Busines Name

The Whickham Cluster is made up of the following schools:

· Whickham School
· Clover Hill Community Primary School
· Fellside Community Primary School
· Front Street Community Primary School
· Marley Hill Primary School
· Washingwell Community Primary School
· Whickham Parochial Church of England Primary School
· Swalwell Primary School
· Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School
· Gibside School

The Extended Services Co-ordinator for the Whickam Cluster is Moira Ledger. Moira is responsible for co-ordinating activities and services throughout each school in the Whickam Cluster to ensure that each element of the Extended Services Core Offer is being met within the Cluster. Moira can be contacted for any queries regarding Extended Services in the Whickam Cluster. Moira's contact details are:

Moira Ledger
Whickham School
Burnthouse Lane
Whickam
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE16 5AR
(0191) 496 0026
moiraledger@gateshead.gov.uk

An allocation of funding to the Whickham Cluster Group was used to develop elements of the extended schools core offer in adult education, family learning, childcare and a varied menu of activities.

Cluster schools provide the following activities:

• Family ICT/Maths classes are available at Front Street
• ‘Keeping up with Kids’ family learning sessions are available at Clover Hill
• Basic French & Spanish family learning courses are available at Clover Hill
• Arts Mark activities are available at Clover Hill
• ‘Social Stories’ sessions for children with autism are available at Gibside

These sessions are for students and their families attending schools within the cluster and they can choose which session at which school is most convenient for them.

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School is participating in a Community Access Pilot this summer term. From 1st June - 30th August 2009, members of the local community will have free, unsupervised access to part of the school grounds to play during the evenings, weekends and summer holidays, from 9am to 8pm. The community will have access to the school playing fields, adventure playground and pic-nic area.

For more information contact Alex Marriage on (0191) 433 5129 or via email at alexmarriage@gateshead.gov.uk.

The Year Six Basketball Team from Front Street Community Primary School in Whickham, scooped the ‘National Champions’ title in the Hoops for Health basketball competition at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham in front of 7,000 cheering fans.

Front Street’s eight-strong team - all aged between 10 and 11 - made the long journey to the finals after winning both their local and area heats, which involved hundreds of North East schools. They triumphed in the national final, winning 12 points to 8, against Hoole Primary School from Cheshire.

Head teacher at Front Street School, Paul Sergison, said: “This is one of the finest achievements in Front Street Primary’s 100 year sporting history. We are incredibly proud of the team, who put in a superb effort to win the title.”

Whickham’s Year 6 basketball squad are: Emily Robson, Emma Hill, Katy Jenkins, Beth Pringle, Jonathan Soulsby, Liam Oxley, James Knight and Cameron Smith.

Students in Year 3 from schools in the Whickham Cluster attended a gifted and talented event focused on science at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne. Students took part in 5 workshops and really enjoyed it.

“I enjoyed working in the teams today and now I have made new friends in other schools”. Chloe Bush – Marley Hill Primary

“It was great working with people from other schools. There were no arguments, we just got on well together and had lots of fun”. Jordan Jeffery – Swalwell Primary

Workshop 1: The Magpie Swap

We learned about biology of cotton plants. We found out where cotton comes from and how it is used. We thought about the 3 R's - REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE. Then we used our sewing skills to make a flower corsage out of old recycled clothing.

“I found the cotton workshop interesting. I liked being able to keep my corsage that I made”. Emily Newstead – Swalwell Primary

“I enjoyed seeing the cotton plants and making a corsage out of recycled material”. Hannah Holliday – Front Street Primary

Workshop 2: Fire and Rescue

We met fire fighters from the Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade. We learned about the Fire Triangle OXYGEN, HEAT and FUEL and about fire safety. We watched a dramatic demonstration of a chip pan fire and we know NEVER to try and put a chip pan out with water.

“I loved the chip pan demonstration when the fireman put water on the flames”. Emma Dryden – Sacred Heart RC Primary

Workshop 3: A Fragile Parcel

We formed teams where everyone was from a different school and we examined different types of packaging together. Our challenge was to design a package that would protect fragile items (3 Pringle crisps) in the post for the least amount of money and as light as possible. Joint first were the Terrific Tigers and The Pringle Group whose packaging and posting both cost £1.63.

“I was in the Terrific Tigers team with Kieran from Marley Hill and Amber from Front Street and Matthew from Swalwell. We came joint forst in the fragile packing challenge. It was great fun!!!”. George Carter – Scared Heart RC Primary

“I learnt lots of new things today. I was really surprised at how heavy our packaging weighed”. Thomas Jennings – Front Street

“I liked being in the Pringle Packing Team with Jordan from Swalwell and George from Front Street, especially as we came joint forst with the Terrific Tigers”. Daniel Jeffery – Washingwell Primary

Workshop 4: The Chemistry of Colour

We worked with artists from the Laing Art Gallery to investigate the history and the science of paint. We crushed beetroot, curry powder, rocks with pestle and mortars and mixed them with eggs to make primary colours; RED, BLUE and YELLOW. Then we mixed the primary colours together to make secondary colours; ORANGE, GREEN and PURPLE.

“I enjoyed making our own paint with different things like eggs, vegetables, curry powder and rocks”. Georgina Shaw – Washingwell Primary

Workshop 5: Rocket Cars

We worked with apprentice engineers in teams to design and construct rocket cars. We then tested our cars which were air propelled to see how far they would travel. The best car travelled 8.5 metres. Well done Chloe, Sarah-Jane and Abigail!!!

“I loved making and testing the rocket cars. I would like to be an engineer when I grow up”. Matt Parkin – Cloverhill Primary

“The best part was when we tested the rocket cars we made. It was funny when the front came off one and it flew across the room and ended up upside down”. Kieran Davies – Marley Hill Primary

See the rest of our great photos in the Photo Gallery at the bottom of this page.

Fellside Primary School have taken part in the Bike-It project. Bike It is a national Sustrans led project, which aims to increase cycling in schools. There are many benefits of the project including increased physical activity of the children, reduction in local traffic congestion and a decrease in pollution and carbon emissions.

The Bike-It project focuses on running a number of events and activities including:

 Bike rides
 Bike ride breakfasts
 Bike maintenance classes
 Dr. Bike sessions
 Cycle coaching and cycle safety
 Classroom activities including geography, environment, health and growth and history
 PE activities
 Assemblies
 Dressing bike up
 Virtual bike race around the world
 Bike trails and displays with 3 x world champion
 National art competitions

The impact of Bike-It in Gateshead for 2008/2009 shows:

 11.9% of children cycle to school everyday compared to the national average of 1%
 A further 24.2% of children in the area cycle to school at least once per week

For more information contact Gateshead Bike-It Officer:

Alan Barlow
(0191) 261 6160
Alan.barlow@sustrans.org.uk

To read more on the Bike-It project click on the link below:

Download file Bike-It

The Whickham Cluster wants to know what YOU THINK, whether it be what services or activities you would like to see taking place in the cluster, comments on the Whickham Cluster Web page or any comments in general about the Whickham Cluster PLEASE TELL US!!!!!!!!

All you have to do to feedback what you want is to go to the homepage and post your comments by leaving your leave your age, school that you attend and area that you live in and of course WHAT YOU THINK!!!!