Dear Families, It is with great pleasure that I write to you for the first time as the new Executive Headteacher of St Thomas More. I have had the privilege of working with Mrs Boyle over the past 11 years and it is a great honour to continue to build upon the work she undertook to make our school a happy, thriving hub of learning. She certainly did a fantastic job and I’m sure you will join me in wishing her a very long, happy and healthy retirement. We also said ‘Goodbye’ to Mrs Dryden at the end of last term – and we’d like to wish her every success in her new teaching post, she will, no doubt be an asset to her new school. My first priority is to get to know all of the families and children, as it is important that we all work together in order that our children can develop and flourish, both socially and academically. I have met many of the children already and have been made to feel very welcome by them all and I am looking forward to meeting you all over the coming term. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome some new members of staff to the team – Mrs Belton, our new Assistant Headteacher, teaching in Class 2, Mrs Donaldson, covering in Class 1 for the remainder of Mrs Salmon’s maternity leave and Mrs Lee, who will teach in Class 2 on Thursdays. All of these staff come with a great deal of experience and I have no doubt they will play a big role in our continued success moving forward. Our ‘Meet the Teacher’ sessions will be held on Wednesday 13th September 3:30-4:30pm – and I hope that you will take this opportunity to come and meet your child’s new teacher and myself on an informal basis. We also welcome Mr Iain Wood who will be with us this academic year as he completes his teacher training. Our ‘What’s On’ notice, provides you with an overview of upcoming events taking place within school across the next term. We hope that you will continue to support us and hope to see you at liturgies and other shared events wherever possible. Please note that there has been a change to the advertised holiday dates – which was due to unforeseen circumstances and would ask that you pay particular attention to these when planning holidays etc. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries, concerns or if there is anything I can do to help and support you with your child’s learning and school life. Thank you for your continued commitment and support for our school family. Mrs Sam Clarke

St Thomas More RC Primary School Thorndale Road, Belmont, Durham, DH1 2AQ Tel/Fax: 0191 3847025 Email: stthomasmore@durhamlearning.net

Autumn Term 2017 September 2017

It is vitally important that we have the most up-to-date information so that we are able to contact you in case of emergency. Please inform the school office of any changes to contact details and update any medical information.

To remind us of our trip to South Shields Class 2 designed and made clay fish. First, we

had to soften the clay and roll it flat. We carefully cut around the template, using the

clay tools and then we added a mouth and fins. We decorated the fish by pushing

sequins into the clay and we gave our fish a googly eye. When the fish dried, we put

them onto a blue plate to make them look like they were swimming in the sea.

Page 2 Autumn Term 2017

Children from St Thomas More, St Joseph’s and

Sherburn Village Primary all joined together to take

part in a sports morning in July. There were various

activities set up including: races, jumping, balancing

and a penalty shoot-out. The children really enjoyed

their morning, mixing with the other children and

developing team skills. Each activity was introduced by

Y4/5 children from Sherburn Village Primary. They

gave instructions to our children and demonstrated

how to take part in each game. A lovely morning was

enjoyed by all!

On behalf of the staff, I would like to thank you all for your kind words, cards and lovely gifts that were given at the end of the last term. We are always grateful for the support that we receive from parents in our school. It is much appreciated.

In the summer term, Class 3 studied the Amazon and

compared it to the continent of Africa. The class also

studied the book ‘Journey to the River Sea’ by Eva

Ibbotson. The children completed homework research

projects about the author and investigated other books

written by her that we have in our school library.

During the topic, we looked at all aspects of life in the Amazon and the children

created a model by following a design brief.

The children completed peer evaluations of the models and used a variety of

materials, including playdoh and lollipop sticks, and then added finishing touches to

their creations. Animals, such as toucans, capybaras, monkeys and sloths, were

included too.

The children learned about what it is like to live in the Amazon, including finding out

about tribes and styles of houses. The week concluded with an investigation about

foods that come from the area and we discovered that two of the main exports were

cocoa and vanilla, so we made cocoa and vanilla cupcakes and iced the cakes with

blue icing to symbolise the Amazon River.

Autumn Term 2017 Page 3

During the summer term the

children were learning about

materials. They were given the

challenge of choosing various

materials to make a shelter which

would be waterproof. The children

worked together as a team,

discussing their ideas and

suggesting materials which would

be good to use and explaining why.

They then assembled their shelter

using string and pegs to keep the

materials

together. A

very good job

- considering

it was a very

windy day!

Class 2 walked to the park at Belmont and practised their

data collection skills. We sat and watched the cars go by

and then created a tally chart to show the information.

When we got back to school, we made a pictogram to

show the number of cars we saw and the different

colours they were. As a treat for all of their hard work,

the children enjoyed a break in the play area and they

were great at taking turns and playing well together.

On Friday 14th July Opal came into school to help the children learn about the conservation of nature and went on a hunt for insects within the school grounds. The children began by looking at different species of insects and learned how to categorise them. We learnt the difference between moths and butterflies and how to safely capture insects in order to study them, before releasing them back into the undergrowth. The children were surprised by the variety of different insects they found.

In RE, Class 3 learned about symbols of new life

and in their collective worship they planted

sunflower seeds, which they cared for and

watched grow. With Mr Smith’s help, they

transferred the seedlings into larger plant pots

and put sticks in the pots so the plantlings

would not break when growing taller.

During the summer term, six children represented the school at the Newcastle Building Society ‘Boardroom

Challenge.’ Known collectively as ‘The Super Six’ the children were tasked to prepare a presentation about an event

that they would organise and run to raise money for their selected charity. The Super Six knew that if they were

successful they would be given a £500 budget. They had to carry out hours of research to work out the cost of

holding the event and calculate potential profits which would be given to charity. The children travelled to the head

office of Newcastle Building Society and presented their pitch to a panel of judges, which included the Mayor of

Newcastle. The children gave an amazing pitch full of enthusiasm and knowledge. Their idea was to hold a colour

run event on our school field. Unfortunately another school’s idea was chosen to win the £500 prize but all children

had a great day and developed their organisation, communication and leadership skills along the way.

Autumn Term 2017 Page 4

Cyberbullying - advice for parents and carers from In the latest research by anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label it was found that 69% of young people under 20 have done something abusive to another person online, while 17% of young people have experienced cyberbullying. We give advice for parents and carers concerned about cyberbullying and practical tips for how they can support their child. Discussing online bullying with your child It’s important to have regular conversations with your child about the online world, including issues like cyberbullying. This will help you to understand if they have ever experienced or witnessed online bullying for themselves, and give you an opportunity to support them and reassure them that you are always there to help. Some questions which you could ask your child are:

How can you be kind online?

What would you do if someone was being unkind online?

What do you think cyberbullying is?

How is it different to physical bullying? For more support and advice contact: UK Safer Internet Centre https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/cyberbullying-advice-parents-and-carers The Family Lives helpline on 08088002222 for more tailored advice about online abuse The Anti-bullying Alliance anti-bullying app has more information about online abuse.

In an emotional farewell, we said goodbye to our

Year 6 children in style as they presented the ABC of

their St Thomas More school life to parents and

family members. The liturgy included songs,

highlighted talents, stories and memories from

across the children’s seven years at our school. There

were moments of laughter and tears and all children

performed beautifully. Everybody at St Thomas More

are extremely proud of the ‘2017 Leavers’ for all

their achievements during their time with us and

they will be a huge miss. We are certain that they will

all go on to do fantastic things in their lives and they

will always be a part of the St Thomas More family.

On the 26th June, the school held our annual sports day.

After a huge success last year, the children completed a

number of different activities in the morning to earn points

for their respective houses. Activities included a penalty

shootout, a basketball throw, a target throw, javelin throw

and long jump. As if that wasn’t already enough exercise,

parents and family members joined us on the afternoon for

a number of thrilling races. Every child competed against

the other children in their year group in an obstacle race,

egg and spoon race and a sprint, again to earn points for

their house. Finally, at the end of the day, all of the points

that had been awarded were counted and verified, and the

winners of sports day 2017 were… Cuthbert! All of the

children had a fantastic day and they all gave their very best

effort in everything they did.

Dear Children, Staff, Parents, Grandparents, Governors and Friends. I would like to express my deepest thanks to you all for the many cards, beautiful gifts and warm wishes received on my recent retirement. Your kindness and generosity was totally overwhelming. I am grateful for your attendance at my many retirement celebrations (yes there were a few!) I truly appreciate all of the hard work by so many people that went into the preparation of the celebrations - each one was very special. It has been an absolute privilege to work with you all during my time at St Thomas More. Thank you for your support, friendship, help and co-operation. As I leave I am taking you with me. You will live on in my memories and in my heart, I will always remember our shared laughter, our joys as well as our struggles and the things we achieved together. God Bless and Thank You. Mrs Boyle