Easter Egg Decorating
Our Easter Egg Decorating competition was an absolute delight this year and we were blown away by your entries - they were so creative. This year’s theme of book characters inspired a fantastic range of designs, from loved classics to modern favourites, all transformed into brilliantly decorated eggs. It was wonderful to see how much imagination and effort everyone put in. Well done to all our talented young artists for bringing their favourite stories to life in such an egg‑cellent way! There are a few pictures of our entries below; these are just a small sample of the 179 entries we had this year. Picking winners was nearly impossible - we usually judge the competition across the year group but this year Mrs Moore and Mrs Doonan decided they needed an emergency run to buy more Easter eggs and picked a winner, and two runners up from every class!
Attendance
As you know we value good attendance throughout school and every week the children love finding out which class has the best attendance to earn their extra breaktime. As the term comes to an end, we've also announced our 'year to date' figures. As you can see we have a very tight leader board; the children are excited to see who will get the end of year attendance trip this year - the other classes are not far behind so the final will be very close! 1st Place: Mrs Bartram's Class 96.8% 2nd Place: Miss Burn's Class 96.5% 3rd Place: Mr Hudson's Class 96.3% Good attendance really does make a huge difference, and we’d like to politely remind families of the Department for Education’s expectations around time in school. National guidance states that schools must consider issuing a penalty notice when a child reaches 10 unauthorised sessions (5 days) of absence, including for term‑time holidays. We completely understand that family time is important, but holidays during term time are not authorised, and once absences go beyond those 5 days, the Local Authority will apply for a Fixed Penalty Notice. This year alone, we’ve already received over 50 holiday requests, so please do keep this guidance in mind when planning any future breaks. Thank you for helping us keep attendance strong—every day really does count!
Messages
Please can I remind everyone we are a nut free school. This includes chocolate spreads such as Nutella, recently we've had an increasing number of children with chocolate spread sandwiches or crepes. If we cannot confirm the item is nut free, unfortunately these items must be removed from a child's lunch and cannot be eaten. We have children and staff with severe allergies and appreciate your support with this. Thank you to everyone for their Red Nose Day donations - we made a total of £277.27 for this fabulous charity. Newcastle City Council have informed us that they will be putting the costs of school meals up to £3.10 per day after Easter. Due to the limited notice they've given, we have chosen to absorb this increased cost for one term to try to help. From September, the price of a school dinner will rise to £3.10.
Children's Cancer Run
Just a reminder that Sunday 17th May is the Children's Cancer Run at the Gosforth Racecourse; it is still not too late to register.
T-shirts and race numbers will be delivered to school early in May, for those who register very soon. The day is a huge amount of fun, as well as raising funds for a very worthwhile charity. You do not need to be a runner! You can register to join us by clicking on the link below, remember to say you are running with Regent Farm First School!
Parents and carers are responsible for their children at all times during the run. Adults can accompany their children without paying for entry, but will not be eligible for a medal or goody bag at the end unless registered. There will be members of staff there to cheer you all on!
Kenya Day
Today, we are having an amazing whole school celebration of our partnership with Mercy Primary School in Kenya. This was the fourth year of holding this special event and we are very grateful to everyone for their support. The friendship between Mercy and Regent Farm began in 2015 and we are in regular contact via an exchange of pupils’ work, letters and photographs. All children arrived at school in the colours of the Kenyan flag and are taking part in African themed activities such as drumming and mask making. The children have also written letters and created art work to send to the children at Mercy. Earlier this half term, our School Council had a Zoom call with some of the children from Mercy; it was a wonderful opportunity for them to ask some fabulous questions. At Mercy the community came together to enable this call to happen: the school is not connected to electricity so they borrowed a generator, laptop and projector from a neighbouring school. Boswago Benson, who is in charge of the Charity, said "It was truly inspiring to see the excitement, curiosity and enthusiasm from both the teachers and children. To the children of Mercy, this experience reminds you they your greatest strength is not the equipment you have but the determination and courage inside you. To the students of Regent Farm, your partnership is very meaningful. By learning together and sharing experiences, you help create a world where children support and inspire one another." Thank you so much for all your donations, we are still counting up the money and will share the grand total soon.
Spring Holiday Activities
We are very aware that it can be tricky to keep your children entertained over the two week Easter holiday and have tried to pull together a list of some of the activities taking place in the area. * Free LEGO weekends at the Discovery Museum * Stephenson Steam Railway offers free festive craft activities, such as making Easter masks * Free Nature-inspired crafts at Ouseburn Farm * Free family workshops at the Baltic Centre * Seven Stories has a variety of free events - more details can be found on their website by following this link. * The Easter Bunny is visiting Woodhorn Museum over Easter Weekend. * On 8 April, STACK is hosting a Kids K-Pop Party, packed with interactive games and high-energy dance-alongs and a special appearance from the K-Pop Demon Hunters! Kid's admission is just £3. Find out more on the Stack Website. *Lots of National Trust venues are running Easter Egg hunts * There are some free dance and sports sessions at Fawdon Community centre with lunch included (details below).
Also, remember many places such as the Life Centre and Beamish usually offer a discount when you travel by bus - just show your ticket for a discount. If your child is eligible for free school meals don't forget the Newcastle HAF (Holiday Activity and Food) - a programme funded by the Department for Education. It is designed for families in Newcastle during the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holiday's to help children, young people and their parents have fulfilling, active, fun-filled and healthy experiences. A full calendar of events can be found using the button below.
Nursery and Reception Spaces September 2026
Reception places will be offered directly to parents by Newcastle City Council on April 16th. If you have any problems with your application, please get in touch Admissions at Newcastle City Council since they offer all school spaces; this process is not managed by school.
When your child has been offered a reception place for September 2026, please do not forget to accept this offer through the council's online portal. There should be a link to this in your offer email.
If you have been offered a Nursery space for next year, please accept via the school office. If you no longer require this space, please just let the office know to allow us to offer the space to those on our waiting list.
Curriculum Information
Early Years
This month nursery have explored under the sea. They first became pirates, experimenting with materials to create their own boats before tackling map making to support them on their adventure to find the glittering gold! The children then began exploring the creatures who live under the sea, they met Barry the Fish with Fingers, before moving on to explore rockpools in Sharing a Shell. They talked about how we can keep our oceans clean and safe for our ocean creatures, practicing how to litter pick in nursery garden. This was all great knowledge for their trip to the aquarium where the children were able to see the sea animals up close and ask questions about their favourites; they even got to touch some!
This half term Reception has taken a deep, deep dive into the depths of the ocean, building on the knowledge the children learnt in Nursery. Their half term started with a shark lying in a bath in the classroom! The children had to discover where the shark had come from, if it was friendly and how to best care for it. This led to an amazing 'shark fact book' produced by all of the children. Inspired by Commotion in the Ocean, the children have met several sea creatures, including those that live in the twilight zone. These submarine adventures inspired the children to build an underwater aquarium, where they created fantastic tanks to display their sea creatures. The highlight of the topic was our wonderful trip to Cullercoats Beach. It was the most magical day, where the children-built sandcastles ran away from the waves and explored the deep, dark caves. Our trip to the beach inspired us to create our very own beach in our outdoor area; as well as an ice cream van! The children have also been amazing problem solvers after they arrived at school and found their outdoor beach covered in rubbish! They quickly came up with a plan to clean the beach and protected the sea creatures along the way; they became the 'clean up crew', inspired by their book of the week. They helped to reduce, reuse and recycled the rubbish by creating fantastic sculptures such as cars, rockets and boats. The children have finished their Under the sea topic with a visit from the wonderful singing mermaid, who travelled all the way from Silversand's to Regent Farm by walking on her hands! They took part in our wonderful 'Silversand's Circus' where they became ring masters, jumped through hoops of fire, swung from the trapeze and walked along the tightrope.
Key Stage 1
Year 1 have taken an exciting journey through Africa, diving into the continent's geography and wildlife. The children have thoroughly enjoyed comparing Mercy Primary School and Regent Farm First School in Geography, where they identified a range of human and physical features. A highlight of the topic was their exciting pretend trip to Kenya—they had their passports stamped and travelled all the way to Nairobi! In Design Technology, the children loved learning to sew by designing and creating their own African glove puppets using felt and carefully adding the correct features. They then evaluated our work, reflecting on what went well and what they might improve next time. In Maths, they have been developing their understanding of place value to 50, as well as measuring length, height and mass. Finally, they have explored a variety of texts to help them answer the overarching question: Why are things different?
Year 2 have been enjoying a journey down the River Tyne, exploring how the landscape changes from source to mouth through different maps. They have been making amazing observations, asking questions and thinking about how and why the River Tyne is so iconic to Newcastle. They took a trip to the River Tyne to investigate the geography at the mouth of the river. In English, they explored the text The River and used expanded noun phrases to write our own poems inspired by a river’s journey. In maths, they learned all about statistics by interpreting data using tally charts, tables, bar charts and pictograms. Their science focus was habitats, and we especially loved our cinema trip to discover more about ocean habitats and the dangers they face. They also visited the Synagogue to deepen their understanding of Judaism, including tasting traditional Passover foods. In art, the children have experimented with colour, tone, pattern and texture while creating vibrant pieces inspired by Henri Matisse.
Key Stage 2
This half term, our Year 3 children have been fully immersed in their exciting Volcanoes topic! Using the captivating picture book Escape from Pompeii, they followed Tranio's journey during the dramatic eruption of Mount Vesuvius and explored the incredible impact volcanic eruptions can have. In Geography, the children learned about how volcanoes shape the world around us and identified some of the most active volcanoes on the planet. They even kept up to date with real‑world events, following recent activity at Mount Kilauea in Hawaii. We had thought‑provoking debates such as Would you want to live near a volcano?” and “If a volcano erupts far away, should flights stop?" They used their Voice 21 skills to help them challenge their peers and develop excellent reasoning skills. In English, Year 3 studied the key features of newspaper reports before becoming journalists themselves! They wrote a detailed and imaginative article as if they were reporting live from Pompeii during the deadly eruption, linking their Geography learning with their English skills. In Science, the children explored different types of soil, planning and carrying out their own investigations to discover which soil absorbed the most water. In Art the children have loved looking at Van Gogh's Art. They've been exploring using short brush strokes and layering different shades of colour to create texture and movement. They had so much fun experimenting with bold colours and expressive techniques, just like The Plain Near Auvers, 1890. We are also incredibly proud of how active and enthusiastic our Year 3 pupils have been this half term. They took part in two rugby competitions, showing brilliant teamwork, determination and team spirit throughout. They also competed in a cross‑country event, where the girls team achieved fantastic results securing 2nd and 4th place in their race.
This term in Year 4 has been full of excitement and creativity! In English, they children dived into Song of the River, The Inventions of Hugo Cabret, River poetry and letter writing. And The Wild Robot has kept them hooked during guided reading as they practised their retrieval and inference skills. Maths has seen the children mastering fractions and decimals, and in science they explored the wonderful world of sound, vibrations and how ears work. In DT, they became designers as they studied woodwork techniques and planned their very own light‑up signs, ready to bring to life later next term. They also had a brilliant day with Skip4Fit , who taught them fantastic new tricks as they start preparing for the skipping festival at the end of term. The footballers have done us proud at tournaments, and our choir have been singing their hearts out while rehearsing for the Angels of the North concert. Year 4 have also been amazing buddies, helping the younger children at break and lunchtimes with kindness and enthusiasm. To top it all off, we enjoyed a fantastic trip to the Great North Museum, exploring Egyptian artefacts to round off our topic on Ancient Egypt!
Dates for Half Term
A full list of dates for the Summer Term will be sent out after the Easter break.
- Monday 20th April - School reopens following Easter break
- Friday 24th April - Deadline to accept Nursery offers for September 2026
- Tuesday 28th April - Year 4 History Workshop with 'That History Bloke'
- Friday May 1st - Year 2 Gosforth Nature Reserve
- Monday 4th May - School Closed Bank Holiday
- Wednesday 6th May - Friday 8th May Year 4 Robinwood Residential
- Tuesday 12th May - Year 1 Discovery Museum
- Wednesday 13th May - Reception Wood Workshop with parents - Staff will hand out a slip to you on the first week back with the time for your child's session. They will either be 9:15am or 2:15pm.
- Sunday 17th May - Children's Cancer Run
School Breaks Up for Half Term – Friday 22nd May at 3:15pm Monday 1st June - School Closed for Training Day Tuesday 2nd June - Children return to school