Between 4-8 April 2022, the library at Bishop’s Primary School in Ashington – part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust, will be transformed into an immersive ‘prayer space’ where pupils, staff and members of the community can come together to explore different elements of spirituality through the creative arts.

The event is part of the national ‘Prayer Spaces in Schools’ initiative – a project founded by the charitable organisation, 24-7 Prayer International, which is designed to enable children and young people of all faiths and none, all over the world, to explore spirituality and life’s ‘big questions’ in a creative and interactive way.

Groups of children from Bishop’s Primary School as well as staff from across NCEA Trust’s neighbouring schools as well as parents and carers have been invited to come along to the event where they can enjoy a range of reflective and stimulating craft-based activities to help them explore their own ideas about faith and spirituality. There will be scratch cards for hope, reconciliation zips and pipe cleaner people-making for thanks as well as a quiet tent with glitter lamps and lights to provide a safe space for personal reflection and prayer.

At each activity station, the children (and adults) will be encouraged to be thankful or thoughtful, sorry or still, mindful, peaceful or simply creative. Some elements can be taken away by the children as a reminder; some will stay in the library and build up over the course of the event, so children can see each other’s thoughts and prayers.

The event is the result of a collaborative effort between school staff at Bishop’s Primary as well as local clergy from the parishes of St John’s, St Andrew’s, St Bartholomew’s and the Methodist and United Reformed Church communities.

Libby Taylor, RE Lead and Teacher at Bishop’s Primary School, commented:

“We’re really excited about our Prayer Spaces in Schools event this week.

“I have personally attended a number of Prayer Space development events in recent years and given what our pupils and communities have been through in the past two years with the Covid-19 pandemic and now the war in Ukraine, we felt that the time was right to try and put something together which would allow our children and staff to slow down, reflect and pray if they want to, while being creative.

“The creative element to the event helps to make what can be daunting topics such as faith and belief accessible to people of all ages and denominations. This will be the first major event that the school has hosted since the pandemic and we can’t wait!”

To find out more about the Prayer Spaces in Schools movement, visit https://prayerspacesinschools.com.

Photos from the event

Year 5 pupils from Bishop’s Primary School visited St Andrew’s & St Mark’s Church in Newbiggin earlier this week to take part in the Easter Journey. They were transported back in time and discovered what life was like for Jews living in Israel more than 2,000 years ago.

They followed in the footsteps of Jesus during his last few days and gained a new understanding of his actions and the sacrifice he made. The session really brought the story to life and staff and pupils thoroughly enjoyed taking part!

Click on any photo below to view images as a slideshow

Elsewhere, some more of our Year 5 children spent 2 days at Beamish Museum. They enjoyed a range of activities including a lesson in the Victorian School room, a visit to the town and pit village and tea from the chip shop – ‘the fish was the size of a whale!’

Once the museum closed to the public, the children set up camp, had a nighttime walk and sang songs round an open fire while enjoying marshmallows, hot chocolate and biscuits.

A fabulous experience creating magical memories!

Click on any photo below to view images as a slideshow

In light of recent events in Ukraine, Year 5 at Bishop’s Primary decided to use World Book Day to open up a discussion about war and its impact, particularly on children.

Miss Haggerty, one of our Year 5 teachers came across the book ‘The Day War Came’ by Nicola Davies. It’s all about the impact of war on children and has a clear message about kindness and inclusivity which fits in nicely with the Bishop’s Primary School ethos.

Davies wrote the original poem in 2016 when the UK government refused to give sanctuary to 3000 unaccompanied refugee children. She started a Twitter campaign at the time using the hashtag #3000chairs to spread a message of kindness and solidarity. Inspired by the book, pupils drew their own chairs to add to the movement and made their own clay chair models. We think they’re fab!

Click on any photo below to view images in a slideshow

Following a Safety Week in school, when we used excellent resources supplied by the NSPCC, our pupils wanted to show their support for this charity by organising a sponsored event.

Pupils at Bishop’s Primary School took part in the NSPCC Number Fun Day by having a sponsored Number Fun Run.

Each class followed a circuit which included number snakes, times table ladders, squares, challenges and timed events.

The children thoroughly enjoyed this maths-inspired event and worked hard to do all of the challenges. There were other number based events during the day and each class enjoyed a variety of mathematical challenges.

We have been astonished by the generosity of our community who have raised an incredible £2,190 to support the work of the NSPCC!

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to all involved in the event and the donations to the charity.

Well done Bishop’s Primary!

Click on any photo to view images in a full screen slideshow

Tuesday 8th February is Safer Internet Day – an annual campaign to help make the internet a safer, more secure place for people of all ages to enjoy.

Ahead of the celebrations, the Peer Mentors group at Bishop’s Primary School have been working hard to create a range of resources to support their fellow pupils to recognise potential scams or threats online and how to keep their devices and data safe (but we thought it might be beneficial to share these with you too!)

Top 10 tips for staying safe online:

1. Make sure your antivirus software is up to date – this can help to filter out harmful viruses.

2. Be careful what you download – not everything is always as it seems!

3. Never publicly share personal details like your home address, email address or telephone number online.

4. Be careful what you post – will you live to regret a comment you made on a friend’s photo? Or will a status you post potentially be misread and end up hurting somebody? The internet has a long memory, so be careful what you share.

5. Use strong passwords – try to avoid using things that are “easy to remember” like ‘password123’ as hackers can guess these within minutes! Instead, use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols to keep your accounts secure.

6. Be careful to only shop online from reputable companies, not everything you may see advertised on Google or social media is genuine. If you’re ever in doubt, search for the company or website on Trust Pilot or Feefo to see what fellow online shoppers’ experiences have been like.

7. You would always be wary about talking to a stranger who approached you in the street – apply the same principle when communicating with people online – are they who they say they are?

8. Think about the networks you connect to when you’re out and about – your devices may be more vulnerable when connected to a public WiFi network in a coffee shop or shopping centre.

9. Cover your webcam – some viruses will let hackers access your webcam without you even knowing so make sure to cover your camera whenever you’re not using it.

10. Watch out for phishing scams – these can take multiple different forms but are most commonly emails which may look genuine at first, but are really designed to trick you into sharing personal details like your bank accounts. We’ve shared some further tips about how to spot email scams below.

 
Some further tips for recognising email scams:

• The “sent by” address will either be a jumble of random letters and numbers or have an unusual domain (not .com or .co.uk)
• The email will contain links to click to ‘confirm your details’ or ‘make a payment’
• The email may have an attachment which looks strange or unsafe to open
• The email may give you a limited time to reply
• There might be spelling mistakes, bad grammar and sentences which don’t quite make sense
• If the email contains any logos or images, these may appear ‘pixelated’ or blurry
• If requesting money, the amount will usually be quite specific, not rounded up to the nearest pound/pence to try and make it seem legitimate, eg £692.88 instead of £700,00.

 
For more information about Safer Internet Day, visit https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2022.

A range of useful resources to help you and your family stay safe online can also be found at:

• Childline
• CEOP
• Age Concern (for older internet users)

A project to improve the outdoor play areas at a primary school in South East Northumberland has had an unprecedented impact on the mental health and wellbeing of its pupils.

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, as many schools across the country continue to struggle to find a balance between getting back to ‘normal’ and keeping infection rates down, children at Bishop’s Primary School in Ashington are supporting their own relationship recovery through the power of play.

After so many months spent in and out of lockdown and kept apart from their peers through the necessary enforcement of class bubbles and social distancing, pupils are exploring what it is to socialise and are self-teaching themselves the all-important skills of teamwork, collaboration and communication through a series of new interactive playground markings which have been installed in the school’s outdoor spaces.

Clare Marriott, Headteacher at Bishop’s Primary School, commented:

“Play has become a particularly important aspect of children’s learning, especially since lockdown. Our outdoor spaces were looking a little tired and in need of improvement so we decided that, instead of just repainting our original sports court markings, we would include some fun, interactive playground markings to encourage children to play together and learn at the same time.

“We found a wonderful company online, Fun & Active Playgrounds, who we engaged to supply us with a range of interactive number caterpillars, hopscotches, mazes and trails and alphabet jumps. We also purchased a range of hula hoops, bats and balls and skipping ropes to further develop playtimes and lunchtimes for our children.

“While we anticipated that the pupils’ response to the changes would be a positive one, we’ve been absolutely overwhelmed at what we’ve seen in just the few short weeks since the work was carried out. We’ve got children from different year groups playing together, we’ve got children supporting each other with the different games, we’ve even seen children encouraging their parents at home time to have a go on the hopscotch! The dance mat in particular has become a firm favourite with both pupils and staff, so much so, that we’ve now added a portable music system and disco lights!

“The impact to date has seen a dramatic transformation in the quality of children’s play. The children are happier, more active and more engaged in the classroom after every break time. By making free play a key priority of our School Action Plan, we will ensure the impact is sustainable and long lasting for relationship recovery, learning and play. Going forward, we want to install more markings and some wall mounted games too. We have also booked some skipping tutors to work with every class to teach the children some classic skipping games.”

Jess Sparks, Marketing Manager at Fun & Active Playgrounds, commented:

“It was a pleasure to work with Bishop’s Primary School and to be able to provide their pupils with extra opportunities for fun outdoor play and learning. We know how important it is for children to get their daily exercise, not just for their physical fitness but for their mental health too, and particularly during present times, so it’s been great to be a part of this project to make their playtimes more active and engaging.

“All our markings and games are made from durable, environmentally-friendly thermoplastic which can last up to ten times longer than paint. This means their markings will be around for years to come, and will benefit pupils both present and future.”

Bishop’s Primary School offers provision for children aged 2-11 and operates as part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust. For more information, visit www.bishops.ncea.org.uk.

Year 5 were thrilled to invite two Vikings into their classrooms for a day of sagas, food tasting, trials by ordeal, butter making and dressing up. We had a fantastic time, learned so much and finished the day with a Viking battle against the English!

(Click the images to view them as a slideshow)

NCEAT’s primary schools, including Bishop’s, have been recognised in the UK’s top 50 schools for Accelerated Reader usage.

Accelerated Reader is an online platform which supports pupils’ reading skills. When they first start using the platform, pupils complete a STAR reading test which gives them a level based on their reading ability and advises on the books they should be reading. This allows teachers to ensure that pupils are challenged with an appropriate text and develops their reading fluency.

Once they have finished reading their book, they can then complete a comprehension quiz to assess whether they have understood what they have read. This gives teachers valuable information about pupils reading ages and also reading comprehension ability.

Prior to the summer holidays, the primary schools within the Trust had a big push on reading for pleasure, encouraging pupils to read at home with parents and carers. This push has seen pupils carry out over 28,537 Accelerated Reader quizzes online since August – that’s 28,537 books read across Bishop’s, Grace Darling, James Knott, Thomas Bewick and William Leech C of E Primary Schools!

Jack Christophers, Director of Literacy, commented:

“We’re absolutely blown away by what our pupils have achieved through Accelerated Reader. The statistics speak for themselves – our pupils have put in an amazing amount of effort and we’re extremely proud of each and every one of them.”

To find out more about reading in the primary curriculum, visit https://bishops.ncea.org.uk/pupil-hub/reading-corner/

Spring has sprung at an Ashington primary school following a generous donation from a local garden centre.

Wansbeck Garden Centre has kindly pledged hundreds of bedding plants to Bishop’s Primary School’s Josephine Butler Campus for use in its flower garden.

The flower garden, which is tended by pupils as part of the school’s ‘Gardening Gang’ is the centrepiece of the Academy Road-based campuses’ outdoor space; which also comprises a potted courtyard, a poly tunnel and an allotment area, complete with its own chickens, rabbit and ducks.

Using the donated plants, the children decided to update a planted version of the school’s logo using a mix of Stokesia and Lobelia to capture the purple and yellow colours of the Bishop’s crest.

“Our Gardening Gang is an immensely popular part of our enrichment and mental health and wellbeing programmes at Josephine Butler,” said Mrs Clare Marriott, Head of Campus at Bishop’s Primary School – Josephine Butler Campus.

“The children enjoy working outdoors and seeing the difference that their work makes to the garden. It’s also a great opportunity for us to teach the children about the importance of looking after the natural world around them.

“We’re incredibly grateful to the staff at Wansbeck Garden Centre for their kind donation of so many flowers! It’s really allowed our children to be creative and we’ve had so many compliments from staff and parents about the work the children do outdoors. These generous donations mean we can continue to develop our curriculum and the community links that are so important to us.”

Nic Crofts, Plant Manager at Wansbeck Garden Centre, commented:

“At Wansbeck Garden Centre, we pride ourselves on being an active part of our local community and regularly work with schools and other not-for-profit groups.

“We’ve had an unseasonably cold start to the year, which has meant that many of our plants which would usually have gone flying off the shelves have been sitting in our greenhouses. We would rather see these go to good use than get wasted, so we were delighted to support Josephine Butler’s Gardening Gang with their flower display.”

Bishop’s Primary School – Josephine Butler Campus operates as part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust (NCEAT).

For more information, visit www.ncea.org.uk.