Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.  It has been a lovely week at Dr Thomlinson Middle School.

Open evening – September 28th

Thursday, September 28th was Dr Thomlinson Middle School’s annual open evening and it was wonderful to see so many children and parents/carers visit our school.  I thought it was a really enjoyable evening and the school looked and felt wonderful.  The best thing about our school are our pupils and I really appreciated the fact that so many pupils gave up their evening to represent the school in either assisting subjects with their activities or being tour guides showing our visitors around the school.  Thank you so much for all those pupils who gave freely of their time – their actions encapsulated perfectly our core value of Service

Yr 8 Careers Talk

On Friday, September 29th we welcomed visitors from Northumberland National Park who led sessions with all Yr 8 children about possible careers with the National Park. The sessions also told our children about the history and context of the parks as well as giving an opportunity to appreciate the parks and the work they do in conserving, enhancing, sustaining and giving opportunities for us to enjoy the natural beauty; wildlife and cultural heritage of these areas.  The visit was well received and linked well with our core value of Creation as well promoting the idea of working “for the good of all”.

Boys Football

Our boys school football fixtures continued this week with Dr Thomlinson playing Newminster.  Our Key Stage Two team gave of their best in defeat.  Very well done to Alex who scored a debut goal!  The goal put Dr Thomlinson’s 1-0 up and our joy was great yet it served to rouse Newminster to reply with goals to give them the victory.  Mr Pickup – our team’s coach –  was very complimentary of all our team’s efforts.

Yr 5 Welfare Meetings

At Dr Thomlinson there are two parent meetings each year.  In the Autumn parents/carers have an opportunity to book an online welfare meeting with their child’s form tutor.  Then in the Spring, parents/carers have an opportunity for face-to-face meetings with their child’s subject teachers.

The first of these – Yr 5 Welfare meetings will take place during the school day on Tuesday, October 3rd.

Dates for Welfare Meetings (online appointment during the school day)

Yr 5 – 3rd October

Yr 6 – 14th November

Yr 7 – 22nd November

Yr 8 – 29th November

Dates for Parent Evenings (Face-to-Face 3:30pm – 7;15pm)

Yr 5 – 14th May

Yr 6 – 21st May

Yr 7 – 21st March

Yr 8 – 7th March

Further dates for your diary:

9:30am – 10:30am – parents/carers who are new to the school are invited to our Macmillan Coffee Morning at Dr Thomlinson Middle School on October 20th

TOP Awards 29th September 2023

Our Thomlinson Outstanding Pupil Award is given to the child in each Form Class who, in the opinion of their form tutor, has best shown our core value of the week.

We are concentrating on the core values of Hope; Service; Koinonia; Friendship and Service this year as our school feels that these values will help us best raise awareness of the United Nations 17 sustainability goals that have been devised to help us tackle Climate Change.  Through this important work we feel that we will best live our school mission statement of using our skills and talents for “the good of all”.

This week our core value was Koinonia.

Well done to the following award winners:

5T – Martha

5H  – Olivia

6O – Teddy

6M – Finn

7I – James

7L – Lucinda

8N – Daisy Lou

8S – Sam

Every week we also award a P&Q award – this award is drawn from all those children who were awarded a P&Q slip – slips given to those who show caring behaviour to others during our school day.  Mind your Ps and Qs is an English language expression meaning “mind your manners” – so people gaining this award at our school are those being kind; friendly and respectful so behaving and acting in a way that lives out our school’s Christian Vision – “for the good of all”

This week this award was awarded to Cecily in Year 8.

I hope you have a restful weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.

We have had a busy and productive week at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

House Captain Elections

This week was election season at Dr Thomlinson’s as fifteen candidates campaigned for one of our six House Captain roles.  The role of House Captain is an important student leadership role at our school and part of the role is to raise awareness and educate pupils on the life and works of their House Saint – St Aidan; St Bede the Venerable and St Cuthbert.

I was very impressed with the application letters and presentations and speeches of all the candidates.  The successful pupils were:

Aidan House Captains – Daisy and Edward

Bede House Captains – Xanthe and Miles

Cuthbert House Captains – Danny and Lily

TOP Awards 22nd September 2023

Our Thomlinson Outstanding Pupil Award is given to the child in each Form Class who, in the opinion of their form tutor, has best shown our core value of the week.

We are concentrating on the core values of Hope; Service; Koinonia; Friendship and Service this year as our school feels that these values will help us best raise awareness of the United Nations 17 sustainability goals that have been devised to help us tackle Climate Change.  Through this important work we feel that we will best live our school mission statement of using our skills and talents for “the good of all”.

This week our core value was Friendship.

Well done to the following award winners:

5T – Jasper

5H Elliot

6O – Isabella

6M – Oscar

7I – Henry

7L – Oliver

8N – Eva

8S – James

Every week we also award a P&Q award – this award is drawn from all those children who were awarded a P&Q slip – slips given to those who show caring behaviour to others during our school day.  Mind your Ps and Qs is an English language expression meaning “mind your manners” – so people gaining this award at our school are those being kind; friendly and respectful so behaving and acting in a way that lives out our school’s Christian Vision – “for the good of all”

This week this award was awarded to Oscar in Year 6.

Well done to all of these award winners.

Thank you to those who attended our Online Safety Education Session For Parents on Monday 18th September.  The session was very well attended and it was lovely to see all those who were there.

Boys KS3 Football

Our football season kicked off last night with a game against Newminster Middle School.  Our team did very well against strong and highly committed opponents.  The match was closer than the 1-7 scoreline suggests, the Dr Thomlinson highlight being an outstanding goal from Matthew.  Well done to Lewis who was our person of the match.

Dr Thomlinson School Open Evening

Thursday 28th September sees our annual School Open Evening.  The evening is from 5:30pm – 7pm.  The best aspect of our school is our wonderful pupils and it is pleasing to see that so many of our children wish to help out during the evening.  Those children who are helping will be given a letter – please respond promptly to these invites.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.

We have an enjoyable week at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

TOP Awards 15th September 2023

Our Thomlinson Outstanding Pupil Award is given to the child in each Form Class who, in the opinion of their form tutor, has best shown our core value of the week.

We are concentrating on the core values of Hope; Service; Koinonia; Friendship and Service this year as our school feels that these values will help us best raise awareness of the United Nations 17 sustainability goals that have been devised to help us tackle Climate Change.  Through this important work we feel that we will best live our school mission statement of using our skills and talents for “the good of all”.

This week our core value was Service.

Well done to the following award winners:

5T – Jasmine

5H Dylan

6O Charlie

6M Kaitlin

7I Emily

7L Kane

8N Lily-Kate

8S Cecily

Every week we also award a P&Q award – this award is drawn from all those children who were awarded a P&Q slip – slips given to those who show caring behaviour to others during our school day.  This week this award was awarded to Finn in Year 6.

Well done to all of these award winners.

Thank you to those who responded to the invite to attend the Online Safety Education Session For Parents.

These sessions (for those who responded to the invite) will take place in Room One (turn right at the main entrance and Room One is the first classroom you walk past) –

Monday 18 September 2023 at Dr Thomlinson Middle School, Rothbury

● 5.30pm – 6.20pm – Early Years to Year 6

● 6.30pm – 7.20pm – Year 7 to Year 13

School Photographs

Our school photographs are taking place on 21st September at school.  Those who wish to have photographs with younger siblings please arrive at 8:30am.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.

We have had a very good start to term at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.  It has been meeting our new Year 5 children as well fondly welcoming back our returning Year 6, 7 & 8 children.  We have been doubly blessed with such lovely weather for our opening week.

TOP Awards 8th September 2023

Our Thomlinson Outstanding Pupil Award is given to the child in each Form Class who, in the opinion of their form tutor, has best shown our core value of the week.

We are concentrating on the core values of Hope[e; Service; Koinonia; Friendship and Service this year as our school feels that these values will help us best raise awareness of the United Nations 17 sustainability goals that have been devised to help us tackle Climate Change.  Through this important work we feel that we will best live our school mission statement of using our skills and talents for “the good of all”.

This week our core value was Hope.

Well done to the following award winners:

5T – Ollie

5H -Kate

6O -Elise

6M – Joy

7I – Hannah

7L – Teddy

8N – Alfie

8S – Samantha

Every week we also award a P&Q award – this award is drawn from all those children who were awarded a P&Q slip – slips given to those who show caring behaviour to others during our school day.  This week this award was awarded to Rafe in Year 6.

Well done to all of these award winners.

Please see below an invite to attend an Online Safety Session

Invitation to attend – Online Safety Education Session For Parents

As part of our responsibility to effectively safeguard all children within our Trust, we

are holding some parent support and education sessions this month. These will be

delivered by professionals from our Safeguarding partners at Clennell Education

Solutions.

In order to provide meaningful age specific support to parents, we will run 2 sessions

per evening, split by age category.

Sessions will take place at the dates and times –

Monday 18 September 2023 at Dr Thomlinson Middle School, Rothbury

● 5.30pm – 6.20pm – Early Years to Year 6

● 6.30pm – 7.20pm – Year 7 to Year 13

To aid our planning for these sessions, it would be helpful if you could complete this

Google Form if you plan to attend.

Below I have included a message from Autism Family Support

Autism Family Support Drop In Centres

Come along to access free support and advice in your local area  for children aged between 0-19 years. There is no diagnosis! Join us at:

Blyth Central Family Hub – Monday 25 th September 11 am-3.30pm

Hexham Family Hub – Tuesday 3 rd October 11 am-3.30pm

Ashington Family Hub – Tuesday 10th October 12 pm-5pm

Berwick Family Hub – Thursday 19 th October 11 am-3.30pm

I hope you have a good weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Dear Parents / Carers

I hope this email finds you well.  We are having a very busy end of term.

Climate Festival 10th – 14th July.

This week saw our school celebrate a Climate Festival.  The Three Rivers Learning Trust is committed to doing all it can to address the challenge of climate change. We recognise the urgency of the crisis; follow the science; and will be open, honest, positive and optimistic in our response.  As part of our strategy to raise awareness of the challenges, our Trust organised a Climate Festival.

The school celebrate the Climate Festival in many ways: through a display of pupil art work in All Saints Church; a showing of the Climate Crisis Documentary 2040 and a Dragon’s Den activity where four “Dragons” (Neil Dorward, the Senior Manager for Education Development & Collaborative Projects at Northumberland County Council; Joshua Knight – an expert in the field of the maintenance and operation of power stations; Hazel Scurr – a person who is currently helping deliver the NCC’s Climate Action Plan – and Katie Scott – the coordinator of Rothbury CAN (Climate and Nature) group listened to presentations from Year 7 and Year 8 pupils – as well as pupils from Thropton Village First School and Harbottle First School – .on ideas to help our schools still further reduce their carbon footprint.  The panel were very impressed with the work of all the pupils who took part.

On Thursday we also welcomed The KEVI Senior Students who spoke to the whole school about issues regarding Climate Change.  The Senior Students gave a presentation and then spoke to Year 7 pupils about the Senior Students experience of leadership.  The visit was very much appreciated and thank you very much to Andrew; George and Liam for their hard work.

Our biodiversity group as well as all our Year 8s have been really busy further improving our Forest School area.  We have added benches to this area that have been signed by all our current Year 8 pupils.  The signed benches will be a lovely legacy of our current Year 8’s time at Dr Thomlionson’s.

During the week our pupils also looked at the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, which provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. The goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.  Each Form Class voted on which of our 15 core values would best align to the United Nation Goals.  These core values are then the ones we will especially concentrate on next year.  Our chosen values were Hope; Service; Friendship; Creation and Koinonia.  A display of this information can be found in our main reception.

Wildflower Talk – Monday 17th July

If you wish to take part in our Climate Festival why not come to a Wildflower Talk taking place on Monday, July 17th at 7pm.

Sports Day 2023

Thank you to all those parents / carers who attended Sports Day on Monday 10th July.  I had a lovely time and I was very impressed at the enthusiasm, commitment and endeavours of all our pupils.  Thank you very much to Mr Heath and all our staff for organising such a great event.

Year 8s helping at other Schools

Thank you to all the Year 8s who have been helping younger children in a number of different activities at first schools over the past few weeks.  This work is part of the Archbishop Young Leaders Award.

Thursday 20th July, 2023 – End of Term Church Service

Parents & Carers are very welcome to attend our End of Year Church Service at All Saints Church, Rothbury.  The service is on Thursday, 20th July and will start at 1:15pm.  During the service Year 8 pupils will be each issued with  Dr Thomlinson pen and revolving pencil which will be a small memento of their time at our school.  Following the service , children and staff will make their way back to school to be dismissed at the normal time of 3:30pm

Year 8 Shirt Signing

As is customary, Year 8 children will be allowed to sign school shirts during the last week of the school year.  This will take place on Wednesday, 19th July, 2023.  Please could all Year 8 children make sure they sign a spare school shirt so as to ensure they have another clean and unsigned school shirt to wear during the remainder of their last week at Dr Thomlinson Middle School.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

The Three Rivers Learning Trust is committed to doing all it can to address the challenge of climate change. We recognise the urgency of the crisis; follow the science; and will be open, honest, positive and optimistic in our response.  As part of this Climate Festival, Year 8 at Dr Thomlinson  have chosen poems that they feel hold an important message for us all in our efforts to address Climate Change.

Please spend a few moments listening to the poems chosen.

Y8 2023 Climate Poetry