RedHouseTimesSummer Edition • Issue 30

There was also plenty of livelydiscussion in Year 4 on WorldBook Day, when the class had ahuge variety of books to look at.Interestingly this year, War Horse bythe author Michael Morpurgo wasvery popular after the successfulfeature film.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Students step up to Dukeof Edinburgh Challenge

Nursery heads off on aDragon Hunt

Plus success on and offthe sports field!

What else is new?New startersA big welcome to nursery nurses, LouiseBrady and Amanda Waldock who’verecently joined us in the Nursery andInfant School. We wish them the bestof luck in their new posts. We’re alsodelighted to welcome English teacher,Louise Reid who’ll be covering maternityleave for Mrs Fryer.

New babiesWe’ve seen a bit of a baby boom at the school in recent weeks.Congratulations to Mrs Fryer on the safe arrival of Eloise Constance,to Mrs Bessey on the birth of her baby girl, Isabella Louise, and to Mrs Lindsay Symington and the only boy... baby Elias James. The newmums and their gorgeous little bundles are all doing well.

There’ll be no more ‘buttering 200 sandwiches before lunch’ for cateringassistant Carol Allison. She’s retiring after a staggering 27 years at RedHouse School and plans to enjoy herself by simply relaxing. Carol is a wellknown, much respected member of the lunchtime team and her smiley faceand good sense of humour will be missed by staff and children alike.

Main School Nursery & Infants ParentsMonday 4th June - Sun 10th June Half Term Holiday Half Term HolidayTuesday 12th June Y1 Trip to Ormesby HallWednesday 13th June PTA Meeting - 16:15

Main School LibraryThursday 14th June Pupil Council Meeting

Rudi Openheimer - Talk to Year 9Friday 15th June Y6 Outward Bound to 17 June

Y7 History Visit to Bolton CastleSaturday 16th June Olympic Torch in DurhamSunday 17th June Olympic Torch in StocktonMonday 18th June Y8 HPV Injections

Y10 Parents’ EveningY4-9 Olympic Cross-Curricular Week

Tuesday 19th June Y10 History Visit to Nursery and ReceptionThackray Museum Sports Day 14:15

Wednesday 20th June Y2 Visit to Bede’s WorldThursday 21st June Y7-10 Senior Sports Day Y1-Y3 Sports Day

13:00-16:00 Clairville Stadium at Main School 09:15Friday 22nd June Y4-6 Junior Sports Day

12:00-16:00 - School FieldWednesday 27th June Joseph Production Nursery School Council Meeting

to 28 June New Parents Meeting 14:45Thursday 28th June Transition DayFriday 29th June Y11 Leavers Prom

ISA Festival of Sport to 1 JulyTuesday 3rd July Y8 Art Visit to Yorkshire Year 3 Visit to Seven Stories

Sculpture Park & The BalticWednesday 4th July Art Exhibition 15:30 Start Y1 Parent Information

Meeting 15:00Thursday 5th July Y4-5 Visit to Barley Hall Nursery Parent Information

Duke of Edinburgh Expedition Meeting 15:00- Group One to July 6

Friday 6th July Festival of Achievement Reports HomeSat/Sun 7th - 8th July PTA Summer Fete - 10:00-15:00Monday 9th July Duke of Edinburgh Expedition Olympic Celebrations

- Group Two to 10 July Reception and Y2 Parent Information Meeting 15:00

Tuesday 10th July Reception Assembly for Parents 09:00French Cafe 14:30

Wednesday 11th July Last Day of TermThursday 12th July Summer Art School to 15 July

New way of life!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Amanda Waldock Louise Brady

a foundation for lifeRED HOUSE SCHOOL

Red House School Enquiries

Preparatory & Senior School,36 The Green, Norton, Stockton-on-Tees TS20 1DX.Contact: Mrs Jefferson on (01642) 553370

Nursery & Infact School,The Old Vicarage, The Green, Norton, Stockton-on-Tees TS20 1EQ.Contact: Mrs Green on (01642) 535353

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It’s been a really exciting termto date, with pupils and staff alike striving for success. We can all be very proud of

what we have achieved overthe last fewmonths.Alex Taylor, Headmaster

Once upon aWorld Book Day...

Red House Nursery & Infant School was invaded by Mr Men, Gruffalos, monkeys, witches, as well as kings and queens from different historical periods, as children and staff dressed up to join in the

celebrations. Inspired by the books of famous authors; including Roald Dahl, Terry Deary, Anthony Browne, Roger Hargreaves and Julia Donaldson, the children participated in a variety of activities, and concocted recipes for ‘marvellous medicines’. Willy Wonka kept everyone under control, including the Oompa Loompas!

A recipe for successRatatouille was the dish of the day when the Nursery and Infant School served up this delicious and colourful cuisine!As part of their French topic, Year 2 children made ratatouille under the supervision of renowned French chefs MissWarnock and Mrs Summers!! They tasted all the ingredients, added the various herbs, and a splendid meal was made.The children then asked Marie, the school cook, to cook it for their lunch the following day and it was tres delicieux!!!

Perfectpancakes!Nursery and Infant School children had a “flipping” good time whenthey joined in with traditional Shrove Tuesday pancake races. Someexcellent flips were performed and children cheered on their teacherswho had their own race!

Happybirthdaytoyou!Year 3 pupils performed a surprise birthdayconcert for Millbeck resident Miss Barbara Farr,

in celebration of her 102nd birthday. The children sang somepopular songs, played music on the piano and flute and recitedpoetry. Marie, the school cook baked a large birthday cake, andthe children presented a giant birthday card to congratulate MissFarr on reaching a giant age. The card contained facts from1910, the year Miss Farr was born.

Nursery & Infant pupils held an awe-inspiring art exhibitionfor parents and friends. The visitors were impressed withthe high standard of work from such young individuals.Creative arts, along with sport and music are important

aspects of life at the school.

HASANYONESEENMYDRAGON?

Strange creatures were seen flying in the sky when Nursery visited Hardwick Park andconducted their very own dragon hunt! The children had to complete special dragontasks and challenges including making the loudest roar! All involved enjoyed a super

afternoon out, including a great picnic lunch fit for the king of all dragons!!

ThebigsingalongNursery & Infant School pupils had a fantastic time celebrating‘Sing Up Day’. Each year group learnt a song with actionswhich they performed to the rest of the school in an afternoonconcert. The highlight for the children was the staff’s versionof ‘A ping pong ball’.

Everything’sshipshape forYear5As part of National Science and Engineering week, Mr Wilkinson and 5Wvisited the A&P ship repair facility at Teesport. A&P is based on one of thebusiest ports in Europe and operates some of the world’s best-equippedmarine services, so there was plenty to see for our budding engineers.

Speedboat challengeYear 4 were set an exciting task in science recently. Usinga limited supply of raw materials, groups of classmateswere challenged to create the fastest model boat.Congratulations to the red team for designing the lightest,most streamlined boat which inevitably won in our timedraces.

Alovelyway tomake mum’sday!

Mother’s Day is something that the children at school never forget, and thisyear we held a lovely Mother’s Day Service at St Mary’s Church. Childrenfrom the Nursery and Infant School and their parents listened to traditionalreadings, poems and songs with a modern twist. The mums were then

presented with a daffodil.

Mia Fleming handing her mother Lucie seasonal daffodils

Liz is one-in-a-millionNursery and Infant School children had a fabulous day when they joined Liz Million, an international children’s book illustrator, for some inspirationalart workshops. Starting with a basic shape the children were encouraged to create imaginative characters for storybooks. They were absolutelyabsorbed in each session and produced some truly amazing drawings.

Proudofourpublic speakersAfter qualifying in Gateshead recently, Red House School wentthrough to the Regional Finals of ‘The Public Speaking Competitionfor Schools’, held annually by The English Speaking Union.The competition took place at Leeds Grammar School whereChristy Masterson was our main speaker on the topic: PolygamousMarriages should be condoned. Charles Simpson acted asquestioner and Abigail Hearmon as chairperson. A total of fiveschools took part and Red House were placed a creditable third.

When in Rome...Year 3 pupils took charge of a Roman Fort for the day and successfully foughtoff an attack from the local Celts. They were drilled in weaponry skills andguarding duties by a fearsome centurion, feasted on a sumptuous Roman lunchand mastered the skills of Roman writing and lamp-making. The Roman toiletswere not as bad as expected and all the auxiliaries received payment at the endof the day for successfully completing their tasks.

THEBIGMATHEMATICS CHALLENGE“On Tuesday 20th March we travelled to Macmillan to take part in the UKMTMaths Challenge. At first we were very nervous, but as soon as the first roundbegan we settled down, got to work and tried our best. After the second roundwe were third out of 22 schools. The last round was the relay race, which wasreally good fun, and after that was finished the final places were announced.Unfortunately we missed out on the top three places and we came a very pleasingfourth. A quick click on the sat nav and a Mcflurry later we headed back to schoolhappy with how we had performed in the days events.”

By Isobel Grove, Jaeho Hwang, Bethany Lamb and Emily Stewart.

Yourchance toget involved

The beginning of Spring was once again signalledby the sight of Year 10 students embarking on theirfirst practice walk towards their DofE award. Havingplanned their walks over several weeks, pupils hadbeen initially disappointed when poor weather inFebruary cancelled the original walk. However, earlyin the morning of Saturday 17th March, thirtyapprehensive yet enthusiastic students arrived atschool, climbed on board the minibuses and set offfor Reeth in the Yorkshire Dales.Upon arrival, pupils headed off in their walking groups,each accompanied by staff. Over the course of thenext five hours, they began to learn the skills that theywill need when they plan and undertake their two dayexpedition in the summer term. Using a compass, andmatching the features of the landscape to a map, willbe of great importance if they are to successfully

navigate their way around the countryside and backto the safety of a campsite.For the majority of the day, the weather was dry andclear, but a steady downpour over the course of theafternoon reminded the pupils that carrying a tent,cooking equipment, food, water, toiletries and achange of clothing for up to fifteen kilometres will notalways be plain sailing! Thankfully, on this occasion,all the children managed to complete the walk safelyand successfully. Staff were particularly pleased to seethat most were more than eager to learn, and to taketheir turn navigating the rest of their group around theroutes they had prepared.Special thanks go to Mr May, Mr Palmer, Mr Jones,Mr Butterfield, Mr McReddie, Mr Taylor, Mr Wilkinsonand Mrs Garrett for giving up their time to enable theday to be so successful. Doingourbit

forCharity!Charity is always an important subject at Red House School and we are always looking at events and charitiesthat we can support. This last term saw Sport Relief and both sites entered into the event with great enthusiasm.Pupils ‘gave it their all’ with traditional jogging around the school fields or the more challenging 3 legged version!Either way their goal was to run a mile, and even a teacher or two took part... well done Mr Jones.

It’s been another incredibly busy term startingwith the Art Exhibition. We were amazed at howfantasic the children’s pictures were. Thank youso much to all the parents who supported thisevent.Once again Bags to School was well supported

and £298.00 was raised. Please keep collectingall of your unwanted items for next time.Great Smurfing fun was had on movie night bypupils and parents on both sites. Smurfs TheMovie was a hit with all ages including the adults!Easter was a very busy week for the PTA. TheEaster bunny made an appearance and promptlyreceived lots of hugs from the children. There wasa Fun Day in the Nursery and Infant School with

lots of easter eggs to be found in the grounds.And we ran a tombola in the main school which,as usual, was cleared out in less than a hour.We have lots coming up this summer with theSchool Ball, Jubilee celebrations and sports daysand hope to see you at these events.A huge thanks goes to Imogen Grylls who mayhave had something to do with the Easter bunny!Thanks also to all the parents and PTA memberswho continually support our events. All themoney we raise goes directly back to organisingmore events and activities for the children inschool. New PTA members are always welcome,just give us a call.

The Duke of Edinburgh Awards programme gives all young people the chance to develop skillsfor work and life, fulfil their potential and have a brighter future. If you’re 14 years of age or over,and want to get involved, speak to Mrs Williamson, Mr May or Mr Palmer. You can also find outmore information about the awards at www.dofe.org

Bags 2 School raises £298A huge thank you to all parents, staff and pupils who contributed towards the ‘Bags 2 School’ project. A fantastic amount was raised through your kind donations.

PTA fundraising &events

Year10s takefirststeps towardsDukeofEdinburghAward

Eggcellent fun for Easter!

The last week of term was our time to celebrate Easter, andthis included making eggs from Nursery up to Year 6 for the

annual Best Egg Competition.Nursery and Infant pupils spent the morning preparing theirentries for judging that afternoon, and the PTA selected thelucky winners who each received a special Easter egg...

chocolate of course!Over at the main site, the hall was commandeered by Years 4to 6 for the serious business of designing and making ‘award

winning’ Easter eggs. Competition was tough, but theeventual winner was a very regal Jubilee egg created by Kate Stohrer in Year 6. All of the finalists received a well

deserved chocolate egg.

Other activities included a beautiful Easter service for thewhole school in the church, an Easter tombola organised bythe PTA and, on the last day of term, the return of our nowfamous “Redhouse has Talent” show for Years 4 to 11.

REDHOUSEHASTALENTREDHOUSEHASTALENT

Entries from all year groups were received

for the

annual ‘Red House has Talent’ show whic

h, as always,

was fantastic! Students kept us entertained

with a mix

of piano playing, singing and comedy... rig

ht through to

gymnastics, with a very high standard in al

l performances.

The event is totally organised and run by

the Year 11s

as part of their charity raising initiative, from

taking the

entries and putting up posters to hosting

the show

itself. Money is raised by charging to both

watch the event and to take part, and this

year all proceeds will go to the Hands of

Love Orphanage in Uganda.

The school hall was packed with excited

children and the judges (all Year 11 tutors)

watched from the back and gave an

appraisal after each performance. The

highlight of

the event

was the music medley from the

decades which all staff and

children alike loved! This year’s

talented winners were Kaisey Elder and B

en Hunter who

gave a fantastic rendition of ‘Sweet Child

O Mine’, together

with Sam Bell and Stella Dooris, who each

played the piano

to a very high standard, Gi Dong Park for

a superb piece on

violin, singer Emily Craig, and talented duo

Nathania Ewruje

and Aditi Rangan for their excellent perfor

mance of ‘Jar of

Hearts’. Well done to everyone who entere

d!

TUESDAYRounders Y2 & 3 Mrs JacksonArt Y2 & 3 Mrs Reeves Cookery Y1 Mr McKayCraft Reception Miss BennettWEDNESDAYGymnastics Y2 Miss ThompsonTable Top Games Reception Mrs Boult Outdoor Y1 Mrs KitchingMusic Y2&3 Miss WarnockTHURSDAYCricket Y2&3 Mr HaywoodLego Y2 Mrs Summers

MONDAYHandwriting Group Miss White 1.20-1.35 room 17Duke of Edinburgh Y10 Mr Palmer / Mr May 4.15-5.15 room CDrama Y4-Y7 AJ Academy 4.15-5.15 HallCricket Y4-Y6 Mr Crewe / Mr Kitching 1.15-1.50 FieldCookery Y4-Y6 Mrs Roberts 4.15-5.30 Education CentreYoung Engineers Y4-Y9 Mr Wilkinson 1.25-1.55 TechnologyAthletics Y5-10 PE Dept 4.00-5.15 FieldU11 Rounders U11 Miss Sweeney / Miss Ewing 1.25-1.55 FieldTUESDAYHandwriting Group Miss White 1.20-1.35 room 17Rounders Y7 & Y8 Miss Sweeney / Miss Ewing 1.15-1.50 FieldArt Y4-Y9 Mrs Fraser 1.15-1.55 Art roomSenior Vocal Group Y8-11 Mr McReddie 10.55-11.15 Music roomStreet Dance Y4-Y9 AJ Academy 4.15-5.15 Sports HallCookery Y7-Y9 Mrs Roberts 4.15-5.30 Education CentreJunior Orchestra Mr McReddie 8.30-9.00 HouseWEDENSDAYGCSE Geology Mr Makin 8.00-8.45 PhysicsLatin Y4-Y6 Mrs Jones 4.15-5.00 room CCricket Y4-Y6 Mr Crewe / Mr Kitching 1.15-1.50 FieldString quartet / jazz ensemble Mr McReddie 1.20-1.50 Music roomArt Y10 & 11 Mrs Fraser 4.00-5.00 Art roomTechnology GCSE coursework Y10 & 11 Mr Wilkinson 4.00-5.00 TechnologyJunior Wind Orchestra Mr McReddie 1.30-2.00 Music roomU15 Rounders U15 Miss Sweeney / Miss Ewing 1.00-1.25 FieldReading Y4-Y6 Mrs Williamson lunchtime LibraryTHURSDAYGCSE Geology Mr Makin 8.00-8.45 PhysicsSubbuteo Y4-Y8 Mr Jones 4.15-5.15 room C / DCricket Nets Mr Crewe / Mr Kitching 4.15-5.15 Norton Cricket ClubReading Y7-Y9 Mrs Williamson lunchtime LibraryFRIDAYChoir / Show Chorus Mr McReddie 1.20-1.50 Music roomMaths Surgery Mr Middleton 1.20-1.50 room YSubbuteo Y4-Y8 Mr Jones 1.30-1.55 Room C / DRacing Team Y5-Y11 Mr Wilkinson 1.30-4.00 Technology

ACTIVITY YEAR GROUP TUTOR TIME LOCATION

Prep. & Senior School Clubs

Clubsandactivities

The season kicked off brilliantly with theStockton Secondary Schools Championshipsat Ian Ramsay school. Many of our pupils ranvery well and a few were just outside the toptwelve, which was the qualifying boundary forthe Cleveland Championships.

Congratulations to Phoebe White in Year 7 andAbi Hearmon in Year 11 who both qualified forthe next stage and went on to representStockton in the county race. They gave anotherhuge performance for such a small school andmade it through to represent Cleveland againstthe Northern counties.

More success followed and both girls wenton to represent the Northern counties againstthe South, so a massive well done! Abi has

sinced represented the county in the EnglishSchools County Cross-Country Championships,a fantastic achievement!

In the Red House annual fixture we found it very difficult, taking on teams like St.Martins/Ampleforth who are always veryorganised. However, we still managed 3rd place out of five schools in both the girls’ and the boys’ races. Well done to our best counters; Will Todd, Phoebe White and KateLowcock

At the annual Crooksbarn race around Mill Lanefield, we won the Year 4 & 5 races but lost theYear 6 race, so we retained the shield by a 2-1score. Michael Chilvers, who is only in Year 4,was second overall. That was a brilliant run!

In the Woodleigh cross-country, we facedformidable opposition from much biggerschools, but we performed very well in manycases. There were about a hundred runners ineach race and the best placed pupils from ourschool were; Lucy Todd 4th in the U-11 girls,Will Todd 9th in the U-13 boys, Phoebe White11th in the U-13 girls, Will Baker 13th in the U-9 mixed race and Rebecca Hall 18th in theU-11 girls. Well done to all those runners!

In the house cross-country, the U-13 boys’ racewas won by Will Todd and the U-13 girls’ racewas won by Kate Lowcock. The U-11 boys’race was won by Sam Douglass and the U-11girls’ race was won by Lucy Todd. Whorltonwon the U-13 boys’, the U-11 girls’ and boys’races and Castle won the U-13 girls’. Nearly aclean sweep for Whorlton!SP

ORTS ROUND UP

Cross-country season summary

Nursery & Infant SchoolACTIVITY YEAR GROUP TUTOR

FOOTBALLMATCH REPORTU-16 Boys reach semi-final of nationalcompetition

Netball ball girls

The U-16 football team enjoyed a marvellouscup run in the national ISFA Shield this year,against teams from as far afield as Somersetand Sunderland. After an ignominious earlyexit in the first round last year, the boys weredetermined to mount a serious challenge inthis prestigious event. They did not disappointand began their campaign in emphatic styleagainst Sunderland High. The 3-2 score linein no way reflected the dominance which RedHouse exerted in every aspect of the game.The draw for the next round revealed thatBootham School, York, would be our nextopponents. This was a fixture which testedthe resolve of the boys as they withstood a serious examination from a very accomplishedBootham team. Tenacious defending by Kieran Tappin and outstanding goalkeeping byCameron Grove could not prevent Bootham from taking the lead. A well taken goal byTheo Brace restored parity and a beautifully struck free kick by Thomas Small in the dyingminutes saw an elated Red House team into the next round.A trip to Leeds and a return fixture against last year’s opponents, Fulneck School, wasour next and considerable challenge. A slow start brought Cameron Grove into actionagain but the team grew into the game and dominated the later stages with an excellentdisplay of attacking football. Sam Burchett and Thomas Small provided the goals to sendRed House into unchartered territory and the semi-final.Red House played host to Liverpool College and met a team of considerable pedigree.Liverpool (last year’s winners) had swept all before them and played with a real swaggerand confidence from the outset. We struggled to get any foothold in the game and had torely on Kieran Tappin and Cameron Grove, once again, to frustrate the opposition. Goalseither side of half time proved decisive, however, and Liverpool ran out worthy 2-0 winners.The cup run came to an end but not without significant resistance. There was no disgracein losing to an outstanding team and the boys represented the school with some excellentfootball and considerable endeavour throughout a very enjoyable and successful campaign.

Year 8 were invited to be ball girls for the TeamNorthumbria Netball League at Sport Central in Newcastle.Our very own Marie Ewing was playing with TeamNorthumbria against Yorkshire Jets, and we are pleasedto say her team won! It must have been the excellentball collection skills of the girls!

NetballIt’s been a very good season for netball with someoutstanding performances and results.• Year 5 came a respectable 4th in the U-10s’ DurhamSchools’ High 5

• Year 7 were runners-up in the league, cup andtournament.

• Year 8 ‘A’ team had a fantastic season, winning theleague, cup and the tournament

• Year 8 ‘B’ team were winners in the league andtournament

• Year 9 ‘A’ team were runners-up in the league, cup andtournament

• Year 9 ‘B’ team won the league and were tournamentrunners-up

• Year 10 were runners-up in the league and tournament • Year 11 ‘A’ team had a fantastic season, winning theleague, cup and tournament

• Year 11 ‘B’ team won the league and tournament andwere cup runners-up

Well done to all the teams - keep up the good work!

The U-14 Boys’ hockey team began a very successfulcup campaign in magnificent style. By virtue of imperiousperformances against Yarm and Egglescliffe the U-14sbecame Durham and Cleveland Champions.The boys were under no illusions as to the magnitude oftheir task as they now progressed to the North Eastfinals at Norton Hockey Club. They faced a serious testagainst St. Peter’s, York (Yorkshire runners-up),Ampleforth (Yorkshire champions) and Egglescliffe(Durham runners-up).St. Peter’s proved to be a strong and athletic opponentand it was with some relief that Guy Henderson took asharp chance to win the game.The next game against Ampleforth seemed to beslipping beyond our grasp as we conceded two earlygoals. The boys showed remarkable resilience however,and fought back with goals by Michael Andrews, AlexDunne and Matthew Taylor to record a famous victory.Local rivals, Egglescliffe, now stood between Red Housebeing crowned North East champions. Two well takenchances by Allan Bird settled early nerves butEgglescliffe seemed determined to spoil the party.Sloppy defending and tired legs undermined our earlysuperiority and we conceded two goals to draw thematch. A point was enough, however, and the RedHouse team celebrated their significant achievements insome style.The North Finals at Leeds University proved a bridge tofar and the boys struggled to come to terms with the skilland power of the North West champions, AltrinchamGrammar and runners-up, Rossall School. There was nodisgrace in defeat however, and this young squad willcarry valuable experience into our next campaign.

HOCKEYMATCH REPORT

U-14 Boys’ Hockey achievenational cup success