Thomas Bewick C of E Primary School, part of the Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust, is celebrating the outcome of their recent OFSTED inspection, which judged the school to be ‘Good’ in all aspects.

In the inspection carried out on the 14th and 15th May, Inspectors noted pupils “embody the school’s LIGHT values” and they are “proud, happy and confident members of the school community”.

“Pupils have a tangible love of books. Pupils’ enjoyment of reading was summed up by one pupil’s comment that, when reading, ‘it feels you’re going into your own little World’.

The inspectors found that the pupils enjoy attending school and that “older pupils act as role models for younger pupils”. The report comments on the range of opportunities which pupils have “to contribute to the wider community beyond the school gates” and how “leaders have constructed a well-sequence series of curriculums” and have helped the pupils develop a “tangible love of books”.

One parent summed up the thoughts of many by saying, “It’s great to see a school that takes care of its pupils as well as parents. They encourage the children to let their light shine”.

Jessica Hodson, Headteacher at Thomas Bewick, said:

“I am delighted that Thomas Bewick has achieved the recognition it deserves. I am proud of the staff, children and community for continually supporting Thomas Bewick. The staff work incredibly hard to ensure the very best for all of our children, endeavouring that they all let their light shine.”

Alan Hardie, Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust’s CEO commented:

“We are delighted that OFSTED have recognised the tireless work of Thomas Bewick’s staff, supported by the trust team, to provide a great education for their pupils. I am very pleased that the report captures the strong sense of community at Thomas Bewick and the pride that the staff, pupils, parents and carers have in their school.

WELL DONE!

Year 6 have arrived safely. They are getting ready for their hike into Robinwood!

ROBINWOOD UPDATE:

Giant swing completed

Fears overcome on the trapeze

Archery – we hit the target!

A fresh shower after the piranha pool (luckily the piranhas were sleeping today!)

Another great day enjoyed by all!

ROBINWOOD UPDATE:

Yesterday the children took part in a night line activity with Miss Mordue teasing the children who were blindfolded!

Today the children took part in final activities with Spring group canoeing and Waterfall group completing the crate challenge!

Today we have had a visit from Network Rail and Morgan Sindall Infrastructure to deliver workshops across the year groups. We are really lucky to have a railway line coming into Ashington so that it will be more accessible for our community but we must ensure that our children and families are kept safe. The children have an important message which they have been taught today – “Stop, Look, Listen, Live.”

Eight children from Thomas Bewick were lucky enough to win a place on the team for the NUFC Foundation 1892 Cup. Children were invited along to the NUFC Academy building where they competed against seven other primary schools. Despite some very tough competition, the children still enjoyed a fantastic day out.

They received a brand new Newcastle United strip (to keep!) and even had the chance to meet Eddie Howe and his coaching staff who all paid a visit to watch some of the young football talent on show.

“Yesterday at the 1892 Cup I had an amazing time playing football matches against the other schools. We tried our best and it was really good fun. I had the best time and it was great to see the school’s lift the trophy at the end. I felt so excited getting my first ever Newcastle strip and it was cool to meet the Newcastle manager. Hopefully I could join the team again some day.”

Ali Kartoev (Y3), one of Thomas Bewick’s players

The NCEA Miner’s Picnic event on Tuesday 11th July was the culmination of a huge amount of work that both children and staff have completed in relation to the Y3 enquiry about mining and the local area. Children had worked extremely hard to learn all about the mining heritage of Ashington and the surrounding areas before getting the chance to engage in some fantastic workshops. Bill Elliot, a member of ‘The Elliott’s from Birtley’, led a number of workshops across five of our primary schools to teach traditional mining songs such as: ‘Just One Spark’ and ‘Jowl Jowl.’

The children had a fantastic time learning the songs and a real highlight of the Miner’s Picnic was seeing over 200 children all joining Bill in singing these songs together.

It definitely was a sight to behold and there were numerous members of the public who stopped by to watch the singing which sounded beautiful. In addition, children had the opportunity to learn the art of Proggy Mat making thanks to Justine Fox (Creative Remakery). Each school now has their own Proggy Mat banner which they were able to parade on the day. The banners will be shown around Ashington over the summer before being returned to schools to be displayed. The event could not have been such a success without the support of Sarah Bredin-Kemp from Hirst Park. Sarah supported the organisation of the event and was able to provide much needed funding to ensure the children were able to have all of these wonderful experiences.

Take a look at our new, simplified school rules.

Last term, we have been learning all about Easter in Reception. To end our spring term we had a very noisy 4 legged visitor. We were more impressed than she was!!

We also made some really delicious chocolate nests and learned all about how the microwave works and why our chocolate melted.

A charity which supports individuals living with lifelong mental health conditions and learning disabilities has partnered up with a local primary school to help transform part of its playing field into a forest school.

Blyth Star Enterprises, which provides living support and day services that replicate real working environments to over 350 people living across Northumberland, has been working with NCEA Thomas Bewick C of E Primary School in Ashington to help bring their vision for a state-of-the-art forest school to life.

Popular across the country as a means of encouraging pupils to learn personal, social and technical skills by engaging with the natural world, in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, forest schools have also become important tools in the promotion of positive mental health and wellbeing through time spent in the great outdoors.

Working alongside staff and pupils to ensure that as many of their ideas were captured in the final design as possible, service users and support staff from Blyth Star Enterprises’ woodwork department set to work building a series of outdoor workstations, wooden benches, mud kitchens complete with secret fairy doors and a fire pit area for the forest school.

In total, the build took four weeks to complete off-site, with the groundwork and installation taking place over four days within the school holidays.

This is the second forest school that Blyth Star Enterprises has created for schools within NCEA Trust, having supported NCEA Warkworth C of E Primary School with the construction of its new forest school site last summer after vandals destroyed the original site during lockdown.

Kevin Alexander, Supervisor at Blyth Star Enterprises’ woodwork department, said:

“We were delighted to be invited by NCEA Trust to create another forest school for one of its primary schools. It’s really beneficial for our service users to work on projects which take them out into the community where they can see the positive impact of their hard work – it’s good for their morale and their own mental health.

“The staff and pupils at Thomas Bewick Primary were an absolute joy to work with and it was brilliant to see the children’s faces when they saw the finished forest school for the first time. We hope that they will enjoy the site for years to come.”

When asked what they thought of the new forest school, pupils at NCEA Thomas Bewick C of E Primary School, commented:

“I think it’s really cool because there is so much new stuff on the field which we can use now. It’s not just an empty area anymore; we will be able to have really interesting lessons using the outdoors,” said Meredith, Year 4.

“It seems like it could be a nice place to relax now! The team have worked really well and we should appreciate it that they’ve given us such a special place to use!” said Logan, Year 4.

“It’s really good because it will be good to use for fun activities. It’s really nice to have a space to learn outside. I am excited to see the onions, beetroot and the carrots grow too!” said Perry, Year 6.

“I think I am most excited about the fire pit where we could safely do some really interesting learning. I think when all of the new trees and wildflowers have grown it’ll look really beautiful. It will be good for the younger children to learn more consistently outside as we’ll be using it every week,” said Amber, Year 6.

Jess Williamson, Headteacher at NCEA Thomas Bewick C of E Primary School, added:

“From the day that pupils start school in our nursery provision, we promote outdoor education as a crucial part of our primary curriculum so that they grow up aware of the natural world around them and the benefits associated with spending time outdoors.

“We are fortunate at Thomas Bewick to have such a big school field, but that was all it was – empty space! The creation of a dedicated forest school area is a real win for the school and we really can’t thank Kevin and the team at Blyth Star Enterprises enough for their hard work in making it all possible.”

For more information about Thomas Bewick C of E Primary School, visit www.thomasbewick.ncea.org.uk or to find out more about Blyth Star Enterprises or commissioning a woodwork or gardening project, visit www.blythstar.org.uk.