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

Dear Parents / Carers

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

Climate Festival 10th – 14th July.

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 has organised a Climate Festival.

Display of Pupil Art Work at All Saints Church

Part of this festival is finding opportunities to celebrate the work of our pupils.  If you get the opportunity why not visit All Saints Church, Rothbury to see Art work completed by Year 8 pupils for their Endangered Animal Unit.

13th July Showing of 2040 film at Dr Thomlinson Middle School

On 13th July why not attend a showing of the Climate Crisis Documentary 2040 at Dr Thomlinson Middle School.  The film 2040 follows filmmaker Damon Gameau as he travels the world in search of new approaches and solutions to climate change. He meets with innovators and changemakers in many fields to draw on their expertise.  We would very much like parents/carers and other interested people to come and join us to watch this film from 6pm to 8pm at Dr Thomlinson’s Middle School.

17th July – Wildflower Talk at Dr Thomlinson Middle School

Also linked to our Climate Festival is an invite to a fascinating talk on Wildflowers at Dr Thomlinson Middle School on Monday, 17th July from 7pm – 8pm.  The talk is being given by our school biodiversity lead – Mrs Austin – Walker

Sports Day 2023

As advertised on our school website, our annual sports day will be taking place on Monday, 10th July.  This year there will be a slight change to the format and the day will be split into field events and track events.  All field events will be held in the morning with track events taking place in the afternoon.  All parents and carers are welcome to attend the afternoon track events from 1pm – 3:30pm.  Please be aware that children should come to school on Monday in PE Kit including trainers, and ensure they have a water bottle and any inhalers or medication they require.

I hope you have a restful weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

We have a large amount of unnamed, unclaimed uniform in school – sweatshirts of all sizes.  They will be available for collection from Mrs Young until Friday 14 July.  We will then take them to the RSPCA charity shop in Rothbury, which holds all of Dr Thomlinson’s second hand uniform.

Please name all your child’s clothing.

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.  We have had a very busy two weeks at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

Sponsored Walk

Thank you to all the children who took part in our sponsored walk on Wednesday, June 7th.  The walk – planned to coincide with World Environment Day – was to raise money for a charity our school has a connection with. Linda Community School in Livingstone, Zambia.  The school specifically provides an education for vulnerable children in a very disadvantaged area of the city and a 100% of money raised by this charity will go to supporting the charity that addresses this vital issue as they expand their school to offer both pre school and secondary education to more than 700 vulnerable pupils.  We really appreciated all the money we raised for this good cause.

KS2 Football Tournament

Well done to our mixed Key Stage Two football team that took part in the Bobby Robson Football Tournament at the Newcastle Academy training ground on Wednesday, 7th June.  The standard of the tournament was very high and, although we didn’t progress, the school did enjoy an excellent 2-0 victory against St Mary’s.  Well done to all those who were involved.

Geography Field Trips

On Wednesday 14 June and June 15th our Year 7 pupils and Year 8 pupils visited Marsden Beach, South Shields for an essential field trip to carry out an investigation into coastal and river landforms.  The work helped to develop students’ map skills, fieldwork skills and their understanding of the local area.  The behaviour of the children was excellent and was commented on by members of the public.  Well done to all those children involved.

Visit to school of History Bloke

On Thursday, June 8th and Monday, June 12th we enjoyed a visit to our chool of the History Bloke.  The History Bloke specialises in bringing history to life through artefacts, drama, costume, investigations and art and worked on World War One with Year 8 and World War Two with Year 6.

School Photograph

Today was “Whole School Photograph Day” and we couldn’t have picked a better day for it!  The whole school photograph taken today was the first we have had since 2016.  It was lovely to take the opportunity to capture a photograph celebrating our school together.  Well done everyone!

I hope you have a good weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher