Crookhill Primary School

Today we all enjoyed our Christmas lunch of chicken, stuffing, yorkshire puddings, lots of vegetables and delicious gravy. A big thank you goes to Mrs Broadhead and all the staff in the kitchen for making us a scrummy special Christmas lunch.

Photo's will follow tomorrow.

Year 5 had a brilliant time at Beamish last week, dress up as World War 2 evacuees, we headed over to Beamish to see what being an evacuee would have been like.

After that, we headed inside to do different tasks.  We had to make our own straw matresses if we were going to stay, it was extremely messing (most of us were covered in straw by the end, even Miss Howson!) and it was 3 to a bed!!!

We also had to make some butter and cottage cheese...the old fashioned way!  We had to keep stirring the cream to make it go thick, and squeeze lots of lemons!

And we had to make sure that we taped the windows with masking tape so they didn't shatter!  Then we had to cover our torches with tissue paper so that German bombers couldn't see us in the 'Blackout'!  Then we wrote a postcard home to tell them that we were safe!

After all that we were exhausted!  But we really experienced what life would have been like in as an evacuee.  We had a well deserved picnic lunch, then headed in the Town to see what else we could discover.  We split into groups, some of us went around the shops and saw the mechanics and printers hard at work. The other group went to the sweet shop (where else?) and then they were lucky enough to see some sweets being made the old fashioned way! 

To finish off a fabulous day, we headed over to the Victorian fairground and had a ride on the carousel!  It was a fantastic trip and the children were an absolute credit to the school with their behaviour and attitude! 

Well done Year 5 on another great trip!

Miss Howson

Year 5 have had a fabulous time learning about World War 2!  We've had two different visitors who brought us different objects to investigate! Richard from Gateshead Heritage brought in objects and we had to guess who the person was and what they did using the objects to support our arguements!

We had lots of fun learning about Air Raid Precaution Officers, World War 2 housewives and evacuees.  We also learnt about how they would have dealt with bombs, and spotting enemy planes!

Katie from Beamish also came in and we looked at evacuees.  We had suitcases that we had to investigate, and then tell the rest of the class as much as possible about our evacuee.

Of course, we had to get into character!

We had lots of fun and learnt about the lives of different evacuees!

Miss Howson

Last week was the first of our family fun sessions. Parents were invited to learn how to use computers and make something for their children. The children were invited in throughout the session to work alongside their families. We were so pleased with the turn out and thrilled with some of the positive comments about the session.

This week we have had parents and children making T-shirts together. They look amazing.

The next session is making and launching rockets. I'm sure we have lots of competitive Dads out there who would love to join in the fun.

Watch this space for photographs in the gallery of these 3 fun filled sessions.

Today our new Reception parents met to talk about their child starting school. They made a thought bag for their children to help prepare them for their move into Reception class.

The children are going to bring their thought bags into school when they have their first visit with written thought about coming into school. Hopefully we will be able to put any of the children's concerns about starting school.

See the gallery for the rest of the pictures. Keep a look out on the school TV. You might just see your pictures on there too!

This term our topic is Africa. We have been using a lot of resources from a charity website, where we found instructions and kits to make African sack gardens. They are very simple to make and just by Mrs Bianbridge buying them, we have helped the charity.

We read the instructions on the website and then everyone chose a role to help create a group sack garden. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and we chose to put the gardens on the decking, where they would get plenty of rain and sunshine.

We created a column of stones in the middle surrounded by compost. Then we planted rocket, bean and beetroot seeds. We have to use our knowledge from Science to help us grow a healthy plant and we make sure the seeds have everything they need to grow into some vegetables for us.

Today we got excited because we have started to see green shoots appear!

Class 2/3 went to the CLC this morning to record their very own Physikids dance using the green screen.

While each group recorded their dance the rest of the class investigating the laptops.

Some of us were very giggly and some of us loved seeing ourselves on the TV!

We had a very surprise visitor in Year 5 today!  Captain America came all the way from Washington DC to see if we could help with a very serious problem...he hadn't forgotten how to jump!  This was causing major problems as villains keep escaping him!

Captain America asked if we could help him, he neeed to know what was the best angle for him to jump at, and what was the best position to jump from building to building!

Of course Year 5 jumped at the challenge!  We grabbed our protractors, metre sticks and rulers and headed to the hall to do some investigating.

Captain America then returned to see what we had found out and if we could help him!  Luckily, we found out that jumping between a 40 and 70 degree angle was the best, and really bending our knees and swinging our arms.  We went even further if we had a running start!

Captain America was very happy with our results, he reminded us to stay safe and stay in school!  Great advice Captain America!

Captain America also helped Reception with their shape hunt with the star on his chest!

Miss Howson

Year 5 recieved a very mysterious email yesterday... a message from headquarters came through that the Egg of Rah had been found Egypt, we needed to assist the agents by building a device to stop the egg from breaking when they threw it out of the plane, obviously to stop it from being followed.  There had been a fire at headquarters so their lab was out of action, and Year 5 had been chosen to complete the mission! We only had an hour and what we could find the classroom!

We made some excellent designs, we made parachutes and different containers to protect our eggs!

Then obviously we had to test them!  Question was, how?  Chuck it off the decking?  Why not?

Some made, others didn't!

Miss Howson

As part of Heroes and Villains week, Year 5 conducted some villianous experiments for their Changing State topic.  Cola (liquid) plus mentos (solid) = ?????

Then we did vinegar plus baking powder...

A big thank you to the Year 5s who took the photos, they did a fantastic job considering they only had a few seconds to capture it!

Miss Howson

Year 5 and 6 teamed up this week for some Heroes and Villains PE!  We has the apparatus set up like building tops, and we had to move across them like either a hero or a villain!  We also had to try to think about moving in different ways.  Can you tell who we are trying to be?

We had lots of fun and found lots of different ways of being Heroes and Villains!

Miss Howson

Year 5 have been reading the Laidley Worm in Literacy as part of our Myths and Legends topic.  We had the task of retelling story...but through photos!  We were split into teams and were given different parts of the story.  We then had to think about how to show what was happening with words or moving!  We used costumes and props to help us out as well.  Can you tell what is happening???

Just ask Year 5 for further details of the story!

Miss Howson

Year 5 had a fabulous time with their Australia topic, to finish off we made models of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  We used cardboard, toilet rolls and wool, they were very tricky so we had to do a lot of team work, which we're very good at now!  We were very proud of our models!

They are currently on display in the break-out space, outside Year 5 and 6.

Miss Howson

We have had a fantastic day today in Class 2/3, kicking off our Creativity fortnight!

We started with a great story telling assembly where a certain member of our class shone and made fantastic sound effects!

We created story maps of our favourite story, we retold our favourite story and then we made 'freeze frames' of scenes from the story.

See if you can guess which part of 'George and the Dragon' these scenes are from!

Today was the beginning of our creativity fortnight. We are going to be spending the next two weeks working on a whole cluster project with the aim to make us fantastic story tellers and writers. The primary schools in the cluster will be having a competition to see which school can come up with the best story. To get us started we were visited by the fabulous story teller Adam Bushnell. He brought an amazing array of story telling props to get our imaginations flowing along with his amazing ability to tell a captivating story.

He got us all engaged and involved in his stories inviting some brave volunteers to help act out his stories.

He has worked with each class throughout the school to help us to create our own story. He started with Reception class helping them to make up the villain in our story.

Class 2/3 have discovered the magicians' secret and now are proud owners of their very own magical wand.

Some wands were so powerful they attracted 7, yes 7, pairs of scissors!

We then had great fun having wand battles where we found out who had the strongest wand.

Crookhill Primary School is situated on the outskirts of Ryton.

At Crookhill Primary School, our children are educated in a caring family atmosphere, in a stimulating and rich environment. We have high expectations of all our pupils and our aim is for them to reach their full potential. Our recent Ofsted report graded Crookhill as a Good School with many outstanding features. "pupils' achievement is good and behaviour is exemplary. The curriculum is outstanding and extended in innovative ways. Care, guidance and support are outstanding" - November 2007.

There are currently 135 pupils aged 4-11 years on roll and there is also an Early Years for children aged 2-4 years and a breakfast and after-school club known as GAP. We offer a range of after-school clubs such as Production club, netball and basketball, sewing, ICT and recorder to name just a few.

We believe that by working alongside parents and the community we can develop a real partnership to benefit our children. We hope that this website informs and involves parents about your child's experiences at Crookhill. Why not take a look at what's been happening in our classes and see why everyone at Crookhill is so proud of our school.

You saw our bubble blowing paintings just the other week. Now take a look at how we

 used them!

What a fantastic literacy lesson this morning! Class 2/3 got to 'act out' the final scenes from our class stories.

Some children were 'robbers' stealling from the school. Some children were police officers who arrested the robbers.

Our story character, Kate, had an adventure through Crookhill Primary School. When we have our final draft Mrs Bainbridge will publish some on here! So keep checking!

What a bubbly time in Class 2/3 today! For our art work we were making bright backgrounds to look like planets.

We mixed fairy liquid with paint and water. Then we blew bubbles until they reached the top of the cup. Next, we pressed the paper onto the bubbles.

We will use these prints to make our planet backgrounds.

If your child is tired tonight it may be because they were attempting to break a world record in dance this morning! All the school (except Class 4) met in the hall and Mrs Bainbridge taught them a dance. Then, after a little practice, they danced the routine TWICE at 11.40 am.

Many schools in the country were also taking part and we will find out if we have broken  a world record soon.

Keep checking the website for the video! Quite impressive :)

You'll be excused if you think a class of monkeys invaded the hall this afternoon! Class 2/3 were practising their gymnastic skills on the apparatus.

Class 2/3 have had a busy time in Science today! We have exploring magnets and their 'powers.'

We found out that magnets have forces, one end pushes and the other one pulls.

We learnt new words: attract and repel.

We also had a chance to use our magnets to find magnetic objects and materials.

The Residents Association have given Crookhill a very special gift. They have presented us with a cheque for £670 to help us to re-stock our new library. On Monday, the School Council went to Waterstones in the Metro Centre to spend the money with the ladies from the Residents Association. They picked some gorgeous books for children of all ages covering lots of interesting topics.

On Friday, the Residents Association came into school to present the children with the cheque and show case the books they had bought.

School is open as usual today until 3.15. However, if you are worried about collecting your child you may pick them up from school earlier from the main office.

Due to the snow, we have had to cancel the Reception class trip to Beamish. If you have already paid, you can be reimbursed at the school office.

Thanks

Miss Brown.

On Friday 15th November as part of our community week, some 'new' members of staff joined Crookhill.  Some of them look strangely familiar!?!?

Where is Mrs Willouby?  It's a good job these 3 were on hand to answer the phones, let people in and check the post.

And they make a cracking cuppa ....biscuits too!

Achievers' Assembly - but where are the staff?  Good job Y6 are here to help. 

A very important job - giving out housepoint stickers.

But what's this?  More new faces at lunchtime.  Year 5 and 6 made sure that lunchtime went smoothly - what a fantastic job they did.  Mrs Asplen and Mrs Dixon have requested they help out every lunchtime as they were such great helpers.  They looked fabulous in the outfits too!

We all had great fun in the snow on Friday afternoon.  Everybody worked together to create snowtastic snow sculptures. 

Can you spot the snowpillar, penguin, Sally the Snowlady, snow pyramids and the snow hog?

Who can make the biggest snowball?

Due to the snow, school will be CLOSED today Monday 29th November. Keep checking the website.

On Friday afternoon we all gthered together in the hall to share with each other all we had learned this week.

Each class looked at a different community within Gateshead and Newcastle. We brought examples of the work we have done this week to show the rest of the school.

Reception class learned about the Romaninan community showing the school their Romanian flags and weaving patterns.

Class 1 learned about the Polish community showing their poppy pictures as class 1 explained that the poppy is the national flower of Poland.

Class 2/3 looked at the Hindu community. They made lots of sweets as the Hindu community believe that by giving someone something sweet makes them think sweet things about you. Amy gave Miss McCormack a lovely present of sweets.

 Class 4 looked at the Jewish community. They tried lots of different Kocher foods. They showed us some photographs of all the interesting things thay have done this week.

 Class 5 looked at the Muslim community. They had fun trying lots of Indian foods and putting Henna tattoos on each other using face paint.

Class 6 looked at the Chinese community and told us all about the meaning behind different colours.

We have had a very busy but interesting week.  

You've seen the film 'Night at the Museum' well today Class 2/3 spent a day in the Great North Museum!

We had so much fun and found out so much information about Ancient Egypt! We even saw a real mummy!

Our workshop was really interesting! We found out about a mummy that noone has seen and we impressed our guide by knowing lots of Egyptian facts.

On Monday we had such good fun in Class 2/3!

Our topic this term is Ancient Egypt and we've been working on instructions too! So we read instructions on how to make a mummy and Mrs Smith kindly 'died' for us!

We yanked out her brain with a hook! Then took out her guts and wrapped her in linen bandages.

What a fabulous trip Class 2/3 had this morning! We braved the rain and went to Adventureland, not quite knowing what to expect! When we got there we were amazed to find giant three storey play frames.

We split into 3 groups and had 10 minute challenges which included hopscotch, egg and spoon racing and finding EVERY activity in the play frame!

Then after all that hard work we had a healthy eating class with the chef and we made mini jacket potatoes!

Because we had been really well behaved we were allowed extra time of free play! We loved the big slide. Even the teacher's had a go!

This trip was part of the 'Play 4 Life' government initiative and we were given medals to show that we had taken part.

On Wednesday, Year 2 children joined Class 3 on a trip to Saltwell Park with Mrs Bainbridge and Miss Dryden. We enjoyed stories in French and English!

Luckily the rain stayed off and the sun even managed to make an appearance.

We enjoyed our picnic a safe distance away from the geese!

Everyone enjoyed the park, the children and staff!

It was a great day and the children were very well behaved. Great times!

WOW! Our children have been very busy since the world cup kicked off! We have been creating this giant scarf to send to the Prime Minister. Each stripe has our signature on, that's 158 signatures!!!!! I think you'll agree it is the longest scarf you've seen!

This scarf is a reminder to all the world leaders of their promise to have education for all children by 2015.  One pretty big reminder from Crookhill !

Wow! Most of Class 3 turned out to the Ryton Festival to showcase their African songs that they have been learning and practising with Mrs Kirkland. It was a lovely afternoon, they looked very professional on the stage and sounded fantastic!

They were so good that the BBC filmed their singing and they were on the news tonight!

Well done Class 3 and thank you to Mrs Kirkland for all the practising! You have a VERY proud teacher :)

Tonight, our school football team played against Blaydon West. Our hard work put us one goal ahead but unfortunately this lead was lost and ended up being 5-1 down. But with magnificent saves from our new keeper and man of the match, Daniel, it could have been even more! Suddenly there was a turn of luck and with a lot of skill and determination we managed to finish the game 5-4 instead.

Not a win but I'm sure if there had been a few minutes of extra time we could have made it level! Well done footballers, a fantastic performance, we're very proud!

It is amazing how good Class 3 are at division when Smarties are involved! This week we are revising how to do division practically so Mrs Bainbridge (as always!) thought about sweets!!!

The more calculations we got right, the more Smarties we could eat!

Congratulations to all of the dancers who put in a Stunning Street Style performance yesterday at the Gateshead Dance Festival at the Sage.  The dancers stole the show with their street dance and Bollywood fusion choreography.  Perhaps we have some stars for the furure!

Well done to everyone.  You should all be very proud of yourself!!  We are!!

Last week, we measured a bar of space icecream cookie sandwich so that we could plan and make packaging. First of all, we used squared paper to make a net that worked. Then, we used our paper net to help us make a cardboard version.

Last week, we measured a bar of space icecream cookie sandwich so that we could plan and make packaging. First of all, we used squared paper to make a net that worked. Then, we used our paper net to help us make a cardboard version.

We've been learning about co-ordinates.We turned our classroom into a giant treasure map.

Some of us marked out a grid on the floor with tape.

Some of us drew a map.

Some of us made 'X's to mark the spot.

 Some of us labelled the axes. We were really pleased with the result!

It was our Creativity week last week and Mrs Bainbridge managed to get maths involved with our PE!

We had to measure how far we could jump, how high we could jump and we had lots of activities to complete within a minute.

Today Class 3 tasted spectacular space food because we are learning about Space and we are going to design fantastic packaging for a space sandwich.

The icecream was yummy.

The strawberries were a bit sour!

The cookie sandwich was beautiful!

We have had a lovely trip today to the National Glass Centre in Sunderland. We went to support our work on materials but it also linked with our Art work too! We watched a fantastic glass blowing demonstration and then painted self-portraits on glass tiles. Our guide said that we were the most well behaved and quietest class she had ever had at the Centre! Well done :)

Before we left we had to visit the gift shop and then walk on the glass roof! It was really good but Mrs Bainbridge was too scared to stay on, especially when we jumped up and down!

I am trying to upload our trip video but having technical troubles! Keep checking to see if we get it up and running.

Class 3 have been very lucky recently because Miss Smith, our student teacher, has been teaching us basic Karate in our PE sessions.

We have learnt to kick and punch.

Miss Smith even brought her black belt in to show us! We were very impressed!

Today our building work really got started with the demolition of our outside classroom where GAP used to be. Gladly GAP are now safely in the library. It was freezing cold but we all really enjoyed watching them pull apart  the whole building!

Demolishing GAP.wmv

Class 3 have been creating some art work. We needed a bright colourful background so we chose paint blowing! By using neon coloured paint and a lot of breath we have created some very jazzy pieces! Just what we need for our finished piece.

Crookhill Early Years will also be OPEN on Friday.

School will be OPEN tomorrow (FRIDAY). Please take care travelling to school. We look forward to seeing you there.

Hi everyone.

The DVD's of the KS1 Nativity are ready. You can buy them from the school office for £1.50 from Thursday morning. Hope you enjoy!!!

This is my last Christmas at Crookhill Primary - I can't believe where the past four years have gone. I have really enjoyed my time working with all the families at Crookhill. The children and staff never cease to amaze me with the dedication, hard work and commitment they show each day. It has been a great pleasure and I will miss everyone so much. I hope everyone continues to learn and grow in strength and confidence during 2010 and that Crookhill Primary continues to shine.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy and healthy 2010.

Much love and best wishes to you all

Mrs Louise Easton x

Class 3 have been visiting the CLC to use their green screen. We have created a 'physi kids' DVD of our own. We have used a boom mic, green screen, cd player and video camera. Keep checking for our finished copy on here!

We are the Pollution Police! We had a great time in Creativity Week, especially on 'Mix Up' afternoon. We created 'Gerry' the giraffe and his little babies! But Mrs Bainbridge's classroom ended up as a tip!!!

This creativity week we have been looking at how scientists believe that the Earth's atmosphere is heating up. Some people think that this is being caused by humans polluting the air with Carbon Dioxide.

We've been doing lots of research to find out how we can care for our planet and help do our bit for future generations.

If we all remember to switch off lights and other things that use electricity when we're not using them, we can help save the Earth's resources and reduce our carbon footprint.

Some people argue that Global Warming is nothing to do with humans. We say whether it is or it isn't, what's the harm in learning about how fragile our world is? Class 4 care about our planet and are proud to tell others what we can do to respect it!

We also had a visit from the man from zoolab.

We had to sort different types of rubbish to see what could be recycled.

The Zoo lab man showed us how to make our very own compost bin. Don't forget the worms!

What we especially liked (just before lunch) was the chance to hold a millipede and some worms. Nice!

What a day we have had in Class 3! We travelled all the way to Heworth CLC to work on their computers and their software.  We composed some Groovy Jungle music, sent emails to each other and even created a comic strip! Such a busy day and hardly anytime for lunch!

What a performance!

Keystage 2 rocked their morning away with sounds of Abba, Mika and even U2!

We have a visit from one of Gateshead's great Music Teams and they taught us all the ingredients to make music.

I don't know about you but Mamma Mia has been running around my head all day!

Last week, we went to the Hancock Museum and it was fantastic! We had a chance to look at all sorts of Egyptian artefacts. We saw a real mummy!

Watch our fantastic photo stories that will tell you all about our lovely day!

trip alex adele.wmv

trip bethan daniel 2.wmv

trip Emma and Debbie.wmv

trip glenn shaun.wmv

trip jordan and bethany.wmv

Trip lucy Abigail.wmv

trip Portia and Luke.wmv

trip_thanassis_aaron.wmv

We've been really busy in maths and have been working our socks off!

We made a giant clock to help tell the time.

Some of us were numbers while the others were the big and little hands.

We took turns to set the time on the giant clock and checked it on small ones.

Afterwards some of us made some clock monsters.

For one of us, the pressure was just too much!

After school on Thursday 25th October, Crookhill was a very scary place. Our normally angelic pupils were replaced by a whole host of witches, vampires and ghouls!

We all really enjoyed dressing up and doing the 'Monster Mash'.

There were lots of stalls to get something to eat and we all liked the 'Tombola of Doom'! Some of us had our faces painted.

A big thank you to all the Staff and Parents who helped out.

Check out the Gallery for more photos!

Class Three have been learning about the festival of Diwali. They have made cards, poems, Rangoli patterns and finally, divas! The children made coil clay pots and then decorated them when they were dry. Miss Cowley kindly gave some tealights to put inside them.

Alex was very proud of his diva!

Class 3 have been  so busy! In our literacy lessons, we found instructions on how to make another kind of Death Mask. It only had the diagrams to follow but we tried really hard and we ended up with these!

Watch our video to see how we made our masks, it shows each step!

Making an Ancient Egyptian Death Mask by Class 3.wmv

On Tuesday 13th October, parents and carers were invited into school to have some fun with maths! During the open afternoon, the children played the maths homework games which they will shortly be taking home. The games are a fun way to develop and use maths skills.

Thank you to all the parents who attended, it seems like everyone had fun - see the comments below....

'It was a really good afternoon.'

'An excellent way to allow parents to share in the experience.'

'Had a lovely afternoon, all the games we played were fun and easy to learn. Look forward to doing it again.'

'A really good way to learn maths. I enjoyed the games, they're definitely worth using for homework.'

See the Gallery for more photos from this afternoon! 

Some members of our School Council took part in Gateshead's Junior Network Conference.  They had a great day out meeting School Councillors from other schools and talking about 'Global Gateshead'.  The School Councillors worked hard all day discussing issues such as what makes Ryton and Gateshead a good place to live and what could be improved.  They took part in an interactive voting activity which then created a letter to be sent to countries around the world. 

Working hard with our 'facilitator' Alex who helped us develop our ideas.

We enjoyed voting on the interactive pads.

 There were fun quizzes to do.  We got 10 out of 10 for the animal quiz and won some chocolates.  Lunch was really good too!

There was a magician called Magic Mick and we had our names written in Punjabi and Hindi.

 At the end we got a goodie bag full of cool freebies! We were so excited when we got a travel mug - especially when we found out it was green!!!

We are looking forward to the next meeting in February.  In the meantime we will be working on making international links and making Crookhill a greener school.

Today we have been measuring! We couldn't use the metre sticks because they don't bend so we had to measure on card and then measure with the metre sticks. It was good fun but we left our shoes on so there were no smelly feet!

Well our Tutankhamun Death Masks are finished! It took 2 patient afternoons and a lot of fiddly fingers, but they're worth it.

We managed to do Literacy, History and DT all in one task!

Class 3 have been learning all about Ancient Egypt. We have learnt about about a very famous Pharaoh called Tutankhamun. We have had a brave attempt at making a model of his death mask. Here is our work so far!

Welcome back to everyone - I hope you are all looking forward to an exciting new year in school.I am delighted to welcome back Mrs Bainbridge, Miss Malley and Mrs Wannop after their maternity leave - already the school has a great 'buzz' to it.We are very lucky to have such a committed and enthusiastic team of staff taking care of everyone at Crookhill.

I can't believe the first week is already over - I hope you have all settled back to school routines and enjoy your new class. It is an exciting time of the year when you can set yourself goals and targets for the weeks ahead. Remember work hard and aim high!  I hope you are rewarded for your efforts and achieve lots of success.

Best Wishes

Mrs L C Easton

On Tuesday Year 3 visited Bede's World in Jarrow. Bede was a Monk in Anglo Saxon times and was around when the Vikings were up to their tricks.

We began the day by finding out what every day life was like for ordinary Anglo Saxons.

This is inside an Anglo Saxon house. The floor is made of earth and the walls are made of mud, reeds and little presents left behind by animals...

Bede's World is also a working farm. It looks just as it would 1,300 years ago. These pigs aren't quite that old....

Meet Githa and Offa. Githa is spinning wool ready to make clothes. You can tell Offa is rich and important because his clothes are decorated and he has his own knife.

This Anglo Saxon garden grows only the plants you would find 1,300 years ago. Did you know, Anglo Saxons didn't eat chips because potatoes hadn't been discovered yet? And carrots were white, red or purple, but never orange!

After lunch we put on habits to find out what it was like to be a monk. Bede was sent away to a monastery when he was only 7, the same age as some of us!

In the museum we learned about all the jobs the monks had to do, like building, fishing and making beer! All work and no pray...

What's this? Working? On a trip? Surely not? Not really, just drawing some of the jobs the monks got up to.

We had a great day at Bede's World and the weather was fantastic. Oh, and in case you were wondering....

Yes, there was a giftshop...

We made models of our equipment, based on our designs, with some fabulous results.

Have a look at our designers in action!!        

 As all great designers do, we shall be evaluating our designs and seeing if we can think of ways to make them strong, safe and even more fun!

Thank you to all the parents who have completed the school questionnaire. It will provide us with useful feedback so Crookhill can continue to grow successfully. The pupils have been completing their own questionnaires which adds to our evaluation of what the school is doing well and what things still need to be improved. The results of the questionnaires will be shared with you before the end of term. Parent and Pupil voice are both very important to us, we want to ensure that you feel valued, that you are happy, successful and enjoy your time with us.

L Easton

On Wednesday our year 6 children took part in the Kwik Cricket tournament. We took along our Ace A team and our Brill B team, as well as some fantastic supporters!

The morning commenced with 3 rounds of games against other local schools, including Rowlands Gill, St Agnes and Winlaton.

Our A team did really well, winning 2 out of their 3 games. Have a look at some of the action below!

 The Ace A team!!

The Brill B team!! 

Unfortunately we did not win, however we managed a respectable 5th, which was not bad as the winners, St Agnes, proved formidable rivals!!

We all had a fabulous time and enjoyed the experience of playing against other schools some of which could be our new friends when we leave Crookhill and join Ryton!

The nice weather has seen Year 3 burning off lots of energy on the field in PE. We have been improving our throwing and catching skills in a variety of activities and games.

We like to warm up with a game of Freezeball.

We started by throwing to a partner.

Then we threw to each other in groups, getting further apart.

"I bet I can hit Mr Swan from here!"

As part of a tournament organised by the learning mentors at Ryton Comprehensive, Crookhill's Football Team played against Ryton Juniors FC this week. Our team looked very smart as they headed out from school (thanks to Mrs Willoughby!)

Lots of mums and dads headed down to cheer the team on and they were all very impressed.

Unfortunately the score line wasn't in Crookhill's favour but the whole team played their socks off! Fingers crossed for our next fixture in a couple of weeks time! 

Art club have been making 'marvellous monsters.' We made our monsters using papier mache, kitchen roll and a lot of elbow grease. We finished them off using acrylic paint and marker pen. They look fantastic. Well Done art club. Take a look in the gallery for all the monsters.

As promised here is my web entry, introducing baby Eva Bainbridge. She was born on 8th January and both her and I are doing fiine! Keep up the hard work at school and we'll pop in for a visit soon!

We've bribed the nice folk at Gateshead City Learning Centre with mince pies and Quality Street and hey presto!
We hope you enjoy the performance as much as we and the children have.

Click the image to play the video.

Merry Christmas!

On Monday, Key Stage 1 and Reception went to 'Down on the Farm' to visit Santa and see the animals.

On Friday 5th December, Class 2 braved the cold to venture down to the CLC. Our theme for the session was Grace Darling, as our topic has been the North East. We made some great photo books, added text and then also added audio to each page! It was great fun and hopefully coming soon will be some of our photo books for you to check out!