Contents
- Contents
- Key Stage 2 Dance Club
- Gosforth Kids Market
- Curriculum Information
- Respect
- Oracy Ambassadors
- Festival of Fun
- Together we Fly: World Friendship Project 2026
- Year 2 Learning
- Talk Pants and Help Keep Children Safe
- Safeguarding Leaders
- Careers - Our Very First Career Fair - Can You Help???
- Relaunching Our Archibald School Reading Lists
- Year 4 Learning
- Goodbye Miss Gowland
- Attendance
- EYFS Learning
- Welcome to the Team
- Dates & Letters
- Sun Safety - Slip, Slap, Slop!
- How To Stay Safe In Hot Weather
Key Stage 2 Dance Club
The Key Stage 2 Dance Club had a wonderful morning at The Newcastle Schools dance Festival at the Whiley bay Playhouse.
They performed a dance to 'One Short Day' from the musical 'Wicked' and got to cheer on and enjoy watching their peers from across the city. The children showed amazing team spirit and respect whilst in the audience and the blew Mrs Mullick away on stage! Well done dance club, we are so proud of you!
A huge thank you to Mrs Mullick for her time, energy, creativity and enthusiasm with this club!
Gosforth Kids Market
The Shopping Centre is hosting a children's market where kids can set up a stall for £5 in our vacant unit. (the money goes to Gosforth Playpark fund). They can sell things to fundraise for a good cause or to be entrepreneurial. They may want to fundraise for our school, PTFA, local community, or to buy a new camper van as one child is doing! All children must be accompanied by an adult. Please see the attached flier for the stalls and to encourage you to go down and visit... They have a limited number of tables left, but if there is more demand we may run it again. Anyone wishing to apply for a stall should email georgie@gosforthcentral.co.uk
Respect
One of our key school rules is that 'we are respectful'. We try to be respectful to -
- Ourselves
- Others
- Objects
- Our environment
As the parents and carers of our school, please do not let your child or children jump on the equipment, climb the goal posts and access the school toys before or after school. It doesn't matter what their friends are doing... Equally, please advocate for ALL children to stop doing this.
Sadly, this week, we watched grown-ups of 5 children allow them to climb and jump all over a table whilst stood either watching or chatting.
As we teach the children to be respectful, not intervening and stopping children from doing this goes against the message we are giving.
This equipment is for your children to use during their breaks and the lunchtime. If it is not available, the children will go back to having a blank yard to use which won't be fun for anyone.
School cannot afford to replace broken equipment from disrespect. Charges will be made to families if this is permitted to happen before or after school.
Oracy Ambassadors
We are proud to introduce Archibald’s Oracy Ambassadors, who will play an important role in representing our student voice and promoting the value of speaking and listening across the school. In this role, they will help to raise the profile of oracy by supporting events, encouraging confident communication, and inspiring their peers to develop their speaking and listening skills. We look forward to seeing the positive impact they will have in championing oracy within our school community.
Festival of Fun
The very last week of the summer term will be our 'Festival of Fun'.
We are asking if any of our grown-ups would like to come in and talk to the children about their experiences with dance / gymnastics or sports? This could be a class activity or even an assembly...
Equally, if anyone would like to come in and host any active sessions with the children, we'd love to welcome you in... yoga, pilates, taekwondo, zumba, basketball, skipping...
Together we Fly: World Friendship Project 2026
Archibald took part in Together we Fly, a 2026 Festival World Friendship Project. The project leaders were overwhelmed by the response to this project, with 12,527 children and young people from 101 schools, plus community groups taking part. They received thousands of beautiful butterflies, which have now been included in a public installation at Newcastle Civic Centre. It is a kaleidoscope of colour and joy, and lifts the spirits of all who see it. If you are able to visit, I am sure you will enjoy exploring the installation, but for those who cannot go in person, the project team have produced a digital photobook about the project which includes as many photos of the installation as possible, to give you a sense of what it looks like and to represent those who sent in butterflies.
Year 2 Learning
This week as part of ART and DT week, we have been leaning about digital art and how to use the iPads and images to create our own artwork. In DT, we made a wrap and learnt about what makes a balanced diet.
Talk Pants and Help Keep Children Safe
Letting Children Speak Out — A simple conversation can make a big difference, and that’s what Talk PANTS is all about. Talk PANTS is a simple conversation to help keep your child safe from harm.
Safeguarding Leaders
Within school our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Rebecca Turner – Headteacher. Our additional Safeguarding Leaders are:
- Kimberley Mullick – Deputy Headteacher
- Nicola McNally – Early Years Leader
- Kathryn Howard – Key Stage Leader
- Angela Ward – SEND Leader
Careers - Our Very First Career Fair - Can You Help???
Relaunching Our Archibald School Reading Lists
Celebrating the National Year of Reading 2026 We are delighted to announce the relaunch of our Archibald School Reading Lists, an exciting initiative designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading across our school community. As part of the National Year of Reading, we have relaunched our reading lists for every year group, ensuring they reflect a diverse, engaging, and high-quality selection of texts. From timeless classics to contemporary favourites, these books have been chosen to spark curiosity, imagination, and meaningful discussion among our pupils. Reading is at the heart of every child’s learning journey. It strengthens language skills, builds empathy, and opens doors to new ideas and experiences. Our lists aim to support both school and home reading, making it easier for families to explore books together and encourage positive reading habits. We warmly invite parents and carers to take an active role in this initiative. Whether it’s sharing a bedtime story, discussing a favourite character, or visiting the local library, your involvement makes a significant difference. The year group reading lists are available on our school website and shared with pupils in class. We look forward to celebrating reading together throughout the year and seeing our children grow as confident, enthusiastic readers. Happy reading!
Year 4 Learning
Year 4 had a wonderful opportunity to listen to and perform with a group of talented Opera singers. As part of the Royal ballet and Opera's programme for Key Stage 2 children they spent several weeks learning songs from 'Carmen' and finding out about an opera singer's job and what it takes to put on a show. We then went to the Civic Centre to perform the songs with 5 other schools from the region along with the talented professionals themselves. It was a wonderful morning and we all came away feeling very inspired.
Attendance
WORKING TOGETHER TO IMPROVE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
- Good attendance at school is essential for children to get the most out of their school experience, including their attainment, wellbeing and wider life chances.
- Nurseries and first schools play a vital role in embedding good attendance habits.
- Even at first school, children with the highest attendance have higher rates of attainment. National data shows us that children not meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.
- For the most vulnerable pupils, regular attendance is also an important protective factor and the best opportunity for children’s needs to be identified and support provided.
· 95% attendance = 2 weeks absence · 90% attendance = 4 weeks absence · 85% attendance = 6 weeks absence · 80% attendance = more than half a term of absence · 75% attendance = more than 9 weeks of absence Please remember that I am unable to authorise absences during term time for family holidays. We would be grateful if parents/carers could also inform grandparents, family and friends, who may be looking to book birthday or Christmas trips away, that these do not fall under exceptional circumstances and will not be authorised. If you need any support regarding attendance, please do not hesitate to come and speak to us as we can help you access support from the school nurse, attendance officer or other appropriate services. We hope that you will continue to support our school by promoting school attendance and by informing us if you feel there are any issues that are preventing your child from attending school regularly.
Leave of Absence requests can be made to the head teacher in advance by the parent/carer the child normally lives with if you want to take your child out of school during term time, however, it is only able to be authorised if there are exceptional circumstances. You can be fined for taking your child out of school without the school's permission. Please note, as per DfE guidance, we routinely refer families who have taken holidays during term time to the LA for fixed-penalty notices:
- For first offences within a three-year rolling period, each parent/carer could be fined £160 to be paid within 28 days, which can be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
- For second offences within a three-year rolling period, each parent/carer could be fined £160 to be paid within 28 days, with no option to pay a reduced amount.
- For your third offence within a three-year rolling period, parents/carers will not be issued with a fine and will be referred straight to court. This could be a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or a jail sentence up to 3 months. The court also gives Parenting Orders.
EYFS Learning
Reception had a great visit to Gosforth Library on Wednesday 22nd April. We learnt all about the services on offer and listened to a story about a llama library. We explored the books in the library and showed our love of books. It was great to meet Leah and support our local library.
This week Reception have begun their special box. Each day a children from each class is invited to share their three special items. The children practise all their speaking and listening skills and it is a great way to develop our oracy skills, including explaining why, talking in the past tense and asking questions. It is fast becoming our favourite part of the day.
Last half term, Nursery invited grown ups to come and be a Mystery Reader in Nursery. It was a huge success! The children loved the suspense of wondering who it would be and were so excited when it was their grownup. A huge thank you to the grownups who came to share their story with us.
Welcome to the Team
Please join us in welcoming Miss Britt, Mrs Sadler and Miss Bone to the Archibald team.
Miss Britt is based in Nursery every morning supporting Mrs McNally and Mrs Ward. She also has lunch with the Nursery children too.
Mrs Sadler and Miss Bone have joined our team of lunchtime assistants taking the team to 5 staff members, who along with school staff, are in the yard and the dining hall over the lunchbreak.