opportunity during July and we are proud to share the outcomes. The report begins...........

'This is a good school in which pupils’ personal development and well-being are outstanding. This is recognised by parents who hold the school in high regard and give credit to the headteacher and staff for providing a supportive, caring environment. The view of one parent that their child had gained in confidence and gone from strength to strength is echoed by many.'

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