Dear Parent / Carer,

It has been a really busy fortnight at Dr Thomlinson Church of England  Middle School.

British Science Week

This week we were celebrating British science week. There was a science quiz that everyone enjoyed taking part in. In form time there were short biographies from scientists who are in this year’s #SmashingSterotypes campaign that the British science week are involved with.

Children from KS2 and KS3 also took part in the Royal Society of Chemistries #RSCTakeCharge global battery experiment to take energy storage from renewable sources to help with climate change. Using only 1p coins, saline solution, cardboard and tin foil, children made batteries and their data has been included with data from all around the world. The KS2 experiment was to find out how many cells their battery needed to light and LED and KS3 experimented with finding out how the voltage changed when adding cells to their batteries.

Lit Quiz

A staple ingredient of the Dr Thomlinson calendar is our contribution to the Lit Quiz – a national competition about books.  Well done to the following pupils have made it to the Lit Quiz team:

Y7: Jonah, Miles, Cecily and Xanthe

Y8: Luke, Wilf; Esme and  Fran

The regional round of this competition takes place on March 27th.  We wish both teams the very best of luck.

Design a book cover competition

Well done to the following winners of our design a book cover competition that was part of our World Book Day celebrations.  There were a large number of entries and we are very appreciative of Esme; Amy and Alex – our Yr 8 Librarians  – for judging this competition.

Yr 5

1. Daisy

2. Izzy

3. Iris

Yr 6

1. Nancy

2. Libby

3. Emme

Yr 7

1. Jessica

2. Xanthe

3. Lucy

Mock Trial

A huge well done to our Year 8 team who did so well in the Mock Trial event on Saturday, 11th March.  The Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial Competition helps young people understand how the law touches every aspect of their lives, gaining an insight into how the legal justice system works.

Our team was given access to resources, including a specially written criminal case, to help prepare legal arguments for the case. After preparation, our team went head-to-head with other schools to prosecute and defend the case they had prepared.

A spectator at the event said of our team: “The preparation, rehearsals and practice sessions paid off and all of the children were a real credit to the school.  Confidence, team spirit and constructive debate all shone through on the day.  The opportunity to run an event like this in a real court and to give an experience like this is invaluable and one which I’m sure will be remembered for a long time.”

Well done to all involved.

Boys Football

The last fortnight has seen three boys football fixtures.

Well done to our U13 Boys team who played away to Northumberland Church of England Academy on 6th March and then Seaton Sluice Middle School on March 17th.  Although both games ended in defeat, the team played really well and were especially unlucky in a narrow 2-3 loss against Seaton Sluice.  Huge congratulations to Will and Harry who scored the team’s first and second goals of the entire season.  Will’s goal was a goal worth waiting for as his first time volley from over 40 yards sailed over the keeper and into the net.  The team celebrated the strike with great gusto!

Our U11 Boys football tram have been having a good season with a string of creditable performances perhaps deserving of even better results.  On March 7th the team lost narrowly to Newminster Middle School 0-3.

St Cuthbert Day Service

Our Housecaptains plan and prepare a service for the Saint that gives their House its name.  A huge well done to Jacob and Nieva who devised and led a really interactive and joyous House service on March 17th.  The highlight of a very memorable morning was an excellent speech by Jacob on the life of St Cuthbert.  Those in the congregation should have been listening as the service finished with a quiz which put a number of the congregation on the spot!  A huge well done to Jacob and Nieva.  Thank you to the Parents & Carers who were able to join us in this celebration.

Comic Relief – March 17th

Thank you to all those who contributed to our Comic Relief fundraising – the school raised £149.

Parent Evenings

Thank you to all the Year 7 Parents/Carers who attended our Year 7 Parent Evening on Thursday, March 16th.  It was lovely to see so many people attending and I hope those attending found the evening beneficial.

Dates of Parent Evenings:

March 9th – Yr 8 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm – postponed due to bad weather to Thursday, April 20th

March 16th – Yr 7 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

May 16th – Yr 5 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

May 23rd – Yr 6 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

Easter Church Service

Our Easter Church Service is on Thursday, March 30th at 1:30pm at All Saints Church, Rothbury.  Parents & Carers are very welcome to attend.

Top Award Winners week beginning 13th March – Core Value – Wisdom

5T David

5H Harry

6O Gabrielle

6M Charlotte

7I Max

7L Jonah

8N Cameron

8S Wilf

Top Award Winners week beginning 6th March – Core Value – Service

5T Iona

5H Iris

6O Yasmine

6M Florence

7I Daisy-Lou

7L Amelia

8N Cameron

8S Michael

P&Q Award Winners – Ben and Will

Well done to all of these award winners.

We will be fundraising for Comic Relief on Friday 17 March – pupils are invited to wear non-school uniform for a £1 donation.

Members of St Cuthbert House are invited to wear House colours (Yellow) to celebrate their Saint and will be attending a church service at All Saints Church on Friday 17 March.

Yr 8 March 9th Parent Evening Postponed until Thursday April 20th

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.  We have had a very enjoyable week at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

World Book Day – March 2nd

We had a really enjoyable World Book Day on Thursday.  Thank you to all our children who came to school on Thursday dressed as a literary character – the costumes were really imaginative and showed the wide range of reading that we all enjoy.

I especially enjoyed the “Shelfie” competition where staff took a picture of one of their book shelves.   I always find looking at other people’s bookshelves fascinating and children could take part in a competition to match the member of staff to their bookshelf.

World Day of Prayer

Our school marked the Women’s World Day of Prayer on Friday, March 3rd with our school choir attending the Rothbury World Day of Prayer event at Rothbury URC.  Well done to our school choir for all their hard work to prepare for this event.

Cuthbert House Service

OUr annual Cuthbert House service will take place at All Saints Church on Friday, March 17th at 10am for children of Cuthbert House – parents/carers are very much invited.

Boys Football

A huge well done to our Boys KS2 football team who enjoyed an excellent away victory to Horton Grange Primary yesterday evening.  A Josh hat-trick contributed to a 4-3 victory in which Dr Thom,inson’s raced to a three goal lead only to be pegged back to 3-3.  Wonderfully, it was Dr Thomlinson’s that were able to close out the match to secure victory.

Next week our U13 football team are away to Dukes School, Ashington on Monday and our U11 team are away to Newminster on Tuesday.

Dr Thomlinsonson taking the 40 Acts Challenge

Dr Thomlinson are marking the Christian season of Lent by taking the Forty Acts Challenge.  Each school day each form class choose one of 40 Acts designed to remind people how they can be kind; friendly and respectful to each other.  The idea behind the tasks is that Lent can be about doing something extra rather than giving something up.  So each day each form class will decide on a act to do something extra such as being the first to say sorry; give someone a nice compliment or go the whole day without arguing…

Parent Evenings

Thank you to all the Year 6 Parents/Carers who attended our Year 6 KS2 Parent Information evening on Tuesday, February 28th.  It was lovely to see so many people attending and I hope those attending found the evening beneficial.  This is the first of our face-to-face parent evenings. Year 8 Parents/Carers are able to book appointments at the moment and we look forward to speaking to Year 8 Parents/Carers on Thursday, March 9th.

The window for booking appointments for the Yr 7 Parent Evening on March 16th will soon be opening and Parents/Carers will be informed on how to do this in a separate letter.

Dates of Parent Evenings:

March 9th – Yr 8 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

March 16th – Yr 7 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

May 16th – Yr 5 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

May 23rd – Yr 6 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

Proposed Merger of Tyne Community  Learning Trust with The Three Rivers Learning Trust

Thank you to all those Parents/Carers who took part in the Parent Consultation evening for the proposed merger at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School at 6pm on Monday, February 27th.  Please do take the opportunity to respond in writing to the proposal.  All parents/carers have been sent the consultation document and these documents are also available on the school website here. This consultation will end on Friday 17th March at 5pm.

TOP Award Winners week beginning Monday, February 27th, 2023.

Core value  – Reverence

5T – James

5H John

6O Matthew

6M James

7I Mary-Anne

7L – Edward

8N – Millie

8S – Harriet

 P&Q Award winner – Gabriel in Year 7.

Well done to all of these award winners!

I hope you have a restful weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Tomorrow is World Book Day! As part of our celebrations, we are having a ‘Shelfie Competition’ where pupils have to match the member of staff to the correct bookshelf.

Also, children can come in dressed as their favourite literary character if they wish. Please don’t spend money on expensive costumes. Pupils can dress up in complete disguise OR bring/wear three items that represent their character. There will be prizes for the most imaginative entries.

KS 2 and 3  will be designing a mask for a character in their English lessons too.

Happy Reading!

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well. We had a very busy end to our half term.

KS2 Boys Football

Well done to our KS2 Boys Football team who were narrowly edged out in a glorious 3-5 thriller away to Ponteland.  They say “goals win games” and Mr Pickup – the team coach – felt that our team created enough chances to comfortably win the game yet were unable to convert the opportunities.  Well done to all those who took part.

Cuthbert House Service

Well done to the Cuthbert House Captains who planned their House Cuthbert Service with Canon Sinclair on Wednesday, 15th February.  The service will take place at All Saints Church on Friday, March 17th at 10am for children of Cuthbert – parents/carers are very much invited.

Housepoint Shop

Thursday, 16th February saw our half termly Housepoint shop open for business and there were lots of children able to enjoy the spoils of their hard earned house points

World Book Day Celebrations. World Book Day ,Thursday 2 March

Mrs Watson, Head of English writes: We will be celebrating World Book Day with various activities  in the week straight after half term. One such activity is a ‘Shelfie Competition’. Members of staff are going to share with pupils a photograph of their book shelf and children can match the shelf to the adult. (I need to give mine a bit of a tidy). Also, pupils are going to have the opportunity to design a mask for their favourite literary character  at some point during the week. If anyone would like to come in disguise as their character on Thursday 2 March, that would be wonderful. One idea that really appealed to me is to just use three objects to bring or wear in role.To keep with our planet-friendly aims as a school, we are forwarding an electronic copy of the £1 book voucher that can be easily presented in any participating retailer. The tokens can be used from February 19 to the end of March. Happy Reading from us all at Dr T’s!

Digital World Book Day Voucher

https://www.worldbookday.com/primary-digital-token/

https://www.worldbookday.com/secondary-digital-token/

Parent Evenings

Our Face-to-Face Parent Evenings will start to take place after February half term.  All evenings will take place at Dr Thomlinson Middle School.  Information regarding the Yr 6 KS2 Sats evening has already been sent to parents/carers and information about the other parent evenings will follow in due course.

Dates of Parent Evenings:

February 28th – 6pm – 7pm KS2 Year 6 Parent/Carer Sats evening

March 9th – Yr 8 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

March 16th – Yr 7 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

May 16th – Yr 5 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

May 23rd – Yr 6 Parent Evening – 3:30pm – 7:30pm

Reminder of consultation regarding the proposed merger of Tyne Community Learning Trust with The Three Rivers Learning Trust

The Parent Consultation evening for the proposed merger of Tyne Community Learning Trust with The Three Rivers Learning Trust is taking place at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School at 6pm on Monday, February 27th

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.  It has been a very busy fortnight at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

KS2 Live Spaceport Lesson

At Lamba Ness in Unst, Shetland, SaxaVord Spaceport is developing a launch site and ground station and this exciting venture was a part of a “live” lesson for our Year 5 and Year children on the afternoon of Friday, February 3rd.  The lesson was really enjoyable and really contributed to the further understanding of our Science curriculum.

Yr 8 Mock Trial

A team of our Yr 8 children annually take part in the Mock Trial event where children take part in specially written legal cases comparing against their peers in a competitive event that introduces children to the workings of the  judicial system, its venues and access to senior legal professionals.  On Monday, 6th February this year’s team worked on their cases with a Magistrate in our main hall.  The children found this session really beneficial and we have high hopes for them when they take part in the actual “Mock Trial” competition later in the year.

Yr 5 & 6 Theatre Visit

Yr 5 & 6 visited the Theatre on Tuesday 7th February to watch the play “Little Manfred”.  Based on the book by Michael Morpurgo, this captivating play follows Charley and her little brother, Alex, in the summer of 1966 as they learn that friendships can be built around difficult circumstances. The children very much enjoyed their Theatre visit.

Yr 5 Safetyworks Visit

SafetyWorks! is a multi-agency interactive safety centre serving the community of Tyne and Wear that provides innovative, enjoyable learning experiences enabling visitors to participate safely in realistic situations illustrating everyday hazards and how to prevent them.  The visit is a very important part of the work we do in the wider curriculum to teach children how to stay safe and our children found the trip very informative.

TOP Awards week beginning 30th January, 2023.  The core value was Thankfulness

5T James

5H Sophie

6O Harriet

6M Daisy

7I River

7L Grace

8N Oliver

8S Phoebe

TOP Awards week beginning 23rd January, 2023.  The core value was Hope

5T Jake

5H Poppy

6O Layla

6M Henry

7I Lewis

7L Emily

8N Chanon

8S Jordan / Jacob

Well done to all of these award winners!

I hope you have a restful weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher