I am delighted that we have once again been judged to be an outstanding school and that the report reflects our commitment to enable all of our children to 'live life to the full'. Mrs Fox Head Teacher

'St Albans is an outstanding school where every child really does matter. The visionary headteacher leads a strong team who ensure pupils receive high levels of care and education. This means that pupils are extremely happy and confident learners. Pupils have exceptional understanding of how to keep safe and healthy. The school ethos of 'Live life to the full' is supported by a wealth of exciting experiences in which pupils engage, extending their knowledge and understanding of the world about them. An overwhelming proportion of parents support the excellent progress their children make.' OFSTED January 2010

Please click on the link to read the full report.
St Albans Catholic Primary School OFSTED report January 2010.pdf

Tomorrow we are raising money for emergency relief in Haiti by wearing hats. £1.00 donation per person please.

Children in Years 3 and 4 planted hyacinth, daffodil and tulip bulbs with Mr Seaton. Hopefully some may even be winning entries in the Gateshead Spring Flower Show!

Further severe weather warnings have been received from the Local Authority for next week. We will endeavour to keep school open. However, if it is necessary to close school, the closure will be announced on BBC Radio Newcastle, on this website and on the Gateshead Council website.

School is closed today, Thursday 7th January.
A decision about further closures will be made each morning. Any closure will be announced on BBC Radio Newcastle and on this website. School closures in Gateshead are also shown on the Gateshead Council website.

School is closed today Wednesday 6th January 2010.

Years 3 and 4 entertained parents and relatives at their Christmas concert. They were taking part in the Christian Aid Big Christmas Sing and raised £56.97 for the charity. Well done and thank you to everyone who enjoyed the concert and the refreshments afterwards.

Cyberbullying: advice for parents and carers from the Anti-Bullying Alliance
This week is National Anti-Bullying week. The main focus this year is cyber-bullying. In Citizenship lessons children will be learning about bullying and will be reminded of our school policy on Anti-Bullying. In order to help raise awareness of this important issue, we are selling blue wrist bands for £1.00. The week of activities ends with Blue Friday when children are encouraged to dress in blue.
Click on the link to read advice to parents about cyberbullying from the Anti-Bullying Alliance.

Well done to the following children who received awards on 13th November 2009.
Year R: Louis Powell for exceptional manners.
Year 1: Jack Georgeson for excellent reading.
Year 2: Lauryn Wiscombe for writing a beautiful 'colour' poem.
Year 3: AZ Bismilla for excellent multiplication and division .
Year 4: Joe Tough for always being a fantastic member of Year 4.
Year 5: Melissa Hawes for great work in poetry.
Year 6: Amy Broome for making an excellent Rosh HaShana card.
Mrs Hetherington's Award: All of Year 5 for excellent behaviour.

Weekly Attendance Winner: Year 3
Weekly Winning House: St. Aidan

Today, St. Alban's gathered together in the hall to observe a mintute of silence.
We remember all those who lost their lives at war and we pray for all soldiers who are currently at war.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Our school is taking part in Switch Off Fortnight. In our Citizenship lessons we are learning that wasting energy is very bad for the environment. We are all making an effort to switch off lights that are not needed.

To celebrate National Film Week, the whole school has visited the cinema.
Year R, 1, 2 and 4 went to see March of the Penguins, Year 3 saw Ratatouille and Year 5 and 6 saw Coraline.
Everyone enjoyed the films and especially their cinema treats.

Well done to the following children who received awards on 23rd October 2009.
Year R: Renata Balog for settling into class so well.
Year 1: All of Year 1 for being lovely and helping Mrs Turnbull this half- term.
Year 2: Rudolf Balog for settling into class so well.
Year 3: Niamh Doherty for excellent knowledge of teeth and healthy eating.
Year 4: Pui-Ling Ho fo always listening in class and using similes in writing.
Year 5: Natalia Lowes for hard work in Maths.
Year 6: Adam Burton for excellent work on Evacuation in History.
Mrs Hetherington's Award: Rachel Bushell for her research on being an active Christan.
Mrs Fox's Award: Nikhil Bhandari for answering so well during Hymn Practice.
Weekly Attendance Winner: Year 1
Weekly Winning House: St. Benet

Year 1 are finding out about Baptism. They listened very carefully to the words the priest uses then they acted out part of the celebration.

St. Alban's is clearly full of very keen readers. Lots of children from all classes successfully took part in a Summer Reading Challenge organised by Pelaw Library. The children were awarded with the certificates during Merit Assembly.
"It was great fun and we went to the library loads of times.We are looking forward to the next challenge!". Year 6 children

Reception have been investigating the weather. They have listened to the rain, explored materials, made sun reflectors and waited for wind to fly their kites! For more photographs visit the gallery.

Nursery children have been looking at different types of weather. They agree that the windy weather helps on washing day! For more photographs visit the gallery

As part of their Schools Linking Project Year 4 worked with Northumbria University PGCE students at Shipley Art Gallery, where they met their linked school, Brighton Avenue. Everyone had a very creative day and we're looking forward to the next meeting at Brighton Avenue in November.

There was lots of designing and building at lego club.

For more photographs see the Year 1 & 2 Gallery pages.

As part of the topic Ourselves we have set up a hairdressers in our classroom. The children have been very busy experimenting with different hairstyles!

Reception have made animal sculptures based on the Spanish traditional tale "The Little Vain Mouse"

Look in the Gallery for more photos of their work.

Reception visited Tynemouth Toy Museum and discovered lots of old toys from the past.

We headed to the beach for lunch and had a sandcastle competition.  Look in the Gallery for more photos of the trip.

Year R worked with Dora Bear learning how to cross the road safely.

Our Member of Parliament, Sharon Hodgson, visited school today. The Head Boy and Head Girl took her on a tour of the school. Year 6 had prepared questions to ask her about her work as an MP. The school council gave a presentation on the Send My Friend To School campaign and we gave her messages to forward to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister.

During the Easter hoidays a new interactive whiteboard was installed in the Reception classroom. The children returned to the surprise and have been busy having fun using it.

Smile!

Reception have been learning about keeping safe near roads. Click on Gallery to view more photographs of the visit.

Primary Chaplains from around the diocese visited St Alban's school today. Mrs Hetherington led a reflection in St Alban's room.The Chaplains shared resources and discussed the importance of chaplaincy in primary schools.

Despite the cold conditions Reception managed to get five minutes of fun in the snow.
For more photographs visit the gallery.

Please listen to either Century Radio, Metro Radio or Radio Newcastle for announcements on school closures.
2.2.09 severe weather.doc
Click on the link to read the letter about the severe weather warning received today.

Following the story of Hansel and Gretel we built a house from cake, biscuits and sweets. All the children were involved in the making and EATING of our sweet house!

During our investigation of sticks as a house building material, we explored ways of joining using glue, string, tape and blu tak.

As part of our topic 'Homes' we have explored the houses made by the three little pigs.

'Morning Reading' has started in Year 1. Parents come into school to read with children and to share literacy activities. As you can see, the children are enjoying this! More pictures in the gallery.

All this week, we have been looking at myths and legends in our Literacy lesson. In our lesson today, we used drama to act out an interview between a St. Alban's TV presenter and Theseus and asked him lots of gruelling questions about his fight with the minotaur! We definitely have some budding TV presenters in our class!

In Year 1 we are discussing the celebration of Mass.We enjoyed role play to help us understand the words and actions of the priest.

Year 6 worked with Sr Angela from Pauline Books & Media to share ideas for a book she is writing on moving to high school. She was very impressed with their ideas and will be using them in the publication.

Comenius Newsletter
Click on the link to read the latest news about our Comenius project.

We have been awarded the National Fairtrade Award by the Fairtrade Foundation. Thank you to everyone for their continuing support.

What a great time we had at the fair!
From cakes to hot-dogs, reindeer dust to cracker making, sweets to raffles and finally games to Santa's Groot- such festive fun!
Thankyou to everyone who helped make the fair a great success.
View many more pictures in the Gallery.

We are all looking forward to playing on a perfectly levelled school field.
Watch this space...

The Curriculum Evening is on Wednesday 1st October at 4:30pm.
This is an opportunity to meet with your child's class teacher to find out more about this year's curriculum.
Please note that the meeting is only for adults. Refreshments will be served on arrival.

A coffee morning will be held to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support tomorrow from 9.00 am to 10.30 am in the school hall.
Please drop in to help us to support this important charity.
The Fairtrade shop will also be open for children and adults.

24.9.08 Year 4 guitar lessons .doc
Click on the link to read the letter about Year 4 guitar lessons
All Year 4 children are learning to play the guitar each Tuesday afternoon during their music lesson. Mr Nicholson, a teacher from Gateshead LA Music Service, is teaching the class. Miss Laws is joining the children and is learning to play the guitar too.

Well done to the following children who received awards on 18th July 2008.
Year 1: Lennox Tyers for excellent behaviour and manners.
Year 2: Mikey Mancini for an excellent attitude to work.
Year 3: Max Davidson for an improved attitude in class.
Faye de Luen for being helpful in class.
Year 4: Matthew Fenwick and Amy Broome for excellent Viking projects.
Year 5: Ysabelle Lucero, Rees Monaghan and Maisie Kirtley for being polite and
well mannered.
Year 6: Toni Ashcroft and Liam Brown for invaluable technical support during the play.
Mrs Hetherington's Award:
Toni Ashcroft, Jenny McFadden, Owen Marshall, Adam Lennox and Carl Amos for excellent liturgical dancing.
Head teacher's Award:
Jack de Luen, Chloe Butler, Emily McIntyre, Kate McIntyre, Rowan Feher, Alexandra Spencer, Joseph Bainbridge, Amdrew Robinson, Faye de Luen, Thomas Storey and Abbie Brough for working hard to help achieve the Impetus Award.

Trinity Term's Attendance Winner- Year 3
Trinity Term's Winning House: St. Aidan
The children in St. House and in Year received prizes for their achievements- well done. Good luck to all children for next year.

The statement is:
I notice that we are the same and we are different.

Whilst some children were competing at the Gateshead Athleics Festivals, the rest of Key Stage 2 had fun playing games outside. We played rounders and football and had a lovely afternoon.

Well done to the following children who received awards this week.
Year 1: AZ Bismilla for working very hard in Maths and doing lots of work.
Year 2: James Bain for settling in so well.
Year 3: Nikhil Bhandari for working hard to find remainders after division.
Year 4: Morgan Bridgett for showing good sportsmanship.
Year 6: Rose Hogan for working enthusiastically during play rehearsals.
Mrs Hetherington's Award: Michael Hewitt for excellent role-play.
Winning House: St. Aidan

To celebrate St. Alban's Day, the whole school enjoyed a visit from Mr. Twister. Some of us dressed up in different costumes and others were even given balloons as prizes. Everyone had lots of fun!
At the end of the afternoon, we all gathered together in prayer.

The statement is:
I matter so do you.

Congratulations St. Alban's Football team for winning the league.

Year 6 had a fantastic time at Kingswood last week. We had great fun doing lots of different activities including fencing, quad biking, zip wire, climbing and abseiling. We loved exploring the Roman fort at Housesteads and especially enjoyed sleeping in dormitories with our friends.
To view lots more pictures of our trip, visit the gallery.

The statement is:
I stand up for people being treated unfairly.

Today, we are delighted to welcome teachers from our partnership Comenius schools. Our visitors come from Finland, Turkey, Spain and Italy and will be able to sample life in the North East of England.
Our curriculum has truly been enriched by this project. Our children have been learning about different cultures throughout many subject areas.
"We love having penpals in different countries and get very excited when we get new mail."
"We are looking forward to asking the teachers about their schools". (Year 6)
There will be an Art show in school today at 3:15pm, where cream tea will be served.
To view pictures of our day, see 'Comenius trip' in the Gallery.

The statement is:
I try to forgive people when they hurt me.

The statement is:
I try to understand that God loves and forgives me.

Year 6 SATs are over!
Well done to all children for working so hard leading up to the tests. You have all made me feel very proud. Now you can relax and enjoy the rest of our time together. Lots of fun and exciting things are planned.
Miss McVittie

On Friday 9th May we were invited to Cardinal Hume School to give a presentation on Fairtrade in St Alban's School. The guest speaker was the BBC News Reader, George Alagiah.

The statement is:
I know how to help others when they are in trouble.

Monday 12th- Friday 16th May
Year 6,
I am immensely proud of every member of our class. You have all worked so hard in school and at home. Thankyou for giving 100% effort; I couldn't ask for anymore.
You should all feel very confident about next week; you're well prepared and let's face it Year 6, ' we know our stuff'. Have a relaxing weekend and good luck everyone.
Miss McVittie.

Well done to the following children who received awards on 9th May2008.
Year R: Ben Winship for very good reading.
Year 1: Rachel Slasor-Wilkinson for being polite and having good manners.
Year 2: Pui-Ling Ho for working hard and being helpful.
Year 3: Kate Ritchie for writing a brilliant letter in Literacy.
Year 4: Jessica Tracey for an excellent Lowry drawing.
Year 5: Daniel Marsden for trying very hard in Maths.
Year 6: Carl Amos for consistently working hard at home and in school.
Mrs Hetherington's Award: JB Dagdag for helping the teacher and his classmates in our RE lesson.
Head teacher's Award:
Thomas Storey for operating the PowerPoint at Cardinal Hume.
Abbie Brough for an excellent presentation at Cardinal Hume.
Attendance Winner- Year 3.
Winning House: St. Aidan

Today is Europe Day.
We've had great fun 'travelling around Europe' with our passports. Every class has visited England, Turkey, Italy, Finland and Spain in one afternoon! (We may be a little jet lagged tonight). We've enjoyed finding out about each country, listening to the national anthem and in particular, getting our passports stamped!

Well done to our football team: another well deserved victory!
St. Alban's 3 St. Augustine's 1
Liam Manning gave us an early lead with our first goal and before half time Jordan Brown scored giving us a confident lead. St. Augustine's fought back in the second half and we conceded a goal. However, it wasn't long before Jordan Brown scored again. Hooray!
All boys played extremely well and were great ambassadors for our school.
Our next match is on 22nd May against Falla Park at Wardley Primary.

The statement is:
I know that God says, 'Do not be afraid, I am with you.'

The school is closed on Monday 5th May.
We hope you have a very enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend.

The final revision club is on Monday 28th April. There will not be a club next week due to the Bank Holiday.
Well done to all Year 6 children to have consistently worked very hard throughout this club. I am sure this hard work and effort will pay off.

Year 6 continue to work hard in preparation for the SATs. Today, we have been revising Light and Shadows in Science.
Can you name translucent and opaque materials? Do you know how to make shadows bigger and smaller? We do!
To view pictures, have a look in the Science album in the Year 6 Gallery.

This week's statement of belief is our school's vision statement:
"I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

Well done to the following children who received awards on 25th April 2008.
Year R:Cory Snee for very good sentence writing.
Year 1: Serena Short for excellent maths work.
Year 2: Mikey Mancini for always working hard and having a brilliant attitude to school.
Year 3: Jesu Peralta for contributitng more in lessons.
Year 4: Sophie Scott for her excellent attitude to learning and always trying her best.
Year 5: Olivia Cossey for an excellent contribution to the world's biggest lesson.
Year 6: Zosia Feher for excellent story writing.
Mrs Hetherington's Award: Callum Elliot for an excellent contribution to the world's biggest lesson.
Head teacher's Award: Rio Maggs for fantastic writing.
Attendance Winner- Year 3.
Winning House: St. Oswald

The Statement of Belief is:
I know who to ask for help.

Welcome back to all children. We hope you had an enjoyable and restful 2 weeks.
There are lots of exciting things happening in school this term so watch this space.......

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us this afternoon. It was a very enjoyable celebration. The children sang and danced very well!

You are invited to join us tomorrow afternoon in school at 1:30pm for a 'Songs of Praise' to celebrate the Resurrection. All children in Year R to 6 will attend.

April Promise
I promise to find out more about the lives of other children around the world by visiting
www.cafod.org.uk/kidzone.

Well done to the following children who received awards on 3rd April 2008.
Year 1: Jack Luke for being a helpful and considerate class member.
Year 2: Rachel Morley for working hard and being helpful in class.
Year 3: Daniel Gurr for always being polite and well mannered.
Year 4: Jack Henderson for becoming more focused and completing his work.
Year 5 : Stephen Gray for having excellent quick maths skills.
Year 6: Lucy Soulsby for always being a happy and hardworking member of Y6.
Mrs Hetherington's Award: Billy Davidson for excellent participation in the Celebration of Easter.
Head teacher's Award: Adam Burton for acting so well as Jesus in the Celebration of Easter.
Attendance Winner- Year 4.

End of term Winners
Attendance- Year 4 .
House Winners- St. Oswald.
Congratulations to all these hard workers.

The following children took part in a Music concert at Cardinal Hume on Tuesday evening.
The guitarists:
Ralph Deloso (Y6)
Rowan Feher (Y5)
Daniel White (Y5)
Aaron O'Donnell (Y5)
Ysabelle Lucero (Y5)
Billy Davidson (Y4)
The violinists:
Zosia Feher (Y6)
Elvira Morris (Y5)
Emily McIntyre (Y5)
"I really enjoyed playing Love is all Around and Old MacDonald." Ralph Deloso
"I enjoyed performing. I always enjoy my violin lessons!" Zosia Feher
Well done to all musicians. Thank you for sharing your talents!

The Statements of Belief for this week are :
I am proud of what I can do.
I know what humility means.

This week's statement is:
I am proud of what I can do.

Year 2 visited Whitehouse Farm for our Spring trip this year. We had a fascinating day observing farm animals such as cows, sheep, goats and pigs. We also had the opportunity to see and handle other creatures including lizards, snakes, rats and mice. The children and parents had an exciting day looking around the farm, feeding some of the animals, and gaining a better understanding of how animals are cared for. As expected, the children were very well behaved throughout the day.

17.3.08 A Celebration of Easter
Join the children from Years 3 and 4 for A Celebration of Easter in St Alban's Church on Friday 28th March at 6.00 pm.

Click on the link for a copy of the letter to parents.

Thank you to all children and adults who entered an egg in the Decorated egg competition. The standard this year was absolutely outstanding. You're all so creative! It was an unbelievably difficult task to choose winners but eventually decisions were made.
The lucky winners from each class received an Easter egg and all the runners up who entered an egg received a small egg, yum!
Here are the lucky winners:
Year N am- Alfie Ryan
Year N pm- Kellis Kirtley
Year R- Megan Shields
Year 1- Tyler Roberts
Year 2- Adam Gilchrist
Year 3- Andrew Robinson
Year 4- Ryan Ord
Year 5- Lauren McDermont
Year 6- Shannon Galsworthy
Adult award- Mrs Gilmore
To view more pictures of the 'eggstravaganza' go to the Gallery.

As part of our easter activities, children have brought decorated eggs into school. They are all absolutely amazing. Well done children.
To view pictures of your creations, have a look in the gallery.

The Statement of the week is:
I can set a simple target for myself.

On Wednesday 12th March, Year 5 were involved in a Singing Day at Cardinal Hume. They worked really hard all afternoon, learning new songs and practising for their performance in the evening.
The behaviour from the Year 5 children was outstanding and their singing was absolutely spectacular. The whole school were also lucky enough to watch the Year 5's perform in Merit Assembly.
Well done Year 5. Great ambassadors for St. Alban's.

Mrs Fox and Mrs Hetherington returned from their Comenius trip to Finland on Thursday.
The children were very excited to hear about the work they had been doing and eager to learn about the Finnish culture. Both Mrs Fox and Mrs Hetherington enjoyed telling the children all about their trip.

Our Comenius website is currently under construction. Click the link on the main page of our school website to view it. Information about the project and about our partner schools will be added soon.

Barnaby is having a lovely time in Finland!

This week's Statement of Belief for 10-14.3.08 is:
I know that it is OK for me to make mistakes.

Can you imagine what it must be like to be in someone else's shoes?
As part of our Fairtrade fortnight activities, we are playing a game to match the pair of shoes to the correct member of staff. The staff are having a lot of fun trying to figure it all out too.
Children and adults are asked to donate 50p to have a go.
1st prize is a hamper of Fairtrade goodies.
So have fun and good luck!

To view the shoes, have a look in the Gallery.

The Mayor of Gateshead visited our school today and presented us with the Gateshead Fairtrade Status Award.
The Mayor met with Mrs Fox, Mrs Hetherington, the school council and the head boy and girl. The children explained all of the things that our school does to support Fairtrade such as our Fairtrade shop, coffee mornings, 'Fairtrade Friday' and especially how we have learnt so much about Fairtrade in our lessons.
The whole school assembled in the hall where we enjoyed meeting 'Mr Mayor' and found out about his many responsibilities.
We felt very proud as our award was presented to the Head boy and girl.
Here at St. Alban's we put our faith into actions by encouraging ourselves and others to buy Fairtrade products which helps people in different countries across the world.
Thank you for your support.

To view pictures of the Mayor's visit, have a look in the Gallery.

Please click on the link for information about activities planned for Fairtrade Fortnight.

Newsletter 15.2.08 Fairtrade Fortnight

Well done to the following children:
Year 1: James Parkin for excellent mental Maths.
Year 2: Logan Gibson for excellent work in Numeracy.
Year 3: Andrew Ord for participating in class.
Year 4: Ellie Toal for a fantastic chair design.
Year 5: Lauren McDermont for always offering to help.
Year 6: Thomas Storey for writing an excellent advert in Literacy.
Mrs Hetherington’s Award: Emma Jarvis for work on our Thanksgiving topic.
Head teacher’s Award: Alexandra Spencer for wonderful acting.

Winning House: St Oswald
Attendance Winner: Year 5

Join us for our service tomorrow afternoon at 1.30 pm.
Click the link to read more.

CAFOD Family Fast Day letter 12.2.08

14.2.08 Letter - Lunchtime Supervisory Assistant Vacancy

We have a vacancy. Please click the link for further information.

Today, the whole school found out about healthy food.

To find out more, have a look in the Gallery.

The meeting about the Year 2 statutory assessments is on Wedesday 13th February at 2.30 pm.

Every week we have a Merit Assembly in which our children’s many achievements are celebrated.

St Alban's School website has now been established. We look forward to receiving your views and comments.

We have started out Lenten journey today. In our liturgy this afternoon we looked again at our 'Livesimply' promises and we made a commitment to continue to keep these promises during Lent. Our purple lapel ribbons will help us to remember. The children have taken home a CAFOD Livesimply Lenten calendar to help them to prepare for Easter.

In our Art lessons this term we have been looking at patterns.

During February, I promise to raise money on Lent Fast Day to make a change for people living in poverty.

Working very hard in Revision club!

The Statement of Belief for this week is:
I listen to what you say. I show that I am listening to you.

Enthusiastic pupil in Year 6.

In Pastoral groups, we prayed together.
Here are some of our prayers:

We were given the responsibility of being 'shopkeepers' for the fairtrade stall.
As you can see, we look very professional. What's more, our maths skills are so good, you certainly wouldn't be short changed!

Thank you for all your kind support; the Fairtrade stall was very busy!

In Pastoral groups, we have been finding out about the 'UNICEF Day for Change'.

The staff of St Alban's collected £73.00 to send to UNICEF for the Day of Change. The money will be used to support UNICEF's work to improve water, sanitation and hygiene for children in The Gambia.

I really enjoyed selling fairtrade goods.
The chocolate chip cookies were a best seller!

We know that Fairtrade guarantees a 'better deal to Third World Producers,' though it's also pretty tasty!

Supporting Fairtrade

All the staff are very excited about our new school website.
Here we are being trained at Gateshead CLC. Watch this space....