The end of term is always an incredibly busy time in school, but it has been truly magical to be able to enjoy this week with our families, celebrating in style at last!  It has been so long since we have been able to mark these milestones alongside parents, so thank you to everyone who juggled diaries, whipped up costumes and joined us to mark the end of year milestones for our children.  

We also said thank you and a fond farewell to the members of staff who are moving on to new ventures.  Miss Maher, who covered Miss Stronach's maternity leave, has been warmly welcomed by the children and families in Year 3.  We wish her every success and hope she will be back again soon, as she will be continuing to teach across local schools.  Mrs Banks, our Assistant Head and SENCo, who has helped so many Haltwhistle families and has often been the first member of staff parents know well, will be really missed by our whole school team.  We wish her the very best for the future.  Mrs Todd, possibly the most calm and caring teacher we know, will be making her mark as a driving instructor in September.  We wish her well and think she will be perfect for her new role.  We can't forget Mrs Forsyth, who has worked alongside Mrs Todd for the past 2 years and contributed much to our PE and Geography curriculum.  Thanks also to Miss Marchioli and Dr Jones who joined us short term and have brought great energy to our team.  

We look forward and are excited to welcome the new talent which will be joining our team in September.  Mrs Michelle Brewster joins us as SENCo, and has already met many of the families of children with EHCP's.  Mrs Timms joins us as our Year 5 teacher and Mrs Morris joins us as our full time nursery teacher.  You will have an opportunity to meet our new staff at our Meet the Teacher event in September.

Thank you once again to our whole staff team who have achieved so much, despite the difficulties that covid has continued to present us with over this past year.  They have shown exceptional resilience and determination to do the best by every child and it's as a result of their dedication that the children have made great progress and grown in confidence as the year has progressed.

A final thank you to our children and families for believing in us and helping us to make our school the happy, thriving and high achieving place that it is.  It is your support at home that is often the key to a child achieving their dreams and we thank you for the time and effort to helping your child along the way.

And so we have completed our first year at our new school site!  It's difficult to believe!  We look forward to a summer without packing boxes and covid restrictions and hope that wherever you venture, you have a wonderful summer holidays.

With best wishes, 

Mrs Drake

A few weeks ago our patron of reading, Margi McAlister, came into school to talk to our Year 5's about their reading habits. Keen to encourage them that reading can be beyond books and the classroom they talked about magazines. Margi then left them with a project to work together to make magazines which would inspire others to read. Margi then returned this week with Jane editor of the local magazine 'The Northumbrian' to see the children's magazines. Both Margi and Jane were incredibly impressed with the quality of work produced and Mr Falkingham talked very proudly about how their attitude and excitement towards the project had really impressed him. 

Are you looking for something to do during the holidays? Come along to Haltwhistle Library and join us for the Summer Reading Challenge.  Get ready for the Gadgeteers a Science and innovation themed challenge which will also be available online.

The Summer Reading Challenge is open to all primary school children and is designed for all reading abilities.

 The format for the challenge is that children can take part in 3 planned activity sessions over the holidays and borrow 2 books per visit to complete the challenge and be awarded their medal.

Sign up for free during the summer holidays.

Opening times are

Mon-Fri 10-1 then 1.30-4.30

Saturday 10-1 

Our Parent Calendar provides LIVE dates several months ahead.  This can be accessed on our school website and can be added to your phone calendar to you are always aware of forthcoming events.