Dear Parents / Carers,

It has been a very difficult week for our community and I hope this email finds you all in a better place than we were in during the previous weekend.  Our school site has been cleared and we are grateful that we have been able to be open from Wednesday, December 1st.  Thank you for your ongoing support.

Positive Covid Cases

During this week we have had a fall in the number of confirmed positive cases at our school.  The number of confirmed positive cases is now at 4% of the school population.  We will still continue with the additional mitigations we have put in place in November, 2021.  Our school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well. NHS Test & Trace will contact individuals who have been identified as a close contact.

Parent Evenings

It was lovely for our staff to be able to speak to Parents & Carers on Thursday, December 2nd.  We are looking forward to our next parents evening on Tuesday, December 7th.

P&Q Award Winner

This week’s P&Q award winner is Alex in Yr 7.  Well done!

November Reading Challenge

We are continuing with our November Reading Challenge and EXTENDING it!  Due to some children currently being absent from school we wanted every child to have a chance to have the books they are reading and have read this month to be accurately recorded therefore we are going to extend the reading challenge to December 10th.  Remember the challenge is to read three books – each by a different author.

I am continuing with my reading and this week I read:

The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr

As a child I loved books set in World War Two that wrote about Evacuees.  The choosing scene on a train station platform in Nina Bawden’s “Carrie’s War” is seared into my memory.  Equally I adored “Goodnight Mr Tom” – a book that we teach in Year 6 English.  Therefore books that return to such a well trodden area have much to live upto, however I can strongly recommend Lesley Parr’s “The Valley of Lost Secrets”, a book about World War evacuees who move from London to Llanbryn, Wales.

Jimmy and Ronnie – his younger brother – struggle to adapt to live in Wales but their arrival in this rural community disturb and uncover dark secrets hidden for many years…

I thought this book was superb and would recommend it to all readers.  It is Lesley Parr’s first novel and I am looking forward to her second – “When The War Came Home” – which is released in January, 2022.

Incidentally if anyone is looking for books to give for Christmas presents and the person you are buying for is a football fan I would also recommend “Das Reboot – How German Football Reinvented Itself” by Raphael Honingstein and “Don Revie – The Biography” by Christopher Evans – two books I very recently enjoyed by candle light whilst shivering despite wearing all the clothes I possess…

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

School will be OPEN to Years 5, 6 and 8 on Wednesday 1 December.  Unfortunately due to the damage sustained to the school during Storm Arwen Year 7 will have to remain at home and complete work set on Google Classroom until further notice.

Dear Parents / Carer,

I hope this email finds you well.

Positive Covid Cases

During this week we have had a further rise in the number of confirmed positive cases at our school.  The number of confirmed positive cases is now at slightly over 12% of the school population.  I informed you of the additional mitigations we have put in place earlier this week and we are working closely with Public Health Northumberland.  Our school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well. NHS Test & Trace will contact individuals who have been identified as a close contact.

I know this is a very difficult time for those pupils and their families who have been infected.  Our thoughts are with you.  Please do not hesitate to contact the school if there is any support or help you require.  We want to serve you in the best way we can although please do appreciate that some of our staff are currently absent from school either having had a confirmed positive case of Covid 19 or with symptoms awaiting the result of a PCR test.  Thank you for your ongoing support.

Parent Evenings

It was lovely for our staff to be able to speak to Parents & Carers on Tuesday, 23rd November.  We are looking forward to our next parents evening on Thursday, December 2nd.

Odd Sock Day

Odd Sock Day is a way of celebrating each of our unique identities.  Thank you to all of those children who sported such an eclectic array of socks.  I enclose pictures of a few of these socks.

Anti Bullying Resource for Parents/Carers

Odd Sock Day is an initiative linked to Anti Bullying Week which we celebrated last week.  The Anti Bullying Alliance – who organise the week – have published a resource pack for Parents & Carers.  The pack is a tool for Parents/carers with advice on how to further support and guide children through their school years.  The pack also promotes a parent advice phone line run by Kidscape – details of which can be found via this link – https://www.kidscape.org.uk/advice/parent-advice-line/

TOP Awards Week beginning Nov 22nd.

This week our core value is Humility.

5T – Rosie

5H – River

6O Hylton

6M – Sophia

7I – Luke

7L – Toby

8N – Lucy

8S – Kate

Our P&Q award this week is Ethan in Year 5

Well done to all of our award winners!

November Reading Challenge

We are continuing with our November Reading Challenge and EXTENDING it!  Due to some children currently being absent from school we wanted every child to have a chance to have the books they are reading and have read this month to be accurately recorded therefore we are going to extend the reading challenge to December 10th.  Remember the challenge is to read three books – each by a different author.

The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne by Jonathan Stroud

Set in a future United Kingdom suffering the aftermath of a huge ecological disaster, teenage gunslinger Scarlett Browne terrorises the Kingdoms of Mercia; Anglia and Wessex robbing banks!  Fresh from a successful bank raid of the Cheltenham Bank she comes across teenager Albert Browne – the only survivor of a terrible bus crash.  Together Scarlett and Albert become an unlikely duo traversing an England more akin to the Wild West than the sensible; civilised country we know it to be today.  In doing so they must do battle with outlaws; armed vigilantes and animals grown to beasts following the environmental changes wrought by the undescribed eco disaster.  Their only hope is that they find refuge in the Lost Ruins of the London Lagoon.  Can they survive?

This is an absolutely fantastic book.  One I could not put down and one in which I wanted to reread the moment I completed it.  Suitable for Key Stage Three ( as there are some quite scary moments) this is one of the very best books I have read this year.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh -Headteacher

Dear Parents & Carers.

It has been a very productive week at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.  We really enjoyed celebrating Children in Need yesterday, thank you to all those children who donated to such a worthy cause.

Positive Covid Cases

The number of confirmed positive Covid 19 cases in school have slightly risen to just over 2% of our school population.  As a result of this we are going to add further mitigations to our current Covid-19 control measures. In order to further reduce mixing between Year groups, from Monday, 22nd November, we will be:

• Limiting all lunchtime clubs to single Year groups;

• Serving lunches to one Year group at a time;

•  Reviewing risk assessments for all educational visits

Please remember one of our mitigations is advising all adults and children in KS3 to wear face coverings in corridors.  Please remind children of the importance of this mitigation and support us with this advice.

Trinity Presentations

The concept of The Trinity in the Christian religion is sometimes a difficult one to understand.  In Religious Education Year 7 were tasked with designing a model that would explain this.  Well done to:

Sarah; Freya; Toby; Martha and Harriet for designing these excellent models.

Dear Parents/Carers,

Calling Year 5,6 and 7: Can You Rise to Dr Thomlinson’s Reading Challenge?

Read some different authors and enter a draw to win a book voucher

Dear Parents/Carers,

For the month of November we are encouraging all pupils in these three year groups to further broaden their reading… We would like as many children as possible to set themselves a target of reading three quality texts (or more!) in 30 days.  It is great to see so many of our children reading books by such popular authors as Geoff Kinney, JK Rowling, David Walliams and Liz Pichon (after all – they are popular because their books are so enjoyable), however – for the month of November and whilst they are in school – we are challenging our pupils to see if they can read other different authors to those they normally read.

 It is very easy to get stuck in reading habits with the same writer when you find something you really like  ( I went through a phase of Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie). Why not try something different? Have a look at some of the new and classic texts in the recommended school reading list attached with this email. We will be celebrating all those who step up to our challenge. In addition, every child who succeeds in this challenge will be entered into a special prize draw to win a Waterstones book voucher.  For every book by a different author pupils read in November, pupils will receive an entry to win this exciting prize.

Year 8 already has embarked on our own well established and ambitious 50 Book Challenge for the year.

The Library in school is steadily increasing the range of books available. We also are having our Scholastic Book Fair immediately after half-term , so there will be ample opportunity for picking up the pace, boosting book power and rejuvenating reading. All children have independent reading as their English homework over the holiday so why not make an early start on the Reading Challenge?

Also, thank you to all those KS2 parents who were able to come to our ‘Come Dine and Read Event’ in school- it was lovely to see you all.  Please find attached a copy of the PowerPoint with suggestions on how to support your child with English.

Thank you for your ongoing support in further developing our culture of reading at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

Suggestions for books to further broaden your child’s reading

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Watson – Head of English

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laK1-fteyTA

We are pleased to welcome back our annual Scholastic Book Fair to school which will take place from Monday 1 November to Friday 5 November 12.00 – 1.00 pm.  Pupils can purchase books and stationery items from the Reception area of school.